WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.600 All right, well, we are carrying on in the book of Isaiah and Isaiah is a great book. 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:13.080 It's one of the great prophets and it's a hard book at times and we've got a big section to think about tonight 00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:15.080 chapters 13 to 20 as I mentioned 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:21.240 And the reason we can do that in the normal time a lot is because chapter 13 really does epitomize 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:27.760 the whole of chapters 13 to 20 if you read any commentators on the book of Isaiah one of the things they'll say is that this is an 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:32.380 Entire section a unit from chapter 13 through halfway through chapter 20 00:00:32.380 --> 00:00:37.679 And if you have one of our church Bibles or your own Bible you can flip and see 00:00:38.480 --> 00:00:43.079 Even in the titles which are not original we've added those but in the titles of the sections 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:45.359 You'll see language 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:52.280 Like the judgment of Babylon chapter 13 verse 1 the oracle concerning Babylon and if you flip over you can see these little 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:58.500 Sub titles like the oracle concerning Assyria the oracle concerning Philistia and Moab and 00:00:58.800 --> 00:01:01.719 Kush and Egypt and Damascus and 00:01:02.480 --> 00:01:08.920 a number of nations that are considered and then chapter 21 picks up with Babylon again 00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:15.439 You see that so fallen fallen as Babylon chapter 21 so in chapter 13 an oracle against Babylon and 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:22.599 Then these little subordinate oracles against Kush and Egypt and Philistia and Damascus and then Babylon again 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:29.599 And so it's bookended this section from Babylon to Babylon with all sorts of little judgments that happen in 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:32.479 between this and all of it is 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:39.239 One section because it's got an idea behind it all it's got a main theme and the main theme you 00:01:39.479 --> 00:01:41.479 Might have seen in verse 6 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:45.520 It says whale for the day of the Lord is near okay 00:01:45.520 --> 00:01:50.880 So this whole section is talking about this idea that we see across the Bible the day of the Lord 00:01:50.880 --> 00:01:57.359 And it shows up again in verse 9 behold the day of the Lord comes and if you look at all the little oracles 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:05.480 After this one you're gonna see a little phrase that says in that day in that day in that day against Egypt in that day 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:11.879 Kush and that day Damascus and all of these little phrases are referencing this big idea the day of the Lord 00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:14.439 That's what God has brought here and is bringing now 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:17.039 We've got to be very limited tonight 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:23.620 This is a very difficult passage to think about and talk about and the day of the Lord is a major concept throughout the Bible 00:02:23.620 --> 00:02:27.560 Old Testament and New Testament and we can only talk about one aspect of it this evening 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:33.240 And that's the aspect of judgment that the day of the Lord brings so let's think about that together. What is the day of the Lord? 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:39.719 What problem does it create for us and then what hope does it bring to us? 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:43.400 Okay, so first what's the day of the Lord very briefly? 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:51.360 We here in Isaiah 13 and in the whole book are in the seventh century BC the 600s the mid 600s and 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:55.920 At the time Assyria is the great power of the land 00:02:56.520 --> 00:02:59.960 They're the world dominators at the time. They're the colonial Empire and 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:06.800 if you were to pick up a newspaper in the middle of Jerusalem right here when Isaiah is writing Isaiah 13 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:10.120 It would have said on the front page of the Jerusalem times 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:14.680 Assyria has been the great power, but Babylon is rising 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:20.400 So everybody knew and was starting to find out that there's also another kingdom 00:03:20.920 --> 00:03:22.920 One that's much older than Assyria 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:27.480 Babylon and that Babylon is the rising power of the north and 00:03:27.479 --> 00:03:35.039 And eventually Babylon is going to destroy Assyria and eventually Babylon is going to be the ones that destroy Jerusalem in the 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:36.120 580s 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:41.000 Towards the end of this book and this is what Jeremiah is prophesying about it's what the book of limitations 00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:45.879 laments what the Babylonians will ultimately do to Jerusalem in the 580s a 00:03:46.359 --> 00:03:51.399 Syria is the is the great power the great problem for Jerusalem in Israel at the moment 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:58.319 But when you come to this section where the day of the Lord the day of judgment is being meted out against all these nations 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:02.640 It's not a Syria that gets the first billing. It's Babylon 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:07.719 Babylon is the beginning chapter 13 and as I said the ending chapter 21 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:10.759 It's the book ends and there's a real reason for that 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:16.800 You know, there's a primacy to Babylon across the Bible if you've read much of the Bible 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:19.759 You'll have noticed this that Babylon keeps coming back 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:25.079 Even well beyond Babylon actually existing Babylon becomes the