Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / Isaiah 23 - God’s Judgment Against Tyre and A Song About A Prostitute

Transcript

Isaiah 23 - God’s Judgment Against Tyre and A Song About A Prostitute · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

• 0:00
  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
• 0:03
  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
• 0:07
  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
• 0:10
  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
• 0:14
  others. Let's dive right in.
• 0:15
  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. I am excited.
• 0:19
  Today is a weird passage. It is a weird portion of
• 0:23
  Scripture. And so let's get into the
• 0:25
  weirdness together. If you're like Brian, you look
• 0:29
  much fancier than you normally do is because I am recording
• 0:31
  this on a beautiful Sunday. It was a great day in the Lord's
• 0:34
  house. And I encourage you, if you
• 0:37
  don't normally listen to the Tabernacle Baptist Essex Sermon
• 0:40
  podcast, go do that. And I go listen to Sunday's
• 0:44
  sermon from John 1812 through 19 and verse 16 about Jesus's
• 0:51
  trials and his beating prior to his crucifixion.
• 0:57
  Today we are in Isaiah chapter 23.
• 1:00
  We've been walking through several different prophecies,
• 1:04
  pronouncements of judgment from God through the prophet Isaiah
• 1:08
  to the Kingdom of Judea, its capital city Jerusalem, and the
• 1:13
  various nations around them for the ways in which they were not
• 1:17
  following the Lord. They were mistreating people
• 1:20
  generally, and they were specifically mistreating the
• 1:23
  people of God. As we've walked through these,
• 1:27
  we've seen some maybe specific examples of things we should do
• 1:31
  or not do avoid, embrace. And I hope that today we'll
• 1:36
  bring some of that for you as well as well as we remember
• 1:41
  looking back today of God's prophecy of judgment against the
• 1:46
  place of Tyre. This is not TIRE like a Goodyear
• 1:51
  or something. This is TYRE tire.
• 1:54
  And I encourage you, you can look back and do even a Google
• 1:58
  search on some of the things that were going on in that city.
• 2:04
  Alexander the Great actually famously destroyed this city.
• 2:10
  A lot of the people escaped from the actual city itself to go
• 2:15
  onto an island. And what they ended with the
• 2:19
  Greeks and Macedonians, what that army ended up doing was
• 2:22
  tearing down the city and then building a like a bridge or a
• 2:27
  Causeway across that little bit of the Mediterranean Sea so that
• 2:33
  they could get to the island city with their, you know, full
• 2:37
  army and all of that. And they were able to conquer
• 2:41
  it. It was rebuilt and was back in
• 2:44
  existence again during the time of Jesus.
• 2:47
  And he even deals a little bit with the cities during his time.
• 2:52
  So let's begin reading in verse #1A pronouncement concerning
• 2:56
  Tyre. Whale ships of Tarshish.
• 3:00
  For your haven has been destroyed.
• 3:03
  Tyre was a place of wonderful I. I hesitate sometimes when I use
• 3:10
  good adjectives that makes you think like, Oh yeah, this was a
• 3:12
  great place. This was a very wicked, godless,
• 3:15
  evil place. But they had a huge port with
• 3:20
  ships that would take take goods and resources all across the
• 3:26
  Mediterranean. And so it was a place of
• 3:29
  abnormal affluence as compared to other places in the Near
• 3:35
  East, an incredibly rich place. But they got most of their money
• 3:40
  through their merchant ships. So he says whale ships of
• 3:45
  Tarshish for your haven has been destroyed.
• 3:48
  Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus or Kiddam.
• 3:54
  Mourn inhabitants of the coastline.
• 3:56
  You merchants of Sidon, your agents have crossed the sea over
• 4:01
  deep water, tires, revenue was the grain from Shehor, the
• 4:05
  harvest of the Nile. She was the merchant among the
• 4:08
  nations. Be ashamed, Sidon, the
• 4:10
  stronghold of the sea, for the sea is spoken.
