Isaiah 32-33
Return to Righteousness
The Coming King Vs. 1-8
Warning Against Complacency Vs. 9-20
Be Gracious to Us Vs. 1-6
Acknowledge His Might Vs. 7-24
Intro:
Have you ever wished you could return something?
Maybe it was a gift that was given to you by a relative
But you can’t return the gift because it would hurt the feelings of person
My mom was notorious for giving gifts that missed the mark
What made it worse is that she took it personal if you didn’t like it
So growing up I was left with gifts that I had no use for
My mom would always ask why I didn’t wear a piece of clothing or use some item she gave me
I became very creative in my excuses
One Christmas she gave my wife a sweater
It was one of those awful sweaters that had a landscape scene on it
Not only that it was bulky and heavy
My mom loved these types of sweaters and wore them all the time
So she naturally thought Jen would like one too
When Jen opened it I just bust out laughing because that was never going to see the light of day
Jen was very nice and thankful but it went to the back of the closet immediately
From that time on whenever Jen couldn’t figure out what to wear I would pull that bad boy out
But what if you could return a bad decision, a wrong relationship, a period of time?
You could wipe it all clean and start fresh
That's what God offers when we return to Him
God is wanting Judah to return to Him and he has a plan
Wickedness is reigning and destruction is on the horizon
Yet there is a remnant of people who remained faithful to the Lord
With those people God will return Judah to righteousness
It will happen by the way of a righteous king and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
That is what we see Isaiah tell them today
Isaiah 32-33 is a prophecy about the return to righteousness
Even in the midst of all the wickedness God is telling them he is going to return them to righteousness
What a great message of consolation
That no matter how far we stray God works to return us to Him
Read Isaiah 32:1-4
Transition:
We are finishing the seven woes Isaiah is pronounced on Judah
We’ve seen Israel be chastised for going to down to Egypt for help
God wanted to help them for free but they went and paid Egypt for basically nothing
How many times have we paid for help from man without turning to God?
God notices when we put our faith and trust in him
He takes it personally when we look elsewhere for our help
He loves to be approached by his children
Cast all of our cares on him for his burden in light and his yoke is easy
Of course Israel doesn’t listen and Egypt is defeated as is Judah with the exception of Jerusalem
Like the earlier units that begin with a woe oracle, this section contains several messages of hope for the future.
This new period of divine blessing will include righteous rulers who will protect God’s people, the marvelous opening of the eyes of the blind, and the Spirit’s gift of fertility to the land, justice among people, and peace for everyone.
This future time is contrasted with the present period of complacency in Jerusalem that will lead to mourning, no fertility, and no peace.
Such contrasts were intended to cause the heart of the audience to yearn for God’s future kingdom of peace and reject the ways of this present hopeless world.
The Coming King vs. 1-8
vs. 1-2 A righteous king
It is easy to think that the king referred to here is Jesus
Considering how much we have been talking about His Millennial reign
But the king referred to here is actually Hezekiah
We will see him in a couple of weeks but he was a righteous king in the midst of corruption
2 Kings 18:1-5 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. 3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. 4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). 5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.
He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, removed the high places, & He trusted in the Lord
God is promising that thru Hezekiah and his princes the people would find justice and protection
More importantly there will be a return to righteousness
Hezekiah is an actual foreshadowing of Jesus Christ
What Hezekiah did was a precursor to what Jesus will do when He comes
His reign will be so righteous that people will find shelter and rest from the storm in him
vs. 3-8 Righteousness restored
When that righteousness is restored several things happen
Eyes and ears are opened
Is 29:18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.
Understanding will come to the flustered
The right order will be restored as well
No longer will the fool be royalty or the scoundrel noble
This means that God will deal rightly with those who have prospered in evil
It shows us what lifestyle they live
The fool speaks folly, his hear is busy with his sin, twists the word of God to fit his ways, and leaves the needy deprived
The true noble person plans noble things and stands for something more than himself
This is what it will look like when Jesus returns to reign
But Jesus gives us a warning
Warning Against Complacency vs. 9-20
vs. 9-14 Complacent Women
Now Isaiah turns to another woe: Lazy women
It’s not that all the problems of the country are because of them
He has been going after the men for several chapters
He goes after the women because they have a unique place in society
He is calling them to be faithful to God
This time he addresses the lazy women who are stirring up problems thru their talk
These were the upperclass women, the wives of the foolish nobility in vs. 5-7
Sennacherib would press in around Jerusalem in 701 BC
This would threaten the harvest for the year (vs 12-13)
Cities would be deserted, in fact of the 46 cities of Judah 45 of them were plundered
Yet they didn’t change their lifestyle
They continued to live opulent lives and cause trouble thru their laziness and talking
The connection with the preceding paragraph is that these women complacently trusted the lies and foolish plans of the fools and scoundrels
This is reminiscent of Isaiah 3
Is 3:16-17 Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet, therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.
In fact in a year they would be taken from their wealthy accoutrements and be reduced to sackcloth
These lazy wealthy ladies will be reduced to begging in the streets for bread
This is a warning to idle talkers
This is so prevalent today
You see people, especially women, who hang out online all day build this false reality
They form into these groups and egg each other along all the while not doing anything
They offer opinions, shoot out subtle digs on those they don’t like, and build one another up
Yet what do they have to show for all of that?… nothing
vs. 15-20 The Spirit poured out
But that all is going to change in an instance
Two things will happen
First will be the outpouring of His Spirit
Second will be a fruitful field
So God is waiting to pour out his Spirit upon those who are righteous
Remember our righteousness does’t come from us doing good
Instead it is imputed to us through Jesus Christ
What blocks the Spirit and fruit in us is usually some kind of sin
Israel wasn’t righteous because they were full of wickedness
But when that is removed then God can start to pour out His Spirit
Ezek 36:25-27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules
God wants us to return to Him
To confess our sin and allow him to pour into us His Holy Spirit.
What will be the results of that?
vs. 17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
Be Gracious to Us vs. 1-6
vs. 1 King of Assyria
Now we see the seventh and final woe
This is directed towards Sennacherib, the Assryian king
He has destroyed everything in his path to this point
He even took money from Judah so he wouldn’t attack them
But he betrayed that pact and destroyed all of Judah except Jerusalem
In unbelief, King Hezekiah had tried to “buy off” the Assyrians (2 Kings 18:13–15);
but Sennacherib had broken the agreement and invaded Judah anyway.
He was a thief, a traitor, and a tyrant; and God promised to judge him.
He had destroyed others, so he would be destroyed.
He had dealt treacherously with nations, so they would deal treacherously with him.
God is not mocked; sinners reap what they have sown
God is telling him right now that he will be betrayed and destroyed
Isaiah 17:14 At evening time, behold, terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us, and the lot of those who plunder us.
vs. 2-6 We wait for you
This is the prayer of the godly remnant when Jerusalem was surrounded by the Assyrian army.
Isaiah had promised that God would be gracious to them if they would only trust Him
So a few devout people turned His promise into prayer.
God spared Jerusalem for David’s sake and because a believing remnant trusted God and prayed.
Never underestimate the power of a praying minority
Is 26:8 In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.
Acknowledge His Might vs. 10-24
vs. 10-13 I will arise
Psalm 68:1 God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him!
vs. 14-16 Walk righteously
vs. 17-24 A mighty river
Closing:
