Isaiah 1-2:4 | Hope for a Fallen World | Shaun McGregor

Is there any hope for our fallen world?

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SPEAKER_00 0:05

So reading from Isaiah chapter one through to chapter two verse four. The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hazekia, the kings of Judah. Hear me, you heavens, listen, earth, for the Lord has spoken. I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand. Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption. They have forsaken the Lord, they have spurned the holy one of Israel, and turned their backs on him. Why should you be beaten any more? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness, only wounds and bruises and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil. Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire, your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers. Daughter Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under siege. Unless the Lord Almighty has left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. Hear the words of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Listen to the instructions of our God, you people of Gomorrah. The multitude of your sacrifices, what are they to me, says the Lord? I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals. I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me. New moons, Sabbaths and convocations, I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your new moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you. Even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood. Wash and make yourselves clean, take your evil deeds out of my sight, stop doing wrong, learn to do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Come now, let us settle the matter, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land, but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. See how the faithful city has become a prostitute. She once was full of justice, righteousness used to dwell in her, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water, your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves, they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless, the widow's case does not come before them. Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the mighty one of Israel, declares, Ah, I will vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies, I will turn my hand against you, I will thoroughly purge away your dross, and remove all your impurities, I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterwards you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion will be delivered with justice, a penitent ones with righteousness, but rebels and sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the Lord will perish. You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted. You will be disgraced because of the gardens that you have chosen. You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water, the mighty man will become tinder, and his work a spark. Both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire. This is what Isaiah, son of Amos, saw, concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established, as the highest of the mountains, it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many people will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations, and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plough shares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

And I asked them, what do you think, guys? A relevant topic at the moment? Well, they talked on for quite a while. I had to stop them because there was lots to talk about. And there was a real sense, I think, that at the moment, yeah, we need hope. And that the world seems to be more fallen than it was before. What did they talk about? Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, and then artificial intelligence was thrown in as well. So much was going wrong, so much was a danger. Hope for a fallen world couldn't be more relevant, we said. And yet the start of Isaiah, I don't know whether you felt this, seems seems so irrelevant, so far away. We're on page 686, just the very first sentence. The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah, son of Amos, saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Why does it seem irrelevant? Well, it's so long ago. Have you heard of these guys? The reigns of the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. I'm guessing most of us have never heard of them. We're talking 2,800 years ago. And not just so long ago, but so far away. Where is it? Judah and Jerusalem. Now you've heard of Jerusalem because it's a hot spot. But it is on the other side of the world. And Judah and Jerusalem were just a bit part. They were not major players, they were not superpowers back then. They are unimportant. It's so relevant, our topic, but Isaiah seems so irrelevant. What can I say to convince you? Well, this first king here, days of Uzziah, he had ruled for 50 years. There had been a time of peace and prosperity, and God's people had stopped paying any attention to God. I wonder if this sounds familiar. And then things started changing. The things they'd trusted in, the status quo of the powers, the nations of the world, their time of peace and prosperity seemed to be coming to an end, and they were fearful. Sound familiar? Isaiah says, verse 2, Hear me, you heavens, listen, earth. He thinks this is relevant for everyone, even the whole universe. Why? For the Lord has spoken. What could be more relevant than