1. "We should never underestimate the power of a praying minority. We should never underestimate the prayers of a righteous remnant."

2. "One of the greatest ways that we can express our fullest trust to God is to go to him in dependent prayer and then just watch him sovereignly work. The power, of course, is not in the prayer itself, certainly not in the power of the one praying, or even in the measure of our trust as we pray. Our power is in a person."

3. "When you can't see what your faith knows you should believe, that's a great prompt to go back to passages like this and remind yourself of what God is like."

4. "In order for a person to walk righteous, you have to first be made righteous. And how is a person made righteous in God's sight? They are declared righteous by the only one who is the source of that righteousness."

5. "Our works cannot remove our sin. They cannot put us in a right standing before God. But there is one who has lived out these moral commands perfectly, who was sinless and entirely righteous, and his name is Jesus."

6. "To be justified in Christ is to be declared right in God's sight. It's only upon Christ's righteous merit that is imputed to us and not our own merits whereby he accepts us as righteous."

7. "To walk righteously is to live repentantly. Repentance leads us to greater obedience and to increased righteous living."

8. "Jesus is a greater lawgiver than Moses. Jesus is a greater king than David and Solomon ever were. His glorious and gracious governance over his people will be far greater than any man-made judicial, legislative, or executive branch."

9. "If all Jesus was for us was a judge and a lawgiver and a king, we would all be justly condemned. But Jesus the judge who otherwise condemns acquits. The unattainable standards of the law have now been filled perfectly by Jesus the lawgiver."

10. "Physical sickness and even the spiritual sin that sickens the soul will be entirely absent in Zion. Once sin is forgiven and the heavenly city lies open, fully furnished in all of its security, loveliness and peace, we who were once lame and sick in our sin will now be allowed to enter in his gates without restriction and without contribution on our part."

Observation Questions

1. In Isaiah 33:1, what two descriptions does God give to the one receiving the woe, and what does God promise will happen to this destroyer and traitor?

2. According to Isaiah 33:2-6, what specific things does Isaiah's prayer ask God to be for His people, and what does verse 6 say will be "Zion's treasure"?

3. In Isaiah 33:10, what three things does the Lord declare He will do, and what word is repeated to emphasize the timing of His action?

4. According to Isaiah 33:14-15, what two rhetorical questions are asked about dwelling with God, and what characteristics describe the person whom God will accept (verse 15)?

5. In Isaiah 33:17, what two things does the passage promise that "your eyes will behold" or "see"?

6. According to Isaiah 33:22, what four titles or roles does the passage ascribe to the Lord, and what is the final promise connected to these roles?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that the sixth woe in this section of Isaiah is directed at Assyria rather than at Judah, and how would this shift have affected how God's people heard this message?

2. How does the prayer in verses 2-6 represent a change in Judah's posture toward God compared to their earlier attempts to find security through Egypt, their own strength, or paying tribute to Assyria?

3. The sermon explained that no one can dwell with God's "consuming fire" on their own merit. How does the description of the righteous person in verse 15 relate to the doctrine of imputation and Christ's righteousness being credited to believers?

4. What is the connection between the promises of physical security and provision in verse 16 ("fortress of rocks," "bread will be given," "water will be sure") and the ultimate vision of dwelling with the King in verses 17-24?

5. How do the four titles given to the Lord in verse 22 (judge, lawgiver, king, savior) work together to explain why sinners can have hope rather than fear before a holy God?

Application Questions

1. Isaiah's prayer in verses 2-6 expresses complete dependence on God after Judah's self-reliance failed. What is one area of your life where you tend to rely on your own resources or strategies rather than bringing it to God in dependent prayer, and what would it look like to shift that this week?

2. The sermon emphasized that "the power of a praying minority should never be underestimated." How might you more intentionally participate in corporate prayer with other believers, whether at a prayer gathering, in a small group, or with a friend?

3. Verse 15 describes righteous living in terms of hands (actions), ears (what we listen to), and eyes (what we look at). Which of these three areas presents the greatest challenge for you right now, and what is one specific step you could take to walk more righteously in that area?

