Behold, Me! (Isaiah Sermon 77)

One of the hardest aspects of our faith, our Christian faith, is the invisibility of God. The God of the Bible is described as a majestic, radiant being who dwells in unapproachable light, His glory fills the Heavenly realms with such overpowering radiance that the holiest angels have to cover their faces even to be in His presence. This awesome creator God, this awesome ruler God, He is the source of everything in existence and He rules over all things actively. It is by His power that every atom in the universe holds together and keeps from flying apart. It is by God’s power that the very being of all creation in the world has come.

Such a majestic God is also the source of all beauty. The saints and angels are arrayed in concentric circles, it seems, in the heavenly realms around God, constantly celebrating His beauty, and His omnipotence, and they’re doing this with incessant praise. They never stop saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, who was and who is and who is to come… The Almighty.” But this radiant, beautiful, powerful God is invisible. And that’s hard for us. 1 Timothy 1:17 says, “Now to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever, amen.” John 1:18, “No man has seen God at any time.” 1 Timothy 6:16 says, “[God] who alone is immortal, who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one ever has seen or can see. To Him be honor and might forever. Amen.”

Our eyesight, our physical eyesight, is the source of much of what we know about the universe. And by our eyesight, light floods into our minds in various colors and shapes and teaches us what the physical world around us is like. We get so much information from our eyesight. Jesus said in Matthew 6:22, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” Now, in CS Lewis’s classic, Till We Have Faces, one of the characters named Psyche, the Greek word for soul, talks about the strong feelings of desire, “It was when I was happiest that I longed the most. Do you remember? The color and the smell, and looking across at the Grey Mountain in the distance? And because it was so beautiful, it set me to longing, always longing. Somewhere else there must be more of it. Everything seemed to be saying, ‘Psyche, come!’ But I couldn’t not yet come. I felt like a bird in a cage when all the other birds of its kind are flying home. The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing to reach that mountain to find the place where all the beauty comes from. Do you think it meant nothing, all this longing, the longing for home? For now death feels not like going, but going home.”

Beautiful, isn’t it? There’s a source of all this beauty, and we want to go there, we want to see it, we want to see God. But this hidden God we have to see now only by faith. This hidden God, this invisible God, is the source of all this beauty, all the life, all the creativity, all the love and peace and joy that’s ever to be found in the universe, God is the source of it all. To be able to see him would be the perfection of sight itself, but we cannot. God is the invisible Creator, the invisible Sustainer, the invisible Emperor of all visible things that fill our eyes. But none of this is an accident, this longing to see what we cannot see. There is a spiritual realm around us. We talked about it last week, remember, in Isaiah 64:1, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.” Rend means to rip, to tear, “Make a tear in the heavens and come down.”

We talked about it in terms of the baptism of Jesus. Remember when Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were torn open, in Mark’s Gospel, and the Holy Spirit descended. We talked about it in terms of Stephen’s moment of death, you remember, as he’s being martyred, in Acts 7:55-56. “Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.'” As though there’s some kind of… I don’t know what to call it, a membrane or a wall or something between us and the spiritual realms.

And through that membrane, we cannot pass, not yet anyway. We cannot reason our way through it, we cannot fly high enough to get over it. Or search for some secret portal, like in the Narnia Tales, CS Lewis, there’s always some portal in different stories, like of course, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. There’s the wardrobe. If you go back far enough into the closet, you’ll come through into Narnia. And then we’re into the spiritual realms.

But there isn’t such a place. God is the invisible, he is the unseen, He dwells in a spiritual realm that surrounds us, we cannot reach it. And we cannot know anything about this mysterious hidden realm except that God, and here’s the word, “reveals it to us.” That He reveals things to us. That is the word that the bible and theologians always use, Revelation. That’s the name of the final book of the Bible to which I’m going after the Book of Isaiah. So pray for me because I don’t know what the book means. I know the big themes, it’s the details that get me. And I’m going to preach in my usual verse by verse, chapter after chapter-style, and I’m hoping that by the time I get to some of those chapters that I’ll know what they mean. So pray for me.

But we’re going to Revelation. But that’s the word, “revelation,” it is the purpose of that book, and really indeed of all Scripture, to reveal the hidden to us. To pull back the veil, the unveiling. A pulling back of the veil so we can see the hidden, the invisible God. But God has chosen to reveal things to us, to reveal Himself to us, to communicate to us of His existence and His nature and His purposes. Now, he does this in what theologians call “natural revelation,” revelation in nature. So nature communicates to us. “The heavens are telling the glories of God.” Psalm 19. Or Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse.” That’s natural revelation.

But God does it even better, by what theologians call “special revelation.” By the scripture and by Jesus. The special revelation of God by the words of the Bible. He unveils His truth through the words of the prophets and the apostles. Amos 3:7, “Surely the sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants, the prophets.” Now God has done this revelation most clearly, in the person and work of His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the author… The Hebrews tells us, God’s effectively final Word to the human race. “In the past, he spoke through the prophets at various times, many times, various ways, but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son… The Son is the radiance of God’s glory, and the Son is the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.” Colossians 1:15, Jesus Christ “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

Now, I’ve talked about this before, but this is why I’m beginning the sermon this way. One word, in the King James Version, again and again, that just comes out again and again, but usually is omitted in these newer translations, is the word “behold.” And we’re going to follow the word “behold” here. “Behold.” Honestly, other than reading scripture, when was the last time you said, “behold?” Imagine a housewife, “Behold, dinner is ready.” Wouldn’t that be exciting? That would be amazing. Or a husband coming home, “Behold, I am here.” Something like that. It’d be a bit odd. I mean, I think of it in terms of a magician, maybe even an amateur magician, “Behold!” and out comes the rabbit out of the hat. Something like that. Behold. I don’t know, you have to say it with a deep voice. “Behold.” But there’s a sense of something being unveiled, something being displayed. And these English translations either just omit it entirely or they use the word “look.” I’m going to say it like that, “Look, I’m doing something great.” It just isn’t the same, friends.

So I’m starting a campaign. The next translation needs to keep the word “behold” wherever it’s found. And where is it found? In Isaiah 65, it’s found in the King James Version nine times in these verses. Behold, behold, behold, it’s like God’s unveiling some amazing things in this chapter. And we’re going to look at it this week and next week, we’re not getting through all of Isaiah 65 this week. But look across, you’re not going to see it in… ESV actually holds on to most of them, thankfully, praise God. But NIV does and others don’t.