great symbol 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:27.920 So if you read the book of Revelation the prophet John 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:34.680 He says over and over again the apostle that Babylon is the great problem that Jesus is coming to deal with in the end of 00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:40.519 All of history and that's because of an Old Testament idea that Babylon is the symbolic 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:44.319 Power that stands for all evil 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:52.439 So Babylon is a real place. It's a real city. It's a real Empire. It starts all the way back in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:57.680 But it also stands for more than just a place in the Old Testament 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:04.879 And so Babylon is not to be thought of here merely as a world geography as a sorry as a local geography 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:07.420 but more like a world concept and 00:05:08.439 --> 00:05:13.319 The book of Revelation tells us about it. John tells us that Babylon is anywhere 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:19.719 that the playground of personal and corporate vice has been maximized 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:27.800 You know, it's it's where lust greed gluttony and violence have become nothing more than everybody's vending machine and 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:34.319 It's where human evil has been maximized to the degree that depravity has been unleashed 00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:37.819 Into a society where a society is completely corrupted 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:42.439 That's where you have Babylon anytime that happens. You've got Babylon 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:47.759 It's when evil desires are maximized throughout history and we know that's what 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:57.160 Isaiah is talking about here because if you look carefully at verses 1 to 16, you'll realize he's not talking about a specific nation 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:02.040 Babylon he's talking about the world in verses 1 to 16 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:03.560 You can look down and see that verse 7 00:06:03.560 --> 00:06:08.680 He says the day of the Lord is coming upon every human heart verse 7 verse 9 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:17.079 It's coming to destroy sinners from the land and that word land there is the word word word for world or the earth 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:21.360 It's the kind of word that you see in Genesis 1 God created the land the whole world 00:06:21.960 --> 00:06:29.360 He's destroying the sinners from the whole world in verse 9. You see it again in verse 11. I will punish the world for its evil 00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:31.639 verse 00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:32.840 verse 00:06:32.840 --> 00:06:35.399 10 as well it says it over and over again 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:39.919 That Babylon here is a symbol that stands for this cosmic 00:06:40.679 --> 00:06:48.359 Universal image of the day of the Lord the day of judgment the day that God will come and judge all evil from all the lands from all the lands of 00:06:48.359 --> 00:06:53.079 The world and so the big idea of the day of the Lord the first big idea is very simple 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:55.560 but it's very difficult and 00:06:55.799 --> 00:06:58.479 It's that God is assembling 00:06:59.679 --> 00:07:01.079 destruction in 00:07:01.079 --> 00:07:05.359 order to knock the hell purge the hell out of earth itself 00:07:06.719 --> 00:07:12.759 That's what God plans to do is doing has done in the day of the Lord and on the one hand 00:07:13.599 --> 00:07:18.120 Tonight you've got to be you know, you're a modern person. You've got to be willing to say I 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:23.360 Want God to dismiss dismiss all hell all evil from the world I 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:29.680 Want God to come into the world and and get rid of all the evil and purge all the evil and at the same time when you come to 00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:32.160 A passage like this and you read what that looks like 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:39.920 You read a text like verse 9 which says when the day of the Lord comes it comes with wrath and fierce anger 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:44.960 You see on the other hand, I don't want the day of the Lord and I don't know what to do with the passage like this 00:07:44.960 --> 00:07:46.879 I don't know what to do with the concept of the day of the Lord 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:53.600 It feels difficult it feels cruel as the language puts it here in the text and this is all over the prophet 00:07:53.600 --> 00:08:00.120 Zeffania 1 14 says the great day of the Lord is near and it's hastening fast Amos 5 18 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:05.040 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord. It is darkness not light 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:12.080 And so one scholar puts it like this the day of the Lord is when God intrudes into space and time to 00:08:12.640 --> 00:08:15.920 reconstitute right order through punishing wicked wickedness 00:08:17.280 --> 00:08:19.439 Okay, what do we do? 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.639 Secondly the problem that it creates for us 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:31.439 Modern people we come to this and you know no matter how mature you are as a Christian no matter how great of a Bible reader 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:35.360 You are we still come to a passage like this and there's one big problem 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:39.840 I think that comes up as you read it you read text like verse 9 verse 16 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:43.759 And the question that comes up for us and really for any human being is 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:46.399 Is God good? 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:52.000 Can I read a passage like this? Can I read about the day of the Lord and say that the Lord is good? 