4. The passage promises that believers will see "the King in his beauty" and experience a land where "no inhabitant will say, 'I am sick'" and all iniquity is forgiven. How should this future hope shape the way you respond to a current suffering, disappointment, or frustration you are facing?

5. The sermon concluded with a call to "wait expectantly" for Christ's return. What is one practical way you can cultivate an attitude of eager, hopeful waiting for Jesus this week—whether in your daily routines, conversations, or priorities?

Additional Bible Reading

1. 2 Kings 19:14-37 — This passage records Hezekiah's prayer and God's miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib's Assyrian army, providing the historical fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.

2. Romans 3:21-26 — This passage explains how righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ, clarifying the doctrine of imputation that the sermon connected to Isaiah 33:15.

3. Romans 8:18-25 — Paul teaches that present sufferings are not worth comparing to future glory and calls believers to wait eagerly for redemption, echoing the sermon's call to wait expectantly.

4. Revelation 21:1-8 — John's vision of the new heaven, new earth, and New Jerusalem parallels Isaiah 33:17-24's promises of dwelling with God in a restored, secure, and healed creation.

5. Hebrews 12:25-29 — This passage describes God as a "consuming fire" and calls believers to worship with reverence, connecting to Isaiah 33:14's question about who can dwell with everlasting burnings.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Climb Ahead: Introducing Isaiah 33's Difficult Terrain

II. Historical Context: Judah's Crisis with Assyria at Base Camp

III. When the Lord Defends Faithfully, We Should Trust Fully (Isaiah 33:1-6)

IV. When the Lord Intervenes Powerfully, We Should Walk Righteously (Isaiah 33:7-16)

V. When the Lord Secures Eternally, We Should Wait Expectantly (Isaiah 33:17-24)

VI. Closing Exhortation: Wait Well for King Jesus

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Detailed Sermon Outline

Pikes Peak, Mount Rainier, Denali. What do these three well-known summits have in common? They're each considered Fourteeners. If you're unfamiliar with what a Fourteener is, because you live this side of the Mississippi, a Fourteener is a mountain with a minimum of 14,000 feet at its summit. From sea level to the top.

Imagine the undertaking it would be to climb vertically up a steep incline 2.6 miles, which is the same distance or nearly the same distance from the Capitol Building all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial. Think about that, a vertical straight up climb 2.6 miles. To put that into context, the highest peak that's nearest to us in Shenandoah is a mere 4,050 feet. Perhaps some of us have trained really hard, spent way too much money at REI, and got on a plane and flew out west somewhere and climbed a 14er. Any 14ers here in this room?

Okay, I see that hand, I see that hand, I see that hand, I see that hand. I'm more of a forer. If you're like me, I mean, I just, nice and easy, one little day hike, that's good enough for me. This passage that we're gonna look at this morning in Isaiah 33 is like the steep vertical incline of a mountain and we are intending to go all the way up Denali, like 20,000 feet this morning. Isaiah 33 might prove to be one of the most difficult climbs that we could ever take in the book of Isaiah.

Similar to what we touched on last week, again in this chapter, we're gonna see the conflict between Judah and Assyria from a chronological perspective down here at base camp. And then just beyond the trailhead, we'll hit some hard terrain of historical context so that we can traverse kind of a challenging pathway up. And as we continue to hike up, just around a few switchbacks, we'll get to see the site of the summit. We won't be at the summit quite yet, but we'll see it. And just above the tree line, we'll see the Christological aspects of this passage in Jesus.

And as we catch a vision, a sight line of that trail ahead that leads to truthfully one of the highest elevations in all of Isaiah, we're gonna see a high vision of God's judgment and hope. And finally, if we can make it together to that final ascent up to the summit at the end of this chapter, I can promise you that our climb is going to lead to one amazing and majestic sort of view, wide sweeping vistas of the eternal S-curve the patological landscape of the sun rising and reigning over everything that your eye can see. It's been said that there's two different kinds of hikers that climb up a mountain. One that kind of stops and smells the flowers and the other one that lives to conquer the summit. In our time this morning, I pray that we'll do a little bit of both.

Stop and experience the amazing little things in this chapter, but without losing sight of the bigger and broader vision from the top.