So, in Isaiah 61, it’s there twice, and none of the translations, I think, have it. I think KJV does, but it’s literally “Behold me, behold me,” in the Hebrew. “I said, ‘Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.’” And then Isaiah 65:6, “Behold, it is written before me, I will not keep silent, but I will repay.” And then four times in verses 13 and 14, “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry, behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty, behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame. Behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart, and wail for breaking of spirit.” And then verse 17, “For behold, I create a new heavens and a new Earth, and the former thing shall not be remembered nor shall they come to mind.” And then verse 18, “But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy and her people a gladness.”

Nine times, God says “behold,” as though he’s saying to the human race, “Watch what wonders I’m going to unfold before you. I’m going to unveil some amazing things before your very eyes, things you have not known. You wouldn’t have any other way of knowing, except that I’m communicating them to you. Watch, oh human race, watch and be amazed at this. Look on with wonder at what I will display to you.” So, I’m going to organize this sermon and an entryway into next week’s sermon, God willing, by these words, “behold.” So first, “behold me.” God’s saying, “behold me,” as He reveals His saving grace to the gentiles. Secondly, “Behold my judgments,” on wicked Israelites that have forsaken Him for idols in verses two through seven. And then thirdly, “Behold my servants singing while the wicked are shamed.” Put to shame, verses eight through 16. So that’s this week’s message. And then next week “Behold my new universe that I am creating.” And we’re going to step into that and try to understand some of the most amazing and perplexing verses in the Book of Isaiah.

I. “Behold Me!”: God’s Saving Grace to the Gentiles (vs. 1)

So let’s begin with “behold me,” God’s saving grace of the Gentiles, verse one. God allows himself here to be sought by saying, “Behold me, behold me… “ The first greatest revelation in this chapter happens in verse one, when God says twice, “Behold me, behold me… “ Look at verse one, and I’ll put in the “behold me” in the translation. “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Behold me, behold me.”

This is the amazing grace, this is the patience, and this is the humility of God, this majestic and holy God. The incredible grace of God who presents himself with astonishing persistence and humility to the nations of the world that don’t seek Him or care about Him at all. They’ve not sought Him, they’re not looking for Him, they don’t know about Him, they’re ignorant of Him. And He’s standing and saying right before them, “Behold me.” And the verse literally says, “I allowed myself to be consulted… I permitted myself to be consulted by you.”

In other words, God took the initiative to reveal himself and draw from the Gentiles a yearning, a desire to seek Him and find Him. If God does not permit Himself to be consulted, if he does not permit Himself to be sought, we will never seek Him and we will never find Him. So the initiative is with God. Now, Paul the Apostle quotes this verse in Romans 10:20 to speak of the grace of God displayed in the amazing harvest of gentiles into the church of Jesus Christ, incredible grace of God, Romans 10:20. “And Isaiah boldly says, ‘I was found by those who did not seek me. I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.'” He’s talking there about Gentiles converted to a Jewish Messiah, becoming grafted into a Jewish olive tree, becoming honorary adopted sons and daughters of Abraham. They didn’t know anything about these things. And Paul is talking about this incredible gentile harvest that’s been going on now for 20 centuries, and we’re part of it.

So these gentiles, they were not seeking the true God at all, they were pursuing their idols with darkened minds. Their idolatrous worship services were exceedingly corrupt, and lustful, and debauched, involving temple prostitutes and drunkenness and gluttonous revelries. God’s humble persistence in revealing Himself to the gentiles is stunning, for the text says literally, “Behold me, behold me… ” and I think he does that in the preaching of the gospel of Christ. God, in Christ, persistently stands before the audience. And as the gospel is being preached by missionaries, by evangelists, God, in Christ, through that evangelist preaching is standing before people and saying, “Behold me, here I am in Christ, ready to save you, ready to be the focus of your entire existence, ready to be your King, your Savior, everything. All you have to do is seek me, and you will surely find me.”

So He is sought now by gentiles, who were not seeking Him before. They did not seek for Him. They were not looking for Him in their villages, in their compounds, in their cities around the world. And these unreached people groups around the world, they were not seeking the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were not seeking the true creator God, not at all. Romans 3:11 says, “There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” None of them were, but God revealed Himself to them and by His sovereign Spirit, drew them. And the first they knew about it was a growing hunger and thirst inside to know this God. They wanted to know him. Where did that come from? God gave it to them as a gift. And they found Him through Christ.

This is amazing grace, this is amazing persistence, amazing humility to the gentiles, to people all over the world. So the centerpiece of the gospel is God. I mean, honestly, God is the Gospel. “Behold me,” God’s saying that to us, who were previously in the darkness, now in the light. That’s salvation, God unveiling Himself in Christ to us. And God does the seeking first. Luke 19:10, Jesus said, “The Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”

And then, in that incredible encounter in John Chapter 4, Jesus with the Samaritan woman. Remember that day? She got up and was coming to the well just to get some water, and oh no, there’s someone there. She’s trying to avoid all people. Not just someone but a Jew of all things, Jewish man. She wants to get in there, get the water as quickly as she can, and get home. But then he stuns her by speaking to her, and then stuns her even more by what he says to her. And little by little by little draws her to hunger and thirst for the living God. It comes to a point in the conversation when Jesus talks about His true aim in being there. He had to go through Samaria. Why? Because he had to find her, and not just her but her Samaritan neighbors. And this is what he said, John 4:23-24, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father is seeking.” He is seeking them, all over the world through evangelism and missions, He’s seeking people. And through the Gospel, standing before them saying, “Behold me, behold me, come and worship me.”

And so we seek God, and we do for the rest of our lives hungry and thirsty to know Him better, to know like Philippians 3, Paul says, “I want to know Christ.” There’s a hunger and a thirst and I hope that’s what drew you to worship today, you wanted to come and worship this living God. Well, that seeking and yearning, that was first in the heart of God, your Heavenly Father. And because He yearned for you, now you’re yearning for Him because He sought you, now you are seeking Him, because He loved you, now you love Him. We love because He first loved us. So just stop, if I could just stop and apply this right here, we’re going to do some application right in the middle of the sermon. Just stop and wonder in amazement at this humble, patient, God, who stood in front of your soul all those days, persistently revealed Himself to you until at last you saw Him, at last you loved Him and you followed Him through Christ. Just stop right now and thank God for His grace in revealing Christ to you by His Spirit, you are now seeking Him because He first sought you so, give Him thanks and marvel that He has only begun to reveal Himself to you.

