Bible Talks - Sunday Night Church
Series: On Eagles Wings - Isaiah 1-39 · Talk No. 7
God’s Alien Task
Sunday, 15 August 2004
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1. What kind of a God?
In our journey through the first 30 or so chapters of Isaiah we’ve see that, through his prophet, God reveals himself as rich in grace, mercy, love and forgiveness, but he we have also seen a God who is angry, who brings judgment. He raises up foreign rulers to bring his devastation upon people - even his own people.
And we ask ourselves “What kind of a God is it who will bring judgment upon those whom he redeemed, his covenant people? Some people say “I can’t believe in a God who who is like that.” They either ignore or reject the Old Testament, in favour of what they see as the loving God of the New Testament.
This is an important question, “What kind of a God does bring judgment?” What does the judgment of God tell us about his character? And is the God revealed to us in the Old Testament really any different to the God revealed to us in the New Testament?
In Hebrews 10:31, we read that it is “a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.” Why is this so? Because, God does not ignore our rebellion and he does not leave the guilty unpunished.
In the Bible, we find at least four kinds of judgments of God.
Firstly God gives people over to the consequences of their sinful actions.
In Romans 1:18 we read “18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” and in Romans 1: 24-29 we see the outcome of this: “24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. 26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.
So one of the ways God's wrath is shown is letting us have our head. We do things our way, and we have to live with the consequences of our rebellion.
And we see these consequences around us every day:
· breakdown of relationships,
· break down of marriages,
· breakdown of families;
· racial bigotry and hatred;
· corruption;
· wars;
· destruction of the environment;
· greed; theft;
· etc. etc. etc.
God treats us responsibly, with justice. We get what we ask for, independence from him, and we are left with a meaningless void. Yet people continue to prefer this to God.
Secondly God Intervenes in history
He does this in a permanent way, for example through governments In Romans 13:1-4 we read “1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
He also does this in occasional ways, such as the rise and fall of nations, the punishing of kings and rulers , the punishing of individuals, or through circumstances like sickness.
Thirdly, death comes as the judgment of God.
Life itself is a gift from God, and therefore God can take it away. The garden of Eden and the story of the fall demonstrates Death as God’s punishment for human rebellion. Death is not a ‘good’ or ‘natural’ thing, but the result of sin. In Romans 6:23 we read “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The whole world is captive under the dominion of death – every living thing is dying. Why? Because of sin.
Fourthly there is judgement beyond death
(Hebrews 9:27; John 5:28-29; Mark 9:42-48; 2 Thess 1:8-9)
Even death is not the final judgment. In Hebrews 9:27 we read that “Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgement.” Contrary to Hindu and New Age belief, there is no reincarnation, no second or third chance and contrary to modern Western thought there is no annihilation, when you’re dead, you’re dead and that is all there is to it, but rather there is resurrection to judgment. In John’s gospel chapter 5 vs 28-29 we read these words of Jesus, “28“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”
The Bible speaks a lot about ‘hell’ and nearly every time it is Jesus who is speaking. In fact Jesus spoke more often about hell and judgement than he did about heaven. It is hard to overstate the significance of this. We must take this final judgment on the sinner with utmost seriousness, for it is permanent and irreversible. There is nothing good about it, no benefits, no compensation, no early release or parole. It is final, complete and permanent. It is what we ask for – God out of our lives.
And I hope you notice that as I’ve looked at God's judgement I have used all New Testament references to show that God's character doesn’t change from the Old Testament to the New. The revelation we have of God of the Old Testament shows us that he is righteous, just, loving and merciful and the revelation we have from the New Testament shows us that God is merciful, loving, just and righteous.
Soppy sentimentality won’t get us anywhere. It is very important that we feel the full weight of what the Bible is telling us about the judgement of God. There is a judgment and it is very serious.
But everything is not gloom and doom. Let’s take a closer look.
Firstly, Our God who judges is extraordinarily patient. In Psalm 103:8 we read “8The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
And this is one of about a dozen similar references from the Old Testament.
When we compare God's character to ours we see that God is gracious, faithful, loving… slow to anger. God cannot allow injustice, evil and wickedness to go unpunished – but he is slow, controlled, just. Compare this with our corruption and temper. God is not temperamental, but in full control. His anger is not opposed to his love. It exists alongside his love. He will punish, but he is slow and measured. God’s slowness can also be seen in him holding back judgment as we read in 2 Pet 3:8-9. “do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
God is delaying to give people time to repent, for he has no pleasure in people perishing.
Secondly Judgement is God's Alien Task
From our reading this morning Isaiah 28:21 in the middle of a passage about God's judgement on the northern kingdom Israel or as it is called here Ephraim”
21 “The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim,
he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon—
to do his work, his strange work,
and perform his task, his alien task.”
God’s first delight, his primary aim and goal, is not to punish or bring judgment. This is his alien task. God is not some sort of nasty cosmic policeman like a divine Judge Dred. It brings God great sadness that people are hell bent on their own destruction. In Ezekiel 33:11 we read “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’
Thirdly we see Jesus moved to sadness and tears. Tears over the necessity of judgement. Luke 19:41-44 “41As he( that is Jesus) approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” Even though this was promised, by the prophet Isaiah about 700 years BC and didn’t come to pass until AD 70, yet, Jesus is deeply moved with sadness at the judgement to come.
Fourthly in the necessity for judgement God is moved to Self-sacrifice
The place where we se this most clearly is in the cross of Christ. Here, he takes the judgment upon himself. God’s anger is poured out, his condemnation and judgment, upon Jesus. In the self- sacrifice of God we see most clearly his attitude to judgment.
Jumping ahead in Isaiah to 53:4-6 in that passage we usually read at Easter.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
God is just and merciful at the same time. Sin must be punished, but he takes the punishment himself. The death of Jesus gives us the clearest possible window into the character of God. This is truly God’s strange work, his alien task.
Which brings us to us.
When we see how much sin matters to God, are we moved to change? Are we moved to tears like Jesus was, like the Apostle Paul was.
Spurgeon, a great English preacher asked a young preacher who had preached on God’s wrath, “And did you do it with tears?”
When we see the compassion of God in taking the punishment for sin, are we moved to thankfulness? When we see how much God cares for a world in rebellion, are we moved to do the same? We
carry a message of judgment, yes. But it is ultimately the message of the price having been paid.
Maybe I don’t have tears in my eyes this morning but several times as I prepared this I had to wipe my eyes.
When we proclaim God's judgement on the unrepentant sinner we must also have proclaimed God's forgiveness for the sinner who turns to him in repentance and faith.
When we share the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ Let us remember that what we and others are being saved from is God's righteous wrath and judgement.
Sharing this good news doesn’t come naturally to most of us. It is an ‘alien’ task just as it is an alien task to God.
Let us pray.
