In Isaiah 31, we saw how the LORD declares woe on all who turn to Egypt and false idols. Yet, this same LORD promises protection and deliverance for all who turn to him. We also learnt of how the Rock of Israel will stand firm and surely destroy his enemy Assyria.
We are also in a season of Advent. Advent literally means “arrival”. In the Christian church calendar, this refers to the four weeks leading up to Christmas for Christians to ponder upon and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Christians also use this season to remember and long for Jesus’ return, not as a hapless babe, but as a glorious king, the same king we will see today in Isaiah 32.
What do we hope for? What do we hope in? Perhaps in the last 2 years, you’ve hoped for the pandemic to be over? Or for some, it’s to get to a BTO? Often, we desire security, comfort, joy, justice etc. But there are some who feel like if we don’t hope in anything, we won’t be disappointed.
But friends, hope often drives us! Isaiah 32 will show us that we have a true and eternal hope in our king Jesus alone. King Jesus will reign eternally over a righteous, just and peaceful kingdom, in which his people will dwell. He’s able to bring all our desires to their true fruition.
(A) God’s King will Reign in Righteousness and Restore Justice (Isa 32:1-8)
Isaiah speaks of a future king at the start of this chapter. This king will reign in righteousness and princes will rule in justice (Isa 32:1). They will be like a hiding place from the wind, and there is a picture of shelter and refuge in this verse (Isa 32:2). This is the same king mentioned earlier in Isaiah 9:6-7. This king is in the line of David and holds the government on His shoulders. There is no end to His rule, and He rules with justice and righteousness.
Years later, this king is the one that Mary bore (c.f. Lk 1:32-33). The angel prophesied to Mary that she will bear no ordinary Son. This is the Son of the Most High and He will reign in the throne of His father David. There will be no end to His kingdom.
Isaiah 32:1-2 is not just about any king of Israel. It is a prophecy about the king, Jesus. Now, we might find this a bit cliche, and it is always Jesus. But realise that this is something that we know on hindsight. In Isaiah’s time, this was written 800 years before it was fulfilled. Thus, we can also see that God is faithful to His word. He brings His promises to pass. Just as God fulfilled His promises to bring Christ, we know therefore that He will come back again to reign!
What does this mean for us today? In talking about himself as the Messiah who brings about his kingdom on earth in Matthew 13:17, Jesus reminds his disciples that they are deeply blessed, for many prophets and righteous people had longed to see and hear whom they had in front of them. Here we are on this side of the cross, having a clear glimpse of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us treasure him, see and listen to him more.
Isaiah also goes on to write about the result of this righteous king’s reign on his people (Isa 32:3-8). In Isaiah 32:3-4, we see how the function of eyes and ears will be restored! This mention of eyes and ears has been repeated throughout Isaiah (c.f. Isa 29:18,24). They will also know God and have a relationship with Him again. They will therefore be marked by repentance and they will worship Him as He intends for them to!
God’s righteous king will bring about a renewal and restoration. This is a spiritual healing and renewal. This is one that understands and embraces God for who He is.
Next, we also see that the fool and the scoundrel will be seen for what they are (Isa 32:5-8). Earlier, we saw a deliberate desire to be deceived (c.f. Isaiah 30:9-11). The people just wanted to hear what they wanted to hear, even if they were sinning and living in rebellion before God. This was how the people were living. In Isaiah 32, the fool’s lie and deception is directly linked to his actions of injustice and oppression of the needy. Sin will be seen for its deception and illusion.
Self-deception of who God is is related to practical evil in the world we live in. We know and recognise that we live in a broken world. Yet, sometimes, we’d like to ignore that. Yes, there are pockets and glimmers of kindness and goodness, but by and large, a world without God cannot be truly good.
Two implications arise from these verses. Firstly, there is a reversal. The deception is seen for what it truly is, and rejected. What is upside down is brought the right side up. There is reversal of justice and truth. The reversal is also one not only of our relationship with God, but also with each other. Evil will be dealt with!
Isaiah 31:6-7 reflect how our view of God and the words we speak of him translates into our view of God’s world. We see in Isaiah 31:6 that the fool who lies about God immediately is directly linked to oppressing the afflicted and weak. The point here is that one’s ignorance of God produces practical evil. There are moments of true kindness and benevolence in the broken world we live in, but if we look at it long enough, it is by default that in the words of Thucydides that “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”
Secondly, we realise that in God’s kingdom, the spiritual renewal that restores people’s knowledge and love for God is the same which restores societal order.
Today, we live in the already and the not yet. We still await the full restoration of Christ when He returns. Our hopes are tied deeply to our desires. If we claim to be Christian and have our eyes opened to the truth of righteousness and justice. But how are we living our lives? What do we hope and live for? If we hope and hope for this kingdom where righteousness and justice reigns, perhaps we will also live in a way that mirrors and reflects this righteousness and justice! We ought to long for Jesus’ righteous rule to come to pass but not only that, that we might live out God’s righteousness to his people – in caring for the needy and the poor. Yet, we must never be under the false understanding that we are earning our righteousness or even hoping in our own ability to produce righteousness, but that our love and good deeds stem from a transformed heart that views oneself as nothing and Christ as king.