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:57.600 And I want to say tonight that we don't we don't ever need to hide from the from the Bible 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:00.159 You know we don't ever need to skip over things 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:05.199 We need to be able to come and look at exactly what it says and try to understand it as God's given it to us 00:09:05.199 --> 00:09:07.519 And so in verse 16 we have one of those 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:14.240 Text one of those that most of the time if you're preaching a passage you try your best to not have to talk about 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:16.560 But I think we should and it's verse 16 00:09:16.560 --> 00:09:23.440 It says their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:29.200 You see a text like that and you say is God good or is God unnecessarily brutal? 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:33.120 What's happening here? How am I to understand a passage like this? 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:35.519 Especially as a modern person 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:41.680 In a day where all sorts of people are challenging belief in the Bible based on verses like this richard Dawkins 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:47.439 The famous militant atheist of our time. He says that the Bible is a text 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:53.839 Remarkable for the bloodthirsty massacres it records and the xenophobic relish with which it does so 00:09:55.199 --> 00:09:57.199 Now I think that 00:09:57.839 --> 00:09:59.839 if you take a closer look 00:10:00.319 --> 00:10:03.599 If you take a closer look there's something substantially different happening 00:10:04.319 --> 00:10:07.439 That Dawkins doesn't understand to say the least 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:14.640 And let me suggest to you that to understand passages like this. You've got to be able to read it in the light of the whole Bible 00:10:15.520 --> 00:10:20.080 You got to be able to read it in the light of all that God's doing from Genesis to Revelation to really understand 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:26.560 How to how to take it how to see it how to read it and so we're going to do something a little different tonight and 00:10:27.680 --> 00:10:32.160 Sometimes sometimes you come to passages in the Bible where you have to do a little more 00:10:32.880 --> 00:10:34.880 teaching than preaching 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:39.600 So we're still going to do some preaching too in a moment, but you've got to do that sometimes 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:43.679 You've got to get through through hard things sometimes by by thinking of it in a different way 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:48.159 So let me give you in the second point just four four things. I think that we need 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:52.240 Bible-wide to understand in order to treat a passage like this 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:57.120 And maybe this will be helpful to you as you read across prophecies like the prophet Isaiah 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:01.919 Okay, so the first thing is this when you look at God's judgment in 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:03.600 Joshua 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:05.600 the conquest of Canaan 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:08.159 Kings and chronicles 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:14.080 Under the hand of David and his sons when you come to the prophets and you see the wars that are being prophesied the day of the Lord 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:20.639 One of the things that's so important is to see that you've got to read these books in their entirety to understand the point 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:25.840 And when you read these books in their entirety to understand the point the big idea is always the same 00:11:26.560 --> 00:11:30.160 And it's that God is overwhelmingly patient 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:34.240 Overwhelmingly patient with the most horrific evils 00:11:35.839 --> 00:11:37.839 Across the Old Testament 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:42.799 Every single book about judgment is a book where it says God has been so 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:46.639 Overwhelmingly patient with humanity 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:54.159 Even when it has committed the most horrific evils for century after century after century and that's exactly what we've got here 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:55.360 Babylon 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:57.600 Is the symbol of hell on earth 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:04.560 That's what Babylon means in the bible. What's the pinnacle of that sin of that hell unleashed on earth throughout the Old Testament? 00:12:04.560 --> 00:12:09.600 And the Old Testament makes it makes it clear. It's not easy to talk about even here tonight 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:16.399 But if you read a book like Joshua Deuteronomy Leviticus Kings chronicles Isaiah Jeremiah 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:22.879 They all say the same thing that in each of the lands that we're talking about especially in the Joshua conquest 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:29.679 That Babylon got so unleashed upon the land that eventually the pinnacle of all evil happened people started worshiping 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:32.480 Evil spirits through human sacrifice 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:35.919 And that's regularly noted across the Old Testament 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:42.480 And if you read carefully what you find out is that almost every single unleashing of judgment is in a time 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:46.559 When evil hell had been unleashed to that degree in the world 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:51.360 And so even the conquest of Canaan God says over and over again the iniquity of the evil 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:59.600 And the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. He says to Moses it's not yet time for judgment of Canaan because their iniquity is not yet full 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:01.680 What does he mean by that? 00:13:01.680 --> 00:13:05.680 He means by that that he gave the Canaanites 400 years 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:09.919 To repent of the most horrific things things that I can't speak about 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:14.800 