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Isaiah 28 - God’s Judgment On Samaria and Jerusalem · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Well, welcome back to Tabernacle Talk.
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  Today we just finished Isaiah's little apocalypse and we are
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  back in, if you will, God's. I'm going to phrase it this way.
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  This is going to be stupid. And if I have any, uh, what are
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  often termed Theo Bros on the Internet, they're going to be
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  like, well, actually this is totally incorrect because, but
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  I'm going to call it God's parent teacher meetings with the
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  nations of the world that he has said Babylon is in trouble.
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  He has said Assyria is in trouble, Moab is in trouble.
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  Edom, Egypt, all of these nations, they are in trouble.
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  And today we pick back up in chapter 28 with the northern
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  Kingdom of Israel with its capital city of Samaria.
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  And they are in trouble. So let's read through this
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  together. Isaiah 28 and verse #1 woe to
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  the majestic crown of Ephraim's drunkards.
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  So Ephraim was one of the larger tribes that made-up that
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  northern Kingdom of Israel. And so that's the favorite son
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  of Joseph. And well, I don't even know if I
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  want to go so far as to say that it was Jacob's favorite grandson
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  of his favorite son. And so Ephraim is often talked
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  about like that's the baby boy of Joseph, who was the favorite
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  son of Jacob. And so there's great familial
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  love that's there. But Ephraim, over and over again
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  throughout the biblical story, did not do what was right.
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  And So what they did as a group of people, as a tribe, was often
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  emblematic of what the whole northern Kingdom of Israel was
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  doing here. That they are drunkards
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  together, and there is an abuse of wine or beer.
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  And here it says, woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim's
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  drunkards, and to the fading flower of its beautiful
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  splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley.
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  Woe to those overcome with wine. Look, the Lord has a strong and
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  mighty one. Like a devastating hailstorm,
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  like a storm with strong flooding water, He will bring it
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  across the land with his hand. This is one of those ways that
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  Assyria was talked about even earlier in one of the chapters
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  that we've been in previously, that this group, this army is
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  going to come through like a flood over the land.
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  Verse #3 The majestic crown of Ephraim's drunkards will be
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  trampled under foot. The feeding flower of his
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  beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich
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  valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest.
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  Whoever sees it will swallow it while it is still in his hand.
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  That is, the richness, the greatness, the pleasant things
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  in life will be taken away, will be snatched away from this
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  nation. Verse #5 On that day Yahweh of
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  heaven's armies will become a crown of beauty and a diadem of
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  splendor to the remnant of His people.
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  A spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment and
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  strength to those who repel attacks at the city gate.
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  That though overall the nation of Israel would be taken into
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  exile into Assyria for those that were left, they would come
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  to trust and follow the Lord. That they would find him to be
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  the they would find God to be their favorite possession like
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  the thing that made them them, the one that they would call on
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  the one that they would find justice and right treatment of
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  others in. That's what we read in verse
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  number six, a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment.
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  And they would find strength in God to be able to overcome the
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  difficulties that they would encounter in a land in which
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  they were no longer self reliant or self ruling, but under heavy
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  taxation and abuse from a foreign power that would have
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  some leftover troops and things still stationed in the land.
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  And so these people, the nation would be overcome, but God would
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  be there for those that were left.
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  Verse #7 Even these stagger because of wine and stumble
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  under the influence of beer. Priest and prophet stagger
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  because of beer. Oh, sorry, yeah, no, I had that
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  right. They are confused by wine.
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  They stumble because of beer. They are muddled in their
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  visions. They stumble in their judgments.
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  So we talked about this a little bit back in Leviticus.
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  One of the things that God said was if you are in any sort of
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  position where you're supposed to be making decisions,
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  especially decisions about other people, or when you're engaging
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  in the worship of the Lord, you are not to be engaging in
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  drunkenness. We saw this with Aaron's two
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  sons that were drunk, offered forbidden incense on the altar
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  of the Lord and they were killed as a result.
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  And so God said there is to be no drinking when you are
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  performing the sacrifices and those things for the Lord.
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  And here these people that should be helping the people to
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  make right decisions, they have no self-control.
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  They can't control themselves, let alone encourage the people
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  to control themselves either. And so they are making wrong
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  decisions that are affecting other people.
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  Verse #8 Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit.
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  There is no place without a stench.
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  Who is he trying to teach? Who is he trying to instruct?
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  Infants just weaned from milk. Babies removed from the breast,
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  law after law, law after law, line after line, line after
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  line, a little here, a little there.
