In the mid to late 1800’s when the Second Great Awakening had taken place, there were a lot of attempts to create the conditions of a revival. Famous preachers such as Charles Finney and Billy Sunday were traversing the country setting up emotionally-charged camp meetings where people were whipped up into such a frenzy that they did crazy things. Charles Spurgeon spoke into that environment with a sermon he entitled “The Kind of Revival we Need.” Here’s an excerpt from it:
I am glad of any signs of life, even if
they should be feverish and transient, and I am slow to judge any well intended
movement, but I am very fearful that many so called revivals in the long run
wrought more harm than good. A species of religious gambling has fascinated
many men, and given them a distaste for the sober business of true godliness. But
if I would nail down counterfeits upon the counter, I do not therefore
undervalue true gold. Far from it. It is to be desired beyond measure that the
Lord would send a real and lasting revival of spiritual life.
We need a work of the Holy Spirit of a supernatural kind, putting power into the preaching of the Word, inspiring all believers with heavenly energy, and solemnly affecting the hearts of the careless, so that they turn to God and live. We would not be drunk with the wine of carnal excitement, but we would be filled with the Spirit. We would behold the fire descending from heaven in answer to the effectual fervent prayers of righteous men. Can we not entreat the Lord our God to make bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the people in this day of declension and vanity?
He goes on to list what a true revival should include:
T “a revival of old-fashioned doctrine… a revival of old-fashioned gospel preaching like that of Whitefield and Wesley. The Scriptures must be made the infallible foundation of all teaching; the ruin, redemption and regeneration of mankind must be set forth in unmistakable terms.”
T “a revival of personal godliness…” and
T “a revival of domestic religion. The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the puritans, but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. How can we hope to see the kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own children?”
As we come together on Resurrection Day, when we remember the revival of our Lord Jesus from the dead, it is fitting for us to consider the qualities of new life in the kind of spiritual revival God does in our lives.
We concluded the first part of Isaiah 57 last week looking at the horrors of unfaithfulness to the covenant with God. Today I want to focus on the second half, the good part, which starts in the last half of verse 13: “But he who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and he will take over my holy mountain.” and verse 15 which says that God will dwell with the lowly in spirit to bring revival!”
12. I myself will relate your “righteousness,”
and your deeds – even they will not profit you.
13. When you cry out, let your collections deliver you!
A wind will lift – and a breath will carry off – all of them.
But the one who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and he will take over my holy mountain!
14. And he will say,
“Build up! Build up! Face the way!
Pick up so as to keep from obstructing from my people’s way.”
15. For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, dwelling forever, and whose name is holy,
“High and holy I dwell - and with the beaten one and the lowly of spirit,
to revive the spirit of lowly ones and to revive the heart of beaten ones.
16. For it will not be forever that I contend, and it will not be for always that I am angry,
otherwise his spirit from before my face would be overwhelmed,
though I myself made his life-breath.
17. With the iniquity of his profiteering I was angry, and I struck him to hide, and I was angry,
but he went on turning back in the way of his heart.
18. I have seen his ways,
yet I will heal him,
and I will lead him,
and I will complete
comforting for him and for his mourners,
19. creating the fruit of lips:
‘Peace! Peace! to the nearby one and to the faraway one,’” says Jehovah,
“and I heal him.
20. But the wicked are like the tossed sea,
for he is not able to rest, but his waters toss mire and mud.
21. There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
Blessings are promised to the one who is continuously “taking refuge” in God rather than in anyone or anything else. Consistently taking refuge in God is the characteristic of the life of the one who gets these blessings.
Isaiah has mentioned this already in chapter 30, when he wrote: “1 Woe, rebellious children,” declares Jehovah, “to make a plan - but not from me, and to weave an alliance - but not of my Spirit, 2 those who proceed to go down to Egypt – but have not asked my mouthpiece, to take refuge in Pharaoh’s strength and to seek shelter in Egypt’s shadow - 3 but Pharoah’s strength will become shame to you, and shelter in Egypt’s shadow will become humiliation…” 15 For thus says the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you will be saved; in quietness and in trust will be your strength.”
Jesus provided an example of taking refuge in God, as Peter explains in Acts 2:22 "…listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know, 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 25 For David says of Him [Psalm 16:8-11], 'I saw the LORD always in my presence; for He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; moreover my flesh also will live in hope; 27 because you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow your Holy One to undergo decay. 28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.' 29 Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh suffer decay.”
