ISAIAH 26:1-6
TRUST IN GOD’S PROTECTION
Philippians 4: 6-8
Because of God’s victory over the city that ruled the world through oppression the prophet pens a song that will be sung by the redeemed when the Messiah establishes His millennial kingdom. Isaiah pictures himself standing in the redeemed land with the remnant listening to the people express their thanks to and confidence in God. He hears them reflect upon what Christ’s triumphant earthly return means to them. They are determined to keep faith with the Lord God who kept faith with them in their time of great need. It will take steadfast trust to not only appreciate but to participate in the future God has for His people (CIT).
I. OUR STRONGHOLD, 1-2.
II. OUR STEADFAST TRUST, 3-4.
III. OUR SOVEREIGN’S PROTECTION, 5-6.
Let’s start first with OUR STRONGHOLD in verse 1. In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; He sets up walls and ramparts for security.
In that day God will demonstrate that He destroys the false but raises up the true. It will be a time marked by praise and thanksgiving by those permitted to reside within the security and peace of Jerusalem. In recognition of the faithfulness of His great salvation this song of praise is lifted up to Him. This song will be sung in the land of Judah. The song’s background is the reversal of fortunes (25:1-5) for God’s humble will be exalted and the aggressive oppressors are laid low.
In contrast with "the city" that ruled the world being destroyed (24:12-13; 25:2), the redeemed will have a strong city. Throughout the world the redeemed will live in cities and towns, but the strong city (Jerusalem) is where the Messiah will reign. The city will be a place of security and blessing for the world’s redeemed inhabitants. Because of the Messiah’s presence there, that city is figuratively said to have salvation for its walls and ramparts (sloping fortification or earth or stone, 2 Sam. 20:15). Its defenses and blessings will be supernatural.
Man made walls and fortresses can not save us from the perils which threaten our life. The only true defense and salvation is that which comes from God. Despite temptations that come to doubt our God we also should make known that He is a tower of strength against the enemy.
Verse 2 tells us the key that opens the gates. "Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter, The one that remains faithful.
This city, so formidably secure, will open its gates for the righteous, the ones who remain faithful, to enter. The mark of acceptability is relational righteousness with the Lord. None can live in this city unless God and His character is the passion of their lives.
The righteous nation seems to be a reference to the remnant of Israel. Other nations will have places in the kingdom, but believers in Israel will have special positions.
II. OUR STEADFAST TRUST, 3-4.
Verse three begins to set forth the certain ground of hope for God’s people. The steadfast mind Thou will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in Thee. [ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee. KJV]
The person who finds peace has cast himself upon God with out any reservations. The double-mined man is unstable in all his ways (Jas. 1:6-8; Mt. 6:24). A fixed disposition of trust in God is required to experience the security of God.
The mind that is steadfast has its thoughts, purposes, and intentions focused. Focused on what? On the Lord God. How do we focus our mind on God? We focus our mind on God through meditation on His word. If we daily spend time focusing our life before God by meditating on His Word, God will keep us in His peace. Over the years of fellowship together with our Maker this peace eventually will grow to become perfect peace. (Actually the Hebrew is a double repetition of the word shalom, or shalom, shalom. Peace is therefore emphatic, a peaceful peace, a complete peace.) People who continue to trust in the Lord enjoy perfect (complete, genuine) peace. Wholeness and fullness of well-being, true repose in the sunshine of God’s favor, belongs to those whom God keeps. The result of a mind stayed on God is a disposition of peace.
The person who steadfastly looks to God can know an inner oneness which makes possible a confident out-look even in the darkest hours. In exchange for our mortality, short-sightedness and weakness, faith receives God’s perspective, immortality, strength, and presence. That is security far, far beyond anything this world offers.
The promises God keeps with us are intended to create confidence in His Word and faithfulness to Him. Those who abide in His Word and cultivate faithfulness, find peace, a deep, restful constant assurance that God cannot forsake His Word nor His promises. For those whose mind is fixed upon the promises of God, the outcome of all events is peace. These faithful few will know the peace that God alone is able to give.
You begin your pursuit of peace when you trust JC. You find the peace of God because you make peace with God. How do you make your peace with God? You trusted Jesus Christ as your own personal Lord and Savior. Jesus provides salvation through the cross. Jesus made peace with God for us by the shedding of His blood for the forgiveness of our sin. You first must make peace with God by deciding to follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Once you make peace with God you can receive the peace of God. You can develop a deep abiding relationship with God. Then daily choose to place your mind on God and make the purpose of your life a walk with God. Through this growing personal relationship you develop a deeper and fuller trust which gives peace, and eventually yields a perfect peace in whatever life brings your way. You learn to let the peace of God rule in your heart by focusing life upon Christ Jesus (Col. 3:15).
It is a characteristic of every truly good man that he trusts God by placing himself under God’s guidance and leadership, and living in dependence upon Him. Those that trust in God have their minds stayed upon Him, firmly and faithfully cleave to Him at all times, and under all events. These believers find satisfaction in God and God keeps them in perpetual peace.
The human heart by nature is not stable. Our mind is prone to waver and change with every shifting wind of doctrine if it has no firm foundation upon which to rest. When it reposes upon the Lord, however, it abides firm and constant, preserved in His perfect peace, for it is set not upon the changing sands of human opinion, but upon God, the Rock Eternal and unchangeable.
