A sermon and translation by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church 31 Dec 2006
The end is near! Today is the end of the year 2006. For some of us, we may breathe a sigh of relief that the year 2006 is finally over. For others, you may not yet be ready. Do you wish you had another week of vacation from school? Did you close out all your finances properly? Ready or not, the year will end tonight.
I confess I have been a little impatient about finishing this section of Isaiah before the year ends, so that’s why I am covering two chapters today. I hope you can understand my eagerness to get on to the more promising passages of scripture in the new year, though!
In all of the burdens of the nations which Isaiah wrote down in chapters 13-24, the consistent theme is that they will be brought to an end. Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Ethiopia, Egypt, Jerusalem – the valley of Vision, and now Tyre will all have a run-in with God’s judgment which will bring an end to things as they were. Finally, in chapter 24, key words from every one of the previous 23 chapters are mixed together in an apocalyptic prophecy about the end of the entire world as we know it.
The end is near, says God through Isaiah; what are you going to do about it?
A. Intro to Tyre
Let’s begin by looking at what God says about the end of the city of Tyre. (Pass photo map out)
· Tyre was a port city founded (according to Heroditus) in the 28th century B.C., north of Israel along the Mediterranean coast.
· It consisted of a settlement on the beach as well as settlements on two islands just offshore.
· It was a capitol city along with Sidon of the area known as Phoenicia, and the Phoenicians were world-famous for their ship-building, for their alphabet, and for their commercial trade.
- They picked up wheat in Egypt along the Nile river and distributed it to the rest of the world, trading it with international goods that they then imported to other countries
- They colonized the larger island of Cyprus (also called Kittim in this chapter); they had colonies in North Africa, including Carthage, and their trade extended the entire length and breadth of the Mediterranean ocean, including Tarshish, which many believe to be Tartessus, Spain on the far western end of the Mediterranean.
- They even had plumbing that they rigged up to carry water from a spring on the coast out to the island. This was an amazing group of people!
Thus they had many names: “Inhabitant of the coast” (v.2), “merchant of the nations” (v.3), “stronghold of the sea” (v.4), “exultant city” (v.7), “bestower of crowns” (v.8), “Caanan” (v.11), and “virgin daughter of Sidon” (v.12). Because of the extent of international relationships in trade, many people knew Tyre by many different characteristics, and God knew every characteristic of this marvelous people group.
B. Translation: Burden of Tyre.
Hear now the burden of Tyre from Isaiah 23, and follow along in your Bible:
Wail, ships of Tarshish, for it is destroyed, from house, from entry!
From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to him.
(2) Be still, inhabitants of the coast;
merchant of Sidon, crosser the sea, they have filled you.
(3) And in many waters her revenue was the seed of Shihor, the crop of the Nile;
She was a merchant of nations.
(4) Be ashamed, Sidon,
for the sea has spoken - the stronghold of the sea, saying:
"I have neither labored nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women."
(5) When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
(6) Pass by, Tarshish; Wail, inhabitants of the coast!
(7) Is this your exultant city, her age from days of old,
whose feet carried her to sojourn far away?
(8) Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the earth?
(9) Jehovah of Hosts has purposed it,
to defile the arrogance of all splendour,
to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
(10) Pass over your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish;
there is no restraint anymore.
(11) His hand He has stretched out over the sea;
He has shaken the kingdoms;
Jehovah has given command concerning Canaan to destroy her strongholds.
(12) And He said: "You will not add to rejoicing again, oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon;
Get up, pass over to Cyprus; even there you will have no rest."
(13) Look, the land of the Chaldeans!
This is the people that was not;
(Assyria destined it for desert-dwellers.)
They erected their towers;
They stripped her palaces;
He set her for ruin.
(14) Wail, ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste.
(15) Then it will happen in that day:
Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years,
like the days of one king.
At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre
as in a song of the prostitute:
(16) "Take a harp; go about the city, forgotten prostitute!
Play well; multiply song, in order that you may be remembered."
(17) At the end of seventy years, Jehovah will visit Tyre,
but she will return to her wages
and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.
(18) Yet her merchandise and her wage will be holiness to Jehovah.
It will not be stored or hoarded,
For her merchandise will be for those who sit toward the face of Jehovah,
for eating to satisfaction and for honorable clothing.
C. Prophecy of Tyre’s demise
God says that Tyre is going to come to a terrible end, and that end will cause waves around the world.
· (v.1 )Traders from Tarshish will wail when their commercial hub is destroyed and they are out of a job.