You have infinitely more to see about this God, He will be like for eternity saying, “Behold me,” and you will never be done. So, that makes heaven a very exciting dynamic place, doesn’t it? We’ll be learning forever, “Behold me, behold me.”

II. “Behold My Judgments!” on Wicked Israelites (vs. 2-7)

Now in Isaiah 65, God turns with, I think great sadness to address the rebellious Israelites, and to convict them of their persistent wickedness in rejecting this God and instead pursuing idols. So Verses 2-7, “Behold my judgments on wicked Israelites.” God was amazingly patient with them as well. In Verse 2, He says, “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people who walk in ways not good pursuing their own imaginations.” Now Romans 10, I think is just the best commentary on these verses, the best way to interpret them. Apostle Paul tells us how to interpret Verse 1 and Verse 2 of Isaiah 65. Paul applies verse one to the Gentiles, and their amazing harvest into the church, but then he turns and contrast the receptivity of the Gentiles to the hardness of the Jews, and they’re just consistent rejection, not universal, but almost universal rejection of Christ as their messiah.

And he’s addressing that and he uses Verse 2 and applies it to Israel in Romans 10:21, he says this, “All day long” concerning Israel, he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a stubborn or a disobedient and defiant people, stiff neck people, uncircumcised hearts and ears.” Again in this though we see the remarkable patience and humility of God with Israel. For generations through the prophets, through these messengers, God had stood before stubborn Israel, like the father of the prodigal son waiting at the end of the driveway for the son to come home, yearning with his arms spread out, wanting the prodigal to come home, and yet they were stiff neck, they refused, they were hard hearted, they wouldn’t yield. They walked in evil ways, they pursued pagan religions of their own imaginations, not part of God’s revelation and yet God continues to persistently hold out His hands to them, reach out to them, but they refused. So, what is the nature of this idolatry? Look at Verses 2-7. These are evil pagan religions that have polluted Israel for centuries, they had consistently sinned right in God’s face, defiantly embracing Canaanite rituals, pagan rituals, godless rituals.

Look at verse 3 and 4, “A people who continually provoke me into my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick who sit among the graves, and spend their nights keeping secret vigils, who eat the flesh of pigs and whose pots hold broths of unclean meat.” So this is a paganism, a ritual, dark occultic religion that includes repulsive practices such as necromancy, and eating pig meat and other defiled meats in defiance of God’s holy law. So they’re spending their nights among the graves summoning the dead in some weird way, and they’re chewing and swallowing pig meat in direct defiance of the dietary regulations that God had given them in the Laws of Moses. They eat the flesh of pigs and whose pots hold broths of unclean meat and their hearts are actually weirdly made proud by these bizarre rituals, they’re actually proud of them. It’s like one of those secret occultic religions where it’s like higher and higher circles of knowledge. And as you went further and further into these deep secrets of Satan, you got more and more sacred in some weird occultic way.

And so in verse 5, they say, “Keep away, don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you.” In the KJV, this is one of the more famous translations, KJV says, “Come not near to me for I am holier than thou.” Ever heard of that expression, “Holier than thou?” That’s coming right from this verse. But it’s a weird context, it’s talking about Jews who are doing pagan rituals and think it’s making them holy. How weird is that? So they rejected God’s definition of holiness, choosing instead one from paganism and their attitudes and actions were utterly repulsive and provocative to God. Verse 5, “Such people are smoking my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.” It’s a powerful image. Have you ever gone camping? And you make a fire, a camp fire and the wood that’s available isn’t the greatest, it’s a little green, maybe pine, a lot of sap in it and it’s a windy day and you get the fire going but it does not matter where you stand, the wind’s going to find you the smokes, you know what I’m talking about? You keep adjusting your chair, you try all 360 points of the compass, and no matter where you put it, the smoke stings your eyes. I can feel it right now, I had it recently. It’s like it’s… Man, it’s awful, it’s obnoxious.

Or another story, this is, my wife and I were missionaries in Japan, and we had a neighbor, older man who used to burn his garbage regularly and it did not seem to matter what the prevailing wind was that always found our living room. It just came right and then had a very distinctive, acrid, nasty odor, the burning garbage. And so God is saying, “These people who are living like this are smoking my eyes and in my nostrils, they’re incredibly provocative and irritating to me.” Fire that keeps burning all day.

Now, it’s for this reason we just need to marvel at God’s patience with the reprobate, God’s patience with wicked people who will not repent. Romans 9:22 says, “God…bore with great patience the objects of His wrath prepared for destruction.” He puts up with a lot, they are stinging His eyes every day by the way they’re living their lives, and He puts up with a lot. But at some point, God’s patience runs out. At some point, the patience is going to stop.

Verse 6 and 7, “Behold my judgments.” God will not wait forever. At some point, the Day of Judgement will come. “Behold, it stands written before me, I will not keep silent, but I will pay back in full, I will pay it back into their laps.” Verse 7, “‘Both your sins and the sins of your fathers,’ says the Lord, ‘because they burnt sacrifices on the mountains and defined me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment of their former deeds.'” God is a careful record-keeper. Romans 2 says that these people do not realize that day after day, by their stubborn unrepentance, they’re storing a wrath against themselves, for the day of God’s wrath, when His righteous judgments will be revealed.

That’s what He says here. God had been silent, and they misconstrued the silence, they didn’t understand what it meant. They said. “Oh, there’s no God, or He’s not holy or He doesn’t care or… ” They feel justified in their actions, God doesn’t seem to do anything ever. But finally, the day is coming. “Behold”, that’s the behold here, “Behold the day is coming when the wrath of God will most certainly come.” And he says, “It stands written before me…” He uses this language, “Behold it stands written.” Reminds me of that famous phrase from the movie, 10 Commandments. You remember 10 Commandments and Pharaoh’s there, Yul Brynner, and he would make some pronouncement, and then he would say. I’m not going to do his accent. But he would say, “So let it be written, so let it be done.” Remember that? If not, see the movie and see what I’m talking about. So this potentate makes a statement and there’s these court stenographers around ready to take every word from the King, because that’s law when the king says it. Well, that’s what the King of the universe, is saying, “It stands written before me, there’s going to be a Judgment Day.” It’s definitely coming, it’s revealed. And God is going to pay back into their laps all the deeds they have done. Again, I’m going to stop and do application right here.