Verse 4 is the logical assertion of the truth of verse 3. Trust in the Lord forever, For in God the Lord we have an everlasting Rock.
If it is true that trust in God results in a steadfast mind which is kept in peace, then all persons should be urged to trust in the Lord. The issue of trust is always the key. In whom or what are you trusting? The reality, extent, and depth of your peace should tell you.
The cry of the redeemed is for all men to place their trust in the One with whom redemption is found. Trust involves a renouncing of confidence in oneself or in any other man and placing reliance upon Yahweh alone. All that desire real hope in this life and the true peace that God alone can give them, must place their confidence in God. They cannot obtain peace on their own for their own minds are unstable and rest upon nothing solid, nothing eternal. People must trust in the Lord, for He alone is able to give them peace, yes, even perfect peace.
The stated reason to trust God is because He is the Rock of Ages. The Lord God is the rock who endures forever. He is the Eternal One. He is the only Rock upon which eternal life can be built. All the assaults and aberrations of time itself cannot change or alter Him. He alone stands sure and enduring. The mind, therefore which rest upon Him, the person who takes refuge in Him, likewise is secure. God is the firm and tested foundation upon which the life of man may rest. In an uncertain world, confidence that the Everlasting Rock is there for you is a priceless possession.
Peace can be found only in the Eternal God who has revealed Himself in the Bible. So trust in Him who was, who is, and is to come. He is the Rock of Ages, a firm and lasting foundation for faith and hope upon Whom to build your life. The house built on that rock will stand in a storm. Those that trust in God not only find in Him, but receive from Him, everlasting strength. This strength that carries them through life also will carry them into everlasting life, into that blessedness which is forever and ever. Therefore let us trust God every day and never cast away nor lose our confidence.
In the north Atlantic, ICEBERGS are often seen in the wintertime. Ships sailing the Atlantic are often caught in violent storms. Mighty vessels are tossed about like toys by the mountainous waves which are driven by ferocious winds.
How different it is with the icebergs. Like majestic, white castles, they glide placidly through the heaving sea. They are defiant of the mighty waves which are hurled against their towering walls and glistening heads. They do not bob about like a cork because their major portion is deep in the ocean where there is calm. Only one-ninth of an iceberg is above the ocean surface.
Likewise, the Christians’s mind can be protected from the distracting waves of doubt, fear, and worry caused by troubling circumstances. When our lives are hidden with Christ in God, the storms of life are powerless to take from us the peace and repose we have in Christ. How wonderful it is that while the storms of live are at their height the trusting soul may experience a deep-down calm and quiet confidence.
American pastor and author A. T. Pierson (1837-1911) described the peace of God as "that eternal calm which lies far too deep in the praying, trusting soul to be reached by any external disturbance."
[Someone once outlined the words of Isaiah 26:3 this way: "You-a precious God. Perfect peace-a priceless possession. Whose mind is stayed on You-a present focus. Because he trusts in You-a powerful faith." Notice that 26:3 begins with God and ends with God. Perfect peace is when you begin and end your day with God also. Be stayed on Him and be stayed in Him. To abide in Him is to have the Lord’s perfect peace.]
The believer who is confident of God’s providence, who rests in His grace, and who relies on His Holy Spirit will experience the miracle of His quieting peace. When we keep our mind on God, God keeps our mind at peace.
III. OUR SOVEREIGN’S PROTECTION, 5-6.
"For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the unassailable city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust. (6) "The foot will trample it, The feet of the afflicted, the steps of the helpless."
The Lord has brought the proud and oppressive city (some say a compilation of all cities opposed to the Lord) down to the dust. When He lays the unassailable city low, He will bring down those who trusted in it also.
There will many who place their trust in it, this the greatest city ever built to the power and wisdom of man. There is also a warning here. God’s people should beware of inhabiting that proud city. For just as the righteous will dwell in His city, so the defiled will dwell in the city of man. It is better to be among the humble who triumph in the end that among the mighty who will be crushed. The proud might afflict and trample upon the helpless, but God will reverse the tables for His people when He returns. [Oswalt, Isaiah, p. 473]
[7 The way of the righteous is smooth; O Upright One, make the path of the righteous level. ]
CONCLUSION
The destruction of Yahweh’s enemies will be the final out come of His coming.
He is mighty to save His own. Seeing that we have a victorious God, let us rest in Him. Let us be encouraged to trust in the Lord forever no matter what may come. We have been in many trials, but never in one where God has failed us. We can rest assured that His everlasting strength will be there as our help and fortress as it has ever been.
Will you trust in God and His promises? You will only if you come to God and make your peace with Him here and now. For those who do, God offers a relationship that develops your faith in Him, which leads to experiencing more and more of the peace of God in the here and now of your daily life.
God is aware of your circumstances, but He calls you to live above not beneath your circumstances. He calls you to steadfast confidence in Him and in His Word.
I do not know your circumstances tonight, but I serve a God whose strength is as limitless as His love, and Who has purposed to bless all those who will commit themselves to Him. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee."
Will you focus your mind and your life on God and trust Him? If you do the peace of God which surpassed all understanding will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus also.
Rock of Ages #
