63. When the LORD Shall Come (1)

Posted on Posted in Sermon Notes Tagged with , , ,

Hymns: RHC 70 I Am Resting 460 Senf the Light! 467 Bringing in the Sheaves

Isaiah 19:1-25

1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. 2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. 3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. 4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts. 5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. 6 And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither. 7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. 8 The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. 9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded. 10 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish. 11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? 12 Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. 13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof. 14 The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. 15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do. 16 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it. 17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.

 18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction. 19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD. 20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them. 21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it. 22 And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them. 23 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. 24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: 25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.

When the LORD Shall Come (1)

OUTLINE

  • Discomfiting and Confounding (v1-17)
  • Convicting and Converting (v19-25)

INTRODUCTION

When the Holy Spirit is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

John 16:8 (KJV) And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

John 16:9-11 (KJV) Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

The proliferation of evil will not go on perpetually, the Lord will by His Holy Spirit deal with the evil that is in the world. The evil of human hearts, the evil of human systems, and the devil.

When the Holy Spirit brings conviction to the hearts of men, they are convicted of their sins they turn to God. Church history recorded many instances of such revivals. In the Old Testament, the Book of Jonah recorded of the revival that came to the city of Nineveh.

Jonah 3:1-10 (KJV) And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. 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. 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? 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.

Isaiah 19 described the judgment of God upon the land of Egypt. In the days of Moses Egypt had been the great oppressor of God’s people, and God had punished her. He had shown in the Exodus that He was the living and true God, supreme over all Egypt’s idols. Nevertheless, in times of need and crisis His people still turned to the nation that had oppressed them in ancient times. If refuge was needed, they would seek it in Egypt. Again therefore, God must show that He is sovereign, that His own people may know the folly of trusting in their enemy.

Isaiah 31:1-3 (KJV) Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD! Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.

Isaiah 30:1-3 (KJV) Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

An indictment against God’s people who trust not in God but in the arms of the flesh, looking to the strength of chariots!

That it should be greatly weakened and brought low, and should be as contemptible among the nations as now it was considerable, rendered so by a complication of judgments which God would bring upon them (v1-17). That faith in the living and true God should be brought into Egypt, and set up there, in part by the Jews that should flee thither for refuge, but more fully by the preachers of the gospel of Christ, through whose ministry churches should be planted in Egypt in the says of the Messiah (v18-25), which would abundantly balance all the calamities here threatened.

  • Discomforting and Confounding (v1-17)

1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

Isaiah moulds his description with a figure taken from the storm, and depicts the Lord riding upon a light cloud, that He may speedily execute His work of judgment.

Psalm 96:13 (KJV) Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

And clouds has been depicted in Scripture as His vehicles – Psalm 18:10 (KJV) And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.

Psalm 104:3 (KJV) Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

EJ Young observed well that Isaiah’s figure prepares for the vision of Daniel in which the Son of Man is associated with the clouds of heaven.

Daniel 7:13 (KJV) I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

Matthew 24:30 (KJV) And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Matthew 26:64 (KJV) Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

It is to Egypt that the Lord comes and Egypt occurs 4 times in this verse – will feel the effect of His judgment.

Isaiah begins with “Behold!” and immediately focuses his prophecy upon the Lord, who is the true subject of the prophecy. We are to behold Him riding upon a light cloud and coming to Egypt. In the second half of the verse Isaiah states what the consequences of the Lord’s coming will be – and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

The verb “moved” means “to shake”, it is the same root word that means the swaying of the heart of Ahaz and his court.

When one hears the voice of the LORD he will sway, as did the people at Mount Sinay when they saw the theophany and heard the Lord’s voice (Exodus 20:18).

Exodus 20:18 (KJV) And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

Fear fills the hearts of the idols and they sway because of the Lord, for His coming means their complete destruction.

Not only will the idols sway, but, personifying the nation, Isaiah declares that the very heart of Egypt will melt. The judgment is to affect the whole country, so that its heart will melt, not being able to withstand, and being terrified by fear of the oncoming Lord. It is a figure that Isaiah has used previously when speaking of the Day of the Lord.

Isaiah 13:7 (KJV) Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:

When in the very midst of the nation the heart has melted there is nothing left to withstand the coming of the Lord.

Just as the Apostle John described Christ’s return in Revelation 1:7 (KJV) Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

He will bring about a civil war in Egypt. The Lord will stir up Egypt so that it will be set in opposition to itself. True unity we learn from this passage comes from the Lord, and when He sets a nation against itself, there can be no unity. The Lord, therefore, is the source of unity. The Egyptian’s disunity appears in that a man will fight against his brother.

We are reminded of Matthew 10:21 (KJV) And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.

The coming of the Lord will bring division between believer and unbeliever, but one caused when, feeling the effects of judgment, men turn even against their own brothers.

Leaving the family, the prophet goes to point that the division will extend to all men. Likewise the various cities of Egypt will fight against another and the smaller kindgoms which exist in lower Egypt will also turn against each other with the result that there will be a civil war.

3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.

The external confusion with which Egypt is to be characterized could possibly be controlled if the heart of the land were itself sound. That heart is not sound, however, for it will melt, and the very spirit of the land will fail. The external confusion is to be accompanied by an internal one so that in its entirety, the country will fall to pieces. Egypt is to be overcome and subdued. She will have no strength left to resist the Lord or in any way to assert herself in opposition to Him.

The failure of the spirit of Egypt appears in that Egypt no longer has any counsel. The counsel which it would devise for its own deliverance is one which cannot stand. No strong voice of wisdom can be raised, for God Himself will bring to mishap nay advice or counsel proposed. This is a vigorous way of stating that Egypt’s counsel is to be completely destroyed. Whatever advice is proposed comes to distress by God and so exists no more; it is completely gone.

4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.

The climax of the Lord’s judging action is seen in that He gives Egypt over to hard rulers. Isaiah employs an expressive word which suggests the locking up of Egypt so that there will be no escape.

To be continued…