Behold, God cannot be mocked. Do not misunderstand the fact that the wicked seem to get away with their wickedness in this world, do not misunderstand that. God cannot be mocked, we will reap what we sow, and Judgment Day definitely does come. Galatians 6:7. Revelation 2:23 says, “I am He who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each person according to what he has done.” Revelation 20 depicts this, “I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and books were opened, another book was opened, which is the Book of Life, and the dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the book.” It’s payback time for God at that point. And the only possible salvation there is from this meticulous, holy, just, record-keeping God, is the cross of Jesus Christ, that’s the only hope that we have. Flee to Christ, flee to Christ now while there’s time, that’s our message to Durham, that’s our message to this community, to people, work places tomorrow, they’re under the wrath of God if they’re not Christians, urge them to flee to Christ, “Behold my judgments are coming,” it’s our job to make that clear. All over the world, people are involved in wicked idolatrous worship systems. Stone Age animistic tribes in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, still offer human sacrifices to the gods, to the spirits of the jungle and to the elemental demonic forces of the universe, it’s still going on now.

Hundreds of millions of Hindus follow empty demonic rituals that are offensive to God and damning to their souls. David Platt who’s president of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention writes about this in his book, Counter Culture. The horror that came over his soul watching a Hindu ritual.

This is David Platt, he said,

“I stood at the Bagmati River in South Asia, where every day funerals are held and bodies are burned. It is the custom among these Hindu people when family or friends die, to take their bodies within 24 hours to the river, where they lay them on funeral piers and set the piers ablaze. In so doing, they believe that they’re helping their friend or family member in the cycle of reincarnation. As I saw this scene unfold before me, I stood in overwhelmed silence. For as I watched these flames overtake the bodies, I knew based on Scripture that I was witnessing at that moment, a physical reflection of an eternal reality. Tears streamed down my face as I realized that most, if not all the people I was watching burn had died without ever having heard the good news of how they could have lived forever with God.”

This demonic ritual is a smoke burning in God’s nostrils all day long. In the very next chapter of Isaiah, God willing if we’ll have time to talk about, the way the book ends, Isaiah 66:24, it says, “They will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me, their worm will not die, neither will their fire be quenched and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” Christ alone can save us from that eternal fire. Now, just stop for a moment, stop for a moment. It’s just easy to put the paganism out there, out in the jungles of Irian Jaya, along the rivers of India, with the Hindu rituals, there is a paganism right here in America, it’s just obvious if you know what to look for. There is a growing overt paganism in this country. People who live for money, for food, for sex, for sports, for earthly pleasure, paganism, not just in the jungles of Irian Jaya or by a river in India, but also in the investment offices of Wall Street. Also in restaurants in Brightleaf Square, in huge sporting venues in Houston, Texas, there is paganism in these places too.

And Christ alone can rescue the people who are involved in pagan worship in Wall Street and in restaurants and at Super Bowls. He can rescue them from their paganism. It’s not true that everyone in Wall Street, everyone at the restaurant, everyone at the Super Bowl is pagan, I’m not saying that, but many are. ‘Cause that’s what their hearts are all after, that’s what they’re living for.

III. “Behold My Servants Singing!” (While the Wicked are Shamed) (vs. 8- 16)

Thirdly, behold my servants singing while the wicked are shamed. Verses 8-16. God makes distinctions. Good grapes here in these verses, good grapes are saved, the bad ones are rejected. So the Jews in Verses 2-7 are wicked and essentially pagan, but not all Jews follow these pagan rituals. God is able to make distinctions.

Not all the Jews are bad grapes. In the large cluster of Israel, there was still some juice in some of them. God found a righteous remnant among all this paganism. Look at Verse 8. “This is what the Lord says, ‘As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes, and men say, ‘Don’t destroy it. There’s still some good in it.’ So will I do on behalf of my servants. I will not destroy them all.'” Now Jesus told many parables of separation on Judgment Day. The parable of the wheat in the weeds, where it’s all mixed up and they want to root them up. He said, “No, wait till the end.” And He will separate the wheat from the weeds, and He’ll gather the weed into His barn, but He’ll burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Or the parable of the dragnet. “The kingdom of Heaven is like a net let down into a lake and it caught all kinds of fish.” And then the fishermen sit down on the pier, and they separate the good fish from the bad. They collect the good fish in baskets, but they throw the bad away. Or again, the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, “When the son of man comes in his glory… He will sit on His throne in Heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.” So also in Verses 8-16, Isaiah reveals with the repeated word, “Behold.” God is able to make distinctions between the righteous and the wicked.

Look at Verse 9 and 10. He says, “I will bring forth descendants from Jacob and from Judah those who will possess my mountains, my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live. Sharonwill become a pastor for flocks, and the Valley of Achor, a resting place for herds for my people who seek me.” So, for the remnant, the genuine believing Jews and this and that extends them to the elect around the world I think. God promises to produce descendants who will inherit the Mountains of Judah and dwell there richly blessed. The Promised Land from Sharon in the west to Achor in the east will be fertile, a rich pasture-land for their flocks to graze in and lie down in peace. These are old covenant images of blessing in that way. But, given that Paul applies this chapter to Gentiles coming to faith in Christ, I think it’s reasonable for us to look on them first as the spiritual blessings of coming to faith in Christ, the richness of the life we have in Christ, and then even better. The literal physical blessings we will have in the new H9eavens and the new Earth. And maybe the millennium. We’ll talk about that next week. [chuckle] That’ll be exciting. That’s like two sermons in one. I have no idea how I’m going to preach the rest of this chapter in one sermon, but I’m going to try next week. We’re going to try to walk through the idea of the millennium and try to come to some unity and understanding of that.

But in any case, whether you believe in a literal millennium or you believe in the new Heavens and new Earth, there are rich blessings that are coming, even physical. The righteous will inherit the earth, along with all of the descendants of Abraham. In Romans 4:13 it says, that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world. The meek will inherit the earth. However, there will come judgment and wrath on the bad grapes, in this image, the bad grapes. Verse 11 and 12, “But for you who forsake the Lord, and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for destiny, I will destine you for the sword, and you will all bend down for the slaughter for I called but you did not answer. I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.”