From the pulpit he gave them 400 years immense patience. He poured forth 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:20.559 Over and over again upon the peoples of the ancient Near East telling them showing them saying I'm patient with you 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:23.839 Just repent just come back just return 00:13:24.079 --> 00:13:27.279 Just put away your evils and you will not face what you deserve 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:31.120 You will not get the justice that you deserve in the midst of the land 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:35.679 This is so built in in fact to to Leviticus that in Leviticus 18 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:40.240 God says that if you bring this type of evil into the land 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:44.720 He's talking to Israel to the people he said if you go into the land and you bring the kind of evil 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:50.639 Into that place that the Canaanites brought into it. It says the land will vomit you out 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:56.879 And he's saying that God made the world to be a place of goodness and joy 00:13:57.279 --> 00:13:59.279 And justice and peace and shalom 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:05.360 And when people group after people group after people group commit such horrific violence in the place 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:07.360 It says the land can't even tolerate it 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:12.800 The land has to spit you out the land has to bring up justice against against you 00:14:12.800 --> 00:14:17.360 And so it's so important to understand that we're not here talking about idyllic utopias 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:20.639 That God brings to justice. We're talking about 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:23.440 horrific injustice 00:14:23.680 --> 00:14:25.680 That God brings to justice 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:30.800 And that's the message of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 7 says to Jerusalem 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:32.560 Jerusalem 00:14:32.560 --> 00:14:35.279 Why are you continually trying the patience of the Lord? 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:38.639 Don't you know that he keeps he keeps letting you off? 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:43.039 He keeps showing mercy to you. He keeps giving you chance after chance. And so here's what we learn 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:50.399 One author who read a very helpful book about this topic. He puts it like this. He says the question should not be 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:55.600 God if you're good, why are you inflicting judgment on these cities? 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:02.399 And the real question is this God if you're good, why are you letting this go on so long? 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:05.759 You know that that's actually the question of the Psalms. How long go Lord? 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:11.840 That's the question of the book of Revelation. It's the prayer come Lord Jesus. When are you going to purge injustice from the land? 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:16.079 If you're so good, then when Lord when are you gonna? 00:15:16.959 --> 00:15:21.919 When are you gonna kick the hell out of this land out of this earth? When are you gonna do it? 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:26.799 Why do you allow evil of God? When are you gonna put it away? You see God is patient 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:31.679 And he's more patient than any of the judges of the earth any human being any king that's ever existed 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:36.079 He is slow to anger and abounding instead fast love 00:15:37.359 --> 00:15:39.359 Now the second thing is this 00:15:39.359 --> 00:15:43.199 When you look at ancient Near Eastern studies about this issue 00:15:43.839 --> 00:15:48.319 So people spend their entire career looking at places like Isaiah 13 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:52.799 And then comparing it to the ancient Near Eastern text that we have text 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:57.279 Outside the Bible from the time of the Old Testament one thing always comes through 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:01.759 You know, there's all sorts of war stories from the ancient areas that we have you can read about them 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:05.359 You can find them for free on the internet all you want and read them 00:16:06.079 --> 00:16:10.399 Things that were written at the exact same time period as the book of Isaiah and they all do the same thing 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:17.199 They're written from the perspective of a single nation a king an army and they all say the same thing. They say 00:16:18.319 --> 00:16:20.319 You know, we went into the land 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:24.800 And all of our deities helped us to completely defeat this other people group 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:27.440 And our king is the best king 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:31.200 And our king is the wisest that has ever been 00:16:31.680 --> 00:16:34.160 You know, sounds like some of our politicians today a little bit 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:37.520 You know, we we're the best and we're the richest 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:41.040 And there's been no nation that's ever been blessed like our nation 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:46.560 And you read these ancient Near Eastern war text and they always say that they always say the same thing 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:50.079 Look, this is how you know that we're dealing with something very real 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:52.879 When you read the book of Isaiah 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:55.519 You find out that the good guys are actually the bad guys 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:01.679 That Israel and Jerusalem are also the object of the day of the Lord 00:17:02.719 --> 00:17:06.159 That Israel and Jerusalem are no better than any of the nations 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:12.879 And that these stories of judgment are ultimately stories about Israel's failure and Jerusalem's failure and their evil 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:20.880 And that's why in the New Testament in the gospels when Jesus Christ creates the term that we now call hell, Gehenna 00:17:21.840 --> 00:17:25.440 What is he referring to? He's referring to a space outside of Jerusalem 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:29.280 This space Gehenna, it was a land, a territory outside of Jerusalem 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:33.360 You could see it from the Temple Mount and it was a place called the Valley of Hinnom 00:17:33.360 --> 00:17:36.400 We read about it in the prophets and at the Valley of Hinnom 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:39.200 The Israelites had at the time of the Old Testament 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:43.680 Sunk to the same exact level of evil that I spoke of earlier 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:48.480 You know Jesus actually looks out at a place and says that's hell. You want to know what hell is? 