September 4, 2022 - God’s Love for Those Who Remain (Isaiah 15:1-16:5)

God's Love for Those Who Remain (Isaiah 15:1-16:5)

Rev. Myung-Sin Choi

“1 The burden against Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste And destroyed, Because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste And destroyed, 2 He has gone up to the temple and Dibon, To the high places to weep. Moab will wail over Nebo and over Medeba; On all their heads will be baldness, And every beard cut off. 3 In their streets they will clothe themselves with sackcloth; On the tops of their houses And in their streets Everyone will wail, weeping bitterly. 4 Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out, Their voice shall be heard as far as Jahaz; Therefore the armed soldiers of Moab will cry out; His life will be burdensome to him. 5 'My heart will cry out for Moab; His fugitives shall flee to Zoar, Like a three-year-old heifer. For by the Ascent of Luhith They will go up with weeping; For in the way of Horonaim They will raise up a cry of destruction, 6 For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate, For the green grass has withered away; The grass fails, there is nothing green. 7 Therefore the abundance they have gained, And what they have laid up, They will carry away to the Brook of the Willows. 8 For the cry has gone all around the borders of Moab, Its wailing to Eglaim And its wailing to Beer Elim. 9 For the waters of Dimon will be full of blood; Because I will bring more upon Dimon, Lions upon him who escapes from Moab, And on the remnant of the land.' 16: 1 Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, From Sela to the wilderness, To the mount of the daughter of Zion. 2 For it shall be as a wandering bird thrown out of the nest; So shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. 3 'Take counsel, execute judgment; Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day; Hide the outcasts, Do not betray him who escapes. 4 Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab; Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler. For the extortioner is at an end, Devastation ceases, The oppressors are consumed out of the land. 5 In mercy the throne will be established; And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, Judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.'”

Introduction

Last week, we heard a very precious message during the headquarters message, if we face a problem, we should rejoice. Why is that? Many people when they face problems, they despise it, fall into trials, and become discouraged. But when you face a problem, you shouldn’t be discouraged and despise it, but you should rejoice. This is very important. When problems come, if you fail to see and interpret the problems correctly, then we will live a failed life. For children of God, when problems come to you from God, God is wanting you to see His messages. But if we fail to see God’s messages and fall into the problem, then you will fall deeper into problems. When we fall into problems, everything becomes a problem. Just like the message said, this age will be an age of mental illness. I think this is true. For patients who suffer from depression and anxiety, they always make all things into problems. There are patients who are stuck in their problems and constantly think about their problems. God is wanting to give you answers and power through problems and incidents, but we get sucked into problems. When problems come to us, we should enjoy the problem because there are undoubtedly God's blessings within them. Last week we spoke about the king of Babylon who went to hell.

1. Warnings about Secular Nations

1) Warnings about Assyria

Isaiah 14:24-27 “The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, 'Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand: 25 That I will break the Assyrian in My land, And on My mountains tread him underfoot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, And his burden removed from their shoulders. 26 This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth, And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. 27 For the Lord of hosts has purposed, And who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, And who will turn it back?' ” - We can see God’s warning here. You can see the destruction of the nations of Assyria and Philistine here. Isaiah 13 talks about the destruction of Babylon. Isaiah 15 and 16 speak about the destruction of Moab. And Isaiah 17 talks about the destruction of Ephraim and Damascus. If you talk about the prophecies of the destruction of nations, God always gives messages of warnings before the destruction occurs. God is telling them to see the messages instead of the destruction that will occur. Why did God give them a problem? We must see God’s plans and hidden messages behind them. From here, prophecies, warnings, and judgments will come upon different nations in the Bible. From here, what can we find? All nations were given messages of warnings. But who gave the messages of warnings? Within these nations, who can dare to say that they will judge and prophecy about the nation’s destruction? What kind of god of a nation would bring these kinds of judgments and warnings? God was the one who gave prosperity and judgment as well as destruction to nations. This was showing that prosperity and destruction are all within God’s hands. We can see that God is sovereign over all things and everything is within God’s hands. We must hold onto this. Whether we do well or not, and or if we fail or not, this is all within God’s hands.

Isaiah 14:24 - God was saying that whatever He says and swears by it will absolutely be fulfilled. This is why we must hold onto God’s word very seriously.

Isaiah 14:25 - God was prophesying that He will destroy Assyria. This is a very astounding message. Assyria, who God was using as a rod to torment Judah, God was saying that He will destroy Assyria by bringing it into the land of Israel.

2 Kings 19:35 “And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.” - We all know that 185,000 Assyrian soldiers were completely wiped out and killed by one angel of God in one night. This was a message of God that was fulfilled at that time. When God destroyed the Assyrian army, He had no remorse or regret. Why did God end up using Assyria? We spoke about this earlier, God used Assyria as Israel’s rod. Why was that? God wanted to use Assyria to make Israel come back to their senses. This was because Israel was falling into idolatry and not following God’s word. Even though Israel was God’s people and His children, God wanted to teach Israel a lesson, so God used Assyria as Israel’s rod. God used Assyria as His rod, but Assyria became arrogant and fell into the delusion that they were the mightiest of all nations and people. At that time, God discarded Assyria as His rod. All events in the Bible regarding God’s love, the core of God’s love is all centered on God’s remaining ones, His remnants. Are you in the covenant? If you are in God’s covenant, then you are a blessed one. Whether you are successful or not, that is not what is important here. The most successful one is one who is within God’s covenant. God who is sovereign over all things, God moves the world for His children who will do world evangelism.