• 4:13
  I've not been in labor or given birth.
• 4:15
  I've not raised young men or brought up young women.
• 4:19
  Here there is a statement basically that the population of
• 4:24
  these places totally dropped off so that what brought them such,
• 4:30
  what brought the city and the nation so much profit had now
• 4:35
  ended. Some people will sometimes take
• 4:38
  a, a statement like that or statement like this from
• 4:41
  Scripture and apply it a little bit heavy handedly to say you
• 4:45
  need to have a bunch of kids, especially if you're a
• 4:48
  Christian. If the Lord has that for you,
• 4:51
  wonderful. But what is being stated here is
• 4:55
  more the turn of events for a specific place.
• 4:59
  And so I, I don't want to overplay that hand there other
• 5:02
  than to say often when God is judging a place or judging a
• 5:06
  people, fertility issues can often be a way in which judgment
• 5:12
  is expressed generally among the population that does not, I'm
• 5:18
  not saying that is in for any specific person that is dealing
• 5:22
  with infertility, you are personally to blame for or
• 5:25
  you're personally punished for the sin of your people.
• 5:28
  That is not the way that it works.
• 5:31
  But I, I want to give a little bit of, if you will, color.
• 5:36
  I, I want to get a fuller look at what's being said here.
• 5:39
  Basically we're running out of people and there are not enough
• 5:42
  people to be able to populate this place.
• 5:46
  We don't have A next generation in tyre and Sidon.
• 5:51
  When the news reaches Egypt verse 5, they will be in anguish
• 5:54
  over the news about tyre crossover to tarshish whale
• 5:57
  inhabitants of the coastland. Is this your jubilant city whose
• 6:02
  origin was an ancient times whose feet have taken her to
• 6:06
  reside far away? The people from Tyre and Sidon
• 6:09
  taken into a another land, They've been displaced.
• 6:13
  There's #8 Who planned this against Tyre?
• 6:16
  The bestower of crowns, whose traitors are Princess, whose
• 6:20
  merchants are the honored ones of the earth?
• 6:23
  They had extreme ability and influence in politics as a
• 6:29
  result of how many riches they possessed.
• 6:33
  Verse #9 So who? Who planned the destruction here
• 6:36
  of Tyre, this incredibly affluent city, Yahweh of
• 6:40
  heaven's armies, planned it to desecrate all its glorious
• 6:44
  beauty, to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth that
• 6:49
  hear these people. Set against God, set against his
• 6:52
  way, set against human flourishing, God would be the
• 6:56
  one that would bring in holy judgment.
• 6:59
  Verse #10 Overflow your land like the Nile, daughter of
• 7:02
  Tarshish. There was no longer anything to
• 7:05
  restrain you. He stretched out his hand over
• 7:07
  the sea. He made kingdoms tremble.
• 7:10
  Yahweh has commanded that the Canaanite fortresses be
• 7:13
  destroyed. He said you will not celebrate
• 7:16
  anymore. Ravished young woman, daughter
• 7:18
  of Sidon, get up and crossover to Cyprus.
• 7:21
  Even there you will have no rest.
• 7:23
  Look at the land of the Chaldeans, a people who no
• 7:26
  longer exist. Assyria destined it for desert
• 7:30
  creatures. They set up their siege towers
• 7:32
  and stripped its palaces. They made it a ruin.
• 7:35
  Whale ships of Tarshish because your fortress is destroyed.
• 7:40
  So here there's even this prophecy of what would happen to
• 7:44
  Tyre far into the future. And even here, he's relying on
• 7:51
  prophecy about what will happen to Babylon.
• 7:53
  That is, Babylon was prophesied to be destroyed.
• 7:55
  And we read that back in chapter 14.
• 7:58
  Now here in chapter 23. And remember, this is being
• 8:01
  prophesied prior to Babylon actually becoming as powerful of
• 8:07
  a world empire as it ended up becoming.
