Isaiah 26: We have a wall

A translation and sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 21 Jan. 2007

 

1.  In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

"We have a strong city; He sets up salvation as walls and bulwark.

2.  Open, gates, and the righteous nation will go, keeping faith.

3.  A steadfast mind you will guard in perfect peace, for it trusts in You.

4.  Y’all trust in Jehovah until forever, for in Jah-Jehovah is an everlasting rock!

5.  For He has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city.

He lays her low,

lays her low to the ground,

casts her to the dust.

6.  A foot will trample her – feet of a poor man, steps of needy men."

7. The path for the righteous is uprightness.

Upright One, You leveled the way of the righteous,

 8. yes, the path of Your judgments, Jehovah.

We waited for You: for Your name and Your memory – the desire of the soul.

9.  My soul yearned for You in the night;

yes, my spirit within me will earnestly seek You.

For as Your judgments come to the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10. A wicked man may be graced, but NOT learn righteousness;

in the land of uprightness he deals wrongfully and will NOT see the majesty of Jehovah.

11.  Jehovah, Your hand is lifted up, but they will NOT see.

Let them see the people’s zeal and be ashamed.

Also, let Your enemy’s fire consume them.

12.  Jehovah, You will judge peace for us;

For You have also worked for us all our deeds.

13.  Jehovah our God, lords besides You have had dominion over us;

only in You will we cause Your name to be remembered.

14.  The dead will NOT live; shades will not stand up;

to that end You have visited and destroyed them,

and wiped out all remembrance of them.

15.  You have added to the nation, Jehovah, You have added to the nation;

You are glorified; You have extended all the borders of the land.

16.  Jehovah, in distress they visited You;

they poured out a whispered prayer during Your discipline against them.

17.  Like a pregnant woman comes near to giving birth,

she writhes and cries out in her pangs,

so were we apart from Your face, O LORD – 18.  we were pregnant, we writhed.

Like this we have given birth to wind.

We have NOT accomplished the SALVATION of the land,

and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

19. Your dead ones will live and my dead body – they will arise.

Y’all who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!

For Your dew is a dew of lights, and the earth itself will cause the shades to fall!

20.  Come, my people, proceed into your bedrooms, and shut your doors behind you;

hide for a little while until the fury shall pass over.

21.  For look, Jehovah is coming out from His place

to visit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the land upon them.

Then the land will disclose her bloodshed, and will no longer cover over her slain.

Introduction: NINEVEH: Not a strong city

In the book of Jonah, God called the Assyrian capitol of Nineveh “that great city.” It contained within its walls a population about the size of Manhattan. The double walls were so thick you could drive a car along the top of them - all 60 miles of them! It would take three days to walk all the way around those walls. It had existed for thousands of years unconquered. It was a strong city! Or was it? In the early 600’s BC, heavy rains caused the Tigris river to flood. The incredible power of the water washed out the foundations of the city wall which stretched for some 30 miles along the river, and the mighty walls collapsed, fulfilling the prophecy in Nahum 2:6 “The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.” As a result, the Medes were able to conquer Nineveh.

 

I. The security of our city

Here in Isaiah 26, it says that we have a strong city. It is much stronger than Nineveh was. Notice the words which speak of the strength and security we find in that city:

 

II. The origin of the city

A. God did it

B. We could never have done it

when we are apart from God – v.17

 

