God's Kingdom and the Restoration of the Church (Isaiah 27:1-13)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
“1 In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea. 2 In that day sing to her, 'A vineyard of red wine! 3 I, the Lord, keep it, I water it every moment; Lest any hurt it, I keep it night and day. 4 Fury is not in Me. Who would set briers and thorns Against Me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. 5 Or let him take hold of My strength, That he may make peace with Me; And he shall make peace with Me.' 6 Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and bud, And fill the face of the world with fruit. 7 Has He struck Israel as He struck those who struck him? Or has He been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by Him? 8 In measure, by sending it away, You contended with it. He removes it by His rough wind In the day of the east wind. 9 Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered; And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: When he makes all the stones of the altar Like chalkstones that are beaten to dust, Wooden images and incense altars shall not stand. 10 Yet the fortified city will be desolate, The habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness; There the calf will feed, and there it will lie down And consume its branches. 11 When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off; The women come and set them on fire. For it is a people of no understanding; Therefore He who made them will not have mercy on them, And He who formed them will show them no favor. 12 And it shall come to pass in that day That the Lord will thresh, From the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; And you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. 13 So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet will be blown; They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, And shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.”
Introduction
Last time I read a news article and when I read this article, I was so shocked. The content of this article was speaking about when God is in joy when we are happy and when we are in pain, God shouts. God gives us suffering and pain in order to communicate with us His will and plan sometimes. Pain is not pleasant but if we are aware of God’s plan, then we must learn how to wait. When I read this, I was so shocked. What we have been speaking about, it was all contained within this article. What is surprising is that we have been speaking about this for a while but it was spoken about this in an article that was written a few years ago. I realized that those who have the gospel, we have the same heart and communicate with each other in the same way. Thomas Watson once said, “Christ shed tears, for those who shed His blood!” Those who shed His blood are referring to the people who persecuted and killed Jesus. Christ shed His blood even for those who killed and persecuted Him. After I read this, this was what I thought; when we fall into unbelief, I wonder how God feels. I think God becomes really sad if we don’t live our lives correctly and start deviating within our lives. This is because God loves so much and gives us problems and suffering so that we can break down the unbelief inside of us. When you look at this, we can see God’s plan and find God’s word within problems and suffering. That is why it is so important for us to open our spiritual eyes. God has given us an important message today.
1. The blessing of God's Kingdom
1) Destruction of Satan's power
Verse 1 - Leviathan is not speaking about a serpent directly but it was referring to an idol. This is speaking about how Satan was disguising himself in different forms at that time. This was speaking about the setting in which it was speaking about, which was in Assyria, specifically in the Tigris River. The twisted serpent is referring to how the river was twisted in its form. We can see this was speaking about the darkness that was within the land of Assyria. The reptile of the sea is referring to the power of darkness, the power of Satan.
Psalm 74:13-14 “You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. 14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.” - The content of this scripture is speaking about how the Red Sea split. This was the victorious song where the Egyptian army was destroyed and swallowed by the Red Sea. This means that no matter how strong Satan is, it is nothing before God. On the final judgment, the power of Satan will be destroyed and the kingdom of God will be restored. The kingdom of God will be established during the final days.
2) God's song of the vineyard
Verses 2-6 - The vineyard was referring to Israel that was liberated from Babylon. It speaks about Israel but it said that the vineyard was fruitful. This was not speaking about Israel but it was speaking about the church. The entire content of this is talking about the church.
Verse 3 - God protected the vineyard very carefully by giving it clean water and protecting it from animals and insects. When God raises and watches the church, this is how God protects and watches the church. When God looks at our church, God looks at us very carefully, and guides and protects us. So there is nothing for you to worry about. God will protect us with His great power that destroyed the power of Satan.
Verse 4 - To God, there is no anger towards the vineyard. God has so much love for the vineyard, for His church. The church may disappoint God and church members may bring difficulties to the church and church members. There may be church members, I know that our church doesn’t have that but there are church members in other churches who bring scars, suffering, and drama to other church members. God said that He knows everything so there is nothing for us to worry about.
Verse 5 - There are people in the church who go against the church. God is always telling them to repent. God is telling them to return back to Him and repent.
Verse 6 - Those who find and seek God, God said that He will bless them and bless them with Jacob’s blessings. Jacob’s blessing is referring to the blessing of the church. God gave us five points on how God protects the church and His people of the church.
Those who give worship at church, God will bless them so that the gospel can be rooted and imprinted in them. The gospel will be rooted and will bear fruit. The gospel will bear seeds and will blossom. There is great beauty that comes from this. Many people will come to see the great glory and beauty within this. People will come to church because of the beautiful gospel that you have blossomed. Those who return back to God, God said that He will pour great blessings. God said that this is something that we do but something that God will do.
