It All Ends in Worship: Isaiah 25-27

An Isaiah that we're calling Hope for a Broken World.

If you've been the last couple of weeks, we were three weeks in 12 chapters that they call the oracles against the nations.

And if you read those chapters, they feel very judgmental almost.

They're chapters of judgment, and everyone is judged.

This starts off with Babylon, which rose to power 100 years after Isaiah.

And even before their rise to power, Isaiah is giving them great judgment.

Assyria is judged.

The Philistines are judged.

Moab is judged.

Damascus, Israel, the northern kingdom, Cush and Egypt, Edom, Arabia.

Last week we looked at Jerusalem and Judah, which should have been the valley of Vision.

We do discover they're actually walking in blindness, Tyre and Sidon, the financial capital of the world.

In Isaiah 24, the end of this oracles of judgment starts with, see, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it.

So not only was the known world judged, but it then he just says the summary of the whole earth will be laid waste, devastated.

Isaiah chapter 24 ends with, In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below.

Isaiah 24 · chapter mention

They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon.

They will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days.

It's so sad, the moon will be dismayed, the sun will be ashamed, for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before its elders with great glory, finishing with Praise the Lord.

If you read Isaiah 24, it feels it feels intense.

It's one of the saddest chapters of Isaiah.

We often hear the phrase judgment of God and immediately think, punishment.

God is angry, He's extremely strict.

He's gonna punish us if we don't behave perfectly.

We need to sit up straight in church, attend to all the services, join early.

That's why often we struggle with this idea of God's judgment.

A lot of preachers don't even want to preach Isaiah because you have 12 chapters of judgment.

God seems so harsh.

Even in the church, we often like to separate.

Okay, well, there's a God of the Old Testament.

He was tough, he was intense, he was strict, he had judgment.

Oh, but the God of the New Testament, He's gentle, He's kind.

It's almost a different God.

He's gentle, generous, patient, loving.

The Old Testament, the New Testament, we have this different idea of God.

Because we tend to hear the word judgment entirely negative.

But biblically, the judgment of God is much more than merely the punishment of God.

As I mentioned the last couple weeks, judgment of God is moving toward making all things right that are currently wrong.

It's part of the process of fixing what is broken.

His judgment is the earth learning to experience goodness and righteousness.

So before we move into chapter 25, I thought it would just be helpful to define what is the judgment of God.

It's not punishment, but it is his righteous and loving work.

His loving work, moving toward what is good.

We know that it's carried out through Jesus.

Jesus tells us in John, the Father judges no one, but he has entrusted all judgment to the Son.

And then in Matthew 25, we have this vision of the Son of Man coming in glory, sitting on this throne.

All the nations, all the peoples are gathering before him for judgment.

He's separating the sheep from the goats, by which he exposes what is hidden.

Romans 2.16.

God judges people's secrets, the hidden things, through Jesus, confronting and eliminating evil, ultimately making all things right.

The most important part of that statement.

We know that Jesus is currently, as it says in Acts, restoring all the things.

All the things.

So judgment is a part of God's process in removing toward to restoring all the things.

We read we might read the oracles against the nations and think, well, what's the point of all this?

But that's not the end of the story.

It's important to know where it's all going.

Ultimately, it's moving to make all the things right.

Last week we talked about the valley of vision and that we need an end, a vision for the end, for it to make any sense at all.

For example, just as an example, if you remove the ending to most every movie, it might leave us wanting and confused.

We might even misinterpret the whole movie if it's something like the sixth sense, if you've ever seen that movie.

Because the ending often clarifies the whole story.

The character who might seem insignificantly suddenly becomes essential, or the moment that seemed random suddenly matters, or threads that seem completely disconnected are pulled together, and sudden you really you realize this whole story has been going somewhere.

And it becomes clear in the end.

The same is true of the story of God.

It's also true of the judgment of God.

We don't know how every moment of suffering will make sense.

We don't know how every broken place will fit together, but we know where the story is going because we know the ending.

And after these 12 chapters of judgment, we see what that ending is.

And what is that ending?

It all ends with worship.

We see in our chapters today that it all ends in worship.

The 12 chapters of judgment against the nations are leading up to this crescendo of restoring all the things that we now see in chapters 25 to 27.

It ends in worship.

It's not often what we typically think of as the ending to the story.

