Good evening again. I wanted to first explain my choice of this passage. As you know, guest preachers get to choose what they preach on, and you try to pick something that's appropriate. And you might be sitting saying, ooh, an indictment of sin. Nobody thinks of us now. Well, That's not why I chose it. I like the book of Isaiah. I wanted to open that book. One of the problems with Isaiah is it's a long and a complex book. So people tend to cherry pick, to preach on the passages which are easy. So I said, John, you're not going to cherry pick. A good place to begin then is in the beginning. So we're in Isaiah 1. Don't fear the title unless you have good reason to fear an indictment for sin. What I want to do is go through the passage, exposit it, apply the text. normal modus, but also explain the flow of the chapter and its unity and its poetic structure. At first it looks like a bunch of snippets that are just sort of thrown together. It's not the case at all. There is a flow and a unity to this chapter. And I also want to talk about the poetic structure of the chapter for two reasons. One is it is poetry, and the fact that it has a poetic structure drives a lot of the order, the way it's laid out. And if you understand the poetic structure, you'll understand the passage a little bit better. And also, Isaiah is a beautiful piece of poetry. And as God's word, we should really appreciate the beauty of his word and the beauty of this poem. And I hope that you will appreciate it a little bit more when we're done. As you know, Isaiah is largely Hebrew poetry, and Hebrew poetry is not like Western poetry. Western poetry is structured around sounds, rhythms, assonance, consonance, things like that. Hebrew poetry is much less like that. It's more structured around thought, so we don't recognize it quite as poetry, and that makes it a little bit harder to understand, because it's not linear, it's more cyclical. And it has patterns, for example, chiasms. And we'll see a chiasm here, a very beautiful one in Chapter 1, but a structure where you have a thought A, and then a thought B, and then B is repeated slightly differently, and then A is said again. Well, if you see it as a chiasm, it makes sense. If you don't, you go, why is Isaiah going back to that again? He just talked about it. I struggle, and I think all people who approach Isaiah struggle, making it into an outline. And we have to remember that outlines are really a Western construct that we're forcing on the text. or imposing on it. And as long as we remember that that's what we're doing, but it's a helpful device to help us linear thinkers understand the text, that's fine. But that also explains why there's so many differing outlines of Isaiah. And I'd say Isaiah more flows than it outlines, and we'll see how it flows along without being easy to outline. We find ourselves in the beginning at the first book of Isaiah, the first out of three, the Book of Kings, or the Book of the King, chapters 1 through 37 or 39, again, depending upon how you want to break things out, followed by the Book of the Servant, and then the Book of the Anointed Conqueror. One of the themes you see in Isaiah is this tension between the dismal present and the glorious future. And Isaiah has a habit of abruptly shifting between one and the other, just like that. You can see that actually at the end of chapter one. We go and Verse 31, and the strong shall become like tinder, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them. And then chapter 2, introduction of Isaiah again, it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest mountains, and on and on. And you see there's a really abrupt shift from one to the other. You go, how does that follow? Isaiah's habit of doing that. And the reason for that is it sort of heightens this tension throughout the book of the dismal present, the glorious future. A way of introduction, I also need to mention this. As Isaiah stands in the unfolding of Revelation, he introduces or builds really two very important doctrines which we need to keep in mind. One is that the promises he makes to Israel or Jerusalem or Zion, he uses all of those terms, go beyond just the nation of Israel. They go way beyond the events of the return from Babylon, when he talks about coming back from exile, and they go way beyond what you could expect from a city or a nation. In modern language, we could say, they are over the top. And they really are over the top. So they refer to a distant future. And Isaiah, he likes to say, in that day. And they apply to the people of God, the church. So the promises to Israel, we can, by and large, say they belong to the church. But a second doctrine we find is that Jehovah is the God, not just of Israel, but the God of the world, the God of the nations. And so there's large sections of Isaiah which are dedicated to the nations. In fact, chapters 13 through 27, 15 whole chapters, largely deal with the nations. And so as we apply the book to today, it's important to keep that distinction