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:52.240 You want to know what Babylon is? It's what they did 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:58.000 It's when a hell like that gets unleashed into the world 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:00.559 And Jerusalem had done it too 00:18:01.600 --> 00:18:05.600 And so when Dawkins says, you know, these wars in the Old Testament, there's xenophobia 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:10.879 Well, oh boy, he didn't read well because actually the whole point of the Old Testament is that 00:18:11.919 --> 00:18:17.439 Israel and Jerusalem are the object of God's judgment because they're the same as everybody else 00:18:18.719 --> 00:18:21.519 You know, he shows mercy. He's so patient with the world 00:18:22.159 --> 00:18:25.599 And he brings justice in the midst of injustice equally 00:18:25.919 --> 00:18:31.919 He has no partiality and that tells us that we've got to remember the Deuteronomy 7 principle 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:37.519 You know, the Deuteronomy 7 principle, it's one of the great passages of the Old Testament 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:41.440 It's a principle that stands for everyone for all time. It's when God says 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:46.240 I'm about to send you into the land of Canaan, but when you get there Israel, remember 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:51.279 If you ask the question, why us? Why did God put us in this great land? 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:54.880 You need to remember one thing. I did not do it because you were great 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:57.279 I did not do it because you were morally upright 00:18:57.279 --> 00:18:59.279 I did not do it because you were a Christian 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:02.879 I did not do it because you were morally upright. I did not do it because you were powerful 00:19:02.879 --> 00:19:07.519 What does he say? Deuteronomy 7-9. I did it because I love you 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:11.279 That's it 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:15.359 And any single moment in all of human history that we're not being judged 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:21.200 It's because God is patient and because God loves us 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:27.440 And anything other than that would not keep us from the fires of justice 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:29.440 The fires that we deserved 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:35.120 I love what Alexander Solzhenitsyn said about us about humanity. Alexander Solzhenitsyn 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:42.640 wrote the gulag archipelago the account of the horrors of the Russian gulags of the mid 20th early 20th century 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:49.759 And Alexander was a Solzhenitsyn was a prisoner of those gulags and he came out and he wrote the multi-volume series on that 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:52.000 That's a really important read a great read 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:55.920 But you might have heard the famous quote. He says he understood humanity 00:19:55.920 --> 00:20:02.160 He says the lines separating good and evil passes not through states not through nations 00:20:03.360 --> 00:20:04.960 not through 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:07.600 classes not between political parties 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:15.440 But right through every human heart and through all human hearts the lines separating good and evil it runs through every single human heart 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:21.120 It's not an issue of states and classes and societies and people groups and races. It's all of us that Babylon 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:27.679 Runs through every single human heart gk. Chesterton more popularly. You've heard this probably it's cliche at this point 00:20:28.239 --> 00:20:30.959 But Chesterton was asked to write an essay 00:20:31.679 --> 00:20:33.679 in the early 20th century 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:36.639 From one of the london papers an essay contest 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:39.279 They asked all the great thinkers at the time 00:20:39.439 --> 00:20:45.839 Including Chesterton. They said write a short essay on what is wrong with the world and what did Chesterton write back? 00:20:45.919 --> 00:20:47.599 He said dear sirs 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.039 I am 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:51.039 Yours truly gk. Chesterton 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:53.519 You see he understood 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:57.200 He understood that Babylon runs through every one of our hearts 00:20:58.399 --> 00:21:04.639 And that means that whenever we read a passage like this, we have to say oh lord. Why are you so patient with me? 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:09.359 Why do you why do you allow me to draw a breath? Why do you love me? 00:21:10.159 --> 00:21:12.159 this much 00:21:12.159 --> 00:21:14.159 now thirdly a four um 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:18.640 It's been regularly pointed out and this is where we get into a little bit more of the detail 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:21.040 It's been regularly pointed out by the theologians 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:28.960 Of history and by the commentators that when you look at God's judgment on the day of the lord across the bible 00:21:29.600 --> 00:21:34.720 One of the things you notice when he says things like I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant as he does here 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:38.080 In chapter 13. I will lay them low the question is how? 