We might have a more short-sighted vision for where all of this is going.

Maybe our vision of the end is just accumulating enough wealth and success and status that someday we can finally say, I made it.

I'm important.

I accomplished it.

I did it.

Or maybe our vision of the end is retirement.

Just working hard enough now so that someday we can sit back, relax, buy some Mexican timeshares, drink some margaritas.

Or maybe our vision of the end is just our kids growing up, being successful, building lives of their own, having influence.

So we can sit back and say, look how influential and important all our kids accomplished, all their own kids, grandkids.

Maybe our vision of the end is just simply a casket.

We live, we work, we accumulate, we grow old, and then we die.

And if that's our vision of the end, then it makes sense why we spend our lives trying to get as much as we can, experience as much as we can, chase as much as we can, hold on to as much as we can before it's all over.

But scripture gives us a much bigger vision of where everything is going.

And I hate to break it to us, but the story doesn't end with our success.

In fact, we are not the center of the story.

We're not the main character.

It doesn't end with our retirement, it doesn't even end with our death.

It all ends with worship.

We see that today in these chapters.

We read about a feast prepared for all peoples.

On this mountain, the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples.

We read about death being swallowed up forever.

He will swallow up death forever.

We hear about tears being wiped from every face.

The sovereign Lord Himself will wipe away the tears from every face.

We read about God's people singing and rejoicing in salvation.

Let us rejoice, let us be glad and happy in his salvation.

In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah.

We read about all the scattered being gathered home.

You, Israel, will be gathered up one by one.

Those scattered in Assyria and Egypt will return.

Ultimately, we see a people worshiping God.

Where is it all going?

It all ends in worship.

Starting in verse 1 of 25, Lord, you are my God.

I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.

Finishing in chapter 27, verse 13.

And in that day a great trumpet will sound.

Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come.

And what will we do?

We will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

It all ends with worship.

It's where the story is headed.

That's where your story is headed.

That's where God's judgment is moving.

We are not the center of the story, as I said.

We are not the main character.

Instead, we are participants in his story.

And our role is leading toward one of worship.

Isaiah sees this feast, he sees salvation, the vineyards flourishing, the scattered coming home, and ultimately, Isaiah 27, 13, they will come and worship the Lord.

It's where it's all going.

We're not simply moving toward a world where everything bad is God.

The judgments of God, a mission of God is all moving toward a world where God is fully known, deeply loved, joyfully worshiped.

So in listening to that, you might ask, well, okay, well, what is worship?

If we're all moving toward this place of worship, then what is worship?

Worship is simply the fruit of knowing God.

The fruit of knowing God.

We read in Isaiah two groups of people.

The verse I just read, Lord, you are my God.

I will exalt you and praise your name.

For in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.

There is Isaiah who is knowing God.

There's the people who know God, and in response they worship God.

But then a few verses later we read, But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness.

Even in a land of uprightness, they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the Lord.

Lord, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it.

There are those who know God and worship God, and there are those who don't see God.

They don't know God.

As a result, they don't worship Him.

Going on doing evil.

We often think of worship as just raising our hands, singing a song, feeling an emotion, right?

And because we associate these things with worship, we even define worship as that, we can try to create that response.

We got to choose the right song, right?

We got to dim the lights, create the right atmosphere, build the right moment.

Hope people will feel something.

But worship is much more than a song, as we like to sing.

Biblical worship is fundamentally a response to the revelation of God.

It is knowing God.

We see something about God, we know something about God, and we respond to what we see.

So we see his holiness, we respond by bowing.

We see his goodness, we respond by giving thanks.

We see his faithfulness, we know his goodness and grace, we respond with trust.

We see his salvation and we rejoice.

We see his glory and we worship.

As I said, worship is the fruit of knowing God.

One way you can think about it is if a brown bear came pounding through these windows right now.

None of us would have to stop and say, okay, everybody, now it's time that we respond.

Nobody would need to dim the lights, right?

Get the right song playing.

I wouldn't have to come up and say, okay, we need to respond to this bear.

No, our response is an internal reaction that leads to external action.

We may run or freeze or scream, but everyone would respond.

Why?

Because when something powerful and undeniable is revealed right in front of you, response happens naturally.

It's automatic.