that the promises to Israel are the promises to the people of God or to the church, the nations, like our nation, the promises don't apply to them, only in a general sense of the way God deals with the nations or deals with people in general. And it's important to not confuse these two. There's been some heresy and some very bad teaching in the modern church, confusing God's promises to Israel with nations, in our case, the United States. As we look at Isaiah, we see, well, OK, first verse is an introduction. Who's Isaiah? But the commissioning of Isaiah doesn't take place until chapter 6. So the first five chapters of Isaiah are sort of a preface to the book. depicting the background, the circumstances of his ministry. You could say a diagnosis and prognosis of Judas. So what we see there is sort of a glimpse into the rest of the book. If we look at the structure of the first five books, roughly it's this. Present condition and judgment, that's chapter 1, which we'll look at. Future glory, the mountain of the Lord, familiar chapter, verses 2, 1 through 2.5. Present condition and judgment, 2.6 through 4.1. future glory again, the branch of the Lord, again a very familiar text, 4.2 through 4.6, and then present condition and judgment, 5.1 through 5.30. So you notice there's this alternation here. There's present condition and judgment, future glory, present condition and judgment, future glory, present condition and judgment. And that really brings us to our first observation. Just as in Isaiah's time, we stand between the dismal present and the glorious future, between the ideal Israel or church and the actual Israel or church. And that is our hope. It's common for us to stand around and to talk about the dismal state of our nation, the dismal state of the world, and sometimes the dismal state of the church. Not this one, but the church in general. And things are pretty dismal. But we have hope. We have the same hope that Isaiah gave to the people, because there is a glorious future which awaits us. And that is our hope. In this way, Isaiah is not really a gloomy, a dismal book, but it's a realistic book and a book that is extremely hopeful. There's darkness, but there's amazing light within the book, which we'll see here in the first chapter. So just as in Isaiah's time, we stand between the dismal present and the glorious future, between the ideal Israel or church and the actual Israel or church. And therein is our hope. The book opens with a court case. There's a summons. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. The prosecutor is the Lord, Jehovah. The defendant is Judah, and the witnesses, the heavens and the earth. Who else could God call for witnesses in a court case such as this? And the charge, rebellion against the Lord, sin contrary to nature. Children I have reared and brought up. But they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib. But Israel does not know. My people do not understand." Israel was raised by Jehovah, from the seed of Abraham to building a family into Egypt, growing as a people in Egypt, brought out of Egypt and formed into a nation in Sinai and cared for in Canaan. but yet Israel has rebelled against their master, against their father. Even dumb animals know who their owner is, but not Israel. Now, I worked on a dairy farm for a while, and I can tell you there's few things dumber than a cow. It spends its entire day chewing on regurgitated grass. But you know, when it's milking time, that cow knows it's stanchion. You open the doors, and in they come, and number 23 goes to stall 23. Number 54 goes to stall 54. They know where to go. But Israel doesn't even recognize who their master is. They are like a child cared for, raised up, that disowns his parents. A second charge, rebellion against the Lord, sin contrary to privilege. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly. They have forsaken the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are utterly estranged. What Isaiah does here, it's interesting. You have a series of four nouns which describe Israel's privileged position. A nation intended to be distinct and holy. A people intended to be redeemed and unique. offspring descended of Abraham, children of God. But then he takes each of those nouns and he puts in front of them an adjective which describes their sinful corruption. They're now a sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, offspring but of evildoers. and corrupted. So four nouns of privilege, four adjectives of sinful corruption. Forsaking, despising, turning their back on Israel's Holy One. Now, one of the things as you go through the Old Testament, it's It's worthwhile to look at the names of God, and there's many, many different names of God, and ask why did the author use that specific name there? How does it function? So here we have the Holy One of Israel. There's a real contrast there in two ways. One, of Israel, the God of Israel, but Israel has rejected God. And the Holy One contrasts God's holiness with