These people turned their backs on God and His rich blessings. They forsook the Lord. It was not an accident, it was a willful choice. They embraced fate and destiny and lady luck. It’s the way we would talk about it. Do you realize that Americans will bet if past habits… Americans will bet 4.7 billion dollars on the Super Bowl, or have already bet. Almost 5 billion dollars trusting in luck and fortune to make some money. Now, in this text, these people who forsook the Lord and turned their backs on that, and spread a table for fortune, and they’re having a feast of paganism basically. God has destined them for slaughter. He tried again and again to call out to them, but they refused to listen. And so, we have blessings and curses.

And here we have again and again through this word, “Behold. Look.” See this. Behold, how much blessing the righteous are going to receive, and how the wicked will be excluded. And what’s really striking here, is God is telling it to the wicked who are excluded. “Behold, my servants will have this blessing, but you excluded ones will not.” And it just seems very striking, that language. Here, look at Verses 13 and 14, “Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, my servants shall eat, but you will go hungry. Behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty. Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame.'” Verse 14, “Behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you, shall cry out for pain of heart and wail for breaking of spirit.”

Now, this idea of feasting, in the kingdom of heaven is regularly described and what God is doing here through the prophet Isaiah is saying there is going to be a feast and you are going to miss it. Now here’s the thing, for God to tell us this ahead of time, is incredible grace. If you see it properly. There should be a longing in the heart of outsiders right now, saying, “I don’t want to be excluded. I don’t want to miss out on the richest most bountiful feast there could ever be in all of this, I don’t want to miss it. I don’t want to stay an outsider I want to come in, I want to be invited into the feast and I want to sit down at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven and I want to feast with Jesus I don’t want to be an outsider.”

But then on Judgement Day He’s going to say this, and He has no hesitation to make people feel regrets at that point. “My servants will eat but you will go hungry, my servants will drink and you will be thirsty.” You’re on the outside. And they will live in torment and especially pain of heart and breaking of spirit. I’ve thought about that. There will be bitter regrets, in hell. People will remember their lives. They’ll remember things about it, they’ll remember that they had good things while they lived, they will remember. I think especially the times they heard the gospel and didn’t respond and they’ll regret it. They’re outsiders. Verse 15, “You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse, and the Lord God will put you to death. But his servants, he will call by another name.” You know what that means? I really believe, and others struggle with this, but I believe the redeemed will know exactly what’s happening to the reprobates in hell.

They’ll know their names, they’ll know what’s happening, because God’s not going to hide it from us. We’ll talk about that at the end of Isaiah 66 but it’s openly taught. They’ll go out and look out on them, and they’ll know and we will vindicate the justice of God and all that God’s not embarrassed about this, He has told us ahead of time what He’s going to do. This is the time of Grace. This is the time when the door is open, come in. By the way, just a little application, on the Lord’s Supper, when we have the Lord’s supper I do something as a pastor called fencing the table. And what I say if you’re not a believer, in Jesus Christ, do not partake. I want them to know they’re outsiders.

I’m not trying to be mean, but I’m just saying there is no feasting, apart from faith in Christ. I want them to know that. You know what? I’ve said this before, I want you to celebrate the next time we’ll do a Lord supper. Come to faith in Christ, get baptized, come enjoy. Yeah. But the Lord here wants the outsiders to know they are outsiders and what’s going to happen. And we’re going to get a new name, it says in Revelation 2:17, a transformed nature, and we will be radically different.

Verse 16, “So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth and He takes an oath in the land, shall swear by the God of truth because the former troubles are forgotten and hidden from my eyes.” So we’ll be done with all of our false oaths, done with all of our paganism. We have been transformed, we have a new name, we have a new nature, and we’re going to celebrate the grace of God forever in heaven.

IV. “Behold My New Universe” (vs. 17-25) [Next Week!]

That’s what’s coming in, that former sorrows will be gone forever, all sorrow and sadness will flee away forever. And death and mourning and crying, and pain, will be gone, and we’ll be there forever. Now verse 17-25, “For behold, for behold, I will create a new heavens, a new earth.” Next week, we’ll talk about that. I hope you see now why I did this in two weeks. There’s just no way we could get through all of this in one week.

V. Applications

Let me do a little more application we’ll be done. This passage I believe, gives a clear warning to the outsiders to flee to Christ now while there’s time. So if you know yourself this morning to be an outsider, you know that you’re not a Christian, I’m pleading with you flee to Christ, now while there’s time. Come to Christ Jesus is God’s son, He died on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for all of our paganism and our idolatry and wickedness and He took all of that wickedness on Himself and died under the wrath of God, to give us a perfect righteousness by faith alone come to Christ.

So you Christians, thank God for His persistence in saving you, H never gave up on you. And He never will. He’s going to stand in front of you and say, “Behold me, behold me forever”. And just praise God for that and look forward to seeing His face in Heaven. Just look forward to the beatific vision they call it the beautiful vision. The source of all the beauty where it all came from, you’re going to see Him radiant and shining. God in Christ, the source of all beauty. Revelation 22:3 and 4 says, “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him, and they will see His face, they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.”

Fourth be sober-minded about the future of the wicked.Take this seriously. I’m speaking to Christians. Look at these things, understand the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever, weep over it, be broken over it, like David Platt was. And let it motivate you toward evangelism, let it motivate you toward missions. Don’t harden your heart toward lost people in your school, your classes, your dorm, your workplace, your neighbor, don’t harden your heart. Open up, be willing to take some abuse from them as you might lead some of them to Christ. And then next week, we’re going to talk about the rest of the chapter and the beauties of the coming world as God will create it. Close with me in prayer.

One of the hardest aspects of our faith is the invisibility of God; the God of the Bible is described as a majestic, radiant being who dwells in unapproachable light. His glory fills the heavenly realms with such overpowering radiance that the holiest angels have to cover their faces. This awesome Creator God is the source of everything in existence… the power that keeps every atom from flying apart… that sustains the very being of all creation by the word of His power.

Such a majestic God is also the source of all beauty… the saints and angels are arrayed in concentric circles around God constantly celebrating his beauty and omnipotence with incessant praise. They never stop saying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord… who was and who is and who is to come!”

But this radiant, beautiful God is INVISIBLE!!

1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

John 1:18 No man has seen God at any time

1 Timothy 6:16 [God] who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

Our eyesight is the source of much of what we know about the universe… by our sight, light floods into our minds in various colors and shapes and teaches us what the physical world looks like

Matthew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.