III. What we should do about the city

  1. Trust
    1. v.2 Open the gates and let me in! This is where I want to be!
      Psalm 118:19-21 “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.”
    2. v.2 keep faith
      Isa. 56:1-2 explains what it means to keep the faith: "Keep justice, and do righteousness… Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."
    3. v.3 steadfast mind… trusts
      I Pet. 5:9 speaks of resisting the devil by remaining steadfast in the faith.
      Isaiah mentions many things throughout His book that people trust in: human strength, chariots and armies, idols, wickedness, vanity, other countries.
      Isa 50:10 Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.We will trust in God.
      Isa 12:2 God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid
    4. v.4 trust in Jehovah- for how long? - until forever!
      Isa 65:18 “Be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create” says God, for
      Isa 45:17 “Israel is saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.”
  2. Wait
    1. What we should “wait for,” “remember,” “desire,” “yearn for,” and “earnestly seek” is God - God alone (v.13). Many things are vying for that place in our life. For instance, the harlot sings to be “remembered” (23:16). “Remember not the former things” (43:18); “Cause to remember that His Name is exalted” (12:4); “You meet him who…remembers You in Your ways (64:5)
    2. v.8 This waiting is in the path of God’s judgments. Judgment=determining right from wrong. After 10 Commandments, Ex.21:1 says, “These are the judgments.” Blessing comes from letting God decide what is right and wrong and living by His judgments.
    3. v.8 “Desire” same root as “covet” in 10 commandments of Deut 5:21, LXX equivalent used in Matt 5:28 (lust). The 10 commandments and the sermon on the mount tell us what not to desire or covet, but there is a positive side to the command- we should desire and covet God!
      “The desire of the wicked will perish” (Ps. 112:10), but “desire of the righteous will be granted” (Prov 10:24)
    4. It is a real waiting for what we do not see yet=faith
      8:17-wait even while God hides His face;
      25:9 look forward to when we will say “We waited for Him and He saved us!”;
      30:18 “Jehovah is a God of judgment; blessed are all who wait for Him”;
      40:31 “they that wait upon Jehovah will renew their strength”;
      49:23 “they shall not be ashamed that wait
  3. Receive correction and turn in prayer to God – v.16 In distress they visited you, they poured out a whispered prayer during Your discipline against them.
    1. Play on words here: Hebrew word for “visit” usually translated “punish”, but this word in v. 16 describing our fellowship with God is the same word as that used in v. 14 and 21 to describe God’s punishment. When God “visits” us in discipline, we can “visit” God in prayer!
    2. God uses chastening to restore us to Him:
      (Job 5:17) “Happy is the man whom God corrects: therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty”;
      (Job 36:10) “He opens also their ear to chastening, and commands that they return from iniquity”;
      (Prov.1:2-8); “despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction”
      (Prov.4:13); “Take fast hold of chastening; let her not go: keep her; for she is your life.”
      (Isa.53:5) The ultimate chastening for sin has already been fulfilled in Christ:  “He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him…”
  4. Awake and sing for joy
    1. “Your dead ones” = those who die in the Lord = God’s dead!
    2. KJV best translation of this verse = “together with my dead body”
      Job 19:26  “after my skin is destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God”
    3. This is speaking of the resurrection.
      Joh 5:21  For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He will.
      Rom 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you.
      1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first;
    4. We are nevertheless to be characterized by joyful singing here and now:
      Isa 12:6  Sing and shout, inhabitant of Zion; for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
      Isa 24:14  These shall lift up their voice, they shall shout; for the majesty of Jehovah they sing from the sea.
      Isa 44:23  Sing, heavens, for Jehovah has done it; shout, lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, mountains, forest, and every tree in it: for Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and will glorify Himself in Israel.
      Isa 49:13  Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for Jehovah has comforted His people, and will have compassion upon His afflicted.
      Isa 65:14  “my servants shall sing for joy of heart”
  5. Hide
    1. ILLUSTRATION: Otto Koning, missionary in PNG. Drunk natives surrounded his house with weapons, shouting, threatening to kill him. He prayed, and they went away. The next morning, he asked why they didn’t burn his hut down or hack through the poles and walls with their axes. Their response: “We didn’t think of that. We just saw you go in and close the door and so we couldn’t get at you.”
    2. Adam hid in garden from God (Gen 3:10) – not this kind of hiding; instead like:
      Obadiah hid 100 prophets in cave (1Ki 18:4);
      Joash hidden in temple from Athaliah (2Ki 11:3)
      hidden from harm when chastened by God (Job 5:21)
      hidden in the shadow of God’s hand (Isa 49:2)
    3. Calvin emphasizes that this is figurative - enter a calm state of mind - related to “wait” v.8
    4. Ex.12 – the Passover story – hidden behind a door with the lamb’s blood on it for a night until the death angel passed by
    5. What door do we hide behind? Jesus! John 10:7-“I am the door of the sheep.”

Conclusion

Martin Luther wrote about this city in his hymn: A Mighty Fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing! John Newton wrote about this city in a hymn:

 

Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God!
He, Whose Word cannot be broken, Formed thee for His own abode.
On the Rock of Ages founded, What can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation’s walls surrounded, Thou may’st smile at all thy foes.

 

I am safe within the strong city. I am safe behind the door, my Jesus. I can smile at all my foes.

·         Pain and trouble, you can’t get to me, because “even though now for a little while, I am grieved by various trials, I greatly rejoice because I am guarded by God's power for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1Peter 1:5-7)

·         Haughty, wicked men, I’m not afraid of you, my God is going to come down from His place and expose your bloodshed, He’s going to lay low the inhabitants of the height, and burn you with fire.

·         Death, I’m not afraid of you, Isaiah 26 says that God’s dead-including my own body-will be resurrected and live!

 

I have a strong city; do you?