2) Warnings about Philistia

Isaiah 14:28 “This is the burden which came in the year that King Ahaz died.” - The second warning was against Philistia. When King Ahaz died, that same year, the year of Assyria was destroyed. At that time, Philistia became very happy about the news of Assyria’s destruction because they couldn’t conquer Israel because of Assyria.

Isaiah 14:29-32 “ 'Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia, Because the rod that struck you is broken; For out of the serpent's roots will come forth a viper, And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent. 30 The firstborn of the poor will feed, And the needy will lie down in safety; I will kill your roots with famine, And it will slay your remnant. 31 Wail, O gate! Cry, O city! All you of Philistia are dissolved; For smoke will come from the north, And no one will be alone in his appointed times.' 32 What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord has founded Zion, And the poor of His people shall take refuge in it.” - When Assyria was destroyed, God knew that Philistia wanted to attack Israel, but God made sure that did not happen. “…For out of the serpent's roots will come forth a viper…” – This means that Philistia will face hardships from Assyria. We can see that Philistia continues to be at war with Israel until now. They are considered to be enemies with each other. The meaning behind the name of Philistia is, “The vagabond, the traveler.” The people in Philistia don’t have a land of their own so they live as nomads. Why did the Philistines end up with this kind of life and destiny? When they entered into the land of Canaan, this was how they started their lives. They were living a life constantly tormenting Israel. When God commanded the Israelites to go to the land of Canaan, God commanded His people to destroy all of the Philistines. When Israelites entered Canaan, they failed to completely destroy Philistines because they said that they were too tired to accomplish God’s command. At that time, there was so much idolatry and corruption in the land of Philistine so that is why God wanted the land of Canaan to have a new start by wiping out all of the Philistines. But the Israelites became lethargic and lazy, and failed to completely destroy and wipe out the Philistines.

Judges 2:3 “Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’ ” and 2 Chronicles 28:18-19 “The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Sochoh with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages; and they dwelt there. 19 For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to the Lord.” - From this point on, Philistine became a thorn to Israel’s side, even to this day. We can see the warning towards Philistine. The people of God of Israel, whenever they lost hold of God’s covenant, God made the Philistines attack Israel, so they come back to their senses. But when Philistine became Israel’s thorn, Israel suffered a lot from that as well. God did not leave this alone, so God made sure to destroy and torment Philistine. This is a very interesting cycle. God would use Philistine as Israel’s rod but when Israel would suffer as a result, God would destroy Philistine. Why was this? In order to raise up the remnants uprightly, God did all of this. God’s entire concern is towards the remnants, the remaining ones. In other words, those who have the covenant of God, God moves all things. That is why God used Philistine. If you look at God’s word later on, God said that He will save Philistine. God said that He used the Philistines as His rod, but God said that He will save Philistine to show that God is sovereign over all things. This was God’s hidden message for Philistia. Who does God love? God loves those who hold onto His covenant. This is a very important message. Whoever holds onto God’s word, then you can experience God’s true love and blessings.

2. Warnings about Moab

1) The background of Moab

Verse 1 - Moab was the son of Abraham’s nephew, Lot. When Sodom and Gomorrah were being destroyed, through Abraham’s prayer and plea, God saved Lot and his family. Lot was saved because of Abraham’s prayers. Lot’s wife disobeyed God’s word, so she ended up becoming a pillar of salt. Lot’s wife was being saved but at that important time, she ended up disobeying God’s word and was turned into a pillar of salt. She was already in the process of being saved but because of her disbelief, she died. This is an important message. The moment you lose hold of God’s word, you will die. The same thing happened to Adam and Eve, the people who were loved greatly by God.

The daughters of Lot, they slept with Lot and had a son named Moab and Ammon. Abraham and Lot are an uncle and nephew relationship then this means that Isaac and Moab were cousins. A cousin relationship is a close relationship, they are basically brothers.

In Egypt, the Israelites were living as slaves but through God’s power, the Israelites were able to go to the land of Canaan. But when the Israelites ended up heading their way to Canaan, Moab became fearful, so he commanded his people to put a curse on Israel. This was the first sin of Moab. Moab was blocking God’s plan and was putting a curse on the people of God, the Israelites. Even though Moab and the people of Israel were basically considered brothers, Moab still committed sin against his brothers. We should never have any conflicts with your brothers and sisters in faith.

We need to always remember Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” - God did not just give this message because God loved Abraham, but God gave this message because Abraham held onto God’s covenant. For those who are within God’s covenant and plan, you will receive tremendous blessings. No matter how much the King of Babylon wanted to curse Israel, he couldn’t do that. At that time, Moab’s prophet, Balaam, ended up becoming cursed greatly by God. Balaam used the Moabite women to tempt the Israelite men to worship idols and fall into idolatry. God became furious over this.