By keeping God always in sight and at His right hand, Jesus provided an example of taking refuge in God, trusting that even if He suffered death, His Father would bring him back to life. Jesus has taken over possession of God’s holy mountain, including heaven and His people, the church, on earth. In like manner, we who will make a practice of taking refuge in God will also be given a place in God’s kingdom and will reign with Christ (2 Tim. 2:12, Rev. 5:10 and 22:5)
Whoever takes refuge in God will also prepare the way for His coming. v. 14 He will say, “Build up! Build up, face/prepare the way, pick up /remove from the obstruction from the way of my people.”
i. This Hebrew word for obstruction/stumbling block in v.14 is mik-shole. The only other time Isaiah uses this word is in chapter 8 “13 It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy, and He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread. 14 Then He shall become a sanctuary; but to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a mik-shole rock...” God will become a mikshole/stumbling-block. How’s that?
ii.
Ezekiel used this word mikshole synonymously with “iniquity”
…their iniquity has become a mik-shole… (7:19)
"…Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all
your abominations… the mikshole of iniquity…” (14:6-7)
If the stumbling block is sin/iniquity, how did the Lord become a stumbling
stone? Paul tells us in
iii.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin
to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of
God in Him.” (I Peter 2:8 also specifically calls Jesus the stone of
stumbling.)
In becoming a man and dying on the cross, taking upon Himself the punishment
for our sin, Jesus became a mikshole – iniquity, and one over which people
stumble. When He was lifted up on the cross, the obstacle of sin, which
separated man from God, was lifted out of the way of God’s people so that they
could be reconciled to God!
i. confessing our own sins to God, asking for forgiveness in Jesus’ name,
ii. confessing our sins to others in order to promote healing of harms (James 5).
iii. getting rid of things that distract you from glorifying God and God alone at home and everywhere else you have power to clean things up,
iv. And we call others to turn away from sin as well so that they may also find the path cleared toward God.
1. The first verb in the Hebrew text of v.14 is in the active voice, not the passive, so I see no reason not to translate it as something which the one who takes refuge in God says effectively, “Look at the way God wants things to be done, let’s build that kind of life here and now and get rid of the obstacles of sin that stand in the way!”
2. This was the message of John the Baptizer, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” He prepared the way of the Lord (Matt. 3:1-3)
3. Taking refuge in God does not mean ignoring the sin you see in the world, it means attacking that sin with your heavy-duty earth-moving equipment of prayer and the word of God so that the way may be cleared of sin.
Perhaps you have been on the road crew for a while. You’ve been praying for years and trying for a long time to get through to people, and you haven’t seen any changes happen. Maybe there’s even stumbling blocks in your own life that you’ve been trying to clear out for years and you wonder if those stones will ever be moved out. What hope does God hold out to us that this life of taking refuge in God and clearing out stumbling blocks will ultimately do any good?
i. EXALTED: God is “high and lifted up/lofty/exalted.” We’ve seen this phrase in chapter 6 where Isaiah describes His view of the Lord in the throne-room of heaven. “I saw the Lord; He is high and lifted up…” The Servant of 52:13 – Jesus – is also described in the same language!
ii. ETERNAL: God “inhabits eternity/lives forever” – set apart from all creation by having no beginning and no end. “…the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light…” (I Tim. 6:15b-16a)
iii.
HOLY: God’s “name is holy” -
47:4 “Our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name, the Holy One of
Israel.”
This phrase “Holy One” is a favorite name of God for Isaiah.
54: 5 “For your Maker is your Husband – ‘Jehovah of Hosts’ His name. And the Holy
One of Israel is your Redeemer, and He is called, ‘God of all the earth.’”
i. v.15 “…High and holy I dwell and with the beaten and the lowly of spirit…”
ii. 33:5 “Jehovah is exalted, for He is sitting on high, saturating Zion with justice and righteousness. 6 And He will be a stability of your times, a treasure-trove of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge…” He is both sitting on high and involved on earth.
iii. God dwells with the “beaten and lowly of spirit.”
1. This includes those who foolishly tried to compete with God for glory and who have come to admit that they were beat because God knocked them down a notch or two in the contest (2:9-17),
2. It includes those who are horror-stricken how low they’ve stooped to serve their sinful lusts – such as the depths of sin we saw in v.9
3. And it includes those who have been convicted by the words of people on the divine road crew as they prepared the way of the Lord by identifying sin and calling us to repentance (v. 14 & 40:4).