In C.S. Lewis’s classic Till We Have Faces, one of the characters named Psyche (the Greek word for soul) talks about the strong feelings of desire:

“It was when I was happiest that I longed most… Do you remember? The colour and the smell, and looking across at the Grey Mountain in the distance? And because it was so beautiful, it set me longing, always longing. Somewhere else there must be more of it. Everything seemed to be saying, Psyche come! But I couldn’t (not yet) come… I felt like a bird in a cage when the other birds of its kind are flying home… If only you could believe it. Sister! No, listen. Do not let grief shut up your ears and harden your heart………………. The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing – to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from……………………….. Do you think it all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home? For now death feels not like going, but going home.”

This HIDDEN God is actually the source of all this beauty, all the life, all the creativity, all the love and peace and joy there is ever to be found in the universe.

To be able to SEE him would be the perfection of sight itself… but we CANNOT… God is the invisible Creator, Sustainer, and Emperor of all the visible things that fill our eyes

But none of this is an accident… this longing to see what we cannot see

There is a SPIRITUAL REALM surrounding us that we talked about last week:

Isaiah 64:1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down

Mark 1:10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

Acts 7:55-56 Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

As though there is this membrane between us and that spiritual world… and through that membrane we cannot pass—we cannot reason our way through it, or fly high enough to pass through it, or search somewhere to find a portal into it, like C.S. Lewis’s Narnia in which there are always magic portals—like the wardrobe through which the four children passed from this world to the invisible one

God the INVISIBLE… God the UNSEEN… dwells in a spiritual realm that surrounds us, but we cannot reach it

And we cannot KNOW anything about this mysterious, hidden God except that he REVEAL himself to us

That is the word the Bible and theologians always use—revelation. That is the name of the final book of the Bible, but it is really the purpose of all of scripture… to REVEAL God to us

The word “reveal” or “revelation” literally means “unveiling,” a pulling back of the veil so that we can see into the hidden world, see the invisible things… and especially, the HIDDEN, INVISIBLE GOD

God has chosen to reveal himself to us… to COMMUNICATE to us of his existence and his nature

He did this in what theologians call “natural revelation”… God revealing himself in CREATION:

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities– his eternal power and divine nature– have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

God does it even more clearly in the words of the Bible… unveiling his truth through the words of the prophets and apostles

Amos 3:7 Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

God has done it MOST CLEARLY in his Son:

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

One word that has been used by scripture again and again for powerful moments of revelations is BEHOLD…

The word “BEHOLD” is archaic… that is, hardly anyone uses it anymore. We might think of an amateur magician about to pull a rabbit out of a hat… but it has a certain kind of suspense and wonder attached to it… BEHOLD… BEHOLD… BEHOLD…

Because no one says it anymore, many English translations have chosen to omit it altogether, or to use a very tame and wimpy replacement: “Look…”

But as we come to Isaiah 65, we come to a chapter that uses the word “Behold” NINE TIMES… only the King James Version translates them all, but the ESV gets most of them:

[Twice] Isaiah 65:1 (twice) I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.

Isaiah 65:6 Behold, it is written before me: “I will not keep silent, but I will repay

[Four times] Isaiah 65:13-14 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame; behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit.

Isaiah 65:17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.

Isaiah 65:18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.

These nine times that God says “Behold”, it’s as though he is saying to the human race— WATCH WHAT WONDERS I am about to unveil before your eyes… you will see amazing things, things you have not known, that never would have entered your mind except that I revealed them to you… WATCH AND BE AMAZED, look on with wonder at what I will display to you… hidden things you have never seen before!

I am going to organize this sermon and next week’s sermon along the lines of these BEHOLDs

This week, God says BEHOLD

1)  Behold, ME!! As he reveals his saving grace to the Gentiles (vs. 1)

2)  Behold MY JUDGMENTS… on wicked Israelites that have forsaken him for idols (vs. 2-7)

3)  Behold MY SERVANTS SINGING… while the wicked are shamed (vs. 8-16) NEXT WEEK

4)  Behold, MY NEW UNIVERSE… though first (perhaps) the Millennial Kingdom (vs. 17-25)

I.   “Behold Me!”: God’s Saving Grace to the Gentiles (vs. 1)

A.  God Allows Himself to Be Sought: “Behold, Me! Behold, Me!”

1.  The first greatest revelation happens in verse 1… God says twice BEHOLD, ME… BEHOLD, ME!!

Isaiah 65:1 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’

2.  Amazing grace, patience, and humility on the part of this majestic and holy God

Verse 1 displays the amazing grace of God, who presents himself with astonishing persistence and humility to the nations of the world who do not seek him at all.

The verse literally says “I allowed myself to be consulted.” In other words, God took the initiative to reveal himself and draw from the Gentiles a yearning to seek him and find him. If God does not “permit himself” to be consulted, we will never seek him or find him.

Paul quoted this verse in Romans 10:20 to speak of the grace of God displayed in the amazing harvest of Gentiles into the church of Christ.

Romans 10:20 And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”

These Gentiles were not seeking the true God at all… they were pursuing their idols with darkened minds; their idolatrous worship services were exceedingly corrupt and lustful and debauched… involving temple prostitutes and drunken and gluttonous revelries

God’s humble persistence in revealing himself to the Gentiles is stunning, for the text says literally, “Behold me! Behold me!”

In the preaching of the gospel of Christ, God persistently stands in front of individuals from every nation on earth and says, “Behold me! Behold me! I am ready to save you! All you have to do is seek me, and you will certainly find me!”

B.  Sought Now by Gentiles Who Were Not Seeking Him Before

1.  They DID NOT SEEK for him… they were not looking for him…

Romans 3:11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.

2.  but God revealed himself to them, and by his sovereign Spirit DREW them to hunger and thirst for him and seek him and find him through faith in Christ

3.  This is AMAZING GRACE… AMAZING PERSISTENCE… AMAZING

HUMILITY to the Gentiles… to people all over the world

4.  The centerpiece of the gospel is GOD… God’s glory… God IS the Gospel; and in Christ God was revealing himself to the darkened world

5.  And God does the seeking FIRST…

Luke 19:10 the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

John 4:23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

6.  And WE SEEK GOD because He first SOUGHT US!! We believe that God has more wonders to reveal to us, more of himself to show us… BEHOLD ME, BEHOLD ME!!

Application: Just stop in wonder and amazement that God stood in front of your soul and persistently revealed himself to you until at last you saw him, loved him, followed him through Christ! Just stop right now and thank God for his grace in revealing Christ to you by the Spirit… you are SEEKING HIM now because he first sought you. And marvel that he has only BEGUN to reveal his glories to you! He has a lot more to show you saying, BEHOLD, BEHOLD!

