The Lord — A Warrior and Vinekeeper — Saves His Sinful People (Isaiah Sermon 28)

I. The Wicked Serpent Slain

All over the world in every continent there are myths and legends and stories about dragons. That was a shock, wasn’t it? Dragons! It’s true. In China, for example, the dragon was long the symbol of the emperor of China and of the nation itself, the fierce, winged, reptile fire-breathing dragon. A three-headed dragon is on the coat of arms of the city of Moscow in Russia, and also on the national flag of Wales. And in many cultures, there are stories about the conquest of dragons by heroes that go forth to warfare against them. All of us were encouraged… What verb do you wanna put in here? Afflicted with Beowulf when you were in high school, and read that story of the conquest of that dragon. Others have voluntarily chosen to read The Hobbit, which is Bilbo Baggins struggle against Smaug, the fire-breathing dragon.

Probably the most famous abiding story is that of Saint George, who was historically, as far as we know, a third century believer in Christ, a Roman soldier, who was martyred in the end by the Roman Emperor, for his faith in Christ. But many legends around him concerning his conquest of a fire-breathing dragon. There are a lot of different versions of the story of Saint George and the dragon. He comes to a pagan town in which there is a terrifying dragon nearby that’s guarding the fresh water supply. And constantly they’re needing to distract this dragon with some kind of sacrifices, frequently young women from the community, so that the dragon is moved off and they can go and get the water they need to survive. And they’re finally down to the princess, the daughter of the King, and Saint George comes into this situation and decides to go forth and fight the dragon. And there are a lot of stories about how the battle goes and his lance is shattered into a thousand pieces, and inevitably in these conquests of dragon stories, there’s some weak spot, like under the wing of the dragon that the conquerer is able to find, and either shoot an arrow into or shove a sword into and kill the dragon.

Well, those are all myths and legends, and they go back even before the time that Isaiah wrote his prophecy. If you were to have a King James version of Isaiah 27:1, you would see at the end of the verse the word “dragon”. And so we come immediately to the story of a battle. In this case, however, the hero is the Lord. The Lord is going to fight Leviathan, and if you look at verse 1, it says, “In that day, the Lord will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan, the gliding serpent, Leviathan, the coiling serpent, he will slay,” the NIV gives us, “the monster of the sea.” King James will give us “the dragon of the sea.”

This is speaking of the coming day of the Lord, and this phrase is repeated again and again in this chapter, in that day, or in that day, in those days, in a day in the future these following things will happen. So we come again to the concept of the day of the Lord, and here we have an epic battle, a hero struggle between the Lord and this monster, this Leviathan. Now who is Leviathan? How are we to understand this Leviathan? In my opinion, the simple answer is that these are the enemies, or this is the enemy of the people of God. And I speak in this language because, as I read history, as I read the scriptures, the ultimate enemy of the people of God is Satan. And he mobilizes human beings, his servants, sons of the devil, who go forth and battle against or war against the people of God, to kill them or make their lives miserable in some way. And so we have really a complex two-fold answer to the question, who is Leviathan?

Leviathan is both a pagan empire that hates the people of God, the Jews in the Old Testament, and Satan who empowers them and directs them in hatred against God’s people. And so Leviathan is described in three ways here. Leviathan, the gliding serpent; Leviathan, the coiling serpent, the monster or the dragon of the sea. So the images of a mighty sea serpent, a powerful sea serpent in the sea, the ocean is pictured here as something dangerous and unknown. You can only see the surface, you don’t know what’s going on down below and what kind of devastating beast there might be, some creature that might swim up from below and devour you. I remember well the summer of 1976 when Jaws came out. And I was forbidden by my parents from watching the movie, but I knew the story, and I’d seen enough clips, I guess on TV or whatever, and I was well aware of the effect that this movie was having on beachgoers.

Well, we didn’t go to the beach, we actually went to Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, and I was convinced the great white shark was going to be devouring me. And it didn’t matter what biology lessons my parents were going to give me about fresh water and salt water and all that. I was convinced as I was swimming and couldn’t see down below that at any moment I was going to get devoured, it was going to swim up from down below. But these fears have been around for an awfully long time. Think about Christopher Columbus as he sailed west in three ships with sailors who all of them to a man were terrified of monsters of the sea. Frequently there would be charts that would show the edge of the world and beyond, it would say, “Here be dragons.” And so there was a terror, a fear of the unknown.

In the Book of Daniel, the sea represents the roiling, churning nations, the mass of the gentile nations with great unknown and it cannot be controlled and it’s unpredictable. And Daniel 7 pictures four beasts, one after the other, coming up out of the ocean, out of the sea to oppress the people of God, the Jews. Revelation 7 picks up on this exact same image. And it pictures a dragon standing by the sea and calling forth out of the sea, a beast. And this beast from the sea will be, in some sense, a terrifying world leader who will organize his people or the peoples of the world against the people of God, many call this the anti-Christ. So there is biblical warrant here for seeing Leviathan as a symbol for both the wicked empires themselves, the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian empire, the Greeks, the Romans, and the dragon behind them, Satan, who calls them forth up out of the sea to do his bidding. And the verse says that God, the Lord will punish Leviathan and slay the monster or the dragon of the deep.

So God is going to fight and he will win. Some say this is an ancient Babylonian myth that Isaiah is using here. The myth of Marduk and Tiamat, I’m not gonna go into details about that. It’s not, is my answer, simply. That talks about how, in the Enûma Eliš, that’s how, in the Babylonian mythology, that’s how the world got created, but this is a battle yet to come. It’s a battle yet in the future, in that day. So the first true fulfillment is God’s conquest in amazing ways of the pagan, the gentile armies that are gonna come against his people. He’s going to dismember them. He’s going to sever them, limb from limb, head from tail. But then in the end, he’s going to sever the whole thing. He’s going to destroy Satan, and all of Satan’s people in the end. And so here’s a connection to chapter 26, if you were to look at the end of 26, there it describes the end of the world and the earth disclosing the blood shed on it, and all of the suffering of God’s people and how God will establish righteousness in the end. And so this is a conquest that the Lord does, both in time in redemptive history, and at the end of the world.

