Series: Questions
Title: Whom Hast Thou Reproached?
Text: Is 37: 23
Date: May 30, 2019
Place: SGBC, NJ
Our text is a question the LORD asked a man—king
Sennacherib, king of Assyria. This was the
mightiest king of the mightiest nation in the world. King Sennacherib had sent messengers to the
wall of Jerusalem to King Hezekiah, king of Judah and boasted of his will and his
works. So God asks him this question:
Isaiah 37: 23: Whom
hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy
voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of
Israel.
How did Sennacherib reproach and blaspheme God? If you read chapters 36 and 37 you can hear
what he said. But the LORD gives a summary
of what he said. This is how Sennacherib
reproached and blasphemed God. God said
to him,
Isaiah 37: 24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord,
and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of
the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars
thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the
height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel. 25: I have digged, and drunk water;
and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged
places.
Sennacherib
reproached and blasphemed God by boasting of his own will and his own works. And you and I did the same thing! When we sinned
in Adam in the garden, we reproached God and blasphemed his name. All the days we were dead in sins, by trusting
our will and our works we reproached and blasphemed God. If anyone here puts confidence in anything
you do for salvation then you are reproaching and blaspheming the Lord even
now. If we trust in our works under the
law, our personal goodness, our religious deeds or even if we trust in our
faith then we reproach and blaspheme God. God says, “That no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Cor 1:29). So, let’s answer this question.
Isaiah 37: 23:
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy
voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of
Israel.
Proposition: The one we have reproached is the one true and living
God of his elect people, who is THE HOLY ONE—unlike any of the gods of man’s
imagination.
HE IS THE GOD OF
PURPOSE
Sennacherib boasted that he destroyed all these cities. So the
Lord asks another question.
Isaiah 37: 26 Hast thou not heard long ago, how I
have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I
brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into
ruinous heaps. 27 Therefore their inhabitants were of
small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass
of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the
housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
From eternity God purposed everything that comes to pass
in time like he purposed to use Sennacherib to chasten his people in Judah and
Jerusalem. And God purposed he would use
this king to lay waste all those other cities.
Therefore, God purposed that the inhabitants of those cities would have
no power against him Brethren, this is God’s
eternal purpose that he brings to pass in the whole earth among all nations
over all time.
Isaiah 14: 24: The LORD of hosts hath sworn,
saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have
purposed, so shall it stand: 25:
That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him
under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart
from off their shoulders. 26: This
is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is
the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. 27: For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?
and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
Everything that comes
to pass is what God purposed from eternity.
Isaiah 46: 9: Remember the former things of old:
for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there
is none like me, 10: Declaring
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are
not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my
pleasure:
What about man’s
will?
Proverbs 19:21: There
are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that
shall stand.
Does God work all things according to his purpose? Yes, even salvation!
Romans 8: 28: And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. 29: For whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30: Moreover whom he did predestinate,
them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he
justified, them he also glorified. 31:
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us?
God’s people are saved because God purposed to save us. God’s elect are redeemed because Christ
redeemed us on purpose. God has given us
an inheritance on purpose.
Ephesians 1:11: In whom
also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Sinner, it is useless to fight against God. As Gamaliel said, “If it
be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against
God” (Acts 5:39). But those God saves
do not reproach God by boasting in our purpose.
By God’s grace, we bow and praise God for his purpose, “O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt
thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels
of old are faithfulness and truth.” (Is 25: 1)
Isaiah 37: 23:
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy
voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high?
HE IS THE SOVEREIGN
GOD
God not only purposed Sennacherib would lay waist these
cities, God said—Isaiah 37: 26…now have I brought it to pass…
This mightiest man on earth was but an instrument in God’s
hand by which God in sovereign power brought his eternal purpose to pass.
Isaiah 10: 5: O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger,
and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6: I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the
people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the
prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7: Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither
doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off
nations not a few…12: Wherefore
it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work
upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of
the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 13: For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom; for I am prudent:…15:
Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall
the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself
against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself,
as if it were no wood.
So when the Lord finished his whole work using Sennacherib,
the Lord sent him home to be killed.
Isaiah 37: 29: Because
thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will
I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back
by the way by which thou camest.
Back in chapter 36, God said this
Isaiah 36: 7: Behold,
I will send a blast upon him, [I will put a spirit of terror in his heart] and he
shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I WILL CAUSE HIM to fall
by the sword in his own land.
We see how the Lord
put terror in his heart, this is the rumor:
Isaiah 37: 36: Then the angel of
the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and
fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold,
they were all dead corpses.
The Lord killed 185,000 of his army including
all his chief captains and generals. The
Lord said then he shall return to his own land and I will cause him to fall by the
sword in his own land.
Isaiah 37: 37: So Sennacherib king of Assyria
departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 38: And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of
Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the
sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned
in his stead.
What God purposed, God declared beforehand he
would do, then God sovereignly did it. That
is what we mean when we say God is sovereign.
God has the sovereign power to bring to pass his eternal purpose exactly
as he purposed.
Now, Sennacherib is a
picture of the devil and his seed. God is sovereign over the devil and his seed
just like he was sovereign over Sennacherib and his army. God created the devil and sovereignly controls
him to bring his eternal purpose to pass.
