In the Broadway musical, “Guys and Dolls,” there is a line where Sky Masterton (the Marlon Brando role in the film version) shares some advice that his father gave him. Sky is a gambler and the entire play revolves around a certain bet that he makes which pays off in a way he isn’t expecting. But I want to focus on that advice for a moment. He said, “Son, no matter how far you travel, or how smart you get, always remember this. Someday, somewhere, a guy is going to come to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is never broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that the jack of spades will jump out of this deck and squirt cider in your ear. But son, do not bet him, for as sure as you do you are going to get an ear full of cider.” (From Damon Runyon, “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown”)
Goldie Hawn played a relatively naïve woman who became entangled in a Washington D.C. scandal, eventually becoming the scapegoat, in 1984’s Protocol. At a press conference after the scandal broke, she said, “My father always told me that if a man on the street offers to sell you a $50 watch for $5, it probably isn’t even worth $5.” [That may not be the exact monetary amounts, but it covers the sentiment expressed in the line and film pretty well.]
Did you know that the Bible offered a similar warning in even more colorful language back in the 8th century before Christ? It didn’t mince words, either. Right after a powerful description of God’s plan to save Israel (and by extension, the world) through the Messiah, God’s People are warned about the danger of a covenant (contract or alliance) with Death, depending on things that don’t last. Israel was about to buy that watch that wasn’t worth $5 or bet on that ear full of cider.
It’s very easy to be fooled. This morning, I want to demonstrate how easy it is with a very simple card trick. Until you know the secret, it seems like it might be legitimate. Once you figure out the secret, you definitely feel cheated. And that’s the way it works with temptation. So, let’s see what the Bible says.
14) Therefore, hear the Word of Yahweh, men of scorn,
riddle-makers (soothsayers? Prophets? Counselors?) of this people who are in Jerusalem.
15) BECAUSE you said, “We have cut a covenant with Death;
and with Sheol (the Place of the Dead) we made a vision [sealing a pact?];
the overflowing flood will certainly pass over and not come to us;
BECAUSE we placed lies as our refuge and in deceit we are hidden.
16) Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh,
“Check Me out! I have placed in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
a valuable cornerstone I founded as a foundation [so]
the one depending on it shall not shake.”
17) And as a result, I will set justice as the line and righteousness as the lead;
and hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies
and waters flood [where] we are hiding.
18) And your contract with Death shall be nullified
and your vision [ritual pact?] with Sheol shall not stand
when the overflowing flood is certain to pass over
and, as a result, you shall be caused to be beaten down.
19) Whenever it passes over, it shall take you
BECAUSE by morning to morning it shall pass over and by day and night,
and it will be terror only to understand the message.
20) BECAUSE the bed is too short for stretching out
and the cover too narrow for wrapping.
We take God’s promise a placing a foundation stone in Zion and a cornerstone (Isaiah 28:16) as a picture of Jesus as our Savior, the only SURE place on which to base our lives. In its original appearance in the Old Testament, the verse contains both a threat and a promise. No wonder the New Testament writers quickly jumped from cornerstone to stumbling stone. It is a two-edged promise.
But even more amazing to me is the fact that this two-edged promise is sandwiched between two verses on death (v. 14 and v. 18). So, as I have been meditating upon death in recent weeks, I feel strongly that God has something to teach us from this passage. If so, let’s go to God in prayer. [God of LIFE, we come to You today with an awareness of the reality that our human lives, our existence in this decaying vessel we call a body, is coming inexorably to an end. Help us not to be unfinished symphonies or manuscripts, but help us to become the masterpieces You desire to make us—according to Your power as manifested in Jesus as our Lord and Savior—Amen.]
After speaking a word of judgment at the beginning of Chapter 28, Isaiah aims directly at the political leaders of Jerusalem (v. 14). These scoffers commanded to listen to God’s word of judgment are tied to the “ballad-mongers,” “riddle-makers,” or “rulers” of Jerusalem in the latter part of the verse. The root of the word with so many translations can either mean to make a comparison or to rule. Just a simple change in vowel sound and one gets a different translation. So, one must ask why God would want ballad singers or riddle-makers to hear the word.
The answer to the question is obvious. The ballad singers and riddle-makers are the keepers of tradition and wisdom. They are the ancient equivalents of media and educational establishment. Of course, the idea of “rulers” fits here even better because they are the ones who have, in Joseph Blenkinsopp’s translation, “cut a deal with Death.” The rulers are the ones who have tried to make a deal with Egypt to cover their flanks when Assyria comes like a flood (or scourge) to attack Jerusalem.
Isaiah tells the media, the opinion leaders, and the political authorities that they are depending on the wrong ally, the wrong source of “strength.” They have chosen something with no life, something with no stability, something with no dependability. They have chosen, “Death.” They looked for an easy way to solve their upcoming problems instead of turning toward God’s own Person and Power.