Our response need not be forced because it is spontaneous, it is inevitable, it is uncontrollable.

In fact, the only way we wouldn't respond is if we didn't see the bear.

I think there's something there for us about worship.

There are those who know God, who see God, who respond to God.

There are those who don't see God.

They don't know God.

They don't see God in our midst.

As a result, they don't respond.

Worship is the result of knowing God.

Another way to say it is worship is the reaction, our reaction, our automatic reaction to seeing beauty.

Throughout John, I kept giving the phrase that Jesus is the source and summation, the fountain and foundation, the creator and culmination of every single beauty.

I said he's the author and the perfecter, the beginning and end of all beauty.

And as the only creator and Lord of all.

Every beauty that we see flows from him.

Every goodness we experience finds its source in him.

Every glory that captures our attention is only an echo of his glory.

Every wonder that awakens our heart is only a glimpse of his wonder.

He doesn't simply possess beauty.

In fact, he defines beauty.

He doesn't simply display glory.

No, in fact, he is glory.

He doesn't simply give us something to admire, and there's many of things to admire.

No, he is the one for whom our hearts were made to admire.

All beauty finds its source in him, its meaning in him, and its fulfillment in him.

So worship is the reaction to seeing the beauty of God.

That beauty creates affections, as Jonathan Edwards likes to call them.

Beauty is what, as I define through John, what causes us to experience love and adoration or affection when we see it.

And those affections are the movements of our heart toward God that include our will, our action.

It is our response.

And when we see the beauty of God, we embody awe.

We embody wonder.

We embody fear, joy, gratitude.

We feel love, longing, delight.

In other words, when we see the beauty of Jesus, something happens.

What is that something?

It is worship.

His greatness awakens awe.

His holiness awakens reverence.

His power awakens wonder.

His grace awakens gratitude.

His faithfulness awakens trust.

His mercy awakens love.

His beauty awakens worship.

These aren't emotions that we have to manufacture.

Oh, I need to feel awe.

I want to feel longing.

I want to love.

No, they are affections awakened by seeing God for who he is.

We see him, we know him, and we stand in awe of that.

We trust him.

We experience his grace and we thank him.

We both behold his beauty and we worship.

Worship is the fruit of knowing God.

Another way to say it is worship is the reaction to seeing beauty.

And that beauty creates affections.

Yesterday I was driving out to Christ de Butte, and it is just so pretty at the moment.

And I mean, I'm driving, and Samson's sitting there, and I'm thinking, look at this.

That is so amazing.

He's looking around.

I'm thinking, look how pretty that is.

You know, wow, that's amazing.

You know, and and I didn't it like I didn't force myself to respond that way.

Of like, okay, I'm supposed to say that's pretty, right?

Because that's what the book tells me to say.

No, I look at it, all I have to do is see it.

And I'm like, whoa, this is awesome.

Like, how is this real, right?

A lot of times we drive more like this.

Same photo.

We drive with a road drive just looking at the road, barely noticing anything else.

Heads are down, mind somewhere else.

All we see is the two stripes in this boring road of life.

In fact, life is so boring, it's so difficult, it's so dangerous, it's deteriorating with potholes, turns, danger at every turn.

In that case, the mountains haven't become less beautiful.

We simply stop seeing them.

We are fixated on the lines in front of us.

I think the same thing happens with God.

When we lack worship, the problem isn't that God has become less glorious.

No, the problem isn't that Jesus has become less beautiful.

No, instead, we just become so distracted, so hurried, so familiar with that that we stop looking up.

We just see the lines on the road.

We miss the glorious mountain.

We can try to make ourselves feel more awe.

Okay, I really need to feel gratitude.

Let me manufacture some gratitude.

I want to feel wonder.

I've seen the YouTube videos, those people are so excited.

I want to be excited about God.

Let me try to manufacture this wonder, this love.

But we don't need to feel more primarily.

What we need is to see more.

Why?

Because the revelation of God always produces worship.

Jesus doesn't need to us to make him glorious.

He's not glorious because we try to make him out to be something glorious.

No, we only need to behold his glory because he already is glorious.

We read in chapter 25.

In that day they will say, Surely, this is our God.

We trusted in him and he saved us.

This is the Lord, we trusted in him.

Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.

There is celebration, there is joy, there is happiness, there is gladness.