Israel's sinfulness. And Israel ignores discipline. Why will you be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint, from the sole of the foot even to the head. There's no soundness in it but bruises and sores and raw wounds. They are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. Your country lies desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. In your very presence, foreigners devour your land. It is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. As the daughter of Zion is left, like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. If the lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should be like Sodom and become like Gomorrah. So we have a metaphor, a picture of a person, badly beaten, bruised, bleeding, welts, not taken care of, but yet uncomprehending, Maybe knowing he's been beaten up, but just not understanding what caused the beating. And then in the following verses we have the reality. Israel is beaten up. Their country is desolate. It's devoured by foreigners. We have this picture of Israel being, or Jerusalem is just like a lodge or a booth. Two, these words are described, temporary shelters. So you picture, let's say, a cucumber field. And you've got this solitary, sloppily put together temporary booth. And that's all that's left. You think of a cucumber field that's laid pretty flat, right? And there's just this single building there, and not a very good building. And that is all that's left. And notice again, the divine title that's used. Where are we here? The Lord of Hosts, the God of Armies, If God is the God of armies, he could have stopped these formers, right? The Midianites, or the Assyrians, or later on the Babylonians. So the question is, why? Why is Israel beaten up? Why is Israel left like a hut in a cucumber field? Think about it. Why did God not intervene? That's the question which Isaiah has to the people. and to us. So another observation, we too have a high and lofty calling as a holy nation, that is the church, a unique and redeemed people, offspring of Abraham and children of God, and twofold children of God, right? And we, but we too can fall into this sin, corruption, iniquity, and be disciplined by the Lord. We have all of the privileges and more of Israel, but yet we too as the church and as individuals can fall. And this remains a warning to us. There's too many, even in this age, this time, that have taken for granted their position. You just need to look around and read about what's happening in various churches and the fallen leaders, fallen churches, a major denomination that this very day, right now, is struggling with gross sin within their midst. And I'm talking about an evangelical Christian denomination too. I think some of you know who I'm referring to. And as Pastor Don has preached on before, we find in 1 Peter 4.17, for it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. This stands as a warning to us, and remember, God will judge, and God will clean up his house. It will not be pretty, but he will clean up his house. Another observation is that sin is not only unreasonable, but it is also unreasoning, as here. You would think Israel would wake up and go, well, why isn't God taking care of us? It's time to repent. A good example of this is Pharaoh. Plague after plague after plague, and Pharaoh doesn't get it. At the end of the day, Egypt, which was a world power, is a devastated country because Pharaoh didn't get it. And it, of course, cost Pharaoh his life. But we should also note God's mercy in two ways in this passage. One, he disciplined Israel. He didn't just say, I'm done with you and let them be destroyed. He disciplined them. Discipline's a good thing. especially when it keeps you from total destruction. As most of us are parents, we know how good discipline is and how important. Not pleasant, but important. But secondly, we read here, God left them a remnant. Despite their sin, God left them a remnant. And he continues to leave them with a remnant. So note his mercy here. Another observation, calamity may be a call to repentance. It certainly is a call to self-examination. Now, we no longer have Old Testament prophets. I can't stand up here and say, this sin is God's punishment, or this calamity is God's punishment, and here is the specific sin. can't do that anymore because that office is closed. But certainly calamity is a wake-up call. For example, we read in Luke when the disciples are asking Jesus about the Tower of Gehenna that fell on the people, why did this happen? And he says, well, I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Again, Pastor Don preached on that a year ago. Anyway, it was a good sermon. So in the realm of a sovereign God, we really have to ask ourselves why. Why is this calamity happening to us? Is it a wake-up call? A call to repentance? Certainly it's a call to move closer to the Lord. Again, we have the example of Pharaoh. Ten wake-up calls, he never woke up. I was thinking in the realm of addictions, let's take