If you look back in Israel’s history, before Isaiah, the Red Sea crossing, the same kind of language is used concerning the Red Sea crossing in Psalm 74:13-14, there, Pharaoh’s army is defeated by the splitting apart of the Red Sea. And God splits apart the Red Sea and makes a path through the sea for his people to escape. And the psalmist in Psalm 74 says, “It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.” You see, just by splitting apart the sea, God was severing Leviathan. He was severing or dismembering this monster of the sea. Verse 14 in Psalm 74, “It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him his food to the creatures of the desert.” Now, in the end, the dragon language is established in Revelation chapter 12. And you don’t have to turn there, but you can look another time. In Revelation 12, depicts a warfare going on in the heavens between Michael, the archangel, and Satan. And Satan’s not strong enough, and he is thrown down to the earth that, it says in Revelation 12, “Now and the great dragon was hurled down, that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan.”

So there you’ve got dragon, serpent, devil, Satan, in case you had any doubt who we were talking about. This dragon was thrown down, the one who leads the whole world astray. But later in Revelation 12, he opens his mouth, the dragon does, and spews forth a river that’s supposed to kind of inundate and overtake the people of God. And the earth opens up its mouth and swallows this river. And so again, I think this supports the approach I’m taking, that Leviathan is both the dragon who is Satan, and the river of armies that come forth to slaughter the people of God. And in the end, God’s gonna win, Amen? That’s what the sermon said. If you don’t understand the Book of Revelation, simply, it’s this: God wins. So I like that. All the enemies that are against the people of God, God wins in the end.

But the ultimate victory against this dragon is in Revelation 20:10, “The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” That is the end of Leviathan, right there. So that’s who Leviathan is. What then is the sword of the Lord? This is the sword of the Lord that’s going to dismember Leviathan, that’s gonna cut it apart, limb from limb. Three adjectives used to describe it here, his sword is fierce, great and powerful sword in the NIV. Hard, some translations give it, it’s a hard sword. In other words, it battles but no detriment to the sword, no notches in it. It doesn’t break, it doesn’t get dull ever. It’s hard, it’s strong, it’s mighty, it has power, and it never changes.

Well, we know from many other passages what the sword of the Lord is, don’t you know? It says that we are to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Or in Hebrews 4:12, “The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword,” etcetera. And so the sword of the Lord is his mighty word. By simply speaking the word, he dismembers Leviathan. Isn’t that awesome? And how awesome is that picture that God, all he has to do is simply give the word and Leviathan will be dismembered. And so there is an already in a not yet aspect to this, Isaiah 27:1. In some sense, we’ll talk more about this toward the end of the sermon, Leviathan has been dismembered. He has been slain and in some sense, he is being slain right now, and in some sense, he will be slain yet to come. So he didn’t, God didn’t just want one little quick victory over Leviathan, he wants a long drawn out dismemberment. He kind of wants to torture Leviathan and kind of sever him in many different ways. And that’s what we have here. Well, the result of this, in verses 2 through 6, is a vineyard that fills the whole world with fruit.

II. The Vineyard Fills the World with Fruit

Basically, let me give you just an outline right now of the whole chapter, so you can understand what’s going on. We have the battle between the Lord and Leviathan in verse 1, and God wins and dismembers Leviathan. You have in verses 2 through 6, a fruitful vineyard, Jacob, that fills the whole world with fruit. You have in verses 7 through 11, Jacob’s punishment or the chastening of the people of God for their sins, but not as far as God could have done. He chastens them to purify them so that they get rid of the idols in their lives and crush the Asherah poles and incense altars and make them like chalk stones. He crushes their idols so that they can be pure. They get judged but not like the nations, the pagan nations, that get judged worse. And so God’s people are disciplined and purged of their sins. And then in the end, versus 12 and 13, there’s a trumpet call that goes out around the world, recalling the elect of God together, assembling to worship Him eternally.So that’s the whole chapter. Isn’t that a marvelous story?

So, I think you know, in the end I’m gonna get to preach the Gospel from this chapter. You have a sense of that? Do you have an instinct? We’re gonna, in the end, talk about Jesus from this chapter. How could it not be? But now we’re in verses 2 through 6, and we have this, as a result of the slaying of Leviathan, you have this marvelous fruitful vineyard. Look at verses 2 through 6. “In that day,” again that phrase repeated, “In that day­­­­– ‘Sing about a fruitful vineyard: I, the Lord, watch over it; I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it. I am not angry. If only there were briars and thorns confronting me! I would march against them in battle. I would set them all on fire, or else let them come to me for refuge; let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me.’ In days to come, Jacob will take root, and Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.”

So here we have a song about a fruitful vineyard. And it happens in that day, again in the day of the Lord, when God moves out and acts powerfully, in history, when God gets going and does stuff, the results here is a fruitful vineyard. The day of the Lord brings not just judgment, but fruitfulness. The day of the Lord looks ahead to the end of the world. And here we have, for the second time in Isaiah, a song about a vineyard, but a very different one this time. You could take and flip back if you want to Isaiah 5, or you can just listen, but some of you will wanna look back at Isaiah 5, and here we have, in Isaiah 5, the first song about a vineyard. But the problem with that vineyard is it wasn’t fruitful. Nothing good came from that vineyard. It produced only bad grapes.

So if you look at that song in Isaiah 5:1-7, there Isaiah sings this song, he said, “I will sing for the one I love,” that’s the Lord. “I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watch tower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. ‘Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I look for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now, I will tell you what I’m going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I’ll break down its wall and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briars and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.’” Interpretation in verse 7, “The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; he looked for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.”