God was in control when the devil entered the garden and man fell. God did it to fulfill his purpose of sending
his Son and saving his people from our sins that he might exalt his Son. God was in control when the devil used his
men to nail Christ to the cross. The Man,
Christ Jesus, is this sovereign God. He said,
“No man takes my life, I lay down of
myself” (Jn 10: 18). Those wicked
hands that nailed him to the cross were guilty.
But they only did what God determined before to be done (Acts 2:23; 3:
18; 4: 25-28).
Brethren, if the evilest deed in world
history was under the sovereign control of our God and accomplished his eternal
purpose and our salvation then know the rest is under his sovereign control for
our salvation as well. “Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD
hath not done it?” (Amos 3:6). Our sovereign King Jesus has his hook
in the devil’s nose. When he is done
with his whole work of calling out the last one he redeemed then Christ shall cast
the devil and all our enemies into hell just like he did Sennacherib.
Isaiah 37: 23:
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy
voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high?
HE IS
THE GOD OF OUR SALVATION WHO ALONE WE GIVE GLORY
The Lord gives two reasons for doing all this.
One, it was to save his elect people. The Lord made this promise to Hezekiah—Isaiah 37: 30: And this shall be a sign unto
thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second
year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap,
and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
The two years they ate of that which grew of
itself means that God’s remnant would not save themselves by their hand. The Lord would do all the work to save them
bringing for life for them from the ground.
The third year they would sow and reap meant once the Lord had saved
them they would reap the harvest or all the benefit. In the next verse the Lord tells us plainly
that is what he meant by this sign.
Isaiah 37: 31: And the remnant that
is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit
upward: 32: For out of Jerusalem
shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of
the LORD of hosts shall do this. 33:
Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come
into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor
cast a bank against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he
return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
From eternity, God has had an elect remnant who he chose
from among Jew and Gentile. God chose us
by his free grace, not based on any good or evil in us. God our Father is working all things in this
earth to save his elect remnant.
As God made the children of Judah eat that which he
produced out of the ground so God freely gives life to his elect remnant by Christ
the Seed. Before going to the cross, Christ
said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if
it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (Jn 12:24). Christ is the Seed who willingly gave his
body to be broken under God’s justice in place of his people then he was buried
in the ground. But like as God said they
would reap the harvest in the third year, three days later Life sprang out of
the ground “bringing forth much fruit”,
that is, Christ arose and his people in him.
It came to pass exactly as God promised, “The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.”
Salvation is entirely of the Lord: (Jon 2: 9; 1 Cor 1:
30)
·
By God the Father—“of God are ye in Christ Jesus”
·
By God the Holy Spirit—“who of God is made unto us…”
·
By God the Son—“Wisdom
and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption.”
The reason that salvation
is entirely of the LORD is “That,
according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1
Cor 1: 31) And that is the second
reason God did all this. God saves apart
from our works for his own glory for the sake of Christ Jesus his Son who
redeemed us-.
Isaiah 37: 35
For I will defend this city to save it
for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
When God says “For
mine own sake” it means for the glory and praise of God’s own name.
Isaiah 48: 11: For mine own sake, even for
mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted?
and I will not give my glory unto another.
Isaiah 43:7: Even
every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I
have formed him; yea, I have made him.
Isaiah 43:25: I, even
I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, [for my own
glory and praise] and will not remember thy sins.
Therefore, those God saves no longer reproach and
blaspheme his name by boasting in our will and our works. Now, our boast is “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved” (Eph 1:6).
When God says “for
my servant David’s sake”—he is saying for my servant, Christ Jesus.
Jeremiah 23:5: Behold,
the days come, saith the LORD, that I WILL RAISE unto David a righteous Branch,
and A KING shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in
the earth. 6 In his days Judah shall be
saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be
called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
This is speaking of David’s antitype, Christ Jesus. He is the righteous Branch which came from
David. Christ is the King who reigns and
prospers. He executed judgment and
justice in the earth on the cross when he honored God’s justice by dying in the
room and stead of his people. He saved
all his elect and made us dwell safely in him.
He is the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
By God’s regenerating grace, we serve our true David, King Jesus exactly
as Jeremiah prophesied,
Jeremiah 30:9…they
shall serve the LORD their God, and David their KING, whom I WILL RAISE UP unto
them.
Since God’s righteous servant fulfilled his end of the
covenant by redeeming all God’s elect, God the Father is fulfilling his end of
the covenant by quickening and calling all his redeemed for Christ’s sake.
Jeremiah 30: 10: Therefore
fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD;…for, lo, I will save thee
from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall
return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
Ezekiel 37:24 And David my servant shall be king over them;
and they all shall have one shepherd:…25…and my servant David shall be their
prince for ever.
Remember Christ said that when he said, “there shall be one fold and one shepherd”
(Jn 10:16).
SO WHO IS THIS THAT WE
ONCE BLASPHEMED AND SPOKE SO ARROGANTLY AGAINST?
He is the God who
saves on purpose, the God who saves by his sovereign hand, the God of our
salvation who we now give all the glory!
Sinner do not fight against this God or you will end up
like Sennacherib. Come bowing and
begging for mercy and you shall receive mercy!
Believer be comforted knowing that everything God is
doing in this earth is for you his people, for his glory, for Christ’s sake! By God’s grace and power we can laugh at our
enemies. Therefore, on our behalf,
Isaiah 37: 22: This
is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning [all our enemies] ;The
virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn;
the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
Amen!