Damariscotta Baptist Church

 

 

The last time we read Isaiah, in chapter 51, verse 9, the Israelites were calling on God to step up and do what He said He was going to do and follow through on His promises. They were tired of waiting. If God was going to defeat their sins and they were going to be restored to God’s favor, then let it happen already! 

Just do it! 

Awake! Awake!

Today, beginning with verse 17, God returns their laments with, the reality that it is not He that has to awake, but them. Today’s Scripture begins with God telling Jerusalem to “Awake! Awake!” He will start next week’s Scripture with the same words, “Awake! Awake!”  God sets the record straight by stating that it is the people of Israel who need to wake up, they need to rise up and take the faith that has been offered them. 

God wasn’t the one needing the prodding to do what needed to be done. God had more invested than anyone. The truth was, that the people of Israel needed to be developing and maintaining such a faith that when God acted, they would be ready to receive what He had done. 

I think that is a significant premise to comprehend. Especially in today’s environment. We lament how difficult it is to see God’s hand in the events around us. We see the world going to hell in a handbasket and yet, are we developing and maintaining such a faith that when God acts, we will be ready to receive what He has done?

Today’s Scripture is where God declares the punishment the Israelites have been experiencing, will be the very punishment the nations will now receive. This punishment is described as “the cup of wrath.” This particular statement has been found throughout Scripture, beginning in the Psalms all the way to the book of Revelations. 

We read in Psalm 16:5 

“Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;

    you make my lot secure.”

It pertains to a person’s given experience. Therefore, God is reminding the Israelites, that those who have sinned against God, must drink the cup that their sins have filled up. When we look at Israel, this would have meant her cup was filled with the destruction of her heritage. Isaiah describes how the mother of Israel, would die alone, both the northern kingdom and southern kingdom had been destroyed. What was left? 

This is where God states, that the tides have turned. The cup of wrath would now be in the hands of their “tormentors” for them to drink. The enemy nations that were allowed by God to attack Israel, would receive their just rewards, and reap the results of their proud and cruel behavior. 

Israel has not only experienced this behavior in the time of Isaiah, some have experienced it in our own lifetime. During World War II, the cup that was forced on Israel and was eventually transferred to modern Germany. Beginning in the early 1930’s when the windows of Jewish-owned stores were smashed and looted, to the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto and the degradation and terror of the death camps, Germany made certain that the Jewish nation would drink the cup of unimaginable horror. 

The reason for God permitting this to happen may not be known, but the cup of wrath was finally transferred to Germany. God held Germany accountable for what it had done. The great German cities were leveled, from Hamburg to Dresden. My father was sent to Germany after WWII to rebuild those cities. As a construction army private, he has told me stories of how they rebuilt the cities’ streets and churches. 

Herein lies the irony. 

All of the other nations around Germany refused to acknowledge the Jewish Holocaust. The Jewish survivors of this war could find no where to run so they returned to their own Palestine. Because of the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jewish nation and the denial of the other countries to recognize this extermination, the Jews were able to establish themselves in their homeland, after two thousand years of wandering. This is where God steps in and makes what the enemy intended for destruction to be turned into hope, and the destruction was turned back to the original perpetrator. 

This passage couldn’t be more sad. We have just read about a widow who hopes to depend on her children to take care of her, isn’t that the way life was supposed to be like? And yet, she was forced to drink a cup that left her staggering. She was left with no children to take her hand or to help her. The world has destroyed her children, they are no longer there to assist her, and she is left alone, helpless. 

But, low and behold, that was not the case! We read the “therefore” at the beginning verse 21, and it is there, for a reason. Precisely, because there is no other help, Isaiah reminds Israel, and us, that “your God, who defends all people,” will take action. 

