I. Introduction
A. The prophecies of Isaiah were one of the main sources of messianic hope for the people of God. As the carol says, "Isaiah ‘twas foretold it," So we've been looking at one of Isaiah's visions of the coming of the messiah, in Isaiah 25.
B. Isaiah 25:8 "He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken."
II. Isaiah 25:8
A. “For the Lord has spoken” — three things implied:
1. This is not being said lightly, soon to be forgotten. Remember who it is who says this to you. It is the God who cannot lie, the One who is Himself Truth. You can take this to the bank!
2. God is telling us something we need to know!
3. We need to listen
a. Isaiah 28:23 ‘Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech.”
b. The command to listen to God fills the Scripture from beginning to end. In the OT, God points forward to Jesus and says, "Listen to Him." When Christ comes, He says, "He who has ears, let him hear." It goes on and on, even to the last book: Rev. 2:7, 11, 14, 17, 29.
B. Reproach
1. What is reproach? An expression of disapproval or disappointment
C. “the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth”
1. This is a tremendous promise.
2. People who lived lives of reproach clinging to this verse as their hope.
III. Reproach and the nature of man
A. Market story: handicapped person beaten
B. Pride and the temptation to reproach
C. The pain and power of reproach — science experiment
D. The importance of not giving in
IV. There’s a lot about reproach in the Bible. There’s a lot about the reproach of God’s people in the Bible.
A. Psalm 80:6 “You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves.”
B. Ps.44:13-14 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision & scorn of those around us. You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples. (Cf. Ps.79:4)
C. 1Corinthians 4:10–13 “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.”
V. Reproach today
A. Reproach is part of the Christian life. In one sense God has called us to live lives of reproach.
B. It’s the way you’ve been treated because you’re a Christian – Jesus was hated first (John 15:18-19)
C. When people say all kinds of evil against you falsely – as they did to our Lord.
D. Blessed are those, therefore, who are reproached – Matt.5:11-12; 1Pet.4:14.
E. For believing the Bible re: sexuality, hell, Christ alone
F. Two voices
1. Condemning
2. Forgiving and comforting
3. Not approving — which we would prefer — but accepting with agenda
VI. Responding to reproach
A. Reproach calls for retaliation.
1. The sin of reproaching
B. Not paying back insult with insult verses
C. Matthew 5:44 I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
D. Luke 6:28 Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
E. 1Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
F. Our Example to follow
1. 1Peter 2:21–23 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 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.
G. God’s reproach
1. Jesus reproaching the 12 (and us)
a. See Matthew 8:26, 14:30-31, 16:8ff., 16:23, 17:19-20; Mark 4:13, 7:18, 8:17b-18, 21, 10:14, 16:14; Luke 9:54-56, 24:25; John 14:9.
2. David reproached by Shimei – 2Sam.16:5-12
H. Speech seasoned with salt (Col.4:6) but don’t always be insisting on being treated that way
1. Love is not easily offended (1Cor.13:5)
2. Love is quick to forgive – Colossians 3:12–14 Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
VII. The removal of reproach
A. Jesus, the remover of reproach
1. Matthew 12:20 “A battered reed He will not break off, and a smoldering wick He will not put out, until He leads justice to victory.”
2. Touching Lepers – Matt.8:2-3
3. Blind man in John 9
4. Woman accused of adultery – John 8:1-11
5. Blind Bartimaeus – Mark 10:46-52
6. Samaritan woman: three strikes against her (woman, Samaritan, immoral) in John 4
7. Blessing the children – Mark 10:13-16
B. The reproach of Elizabeth
1. The reproach of an unmarried pregnant woman
2. "the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth"
3. This reminds me of Elizabeth in Luke 1:25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people."
4. Her neighbors looked down on her and scorned her because of her barrenness, assuming wrongly that she was somehow inferior to them and that fate was showing that through her barrenness.
5. But they didn’t just look down on her. They reproached her. They belittled her. They shamed her. They added insult to injury. — Reproach back then
6. But now that she is revealed not only as a mother but as the mother of the Messiah's forerunner, her reproach is removed. She is not only going to be brought up to the same level as other mothers, she was elevated above them by being chosen for this monumental task.
C. This gives us a glimpse of the removal of our reproach, for in the same way, the people of God are looked down on as the scum of the earth, the pathetic, having no earthly value and therefore needing to look to God for some kind of eternal hope.
1. But on the day described in Isaiah 25, the people of God will be seen not only as "as good as everybody else" but as the blessed of the Lord, the privileged ones who had been given the best prize, the ones for whom the lines had fallen in pleasant places (Psalm 16:6).
2. 2Corinthians 4:17 “This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”
D. How is reproach removed? Jesus bore this reproach for us.
1. Isaiah 53:3 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
2. See Is.4:1; 54:4; 60:15; 61:7; Gen.30:23; Ps.69:9.
E. He promises that one day all reproach will be over.
F. But more than that. One day the reproach experienced in faith will win for us eternal commendation and honor and praise.
G. Isaiah 54:5–6 talks about how we are like a grieving, deserted, cast off wife, and the Lord comes to us and becomes our husband.
H. Colossians 3:3–4 “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
1. We are the sons and daughters of God! But right now our glorious position is hidden from the world, just as Christ’s glory is hidden. But when Christ appears to all on the last day, who we are will also be revealed.
2. What looked like the scum of the world will be revealed as the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem!