13. To Plead and To Judge
Hymns: RHC 423 Follow, I Will Follow Thee 432 How Good Is the God We Adore 434 Savior, More Than Life to Me
Isaiah 3:8-15
8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory. 9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. 10 Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 11 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. 12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. 13 The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. 14 The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 15 What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts. (Isa. 3:8-15 KJV)
To Plead and To Judge
OUTLINE
(1) Fearful Awaiting or Averting of Judgment for the Unrighteous (v8-9)
(2) Fruitfulness of the Righteous (v10)
(3) Fruitlessness of the Unrighteousness (v11)
(4) The LORD Prosecutes (v12-15)
INTRODUCTION
The eyes of His glory (v15) are His observation of everything offensive to His holiness. [J. Alec Motyer]
The holy character of God warrants that He judges sin, as a righteous God. Sin is contrary to the nature of God. He distinguished Himself and identified Himself as holy in all His being.
Man made in the image of God are likewise bears the image of God’s holiness. So that LORD exhorts His people – Be ye holy for I am holy!
Leviticus 11:44-45 (KJV) For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
God brought Israel to the wilderness and there, worship was set up in the building of the Tabernacle and reflects the holiness of God.
Psalm 99:9 (KJV) Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy.
The outworking of His holy character is His righteousness in His relation to others.
Psalm 11:7 (KJV) For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.
As such, God’s love never condones sin.
Psalm 89:14 (KJV) Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
Psalm 119:137 (KJV) TZADDI. Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.
Psalm 145:17 (KJV) The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
When Israel departed from the paths of His commandments, from the paths of holiness, God judgment came upon them.
Romans 7:12 (KJV) Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
The character of God’s love and the outworking of it in His grace and mercy toward His creature warrants that He pleads that His people would turn from their sins and walk in the paths of righteousness.
The righteous as always, are those who are right with God and therefore committed to a life of righteousness. They are not promised immunity from earth’s troubles but that it will be well. [Motyer]
The righteous are encouraged by the assurance that the judgments of God shall not be indiscriminate – Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings (v10). [Addison]
Psalm 73:23-24 (KJV) Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
God’s love is unselfish – There is no thought of personal benefit, but seeks only the good of its object.
Deuteronomy 7:7-8 (KJV) The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
God’s love is voluntary – God does not wait for any response in the object of His love, or for any request for love.
Romans 5:8 (KJV) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Isaiah 63:9 (KJV) In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
John 3:16 (KJV) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
1 John 4:9-10 (KJV) In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
We see the two aspects of His nature pleading and judging His people.
If they would turn from their sins, He would withhold His judgment.
God saved Nineveh because the entire city turned to God at the preaching of Jonah of the coming judgment.
Jonah 3:4-5 (KJV) And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
Jonah 3:6-9 (KJV) For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
The Assyrians were a very cruel people, God had mercy on them.
Jonah 3:10 (KJV) And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
God explained His doing to Jonah showing forth His merciful character.
Jonah 4:11 (KJV) And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
So it is that God is longsuffering and patient with Israel pleading with them that they would turn from their evil ways.
(1) Fearful Awaiting or Averting of Judgment for the Unrighteous (v8-10)
8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
The use of “ruin” and “fallen” is with reference God’s peple (Jerusalem and Judah) by declaring that Jersualem and Judah had in fact destroyed itself by the offence which its iniquities had given to the holiness of God, here compared to the sensitiveness of the human eye. Jerusalem is “totters” and Judah falls or Jerusalem tottering and Judah falling, because their tongue and their doings (words and deeds being put for the whole conduct) are against the LORD implying opposition and hostility to resist His holy eyes and thereby offend them. Jerusalem and Judah, though peculiarly the Lord’s, were nevertheless to fll and be destroyed.
The condition of sinners is woeful and very deplorable. It is the soul that is damaged and endangered by sin. Sinners may prosper in their outward estates, and yet at the same time there may be a woe to their souls. [Matthew Henry]
9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
As they make no secret of their depravity, and as sin and suffering are inseparably connected, they must bear the blame of their own destruction.
The show of their countenance – The word rendered “the show” is probably derived from a word signifying “to know,” or “to recognize,” and here denotes “impudence” or “pride.” Septuagint, ‘The shame of their face.’ [Barnes]
They declare … – By their deeds. Their crimes are open and bold. There is no attempt at concealment.
As Sodom – Genesis 19:5 (KJV) And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
Woe unto their soul – They shall bring woe upon themselves; they deserve punishment. This is an expression denoting the highest abhorrence of their crimes.