the God who created us speaking? And we'll see by the end of today that when he talks about Judah and Jerusalem, that's central to God's plans for the world. And in fact, he's got a plan for the world, and his plan, get this, is to end war forever. It's a vision that does give hope. And it's honest about now, what things are like now, where we're going, and how we're going to get there. Today we just get to see a glimpse. First of all, the now. People, fallen people, are the problem. People tell us that the problem is really society or structures or politics or education, and the way to fix the world is to get these things right. But just think about it for a moment. We are putting more effort into all of those things, fixing society, structures, politics, and education more than any other time in history. And so I guess that's why things are getting better. Is that right? No, that's not true, is it? But you don't have to be a student of history. Have you ever lived with someone in the same house? With another person, a parent, a child, a spouse? Or maybe you've just lived with yourself. Isn't that enough to convince you that the source of the problem in the world is not the things out there, but his people. That's what the Bible says. In Genesis 1, God creates everything and it's good. He creates mankind and it's very good. Just a few chapters later, chapter 6, verse 6, it says, God saw all that he has made, and he regretted making mankind. Isn't that sad? His heart was troubled. What had happened? People had fallen. They had rebelled against God and were now abusing one another, and God saw it, and his heart was broken. People are the problem. And so God's solution is to fix people. He called Abraham, he made him a nation, he gave him a law, and placed him in them in a land, Judah, and then the city, Jerusalem, and they were to be the solution for the problems of the world. But sadly, even God's people are fallen. It's a vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem, not about the streets of Jerusalem, but about the people. And it's a very bleak picture. They are practically fallen. I don't know whether you noticed, but in verse 15 it says, Your hands to the people of Jerusalem, your hands are full of blood. Imagine being told that. What does he mean, verse 23? Your rulers are partners with thieves. They love bribes. And you fail to defend the oppressed, the fatherless, and the widows. Instead of defending them, you oppress them and exploit them. And because what God had said about these things wasn't just virtues or commands, they're God's commands, they are practically fallen and personally fallen. Do you hear what he says in verse 2? Hear me, you heavens, listen, earth, for the Lord has spoken. I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. Some of you here this morning, I presume, are parents. Some of you, as you hear those words, you know the heartache of those words. Your children, delightful, beautiful, cute, have come to rebel against you, or you know at least what that would feel like. God says, I reared my children. At least an ox knows its master, but my children don't know me. They have forsaken me. He says about the city that he has made, verse 21. See how the faithful city has become a prostitute. They are so practically, so personally fallen, that even when they practice the very religious rituals that God had given them, that he had commanded, God says they are worthless. Verse 11. I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. And how about verse 15? How would you love to be told this? When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you. God wants them to bring sacrifices. But when they are completely rebelling against him in every other area of life, he will not hear their prayers. This is how fallen his people have become. And right throughout this vision of Isaiah, chapter 6, unclean lips, chapter 53, they're like sheep who have gone astray. This is just a glimpse of what they are like. Somber, isn't it? What should we learn from this? Well, sin is practical. God cares how we treat the weak. If you're a Christian, if you're a follower of Jesus, then I want to ask us this morning: how does our politics differ because we are Christians? What do you think about how we should treat the poor and refugees and what we should do about gambling in our society? Is it actually affected by what God says? How does being a Christian affect what you do with your wallet, with your credit card? It must mean that you're giving to church, yes, but also giving to the poor based on this chapter. And how does it affect how you treat the weak members of your family and friends? Those who others ignore. We ought to see here too that our sin is personal. It's not just about breaking rules, it's about rebelling against our father. So when I'm tempted, tempted by sin, yet again, it's not about crossing a line, it's not about breaking a rule, it's about disappointing my father. It's about going against him, ignoring him. When I come to confess sin, I'm not just confessing that I'm breaking a rule, but that I've rebelled against my father. It's personal. And when we try and explain to other people why it is we need God's forgiveness, we need to talk personally, don't we? That we have let down, that we have ignored, we have rebelled against God. Sin is personal. And because it's practical and personal, God says to us here in this chapter, even when you practice God-given religion, prayer, reading your Bible and coming to church, if you are ignoring him in the rest of life, if you are rebelling against him, God says it is worthless. We're in a fallen world because people are fallen. What hope is there if even God's people are fallen? Like in Isaiah's day? What's God gonna do about it? God gives hope by first of all by judging. This might be surprising. Have a look at verse 5. Your whole head is injured, your whole heart is afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness, only wounds and bruises and open sores. That's a metaphor for what's happening, verse 7. Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire, your fields are being stripped by foreigners. God is judging them because they have rebelled against him, he's allowing their enemies to come and destroy their land. And that's just a glimpse here in chapter 1. The whole of the first half of Isaiah, that's a big dominant part of the vision, until they are taken into exile at the hands of the Babylonians. He is judging them. How does that bring hope? Well, that'll bring hope to the widows, won't it, who are oppressed? To the orphans who are suffering injustice. How else do you bring hope to those people? And more than that, God is purifying his people. Do you see there? There's going to be a few left, verse 8. Daughter Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under siege. There are just a few left, a remnant. And God says, verse 25, like when you're purifying metal, you're purging away the dross, the bad stuff. God is going to do that with his people, judging them. There'll just be a few left, and they will be few, pure. And extraordinarily, God promises that for those few who are left, he will forgive them. Verse 18. Come now, let us settle the matter. America and Iran, ceasefire, let's negotiate. Imagine for a moment that one side, God's people, are completely in the wrong. They have zero power to fix things, no leverage, no strait of hormuz or whatever it might be. They deserve total destruction. What do you think they would be offered by the other side? Come now, let us settle the matter, says the Lord. What are you expecting? Not this. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. Their sins are scarlet. Bribe and theft, exploiting orphans and widows, and with the audacity to bring sacrifices to God, their sins are like scarlet. And for us, every lie that we make, every time you lose your patience with your kids, every time you ignore someone, every time you're ashamed of Jesus, your sins are like scarlet. In Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth has murdered the king. And her guilt, her guilt she can do nothing about. Her hands are clean, literally, but to her they are covered with blood. And she goes mad, trying to wash her hands. Out, damn spot. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Her sins are like scarlet. And God says they shall be as white as snow. In chapter 40, God says, Comfort, comfort my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, proclaim to her. That's what God will do for his people. He will forgive his people and restore them. Verse 25 I will turn my hand against you, I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterwards, Jerusalem, you'll be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Here is the greatest urban renewal project of all time. They are practically personally fallen, a prostitute of a city, and God is going to make them a faithful city by forgiving them and restoring them. Who will he do this for? What is the invitation? Well, verse 16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight, stop doing wrong, learn to do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. True repentance, do you see here? Is never just feeling guilty. It's stopping doing wrong, verse 16, and starting to do right. And this is just a glimpse of the vision throughout Isaiah. What does it say in Isaiah 55? Let the wicked forsake his ways, let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them. Can you see the vision here? Jerusalem now is a fallen people, but God is going to judge them, forgive them, and restore them. How will he do this? How will he judge them and restore them and forgive them? It is through his king and servant. Verse 26, God says they're going to have rulers. I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. They've got rulers at the moment. They've got these kings. But these kings in the line of David, they are no good. They are not the rulers that God's people need. And so God is going to give them a new king. We'll see it in a couple of weeks, chapter 11. He'll rule with justice. He'll give judgments for the poor of the earth. And in the first half of Isaiah, the great hope is that God will give a king. And that strangely, in the second half of Isaiah, in the second half of his vision, the king is nowhere to be seen. He has disappeared, central to God's answer, his solution, gone. And there is a new figure. A new person called my servant. My servant will establish justice. He'll restore my faithful city. And yet he will be despised and rejected and punished. Pierced for our transgressions, he will bear the sins of many. Do you see what's happening? The king is the servant who will suffer. And this is so extraordinary to the Jewish people who came after Isaiah that they could not figure it out. So that when you read the Gospels, like we did in the Gospel of John, the Jews are not looking for someone called the servant. He is so important in Isaiah's vision, and yet they can't grasp how the king could also be a servant and suffer. But we read it, don't we? This side of