Here’s where I would like to point out a difference to the aphorism, “God helps those who help themselves.” Just this week I had a friend say to me, “Doesn’t God help those who help themselves?” to which I replied, “That is not in the Bible. In fact, the very opposite is what the Bible preaches. The reality is, “God helps those who are helpless.” Just think about it. If you can help yourself, why would God need to step in? Throughout the book of Isaiah we have been reminded to “Wait on the Lord.” 

Yet, why is it, 

that we have come to the end of our resources 

before we choose to turn to the Lord, in faith, 

and receive what He wants to do for us? 

Have you wondered why? 

Why is it that we have to get to the end of our rope, 

before it seems that God steps in to help us? 

One reason may be that we are unwilling to give up control of the situation, until we are at our wits end and there is no other choice. 

When you think about it, what a waste of time. 

However, we shouldn’t feel too badly. There are plenty of Biblical examples of those who lived that way. Take Jacob for example, it wasn’t until he was trying to return home and had to wrestle with God that he figured things out. You can read about Hezekiah and Gideon who also have to get to the point where they can no longer work things out, then they allow God to step in. Here’s the sad part,  God’s power was available before the final extremity, but it wasn’t experienced until after the central figure let go and took a hold of it. 

It remains true even today. As long as humans think that the solution to their problems lies within themselves, then we are liable to think of God as an assistant, or even worse, a fall back device.  When we think this way, we are depriving ourselves of God’s control and direction. 

This is especially true when it comes to our receiving salvation. Let’s stop to think. As long as we think that we can do things to deserve God’s favor, we are not going to surrender ourselves to the Savior, who did the sacrifice for all of us in the first place. Let’s face it, we would be thinking we don’t need a savior. We’ve got things under control. Jesus might be useful as an example, or a friend or a teacher, but not a Savior. In order to be a savior, you have to save people from something. If you don’t think you need saving, you have no need for a Savior. How many of us know someone like this? I have a dear friend who honestly believes he does not need a savior. He doesn’t think he is without sin.

It’s just that he doesn’t think his sins are bad enough to make him a terrible person, or in need of saving. He has a pretty good life for him and his family. He gives to those in need, probably more than many Christians, because he remembers a time when he was young and in need. However, when asked, he was the one who worked hard and made himself successful today. He honestly believes that God helps those who help themselves. Therefore all of my conversation about Jesus is great, for me, for those in the church, but he believes he is well taken care of and doesn’t need Jesus.  

This type of thinking has been around since the beginning of the Christian church. That is why Paul takes the first three chapters in his letter to the Romans to crush the idea that there is any type of righteousness in us at all. 

 

It is only when we admit to our sin, and to the fact that there is nothing we can do for ourselves to remove our sins and our sinning that we will even be willing to turn the Savior and receive the gift of grace, known as forgiveness. The really sad part, is God is anxious for us to receive His forgiveness and is waiting for us to accept it. 

John describes it like this in Revelation 3:19, 20

Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

God is standing at the door of everyone’s heart. The problem is, not everyone is listening. Not everyone is at a place where they can accept His coming in and then having God take control. My friend likes the fact that he is in control of his own life. The idea of God coming in and taking control is not a comforting solution for him. 

I think he doesn’t really know who God is, because if he did, he would throw open the door of his heart and urge God to enter and be a part of his life. 

This is where prayer and the Holy Spirit come in. It was prayers and the power of the Holy Spirit that brought me to the point where I opened the door and let God into my life. It took time for me to give Him lordship over all of my life, in fact, I keep working on that part daily. I believe that none of us would be here today, worshipping God, had we not had someone else praying for us. 

Here is my challenge to you today. Right now, I want you to think of at least one person you know that needs a savior. Someone you know that needs Jesus. I would like you to commit to praying for that person every day. Put their name down on the table beside your bed, or on the dashboard of your car, someplace where you will see it. 

When you read their name, you commit yourself to lifting them up in prayer, that they will come to know the Lord, as their personal Lord and Savior. 

Let’s begin by praying for them, right now. 

Let’s pray.