· (v.2) The rest of the people along the Mediterranean coast will be struck dumb by the news.
· (v.5) When the news reaches Egypt, it will bring anguish.
· Verses 1, 6, & 12 indicate that the people of Tyre would try to flee from the oncoming threat by sailing over to Cyprus.
· In v.13, the nature of the threat finally comes to light as Isaiah describes the Chaldeans (Babylonians) who were not a world power at that time but were rather being hammered by the current world power of Assyria.
· Tyre would come to a close for 70 years, prophecies Isaiah in v.15.
D. History of Tyre’s destruction
Does this square with history? Did Tyre come to an end? Well, to begin with, I had a hard time finding Tyre on a map because there no longer is a city named Tyre in Lebanon, the area is now called by a different name. Let me give you a run-down of the historical demise of Tyre:
Toward the end of Isaiah’s life, an attempt was made by the Assyrian army to conquer Tyre. Shalmanezzar besieged the city and cut off the water supply from the coast, but the Tyrians inside the island fortress dug wells in the island and withstood the siege. Although he never conquered the island, Shalmanezzar and his successors did conquer the coastal settlement and even got Cyprus to pay tribute.
Some three hundred years later, the Chaldeans succeeded in conquering the island of Tyre. Nebuchadnezzar’s army dumped rubble into the ocean and built a partial causeway out toward the fortress, and after 13 years of siege, they captured the king of Tyre. The seventy-year span of captivity experienced by the Jews was also experienced by these Tyrian captives, and, just as the Jews were released to rebuild Jerusalem, the captives of Tyre were apparently also released when Cyrus took over Babylon and initiated new foreign policies that decentralized population into their homelands rather than centralizing it in Babylon. We see, for instance, the Tyrians trading in Jerusalem on the Sabbath in Nehemiah 13:16, so they did indeed return to their commerce.
In the 200’s B.C. Alexander the Great finished the causeway that Shalmanezzar had started over 500 years before and conquered Tyre in a 7-month siege. It was rebuilt again, but conquered by the Crusaders some thousand years later and utterly erased from existence by the Saracens following them. Now it is just a small fishing village that goes by a different name.
Tyre came to an end. And so will the rest of the world…
A. Intro
Chapter 24 prophecies the end of the world! No longer is the judgment localized to one city or state as it was in the previous 11 chapters. Now the word “earth” runs like a ribbon through the entire chapter, repeated, along with its synonyms, 19 times, by my count.
Chapter 24, v.1 uses four violent verbs to describe the horrifying end of the world: “empty,” “desolate,” “distort,” “scatter.” This is a fearsome future! Follow along in your Bibles as I read:
B. Translation of Chapter 24
(24:1) Look, Jehovah:
· empties the earth
· and desolates her,
· and He will distort her face,
· and scatter her inhabitants.
(2) And it shall be,
· as with the people, so with the priest;
· as with the slave, so with his master;
· as with the maid, so with her mistress;
· as with the buyer, so with the seller;
· as with the broker, so with the client;
· as with the creditor, so with the one who has credit with him.
(3) The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;
for Jehovah has spoken this word.
(4) The earth mourns and wilts;
the world languishes and wilts;
the highest people of the earth languish.
(5) The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants;
for they have
· passed over the Torah,
· changed statute,
· broken the eternal covenant.
(6) Therefore a curse devours the earth, and inhabitants in her will be held guilty;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.
· (7) The juice mourns,
· the vine languishes,
· all the happy-hearted sigh.
· (8) The mirth of the tambourines is stilled,
· the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
· the mirth of the harp is stilled.
· (9) No more do they drink wine with the song;
· strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
· (10) The chaotic city is shattered;
· every house is shut up so that none can enter.
· (11) There is an outcry over the wine in the outer places;
· all happiness has grown dark;
· the gladness of the earth is removed.
· (12) Desolation is left in the city;
· gates battered, and ruin.
(13) For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
Like shaking an olive tree,
Like gleanings when the grape harvest ends.
· (14) They will lift up their voices;
· They will sing the majesty of Jehovah,
· They shouted from the sea.
· (15) Therefore in the east,
· in the coastlands of the sea, glorify Jehovah - the Name of Jehovah, the God of Israel!
· (16) From the corner of the earth we heard psalms - Glory belongs to the Righteous One!
But I say, "Leanness belongs to me; leanness to me. Woe is me!
For betrayers have betrayed,
and betrayal - betrayers have betrayed."
(17) Terror and the trench and the trap are upon you, inhabitant of the earth!
(18) And it will be that he who flees from the sound of the terror shall fall into the trench,
and he who gets up out of the middle of the trench shall be caught in the trap.
For the windows from on high have been opened,
and the foundations of the earth tremble.
(19) The earth is utterly broken,
the earth is completely split apart,
the earth is violently shaken.
(20) The earth staggers like a drunk;
She sways like a hammock;
Her sin is heavy upon her,
and she falls,
and she will never again stand.
(21) On that day the LORD will visit upon
the host of the heights, in the heights,
and the kings of the earth, upon the earth.
(22) They will be gathered - a collection of prisoners over the Pit;
Then they will be shut up upon an enclosure,
and after many days they will be visited.
(23) Then the moon will blush and the sun will pale,
for Jehovah of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and the feature of His elders is glory!
C. Summary of the end of the world
What is described in chapter 24 is the end of normal life for the entire world:
· v.4 No one has any energy anymore, they are just slumped over, drooping, wilted, languishing.
· v.6 Most of the people will be killed; few will be left.
· v.7 Even the plant life will be affected – vines wilting; no more wine.
· v.8 No more entertainment either – the songs and musical instruments are brought to an end.
· v.10 Even housing will become a problem – cities broken down, no more protective gates.
D. All will be Affected
This passage also makes it clear that no one is going to get away from that inexorable ending:
- V.2 says that it will happen alike to layman and priest, employee and employer, girl and wife, poor and rich alike.
- From the highest to the lowest, every ethnic group says v.4.
- Verse 18 describes the kind of chasing scene that I have in nightmares, where I’m running from some vague horror and I fall into a hole and I’m desperately clawing my way out to keep from getting captured, and I’m running again, but there is no escape - they eventually find me. It will be like that with God’s judgment if you do not have peace with God and He is hunting you down because you have broken His 10 commandments and disregarded Him in your life.
- No one will ever get away from God when He comes in judgment. He works with a fine-toothed comb… And it won’t matter who your Daddy is when God gets hold of you.
- Verse 21 says that not even the angels and demons are exempt from this visitation of God’s judgment at the end of time.
E. Comparison with Apocalyptic scripture
The description at the end of the chapter sounds a lot like the end of the world as it is pictured elsewhere in scripture: (ESV text follows)
Rev 6:12-17 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, (13) and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. (14) The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. (15) Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, (16) calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, (17) for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"
2Pe 2:4-9 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned,
but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be
kept until the judgment;
(5) if He did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of
righteousness, with seven others,
when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
(6) if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes He condemned them
to extinction,
making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly…
(9) then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the
unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,
A. Transition & Statement of God’s End
The world is going to end; what are you going to do about it? What CAN a person do about it?
There is one extremely important thing that we can do. It was the reason for which Isaiah wrote these gloomy passages. Without this crucial bit of knowledge, we really have nothing left but to sit and wait for the end of the world. Do you want to know this vital piece of information?
Here it is: God is manipulating world history to the end that He gets more glory. God has one end in life and that is to be glorified and enjoyed, and He is manipulating everything that happens on this earth towards that one end.
Isaiah wrote these chapters so that we can realize what God is up to and step in line with His purpose for history.
B. Chiasm of Ch.23 points to God’s purpose re: glory
Notice how chapter 23 is organized to focus in on this point: The entire chapter is one big chiasm.
(Now, for those of you who are not literary buffs, a chiasm is a series of phrases organized like a “greater than” sign. There is an introduction, then another phrase that builds off of the first phrase and takes you deeper into the subject, and then, in the center you have the main point, then the writer backs incrementally out of his main point and closes with a recapitulation of the introduction.)
If you look at chapter 23, you can see that:
· Isaiah starts with the introductory phrase “wail, ships of Tarshish.”
o Then in verse 6 he steps into the chiasm mentioning wailing again but adding the command “Pass over, Tarshish.”
§
Then in the middle verse of the chapter (verse 9) he states his
main point:
“Jehovah of Hosts has purposed this to dishonor the honored of the earth.”
o Then he backs back out a step in v. 10 by repeating what he had said in v. 6 “Pass over… Tarshish.”
· And in v.14, he completes the chiasm by repeating what he had said in v. 1, “Wail, ships of Tarshish.”
Now, the point of the chiasm is to direct our attention to the key statement in the middle. In this case, it is a statement that God has a purpose, that He is controlling world history according to that purpose, and that His purpose is to overturn the structure of honor so that it would not be given to people on earth – implying that the glory should go to Him instead.