Now, that was the first song about the vineyard, and it’s a bad song. It’s a tragic song, it’s a tragedy. The problem there with Judah and Jerusalem is that God was looking for fruitfulness and got nothing but bad grapes. And so then God says, in Isaiah 5, he’s going to judge his vineyard by taking away its wall of protection, and it’s gonna get trampled. If you don’t know what that’s talking about, then you haven’t read a lot of Isaiah. You know exactly what’s gonna happen. He’s going to literally break down the wall of Jerusalem and the invaders are gonna come in and trample it. He’s gonna take away its wall or its hedge of protection, and the invading armies are going to trample it. And he’s gonna command the clouds not to rain on it. And this is the avenues of grace, the richness of God’s grace, the rain is God’s provision for his people. Let’s say through the ministry of the word how the prophets come to speak God’s word, but he says there’s gonna be a famine of the word of the Lord, they’re not gonna hear it. I’m gonna shut down the prophets. There won’t be any and there won’t be any words from the Lord about it.

And in the end, you get briars and thorns and again that goes back to Genesis 3, that’s curse language, that the land will be cursed with thorns. Well, that’s Isaiah 5, go back to Isaiah 27. I like a happier song, don’t you, than a sad one? I mean there’s a place in God’s providence for sad songs and happy songs. This one’s a happy song about the vineyard. So we return to the same thing but this time it’s a very different outcome. Here in verse 3, I’m in Isaiah 27 now, “The Lord waters it continually” do you see that? It’s continually provided for, constant outpouring of power and grace for fruitfulness. Every moment this vineyard gets everything it needs to be maximally fruitful, and in verse 3, “I the LORD watch over it continually and will not allow anyone to trample it or harm it.” Isn’t that fantastic? So everything’s different here in Isaiah 27 than in Isaiah 5. And he says he’s going to guard it and watch over it day and night, nothing can harm it. He who watches over you will not slumber. He who guards you will neither slumber nor sleep, Psalm 121. And he says, his wrath is gone. Look at verse 4, NIV very meek there, “I am not angry.” I like ESV better, “I have no wrath, my wrath is gone.”

In the past, God was enraged at Israel’s sinfulness. He had an active wrath against them, he unleashed his judgments and wiped out all but the remnant, now his wrath is completely gone. He’s not angry anymore. And so later in Isaiah’s prophecy, he will say this to his prophet, he speaks to his prophet in Isaiah 40, and he gives him direct orders, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin is atoned for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” The provision for their sins is ample and sufficient. And, in verse 4, God apparently searches for enemies but doesn’t find any. You get the sense of some like black belt karate expert, who’s got like all these weapons and he’s just looking for someone to fight. Now that’s a bad attitude. But here God is saying, “I wish there were someone I could fight to show my zeal for my people, there are no enemies left. I wish that there were briars and thorns confronting me. I wish there were was some evidence of curse around me because then I would take it on and destroy it too.”

God is so zealous to protect his people at this point. He’s almost taunting wickedness and enemies to come and take him on and say, “We’ll let’s see what will happen there.” The Lord is a mighty warrior. And he’s saying, “Oh you wanna take me on then fight me. And then you’ll see my zeal for my people.” And he will just burn up any briars and thorns that would be confronting him. Or he actually says at that point, “I have a better idea, suppose the briars and thorns just come and make peace with me instead,” he actually says it twice, “Yes let them make peace with me.” It’s a terrifying thing for the Lord to be your enemy, but what a delightful thing for him to be your Savior.

“It’s a terrifying thing for the Lord to be your enemy, but what a delightful thing for him to be your Savior.”

At one time, we were enemies in our minds, as demonstrated by our evil behavior. At one time, we were God’s enemies. For if when we were God’s enemies we were reconciled to him through the death of his son how much more, having been reconciled shall we be saved by his life? So God says, “Why don’t you come and grab hold of me for refuge.” The image is this Old Testament image like in I Kings, when Solomon takes the throne, remember how Adonijah almost got the throne but didn’t quite make it, and God chose Solomon instead, and Adonijah at this point, I wouldn’t sell him life insurance. It’s a bad, bad place to be. But God granted him some measure of grace. He had run into the tabernacle and taken hold of the horns of the altar, I Kings 1:50. And then in I Kings 2, Joab did the same thing. He went in and took hold of the altar, it’s a sense of running for refuge. And that’s the picture we have here in Isaiah, 27. “Instead of running away from me, why don’t you turn and run to me, and throw yourself on my mercy, and I will show you mercy. Everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. So let them make peace with me that’s a better idea, let them find refuge in me.”

For it happened to Saul of Tarsus, breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples, the Lord threatened him with instant destruction, this brilliant light shining around him, but he’s calling him instead to salvation. He deserved to die. He knew it, he deserved to die because he was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man. But God showed mercy to him. And so God is ready to show mercy to his enemies. So he says, “Let them make peace with me.” And the result of this verse 6 is universal fruitfulness for the people of God. “In days to come, Jacob will take root and Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.” Once Leviathan is slaughtered and the Lord is directly protecting his vineyard day and night and watering it continually, it’s going to fill the whole world with fruitfulness. It’s gonna be stunningly fruitful. And notice the language it’s Jacob here. That’s all of God’s people not just the northern kingdom, or the southern kingdom, the split apart people of God. No this is Jacob. These are the people of God, and Israel. And they’re going to take root, and they’re going to have a fantastic root system, and they’re going to draw nourishing sap from that root system. And they’re going to bud and flourish, that means they’re going to be very, very healthy, the people of God. And as a result, they’re going to fill all the world with fruit.

Friends, this can be nothing less than the fulfillment of the promise made to Abram in Genesis chapter 12 when he said in verse 3, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed because of you.” Like Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “Salvation is from the Jews.” And so, God would choose a remnant of his people, and He would make them fruitful worldwide, and there would be a worldwide harvest of fruitfulness for Jacob and Israel. And at last, the Lord will have what he intended from the beginning, his people will be fruitful for all eternity.

