•Isaiah 66:15-24
•Concluding Isaiah (Salvation, Judgment, and Responsibility)
•15 “For behold, the LORD will come in fire,
•and his chariots like the whirlwind,
•to render his anger in fury,
•and his rebuke with flames of fire.
•16 For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment,
•and by his sword, with all flesh;
•and those slain by the LORD shall be many.
•17 “Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the LORD.
(Isaiah 66:15-17, ESV)
•18 “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19 and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. 21 And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.
(Isaiah 66:18-21, ESV)
•22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth
•that I make
•shall remain before me, says the LORD,
•so shall your offspring and your name remain.
•23 From new moon to new moon,
•and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
•all flesh shall come to worship before me,
•declares the LORD.
•
(Isaiah 66:22-23, ESV)
•24 “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
(Isaiah 66:24, ESV)
•Main Point
•These verses show the reality of the situation between God and humanity
•We are deserving of great judgment, but we have incredible hope
•Those who turn toward God receive peace forevermore
•Those who turn away from God will find judgment for their sins
•Application Points
•Concluding Isaiah (Salvation, Judgment, and Responsibility)
•We began over two years ago with Isaiah proclaiming to the nation that they had abandoned God
•Isaiah concludes the way it all began…salvation and judgment
•Judgment does not come from other nations or gods, nor does salvation come from their own hands
•Both are found in the hands of God Himself
•Will they reach for the hand of judgment or salvation?
•Which hand they reach for leads to radically different conclusions
•
•
“16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
(Isaiah 1:16-20, ESV)
•Application Points
•Concluding Isaiah (Salvation, Judgment, and Responsibility) [2]
•In this we see the ramifications for reaching for salvation or judgment
•In salvation, being transformed by the power of God for good
•In accepting this grace it means following after the Servant Messiah who bled and died to take away our guilt (Isaiah 53-54)
•To be willing and obedient will lead to all the promises, the greatest of which that God would be with His people
•The hand is open before us, it is God’s to give and He gives freely
•This salvation is not limited to His own people
•There are none too depraved, to sinful, who will not receive grace should they truly turn in faith and repentance
•This is all possible because of the Servant Messiah…it all hinges on Him and overflows to all who believe
•
•Application Points
•Concluding Isaiah (Salvation, Judgment, and Responsibility) [3]
•This, too, is a theme Isaiah has declared that God is Sovereign
•This is also why His salvation can be so far reaching, as He is the Creator, Sustainer, of this whole cosmos which includes all peoples
•This is also, however, why judgment exists
•In the first 40 chapters it was not only His own people who were rebuked, but all the known nations as well
•God is the God of both the believer and the unbeliever
•This is not a message that the world wants to hear
•It does not want to bow the knee to anything, but expects all to bow the knee to it
•Isaiah’s proclamations have not only been an offense to the children of Abraham, but to all peoples
•It is the greatest reality for Isaiah that God is above all other powers and dominions
•Isaiah knows the fear of encountering such a God as this (Isaiah 6)
•He also knows that salvation is possible because it was this same God who cleansed his own lips causing transformation (Isaiah 6)
•
•Application Points
•Concluding Isaiah (Salvation, Judgment, and Responsibility) [4]
•This is true in Isaiah not only for persons, but also peoples
•Throughout Isaiah we have seen individuals and communities coming together to glory in God (Isaiah 60-63, 66)
•Yet the opposite is also true, individuals and nations suffer the judgment of God
•Those who refuse truth, seek injustice, unrighteousness, will find nothing but the end of a sword (Isaiah 1-39, 57-59, 66)
•Salvation and judgment
•Salvation is by God’s power brought about because God is so wonderful
•Now that we are at the end, the real questions are before us as individuals, as the Church community, and then further outside of our own community
•Will we seek truth, justice, and righteousness?
•Will we be obedient to God?
•
•Application Points
•Concluding Isaiah (Salvation, Judgment, and Responsibility) [5]
•Or will we seek lies, injustice, and unrighteousness?
•Will we seek to be vessels of our own pride and selfishness?
•Will we be disobedient to God, living in rebellion, refusing to acknowledge the great work God has done?
•To me, there is no other option than to acknowledge what Isaiah acknowledges
•To embrace what Isaiah proclaimed
•To seek the same God that Isaiah saw, high and lifted up
•This God is worthy of us
•I believe that he God Isaiah describes, the God who spoke through Isaiah, is the true God and Lord of all
•I believe that to follow Him here and now will lead to good things here and now for us as individuals, but also as a community and beyond to the society around us
•
•
•Application Points
•Concluding Isaiah (Salvation, Judgment, and Responsibility) [6]
•But, that also means I believe the warnings are true as well
•To turn away from God, to seek our own way, will only lead to destruction
•That there will be judgment and death for those who spurn the hand of God
•Salvation and judgment
•A hairs breadth away
•
•
14 “Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
(Joshua 24:14-15, ESV)
•Application Points
•The Gospel of Christ
•Origins
•Where it begins
•Fall
•What went wrong
•Redemption
•How it is fixed
•Glorification
•Where it at leads