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:43.599 How does God judge? How does he execute his justice in the world? 00:21:44.639 --> 00:21:48.000 And you've got to be very careful with how you think about this and the main way 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:54.960 If you look carefully the main way that God brings judgment into the land in the old testament and the new testament even 00:21:55.759 --> 00:22:00.480 Is it's regularly depicted as God simply letting human beings be 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:03.519 themselves 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:10.079 You see the way that judgments actually depicted in this passage is more like God letting go 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:12.799 of humanity 00:22:12.879 --> 00:22:14.879 The sense is that God at all times 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:18.639 Is upholding society in his goodness and grace 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:22.319 You know that if he would let us become what we really are 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:25.200 If he would let us do what we really want to do 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:28.240 That would be babelon 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:35.200 And at all times God is not he he we call this common grace. He's holding us back. You know, we're totally depraved 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:37.279 But we're not as bad as we could be 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:43.120 And the judgment in the old testament is regularly depicted as God allowing us to become what we really are in our sin 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:47.200 And back to verse 16 remember that very difficult verse we read 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:49.839 The infants will be dashed in pieces 00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:53.359 The house is plundered wives ravished. What is it talking about? 00:22:53.359 --> 00:23:01.519 It's not talking about the agency of God. It's saying that when the meads come when the persians come when the assyrians come when the 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:03.359 Babylonians come 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:05.519 Humans are going to do this against humans. He's saying 00:23:06.399 --> 00:23:12.159 If I unleash my grace from you for just a moment, this is what humanity does to humanity 00:23:12.959 --> 00:23:16.240 You see he lets the chaos of sin unfold 00:23:16.719 --> 00:23:21.679 And that's why when you get to the new testament, this is exactly the way Paul describes the wrath of God 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:26.400 Across the entirety of the old testament. What does Paul say in Romans 1 18 through 32? 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:32.160 He says the wrath of God has been revealed to all the nations and then how does he describe it? 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:37.519 It says he God gave the nations over to themselves 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:43.360 He let them do what they wanted to do. He let them be themselves. He let them live in the depth of their sin 00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:48.880 He unleashed Babylon by actually simply stepping back from his gracious holding of them 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:53.200 And so the judgment means that God is never the author of sin 00:23:54.560 --> 00:23:56.560 God is never the author of sin 00:23:56.880 --> 00:23:58.240 We are 00:23:58.240 --> 00:23:59.600 We are 00:23:59.600 --> 00:24:03.440 Judgment is simply giving to humanity exactly what it wants 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:10.240 And c.s. Lewis was really sharp on this. He helped us think about this. He talked about how hell really is humanity's choice 00:24:11.280 --> 00:24:18.000 And the unleashing of judgment in this passage the unleashing of hell into the world is simply giving humanity its choice 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:24.000 To to live like this to act like this now you may be tempted we all are tempted to say but oh boy 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:28.000 We're modern people. We know that we've progressed, you know, we've gotten beyond this 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:34.319 We've gotten beyond things like this and let me just say this is not a numbers game and need not be but I just want to know 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:36.480 that 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:38.720 in world war two the low estimates 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:43.440 for civilian deaths at the hands of soldiers and bombs 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:46.799 civilian non-combatant deaths 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:49.919 On the low side was 45 million people 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:56.399 There were more deaths on a few single days of world war two of civilians 00:24:56.879 --> 00:25:00.480 The in then the entirety of war deaths in the old testament combined 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:07.359 We're modern people but we're the same and there are today 50 million people 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:13.519 In human slavery situations 50 million across the world being trafficked and horrific moments 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:15.519 Our 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:18.079 He had us right 00:25:18.639 --> 00:25:22.480 The line of good and evil runs through every human heart. We we are prone to Babylon 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:28.960 And that means that we've got to understand that any moment that society is being upheld that it's just doing okay at least 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:32.319 Is a moment where God is pouring forth his grace on us 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:34.160 He's patient 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:39.759 He's love and he's gracious to let us carry on now fourth and finally 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:43.519 Fourth and finally last say that means that I just want to point out 