46. Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

Hymn: RHC 101 Leaning on the Everlasting Arms 100 He Lifted Me 96 He Keeps Me Singing

Isaiah 10:20-34

²⁰ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹ The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. ²² For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. ²³ For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land. ²⁴ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. ²⁵ For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction. ²⁶ And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. ²⁷ And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. ²⁸ He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages: ²⁹ They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled. ³⁰ Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. ³¹ Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. ³² As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. ³³ Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled. ³⁴ And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

OUTLINE

A Remnant Preserved in Christ (v20-27)

INTRODUCTION

God is the Refuge or Dwelling-place of His people, their Protection amid the storms of life, and the unfailing Source of comfort and blessing to them in their pilgrimage state. Over them is His sheltering protection, and underneath them the support of His everlasting arms.

Well said by Moses in Deuteronomy 33:27-29 (KJV) The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

The promise of God to His people to protect and defend them, to preserve and keep them for His glory is true comfort in the hearts of God’s people throughout the ages.

The enemy now for His people dwelling in the land of promise is the Assyrians in which the LORD has prophesied would be reduced to a small miserable number.

Assyria’s forest will not be completely destroyed, for there will be a remnant. A few trees will remain. These, however, will be so few in number that a child could write them down. A little child who cannot count very high will find no difficulty in writing down the few remaining trees of this forest. A picture of barrenness and desolation.

Whereas for the people of God, a remnant to the Mighty God Jesus Christ shall experienced deliverance. There will not be desolation but the breaking forth of singing and rejoicing and restoration and rebuilding.

As Moses testified in Psalm 90:1-2 (KJV) A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

The everlasting God, the Keeper of His people, truly, they may entrust posterity to His eternal care.

Likewise, the Apostle Paul exhorted our great God in 1 Timothy 1:17 (KJV) Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Timothy 1:15-16 (KJV) This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

How glorious it is that God’s people understand and comprehend the length and the breadth and the height and the depth of His salvation!

A Remnant Preserved in Christ (v20-27)

The idea of the remnant speaks of a true remnant, the true people of God. Indeed, the promise is that the seed of Abraham would be as the sand upon the seashore for multitude or the stars in the sky for numbers. Here is explained that not the physical descendants of Abraham are truly blessed of God but the remnant, whom the LORD calls His own. For they are true to their profession, true Israelites as Jesus said of Nathaniel – John 1:47 (KJV) Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

John 1:48-49 (KJV) Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.

Nathaniel gave a true profession of Christ and worship Him as the King of Israel.

This is called the remnant. Indeed, the remnant shall return (v21), as fulfilled in the name of Isaiah’s son, “Shear-hashub”, “a remnant shall return.” Assyria’s remnant was a few scattered trees of the forest, and there was no hope; Jacob’s remnant had hope as broad as the promises of the God of truth.

Here is the promise of salvation promised, the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. For this to happen, there must be a remnant! A remnant shall return and this is the remnant of Jacob. It is the true Israel, the elect of God, who will not lean upon the smiter Assyria but upon the Mighty God.

The exhortation of the LORD to His people is that they fear not who has the LORD as their defender.

Psalm 27:1 (KJV) A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

It is by extolling who God is (v1), putting mine fear in their place in my heart (v2-3), setting our priority in the worship of God (v4) and rejoicing in His deliverance (v5-6).

Faith says, “I cannot believe that he who has brought me so far is going to let me down at this point. It is impossible; it would be inconsistent with the character of God (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 1899-1981).

Fear says, “I cannot overcome the enemy, it will overcome me, I am so afraid, just look at their might, you will surely agree with me, we are doomed!”

Dear brethren, the only sure way not to be terrorized by fear is to keep a respectful fear of God, maintaining a reverent attitude to God. The psalmist put God first in His rightful exalted position of reverential worship.

Then there are also ungodly fears that imprisons, paralyzes, disheartens, sickens, that put hopelessness at the heart of life which must be brought and cast at the throne of grace (v 12) and put in its rightful place of not incapacitating us (v 1-3).

Extolling Who God is!

(i) The LORD is my light and my salvation. (v 1a)

(ii) The LORD is the strength of my life. (v 1b)

When fear grips us, we grope in our self-imposed darkness.

There was a middle-aged man who has been out of job for some time and has not been coming to church also for a long period of time. With much prayer, the Scriptures was opened to him in psalm 27.

Psalms 27:1 “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Fear and darkness had surrounded and overwhelmed his heart. He needed to see light again.

Jesus Himself declared, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life (John 8:12), also in John 12:46, Jesus says, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”

This brother in Christ was given the chorus “I Know the Lord will Make a Way for me” that when we call unto our Lord, He will show to us the light at the end of the tunnel of our trial.

I know the Lord will make a way for me (2x)

If I look to Him in prayer, darkest night will turn to day

I know the Lord will make a way for me.

I also shared with him a John Sung chorus, “Only Jesus, Only Jesus”.

Only Jesus, only Jesus

Only He can satisfy

All my burdens are turned to blessings

When I know my Lord is nigh.

The realization who our God is, that He is the light that guides us along life’s dark path ways, all fears are dispelled in our hearts. He is the God of our salvation. He shows us the way out of our problems. Most importantly, He saves our soul from the everlasting destruction of hell and puts us on the pathway to heaven. This is the psalmist’s trusting heart toward his God, therefore, he is able to say – the LORD is the strength of my life.