So down here at base camp, the historical context of this section of Isaiah is likely familiar to us by now, but just some cliff notes for us to bring us all up to speed and so that we can better understand the terrain that's ahead. For many years, Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel, has been under this impending threat of an attack from the wicked Assyrian king Sennacherib. And this wicked king, and his wicked Assyrian army are impending this threat during Hezekiah's reign in Judah. And the Assyrians go on the attack, they end up destroying 46 different fortified cities, but they have their eyes set on Jerusalem. They ultimately would desire to destroy that more than anything.

And over the years, Judah has attempted every which way to escape this threat. They try to go to Egypt for help, they try to trust in their own strength, and even a last ditch effort to buy off Assyria by paying a tribute tribute. Hezekiah strips the temple of its gold and silver. He empties out the treasury of the palace in order to try to pay off Assyria. But the Assyrian king, like a power hungry mob boss, takes all of Judah's money, still breathes threats upon them, and essentially puts out a hit on Jerusalem.

And with nowhere else to turn, with this Assyrian army surrounding the city of Jerusalem, Judah recognizes that the only thing that separates from the utter destruction of the Assyrians is the intervention of the Lord God himself. And so Hezekiah, in a righteous remnant from Judah, finally turned to the Lord in repentance and they cry out to him for deliverance in prayer. And then God's answer to Judah's prayer comes through the prophet Isaiah. And the Lord promises that the Assyrians would not even set a foot inside the city gates. They wouldn't even shoot an arrow over the gates and into the city.

And it comes to pass that God does intervene in a really miraculous and powerful way. He sends a conqueror himself, the divine angel of the Lord. And in the middle of the night, this angel goes out and strikes down 185,000 Assyrians in a moment. And that forces King Sennacherib to go back to Nineveh, where ultimately he is killed by his own sons, ultimate victory for the Lord. So here in Isaiah 33, what we'll see then is simultaneously not only a prophetic counting of this eventual victory for Judah, but we'll also see the prophetic hope of a future.

We're gonna see a permanent victory that Christ will win for his people for all of eternity. And consistent with the whole message of Isaiah, we're gonna yet again see an intermingling sort of prophetic vision of judgment and hope simultaneously, warning God's people to repent, but also at the same time encouraging them to hope for what lies ahead for them for their future. So as we unfold the trail map, so to speak, and start this climb up Isaiah 33, we'll see three checkpoints that are going to guide our hike together this morning. If you're taking notes, here's the first of those three main points this morning. When the Lord defends faithfully, we should trust fully.

When the Lord defends faithfully, we should trust fully. We'll see this truth expressed in verses 1 to 6. So let's look at verse 1 to start. Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed. When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed.

And when you have finished betraying, they will betray you. While the previous five woes in Isaiah had been kind of focused entirely on Judah, in this sixth and final woe of this section, the ah translated here in the ESV is clearly a woe and it's clearly a woe on not Judah, but on Assyria this time and its leaders. Yes, Assyria was clearly a destroyer, first of the northern kingdom, In 722 BC, they became a traitor to King Hezekiah seeking to pay tribute. But here also we see the prophecy that they will cease to fully destroy Jerusalem, which again, as we mentioned, happened in 701 BC. And eventually, these Assyrians will be destroyed by a future more powerful empire, Babylon, which happened in 612 BC.

And so if you were to just for a moment put yourself in Judah's sandals to consider how this woe would have landed on their ears for the first time. God is effectively saying to Assyria, what goes around comes around. Don't you think Judah, hearing this sixth woe, surprisingly no longer for them but now a woe on Assyria, that it would have counterintuitively sort of emboldened them as a word of hope from God? Giving Judah the confidence and the assurance of God's faithful defense? I think so.

This surprisingly good news of a woe must have motivated God's people to trust in him more fully because here in verse 2, we see Isaiah immediately express their trust by interceding for Judah in a beautiful corporate prayer of praise here and petition on their behalf. Look at verse 2. It says, oh Lord, Be gracious to us. We wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.

At the tumultuous noise, peoples flee. When you lift yourself up, nations are scattered and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers. As locusts leap, it is leapt upon. The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high. He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times.