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:48.400 Let me give you one thing before I say that I missed this quote and I want to give it to you 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:50.720 Miroslav Wolf Miroslav Wolf 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:55.519 Gives us something very helpful in his book exclusion and embrace. Let me close my third with this 00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:00.319 This is what he says. Just just think about this. He says this in a world of violence 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:03.119 In a world of violence 00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:05.119 It would be unworthy of God 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:07.920 To withhold the sword of judgment 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:11.360 If God were not angry at injustice and deception 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:15.920 And did not vow to make the final end to violence in the day of the lord 00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:18.400 Would God be worthy of our worship? 00:26:19.840 --> 00:26:22.960 Even more he carries on let me give you one more. He says in a world of violence 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:27.680 We are faced with an inescapable alternative either God's violence 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:31.759 Either God's justice or human violence 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:33.759 unto justice 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:39.119 Most people who insist well God God can't be bring justice God can't bring judgment into the world 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:43.119 I can't believe in a God who judges a city who judges a nation who judges anyone 00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:49.200 They think of nothing at the same time of entrusting final judgment into human hands 00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:53.200 Of entrusting justice and judgment into human rulers 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:58.319 And it seems responsible to say something like well surely God can't be a God of judgment 00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:06.159 But that God should judge the world seems crude while they're totally okay with human beings doing the exact same thing 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:11.119 We can bring justice even by violence. That's okay if it's brought about by humans 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:16.079 But God cannot be entrusted to that and so without God violence will always thrive 00:27:17.439 --> 00:27:25.039 Now lastly that leads us to say is is God let me let me close this point by saying is God full of wrath and anger 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:28.799 You know it says the wrath of God here in chapter 13 on several occasions 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:37.039 And let me do one more broad thing and that's say that the theologians of history the bible scholars of history have all agreed 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:44.079 Throughout 2,000 years of reading the bible as one book. They've said the same thing and they've said that 00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:49.119 The wrath of God is not something that comes to us in the way that you think it does 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:55.039 Number one it's it's God unleashing who we are as humans, but number two is God full of wrath 00:27:55.439 --> 00:28:00.000 In other words is wrath one of the characteristics of God an attribute of God 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:03.359 And for 2,000 years Christians have said no 00:28:04.399 --> 00:28:07.039 No, God is not wrath 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:09.839 God is not anger 00:28:10.159 --> 00:28:14.079 You see when you get to the New Testament you you realize this Paul says in Acts 00:28:14.079 --> 00:28:19.039 He says men of Athens understand that the true God is not of like passions 00:28:19.679 --> 00:28:22.159 As you and I that's a word for emotion 00:28:22.639 --> 00:28:28.079 And it means that God is never to be thought of as someone like us who gets angry 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:32.159 You know sometimes you're okay, and then you get angry 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:39.839 God never does that he doesn't get angry. He doesn't get full of wrath. You see God is holy 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:44.319 And God is love. He never gets angry. He's just 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:51.279 God never gets loving. You see God see how this works? You say well, I'm not sure about that with anger, but think about love 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:55.199 You say look God never starts to love you 00:28:57.039 --> 00:29:00.559 God never started to love you. He never began loving you. He always is 00:29:01.679 --> 00:29:06.720 God is love. He doesn't begin to love. God never gets angry. He is just 00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:09.759 He is holy. God is not full of wrath 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:12.319 He is holy love 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:15.440 And so when the Bible talks about God's wrath, what's it talking about? 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:21.440 Paul says the wrath of God. What's the wrath of God? The wrath of God is the effect of justice 00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:23.839 The wrath of God is what we experience 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:26.400 It's society going all the way to the bottom 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:32.480 It's just it's the judgment we feel we experience it's justice poured out into the world. God is not wrathful 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:38.400 Wrath is an effect of God's justice that we experience in the world and the theologians have said this for century after century after century 00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:46.400 God is love. God is good and because he is good. He is just and so the message of isaac even here in isaac 13 00:29:47.120 --> 00:29:50.079 Is God is love. God is holy. God is patient 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:54.160 And God will purge the evil from the land in the day of the Lord 00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:56.880 Now we're going to talk about the power of God 00:29:56.880 --> 00:30:04.320 Patient and God will purge the evil from the land in the day of the Lord now last thing as we close point three 00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:06.480 And it's just one brief note 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:11.840 The hope it gives us let me close by saying that the day of the Lord gives us hope 00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:17.120 And it that could be talked about in multiple ways one of the ways we've already mentioned 00:30:17.520 --> 00:30:22.560 Oh boy, are you a human being tonight? Do you look out at the world and say lord? 00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:25.440 When will you bring justice? 