42. Admonitions to Repent (2)
Hymn: RHC 227 O Glorious Day 559 Near the Cross 324 Trusting Jesus
Isaiah 9:19-21
19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother. 20 And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: 21 Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Admonitions to Repent (2)
OUTLINE
(1) Yet Continue to Be Defiant (v8-13)
(2) Fearful Awaiting the Kindling of God’s Wrath (v14-21)
Continue…
Israel and Judah’s departure from God, Isaiah and other prophets were raised of God so as to awaken their conscience to their waywardness that they may come back to Him. But it was clear that Israel and Judah had sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind. They had deviated from the straight course of covenant responsibility and so suffered the curses stipulated in the covenant documents.[1]
How is it that a nation that has so deviated from God lasted so long but for the patient mercy of a loving God who remembers His covenant promises, though His people had forgotten theirs?
The entire mission of Isaiah has its objects and central point the two events of his time which constitute epochs for the theocracy; namely, the expedition against Jerusalem made by the allied kings of Syria and Ephraim, and the invasion of Judah by Sennacherib.
The former of these events was a test from God for Judah and the house of David, in which it was their duty to decide in favour of faith and confidence in the omnipotence and the grace of the Lord; instead, they placed their confidence in the earthly worldly power of Assyria, and, as a punishment, were given over to this worldly kingdom, and by it were drawn into the secular historical process of the heathen nations, in order that, being purified by severe judgments, they might be led through deep sufferings to the glory of their divine calling.
The first group of prophecies of Isaiah refers to this event and its consequences for the theocracy (chapters 2-27). Its kernel is formed by the cycle, chapters 2-12, whose centre lies in the history of the event of Judah by the allied kings of Syria and Ephraim, and the prophecy spoken on the occasion of this event (chapter 7). This event is preceded by hortatory and warning utterances: nearest to it is chapter 7, the announcement of the judgment upon the hardening Israel, and its consequences, along with the calling of the prophet, and Isaiah 5, the threatening of the judgment of rejection and abandonment upon the theocracy fallen from its calling. The discourse of Immanuel resolves the contradiction between the downfall of Israel and its divine destiny, and the delineation of the judgment as a total and radical sifting of the two houses of Israel (Isaiah 9:7-10:4).[2]
19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.
A rising, whirling, turning column of smoke, depicts the scene of the wickedness of the people as kindling fire that begins with briers and thorns, a small bush fire but soon devouring the thickest of the forest itself and the forest fire kindling great smoking and darkness that could be seen in the skies – Isaiah 9:18 (KJV) For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
God’s wrath poured out is more than the earth can bear. When this wrath was poured out, men acted in cruel self-destruction, each turning upon his brother and close relation. It was not to say that in this civil war, men acted like beasts, for even the beasts seem to spare one another. Rather, it was the man in man that appeared; not a beast but in his depravity.
God blinded them and gave them up to a reprobate sense, and their monstrous wickedness bursts forth against one another.[3]
20 And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:
Ravenous men even devour their own flesh. They look to the right and bit what they can find, but they are not satisfied. Brethren should defend each other; this civil war is so severe that they seek to devour one another. One turns to the right and the other turns to the left, but there is no satisfaction. Members of one’s own tribe or even family were designated the arm, for they were its stay and support. To such lengths did this cannibalism go that men thus turned upon one another. Surely the punishing hand of God was present. After the death of Jeroboam II the judgment fell and continued until the enemy came and bore the northern kingdom away.[4]
This was the historical account. At the midpoint of the eighth century, a series of events commenced which, within thirty years, would bring about the collapse of Damascus, the conquest of Samaria, and end of the nation of Israel, and the capitulation of Judah. The rise of the mighty Assyrian Empire under Tiglath-Pileser III and his indefatigable war machine. For more than 130 years Assyria terrorized not only Judah but the entire Near Eastern world until Nabopolassar and his illustrious son Nebuchadnezzar finally eliminated that menace forever.