Abundance of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure. Here in this prayer of praise and exaltation, Yahweh's exaltation is assured in advance. When Judah had no hope, God came as their help. Judah's self-reliance was surrendered in repentance as they prayed these words, Be gracious to us We wait for you.

Be our arm every morning, our salvation in times of trouble. These are very personal, very heartfelt, very intimate petitions, desiring that God alone would be the only source of their help and that his people would need nothing more than just him. And even though our feet just hit the trail here and we're at the base of the mountain, we can see the summit from afar, can't we? Isaiah prophesies in this prayer that the Lord will be the one who will truly be lifted up.

Not the Judean officials, not Egypt, not Assyria. If there is to be stability, deliverance, true understanding, it's going to come from the one who himself is not contingent on anything in this passing world or in any fleeting perceptions of power. How is this? Well, because the Lord is entirely above it all. You can see, as this verse says, he is exalted and he dwells on high.

Another future promise in verses two to six is that God will fill the holy city of Zion with justice and righteousness, not as in the former days when it was filled with sin and judgment. Not only will the Lord fill Zion as a city, but the entire universe will be renovated to be governed under this fear of the Lord. Like we saw last week in chapter 32, when a king reigns in righteousness, everything will be in order. Everything will be set right under his reign. And when the king does reign in righteousness, his presence will provide constancy and it will provide consistency.

As it says here in verse 6, he will be the stability of your times. So consider this, Isaiah's collective crying out here in this corporate prayer in verses 2 to 6 is similar to King Hezekiah's corporate prayer of repentance that we see ahead in in chapter 37. This act of prayer is a repentant reversal for the people of Judah as they express not only their need for political and physical salvation but spiritual salvation as well. This very act of prayer is an expression of their deepest trust. The very thing that Judah once refused to do in turning to God and trusting in him as we saw just a few weeks ago in chapter 31 is the very thing that they now plead for in prayer.

Be gracious to us.

And best of all, consider this: after many years of animosity between Judah and Yahweh, we see in these words here from verses 2 to 6 how beautiful it is to see this intimate relationship now restored. It was formerly distant, but now it's beautifully restored. Because when the Lord defends faithfully, we should trust fully. I have a friend in my hometown named Dan. Dan is nearly 70 years old.

He's a strong Christian. He's been walking with the Lord for many years. And outside of his unbelievable faith in Christ, probably one of the most notable things about Dan is how he trusts God fully. He has this undaunted desire to trust God fully despite the fact that he has been bound to a wheelchair.

For probably like five decades of his life because he has multiple sclerosis. And because of MS, Dan's body can't function as your body or mine probably could. He can't gather all that consistency consistently with God's people, but he has a strong personal ministry of intercessory prayer for others. He trusts God fully even in his weakness. In his limited capabilities, Dan faithfully picks up his phone, hour after hour, day by day, and calls other brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for them.

And if somehow Dan gets your cell phone number, you're gonna be covered for like life in prayer, okay? Like this man is consistent and he's constant, just like his Lord. I mean, if his call happens to go to your voicemail, you're gonna get a three minute long prayer of like the Lord just coming down over voicemail. He's just a really godly brother. It's amazing.

Dan's full trust leads him to a life that is full of powerful prayer. And similarly, like Dan and Isaiah, like Hezekiah in the small righteous remnant of Judah that expressed their trust to God in prayer, we should never underestimate the power of a praying minority. We should never underestimate the prayers of a righteous remnant. We should never underestimate a Sunday 5:00 p.m. prayer gathering or a small group of brothers and sisters that gather to pray throughout the week. We should never underestimate the power of a praying minority.

If there was ever a great Old Testament passage that validates the truth of James 5:16, the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working, this accounting of Judah's salvation from Assyria, it's got to be up there high on the list. And while it always, it isn't always the case in our lives, At least for this one instance here, this reality was true. The Lord intervenes for those who intercede. The Lord intervenes for those who intercede. One of the greatest ways that we can express our fullest trust to God is to go to him in dependent prayer and then just watch him sovereignly work.

The power, of course, is not in the prayer itself, certainly not in the power of the prayerer, or even in the measure of our trust as we pray, our power is in a person. The power is in our gracious God who hears and answers our prayers as we seek to trust him entirely. And I have to acknowledge the fact that of course there's, as we even mentioned before, some even in this room that have been in a prolonged season of waiting on God in prayer. If you're waiting for God to intervene in your life in a particular place, keep waiting. Keep praying, keep trusting, keep pursuing Christ.