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  For he will speak to this people with stammering speech and in a
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  foreign language. He had said to them, This is the
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  place of rest, let the weary rest.
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  This is the place of repose. But they would not listen.
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  So God had this place that was supposed to be for their good.
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  And yet there's almost kind of a rejection of the law of God, the
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  way that he had outlined how Israel's relationship with one
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  another, with the land itself, with foreigners and with God was
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  supposed to work. And instead, verse #10 there's
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  kind of this mockery that happens of, Oh, yeah, it's just
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  tedious law after law that God has given.
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  And so may we not have that kind of a reaction to God's commands.
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  Instead, may we have like a Psalm 119 reaction of Lord.
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  I can speak for 165 verses about how much I love what you have
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  told me, 'cause it tells me who you are.
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  It tells me who I am. It tells me how I can relate
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  with you, and it tells me how I'm supposed to relate with
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  others in the good times and in the bad times.
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  And so may we love the law of God here.
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  Verse #11 God speaks to the people and it, it is just
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  unintelligible to them. They, they don't understand and
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  they don't want this relationship with God.
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  He'd given them a good land, land of rest and repose, and
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  they would have none of it. Verse #13 The word of Yahweh
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  will come to them. Law after law, law after law,
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  line after line, line after line, a little here, a little
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  there. So they go stumbling backward to
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  be broken, trapped and captured. Their lackadaisical response to
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  the Word of God would results in them being exiled and taken away
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  to Assyria. Verse #14 Therefore hear the
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  word of Yahweh, you scoffers, who rule this people in
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  Jerusalem. So now there's even a connection
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  here to the southern Kingdom of Judah as well, that it's not
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  just Samaria and the northern Kingdom of Israel's capital that
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  is in trouble, but it's Jerusalem, the southern
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  kingdom's capital, that is in trouble as well.
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  Says for you said, we have made a covenant with death and we
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  have an agreement with the grave.
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  When the overwhelming catastrophe passes through,
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  it'll not touch us because we have made falsehood our refuge
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  and have hidden behind treachery.
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  So here they they have made some agreements, some with Syria,
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  some with Egypt. They'd go back on those foreign
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  agreements kind of time and again.
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  There would be treachery and lawlessness.
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  They were not faithful to their word, which obviously is
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  something that even in the 10 commandments you shall not bear
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  false witness is there. And so these people had no
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  respect for even their foreign treaties that they had made.
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  I want to encourage you, if God ever replaces you in a, in a
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  position of leadership within a country, you have any sort of
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  interactions with other foreign nations, honor the treaties that
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  you have made because God views that as important.
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  Verse #16 Therefore Yahweh. Adonai said look, I have laid a
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  stone in Zion, a tested stone. You have turned things around.
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  Oh Nope, I think I skipped one more page.
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  Sorry. Let me read again.
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  Here is being quoted Psalm 116, therefore Yahweh ad.
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  And I said, look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a
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  precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, the one who believes
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  will be unshakeable and I will make justice the measuring line
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  and righteousness, the Masons level that that is everything is
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  being determined by God's justice and his righteousness.
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  Everything is going by this sure cornerstone, who obviously the
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  New Testament tells us over and over again like, hey, this is
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  Jesus. He is the one that everything is
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  supposed to be measured by. It is the He is the perfect law
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  and word of God, the perfect expression of who God is, not
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  just in tablets of stone, but in flesh and blood, living out the
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  truth of what God had said in his Word.
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  That it wasn't just law after law, line after line.
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  It was God's description of His own goodness that then Jesus
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  showed us truly who He is. So those that even pretended to
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  know law after law, line after line, better than anyone else,
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  the Pharisees, they could not recognize the person that the
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  law was describing, even though He was with them in the temple
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  and arguing with them in the synagogues and in the various
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  places. Verse #17 continues Hail will
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  sweep away the false refuge and water will flood your hiding
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  place. So the lies that they had been
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  building up even in their relationships with other
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  nations, God would bring all of that crashing down.
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  Verse #18 Your covenant with death will be dissolved, and
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  your agreement with the grave will not last.
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  When the overwhelming catastrophe passes through, you
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  will be trampled. Every time it passes through, it
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  will carry you away. It'll pass through every
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  morning, every day, and every night.
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  Only terror will cause you to understand the message.
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  Indeed, the bed's too short to stretch out on, and it's cover
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  too small to wrap up in. For Yahweh will rise up, as he
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  did at Mount Perizim. He will rise in wrath as at the
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  valley of Gibeon, to do his work, his unexpected work, and
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  to perform his task, his unfamiliar task.