III. The People Punished by Measure, But Only to Purify

Now, in verses 7-11 we have the people punished. So we in effect we have to go back a bit and then we see what produces this. Again let’s keep in mind when Isaiah lived and when he made this prophecy. The Assyrians hadn’t come yet, the Babylonian certainly hadn’t come yet. These two exiles are still in the future. And when the people go through it, they’re going to be confused, they’re going to be tempted to be confused, “Has God forsaken us? Are we still the people of God?” And so he is very clear and honest about this. The people of God are about to go through a very hard time. And that’s what verses 7-11 are describing. And yet it’s only by measure, the hard time is going to be carefully measured out to produce God’s end, and God’s end is to purify them of their idols. So look at verses 7-11, “Has the Lord struck her,” that’s Israel, I think, or Jerusalem, “Has the Lord struck her as he struck down those who struck her? Has she been killed as those were killed who killed her? By warfare and exile you contend with her­­– with his fierce blast he drives her out, as on the day the east wind blows. By this then will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones to be like chalk stones crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing. The fortified city stands desolate, an abandoned settlement forsaken like the desert; there the calves graze; there they lie down; and they strip its branches bare. When its twigs are dry, and they’re broken off and women come and make fires with them. For this is a people without understanding, and so their maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.”

So this is going back and explaining what’s going to happen before, before the fruitfulness of Jacob in order to clear out the idolatry and the wickedness. So this is a difficult section. But Israel’s about to be seriously stricken by God, smashed hard for their sins. Israel is going to be struck hard, it’s going to be like on the day an east wind blows like a dry desert wind, or a Sirocco, that causes everything to wither in its path. Verses 10 and 11 describe just exile conditions when you, if you were to go to Jerusalem, you know, 10 years later or something like that and there’s just nothing there it’s just desolate.

Like in the book of Lamentations when the prophet Jeremiah looks over the city when the exile has happened and he says in Lamentations 1:1, “How desolate lies the city once so full of people.” They are all gone. So we have this pastoral scene like calves that are grazing and just wild animals roaming and roving and a few women coming and finding some dead branches that they can break off or gather from the ground to use for firewood. It’s a picture of death and judgment really and a very tragic picture.

But also the middle of this section there’s a sense in which yes it’s going to be bad, it’s gonna be really bad. But it’s not as bad as it could be. And so in verse 7, he asks the question, “Has the Lord struck her”, Israel, “as he struck down those who struck her?” The Assyrians and the Babylonians let’s say. Did she get the same thing that they got? The implication is no, they get worse actually, that’s the implication of the question, they get actually worse treatment from God. “Has she been killed, as those who were killed who killed her?” Again, no. So, there’s going to be a hard time, and she’s going to be struck, she’s going to be in some sense killed, but not in the same way. It’s not going to be as bad, well, what’s the difference?

Well, when the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom, they destroyed many cities, killed lots and lots of people, and exiled the rest. When the Babylonians invaded the southern kingdom, the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem, they did the same thing: they crushed lots of towns and villages, they killed lots and lots of people and exiled the rest. But God has measured out Israel’s punishment. NIV in verse 8, it’s a very difficult verse but it says, “By warfare and exile you contend with her.” The ESV is a little bit better, “Measure by measure by exile you contend with them.” So God has measured out the discipline. He doesn’t crush her as badly as she could have been crushed. You get this picture in Ezekiel’s ministry, Ezekiel was ministering around the time of Jeremiah, and around the time the Babylonians came in. And Ezekiel was told to take a sharp sword and hone it like a razor and cut off the hairs off his head. So, shave his head remember? And then he’s told to do different things with the hairs, he’s told to divide them into thirds, and take a third of, take scales and measure out the hairs, and divide them up and take a third of your hairs and strike those hairs with the sword, and take a third and put them in into this his little replica of the city and burn it with fire, and kill them in the city, and then take the third pile and scatter it to the winds and chase them down with the sword. But take a few of your hairs and hide them in the cloak of your garment. Now, who are those few hairs? What are those hairs? Those are people, friends, those are seeds for the future. The Assyrians didn’t get that, they didn’t get that. The Babylonians they didn’t get that. Have you met any Assyrians recently? Do you have any Assyrian friends? Is there a mission to the Assyrian that’s going on right now? Is there a new tribes mission to the Babylonians? Friends, they’re extinct. They were pursued to death, so also the Philistines, chased to death, but not so the Jews. And God said he would do this.

He told this to Isaiah, remember in Isaiah 6, he calls him, “Here am I Lord, send me.” All right, time for the mission. “What do you want me to say?” “All right, go tell the people be ever hearing but never understanding, be ever seeing but never perceiving, make the people’s heart callous, make their ears dull and close their eyes, otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts, and turn and I might heal them.”, “Well, that’s a really bad message Lord, how long do I have to preach that?”, “Well here’s the answer, until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken, and though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste, but as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.

Guys, that’s the remnant, those are the few hairs stuck in the folds of the garment. That’s the seed for the future. And so no, she wasn’t killed as those who were killed who killed her, and she wasn’t struck as those who were struck… Who struck her. They get extinction, Israel doesn’t, why, because God has a plan for Israel. There is a vibrant, sap-filled root system in the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and in the promises made to them that means that they’re going to come back and flourish. And so yes she’ll be judged and punishment will be bitter, exile will happen, it will be like the a dry Sirocco wind, and it’s going to wither everything. But the end result will be that they will turn away from their idolatry and hate it as much as he does. That’s why he’s doing it. So, you remember back in Isaiah 22 when God called on his people to weep and to wail, to tear out their hair and put on sackcloth remember that? And instead they partied, instead they had a big feast.

Well after the exile there are actually two stories of hair pulling. It’s something to look into. Okay, it’s like stories of hair pulling, yes there’s two stories of hair pulling, in Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra pulled his own hair, when he found out that the people had started to intermarry again. He’s like, “Ugh, what are you doing? Don’t you understand what’s happened? And now God’s opened a little door for a remnant to come back and get established and look what you’re doing, all over again.” That’s Ezra. Nehemiah pulled their hair. That’s Nehemiah, okay, “I’m not pulling my hair I’m pulling yours.” Look it up. That’s the zeal and the passion inside them for them to hate their Asherah poles and their incense altars and crush them like chalk stones.

IV. The Elect Gathered by Trumpet Call One by One

That’s not the end of the story, verses 12 and 13, the elect will be gathered by a trumpet call one by one. Look at verses 12 and 13, “And in that day the Lord will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, Israelites will be gathered up one by one. And in that day a great trumpet will sound, and those who were are perishing in Assyria, and those who were are exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.”