Jesus, a king who suffers and suffers for the sins of his people. God judged Jesus so that he could forgive and restore us to be his faithful city. The New Testament quotes the book of Isaiah 65 times. It is that important. God's people are fallen, but God gives hope. He is going to forgive and restore those who repent through Jesus. And this hope, this is the last thing I want us to see, this hope is not just for God's people, but for the whole world. At the end of Isaiah, in Isaiah 65, God promises a new heavens and a new earth. But notice what he says. What is Jerusalem? What is the new Jerusalem? It is the new heavens and the new earth. That is what God is going to do. He's going to gather people, all people, and they will be his new heavens and new earth. Chapter 2, verse 2, in the last days. The mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains. It will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. All nations will come to it. In the Old Testament, God had given his people a law, the law, and God's people, by obeying it, were to be a light to the nations, and people would come and find God. But why would you come to a rebellious child to a prostitute city? But when God restores his faithful city, when he makes a faithful people, they will come. Many peoples will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, verse 3, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. In the last days, Jesus sent out his disciples from Jerusalem so that the nations would come and walk in God's ways. People are the problem. But God's message in Jesus fixes the problem. And as we share the hope we have in Jesus, as we invite people to come and see Jesus, as we invite people to Alpha, for example, we're doing verse 3. Come, come and see Jesus. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from us. But finally, God in Isaiah, the vision of Isaiah, promises a wonderful future. There's a glimpse here in chapter 1, verse 19, we'll eat good things of the land. That's a small vision. I've mentioned a few times over the last few weeks. In chapter 24, a feast where God will destroy death forever. Chapter 65, I'll create a new heavens and a new earth. But I think the most precious hope, the glorious future at the moment, is in chapter two, isn't it? Verse 4, he will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plough shares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Yesterday was Anzac Day. We keep hearing of more and more wars. As far as I know, no one in our church has actually lived in a war zone. In a country where a war was going on. But our deepest longing, even though we haven't been involved, is for war to end. The cycle of violence where generation after generation hate and fight each other, God says He will settle disputes and they'll be done. The billions of dollars that is wasted on weapons, the children as young as five who are kidnapped and forced to fight. They will beat their swords into ploughshares, their spears into pruning hooks. No, they will train for war no more. After the First World War, people thought that that was the war to end all wars. After the Second World War, we thought we needed something to help that along a little. So we created the United Nations. Opposite the United Nations headquarters, there is a monument. It is Isaiah chapter 2, verse 4. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and they shall train for war no more. Do you believe it will work? I was struck by King Charles III, his message on the hundredth anniversary of the birth of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Here's what he said. Much about the times we now live in, I suspect, may have troubled her deeply. I think that's true. But I take heart from her belief that goodness will always prevail, and that a brighter dawn is never far from the horizon. That sounds nice. Do you believe that? For as a young Princess Elizabeth put it on her in her first ever public broadcast, aged just fourteen, we can each play our part to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place. I'm sure Elizabeth believed that at fourteen. I'm not sure she did in her 90s. Do you really think that people will fix the problem? When people are the problem? Maybe you see this clearly and you've actually given up hope that war will ever end. That you're in despair. I can understand that. Or maybe you've trusted God for the future, but you have narrowed down the hope, maybe through the Gospel of John, even, that the hope is merely about eternal life for you. It's really just a Christian version that goes on for much longer of the superannuation retirement dream. Is that all you're hoping for? Now God says he has hope for a fallen world. By forgiving and restoring his people, gathering the nations to come in, and ending war forever. And he's shown he can do it by giving his king, servant Jesus. What do you think? Is the vision of Isaiah relevant today? God answers our deepest longings, doesn't he? Here is a hope worth having, and a hope worth sharing with other people. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you know our deepest longings, and we thank you that in a way they are your deepest longings too. You long to fix the problem, to forgive and restore your people, and for all people to come and be part of this. We praise you for this. Father, help us to find our hope, our hope in the Lord Jesus to see it clearly. To not give up and for our hope not to be too narrow, for one day you will end war forever. We praise you for this in Jesus' name. Amen. We've seen