They have rewarded evil … – They have brought the punishment upon themselves by their own sins. [Barnes]
That the shame which should have restrained them from their sins was quite thrown off and they had grown impudent.
This hardens men against repentance, and ripens them for ruin, as much as anything: The show of their countenance doth witness against them that their minds are vain, and lewd, and malicious; their eyes declare plainly that they cannot cease from sin (2 Peter 2:14).
2 Peter 2:14 (KJV) Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
One may look them in the face and guess at the desperate wickedness that there is in their hearts: They declare their sin as Sodom, so impetuous, so imperious, are their lusts, and so impatient of the least check, and so perfectly are all the remaining sparks of virtue extinguished in them. The Sodomites declared their sin, not only by the exceeding greatness of it (Genesis 13:13), so that it cried to heaven (Genesis 18:20), but by their shameless owning of that which was most shameful (Genesis 19:5); and thus Judah and Jerusalem did: they were so far from hiding it that they gloried in it, in the bold attempts they made upon virtue, and the victory they gained over their own convictions.
Genesis 13:13 (KJV) But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
Genesis 18:20 (KJV) And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
Genesis 19:5 (KJV) And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
(2) Fruitfulness of the Righteous (v10)
10 Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
The LORD does have His remnant in every circumstance. Noah was found righteous amidst great violence and wickedness in the pre-flood world. The LORD provided for them the ark of safety from the deluge of water.
The people of God who fears God will be willing to trust God during such times of enigmas and hardships to endure and continue to do God’s will.
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Noah believed in God. This was a man who had encountered God and knew that God meant every word He said and said what He meant. The Bible says he was moved with fear. The fear of God was in his heart. God moved Noah’s heart to respond to His warning by putting His fear in Noah’s heart. Fear was not a negative emotion that God gave to Noah. It was a wake-up call! It was like a bell or a gong going off in his heart and mind, stirring him into life to flee into the safety of God at the first approach of danger. It was a signal to provoke his soul to watchfulness and sobriety, to lifelong action!
The word “condemned” means “to judge against” or “to judge worthy of punishment”. Noah by his submission to God set himself as an example against the evil and the wicked in his generation who refused God’s truth. His very obedience to God in building the ark and preparing his family was a judgment against the mockers and scoffers who by their unbelief perished when God sent the flood.
By his walk, Noah was a witness against the world. This was his responsible response to the privilege God had bestowed upon him when He chose him to be His witness against the world.
Enoch walked with God, the living and true God. God translated him, taken to heavenly bodily.
This is the remnant principle [Whitcomb].
Jeremiah 15:11 (KJV) The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
Ezekiel 14:13-14 (KJV) Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.
for they shall eat the fruit of their doings: That is, they shall receive the appropriate “reward” of their works, and that reward shall be happiness. As a farmer who sows his field and cultivates his farm, eats the fruit of his labour, so shall it be with the righteous. [Barnes]
The LORD doth distinguish and care for His own, who live before Him in righteousness.
Ecclesiastes 8:12 (KJV) Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
Malachi 3:17-18 (KJV) And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
Here we learn the principle that though the world may become more and more evil, yet the people of God are to remain steadfast in their walk with God.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 (KJV) This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2 Timothy 3:13-14 (KJV) But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
(3) Fruitlessness of the Unrighteousness (v11)
11 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
We see a contrast here between God’s treatment of the wicked and the righteous as the psalmist well shows in Psalm 1:3-5 (KJV) And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
Psalm 11:5-6 (KJV) The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.
Ecclesiastes 8:13 (KJV) But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
Proverbs 1:29-31 (KJV) For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
Isaiah 57:21 (KJV) There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
What a sad plight!
(4) The LORD Prosecutes (v12-15)
12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. 13 The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. 14 The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 15 What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
The LORD enters into judgment. The LORD’s people are precious to Him. No one touches them with impunity.
Zechariah 2:8 (KJV) For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
They which lead thee; thy rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, whose duty it is to show thee the right way. [Poole]
The courtroom scene has theological significance. Plainly, in v12 the Lord is passionately concerned about the situation but He does not rush into action. Firstly, charges must be laid, the case must be proved. The Lord is just in all His ways (Genesis 18:20-21). [Motyer]
Genesis 18:20-21 (KJV) And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
Ahab and his wife Jezebel did wickedly. Naboth and his vineyard for forcibly taken and the man was murdered.
The LORD sent Elijah to confront Ahab.
1 Kings 21:15-26 (KJV) And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead. And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
CONCLUSION
May the LORD strengthen His people to walk with Him. Amen.