The Stronghold of the Needy

I. Introduction
A. Today is Prayer for the persecuted church Sunday.
1. But this sermon is not about some people suffering over there somewhere.
2. This sermon – and this passage – is about us, and about all who call upon the name of the Lord, here, over there and everywhere.
3. This is a sermon about God, about how He thinks about His people, how He calls them to live, and what He has in store for them in the end.
B. In the OT, when God delivered His people out of Egypt and led them to the promised land, He did not bring them to some isolated island in the middle of the ocean where they could avoid contact with other peoples. He planted them in a place where they had lots of neighbors, many of which were larger and more powerful than them. And all of which had no regard for the God of Israel.
1. And they were often bullied by these larger countries in the region.
2. And in their fear of these bullies, Judah was constantly tempted to make friends with one bully to be protected from another bully, or to join a gang of countries for protection.
3. But, as His chosen people, God kept telling them to get out of self-protection mode, to trust Him to take care of them and protect them from the bullies.
C. Things haven’t really changed that much from OT to NT. This is what He has called us to as well.
1. He has not called His people to live in isolation. He calls them to live in a world surrounded by those who are antagonistic to the truth of Christ, to experience opposition, hostility and ridicule.
2. But He calls His people to not to fear their enemies, but love them, and trust God to protect.
D. And to encourage His OT & NT people to do so, God has given us this vision of the prophet Isaiah, a vision of the destiny of those who put their trust and hope in the Lord.
1. Read Isaiah 25:2–5
II. Isaiah 25:2–5
A. 2 For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the foreigners’ palace is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
1. YOU: “O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.” – Isaiah 25:1
2. THE CITY: God will eventually take vengeance on their oppressors and devastate the city of man.
a. “This verse explains what God’s plans were that have now been executed. They were to humble all the works of human pride and oppression, here typified as the walled city and the fortified town. The usage here is the same as in ch. 24, in that no specific city is intended. This city is all those arrogant bastions of power that have crushed the righteous through all of time.” – Oswalt
B. 3 Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
1. GLORIFY YOU: This doesn’t mean that these ruthless people will happily worship God.
a. It means that every knee shall bow, — Philippians 2:9–11.
b. Like the grudging testimony of Pharaoh and his officers in Exodus 10:7, 16–17; 12:33.
C. 4-5 For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, 5 like heat in a dry place.
1. STORM, HEAT
a. Isaiah uses two extremes of weather typical of the Near East to symbolize the difficulties from which God desires to defend us. They are the thunderstorm and the unremitting heat. In either the sudden intensity of the cloudburst or the steady, enervating heat, life is threatened. Unless one has a stronghold against the flood (cf. Matt. 7:24–27) or a shade from the heat, there is no hope. Life is like that, with the mighty and the powerful breathing out destruction on those not strong enough to fight back. – Oswalt
2. POOR: The identification of the poor and needy with the persecuted. They are poor and needy because they are persecuted.
3. STRONGHOLD: Here we see God’s attitude toward those who are persecuted for trusting in God.
4. HAVE BEEN: It’s not just that He rescues them on the last day. But He HAS BEEN their stronghold all along.
D. 5b You subdue the noise of the foreigners; as heat by the shade of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is put down.
1. This is their end, the destiny of the ruthless city of man.
a. The noise of their boasting is subdued. Their song of domination is ended.
III. Application
A. You see, believers have always suffered. But before Christ there was little explanation given.
1. Then came Jesus, the Persecuted One, despised and rejected and executed — all for doing good.
2. And where did it lead Him? To the cross? NO!
3. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” – Phil.2:9–11
4. And now that He’s done, He turns to us and says, “Your turn.”
5. “To this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps... 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” – 1Peter 2:21–24
6. Right now we’re just being treated like He was. John 15:18–20 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”
7. This is why he says: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11–12
8. So what’s so blessed about being persecuted? What are the advantages of rejection and ridicule? What are the advantages of having your heart broken? Pain doesn’t feel like a blessing, does it?
a. It produces eternal blessings: “This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” – 2Corinthians 4:17
b. It humbles us. It helps us feel our need for God. It helps us to run to Him.
c. It yields a harvest of peace and righteousness in my life (Heb.12:11)
d. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 2Cor.1:5 As we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
e. Phil.3:10 the fellowship of His sufferings
B. Sometimes we say: “But sometimes even when we trust God, He doesn’t protect us!”
1. You can’t trust God to protect you from pain. He won’t do it.
2. God loves His precious children. And He protects them from harm, but not from pain.
3. The Westminster Confession says that in Christ we are freed from “the evil of afflictions.”
4. Jesus came along and entrusted Himself to God. And was He protected? Did God protect Him?
a. Yes and no. He was not protected from suffering while on earth. But He was protected from eternal suffering.
C. The point is that just as God did not abandon Jesus, but had a great restoration up His sleeve even though He allowed Him to suffer, so it is with us.
1. So we need to also trust the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. One day He will turn this world into a heap of ruins.
3. One day all our trials will be over.
4. One day all the boasts of Gods enemies will be silenced.
5. One day every knee will bow.
6. One day it will be evident to all that through it all, God was a stronghold to His people. He was their shelter from the storm. He was their shade from the burning sun.
D. That’s why we must trust Him. We put ourselves into one of two groups.
1. Either we will be the ones who trust Him in spite of earthly rejection and suffering.
2. Or we will be the ones who mock the ones who trust Him, and mock the God they trust.