4. “Jehovah inflicts punishments in His wrath, but to such who suffer themselves to be urged thereby to repentance and desire for salvation. He is… near with His grace… He will redeem His people provided it has been truly humbled by the sufferings appointed.” - Delitzsch
iv. Psalm 34:8 “O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!... 18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
v. Why is God Imminent? Why does He make His dwelling with those who are humble?
i. Guess when this word “beaten/crushed/bruised/contrite” in v.16 and the word “struck” in v.17 were used last? Isaiah 53 – describing Jesus who was “beaten” for our iniquities and “stricken” by God! Once again we follow in Jesus’ footsteps: When He was beaten and crushed by our sin, God revived His life, raising Jesus from the dead, assuring us that in time we too will be raised from death to everlasting life if we take refuge in Him.
ii. 1/3 of the occurrences of this word “contrite/beaten” in the Hebrew Old Testament are found in the book of Job, describing Job’s humbled condition. But Job took refuge in God by faith, and God revived Job. In the New Testament, James (5:11) instructs us to remember this: “We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”
iii. King Hezekiah of Judah was brought low through sickness (Isaiah chapter 38), but he took refuge in the Lord and it says that the Lord “revived” him. It is God’s nature to bring life.
iv.
Isaiah 26:19 “Your dead ones will live and my dead body –
they will arise. Y’all who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!”
Isaiah 55:3 “…Listen and let your soul live, and let me cut an
everlasting covenant for y’all…”
v. Jesus said, “I came that they might have life and have abundantly!” (John 10:10b) This was His mission, to enter into humanity and bring eternal life – revival!
So, will it do any good to trust in Jesus and take refuge in Him and try to prepare His way on earth? Yes! The first reason is that the all-powerful God is at work in the earth for the purpose of bringing life to those who are humble. The second reason is that the chastisement you are seeing now which makes it look like all is hopeless is actually a short-term tool God is using to get done what He wants done.
i.
Isaiah 64:5b “…You were angry, for we sinned…”
God has a bone of contention; he gets angry when we violate
His standards.
ii. God identifies one particular sin that the people of Isaiah’s day were committing: “unjust gain/covetousness/greed/profiteering.” God also promises in the New Testament to punish greed:
1. 1 Timothy 6:9-10 “…those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
2. Colossians 3:5-6 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience”
iii.
3:13 “Jehovah has taken His stand to contend;
he stands to judge peoples. 14. Jehovah will enter into judgment with the
elders of His people and its princes: It is you who have devoured the vineyard,
the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 15. What’s with you? You crush my
people, and you grind the face of the poor...”
God contends with His people through chastisement.
However, it is important to understand that:
i. The only way to pay for sin is by suffering eternal death/hell.
ii. The “wicked” who are described in vs. 20-21 will end up paying for their own sin by suffering eternal death/hell/separation from God.
1. The wicked people here are not gross criminals and murderers. They are merely people who “keep turning back to the way of their own heart” rather than following God’s ways. They are people who have organized their life around themselves rather than around God. They are focused on what they can get out of life – “greed/gain” v.17 – rather than on what God wants.
2. Psalm 1:5-6 “the wicked will not stand in the judgment… the way of the wicked will perish.”
3. The wicked are described as being like a “tossing sea” (cf. Gen 49:4; James 1:6). John Calvin wrote that this is result of violating their own conscience, causing “terror and alarm.”
4. “There is no peace for the wicked” (cf. Isa 48:22). Let it sink in that this condition will never end. Their disquiet and inability to find peace will last forever.
iii. When God struck Jesus on the cross, and Jesus, as the eternal son of God, died and suffered hell and “made His grave with the wicked” (53:9), He paid the punishment for sin, providing a way for those who organize their life around Jesus to be cleared of the punishment that will come to the wicked.
iv. When we sin, God still chastises His people who have organized their life around Him, but it is not to make us pay for our sin – that has already been paid by Jesus on the cross, rather, through chastisement, God seeks to bring us to humility and to separate us from attachment to sin and cause us to look to Jesus for salvation - to take refuge in Him.
1. 54:8 “With flood of wrath I caused my face to be hidden from you for a moment, but with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you, says Jehovah your Redeemer. 9. This is like the days of Noah to me, when I swore off the waters of Noah from again going over upon the earth, thus I have sworn off from the wrath upon you...”
