ISAIAH 33: 13-17
A FUTURE FOR THE FAITHFUL
God here promises to come near and deliver His people from the destruction of their enemies. This great deliverance is not enacted from afar but by Him coming near in authority and power and making Himself known. This presence of Yahweh has residual effects. It has effects upon the righteous as well as the unrighteous.
When in a crisis dependance upon the way of the world leads to disaster. Reliance upon the Lord allows the Lord to replace the way of the world with His way. The cleansing necessary to live in His holy presence requires major purification before one walks in His righteous ways. As always though for those who walk with God come blessings and benefits that more that compensate for the pain of the cleansing, healing and restoration process.
I. THE CALL TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, 13-14.
II. THE CONDITIONS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15.
III. THE COMPENSATIONS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 16-17.
(13) "You who are far away, hear what I have done; And you who are near, acknowledge My might."
Sooner or later everyone, no matter how far away, will hear of God’s greatness. He is a God of not only amazing acts but of great purity and calls one and all to hear and respond. Yet those who are near, those who live among God’s people, have had opportunity to see the arm and the hand of the Lord revealed in human events. God now calls upon them to admit, to acknowledge, that it is He who brought about great deliverance and not their own hand or the hand of man.
Familiarity does breed contempt. Frequently the passion and devotion of one who has recently heard and believed in Christ puts to shame some of us who have know Him for years. It was at least as necessary for God’s people to recognize His working if anyone else could. (Oswalt, Isaiah, 599). Their acknowledgment should not only be seen in giving Him praise and glory, but in surrendering of their life to live in His holy, or straight and narrow way.
Whoever hears what God has done, whether near or afar off, let them acknowledge His might, that it is irresistible, and that He does all good things. Those are very foolish who hear what God has done and yet will not acknowledge Him.
Verse14 tells how should we acknowledge God’s might. Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless. "Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual burning?"
The result of a realistic recognition of God and His power will be terror. This is not to say that all persons must be terrified into trusting God. But it is to say that unless people have come at some point to a recognition of who God is. It is a recognition of God’s absolute otherness- difference- from themselves. Those who do not are very likely to devalue His grace, and their commitment is likely to be minimal at best.
This is what had happened in Judah. They were taking God for granted. They were sinners, no longer aiming solely at God’s target (Rom. 3:23), or following God’s way. They defiled the promise land by living in ways inconsistent with God’s character (24:5). They were hypocrites who appear pious to the outward world but in their daily lives ignored God.
As a result, when God’s fire would be revealed against His enemies, the godless, God’s careless people would tremble too, because they are no more able to endure that fiery embrace than the godless were able to endure it. Trembling recognition is the beginning of hope for the believing community. It is not enough for the Assyrians or our enemies to recognize God’s greatness. It is much more important for Zion, the church, God’s people to recognize it. When God’s fire falls His people must be ready (31:9) to dwell in that fire.
[Sojourn, translated live, conveys the idea that the dweller is not the host but the guest. The environment is not one’s former or native place. (Oswalt, Isaiah, 599).] The issue is what will it take to endure in an environment as purifying as endless fire in order to not simply be protected and cared for by God but to be aflame with God Himself?
Eternal (everlasting) indicates that this fire of God is not a passing thing, because it is out of His very essence. There is no hope that after awhile the flame will die down. He is flame-consuming the fallenness of man. See Deut. 4:24; 9:3; Heb. 12:29.
What kind of change must a human being undergo to live with God? It is not a change of essence but a change of character. Our character (holy to unholy) is what separates us from God and not our essence (infinite to finite). If we are to live with God, we must share His character. That restoration is not an easy suffering free process.
The presence of God is a consuming fire in our life. But we must embrace His burning. Only when God’s Spirit is aflame within us can we be cleansed, healed, and restored.
II. THE CONDITIONS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15.
Verse 15 offers the answer to the question posed in v. 14. He who walks righteously, and speaks with sincerity, He who rejects unjust gain, and shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe. He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from looking upon evil.
Components of that cleansed character are described in three couplets. The godly person is one who does right things and does not do wrong things. The first couplet describes the general style of life or conduct (walk) being manifested in life and speech that is right and straight. The godly walks righteously, and speaks with sincerity. The second couplet makes it plain that no pharisaical righteousness will do. Gain achieved through oppression and graft is forbidden, The godly person does not receive unjust gain, such as come from cheating the poor.
The third couplet continues the amplification of who God considers godly. The godly does not become involve in any type of evil plots or activities. Nor do they participate as a conspirator in any act which will harm or do violence to someone.
This life is the product of being refined by God. God’s character is not achieved by one’s own efforts but is a by-product of walking with God. Walking with God is only possible as a result of God’s grace, a fact which the OT teaches as well as the NT. The goal is always the same, conformity to God character, or in other words becoming Christ-like. That goal can only be reached by God’s grace, but we must walk with God in truth to open the door for that cleansing refining grace to operate.
III. THE COMPENSATIONS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 16- 17.
God promise the godly person true security and provision beginning in verse16. He will dwell on the heights; His refuge will be the impregnable rock; His bread will be given him; His water will be sure.
God acts to change the faithful person’s condition here on earth. There is a future for the faithful, and there will always be those who remain faithful and trust in the righteousness of Yahweh. One thing these righteous are promised is a special place of constant abiding in the here and now of life. Heights and impregnable fortress are symbolic of the refuge and security found in God (Ps. 18: 1-3). The person who has made God’s character the goal of his or her life dwells with God in the high places (Hab. 3:19; Ps 18:32-33).
Furthermore, this person has a source of supply of every need in God. Bread and water symbolize the substance of life, the most basic needs of human life. Many people today, as well as in Isaiah’s day, need something more basic than food and drink. They are starving spiritually because they have been attempting to meet their own needs without realizing that God has provided encouragement, refuge, and sustenance for everyone who will appropriate His grace.
For those who respond properly to God’s cleansing, healing, restoring presence verse 17 holds a great promise. Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will behold a far-distant land.
Here we have another result which flows from an admission of helplessness and a turning to God. No longer will they be dependent upon perverted leadership. For the true King will be revealed in His beauty to those who so honored Him with their life. In that relationship there will be the security which was sought in so many other ways. Ultimately, this is the question every person must face: Who is your king? Is it you? Is it societies’ rulers? If so, the result will be a deep insecurity, for none of us is ultimate. But if we have discovered the ultimate One who is truly for us, then we may be secure, no matter what happens. That is the picture here.
Those who bend the knee and surrender to king Jesus behold a far-distant land. They behold-see heaven & its glory from the remoteness of earth.
CONCLUSION
The prophet Isaiah portrays trembling sinners asking how they can live with "the consuming fire" and"everlasting burnings" (Isaiah 33:14). These phrases do not refer to hell, but to our holy God. Those hypocrites were really asking, "Who can live with Him?"
Isaiah’s answer was simple: "He who walks righteously and speaks up rightly" (v. 15). It wasn’t enough just to participate in religious ritual. Isaiah was reminding them that to live in the presence of the consuming fire they had to obey God.
Hebrews 12:29 reminds us that "our God is a consuming fire." If we chose not to be
cleansed, healed and restored we can not have His Spirit aflame with in us. By abandoning God’s purposes for our lives we also abandon His presence and His help.
How is it possible, then to have a close relationship with Him? Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:23).
If we trust Jesus as our Savior and seek to please Him, we need not fear living in the fire of His holiness. God’s holiness seeks to consumes what is evil that we might learn to walk righteously with our God.
[In The Sweet By an By> There’s a land that is fairer by day]