alcoholics, calamities can be a good thing. Best to get a DWI or a DUI or lose your job than to not wake up. I think most of us have seen that happen. I think in our present day of the coming of COVID, in the sovereignty of the Lord, COVID is from the Lord. Is this a wake up call for us, a wake up call for our nation? I certainly think so. In some countries like Cuba, people are turning to the Lord because they're desperate. You know the old, if nothing else works, I'll call upon the Lord. And I think it's a call for our nation to wake up also. We move on. We have a second summons with a specific charge, Israel's hypocritical religion. The first charge was to the heavens and the earth. This one's to Israel. Now notice that it's the same verb here as in verse two, a tie that brings this chapter together. Also, he uses Sodom and Gomorrah in verse 10, that ties it to the previous section, links these two sections together. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah. What to me is this multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord? I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats. When you come to me, appear before me. Who has required this trampling of my courts? Bring me no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations, I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. Now this is a pretty shocking passage, especially if you think about it from Israel's perspective. Sodom and Gomorrah are the archetype, the paradigmatic evil, sinful, set of cities. There's no more, in Israel's eyes, no more gross sin than Sodom and Gomorrah. Today they'd probably be flying a pride flag, but Israel, it's pretty bad. But Israel's called Sodom and Gomorrah here. And the religious ceremonies, which Israel was so proud of, that they thought would bring them blessing from the Lord, the Lord says, I hate those things. Cut it out. This would be like if someone came, I could pick on Tom Lyon maybe, and if he came to the church and he said, you people are trying to do reform. The Lord says he hates your worship services. He is sick of your hymns and of your sermons. Why do you even bother to come? God will not listen to you. He despises your prayer meetings, and so forth. You'd be pretty shocked and say, whoa, what's gotten into him? But for Israel, it's even more shocking because For Israel, the temple, the worship, that was it. That was all there was in the national religion. There wasn't another church to pack up and go to. We have in verse 11, condemnation of offerings. And what Isaiah is condemning here is the very core of the sacrificial system. It's the only avenue of forgiveness. God condemns the only avenue for Israel of forgiveness. And notice here the building of intense verbs that Isaiah uses. These sacrifices, they mean nothing. What have I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices? They add nothing. I've had enough. They do nothing. I do not delight. He refers to their coming to the temple as trampling. And he goes on, vain offerings. incense, which is an abomination, that he cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly, that his soul, his very being hates their feasts, and that he's weary of them, and that he will hide his eyes from them and not even listen to their prayers. So what is it that God requires? picking up in 16. Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Correct oppression. Bring justice to the fatherless. Plead the widow's cause. That's a little hard when we look at the end of 15, your hands are full of blood, how literally we should take that. Calvin and some of the commentaries disagree on that, but certainly as we look through 16 and 17, which provide a contrast for us, we can see that there was an awful lot of injustice or blood guiltiness. And in these two verses, what we have is nine admonitions. Very short, almost staccato imperatives. Three, to get right with God. Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Remove evil deeds from before my eyes. The next three, for reordering their personal lives. Cease to do evil. Stop doing the old. Learn to do good. Develop a new mind. Seek justice. New objectives, new priorities. And then three admonitions to reform society. Correct oppression. bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Now, an interesting observation is when he talks about reforming society, he doesn't pick the gross sins. He doesn't say, stop killing each other, stop committing adultery. He talks about justice. In fact, twice he uses the word justice. And as one commentator has said, The treatment of the weak and defenseless is the test of true biblical religion, or the test of a true biblical society. So when we look at this chapter, or verses 10 through 17, we have to ask, well, what's going on here? What exactly is Isaiah and the Lord condemning? Well, the religious system, the cultus as it's called at times, seems to have been operating correctly. In other words, they were doing everything commanded in Exodus and Leviticus. There's no indication