00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:32.240 You know when will you put away the 50 million the 50 million people that are currently enslaved and modern slavery in some form? 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:34.720 When are you gonna when are you gonna do away with that? 00:30:36.320 --> 00:30:41.920 And as a christian, you know your heart gets softened and you melt under the under the beauty of the gospel 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:43.920 And you start to feel the pain of other people 00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:48.799 And and it makes you actually say boy if you're good lord, I just want you to come 00:30:49.840 --> 00:30:52.640 Come lord Jesus, Mary and alpha the final prayer of the bible 00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:57.120 But let me focus instead on this other way that the day of the Lord brings us hope 00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:01.680 And that's to say that the day of the Lord came in little snippets in the old testament 00:31:02.320 --> 00:31:04.320 The day of the Lord is coming 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:06.480 At the end of history in the book of revelation 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:08.880 But in the middle of history 00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:11.200 The day of the Lord already came 00:31:12.080 --> 00:31:14.080 And you can see that in Isaiah 13 00:31:14.800 --> 00:31:16.800 Isaiah 13 verse 10 00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:19.680 It says the stars of the heavens 00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:22.960 And their constellations will not give their light 00:31:24.080 --> 00:31:26.080 On the day of the Lord the sun 00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:28.880 The day of the Lord the sun will be dark 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:31.440 At its rising 00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:36.799 Now in the gospel of mark chapter 15 verse 33 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:40.000 it says 00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:42.240 That there was a day there was a day 00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:46.160 And on that day from the sixth to the ninth hour 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:50.160 The stars did not give out their light the sun was dark at its rising 00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:52.400 That the lights went out 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:54.640 You see the day of the Lord has already come 00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:58.640 The day of the Lord is coming but it's already come and it came the day that the lights went out 00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:05.440 And the day that the lights went out was the day when the Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross and was utterly forsaken by his father 00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:10.800 And you see God says in the day of the Lord I will pour out justice on the land 00:32:10.800 --> 00:32:13.600 I will purge evil from the land 00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:18.079 And then he said oh boy nobody has ever gotten the justice that we deserved 00:32:19.199 --> 00:32:25.199 Nobody has ever gotten the justice they deserve but only one only one has gotten the justice we deserved the true day of the Lord 00:32:25.919 --> 00:32:30.399 And it came the day the lights went out upon the body and the soul of Jesus Christ himself 00:32:30.399 --> 00:32:36.240 He experienced the ultimate justice of God the day of the Lord was poured out upon him and it was so 00:32:37.199 --> 00:32:39.359 So that you could stand on the day of the Lord 00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:45.599 You know the day of the Lord came in the middle of history so that at the end of history you could stand and the day of the Lord would be beauty 00:32:46.639 --> 00:32:48.639 not judgment 00:32:49.119 --> 00:32:53.279 And in Jesus Christ God has done it. He has brought it. He has brought justice 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:56.639 He has poured it out upon this man's body 00:32:57.599 --> 00:33:00.639 The judgment of Jesus Christ says 00:33:01.919 --> 00:33:03.919 I love you 00:33:03.679 --> 00:33:06.639 I'm patient with you and I want to give you grace 00:33:06.640 --> 00:33:08.640 And that's exactly the message of the prophet 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:11.440 He's done it in Jesus 00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:13.440 And now we can say come Lord Jesus 00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:15.440 Miranatha 00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:17.920 Let's pray father. We give thanks that 00:33:19.120 --> 00:33:22.800 Even in the midst of really difficult passages like this you speak 00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:28.240 So speak oh lord as we come to you and receive the fruit of your holy word show us 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:33.920 That you are good help us to believe it. We know it's true, but let us speak 00:33:33.920 --> 00:33:37.920 God help us to believe it. We know it's true, but Lord we are the problem 00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:44.800 We struggle with that sometimes and so we ask Lord that in the midst of reading about a passage of justice and judgment 00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:47.200 You would help us to see 00:33:47.360 --> 00:33:50.480 That there are no skeletons in your closet. They're only in our closet 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:56.960 It helped us then to turn to Jesus Christ the man who was judged for us judged in our place 00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:02.960 The one upon whom you poured the day of the Lord for us so that we might stand in the day of judgment 00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:08.159 So give us faith today in him and we pray this in Jesus name Amen