So in that day, in the coming days, The Lord will thresh, threshing is separating the wheat from the chaff. He’s going to separate out the wheat of his people. He’s going to call the wheat to himself. John the Baptist said he’s going to gather up the wheat into his barn and he’s going to burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. He’s going to thresh from the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt that was the promised land. Those were the extents of the promised land. They would know exactly what that territory meant. But the call would go beyond even to distant lands where the people had been scattered and there would be this trumpet call and the people would reassemble.

And then in the history of Egypt, or the history of Israel, the trumpet was a call to the people to assemble together for some purpose. Maybe the coronation of a king. Or maybe the people assembled at Mount Sinai to receive the law of Moses, assemble with the trumpet call, or maybe they would be assembled for battle to fight against their enemies, it was a trumpet call. As a matter of fact it was built into the law of Moses, the year of jubilee there’ll be a trumpet call going out, and all the people would assemble together for worship and in the year of jubilee all debts would be canceled and all slaves set free, and everyone would return to their ancestral land, and it happened every 50 years so that meant probably you got one in your lifetime. Maybe if you got one when you were two and one when you were 102 you get two, but that’s the exception. You might get it when you’re 25, you might get it when you’re 13. Okay? Who knows when it would happen? And that call would be a call of assembly and deliverance from all sin.

And so this trumpet call goes out to assemble the people of God to come together at his holy mountain and worship and to praise him. Now Isaiah has already talked about this assembling at the holy mountain, and it’s more than just the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It says in Isaiah chapter 2, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains, it will be raised above the hills, and all the nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his way so that we may walk in his path.’” And so this trumpet call is going out to the ends of the earth to get the remnants to assemble and worship, end of chapter.

V. The Gospel of Jesus According to Isaiah 27

Now it’s time to preach Jesus. Okay, so who is the Lord that dismembers Leviathan? His name is Jesus. How does he dismember him? By dying on the cross and rising from the dead. It says in Hebrews chapter 2, “Because the children”, the elect, “have flesh and blood, he too”, Jesus, “shared in their humanity, so that by his death, he might destroy him who holds the power of death– that is the devil– and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” I like the word destroy. For our purposes in Isaiah 27:1 how about dismember, amen? So that by his death he might dismember Satan, limb from limb. And how does he do it also? By his advancing Kingdom. As missionaries and evangelists go out and they take the good news of the gospel, and they proclaim that good news, Satan’s kingdom shrinks every time it happens, and Satan is frustrated and he can’t stop the elect from coming to faith in Christ. And ultimately by his second coming when he comes back in Revelation 19 and there’s a sword, a fierce great and powerful sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and with it he will slay the wicked.

I don’t think Jesus is literally going to have a sword coming out of his mouth. I think he’s going to speak the word and the Antichrist will be gone. He’s going to speak the word and the armies that oppose him will be destroyed. He just simply speaks the word. 2 Thessalonians 2, “The man of sin is the one whom the Lord will destroy by the splendor of his coming and by the word of his power, the breath of his mouth.” And so, the Lord Jesus will establish his people as a fruitful vineyard, a fruitful vineyard. We are, as I’ve mentioned before, gentiles grafted into a tree with a root system under us that’s nourishing us with Jewish kind of spiritual blood, and we’re deriving life from the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and we are flourishing, and Jesus is the vine and we are the branches and we are to bear much fruit for apart from him we can do nothing. It’s in Christ that we are the fruitful vineyard.

“It’s in Christ that we are the fruitful vineyard.”

And it’s in Christ or because of Christ alone that God says in verse 4, “I have no wrath. I’m not angry at you. There’s no condemnation for you, my wrath is appeased. The blood of Jesus has been shed, my wrath is propitiated,” in Romans chapter 3, “He is the propitiation for our sins, the one who turns away the wrath of God.” God’s not angry at you anymore because of your sins. And in Christ alone can his enemies run and flee and take hold of him for refuge. Can I just urge you to do that today, if you consider yourself right now, an outsider, the Bible says that you are under the wrath of God if you’re an outsider. Flee the wrath of God. Come and take hold of Jesus.

You’re asking how do I do that? Just ask him to be your Savior. Just say, “Lord I’m a sinner, I’m on the outside, I’m afraid of your wrath, I don’t want to go to hell. I don’t want to stand before you and give an account for my wickedness and my lust and my laziness, will you please save me? Would you please save me from my sins.” And he will. He says, “Let them make peace with me, yes let them make peace with me, that’s a better idea.” Why don’t you come to Jesus and let him make peace with you, let him reconcile you. And in Christ alone the remnant of Jews is saved, that remnant that it discusses here, that remnant of Jacob and Israel find their salvation and their fruitfulness in Christ alone.

And God still measures out our disciplines. He doesn’t crush us like our sins deserve. He’ll hurt you. He’ll spank you, he’ll train you. But measure by measure. And he does it according to the Book of Hebrews, he disciplines us so that we may share in his holiness and may bear fruit for him. And so God measures up disciplines when you’re under the discipline of the Lord realize he’s dealing wisely with you, and causing you to hate your sins and crush your own altar stones, whatever they are like chalk and get rid of them out of your life.

What about that trumpet call? Could it be we’re called on to blow that trumpet? That we are called on to go out this week and talk to people about Jesus, that were called to say, “Hey, why don’t you come to Christ, why don’t you believe in him? Come from outside where the judgment of God is and come in and come to faith, and let God bless you. Let him forgive you of all your sins. We are the trumpet blasts. We’re the ones that got out to the ends of the earth and say, “Come to faith, come to Christ.” Close with me in prayer.

Father, we thank you for what we’ve learned in your word, we thank you for Isaiah 27. It’s a chapter that perhaps we’re not very familiar with but I thank you for being our hero, for going out to take on the dragon and fight for us ’cause we couldn’t fight for ourselves, and to deliver us and rescue us, Oh Lord. We were weak and powerless and we could not save ourselves but you went forth as a mighty warrior Jesus, and you fight and you fought for us and you died on the cross and you rose again. Oh God I pray for any lost person right now that they would hear this gospel message and be saved and help us O Lord to know how much you love us, and how much you’re watering us constantly and causing us to be fruitful, help us to be fruitful for your glory, and we pray in Jesus name, amen.