And isn’t that what’s happening on a broader scale in our world, today? Doesn’t it seem like the media, the educational establishment, and the political institutions are all arrayed against God’s people? Doesn’t it seem like this convenient triumvirate will quickly jump at any answers that are not to be found in the Bible, God’s revealed Word? Doesn’t it seem like this corrupt triumvirate only values what it controls?
But as verse 15 continues, things get worse. Not only have the opinion leaders and authorities cut a deal with Death—with that which is corruptible and cannot last, but they share a common vision with the place of the Dead (sometimes translated as a “pact” with Sheol). What an indictment! They have accepted a losing proposition, a “solution” that causes them to look at the futility of their position, to acknowledge their weakness. Pretty cynical, huh?
But is it any more cynical than a world where a philosopher is hailed as a hero for saying that “God is dead” or scientists claim that they can only be scientific by proclaiming the very idea of God to be irrelevant? Is it any more cynical than a society that says that we only go around once in life and, since this is all there is, we have to go for all the gusto?
God’s word for these opinion leaders was that their solution would not be present when the scouring scourge, the overwhelming flood of enemies surrounded them. These opinion leaders have accepted lies instead of finding a valid fortress and they have deluded themselves into trusting the same flawed system, the same vain superstitions, and the same egotistical arrogance. And because they don’t have God’s “tested” solution, God’s firm foundation, God’s reference stone, they aren’t able to stand up when the crisis comes.
The New Testament writers clearly understood this foundation stone, this “tested” solution, as Jesus the Christ. In the ancient world, builders would use a line and plummet to ensure that the walls were firmly set on the foundation stone. That must have been extra important in a country where earthquakes were incredibly common. It was definitely important for having walls secure enough to stand against battering rams and other assaults. And our relationship to Christ is just as important when we are assaulted by temptation, today.
I once saw a vivid demonstration of the importance of a foundation. My father’s mother, my Grandma Wilson, had a wooden-frame house set upon a concrete foundation. Shortly after Grandpa died, I was staying with Grandma and she wasn’t exactly on her game so to speak. In order to back out of her curved driveway, it was necessary to curve around the corner of the house. But Grandma was distracted and hit the corner of the house with the car, knocking the whole frame of the house so that the corner of the house shifted where she hit it and the opposite corner was hanging precariously over the side of the foundation. The weight of the frame, as it leaned off the foundation, caused stress within the house so that there were cracks in the walls and ceiling. And Grandma was devastated, she didn’t know what she was going to do. She’d lost her husband and now, it looked like she’d lost her house.
Fortunately, my Uncle Joe Davis was very resourceful. He figured out that if he could jack up the corner of the house and use a carpenter’s vice to push the frame back on the foundation, the house would be all right. The stress cracks would still be there, but things would be normalized. Grandma was so relieved! Now, I’m not sure the ceiling was ever repaired so that you couldn’t see that something happened, but all in all, it was a lesson to me.
When we fall off our “tested” foundation, even a little bit, it causes stress cracks in the rest of our lives. Our selfishness, our irresponsibility, and our tunnel-vision don’t make us look cool, pretty, or mature. The relationships are broken, the bad habits are created, and the physical, emotional, and spiritual damage is done. And before it can be repaired, we have to confess our sins and placed back on the foundation. Otherwise, the kind of judgment God speaks of in verse 17 where God drops the line and the plummet and finds us off the foundation can occur.
Of course, from a historical perspective, we know that the riddle-makers thought they had made all the right decisions in terms of international alliances and religious tolerance. They thought that their current level of wealth and prosperity would last forever. By making a deal with Death, they thought they had become immortal—sort of like Dorian Gray’s portrait. He thought he had immortality as well as a license to immorality. He could do anything but not pay the price. He discovered that what he had was not life because life is about making significant choices and significant accomplishments and he had neither. Nothing mattered for Dorian Gray.
The decision-makers, the riddle-makers, in Zion-Jerusalem thought that their alliance with Egypt and some of the smaller kingdoms around them would protect them from the growing might of Assyria, but Assyria took the allies down one-by-one. You simply cannot hedge your bets and disobey God. The secret to living life to its fullest is to find out what God is doing and get in on it.
Verse 17 carries the idea of God finding both the Northern and Southern states of Israel as out of line with the foundation. They come up short in God’s measurement. So, Assyria is sent by God as a raging flash flood submerging Israel and Judah and beating them down. Shortly after this prophecy was spoken, Assyria destroyed the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and carried away everyone who had any future or talent into captivity. They also surrounded Jerusalem and could have brought down Judah except for the fact that God intervened and Sennacherib had to go back to Assyria to put things in order and avoid a coup attempt.