When fear grips and overwhelms our heart, we see that our problem is bigger than God. But if God is truly God, then our problems must not be beyond God’s help! It is a logical and comforting thought. Having a correct perspective of God in our heart will help us to put our enemies in their place.

²⁶ And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. ²⁷ And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed becausee of the anointing.

Recall the slaughter of the Midianites by Gideon and his throng with just three hundred men, the multitude of the Midianites were subdued.

Judges 6:2 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt (boast) themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.

The 32000 men Israelites army has been reduced to 10000 when permission was granted for the fear and afraid to return. Deuteronomy 20:8-9 gives the injunction for their action “And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, “What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart. And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.” The fearful and trembling man God cannot use. Pride after the battle robs God of glory, and fear during the battle robs God’s soldiers of courage and power. Fear has a way of spreading and one timid soldier can do more damage than a whole company of enemy soldiers. Fear and faith cannot rule the heart at the same time. Either fear will conquer faith and we’ll quit, or faith will conquer fear and we’ll triumph. God cannot use people who constantly look at the enemy instead of at Him and are constantly filled with fear instead of faith!

John Wesley made this statement “Give me a hundred men who fear nothing but sin and love nothing but God, and I will shake the gates of hell!”

Judges 7:4-8 “And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.”

The 10000 remaining were further reduced to 300 by eliminating all those who knelt on the ground as they drank from a spring of water. The 300 who were chosen drank by using their cupped hands to carry the water from the spring to their mouths, always keeping head erect, as though to keep a constant lookout for the lurking enemy. Israel could learn a lesson about watchfulness from this symbolic action, but the more important God was teaching was that He would give deliverance to Israel in an impossible situation. This is a great test of faith of Gideon and the 300 men. They know in their hearts that victory is from the God and will give Him all the glory in their victory.

In the above instructions from the LORD, Gideon followed fully and wholeheartedly. Complete obedience to God’s Word is paramount to fighting God’s battle. The recipe for success must therefore be the ability to follow instructions. A good leader is therefore a good follower.

The lesson of humility is taught so that we may depend wholly on God and give to Him all the glory. We see our own insignificance and the greatness of God. Humility is the superior heart knowledge that enables, sanctifies and direct head knowledge. As the psalmist said “LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.” John Calvin gave the secret of learning the knowledge of God and doing His work is in humility. The first is humility, the second is humility and third is also humility. A Christian writer said, “Being humble involves the willingness to be reckoned a failure in everyone’s sight but God’s.” The poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850) said “The flower of sweetest smell is shy and lowly.” Gideon was humbled to the dust following God’s instructions to reduce Israel’s army from 32000 to only 300. With 32000, it is already an impossible task against the overwhelming horde of Midianites but to allow 22000 to return further show the impossibility of the task, in terms of human strength and power.

A parallel passage that describes Gideon’s victorious battle is 2 Corinthians 2:14 “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.” “The man who is self-complacent, content with his own endowment, but blind to his wretched condition, does not aspire to God”, says John Calvin. It is only when we see our poverty, infirmity and depravity, it leads us to perceive and acknowledge that God is all strength, wisdom, goodness. Through our imperfections, we are to experience His perfections. This is what it is in fighting God’s battle. We have a true understanding of our own depraved condition and let God fight the battle for us, beholding the awesome hand of the living God moving amongst unworthy vessels.

Fighting the Lord’s battle require our best, spare no effort, go in faith. Once we have done that, we leave everything in the hand of God to order it as He pleases! I do plead for God’s mercy, but it is of the Lord’s sovereign pleasure to give the results. We must accept it as from the Lord and be at peace with Him and ourselves in the heart. I believe it is also the same in God’s service. We have the role of sharing the gospel, we prepare the material, pray and do the best we know. The outcome is God’s work. How God will use His Word by the mighty working of His Spirit to accomplish His purpose is His prerogative, we have to submit to the outcome and leave the results to God. Salvation is of the Lord!

God used Gideon’s enemies to prophesy Israel’s victory by the dream of a Midianite soldier. Notice how God timed the whole event to encourage Gideon’s heart. He went to the enemy’s camp, at precise moment to hear the conversation relating the Midanite soldier’s dream. The barley bread is the staple food of Israel. It is low class food. It showed the low rank and poverty of Israel. It speaks of Israel’s weakness and humiliation. The Midianite soldier interpreted the dream for Gideon to hear and he kowtow to God in reverential worship. Gideon was so overwhelmed by the goodness of God and His mercy that he fell on his face in submission and gratitude.

God build them down to 300 men. Split them up in 3 groups of 100 each, surrounding the camp. Blow his trumpet, smash the pitcher. The pitcher is a clay vessel to keep water, to keep water cool. The useful object was broken, the light shown through. Pitchers made to hold water not to be broken. A most unusual strategy. The enemies thought they were surrounded. The Israelites shouted a sword for the Lord and for Gideon, it produced a surround-sound effect, it frightened the enemies attacked their own. They thought each light represent a whole battalion of men. The best way to get rid of enemy, by breeding discord and discontent, no unity of spirit and of heart, they killed each other.

Israel won a great victory pursuing the enemies until final victory. Judges 8:28 Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.

Fighting God’s Battle God’s Way is done in faith with God’s guiding hand and courage to fight until final victory.

To be continued…

46. Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

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