I.   The Wicked Serpent Slain (vs. 1)

Isaiah 27:1 In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.

A.  The Coming “Day of the Lord”

B.  The Epic Battle: The Lord vs. Leviathan

C.  Who is “Leviathan”?

1.  Simple answer: organized enemies of the Lord and His people

2.  Two-fold answer: Satan and Wicked People… especially wicked nations that oppress God’s people

3.  Leviathan described three ways

a.  Leviathan the gliding serpent

b.  Leviathan the coiling serpent

c.  The monster of the sea

4.  The image of a mighty SEA SERPENT is powerful

a.  The “sea” is pictured as dangerous and unknown

b.  Few things more terrifying than a sea monster

c.  You can’t see below the surface… you don’t know when this hideous, powerful thing will breach from down below and devour your ship and you

Illus. Summer of 1976… “Jaws” had people terrified to swim at the beach… frankly, I was terrified to swim in Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire… my parents surely must have told me that sharks are not freshwater creatures, and that there was ABOSLUTELY NO DANGER that week that I would be attacked by a great white shark… but the terror of the unknown was potent

Illus. Christopher Columbus’s men were almost paralyzed by their terror of sea creatures as they pushed ever further west in search of India…giant squids or ravenous whales or even mysterious unknown creatures that might rise up suddenly and devour them instantly

d.  The sea thus represents the writhing, roiling, tumultuous power of Gentile nations… and Daniel 7 pictures four beasts rising up one after the other from the stormy sea; Revelation 13 pictures the dragon, the ancient serpent, identified in Revelation 12 as Satan, standing by the sea and calling forth the BEAST from the sea… a terrifying world leader who will seek to crush God’s people

e.  So… there is biblical warrant for seeing Leviathan here as a symbol for BOTH wicked human empires (like the Assyrian or Babylonian empires) who seek to crush God’s people, AND Satan, the “god of this age”, who rules over these wicked people to achieve his ends and to crush God’s people

f.  The verse says that God will PUNISH Leviathan and SLAY the monster of the deep

g.  So, God will FIGHT and He will WIN

5.  Is this an ancient myth? Is this Marduk and Tiamat?

a.  Babylonian god—Marduk

b.  Creation myth “Enuma elish”: Marduk chosen as the champion of the young gods who rose up against the evil gods that preceded them…. Tiamat, the wicked goddess, comes forth to fight the young god, Marduk… she is depicted as a sea serpent; Marduk won the battle by slaughtering Tiamat, and carved up her body, making the heavens with one part, and the earth with another

c.  BUT Isaiah is not embracing this myth

6.  Babylonian myth: this battle already took place, and it explains the creation of the heavens and the earth

7.  Here: the battle is YET TO COME!!

8.  First true fulfillment: pagan armies now, and again, and again… right up to the end…

Red Sea crossing… Pharaoh’s army defeated… likened to the destruction of Leviathan

Psalm 74:13-14 It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters. 14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert.

The persecution of God’s people by Satan and his earthly armies depicted in Revelation 12

Revelation 12:9 The great dragon was hurled down– that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.

Revelation 12:15-16 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

9.  Second true fulfillment: the final destruction of Satan… Revelation 12 and Revelation 20

Revelation 20:10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

D.  What is the Sword of the Lord?

1.  Three adjectives describe it here

Isaiah 27:1 his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword

“HARD” “GREAT” “STRONG”: hard = it will not get notched or get dull after much use; great and strong = mighty power, cannot be resisted

2.  The sword of the Lord described elsewhere

Ephesians 6:17 the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double- edged sword

3.  The sword of the Lord is His MIGHTY WORD!!!

By simply speaking the powerful word, the Lord will defeat Leviathan: both the earthly empires that threaten His people, and Satan and his demons, who rule behind those human puppets

E.  Already… and Not Yet

1.  The human enemies of God’s people are restrained, defeated in piecemeal one after the other

2.  BUT Satan himself is not yet finally defeated

3.  the battle goes on generation after generation

4.  The true victory already won at the cross!! More at the end of the sermon!!

II.   The Vineyard Fills the World with Fruit (vs. 2-6)

Isaiah 27:2-6 In that day– “Sing about a fruitful vineyard: 3 I, the LORD, watch over it; I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it. 4 I am not angry. If only there were briers and thorns confronting me! I would march against them in battle; I would set them all on fire. 5 Or else let them come to me for refuge; let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me.” 6 In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.

A.  “In That Day” = “In the day when the Lord defeats Leviathan…”

1.  The Day of the Lord brings not only judgment, but also eternal FRUITFULNESS

2.  The Day of the Lord looks ahead to the end of the world

B.  Sing About a Fruitful Vineyard

1.  We have for the second time in Isaiah God’s people pictured like a VINEYARD

2.  Earlier, Isaiah had lamented for the Lord the failure of Judah and Jerusalem to bear fruit for God… Isaiah 5 exposed the grief the Lord felt at the wickedness and fruitlessness of His people

Isaiah 5:1-7 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. 3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? 5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. 6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” 7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

3.  There, the Lord LAMENTS the FRUITLESSNESS of His people—Judah and Jerusalem

Isaiah 5:4 When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?

4.  God then JUDGES His people by destroying its protective wall and allowing it to be trampled… (represents the invasion of Judah and Jerusalem by Gentile armies); He commands the clouds not to rain on it (representing the grace of God allowing a vineyard to grow and bear fruit… so He will not speak the word of God to them by prophets any more)… the end result: BRIARS and THORNS alone grow there

C.  Here: Everything Has Changed… this is a FRUITFUL VINEYARD!!

1.  God is DIRECTLY ACTIVE over this vineyard, guaranteeing its fruitfulness

a.  Verse 3: I, the LORD, water it continually (constant outpouring of power and grace to guarantee fruitfulness)… EVERY MOMENT, this vineyard received effusions of God’s grace to bear fruit

b.  Verse 3: I, the LORD, watch over it continually and will not allow ANYONE to trample it or harm it (Hebrew: He guards it, watches over it, protects it; so that no one will harm it, He watches it NIGHT and DAY

Psalm 121:3-4 he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

2.  God’s Wrath is GONE… He has no wrath at all toward this vineyard

ESV Isaiah 27:4 I have no wrath.

a.  In the past, He was enraged at Israel’s sinfulness

b.  He unleashed His judgments and wiped out all but the remnant

c.  Now, His wrath is completely gone

Isaiah 40:1-2 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

D.  God Searches for Enemies and Finds None

Isaiah 27:4 If only there were briers and thorns confronting me! I would march against them in battle; I would set them all on fire.