Now, in Isaiah 65, God turns with great sadness to the rebellious Israelites, to convict them of their persistent wickedness in pursuing idols:

II.      “Behold My Judgments!” on Wicked Israelites (vs. 2-7)

A.  God’s Amazing Patience with Rebellious Israel (vs. 2)

Isaiah 65:2 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations

Romans 10 gives us the best way to interpret verses 1-2 of this chapter…

Paul applies verse 1 to Gentiles… God revealing himself to Gentiles who were NOT seeking him, who then gladly repent and believe in Christ

Paul directly contrasts the receptivity of the Gentiles with the stubbornness of the Jews by applying verse 2 to Israel in Romans 10:21: “All day long, I have spread out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.”

Again, we see the remarkable patience and humility of God with Israel. For generations, the Lord had stood like the father of the prodigal son with his arms outstretched, waiting for the son to stop sinning and come home to a rich welcome. But these wicked people refused….

They were STIFF-NECKED and HARD-HEARTED… they wouldn’t yield to repeated warnings from God

They WALKED in evil ways, pursuing pagan religions of their own imagination, not of God’s revelation

God persistently HELD OUT HIS HANDS to them… through the prophets beckoning them to come home to him… but they refused

B.  Israel’s Repulsive, Arrogant, Pagan Idolatry (vs. 2-7)

1.  Evil pagan religions had polluted Israel for centuries

They consistently sinned right in God’s face, defiantly embracing pagan rituals as described in verses 3-4 and verse 7.

Isaiah 65:3-4 a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; 4 who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat

Their paganism included such repulsive practices as necromancy and eating pig meat in defiance of God’s holy laws.

They spent the nights sitting among graves… weird pagan practices, like sorcery, appealing to the dead

They actually chewed and swallowed pig meat offered as a sacrifice to their idols: Isaiah 65:4 who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat This was in direct violation of the dietary regulations of the Old Covenant

Their hearts were actually made proud by these bizarre rituals, considering themselves too holy for those who hadn’t learned their secret arts.

Isaiah 65:5  who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you!’

In the KJV, this is one of the most famous phrases from the book of Isaiah…

Isaiah 65:5 … come not near to me; for I am holier than thou.

So they rejected God’s definition of holiness, choosing instead one from paganism. Their attitudes and actions were utterly repulsive and provocative to God,

Isaiah 65:5 Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.

This is a powerful image

Have you ever been sitting around a smoky campfire… one in which you used green pine wood, with lots of sap… and the fire is extremely smoky, and it seems no matter where you put your chair, the smoke seems to find your eyes and your nose… your eyes are STINGING, your nose is filled with the smoke and you can’t seem to get away

I also remember when we were missionaries in Japan, and our elderly neighbor used to burn his garbage every week, filling our house with the acrid stench of his smoke

The image here is one of EXTREME PROVOCATION… these idolatrous, proud, wicked people were provoking him to his very face day after day

“smoke in his nostrils, a fire burning all day long.”

It is for this reason that Romans 9 reveals the incredible PATIENCE of God in dealing with sin:

Romans 9:22 God… bore with great patience the objects of his wrath– prepared for destruction?

C.  God’s Patience Runs Out… “Behold My Judgments!” (vs. 6-7)

1.  God will not wait forever… at some point, the Day of Judgment comes

Isaiah 65:6-7 “BEHOLD, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps– 7 both your sins and the sins of your fathers,” says the LORD. “Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.”

2.  God had been SILENT… waiting for them to repent from their wickedness

3.  But finally, the time comes for his wrath to break out

4.  BEHOLD… the judgment of God will most certainly come

a.  It STANDS WRITTEN before God that at some point, he must bring justice on these people

b.  The phrase, BEHOLD IT STANDS WRITTEN BEFORE ME reminds me of the famous phrase from the movie “The Ten Commandments”

Whenever Pharaoh (played by Yul Brenner) would utter a decree about something, he would add the phrase—“So let it be written; so let it be done!” As many ancient emperors would have a court scribe who would write down every command of the monarch to be certain they were recorded accurately and carried out

God has DECREED a Day of Judgment against the wicked on the earth… he will not remain silent forever

This is REVEALED in scripture with the word BEHOLD… we tend to think that God’s long silence means he doesn’t exist, or he doesn’t care about sin, or he can do nothing about it

But the Day of Judgment is decreed by God and it will most certainly happen

Not only the DAY stands written before God, but all these sinful acts are written down as well… God will PAY BACK INTO THEIR LAPS the deeds they have done

5.  Application: BEHOLD God cannot be mocked… Judgment Day is coming and we will give him an account for even things done in secret

The word BEHOLD means that Judgment Day has to be revealed… and only by faith can we understand its significance…

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

Revelation 2:23 I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

It’s like what we say in life: “it’s PAYBACK TIME”!!

The only possible salvation from this meticulous and righteous PAYBACK TIME is the cross of Christ! God is willing to take all of our sins and nail them to the cross; that the blood of Christ alone can free us from God’s righteous condemnation for our sins

All over the world, people are involved in wicked, idolatrous worship systems

Stone-age animistic tribes in the jungles of Papua New Guinea still offer human sacrifices to the gods, to the spirits of the jungle and the elemental demonic forces of the universe

Hundreds of millions of Hindus follow empty, demonic rituals that are offensive to God and damning to their souls

David Platt, President of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, described the horror that came over his soul watching this Hindu ritual:

“I stood at the Bagmati River in South Asia where every day funerals are held and bodies are burned. It is the custom among these Hindu people when family or friends die to take their bodies within twenty-four hours to the river, where they lay them on funeral pyres and set the pyres ablaze. In so doing, they believe they are helping their friend of family member in the cycle of reincarnation. As I saw this scene before me, I stood in overwhelmed silence. For as I watched these flames overtake the bodies, I knew based on Scripture that I was witnessing at that moment a physical reflection of an eternal reality. Tears streamed down my face as I realized that most if not all of the people I was watching burn had died without ever hearing the good news of how they could have lived forever with God.” (Counter Culture, 248-249)

This demonic ritual is a SMOKE BURNING in God’s nostrils all day long… In the very next chapter of Isaiah, he threatens a fire that cannot be quenched:

Isaiah 66:24 “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.