otherwise. Isaiah doesn't criticize, well, you're not sacrificing the bulls right, or anything like that. No, that's not condemned. And it's really the same situation as we found in Jesus' time, right? Jesus doesn't condemn the sacrificial system per se or the functioning of the temple per se. That seemed to have been going pretty well, at least in terms of the letter of the law. And certainly, Isaiah is not condemning the sacrificial system as a whole. God commanded that. Now, there's some liberal commentators that will say, well, you know, we have priests versus the prophets, and they were in tension here, and here's a prophet condemning the sacrificial system. No, that comes by someone imposing a foreign Hegelian dialectic on the text. Now, you didn't follow a foreign Hegelian dialectic. The point is that Scripture interprets Scripture, and you can't impose on it another outside foreign interpretive system, be it a Hegelian dialectic or Marxism, which we find in liberation theology or today critical race theory. Scripture interprets Scripture. So Isaiah is not at all condemning the sacrificial system. And we can see that within the text. When he says, wash yourselves, that verb wash is a word that's used within the ritual system. 53 out of 72 times that that's used, it refers to ritual washing, not just getting the dirt off your hands. And the same way with the word make yourselves clean. So what is going on here? empty ritual or religion, and that is what Isaiah is condemning. So verses 16 and 17 provide us with both a contrast and an answer, and not an either-or answer, but both. We need the ritual system, or Israel did, and we to a certain extent. but we also need that righteousness, that obedience. What Isaiah is condemning is, as one person put it, the unholy alliance of religious duty and personal iniquity. If you go back to the Pentateuch, and Israel should have seen this, first came the law, Exodus 20, And then came the religious ritual or sacrifice system for forgiveness, Exodus 25 through Leviticus 27. The law taught obedience and the ritual taught forgiveness. And these two really have to go together, don't they? Without the law, forgiveness of sins is meaningless. The law is what defines sins that we have to be forgiven. But the law needs the forgiveness also, because no one can keep the law perfectly. And you need a system of cleansing. They both belong together. So we have the problem of religion, or since this is a shocking text, I'll use a shocking title. We have the problem of Christianity as the enemy of true faith. Christianity as the enemy of true faith. We all have a tendency to bifurcate our lives. You know, we come here on Sundays. Sunday is a day for the Lord. It's good, as it should be. But then we have a tendency to have the other six days of the week belong to the world or belong to me. We cannot do that. We're Christians 24-7. Sunday for some, we all have this tendency to keep God happy. We go, we do our thing on Sunday, God's happy, now I can get on with my work. And of course, this is the same problem which Jesus condemned. He says in Matthew 15, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, quoting Isaiah himself. And this is a struggle throughout church history and a struggle today, is keeping obedience and keeping ritual together, keeping that that daily walk with the Lord. There is a fine line of living a life of true repentance and seeking God and going through the motions to cover our sins. And I don't mean that in an Old Testament sense, to appease God, to earn his merits. We live a Christian life 24-7. So we all need to guard our hearts against empty Christianity. If you had looked at Israel at the time of Isaiah, or Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, if you parachuted in, you'd say, this is a very religious people. Things look good here. The sacrificial system is working well. In fact, if you read Josephus on the sacrificial system at the time of Jesus, it was a well-oiled machine. But you look under the surface, and there was moral rot. And that's what we must avoid, is that moral rot underneath the surface. And again, I just bring to your attention that the measure that Isaiah uses for obedience is that of justice, especially for the weak and defenseless, the test of a religious Society, a biblical society, a biblical organization is, do they take care of the weak and defenseless? Moving on, we have another summons, the Lord's invitation. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." We just finished a pretty heavy one, right? But here we have a beautiful invitation. Now, we're still in a court case. In fact, the word reason in verse 18 has legal overtones, again, tying us back to the second verse. We look at this as a court case. The prosecution has gotten up. He's given his case. There's no defense on the part of Judah. Judah's clearly guilty. There's no defense before the Lord. Judah can't say, well, you know, God, I didn't really do that. No, it's an all-seeing God. Judah is guilty. And in our court system then comes Plea bargaining, right? But here it's a different plea bargaining. Usually, you know, in our court system, the accused says, oh, well, you have to understand, I was brought up terribly by an alcoholic father, yada, yada. You should have mercy on me because, you know, my life's been hard. But who does the plea bargaining here? It's not Judah. It's the Lord himself. It's the prosecutor who says, look, let's sit down and reason. Let's talk about this. Not let's talk about the accusations themselves, but let's talk about, or let me give you an invitation to repent about a new start in life. And they're given a stark contrast. Sins are like scarlet, but they shall be white like snow. They are red like crimson, but they shall be like wool. Be willing and obedient, or refuse and rebel. eat the good of the land or be eaten by the sword. Notice, by the way, that poetic device, eaten in both places. Either you eat or you are eaten. You either eat the good of the land or you're eaten by the sword. So again, we know God's mercy. There's another chance, yet one more chance. Israel, we are guilty, but there's a chance. Not to work off their sins, but a chance to have the slate wiped clean. A transformation from red to white. They just need to be willing and to obey. Not a works righteousness, but a turning to the Lord. Just a quick comment. You know, there's There's some Christians who psychologically would rather see themselves as crimson red. They prefer to dwell on their sins of the past than dwell upon the fact that they are made clean. They'd rather look at the red spots than the beautiful whiteness. It's been true throughout church history, and there may be some of us that are like that. We should also note here, too, putting Isaiah in perspective, God's patience. Now, Pastor Don's been talking about David, and Israel wasn't all that great under David. This is 300 years later, and it's been a 300 pretty bad years of decline. And it's going to be another 120 years before the final judgment and the exile. So that's 420 years. That's a lot of generations of God's warning to repent. And even after the judgment and the exile, we know, of course, Israel does come back. The history of God's dealing with his people continues. We look at the social situation. how the faithful city has become a whore. She who was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless and the widow's cause does not come to them. Therefore the Lord declares, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself from my foes. I will turn my hand against you, and I will smelt away your dross as with lye, and remove all your owl. I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city." Now, here's where we, let me just walk you through this chiastic structure here. You look at verse 21. the first line, 21a, how the faithful city has become a whore, the collapse of the faithful city. You go to the end of the section, 26, and again, it's the faithful city. Afterwards, you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. So we have city and city, the collapse, the restoration. Moving in another layer to layer b, She who was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. You have the past. She was. You have the present. She is. But then you go to 26a. I will restore your judges as at the beginning and your counselors as at the beginning. So you have, in that case, the past and the future. So again, you have A, now we're looking at the B layers. And then there's a C layer here, first 22, your silver has become dross and your best wine mixed with water. The metaphor of their values turned to dross. And then in 25, I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross and remove your alloy." So the dross is purged away. And in between that, you've got a D layer, but I don't have time to go through the D layer. But I hope you can see, you have that A, the two outside verses B and B, C and C. That's a chiastic structure and that's the structure that we find here. So we have We have Israel's infidelity to the Lord, which has brought them to the point of collapsing into murder. We have their silver and wine are degraded. He says that your silver is dross. Dross is worthless. That's mine tailings. You just throw it away. And adulterated wine, wine that's mixed with water, There's nothing you can do with it. You can't unmix it. Once it's adulterated, it's adulterated. The princes who should be looking for justice, who should be taking care of those who need their intervention, they're only interested in themselves. They're only interested in a bribe and a gift. So everything is now subordinate to self-interest, cupidity rather than compassion. Notice here, too, again, the divine titles, Lord of Hosts, Mighty One of Israel, all titles which depict God's power. But now, it's God's power against who? Against Israel, who he calls his enemies and his foes. Then in verse 25, we have a really interesting shift. I will turn my hand against you. Following