Sermon Tone Analysis

“In that day the glory of Jacob will be brought low,

and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.

And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain

and his arm harvests the ears,

and as when one gleans the ears of grain

in the Valley of Rephaim.

Gleanings will be left in it,

as when an olive tree is beaten—

two or three berries

in the top of the highest bough,

four or five

on the branches of a fruit tree,

declares the LORD God of Israel.

“In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel.

He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense.

“In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.

“For you have forgotten the God of your salvation

and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;

therefore, though you plant pleasant plants

and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,

though you make them grow on the day that you plant them,

and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,

yet the harvest will flee away

in a day of grief and incurable pain.”1

It is possible for a Christian to be barren and unfruitful even while having knowledge of Christ the Lord.

This possibility is clearly presented in Peter‟s second missive.

There, Peter concludes his instruction in Christian responsibility for growth by saying, “If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” [2 PETER 1:3-8].

If we will be fruitful we must know how to avoid being barren.

As was true for our Jewish forebears, we Christians are prone to neglect the lessons of history.

We often ignore the warnings arising from judgement of the people of God; however, we ignore such warnings at our own peril.

Paul cautioned the Corinthian saints against ignoring the warnings arising from Israel‟s history [1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-13].

In our text, Isaiah states that Israel had become barren because of three errors—errors that plague the churches of our Lord even in this day.

Isaiah charged that Israel was suffering from a love of idols, a loss of memory and a loss of concentration.

In a similar fashion, the professed people of God in this day are suffering from the same dreadful maladies that threaten the continued vitality of the congregations of our Lord.

You will perhaps recall that Isaiah delivered prophetic messages against several nations that surrounded Judah; Babylon, Moab and Damascus were warned as were Cush and Egypt—each being the focus of divine warning.

At the time Isaiah delivered this prophetic warning, Syria served as a buffer between Israel and Assyria.

No doubt, Israel felt secure because Syria was interposed between her and the Assyrians.

Before warning Damascus of coming judgement, the man of God turned his attention first to Israel, and as is frequently the case, he telescoped prophecy to include the entire world during a future time referred to as “that day.”

As Aram was destroyed, so all mankind will likewise face divine judgement in “that day” of divine judgement.

It was as though destruction and restoration were telescoped into one great event, though the specific prophecies were in fact separated by millennia.

The message this day looks at the prophecy of judgement to come, with a view to challenging us in our own situation.

If the words of the prophet apply to God‟s people without restriction, as I believe to be true, we need to heed the warning that he penned.

Churches suffer from A LOVE OF IDOLS [VV. 7, 8].

“In that day” the churches, as is also true for Israel, will remember their “Maker.”

The Israelites were idolaters of the worst sort.

They had a reputation of following the Lord God of Heaven and earth, but their worship was perfunctory.

Listen to Amos as he confronts God‟s wayward people, reminding them of their idolatry.

“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves” [AMOS 5:25].

You will recall that Ezekiel was God‟s prophet who shared with God‟s people the hardship of exile in Babylon.

This courageous prophet exposed grossest idolatry among the religious and civil leadership—idolatry committed even as the people were enduring divine punishment.

While in Babylonian captivity, this man of God saw the idolatry of God‟s people and wrote the following words exposing the wickedness of the people.

“In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there.

Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man.

Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal.

He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.

And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley.

“Then he said to me, „Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.‟

So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy.

And he said to me, „Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary?

But you will see still greater abominations.‟

“And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall.

Then he said to me, „Son of man, dig in the wall.‟

So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance.

And he said to me, „Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.‟

So I went in and saw.

And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel.

And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them.

Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up.

Then he said to me, „Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures?

For they say, “The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.‟”

He said also to me, „You will see still greater abominations that they commit.‟

“Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

Then he said to me, „Have you seen this, O son of man?

You will see still greater abominations than these.‟

“And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD.

And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east.

Then he said to me, „Have you seen this, O son of man?

Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger?

Behold, they put the branch to their nose.

Therefore I will act in wrath.

My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity.

And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them‟” [EZEKIEL 8:1-18].

Israel was infatuated with idols, even in the days of the Apostolic Faith.

To be certain, pious Jews in that day would never have dreamed of bowing down to idols created from stone or wood; but they worshipped many of the same idols we worship to this day—position, power, pleasure and possessions.

It is but a step from worshipping these characterisations of life to worshipping idols crafted with the hand.

Stephen pointed this out, so infuriating the religious leaders that they engineered his execution.

“Our fathers refused to obey [Moses], but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, „Make for us gods who will go before us.

As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.‟

And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“„Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,

during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

You took up the tent of Moloch

and the star of your god Rephan,

the images that you made to worship;

and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.‟”

[ACTS 7:39-43]

Lest we grow smug about our own standing before God, consider our own idols.

I fear that contemporary Christians worship the gods of affluence, of success and of elitism.