(B) God’s People are Warned of Impending Disaster (Isa 32:9-14)
In the next set of verses, we see that Isaiah declares a specific warning at a specific timing to a specific people for a specific reason.
People (Isa 32:9-11,13): He calls the complacent women who are at ease and in false joy or exultation.
Warning (Isa 32:9-12): They are called to repent and turn back to God (“rise up”, “hear”,“shudder”, “beat your breast”, “put on sackcloth”).
Timing (Isa 32:10a): This will take place in a little more than a year and this is the invasion that we read of a few chapters later in Isaiah 36:1-2a.
Reason (Isa 32:10b,14): God speaks of complacency. Judah will suffer disaster – failed harvests, forsaken palace, deserted city, empty watchtowers. The Assyrian Invasion that sieged Judah’s cities will strip the temple and the palace of its gold.
Though the prophesied righteous King seeks to bring hope and fervour to God’s people as detailed in the earlier verses (Isa 32:1-8), here, Judah has a rude wake-up call from its complacency and disaster that befalls them almost immediately. They are called out for the sins that are committed under fools and scoundrels. All that Judah hoped in, treasured and sought to protect – their palace, cities and defences were to be neglected and dilapidated.
Spiritual complacency or laziness or procrastination is often excused and sometimes even embraced in this world we live in. But this is exactly what Judah is being called out for here.
A easy diagnostic is to ask ourselves if this complacency is consistent throughout our stations of life such as our jobs. or are we ready to slog it out to produce a good piece of work? If so, then we are simply using the semi-sin of complacency as a mask for our devotion to the idols of this world. Perhaps you are complacent about prayer at night because you are too concerned about looking at the stock market or social media. Or, we find ourselves complacent about reading God’s word daily because we are focused on material gratifications and distractions. And this next one is particularly apparent today: we are complacent about the church because we are passionate about our comforts – whether in waking up and travelling for in-person service, or in caring for people who are different from us etc.
King Jesus himself has strong words for the complacent in Matthew 24:45-51 in the parable of a servant who thinks that his Master will be late and chooses to beat his fellow servants, and revel with the drunkards, he will be in for a rude awakening when the Master comes unexpectedly and cuts him in pieces with the hypocrites.
How are we complacent this very day even as we might hope and wait for Jesus’ return? Let us do business with God today, turning back to Him in repentance and faith!
Yet amid a grim picture and prophecy, there is a promised change of circumstances in due time, as we see from the word “until” in Isaiah 32:15.
(C) The Outpouring of God’s Spirit Guarantees Eternal Peace (Isa 32:15-20)
A drastic turn of events occurs in Isaiah 32:15. God’s outpouring of God’s spirit on God’s people continues and completes the transformation seen in Isaiah 32:3-8. The Spirit is poured out from on high, and the wilderness is a fruitful field. There is a radical reversal not just of morality but of true physical abundance. God will make the wilderness become a fruitful field which becomes a forest. See how even the wilderness cannot reject God’s character and moral. Justice and righteousness dwells and abides both in the wilderness and fruitful field. This is a vivid picture of the Kingdom which God promises and what we long for.
What are the implications of the Spirit’s outpouring for God’s people? In Isaiah 32:17-20, we see how this brings about quietness and trust forever and this is unlike the false ease and complacency which Judah revelled in when it sought idols and security. It’s a picture of rest and we see that this is not found in the world, but in the righteous kingdom, when the King is reigning. Under this king, God’s people will dwell in peaceful habitations, secure dwellings, and quiet resting places. This cannot be achieved by man, but is only possible because of the outpouring of God’s Spirit. God’s grace enables these final longings to reach fulfilment.
Isaiah 32 remind us that what we hope for is ultimately found not in what we can do (i.e. making alliances with Egypt, bargaining with Assyria, even ‘blissful ignorance’) but ultimately found in who we hope in. This is the God who gives his king and who pours out his spirit on us.
How should we respond to all that we read tonight? As God’s people on this side of the cross, we who believe have the Holy Spirit indwelling in our hearts. Yet, the wilderness has not birthed into a fruitful field as we gaze at the world we live in, nor do we see the fool, the scoundrel or the complacent woman in us completely dissipate. Paul’s letter to Titus gives us a clear and decisive way to respond. In Titus 2:11-14, these words by Paul give us a decisive way to respond! If we profess to be Christians and hold up the Lord Jesus as our Saviour and King, Paul means to tell us that we cannot be the same as before — that scoundrel or fool.
We are to live distinctly from the world in the way we hope. God doesn’t just save us, but trains us to wait eagerly for the Lord’s return. As such, the grace of God reshapes our heart to love Him, and also for those around us. It reshapes our hands to do good works. It reshapes our hopes to a certain hope that our righteous King will return to reign, with His people as His precious possession! We are to eagerly wait for our blessed hope, the coming of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour who is the king who reigns in righteousness and justice. And as we wait, we are to turn away from idols and live self-controlled, upright and godly lives.
What do your hope for and what do you hope in? In this Advent season, may Isaiah 32 encourage you to consider what or who your ultimate hope is in, and turn away from idols to the true and righteous King.