2 Kings 17:7 (KJV) For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
2 Kings 17:8 (KJV) And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
2 Kings 17:9 (KJV) And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
2 Kings 17:10 (KJV) And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
2 Kings 17:11 (KJV) And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:
2 Kings 17:12 (KJV) For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
2 Kings 17:13 (KJV) Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
2 Kings 17:14 (KJV) Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
2 Kings 17:15 (KJV) And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.
2 Kings 17:16 (KJV) And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, eventwo calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
2 Kings 17:17 (KJV) And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
2 Kings 17:18 (KJV) Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
2 Kings 17:19 (KJV) Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
2 Kings 17:20 (KJV) And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
2 Kings 17:21 (KJV) For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.
2 Kings 17:22 (KJV) For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
2 Kings 17:23 (KJV) Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
2 Kings 17:24 (KJV) And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
The fall of Samaria and deportation of its population took place because the Israelites sinned against the LORD – the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God (2 Kings 17:7). God’s people had become disloyal to their Suzerain who had brought them redemptively out of Egyptian servitude. They expressed disloyalty by worshipping other gods (2 Kings 7:15-17).
And they did all this despite His persistent reminders to them through His spokesmen, the prophets, that what they were doing constituted to high treason. The inevitable result was the judgment of God, a judgment which took the form of exile from the land of promise.
Judah was no batter (2 Kings 17:19). They imitated Israel’s apostasy and so could expect a similar judgment. That apostasy was epitomized in Israel’s very first king, Jeroboam, who became to all subsequent generations a model for iniquitous behaviour. It is little wonder that the only remedy for 210 years of covenant infidelity was to be uprooted from the land of the covenant and delivered from the land of the covenant and delivered over to the very nations for whom Israel was responsible as servants of the LORD. The irony is inescapable.[5]
The last words of the Apostle John to the church in the Epistle of 1 John were concerning idolatry – 1 John 5:21 (KJV) Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
What is idolatry? An idol is anything in our lives that occupies a place that should be occupied by God alone. Anything that holds my life and my devotion, anything that is central in my life, anything that seems to be vital, anything that is essential to me; an idol is anything I live and on which I depend. Anything that moves and rouses and attracts and stimulates is an idol. An idol is anything that I worship, anything to which I give much of my time and attention, my energy and my money; anything that holds a controlling position in my life is an idol.[6]
God’s Solemn First Commandment (v21b)
– keep yourselves…
This word “keep” conveys the activity of a watchman who guards, protects, watches over, and guards closely, to preserve the relationship you have established with Christ.
This is conveyed in the previous verse.
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
Guard your relationship with Christ. Let Christ be central in your devotion. Let Christ be your first love. He is the only true God and we should have none other. Realize that we are God’s people, bought with the most heavy price, the blood of God’s only begotten Son.
First things first, remember the first commandment given to Israel in Mount Sinai amidst thunder and lightning?
Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
The phrase “before me” means “before my face”. It especially refers to God’s omnipresence and omniscience. It reminds us at the very beginning of the commandments that He, with whom we have to do, searches the heart. If you have forgotten the name of our God or stretched out your hands to a strange god: shall not God search out? For He knows the secrets of our hearts. He knows our downsitting and uprising, He understands our thoughts afar off. He compasses our path and our lying down and is acquainted with all our ways. He has beset us behind and before and laid His hand upon us. We cannot flee from his presence. In heaven, in hell, in the uttermost parts of the sea, everywhere He is present. The darkness hides not from Him; the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to Him. He possesses our reins. Every sin, therefore, and in particular every sin against this commandment, is committed in the immediate presence of God. For there is no “creature that is not manifested in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13). God’s understanding is infinite and concealment from Him is impossible.[7]
Psalm 44:20-21 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Plumer said, “This commandment requires us to have a God…This precept requires us to have Jehovah for our God…whosoever takes Jehovah for His God must know Him, must confess God in all our ways…must love God…must worship God.”
This is the reminder that the Apostle John conveys an imperative, a solemn command that our will be conformed to God’s will for our lives. It is the way of blessing. It is the way of well-being, the way of peace and joy, the way of sweet communion, of holiness, of a truly beautiful, abundant Christian life.
Realize the Destructive Effects of Idolatry (v21c)
…from idolatry.
Who are our idols? It may be another person. A man’s idol may be his wife. Parents may also worship their children; children occupy their minds and hearts that should be occupied by God. There are many who worship their work, their studies, and their profession. They live for it, they sacrifice for it, and God is pushed on one side in order that they might get on in their profession and their status. This position – this big thing, this thing they want above everything else, this thing for which they live – any such thing that occupies the place of God is idolatry. Perhaps the idol is self, some worship their country.[8] Today, children often spend untold amounts of time on computer games and other vices.
The Apostle John reminds them of the danger to their spiritual life. When we depart from God, God’s peace is taken from us. But when we stay with God, His peace abides with us.
Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
The history of Israel conveys clearly a vivid picture of the heinous nature of idolatry. Lest we fall into the hands of the living God, we remember how idolatry crept into Israel because King Solomon loved many strange women.
That was the beginning of the fall of the kingdom.
21 Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
The people of God, the holy nation, the light of the Gentiles, devour itself. Most closely related were the two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, and now the tribes which bore their names, the two principal members of the north, are fighting one another. Jealousy between these two had broken out before, and now when they can unite, it is only for the purpose of attacking Judah.
How wicked is an evil union! Herod and Pilate were friends at one time when Christ was crucified. Only one thing seems to have exceeded the mutual enmity of Ephraim and Manasseh, namely, the hatred of Judah. Civil war may easily lead to foreign war. All these woes were but the beginning of strife; the end was not yet. The hand of God was stretched out still. The nation had not turned, and God’s hand had not turned.[9]
When a man departs from God, it is indeed a slippery downward to destruction.
The Apostle Paul warned Colossians 3:5 (KJV) Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: And Colossians 3:6 (KJV) For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Colossians 3:8-10 (KJV) But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
He comes by the word “mortify” which is the same Latin word as mortuary—a place where you put dead people. To mortify means to destroy the strength of something, to destroy its vitality, to subdue or deaden. The word mortify implies that sin will not die out of itself but that we must kill it and death can be a painful process. Put them to death. Kill them. Take no prisoners. Show no mercy. That’s what Paul is commanding. This is not the self-denial of asceticism but because we now have a new heart, a new desire, a new power…Christ in us and we by His Spirit now kill those passions one by one. [Precept Austin]
The secular dictionary definition speaks of subduing our bodily appetites, especially by fleshly acts such as abstinence or self-inflicted pain or discomfort!
… and covetousness, which is idolatry:
πλεονεξία as bad behaviour, a disposition to have more than one’s share greed, covetousness, avarice (Luke 12:15); as a matter of being compelled to, as what is grudgingly given (2 Corinthians 9:5).
Jesus taught in Matthew 7:13-14 (KJV) Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
As a Christian, Jesus bids you examine your life for fruits that account for your salvation. Are we reflecting the life that is described for us in Jesus’ portrait of the godly man? Is your Christian witness as light and salt, do you hunger and thirst after righteousness, after the things of God? Do you look forward to bible studies; Do you relish your quiet time with the Lord? Do you worry and have no peace in your heart because of the lack of material things of this life? Are you trusting and seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, believing that He will take care to add all these to you?
Let us cherish life through the strait gate by believing and trusting in Jesus Christ daily. Jesus lived a sinless life to die as a Lamb on the cross for the remission of sins and He rose again on the third day for our justification to give to all who will believe eternal life. If you thought you were walking on the narrow way but in fact, upon closer examination, you are walking on the broad way, may you decisively pull out of the wide gate and flee to the strait gate and walk the narrow way. Choose rather to endure the troubled and afflicted way of the beggar Lazarus of Luke 16 if that is what you have to do. Lazarus had nothing significant in this life, eating only the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, but Lazarus had entered the strait gate and walked the narrow way. When he died, he was found in safety in heaven.
CONCLUSION
Jesus persuades His listeners to enter the kingdom of heaven through the strait gate. This kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God. Israel failed the Lord after receiving all the blessings! All who enter the strait gate begin this journey of walking with God.
This is opposed to the kingdom of Satan, the prince of this world, which is called the wide gate. It is wide because it is all-encompassing and anything goes, lawless and godless. It describes this fallen world that we live in.
The kingdom of heaven is described as the kingdom of light as opposed to darkness. It is the kingdom of righteousness as opposed to sin, shame and the self-righteousness of the Pharisees. Just as Jesus had asked the multitudes to appreciate the heavenly wisdom that He was imparting to them, today He asks the same question of you — Will you choose to enter this kingdom that leads to everlasting life or that kingdom that leads to everlasting destruction? May the Lord help you to choose God’s way. Amen.
[1] Eugene H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, Baker Books, 2006, 392.
[2] C.F. Keil, Introduction to the Old Testament Volume 1, Hendrickson Publishers, 1988, 287.
[3] Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, Eerdmans, 1965, 354.
[4] Ibid., 354-355.
[5] Eugene H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, Baker Books, 2006, 399-400.
[6] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Crossway, 2002, 728.
[7] William S. Plumer, Law of God, Sprinkle Publications, 1996, 104-105.
[8] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ, Crossway, 2002, 731.
[9] Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, Eerdmans, 1965, 354.