“You will sink down and the ruthless will be like chaff… Wait & be amazed; blind yourselves & be blind.”
A translation and sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS 25 Feb 2007
Story of the legal challenge of the ownership of Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Odessa, Ukraine (pass around photos)
· God provided a wonderful historic church building to a new congregation that was faithful
· Christians have poured huge amounts of money and time into restoring the building
· Squatters have taken over part of the building and currying favor with city officials
· Lawsuit over who owns the building being heard tomorrow.
· How will the church in Ukraine respond to this threat? Will the humbly ask God for deliverance, or will they trust in human effort and be humiliated?
“You will sink down” says Isaiah in v.4. God will see to it that everyone on this earth is humble. The only question is whether you will humble yourself or whether God will have to humiliate you.
Psalm 2:10-12 Warns us of this very thing: “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
1) Woe, Ariel, Ariel,
city where David camped.
Add year upon year – holidays cycle around.
2) I will cause distress to Ariel,
and she will be a grief and a lament.
She will be to me like the altar.
3) And I will
encamp like a circle upon her
and lay siege towers upon her
and erect fortifications upon her.
4) And you will sink down,
from the ground you will speak,
and from the dust your speech will be laid low,
and your voice will be like a ghost from the ground,
and from the dust your speech will peep.
5) And the multitude of your foreigners will be like fine dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like chaff passing over.
It will happen in a moment, suddenly.
6) You will be visited from Jehovah of Hosts
with thunder and with commotion and a loud sound,
storm-wind and tempest and a flame of consuming fire.
7) And it will be like the night-mare-vision,
the multitude of all the nations which are fighting,
and all of them fighting against Ariel and ensnaring her and causing distress toward her.
8) But it will be
like the hungry man who dreams and – look he’s eating! –
but he awakes and his body is empty,
and like the thirsty man who dreams and – look he’s drinking! –
but he awakes and look, he is faint and his body is longing.
Thus will be the multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.
9) Pause and be amazed;
blind yourselves and be blind;
they have gotten drunk, but not through wine,
they have tottered, but not through liquor.
1 Woe, Ariel, Ariel, city where David camped. Add year upon year – holidays cycle around.
A) What is ARIEL?
1) Only found here & Ezek.43:15-16 (re: altar), Ezra 8:16 (a man’s name), & 2 Sam. 23:20/ 1 Chr. 11:22 (Moabite men or lions that Benaiah slew)
2) Most likely meanings are either “lion of God” or “altar of God” although precise meaning of “Ariel” is hotly debated.
3) Clearly Jerusalem:
· Ezek. 19:2 speaks of latter kings of Judah as being from Ariah-a lion.
· 28:1=Samaria; 29:1=Jerusalem
· Note similarity to Matt. 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!
B) Two ideals are related to Jerusalem
1) David, the man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14)
· Although there is no other place in the Bible where this verb “pitched/encamped” is used explicitly of David, it may refer to how he conquered the Jebusites at Jerusalem & transformed a heathen city into a city of God.
2) The feast days where worship was supposed to be at its apex
· “feasts” (KJV “Sacrifices”) This word is used almost exclusively in the Old Testament for the 3 annual holidays in the Mosaic Law: Passover, Pentecost/Weeks, and Succoth/Booths (2 Chron. 8:13) These were special times of sacrifices and worship, feasting and fellowship.
C) But there is a problem
1) “Woe…add year to year and let the feasts cycle around”. i.e., “You’re in trouble and the clock is ticking.” If you don’t make a change you’ve got a problem!
· Hab. 2:4 "The vision is yet for the appointed time, though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come...” – Habakkuk’s vision was about Nebuchadnezzar conquering Jerusalem.
2) What is the problem? Not explicitly brought out until second half of chapter, so we’ll look at that more in depth next week, DV, but one thing is implied in this first half, and I want to focus on that, and it is the need for humility before God.
2 I will cause distress to Ariel, and she will be a grief and a lament. She will be to me like the altar.
3 And I will encamp like a circle upon her and lay siege towers upon her and erect fortifications upon her.
A) God’s remedy is to tighten the thumbscrews!
1) Ps. 34:7-the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,”
2) but when God’s people are not right with Him, this encampment is more like David’s campaign to conquer the Jebusites in Jerusalem referred to in v.1.
3) Perhaps the meaning is that just as David set out to conquer Jerusalem and transform it into a city of God, so God will also set out to conquer and transform wayward Jerusalem again into a city of God.