1.  God is so zealous to protect His people that He is almost taunting wickedness to come and take Him on

2.  He is so powerful that any briers and thorns that would march against Him in battle would be totally defeated, He would set them all ablaze

3.  OR… perhaps He would even convert them when they seek His mercy

Isaiah 27:5 Or else let them come to me for refuge; let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me.”

a.  Amazing picture of cowering former enemies fleeing TO the Lord for mercy and finding it

b.  Old Testament: people fleeing for their lives could run and take hold of te altar for protection

1 Kings 1:50 But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar.

1 Kings 2:28 When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar.

c.  God is so merciful to His enemies that, at any time, if any of them should throw down their weapons of rebellion and cry out to Him for mercy, He will immediately grant it

Acts 9:1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.

Colossians 1:21-22 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

IN ANY CASE, this vineyard is COMPLETELY SAFE from enemies… no brier and thorns here at all; the briers and thorns represent the curse of God; but God has worked so directly in His beautiful vineyard that not the tiniest thorn could be found to mar its fruitfulness

E.  Universal Fruitfulness

Isaiah 27:6 In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.

1.  Once Leviathan is slaughtered… AND

2.  The Lord directly protects His vineyard NIGHT and DAY… AND

3.  The Lord waters it continually and nourishes it…

4.  It becomes STUNNINGLY FRUITFUL:

5.  Jacob = all of God’s people… not merely the northern Kingdom of Israel or the southern Kingdom of Judah

6.  “Take root” = be well established and draw all the nourishing water and nutrients needed for life and fruitfulness

7.  “bud and flourish” = completely healthy

8.  FILL ALL THE WORLD WITH FRUIT… this can be nothing less than the full effects of the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ

Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Matthew 21:41 he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.

John 4:35-37 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.

At last, the Lord will have the fruitful harvest He yearned for from His people… more at the end of the sermon

III.   The People Punished by Measure, But Only to Purify (vs. 7-11)

Isaiah 27:7-11 Has the LORD struck her as he struck down those who struck her? Has she been killed as those were killed who killed her? 8 By warfare and exile you contend with her– with his fierce blast he drives her out, as on a day the east wind blows. 9 By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones to be like chalk stones crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing. 10 The fortified city stands desolate, an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the desert; there the calves graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare. 11 When its twigs are dry, they are broken off and women come and make fires with them. For this is a people without understanding; so their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.

A.  Difficult Section: Summary

1.  Israel is about the be seriously stricken by God… smashed hard for their sins

a.  Remember, none of this had happened yet when Isaiah was prophesying

b.  Both exiles—northern to Assyria, southern to Babylon—were still in the future

c.  Israel would have every reason to wonder if God had forsaken them

d.  Isaiah has to deal honestly and powerfully with the destruction that is about to come on the Promised Land because of the sinful idolatries of the people

e.  Isaiah shows that, though God will indeed strike His people HARD, the nations He uses to strike them will be struck even harder, and Israel will survive it all and flourish in the end

B.  Israel Will Be Struck… But Those Who Strike Her Will Be Struck Harder

Isaiah 27:7 Has the LORD struck her as he struck down those who struck her? Has she been killed as those were killed who killed her?

1.  Isaiah is saying plainly two things

a.  First: The Lord will use Gentile nations to “strike” and “kill” Israel in some sense

b.  Second: the nations He uses will suffer even worse

2.  What’s the difference?

a.  When the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom of Israel, they destroyed many cities, killed lots and lots of people, and exiled the rest

b.  When the Babylonians came to the southern kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem, they did about the same

c.  What could be worse than that?

3.  God MEASURED OUT Israel’s and Judah’s punishment:

a.  NIVs translation

NIV Isaiah 27:8 By warfare and exile you contend with her– with his fierce blast he drives her out, as on a day the east wind blows.

b.  All other versions: MEASURE

ESV Isaiah 27:8 Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them; he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind.

The Hebrew is very difficult here, but the sense is that God has punished Judah with a carefully measured out punishment, determining precisely how much wrath and punishment Judah needs for God’s future plans for her

Ezekiel the prophet cut off the hairs of his head and was commanded to weigh them carefully and count them out and do with each hair what God intended:

Ezekiel 5:1-3 “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 2 When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. 3 But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.

4.  So God had a specific fate measured out for each Israelite

5.  More specifically, it was in leaving the REMNANT and the ROOT SYSTEM of Jewish heritage that God differentiated between Israel and these Gentile empires

Isaiah 1:9 Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors (i.e. a REMNANT), we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.

6.  In Isaiah’s original call (Isaiah 6), he was told that Israel would

Isaiah 6:9-10 “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Isaiah 6:11-13 Then I said, “For how long, O Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

THAT’S IT… the HOLY SEED are the STUMP in the tree of Israel… there is a lasting heritage that God will guarantee to the end of the world… the Jewish history, the Jewish lineage, the Jewish heritage from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob… the words of the Prophets, the significance of Jerusalem… THAT’S THE DIFFERENCE

7.  Assyria: Wiped out, with no survivors, never to be a people again

8.  Babylon: Wiped out, no remnant, never to be a people again

9.  Israel has a lasting future, because God will defend her throughout history

C.  Israel’s Punishment Will Be Bitter

Isaiah 27:8 Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them; he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind.