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  So now, do not scoff, or your shackles will become stronger.
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  Indeed, I have heard from Yahweh.
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  Add an eye of heaven's armies, a decree of destruction for the
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  whole land. Isaiah says there is coming this
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  time and it doesn't matter that you had agreements with Assyria
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  or with well, that was even something that we read back in
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  like Isaiah 6 and six through 9 or so.
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  That Judah had wanted to sign some treaties so that the
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  northern Kingdom of Israel and Aram or modern day Syria to
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  their N so that they wouldn't come and destroy Judah.
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  That Judah had at times allied itself with Assyria.
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  And God says, Nope, this is not going to go well for you.
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  And we'll see that even in a little bit later narrative
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  section in Isaiah where it recounts the time that Assyria
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  came through and laid siege to Jerusalem.
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  Verse #23 is where we are now. Listen and hear my voice.
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  Pay attention and hear what I say.
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  Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?
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  Let's no. Does he continuously break up
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  and cultivate the soil? No, those are like kind of 1 and
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  done things. Verse 25 When he is leveled its
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  surface, does he not then scatter black cumin?
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  And so cumin He plants wheat and rows and barley and plots with
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  spelt as their border. His God teaches him mortar.
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  He instructs him, certainly black cumin is not threshed with
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  a threshing board and a cartwheel is not rolled over the
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  cumin, but black cumin is beaten out with a stick and cumin with
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  a rod. Bread grain is crushed, but it
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  is not threshed endlessly through the wheel of the
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  farmer's carts rumbles. His horses do not crush it.
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  This also comes from Yahweh of Heaven's armies.
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  He gives wondrous advice. He gives great wisdom.
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  So he, in essence, Isaiah ends this section by saying this.
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  God knows what he's doing and he knows what he's doing with
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  fields. He knows what he's doing with
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  nations. And so for those people that
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  would balk at God's rebuke of their treacherous and lying
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  deals with foreign nations, God says, listen, I know what is
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  best and I know how to even do crops correctly.
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  And I'm the one that has LED humanity to make these
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  discoveries. And so allow me to lead you in a
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  good way that you would experience the good life and
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  right relationship with me and with the rest of humanity.
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  Don't walk according to your own wisdom.
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  Walk according to the wisdom of God today.
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  Thankfully, God has not written down an issuance of, you know,
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  our nation's destruction as of yet.
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  But I think we would do well to encourage our leaders, vote for
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  leaders that will stick by treaties and things that we have
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  made for us and our day-to-day. Be honest in our dealings with
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  businesses, with your spouse, with people you know, friends,
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  or those that you've come to agreements with.
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  Honor those agreements and walk with the Lord.
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  And even from the beginning of the chapter, don't allow
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  drunkenness, a lack of self-control to typify your life
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  that would encourage you even with Ephesians 518.
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  Do not be drunk with wine or controlled by wine, it says, but
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  be filled with the spirit that just as a person who is
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  intoxicated, they're still them. They're still even culpable for
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  their choices, as we would even know in in U.S. law that you
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  can't just be like, oh, well, they were drunk, so it's fine
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  that they were driving. No, you're still culpable for
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  your actions. It's still you, but you are you
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  slightly different? You are you controlled by
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  something else, The impulses that normally you would stuff
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  down, you allow those to take over.
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  And so that's how Paul describes the work of the Holy Spirit,
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  that instead of like spirits, that's the Holy Spirit and he's
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  the one that it's still us. We are the ones taking the
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  actions or saying the words. But instead of being controlled
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  if you will, by a lack of self-control, we are being
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  controlled by the Holy Spirit. So things that we'd be maybe too
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  nervous to say or we would be too selfish to say or to do that
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  we allow the Holy Spirit to, if you will make us drunk in the
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  spirit that we would go. No, I, I am going to be kind
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  because it's not really me. It's the Holy Spirit let you
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  know. Oh, that the, the wine makes me
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  dance good. No, the Holy Spirit is the one
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  that makes me able to be like this.
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  And so I encourage you be filled with the Spirit, walk in
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  relationship with God, a man, be trustworthy, be faithful in your
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  dealings and that would be a good thing in this God who knows
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  how to plant the crops and how to thresh them.
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  He is the one that has given us our instructions for life.
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  His word is good, so treasure it.
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  Don't mock it. Don't just view it as tedious.
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  That's what these groups of people that were supposed to be
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  the people of God did. And so may we not fall into that
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  same trap. Thanks for tuning in.
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  God bless you.