B) End of v.2 is lit. “as Ariel”-KJV,NAS,ESV (altar hearth-NIV)
1) E.J. Young says this should be interpreted as the ideal Ariel which will emerge after God’s judgment of the deficient Ariel (Jerusalem).
2) If you translate “altar” like the NIV and Ezek. 43 making Jerusalem a place that will be burned over by the Babylonian army (and later the Roman army) like an altar. The fire (distress) is intended to remove the dross (rebellion against God).
C) The words used in vs.2-3 indicate the Assyrian and later Chaldean sieges of Jerusalem. For instance:
1) “siegeworks-NIV / forts-KJV / battle towers-NAS” in v.3 used In 2 Chron. 11-14 denotes fences Jews built to fortify cities against the Assyrians and In 2 Ki 24 as well as Jer. 4, (and in the books of Ezek. & Dan) to describe the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
2) “grief and lament” in v.2 used in only one other place in the Bible (Lam. 2:5) speaking of Chaldean destruction of Jerusalem.
D) God takes credit for doing this. Why would God humiliate His
own people?
Because it will point them to the true source of their salvation and
satisfaction
Mat. 5:3-4 “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are they who mourn for they shall be
comforted!”
E) So God gets them where He wants them
4 And you [feminine singular points to the city
Arial] will sink down, from the ground you will speak, and from the dust your
speech will be laid low, and your voice will be like a ghost from the ground,
and from the dust your speech will peep.
1) Half
of OT instances of this word “sink down/ be brought low” are in Isa. for
instance:
2:9-17 “The proud look of man will be brought low, and the loftiness of man
will be humbled, and Jehovah alone will be exalted in that day… For Jehovah
of hosts will have a day of reckoning against everyone who is proud and lofty
& against everyone who is lifted up, that he may be abased…”
2) Emphasis is on the downward spiral toward the ground. “dust” is the place of humility
3) They will become like the dead described in 8:19 as peeping from the ground when necromancers try to channel them.
4) From this humble position they will talk. It will be humble, quiet words of prayer to God. And THEN God will answer their prayers for salvation in a mighty way!
A) Vs.5-8 describe the sudden destruction of the Assyrian army when they were besieging Jerusalem.
1) Why YOUR foreigners? (strangers-KJV /foreign foes-ESV /enemies-NAS,NIV) Perhaps bringing out irony that Assyria was Judah’s ally before they turned against Judah.
2) The same verb describing the chaff passing or blowing away is used in 31:9 of Assyria’s confidence disintegrating when Hezekiah cast away the idols and God struck Sennacherib’s army.
3) 17:12-14 “Alas, the multitude of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas… nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, but He will rebuke them and they will flee away, and be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind, or like whirling dust before a gale. At evening time, behold, there is terror! Before morning they are no more. Such will be the portion of those who plunder us…”
4) Borrowed from Ps. 83 – multitude of enemies from many nations conspiring against Israel but blown away like chaff and terrified by tempest & storm.
5) 25:5 “You subdue the uproar of foreigners; Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.”
B) God’s pattern is to bring calamity unexpectedly on the wicked when they are feeling most cocky.
1) Prov.6:15-calamity will come upon wicked man suddenly
2) Prov.29:1-He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing
3) Isa 30:13-sudden, instant collapse of wall b/c of iniquity
4) Jer. 4&15 use the word “suddenly” re: Babylon’s overthrow of Jerusalem
5) Jer. 51:8 “Suddenly Babylon has fallen”
6) Mal. 3:1-“the Lord [Messiah]… will suddenly come to His temple” – the same will happen in the end times!
C) This also forces His people to exercise faith up to the last
minute, a thing God delights in.
6 You will be visited from Jehovah of Hosts with
thunder and with commotion and a loud sound, storm-wind and tempest and a flame
of consuming fire.
1) All of v.6 is a threat. Multiple allusions remind that God has worked in the past to strike the fear of God in the hearts of the Jews, and He will appear again both to fight against the nations to save those who trust in Him and to bring the curses of the covenant upon the faithless.
· “whirlwind/windstorm” and “tempest” used as Symbol of God’s powerful presence in Job 1 & Ezek. 1
·
also used regarding the terrifying
presence of God when he gave the Law on Mt. Sinai
Ex. 24:17 “consuming fire” and “loud noise” (Deut
5:22) on Mt. Sinai. Deut 4:23-24 – Do not forget the covenant & worship
idols, for God is a consuming fire. Deut 9:3 – God, the consuming fire will
destroy nations before you. Isaiah picks up the theme that was left off by Moses
(ch. 29, 30, and 33:14 “Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the
godless. ‘Who among us can live with the consuming fire?’”) Recapped by Hebrews
12-Fix your eyes on Jesus and endure hardship, keep the new covenant, not like
Mt. Sinai’s loud noise and tempest, but God is still a “consuming fire.”