God speaks through Isaiah in this passage to say that the judgment of God as seen in this flash flood from Assyria is going to come again and again. And guess what? After the Assyrians, the Chaldeans (the New Babylonian Empire) conquered Jerusalem. And after the Chaldeans, the Medes gained control. And after the Medes, the Persians gained control. And after the Persians, the Greeks took power. And after the Greeks, the Romans took over. What does that tell you? In one sense, it tells you that the times, they are achangin’, but it also tells you that God’s judgment is consistent.
Now, remember that portrait of Dorian Gray? Gray thought he was gaining immortal life but really gained personal damnation? Well, the deals that Death, Sheol, and Satan make are always those kinds of shortchanging deals. In verse 20, we’re told that the bed is too small. How can you rest when the bed is too small. That’s not what you’re looking for.
There are two fantasy novels I like that seem to be based on this verse of the Bible. One is Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. In that novel, a fellow named Dark brings his fabulous carnival to town and promises the town folks their heart’s desires. But everything turns out to be a sham, nothing works out quite like they want. In the book, the schoolteacher is afraid of getting old, so she’s turned into a little girl but she ends up lonely and crying on her front porch. In the movie, the vain schoolteacher wanted to be young again to get her attractiveness back. As she starts to admire herself in the mirror, she becomes blind.
The other novel is Needful Things by Stephen King. In that novel, a new pawn shop opens in a small town. Whenever anyone enters the pawn shop, they find something they’ve always wanted. For one boy, it’s that elusive Sandy Koufax baseball card (when King and I were growing up, Koufax was arguably the best pitcher in baseball). The only catch was that the pawnbroker didn’t give anyone a monetary price for any of these treasures. They merely had to compromise their ethics in some small way. It might be throwing rocks at a widow’s window or spreading mud on someone’s clean laundry. The compromises all seemed like simple pranks, but they led to full-scale hostilities. The hostility was exactly what the pawnbroker, the devil, wanted. What of the treasures? Upon closer examination, they all proved false. The baseball card was Sandy Kolfax or some such counterfeit.
And counterfeit is just what our enemy wants us to settle for on a regular basis: sex for love, possessions for wealth, drugs for health, knowledge for wisdom, fear for security, and pride for confidence. Anything that can be twisted into a lesser substitute will be offered instead of something authentic. As verse 20 tells us, whenever we find a substitute for God, the bed will be too short.
I like the second image in verse 20, as well. My wife complains that, some nights, I grab hold of the blanket while I’m asleep and find myself twisting and turning all night long. Before the night is over, she’ll be without the blanket and I’m all wrapped up in it so I look like I’m a tamale. She’s freezing and I’m all toasty. That blanket certainly isn’t doing her any good while I’ve got it all. So, she has to wake me enough so that I can untangle myself and get out of my “wrapper” or get up and get another blanket. I’m always embarrassed when I do that, but I can assure you of one thing, whenever the Satan gets hands on something you need, it’s all going to be pulled away from you and wrapped up where it’s inconvenient to get it. Or, as one wag put it, “Never give the devil a ride lest you be taken for one.”
So, what can we do about temptation? We know the Satan’s promises are false; we know the “rewards” of sin are going to be counterfeit. How do we deal with temptation? The answers are already given to us in the text.
First, don’t make false alliances. Israel and Judah thought their smart political alliances could protect them. They depended on Egypt and smaller kingdoms to stave off Assyria. Instead, they found Assyria on their doorstep. Sometimes, we depend on our wealth to protect us, our guns, or our society’s laws. All three of these things can be used for protection, but when we start depending on them more than upon God, we’re going to find ourselves overwhelmed in the flash floods of life’s circumstances—just like Israel and Judah. Sometimes, we depend upon science and technology to make our lives better, but we’ve learned over the years that each advance seems to have a trade-off in terms of some new pollution or danger. Science and technology can be gifts from God, but when we worship their exclusively material perspective on life and reality, we’re going to find ourselves beaten down by the flash-floods of life.
Second, build on the foundation stone of Christ’s person. As ancient builders used the line and plummet to ensure that everything was lining up correctly with the foundation stones, we need to use Christ’s example as our metric. Christ knew the Scripture well enough to quote it back at the Satan when He was tempted. Christ looked to what the Father wanted rather than His own convenience. Christ met the needs of others before taking care of Himself. It’s hard to fall into the trap of temptation when we’re measuring the promises of compromise and rebellion against the example of Christ.
Third, remember what we really want. We really want to be the best we can be in order to feel successful, worthwhile, and “happy.” Also, remember that God’s commandments and the example of Scripture is given to help us be the best we can be in order to feel successful, worthwhile, and “happy.” So, when we’re tempted to compromise our integrity by betraying a friend or telling a lie, when we’re tempted to compromise our wholesomeness by dwelling on pornography or going too far in sex play, or when we’re tempted to cheat someone or steal from them (even if it is by our omission), we need to remember that contract with Death, that visionary agreement with lies, that the people of God had in the 8th century. Going against God didn’t work for them then and it won’t work for us, now.