When you can't see what your faith knows you should believe, that's a great prompt to go back to passages like this and remind yourself of what God is like. Be reminded that you're trusting in a God who is gracious. You're trusting in a God who is worth waiting for. He is our salvation in times of trouble. He will be the stability of our times as he proves to be an abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.

Therefore we should fear him and trust him as our greatest treasure. Now, as we continue this hike uphill, let's keep climbing here and get past these switchbacks to get to the tree line. Okay, point one, when the Lord defends faithfully, we should trust fully. Point two, when the Lord intervenes powerfully, we should walk righteously. When the Lord intervenes powerfully, we should walk righteously.

We'll see this in verses 7 to 16. Read along with me in verse 7. Behold, their heroes cry in the streets. The envoys of peace weep bitterly. The highways lay waste.

The traveler ceases.

Covenants are broken. Cities are despised. There is no regard for man. The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away.

Sharon is like a desert and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves. Now I will arise, says the Lord. Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted. You conceive chaff, you give birth to stubble.

Your breath is like a fire that will consume you. And the peoples will be as if burned to lime. Like thorns cut down that are burned in the fire. Hear, you who are far off, what I have done, and you who are near acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid.

Trembling has seized the godless. Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, he who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from the hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks.

His bread will be given him, his water will be sure.

From halfway up our hike here in verses 7 to 16, we look back to base camp and see this failure and fear of Judah's broken treaty with Assyria. So much so that Judah's strongest and best military heroes who sought to strike this deal with Assyria, they're literally crying in the streets there in verses 7 to 9 because of these failed negotiations. Assyria is bearing down on them and they know it and they are in fear. This attempted covenant was destroyed and truthfully everything else is being destroyed by Assyria as they plunge through. I mean, just look right there.

The cities are destroyed, the streets destroyed, the people, the land, entire regions that were previously fruitful are now being stripped bare by this Assyrian invasion. And for Judah, this is yet again another hopeless situation where divine intervention is desperately needed. And it does come. It comes in verse 10 because God has had enough. He's had enough.

My grandpa Paul was a sweet and kind little old Italian man. He was a veteran. He was a hard-working butcher. He worked at the same grocery store, family-owned grocery store, for 50 years. And as he retired after these 50 years, he actually, surprisingly, he had all 10 of his fingers.

It's quite a feat for a butcher, right? Especially one that's worked for 50 years. When I was a boy, he was so sweet with me. He would bring me to his basement workshop and he'd show me around how to use a hammer and nails and things like that. He'd bring me up to the kitchen and we'd be grinding Italian sausage up there, just making it right in the kitchen.

And then one of the sweetest memories that I have of him is just crawling up on his lap as he sat in this big brown, like one of those big lazy boy recliners, right?

And I just would snuggle into his chest and we'd watch Chicago Cubs games together. My grandpa was just a sweet, kind man. I never experienced anything other than that from him. But then years later, I heard from my uncles that, oh, he had another side to him, you know? He practically lived in that brown velour, lazy boy recliner, but I hear these stories from my uncles, like when they're roughhousing in the living room, they're wrestling, they're breaking lamps and things like that.

My uncles would tell me that they really knew they were in trouble when their dad, my grandpa, would get up from that brown recliner and he would proclaim, Hey, that's enough.

Just like my grandpa coming off that recliner to intervene over his little earthly kingdom at 1505 Howard Street. So here in verse 10, does the Lord get up against Assyria and he asserts himself on an international and a global scale. Seemingly at the 11th hour, when Assyria's power had reached its peak, that's when God gets up to put an end to it all. He just says, that's enough. And he does so so that he might be exalted.

Look at verse 10 again. Now I will arise, says the Lord. Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted. You see the word now they're repeated three times.

The Lord is that enough? And so he intervenes powerfully and definitively. God's had enough with sin on all sides, so he asserts this power and control over any and all, both near and far. The sinners who are near in Zion, the godless who are far off, they're in verses 13 and 14, no one is exempt from the burning fire of his righteous judgment. And notice there in verse 14, as God's judgment comes down on all, Two simple rhetorical questions are asked.