• 8:09
  So this is like, if you want to describe it this way, this is 50
• 8:13
  to 100 years before Babylon was #1 And this prophecy is saying
• 8:20
  just like Babylon was destroyed and brought down to nothing,
• 8:24
  Tyre is going to be brought down to nothing.
• 8:27
  The prophecy about Tyre would not be fulfilled for many years
• 8:31
  into the future. And the prophecy about Babylon
• 8:35
  being brought down, Babylon wasn't even #1 yet.
• 8:38
  And so here is another one of those looks at the prophecies of
• 8:43
  Scripture coming to pass long before because this is what God
• 8:48
  was saying. And God, I, I heard a phenomenal
• 8:53
  message a few weeks ago when I was at my parents church down in
• 8:56
  North Carolina and the pastor mentioned the verse from first
• 9:00
  Peter that talks about God speaking into existence those
• 9:04
  things that do not yet exist. And here that's what God
• 9:09
  promised. He he promised Babylon's up and
• 9:12
  coming and Babylon being that judgment arm against Judea and
• 9:17
  against Jerusalem. But then he also prophesied that
• 9:20
  Babylon would fall, the Medes and Persians would come behind
• 9:23
  them and then the Greeks would come behind the Medes and the
• 9:27
  Persians before Rome. And then that's obviously when
• 9:30
  Christ came. So that's what was happening
• 9:34
  there. Verse #15 On that day, Tyre will
• 9:37
  be forgotten for 70 years, the lifespan of one king.
• 9:43
  At the end of 70 years, what the song says about the prostitute
• 9:47
  will happen to Tyre. And then here's that excerpt
• 9:50
  from the song. I don't know if you guys know
• 9:52
  this. Even as I was reading through
• 9:53
  this, I was like, wait, wait, wait a second.
• 9:56
  Isaiah here, you know, kind of prophecy from the Lord is
• 9:59
  quoting from a locally known song about a prostitute and that
• 10:04
  is included in the word of God. Let that be an encouragement to
• 10:08
  you that God can use all sorts of things.
• 10:11
  He used a talking donkey. He used Pagan and evil kings
• 10:16
  like Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus. He used wicked and evil kings
• 10:20
  like even Saul or David or Solomon at times.
• 10:24
  And so God can use anything and God can speak to you even
• 10:28
  through some secular things sometimes.
• 10:31
  Always be listening for the voice of God in every situation
• 10:37
  that you find yourself in. You might find through speaking
• 10:40
  with a Co worker that you were able to hear God's instruction
• 10:43
  for you or God's affirmation of your walk of faith that someone
• 10:47
  else sees it. You might hear as in this song,
• 10:51
  it might remind you of a biblical truth.
• 10:53
  So let me read this portion of the song about the prostitute
• 10:57
  real quick. He says pick up your liar.
• 10:59
  That is a musical instrument. Stroll through the city, you've
• 11:03
  forgotten prostitute play skillfully sing many a song so
• 11:07
  that you will be remembered. So basically Tire would have
• 11:11
  been one that financially blessed many other places, but
• 11:18
  it would be destroyed and the only way that it would be
• 11:21
  remembered would be through song.
• 11:23
  So here this prostitute is only remembered not through her
• 11:27
  business, but through the songs that she would sing that she's
• 11:32
  no longer wanted, no longer able to provide her services, much
• 11:36
  like Tyre was no longer able to provide its services of merchant
• 11:41
  ships and trade and, and the port that it had for all of the
• 11:45
  various nations around the Mediterranean.
• 11:48
  Verse #17 At the end of the 70 years, so at the end of a
• 11:52
  generation, Yahweh will restore Tyre and she will go back into
• 11:56
  business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the
• 11:59
  world throughout the earth. This is something that then the
• 12:03
  apostle John picks up for Revelation and he describes Rome
• 12:08
  as Babylon, using the language that Isaiah uses about Tyre and
• 12:15
  Sidon. The great prostitute, the great
• 12:19
  whore is what he calls her in Revelation 18.