Numbers 31:16 “Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.” - God made the Moabites fall into absolute destruction and plague, and it killed 24,000 Moabites. This caused the destruction of Moab.

2) Warnings about Moab

Verses 2-9 - We can see that destruction and suffering was coming upon the land of Moab so we can see the prayer of Moab’s prophet. We can see the people of Israel had great love for Moab. When Moab was suffering, Isaac was pleading to God and praying for mercy for the land of Moab. When Moab faced destruction, 17 regions of Moab fell into absolute destruction and plagues.

Verses 2-3 - When the Moabites were facing suffering and problems, they turned to their idols and pleaded for them to be saved. Since they were crying out to their idols and gods, do you think they were being answered and their problems were being solved? We can see that sufferings and problems continued for the land of Moab.

Verse 4 - They cried out. Verse 5 - Their hearts cried out. Verse 6 - They were wailing out. Verse 7 - Their wails were being carried away. Verse 8 - Their outcries were echoing. Verse 9 - The waters were filled with blood. We can see that pleading, suffering, and cries were all over the land of Moab.

Despite their suffering and problems, God said in verse 9 - When God saw them continuing to fall into idolatry, God sent lions to the land of Moab. Moab’s family was a family to Israel, but this is the same thing for Christians, many Christians fail to go to worship. They say that money is more important than worshiping on Sundays. If you don’t return to God, then your problems will worsen. There are people who go to church but they fail to find a true answer, so they become deceived and fall into trials due to their problems.

3. God's Salvation

1) The unique solution

Verses 16:1-5 - God gave an exact answer to Moab in verse 16:1. God was commanding Moab to give blood sacrifice to God. Through the blood sacrifice, you will be saved. In other words, hold onto Christ. If you don’t enter into Christ, then you cannot come out of your problem. The daughters of Moab and the Moabites were like verse 16:2 - They will wonder like birds. That was why God was commanding to quickly return to His word.

Verse 16:3 - God was commanding them to have the upright discernment. God was commanding them to come before the King of Zion and ask for guidance and counseling. God was saying that there is an absolute refugee for those who fall into destruction. What will they receive? God was commanding to return to His covenant for salvation. What was astounding was that God was commanding them to enter into the covenant to live. If we hold onto God’s covenant, then we will come out from a crisis of death. This is because the only answer is Christ. Life and death are within God’s hands. This is an astounding message.

Verse 16:4 - If they return to God’s covenant, God said that they will face peace. God commands Israel that if refugees come to them to give them shelter. This was talking about when Moab becomes destroyed, the Moabites will become refugees, so God was commanding Israel to become their refugee. This absolutely did happen. God was saying that Assyria will absolutely be destroyed so God commanded Moab to enter into His covenant and to live.

Verse 16:5 - God was giving a solution. David’s tabernacle is talking about where God resides. God’s justice and righteousness is present when you hold onto His covenant. God’s covenant will absolutely be fulfilled. Those who sit on the throne, they are the ones who hold onto God’s covenant. God said that He will absolutely destroy Assyria. The one who will sit on the throne is talking about Jesus.

When Jesus comes for His second coming, He will bring judgment onto this world. Who will live through this? Those who hold onto God’s covenant. That is why you need to know that God’s covenant is so important. This determines if you live or die.

What did the Moabites end up doing? We can see it in Isaiah 16:6, 12 “We have heard of the pride of Moab-- He is very proud-- Of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath; But his lies shall not be so. 12 And it shall come to pass, When it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, That he will come to his sanctuary to pray; But he will not prevail.” - Even though God gave the gospel and a way to live to the Moabites, the Moabites failed to return to God; instead, they turned to their idols. As a result, the Moabites experienced destruction in the end by the Assyrian army. This is the result of those who fail to hold onto God’s covenant. In other words, this is the result if you throw away the gospel. That is why we must hold onto the covenant.

2) The journey of those who remain

Hold onto the true blessings. What are the true blessings? True blessing is not possessing a lot of money.

Matthew 5:3-12, 6:33 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ” - If we hold onto and understand this, then you will receive true blessings.

Find true prayer. What is true payer? It is Matthew 6:33 - Don’t worry about what to eat or drink but only focus on God’s righteousness. This is the way to true blessings. Enjoy the blessing of the fulfillment of God’s word.

Luke 21:17-18 “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. 18 But not a hair of your head shall be lost.” - If we hold onto God’s covenant, we may face problems and difficulties, but God is telling you that not a single strand of your hair on your head will be lost. This means God’s remnants will not be destroyed.

Conclusion

Hold onto Zechariah 2:8 “For thus says the Lord of hosts: 'He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.' ” - The ones who make you suffer and give you hardships, God said that those people are punching God’s eyes. Those who give you trouble, they are the ones who give God trouble as well. No one can survive after punching God’s eye. This is how important you are to God. You are so precious to God.