Do you see them? Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? The answer? No one.

In other words, before a God who is holy in his wrath and judgment, who could possibly dwell in the presence of this kind of consuming fire? What sinner could possibly stand before a holy standard such as God? It's a stark question there in verse 14, but God surprisingly provides a really gracious answer in verse 15. Look at it there. What kind of person will God accept and bless?

Verse 15 answers, God will accept and bless a person who walks righteously in the actions of his hands, his ears, his eyes. Recall our second main point here. When the Lord intervenes powerfully, we should walk righteously. How can a person live righteously like verse 15 describes? Well, in order for a person to walk righteous, you have to first be made righteous.

And how is a person made righteous in God's sight? They are declared righteous by the only one who is the source of that righteousness. No one can be made righteous before God by doing righteous work, pursuing sinlessness, or even seeking to attain moral virtues, even the ones that are mentioned here in verse 15.

Our works cannot remove our sin. They cannot put us in a right standing before God. But there is one who has lived out these moral commands perfectly, who was sinless and entirely righteous, and his name is Jesus. God doesn't make us righteous so that we would be perfectly holy or sinless on this side of eternity, but he declares us righteous based off of Christ's perfect righteousness. What a thing to glory in today.

It's not what we do, but rather what Jesus has done for us, whereby his righteousness is imputed to us. And that's the theological term that we're searching around for right now, imputation. Imputation describes the act of assigning or attributing something to someone else. In this regard, by faith, we receive the benefit from an imputed righteousness that Christ has accomplished through the work that he righteously did in his living, his dying, his burial and in his resurrection from the grave. And if you look throughout the landscape of Scripture from beginning to end, we see three main sort of movements of imputation.

First, we see Adam's imputation of sin upon everyone that has ever lived. In the fall, Adam's original sin was imputed to all of us as his sons and daughters. Just like Romans 5:19 says, by one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. But amazingly, the second move of imputation is our sin being imputed on the cross. Our sins are imputed now to Christ through his death on the cross as Jesus willingly suffered in our place the penalty that was due for us and our own sin.

The second half of Romans 19 explains it a little bit more. By one man's disobedience, Adam, the many were made sinners. That's us. So by one man's obedience, that's Christ, the many will be made righteous. The third move of imputation that we see in the Scripture is Christ's righteousness is then imputed to all who believe.

Anyone who turns and trusts in Christ and believes in him by faith as 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, will be saved. And that righteousness that Christ has attained, or not attained but I suppose displayed, is now imputed to us. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might be the righteousness of God. So here's great news today. We as Christians call this good news, the good news of the gospel, that to be justified in Christ is to be declared right in God's sight.

It's only upon Christ's righteous merit that is imputed to us and not our own merits whereby he accepts us as righteous. The only way a person can be made righteous is to be made righteous by being declared righteous in Christ. So the question is, have you been declared righteous in Christ? If you have a definitive yes to that answer, praise the Lord.

If you're not quite sure, you should have a conversation with a Christian friend or a pastor. If you're like, no, I'm not, well, this comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. If you have never laid hold of the righteousness that is provided in Christ through faith in Him, this is your starting point. You have to realize that in and of yourself, you are unrighteous and incapable of becoming righteous in your own work. If you know that even your best efforts towards righteous living have been negated by the sin of your hands, your eyes, your ears, that's a starting point then.

That's a starting point for you to admit your need for a savior in Christ. Today, if you would turn from your sin and embrace and trust Christ as your savior, believing in what he has said and what he has done for you, you can be made righteous in Christ. In the same way that God gave grace to rebellious sinners like Judah when they prayed and sought him, so also you can be saved by faith and by repentance in Jesus today. We'd encourage you to talk with a pastor or one of our interns, turn to someone and connect with them. If you're a kid or a student here today and you don't know, if you are righteous in Christ, you should have a conversation with your believing parents about that.

We would love to discuss how you can be made right in Christ today.