2. The Training Method of God's Kingdom
1) Training method through suffering
Verses 7-8 - God will train us through pain. When a baby is born, there is no baby that is not crying and doesn’t have pain. Babies grow up and they may get sick, and have a fever. This is how God will grow our faith and our spiritual state. God doesn’t purposefully give you pain just so that we can suffer. God gives His children pain and suffering not to make us suffer but because God loves us. Assyria and Babylon brought great suffering to the Israelites, but God destroyed these nations later on. God gives us suffering and problems so that we can return back to God.
When God teaches us, He uses great winds. Once the wind blows, all of the trees will fall and will destroy crops. Just like how God placed great winds within the lives of the Israelites, God will also bring suffering and problems into your life like a great wind. Just like when Israel was taken into captivity, this was the great wind within their lives. God gives suffering and pain that is right for their current state. God gives us problems and suffering so that we can realize. What is the reason for this?
2) Benefit to the people through suffering
Verses 9-11 - The benefit of suffering is to bring us righteousness. It is a process of atonement. It is a time of blessing to cleanse and wash our sins. Our sins will be completely cleansed means that all of the altars and idols will be completely crushed and destroyed as seen in verse 9. No altar will be seen standing. Through our suffering, God will destroy the idols within our lives and our church. This is so important.
The importance is seen in verse 10 - Israelites fell into idolatry so God completely destroyed the blessed city, Jerusalem. This was because God saw the sin and idolatry within Jerusalem, God destroyed that city.
Verse 11 - This the reason why God allowed Jerusalem to be destroyed and for the women of Israel to be taken as slaves by Babylon. They had no knowledge of the gospel and had no understanding of the meaning of true worship. They lost hold of the covenant and fell into idolatry.
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” - The people of God had no knowledge of God and God’s law. They were supposed to hold onto God’s word but instead, they held onto idols. God allowed them to be destroyed so that they could realize. The reason why they experienced all of this suffering and pain was for them to realize and come back to God. This was how God was able to bless them with the blessing of atonement when they realized and returned back to God.
3. The Future of God's Kingdom
1) The restoration of the church
Verses 12-13 - This the blessing of those who return back to God. All of the people of Israel that were captives, they were being liberated. God will bring everyone back one by one. Just like during a harvest, each grain will be separated apart, God will bring back His people back one by one. Not everyone was liberated and returned back to Israel. God bought only His remaining ones back to Israel.
Verse 13 - A great trumpet was blown and a great trumpet will be blown during the final days. When the trumpet is blown, all of those who are saved will come forward and even those who rejected God, they will be called forward and they will perish. Who are the remaining ones?
Isaiah 10:20 “And it shall come to pass in that day That the remnant of Israel, And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, Will never again depend on him who defeated them, But will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, To the Mighty God. ” - Those who earnestly seek after God, they will return back to Israel to give worship to God. Even in the midst of suffering and tribulations, they continued to seek after God. May this blessing be upon our lives.
2) The cup of suffering which the Lord took
Today was our Thanksgiving worship and the communion. John 18:11 “So Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?' ” - Peter cut the ear of the person that was trying to take Jesus but this was what Jesus said to Peter at that time. The one who drinks the cup of suffering was the One who had to die on the cross. Jesus knew that He had to go through all of this suffering and pain. But Jesus took all of the suffering and pain with gladness. All of the suffering and pain was all part of God’s plan. Through Jesus’ suffering and pain, we were able to obtain eternal life.
Acts 3:6 “Then Peter said, 'Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.' ” - Those who understand the suffering and pain of Jesus on the cross. Peter who believed in the work of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, this was His confession. Even though we can’t see Jesus, if we pray with His name, great works will arise. May we enjoy the blessing of the heavenly throne just like Peter did.
Conclusion
Hold onto Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” - We have read about Isaiah’s revelations in Isaiah 25-27. This scripture explains the entire chapters. What God wants from us during times of suffering and pain is for us to look up to God. Many people waver and shake during problems and suffering. If we just feel bad about something, we stop believing in God. If we fall into trials, we end up leaving the church. You feel disappointed in God so you leave the church. You receive a scar so you stop believing in God. This is what this Biblical scripture is speaking about. Who is God looking towards? God is looking towards those who truly look up to God in all situations. God said that He will protect them no matter what. There may be someone who is in difficulty, pray for them. The God you believe in, God will heal, save, and protect them. People who are able to do this, these are the people who truly look up to God.
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