on, that's always a hostile statement. I'm going to turn my hand against you. Uh-oh, here comes another being. But then he says, I will smelt away your draw, says with lie, and remove your alloy. I will restore your judges. So there's a very quick, a very sudden shift from God's punishment to a promise, a restoration of their nature. A promise of what Isaiah will later on develop as being the Davidic restoration, which we know is the messianic restoration. When he says, restore your judges at first, your counselors as at the beginning. Notice too here, you know, when we were back in verse 18, it was conditional, right? He said, your sins shall be white as snow, if you are willing to obey. There's no condition here. This is, I will, I will. And so we have a really sudden change here, which is brought about by the Lord. There's no indication here, ah, Israel finally got it and repented. No. It's a turn like that of God saying, I will do this. I will restore things as of old. So it's not just this sudden shift is not just a literary device, but it reflects the swift and unexpected divine action by the Lord. The Lord doing what we could not do. And then Isaiah finishes out with an expansion of verses 25 and 26. Zion will be redeemed by justice and those in her who repent by righteousness. But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed, for they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired. And you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen, for it shall be like an oak whose leaf withers. and like a garden without water, and the strong shall become like tinder, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, and none to quench them." So how? Well, we have here two groups, two destinies. Isaiah uses the terms rebel and sinner in verse 28, same terms as in verses 2 and 4, again, tying this whole chapter together. So how is it that Zion will be restored? Through the righteousness and justice of the Lord. How is it that Zion will be restored? Through the purging out of rebels and sinners. There are those who repent, literally in the Hebrew, come back, who are redeemed, and there are those who continue to rebel, and they are broken and consumed. Now, a quick note on verse 29. For they shall be ashamed of their oaks that you desired. It's a little hard on our ears. It goes from the third person to the second person. And you might think, well, must be a little mistake there. Pretty easy to make the first one a you. And some of the manuscripts actually do that. But when we look at Isaiah, Isaiah does that frequently, going from the third person to the second person. So that's what he intended here. That's what we keep in the text. It may sound awkward, but that's our problem, isn't it? Anyway, that's why you have that shift. Now, oaks in the Middle East, they're big trees, just like they are here, but they sort of stand out on their own in a sparse landscape. And so if you look through the use of the word oaks in the Old Testament, usually they're landmarks. Oh, you know, the oak down by Jericho or something like that. But they also are a place of cultic worship. We see that in Isaiah 57, 5, Ezekiel 6, 13, Hosiah 4, 13. And they become ashamed of their cultic worship, their worship among the oaks. Ashamed because they're disappointed. The worship does them no good. They were something they desired, something they had chosen. They were probably fun initially, but they proved useless. As Alec Mortier comments, the evergreen tree aptly symbolized life and therefore became the focus of nature religion and the gods of fertility. But such gods cannot keep their promises. It is a tree with fading leaves. So like an oak where the water gives way, big and mighty, it withers and it dies. The man who fancies himself strong through his idols, his work, will burn with his idols, his false religion, the cause of the conflagration. So just like in our day, men may choose a religion which they are comfortable with, but false religion will not last or sustain, and the end will be their ruin. And that's where we find ourselves today, right? You want a comfortable church? Don't come here. Go to a liberal church. Okay? You can sleep with your girlfriend. That's fine. It's all love. LBGTQ, that's fine. That's all good stuff. Comfortable. But it's useless and will not last. Or those who go into new age. You channel all you want with all those friendly demons. But it will be your ruin. So Isaiah presents Israel, presents us with a choice, a choice of outcomes, a choice of paths for our lives. We can either repent and be willing and obedient to Jehovah, wash ourselves and do good, bringing justice to the weak, and eat the good of the land with our sins washed away. Or we can take the path of rebellion and dead religion and be eaten by the sword with our sins remaining. This is, of course, both a one-time decision and a daily decision. question we ask ourselves is what path shall I take today? Isaiah's laid out two paths, two outcomes. Which one will you take?