But for those of us who are believers, for those of us who have been declared righteous, back on the trail here in verse 15, we must understand that to walk righteously is to live repentantly. Repentance leads us to live out these things here in verse 15. Repentance leads us to greater obedience and to increased righteous living. And verse 16 here describes the results of those who walk righteously. Look at these beautiful promises.

He will dwell on the heights. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be given him. His water will be sure. We're getting really close to the summit here now.

Just a few hundred yards away. This verse is saying that to be near to God is to dwell on the heights with him. To be in his presence is to experience the surety of security and and the surety of protection and provision.

So when the Lord intervenes powerfully, we should walk righteously. Now as we arrive here to verse 17, you did a great job, everyone. We have reached the pinnacle of the mountain.

Good work, good effort. But truthfully, the view up here, when you really catch a vision of it, the view is magnificent at the summit. Here in these final verses, the subject shifts from the people made righteous in Zion to the king who is righteous in Zion. This revelation of the Messiah King's universal rule is the focal point of this entire chapter. And in many ways, it's the culmination and the consummation of all that God has worked out in this world.

These righteous people here in verse 15 have inhabited Zion and and they now live under a king reigning in this new Jerusalem for all of eternity. Verses 17 to 24 is like reading Revelation 21 and 22, except for it's just like tucked in here in the pages of the Old Testament. And as we stand at the top of the summit of this chapter, while we're up here from this vantage point, we need to take a minute to just look around this entire landscape and point out a few things to get a fuller vision of all the promises that we see in these wide and sweeping vistas up here in this land that stretches afar. So let's have everyone's eyes on the text here as we look at verse 17.

And one other suggestion for you as you read verse 17 to 24. Look at these verses and personalize these promises for yourself. If you are in Christ, all of these are yours.

Verse 17, your eyes will behold the King in his beauty. They will see a land that stretches afar. Your heart will muse on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed the tribute?

Where is he who counted the towers? You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.

Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams where no galley with oars can go nor majestic ship can pass. For the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver.

The Lord is our king. He will save us. Your cords hang loose. They cannot hold the mast firm in its place or keep the sails spread out. Then pray and spoil in abundance will be divided, and even the lame will take the prey.

And no inhabitant will say, I am sick, for the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity. Wow. When you stand on a summit like this and you look over the landscape of God's promises, it's a lot to take in. So number one, when the Lord defends faithfully, we should trust fully. Secondly, when the Lord intervenes powerfully, we should walk righteously.

And in these final verses here brings us to our final point. When the Lord secures eternally, we should wait expectantly. When the Lord secures eternally, we should wait expectantly. Like standing on the top of a mountain with a season tour guide. Isaiah points us to different parts and different sections of this wide landscape to answer this question.

When we finish this life's pilgrimage and we reach the summit of Eternity, what will the Christians see? What will the Christian experience? Isaiah points to many promises here that our eyes will see and our hearts will open. First and foremost there in verse 17 is the amazing promise that your eyes, your eyes will see the King in his beauty. The greatest beauty our eyes will ever see is the radiant Christ seated on his throne in the New Jerusalem.

And that vision will complete our salvation and it will usher in our glorification. Beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we will see him as he is. 1 John 3:2. Your eyes will see your King.

Personally. Intimately.

Beautifully, gloriously, eternally.

We'll also see a land that is vast and stretches afar, a consummated and renovated restoration of perfect peace, that is the new heavens and the new earth. The very moment your eyes see your king in his beauty and you see the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven like a bride adorned for her husband, We're gonna be able to like scarcely take that in. That's just a majestic moment right there. And in that moment it will be overwhelming to comprehend the extent of God's revealed glory and in response we'll just live in everlasting praise. We'll express our worship for all that Christ has accomplished for us in that moment.

Then in verses 18 and 19 we'll recognize some things that we will no longer see. So verse 17, what we will see, verses 18 and 19, what we won't see. We won't see the wicked who have made life on this earth a horror, wicked empires, insolent individuals, sinful schemers, evil enemies. Yes, even the enemy will all be vanquished foes, no longer to be seen or even considered for all of eternity. Instead, in verses 20 and 21, we will now see the city of Zion fruitful and full of feasts.