Christ alone can rescue us from that eternal fire

III.   “Behold My Servants Singing!” (While the Wicked are Shamed) (vs. 8- 16)

A.  God Makes Distinctions: Good Grapes Saved, Bad Ones Rejected (vs. 8)

1.  The Jews described in verses 2-7 were wicked and essentially pagan

2.  But not all Jews followed these pagan rituals

3.  God is able to make distinctions … not all the Jews were BAD GRAPES… in the large cluster in Israel, there was still some JUICE in some of them… God found some righteous remnant among all this paganism

Isaiah 65:8 This is what the LORD says: “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and men say, ‘Don’t destroy it, there is yet some good in it,’ so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all.

a.  Jesus told many parables about Judgment Day being a day of SEPARATION

[Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds] Matthew 13:40-43 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

[Parable of the Dragnet] Matthew 13:47-50 the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

[The Sheep and the Goats] Matthew 25:31-33 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Also John the Baptist said of Jesus:

Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

b.  So in verses 8-16, Isaiah reveals with the repeated word BEHOLD that God is able to make distinctions between the righteous and the wicked

B.  Blessings for the Remnant (vs. 8-10)

Isaiah 65:9-10 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live. 10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.

For the remnant who seek the Lord by faith, God promises to produce descendants who will inherit the mountains of Judah and dwell there richly blessed. (vs. 9) The Promised Land (from Sharon in the west to Achor in the east) will be fertile, a rich pastureland for their flocks to graze in and lie down in peace. (vs. 10) These are the blessings of faith and obedience, blessings of the Old Covenant in Moses.

But given that the chapter begins with Gentiles seeking and finding the Lord, it is reasonable to see these blessings as spiritual in the church age and literal in the Millennium and in the New Earth.

The righteous will INHERIT THE EARTH along with all of Abraham’s true descendants:

Romans 4:13 Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world… through the righteousness that comes by faith.

However, there will come judgment and wrath on all the “BAD GRAPES”

C.  Slaughter for those Who Abandon the Lord (vs. 11- 12)

Isaiah 65:11-12 “But as for you who forsake the LORD and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, 12 I will destine you for the sword, and you will all bend down for the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.”

They turned their backs on God and his rich blessings

The FORSOOK the Lord… it was not an accident, but a willful choice

They embraced FATE and DESTINY and LADY LUCK… they followed pagan rituals So, God has destined them for slaughter

He tried again and again to call out to them, but they refused to listen

D.  Blessings and Curses (vs. 13-16)

1.  Here we have finally revealed (again and again will the word BEHOLD) how much blessing the righteous will receive, and how the wicked will be excluded

2.  In these verses, the wicked are addressed directly, and it is revealed to them what they will be missing for all eternity:

Isaiah 65:13-14 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame; 14 behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit.

3.  This feasting—eating and drinking in the Kingdom of Heaven—is a regular feature of the Lord’s description of heaven

This chapter says plainly that God sought and found people from all over the world, who previously were not seeking Him… he found them in Christ and will eternally bless them with feasting in the Kingdom:

As Jesus said when he healed the servant of a Roman Centurion:

Matthew 8:11-12 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The ultimate end of this is the difference between heaven and hell: in heaven, the redeemed will spend eternity feasting at Christ’s table, drinking freely from the river of the water of life, and shouting for joy from a glad heart; in hell, the damned will be tormented by thirst, weeping and gnashing their teeth, crying out from an anguished heart.

The wicked will live in torment, and especially here in PAIN OF HEART AND BREAKING OF SPIRIT… they will remember all the sins they lived in and never repented from, and those who heard the gospel of Christ and (obviously) rejected it, will especially lament the fact that they did not receive the free gift of salvation offered them by an evangelist… a mother, a father, a friend, a pastor, a missionary… someone—maybe many people—offered them eternal life, and they refused

Isaiah 65:15 You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse, and the Lord GOD will put you to death, but his servants he will call by another name.

In heaven, the righteous will KNOW THE NAMES of the damned and see their names as a curse

But the righteous will receive the gift of NEW NAMES… a new identity in Christ:

Revelation 2:17 To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.

And the righteous will delight in God’s amazing grace to save sinners like them:

Isaiah 65:16 So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.

These FORMER TROUBLES are part of this present world age… but BEHOLD there is a new universe coming… and we’re going to talk about it next week

IV.     “Behold My New Universe” (vs. 17-25) [Next Week!]

Isaiah 65:17-25 “For behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. 20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. 21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands. 23 They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.

V.   Applications
A.  This Passage Gives a Clear Warning to All Lost People to FLEE TO CHRIST

1.  God here declares that all over the world he REVEALS HIMSELF to people who had not been seeking him

2.  He is standing before your soul now saying “Here I am! Here I am! I am all you need! I am what you have been looking for all your life!”

3.  Perhaps you feel that even now, Christ is calling on you to FOLLOW HIM

4.  Christ seeks and saves lost people

5.  The warnings in this passage are dire… it is obvious that Judgment Day is coming… you cannot see it or feel it, but it is most certainly coming

6.  The word BEHOLD means that the things revealed in this chapter cannot be seen with the eye or scientifically discerned… only by faith can you see them

7.  COME TO CHRIST

Christians:

B.  Thank God for His Persistence in Saving You!

1.  God bore all your sins and patiently called to you and worked salvation in you!

2.  Never tire of thanking him for standing before you and saying BEHOLD, ME! BEHOLD, ME

C.  Look forward to seeing him face to face in heaven

1.  He will still be saying “behold, me!” in heaven

Revelation 22:3-4 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

2.  Look forward to the feasting and celebrating the Lord said we would do in the Kingdom of Heaven… it is mentioned and celebrated here!

D.  Be Sober-Minded About the Future of the Wicked

1.  This passage makes it very plain that God will not tolerate the wicked idolatry that is going on all over the world

2.  There is a Day of Judgment coming and God will pay back into their laps every sin

3.  Use this to motivate you to share the gospel with lost friends

4.  Last year, 2016, this church had 13 baptisms… many of them were, praise God, the baptisms of teens that had grown up in Christian homes, including my son

5.  I do not in any way denigrate that… no I praise God for it

6.  But where is the evangelistic fruit of our church out in the streets and companies and hospitals and colleges and schools and workplaces of our growing region?

7.  Why aren’t we seeing more and more lost people converted?

8.  Could it be we don’t take as seriously as we should the Day of Judgment that is coming? We don’t fear enough for their souls?

E.  NEXT WEEK… we will talk about the Millennium and the Eternal State!