C. End of Chapter 23 points to God’s purpose re: glory
And if that chiasm isn’t enough to convince you of Isaiah’s main point, there is another strategy employed in Hebrew prose, and that is to put your main point last. (The punch line in most of Jesus’ parables is the last line.) And Isaiah does that too in chapter 23. He ends the chapter with the glory of the commerce of the city of Tyre flowing in a new direction – no longer is all the merchandise being hoarded to pool up honor for Tyre, now it is flowing out to God’s people to equip the people of God with honor.
D. God’s purpose of glory in chapter 24:
Like chapter 23, chapter 24 also points to God’s purpose of glory with a passage about glory in the middle of the chapter (v. 14-16) and at the end of the chapter (in v.23). We don’t have time to go into all the details at this point, but notice the following things about God’s glory in chapter 24:
1. God
is honored when our attention is fixed on Him
Verse 1 begins with the phrase, “Behold Jehovah!” This indicates that
the proper and final object of our attention is God. This
directs honor to Him.
2. God
is honored when He punishes what is contrary to His nature.
Verse 5 states God’s reason for destroying the world; it is “… because the
people have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the
everlasting covenant, (6) therefore a curse devours the earth, the people must
bear their guilt.”
God is just, and the end of the world will display His justice as He
punishes all those who disobey and ignore the instructions He gave us in the
Bible for how to live.
Many people are rejoicing now that Saddam Hussein has been hanged; there
is a certain satisfaction when the bully gets what’s coming to him. God’s
justice will be so perfect that we will all marvel and give Him glory when He
executes it.
3. God
is honored through the praises of His people and evangelism
Verses 14-16 are a complete scene change from the destruction at the end of the
world. These verses picture a remnant of people who are happily singing and
shouting!
The people that are happy at the end of time are those who sing the majesty
of the Lord, who are glorifying God!
They appear to be rather spread-out from East to West – from the rising of
the sun to the islands in the sea. I believe this is a picture of the church
engaging in its missionary calling to praise God and declare His glory among
the nations. Verses 15 & 16 seem to indicate the response of converts among
the nations as they join in singing psalms of praise to God.
These people get it! The theme of their song matches the
purpose of God; they are singing, “Glory to the Righteous One!” and that is just
what God wants!
4. The
honor of God’s people will also be the honor of God
The last word in Chapter 24 is “glory.” It describes God’s people
basking in His glory:
v.23 – “Jehovah of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and the feature of His elders is glory!” Isaiah echoes the same
thing towards the end of his book in 60:19, where he writes,
“The sun
shall be no more your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon give you light;
but the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
Revelation 4:11 also talks about the glory of God being the climax of history in heaven. It describes the twenty-four elders seated around the throne of God, falling down and worshiping Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power…"
E. Conclusion – surfing analogy
When I was growing up, my family would take summer vacations at Crescent Beach, Florida. One of the things that my brother and I enjoyed doing on those vacations was bodysurfing. We would stand out in the chest-deep water and look for a nice, tall wave to develop, then jump into the crest of the wave, and if we hit it at just the right spot and held our body straight enough, the upward curling motion of the wave would hold us up and thrust us toward the beach for 20-50 yards. It felt kind of like sledding down a long slide.
The problem was, however, that sometimes a wave would catch me when I wasn’t ready for it, or I’d jump into the wrong place in the wave, and oh, that was always a miserable experience, because that powerful churning motion that held me up when I was surfing it right, could also throw me down into the deep water and spin me around like a washing machine. Then I’d come up spluttering with salt water and sand in my eyes and ears and nose and gasping for air. That was awful.
If you organize your life towards the same end as God’s, you will be surfing the biggest, most awesome wave that ever was because you are going with the flow of history and the author of history. If, however you organize your life around some other end, you will be dead in the water and you will get beat up by every wave that crashes over you.
A) This world is going to end, so don’t organize your life around the things in this world; don’t make them your pride and glory.
1) Business/commerce – like Tyre
2) Honor and respect from other people
3) People – men, women
4) Strength
5) Wine (or by implication anything we put in our mouths for happiness or comfort – food or drugs)
6) Song – Entertainment – seeking our own Happiness
7) Housing
8) Defense
All these things are going to come to an end.
2Pe 3:10-11 “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it shall be burned up. (11) Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be…?”
B) Isaiah tells us to organize our lives around God’s purpose of bringing glory to Him.
CLOSING: The end of the world is coming, but God’s end will prevail in the earth. He will be glorified, so let us step in line with Him in the coming year and give Him glory in all of our lives!
Modern-Day Tyre, Lebanon on Google Satellite Map
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