· The terrifying manifestations of God’s presence in the rout of the Canaanite peoples by Joshua
o 1 Sam 7:10-God thundered against Philistines with a “loud sound”
o beseigeing in v.7 The first use of this word chronologically before Isa. 29 describes Philistines fighting David in 1 Sam. 28:1
· Later prophecies use these same words to describe the siege of Jerusalem by Assyria, showing that this is a fulfillment of this prophecy
o “whirlwind/windstorm” and “tempest” used to describe the army of Assyria17:13
o 30:27-30 uses storm and “flame of consuming fire” to describe God striking Assyria when they besiege Jerusalem.
· It is also fulfilled by the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar
o Jer.10:22 “The sound of a report! Behold, it comes-- A great commotion out of the Northern land [i.e. Babylon] to make the cities of Judah a desolation”
o “Besieged” in v.7 is un 2 Kings 25:19, describing Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Jerusalem
o “flame of fire” used in Joel 2:5 to describe overthrow of Jerusalem by Babylon
o 36:13 – Rabshekah taunted Jerusalem with a “loud voice”
· These words even apply to the end-time judgment yet to come
o “whirlwind/windstorm” and “tempest” used to describe God’s final judgment of nations in 40:24 & 41:1666:15
o Isa 66:5 flame of consuming fire describe God’s end-time judgment.
2)
The remedy tests the faith of Jews
7. And it will be like the night-mare-vision,
the multitude of all the nations which are fighting, and all of them fighting
against Ariel and ensnaring her and causing distress toward her.
It will be frightening to the Judeans to see Assyria set up a siege of Jerusalem.
3)
The remedy humiliates the Assyrians
v.8 But it will be like the hungry man who
dreams and – look he’s eating! – but he awakes and his body is empty, and like
the thirsty man who dreams and – look he’s drinking! – but he awakes and look,
he is faint and his body is longing. Thus will be the multitude of all the
nations that fight against Mount Zion.
ILLUSTRATION: Ever dreamed that you went through all the work of waking up, but then alarm goes off and you have to do it for real?
- Starts like v.7 “and it will be like a dream”, but with unexpected ending!
* Dreams are transient:
· Job. 20:5&8-the triumph of the wicked is short… He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him; Even like a vision of the night he is chased away
· Ps. 73:19-20-the wicked are destroyed in a moment… like a dream
· Go to the right place to be satisfied! 55:1-3 "Hey every one who thirsts, come to the waters…Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David.”
PROTASIS =like hungry and thirsty man; APODOSIS=thus will be the multitude
Immediate fulfillment: The Assyrians will not get the prize they’re dreaming of when they besiege Jerusalem; they will leave empty-handed.
Isa. 10:12 “So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, ‘I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness.’”
This scenario happens throughout scripture:
· The Bad guys look like they will win, but suddenly God overturns them!
· Egypt’s army before the Dead Sea,
· Caananites in Jericho and Jezreel before Joshua
· The Philistine armies before Saul and David,
· The Assyrian siege of Jerusalem,
· Herod killing every boy in Bethlehem,
· The battle of Armageddon in the end time
ILLUSTRATION: Titanic plaque: “Even God couldn’t sink this ship” God will bring down the haughty.
A) It is God’s nature to give warnings against pride:
B) God warned the Jews that He would destroy Jerusalem if the stopped worshipping Him in humility
C) The words of the warning
9 Pause and be amazed; blind yourselves and be
blind; they have gotten drunk, but not through wine, they have tottered, but
not through liquor.
A) By confessing
our sin
(James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one
another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.)
B) By putting
others first
(Phi 2:3-5 Do nothing from selfishness or empty
conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than
yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also
for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also
in Christ Jesus…)
C) By believing
God’s word rather than thinking we know best
Isa. 66:2b “this is the one to whom I will
look: he who is humble & contrite in spirit and trembles at my
word.”
D) By worshipping God and directing praise and honor to Him rather than to ourselves (or anyone else) Isa 45:22-25 "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. They will say of Me, 'Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength.' Men will come to Him, And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame. In the LORD all the offspring of Israel Will be justified and will glory."