2. Isaiah 28:26 “He disciplines him toward justice; his GOD teaches him… 28 It will be crushed… He will thresh it - although not to be threshed unendingly, so the wheel of his threshing cart will clatter, but his horse will not crush it.”
3. Psalm 103:8-11 “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. 9 He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.”
4. Hebrews 12:5-10 [quoting Prov. 3:11-12], “’…My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.’ … we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.”
v. God brings us to the end of ourselves in His chastisement in order that we will take refuge in Him.
1. He brings us to the point of fainting where we have no more strength of our own.
a. He did this with Jonah who cried out from the belly of the fish at the bottom of the sea in utter desperation (Jonah 2:7), and Jonah was saved.
b. God did this with David who often complained that his “heart was overwhelmed” (Psalms 61:2; 77:3; 102:1; 142:3), and God preserved David.
c. God did this to the people of Israel through exiling them to Babylon (Lam. 2:11-19), but saved a remnant who came back 70 years later and rebuilt.
2. v.18 uses the word “mourners” to describe the people who will be restored:
a. “The mourners are those whom punishment has brought to repentence” (Del.)
b. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Mat. 5:4)
c. “There is no forgiveness without mourning over sin, yet even this forgiveness is sheer grace,” (F. Barker) i.e., this forgiveness is not due to our mourning, so that God alone gets all the glory:
d. Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah has anointed me to preach good news to the meek; He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives… 3 to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion… beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified.”
vi. God’s chastisement is well-measured. It does not result in death but rather in giving new life.
1. He does not give too much because He “knows our frame and remembers that we are dust” (Ps. 103:14).
2. Isaiah used a word at the end of verse 16 which is translated variously “breath of life/soul/spirit,” but it is not the standard Hebrew word for “life” or “breath” or “soul” or “spirit;” it is the word first used in Genesis 2:7 when God breathed His “life-breath” upon the clay, and man became a living soul. God remembers how He created us. He knows our limits and works carefully within our limits to create His desired result of repentance and faith. He will work to preserve the life He creates.
3. Interestingly enough, after Jesus’ resurrection, He did this same action to His disciples in the upper room, that His father did to the first man in the Garden of Eden: He breathed on them. This was an impartation of spiritual life, described in John 20:22. Then in the very next verse John 20:23, Jesus started talking about forgiving sins, still building up the highway of God and getting rid of the stumbling blocks of sin. This is what God has always been about in history – giving sin-free life to people!
What does that sin-free life look like? What do the blessings of taking refuge in God look like? What will it look like to inherit that holy mountain God promises?
i. In Genesis (24:27) to describe how God led Abram’s servant to the right place to find a wife for Isaac,
ii. In Exodus (13:21) to describe God leading the people of Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness into the promised land,
iii. and it’s used many times in the Psalms of David to describe God’s guidance of him as a king – the most famous probably being the 23rd Psalm, “He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
God promises to guide you through the dry and difficult places as you trust and obey Him!
What a mind-boggling set of promises! What hope is offered here!
T Do you believe these promises?
T Will you keep taking refuge in God so that people begin describing you as one who takes refuge in God?
T Will you follow the example of Christ who went before us?
T Will you join the spiritual road crew and dig out the spiritual stumbling stones of sin in your life and in people around you?
T Do you believe that the Almighty God is at work around you and in you to bring life to sin-sick souls?
T Will you believe His fabulous promises of healing and guidance, restoration and peace?
T Will you flesh out here and now the things that God is working to complete in your life? Will you take comfort in Him and speak with your lips the things He desires?
T This is how revival will look, and this is what I expect God to do here in our hearts this Resurrection Day.
At the conclusion of Spurgeon’s sermon on Revival, he said:
“Given a host of men who are steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, the glory of God's grace will be clearly manifested, not only in them, but in those round about them. The Lord send us a revival of consecrated strength, and heavenly energy! Preach by your hands if you cannot preach by your tongues. When our church members show the fruits of true godliness, we shall soon have inquiries for the tree which bears such a crop. The coming together of the saints is the first part of Pentecost, and the ingathering of sinners is the second. It began with "only a prayer meeting", but it ended with a grand baptism of thousands of converts. Oh that the prayers of believers may act as lode stones to sinners! …pray that a true revival has commenced tonight! Let it spread through all our households, and then run from church to church till the whole of christendom shall be ablaze with a heaven-descended fire!"
Nate Wilson’s website – Isaiah Sermon Expositions