• 12:22
  They're speaking about this place of central commerce and
• 12:27
  trade that is in at enmity with God and with God's plan for the
• 12:36
  world and for human flourishing and all of that.
• 12:38
  Verse #18 But her profits and wages will be dedicated to
• 12:43
  Yahweh. They will not be stored or saved
• 12:46
  for her profit will go to those who live in Yahweh's presence to
• 12:50
  provide them with ample food and sacred clothing that one day, as
• 12:55
  Tyron Sidon would, if you will come back from the dust, come
• 12:59
  back from destruction, they'd go back into business.
• 13:02
  And that would happen even during the time of Jesus.
• 13:05
  But what God says is I'm going to use their business not just
• 13:09
  for their own greatness. I'm going to use it to provide
• 13:13
  for my people. And I'm thankful that the Lord
• 13:15
  uses a variety of means and a variety of ways to provide for
• 13:20
  his people. Are we thankful today for the
• 13:23
  provision of God? Do you recognize that God uses,
• 13:26
  even as with Tyron Sidon, secular means secular places or
• 13:32
  jobs to be able to provide for His people?
• 13:35
  So I have many of my friends that are on Social Security.
• 13:37
  God uses the taxes from those that are maybe engaged in some
• 13:42
  bad business or business that would not glorify the Lord.
• 13:46
  God uses those people's taxes in order to be able to meet some of
• 13:50
  your needs. And we can be thankful that the
• 13:52
  Lord can speak to us in so many different ways.
• 13:57
  He can provide for us in so many different ways.
• 14:00
  And so our response needs to be humility and gratitude to the
• 14:04
  Lord, to say, God thank you for everything that you have given,
• 14:07
  for everything that you will give me.
• 14:09
  Would you help me to walk with you?
• 14:12
  Let's not be like proud and greedy, monetarily obsessed Tyre
• 14:19
  and Sidon. Instead, may we be those that
• 14:22
  humbly receive from the Lord everything that we need.
• 14:26
  How can we, you know, walk that path?
• 14:28
  Instead, have a heart to say God.
• 14:32
  Everything I have comes from you.
• 14:34
  I will choose to be generous to to your work and to others in
• 14:38
  need. I'm going to recognize that I
• 14:41
  need to be a good steward of what you have given to me.
• 14:44
  My money, my home, my time doesn't ultimately belong to me,
• 14:48
  it belongs to you. So help me to do what you want
• 14:51
  with what you have given to me. Again, little bit weirder of an
• 14:56
  episode. I doubt you have many times
• 14:58
  gone. Listen, I'm going to hear a
• 15:00
  little excerpt of a poem about a song about a prostitute who's
• 15:04
  been forgotten. But that's what you heard today
• 15:07
  on Tabernacle Talk. And I'm I'm grateful that the
• 15:12
  the word of God has so many different genres.
• 15:15
  It has so many different speakers and different ways in
• 15:19
  which God communicates his truth to us.
• 15:22
  And sometimes we need something a little out-of-the-box so that
• 15:27
  we will pay attention to what God is saying.
• 15:30
  And we saw that even few episodes ago with Isaiah having
• 15:34
  to go without pants for three. Yeah, I think it was three
• 15:40
  years. So thank you for tuning in
• 15:43
  today. Tomorrow begins the quote UN
• 15:45
  quote little apocalypse of Isaiah.
• 15:48
  So we're going to get a little bit more directly Isaiah talking
• 15:52
  about the end of time or what's often called the Day of the Lord
• 15:57
  or the day of Yahweh, which is a period of time those last days
• 16:03
  prior to God's what's called consummation, the the
• 16:08
  fulfillment of everything that God has promised.
• 16:11
  And so Isaiah talks about that for a couple of chapters.
• 16:13
  And so we're going to walk with him through that.
• 16:15
  And I'm really looking forward to that time that begins
• 16:17
  tomorrow with Isaiah 24. Thanks for tuning in.
• 16:20
  Have a wonderful day.