1.  The punishment is EXILE… they will be evicted from the Promised Land

2.  The Theocracy will end… God will no longer dwell among His people in the land He swore to give Abraham and his descendents

3.  It is likened to the FIERCE BREATH of the LORD as a hot, dry, EAST WIND

a.  “sirocco” .. a desert wind that makes everything in its path wither and faint

b.  Like the east wind that attacked Jonah and made him feel like he wanted to die

Jonah 4:8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

c.  That’s what the punishment from God will be like for the Jews… BITTER, for many of them DEADLY… but MEASURED OUT carefully

D.  The Purpose of the Punishment: The Purging of Israel’s Sin

Isaiah 27:9 By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones to be like chalk stones crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.

1.  The exile doesn’t so much ATONE FOR Jacob’s guilt

2.  Rather, the exile puts a bitter separation between the Jews and the IDOLS in the land that had caused their punishment

KJV Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.

3.  The godly remnant that survived the exile end up HATING the sins that caused it

4.  The heathen altar stones they CRUSH LIKE CHALK STONES… so great is their hatred of those idols

5.  The Asherah poles and incense altars they have loathed bitterly and yearn to destroy them all if they ever get a chance to return to their Promised Land

6.  God took the Jews out of the Promised Land so that they would take the idols out of their hearts

7.  Look at the pulling out of hair:

Isaiah 22:12 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.

Isaiah 22:13 But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!”

But… when they got back from the exile… both Ezra and Nehemiah pulled out hair in anguish over idolatry and sinfulness… both over the sin of intermarriage leading to idolatry and syncretism:

Ezra 9:3-6 When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled. 4 Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of this unfaithfulness of the exiles. And I sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice. 5 Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God 6 ¶ and prayed: “O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.

Nehemiah 13:25-26 I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned?

E.  Jerusalem and the Surrounding Cities to Be Desolated

Isaiah 27:10-11 The fortified city stands desolate, an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the desert; there the calves graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare. 11 When its twigs are dry, they are broken off and women come and make fires with them. For this is a people without understanding; so their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.

1.  Difficult to know what city Isaiah means… I take it to refer to Jewish cities, like Jerusalem

2.  Because of the judgment of the Lord, the once populated city stands desolate

Lamentations 1:1  How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!

3.  The desolation results in cows roaming free, grazing where people once lived, lying down, stripping branches bare

4.  Women come along and break off dead branches and use them for firewood

5.  WHY? Because they did not know the Lord!! They did not cherish the knowledge of God… they went after idols, which have no understanding; so God had no compassion on them and showed them no mercy

IV.   The Elect Gathered by Trumpet Call One by One (vs. 12-13)

Isaiah 27:12-13 In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered up one by one. 13 And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

A.  “In That Day” = the “Coming Days” … an eschatological promise

B.  The Lord will THRESH

1.  The flowing Euphrates was the northern boundary of the Promised Land; the Wadi of Egypt was the southern boundary

2.  These boundaries would have been very familiar to the Jews… this was the limit of the Promised Land

3.  God will thresh… but not for WHEAT or any other agricultural fruit… threshing is the process of separation of wheat from chaff

4.  The Lord will move through the Promised Land and will gather up the “wheat” of true believers ONE BY ONE… these are the elect, the chosen ones, each assessed and known by the Lord who loves them

5.  But God will not stop in the Promised Land alone… He will reach out beyond the borders of the land to the distant shores to gather His elect

C.  A GREAT TRUMPET will Sound!!

1.  In Israelite history, trumpets were sounded to gather the nation for various purposes

a.  To assemble the people trembling at the base of Mt. Sinai to receive the Law from Moses

b.  To announce the coronation of a new king

c.  To summon the people for temple worship

d.  To summon the people for battle

2.  Especially for the YEAR of JUBILEE

Leviticus 25:9-10 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan.

a.  The people were gathered to celebrate the year of Jubilee… once a lifetime

b.  All debts cancelled; slaves all set free; everyone returns to their ancestral lands and owns them again; a glorious RESET!!!

3.  This trumpet sounds to assemble people from the north and the south

Isaiah 27:13 And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

a.  The exiles perishing in distant lands will have the freedom to return, to assemble and worship the Lord ON THE HOLY MOUNTAIN

b.  But the call is not only for Jews… but for all from the nations who are perishing in Assyria or whatever land; for them to worship the Lord on the Holy Mountain

c.  Isaiah 2

Isaiah 2:2-3 In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3 Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.”

V.   The Gospel of Jesus According to Isaiah 27

A.  Christ Destroys the Ancient Serpent… the Devil

Isaiah 27:1 ¶ In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.

1.  By His Crucifixion and Resurrection

Hebrews 2:14-15 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death– that is, the devil– 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

2.  By His Advancing Kingdom

Matthew 16:18 on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Romans 10:15 As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

3.  By His Second Coming

2 Thessalonians 2:8-10 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.

Revelation 19:21 The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse

B.  Christ Establishes His People as a Fruitful Vineyard…

Isaiah 27:6 In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.

Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit– fruit that will last.

C.  Christ Atones for the Wrath of God

ESV Isaiah 27:4 I have no wrath.

Romans 3:23-25 ll have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

1 Thessalonians 1:10 Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

D.  In Christ Alone Can the Enemies Flee TO GOD and Find Refuge

Isaiah 27:5 Or else let them come to me for refuge; let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me.

Colossians 1:21-22 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

Romans 5:10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

E.  In Christ Alone is the Remnant of the Jews Saved

Isaiah 27:7 Has the LORD struck her as he struck down those who struck her? Has she been killed as those were killed who killed her?

Romans 11:5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

F.  In Christ God Still Measures Out Our Disciplines

ESV Isaiah 27:8 Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

G.  In Christ Alone Are All the Scattered Elect of God Regathered

Isaiah 27:13 And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

John 10:16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

John 11:51-52 Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.

VI.   Application

A.  Come to Christ

B.  Understand the Past, Present, and Future Crushing of “Leviathan”

C.  Bear Fruit for the Glory of God!!

D.  Purify Yourself… Crush the Idols in Your Life

E.  Understand God’s Measured Disciplines

F.  Be Part of Christ’s Trumpet Blast to the Nations… MISSIONS!!!