It will be a rich land flowing with wide rivers. It will be a secure city, not a movable tent, where no enemy ships could even pass through its waters. Zion will be a place of protective abundance, where Jesus Christ will reign in majesty.

Then in verse 22, our eyes will see how Jesus, the perfect king, extending his righteous reign and perfect governance, which cannot and will not be corrupted by anything, as you see in those verses, Jesus is our judge. Jesus is our lawgiver. Jesus is our king. Jesus proves to be a greater judge than any in the former days of the judges. He is a greater lawgiver than Moses.

Jesus is a greater king than David and Solomon ever were. His glory glorious and gracious governance over his people will be far greater than any man-made judicial, legislative or executive branch. Amen. Jesus Christ is and will be the perfect governor, and his government will be perfect when it is in his hands and under his rule. But if you would note, a fourth title is also mentioned there in verse 22, isn't it?

Jesus is Savior. If all Jesus was for us was a judge and a lawgiver and a king, we would all be justly condemned. But Jesus the judge who otherwise condemns acquits. The unattainable standards of the law have now been filled perfectly by Jesus the lawgiver. And Jesus the king who should have never allowed sinners like us to dwell in his presence has now thrown the doors of his kingdom wide open to welcome us into his throne room.

By the atoning work of Jesus Christ as savior, our deliverance in every situation depends entirely on him alone. Without him, as we see here in verse 23, we're like a broken down ship, incapable to function, insufficiently grounded, unable to provide for ourselves, but by God's grace, when we are with him and we are in him, then the spoils of victory that you see in the second half of verse 23 will be so abundant.

That even those who are insufficient and incapable, those who are lame, will be blessed by all of God's abundant provisions in Christ.

And lastly here on this mountain, in verse 23, Isaiah points far ahead to the horizon of the landscape and he helps us to see the final promise of complete healing and full forgiveness of sin.

And no inhabitant will say, I am sick, for the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity. Physical sickness and even the spiritual sin that sickens the soul, it'll be entirely absent in Zion. Once sin is forgiven and the heavenly city lies open, fully furnished in all of its security, loveliness and peace, we who were once lame and sick in our sin will now be allowed to enter in his gates without restriction and without contribution on our part. What great grace this is. Isn't it true that some of the very best views come after the hardest climbs?

Isn't it true that the sun shines the brightest at the summit of the mountain? It's the revealed glory of chapters like this that put verses like Romans 8:18 into context. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

So as we close this morning, consider this. Because the Lord secures eternally, we should wait expectantly. We're reminded of this back a few chapters in Isaiah chapter 30 verse 18 where the scripture says, the Lord waits to be gracious to you. And therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. The Lord is a God of justice and blessed are all those who wait for him.

In the same way that Judah knew that their promised salvation from Assyria would come in the same way that Old Testament saints believed in the promised Messiah without ever having seen him. And even those saints in the early church who, like us, have heard the gospel of Jesus but have never seen him with our own eyes. So also we wait expectantly for the second coming of Jesus when our full salvation in the king and full rest in his kingdom will be unveiled for all of eternity. So this morning, let me just encourage you. In what Isaiah 31, excuse me, 33 encourages us to do.

Just you wait.

Just you wait.

And in your waiting, wait on the Lord. And in your waiting, be strong. And in your waiting, let your heart take courage, church. This kind of deliverance from King Jesus is promised. It's coming.

And it's coming soon because he is coming soon. So we should wait well for King Jesus to be revealed, to lay hold of this promise that the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. And how should we wait for him? We should wait eagerly and actively. We should wait attentively and productively, optimistically.

Patiently, desirously, hopefully and intently, lovingly, longingly and watchfully, confidently, fervently and assuredly. Because the Lord secures us eternally, we should expectantly wait. Let's pray.

Father, your word tells us that from of old, no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no I have seen a God besides you who acts for those who wait for him. Lord, you've revealed to us this morning your good and grand and glorious plan for your people, and we respond to you as our Lord and King. With the fullness of our trust, through the declared righteousness of Christ and with our hearts intent to wait expectantly for you.

So Father, we ask today that you would instill in us this hope that these scriptures have laid out before us here today. Our soul waits for you, O Lord, for you are our help and shield. Our hearts are glad in you because we trust in your holy name.

Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.