We also read chapter 26 Your dead will live, Lord, their bodies will rise.

Let those who dwell in dust wake up.

And what do we do?

We shout for joy.

Maybe that's exactly what some of us need.

We need to wake up.

Because sometimes we're living like the people dwelling in the dust.

Our eyes are down in the dirt, staring at the potholes in front of us, complaining about the drivers all around us, frustrated by the traffic of life.

We become consumed with everything that's going on around us, staring at what we have and what we don't have.

And Isaiah says, Wake up, lift your eyes.

See the God who is making all things right, see the God who swallows up death forever.

See the God who wipes away every tear.

Because notice what happens when they wake up.

What do they do?

They shout for joy.

The shouting is exalting.

In Hebrew, it is shouting loudly, where everyone can hear it.

Crying out, rejoicing.

They are screaming, overflowing with what?

Joy.

That's happiness, gladness.

Excitement, thanksgiving, celebration, waking up, shouting for joy.

So, what does that mean for us?

Mentioned a few weeks ago that the beginning of this series, that over the next six months, or maybe even longer, we're moving into a new stage.

It felt like for six months we were kind of cleaning out the engine, getting things organized, getting things a little bit cleaned up.

Now we've started the car, right?

Put it in first gear.

We're going down the road.

We might stay in first gear for a year, we might stay there forever.

What did I say first gear was?

Becoming a people of worship.

Becoming a people of worship.

So how do we get there?

Read Isaiah 26, verse 8.

Isaiah 26:8

We wait for you.

Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.

My soul yearns for you in the night and the morning.

My spirit longs for you.

Starting with, we wait for you.

Not for something from him.

No, we want him.

We're going to wait for him.

This isn't a passive waiting.

God's people are living in a world where everything has not yet been made right, which is our world.

But they trust God, orient their lives toward what he will do.

They're saying, we are looking to you, we are depending on you.

We are waiting for you.

Your name and renown, your name, who God is, his character, his identity, his revealed nature, and his renown, God's reputation, how he is known, how he is remembered, how he is honored, how he is celebrated.

These are the desires of our heart.

What do we do?

We pursue God.

The desire of our heart is to personally know his character.

We wait for him.

We want to know his name, who he is.

We yearn for him.

And then we are moved to desperately want the world to know how great his name is.

Your name and renown are the desires of our hearts.

Then Isaiah makes it more personal.

My soul yearns for you in the night.

Night can represent those quiet hours when we wake up.

There's nothing else to distract us.

Or it can mean the difficult and dark seasons of life.

In the night seasons, we yearn for God, long for God, wait for God.

But it's not only in the night.

He goes on, in the morning, my spirit longs for you.

So it's all day, in every season.

We pursue God.

We yearn for God.

We seek God.

We love God.

We pursue God.

So my question for us today: do you desire Him?

Do you wait for Him?

Do you long for Him?

Do you see where His story is all leading?

Because Isaiah doesn't simply say, Oh, we sang songs about you.

No, he said, we wait for you.

Your name and renown are the desire of my heart.

That's what I'm wanting.

My soul yearns for you in the night and the morning.

My spirit longs for you.

That is worship.

A heart that has seen enough of God to say, I want you.

I know what is valuable.

I found the buried treasure.

I long to know you.

I want more of you.

I'm desperate for you.

So, my church, my encouragement to us today is that we look up.

We take our eyes off the lines and the road and the people swerving around us.

We move beyond the asphalt of life.

We see his goodness, his holiness, his faithfulness, his mercy, his beauty.

Look to Jesus, know Jesus, behold Jesus, love Jesus, until his name and his renown become the desire of our hearts.

Till our soul can say with Isaiah, My soul yearns for you in the night, but also in the morning, my spirit longs for you through every season, fixing our eyes on where this whole thing comes called life is going, leading to this place of worship where we all know and respond to the beauty of God in the face of Christ.

May that be the heartbeat of New Psalm Church.

Let's pray, Lord.

We do just thank you.

Lord, that you do reveal beauty, Jesus, and we want to be a people that respond, Lord, to the beauty of God in the face of Jesus.

So Lord, we ask just that you would just reveal yourself.

And Lord, that we would just wait for you patiently.

Wait for you, Lord.

And that would be the the contentment of our heart.

Lord, we just thank you, God.

Amen.