Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Years ago in the public schools, before trivial pursuits replaced the more serious trivium studies, every student was offered suitable quantities of material to memorize at an early age, when such feats are easily accomplished. Besides the more practical multiplication tables, presidents, states, capitals and such, there were also offered the various Catechisms of the faith, Westminster for Presbyterians, Baltimore for Catholics and all of the rest as well. In addition there were poems for fun and to pass on the Classic Traditions of our Western Civilization. I remember a year in grade school when everyone in our class had to choose a particular poem to make our own. One of my friends chose “The Village Smithy”, another “Paul Revere’s Ride” and I chose a British poem by Tennyson ,“The Charge of the Light Brigade”. Now, I’m not going to demonstrate how my age has affected my memory today. But because of my life long hobby and fondness for military history, the images of that poem lead us to an example which we can use to understand our text today.
Now, it is interesting how minds change their working down through the years. The Ancients based adulthood on the age of twenty-one and limited leadership to those who achieved the ripe old age of thirty-something. In our century we have begun to appreciate that they were on to something. We know that the mind continues to grow and develop throughout that whole period of time. To make it simple, when we are young, our memories are more like a “Read only Memory” if I can use a computer term. As we reach the thirties and the neural synapses push out in different patterns, we achieve the adult ability of a “Random Access Memory”! This is why Edgar Allen Poe’s great poem “The Raven” makes so little sense to young people, but means ever so much more to mature adults. The images there match the pattern of adult thinking.
Back to the Light Brigade of Crimean fame, if I haven’t lost those of you with developing ROM between your ears! Did you know that there was also a Heavy Brigade as well? The Heavies were also part of the British Cavalry Division, and since their charges did not end in Custer-like disaster, they are less likely to be remembered. Providentially, the Heavy Brigade had much better leadership than the Lord Cardigan of the lighter formation, who should have stuck to sweaters, if I remember aright. Now at one point, the Heavy Brigade was caught in a desperate combat with the Russian hosts. They broke through the enemy line, only to be threatened with total destruction. The adjutant of the Scots Greys saw the looming disaster and ordered a bugler to sound the rally call. From all over the field those who heard their commander’s bugle signal fought their way together, formed their squadrons and bravely backed down the hill to safety. Do you know how hard it is to back a car for a long distance? Horses are much harder to do this with, especially when they are excited. I once heard of a Semi-Truck driver who pulled into an alley to make a delivery only to find it was a dead end. He said that was the hardest place he ever got out of! But he had to do it because there wasn’t even enough room to open the door and walk out!
Now, let us transfer those images to the desperate predicament of the wicked which are well described in Isaiah. Let’s begin our consideration of this chapter in verses two through seven. Here is a list of dark alleys which is dark indeed. Ought we to compare the experiences of Isaiah’s time to our own? Yes indeed. In verse two we see the source of their failure. The wicked of every time follow their own imaginations. I have heard that the computerized Internet contains quite a few dark holes similar enough to the ancient cults to lead one on to destruction. I know of one young man who followed another lusty path to perdition like those described here.
To suit themselves the people of Isaiah’s time evidently built their own altars in gardens, rather than submit to the Temple regulations. They also sought advice from the dead and devoured forbidden meats and even rotten flesh, as the Hebrew allows in verse four. Not only had they fallen into wicked religious practices, but they went even further, into blasphemy. They actually began to act like gods and goddesses themselves, and admonished the prophet and even God Himself to stay away from them.
See that in verse five “for I am too sacred for you!” This is why many people in our day have no use for the Christian faith. They actually believe so much in themselves that any Christian teachings of humility and sinfulness must be avoided to cleanse themselves from guilt! Talk about self-righteousness. Wouldn’t you just like to shake some people to their senses? If you think our human reactions to such people are strong - look at how God reacts in verses five-a through seven! If like the American jury, you think the woman who spilled McDonald’s hot coffee into her lap was in pain, look what the Lord has planned for those who burned sacrifices and defied Him at the end of verse seven! And there won’t even be a friendly jury of devilish spirits to make the experience any sweeter.
But, this is not the end of the matter, besides judgment from the Lord, there is also salvation, and like the Greys in the Crimea, some may hear the trumpet sound and rally to the Master. Now, it is indeed interesting from history, how the Greys really appreciated the necessity to listen to the trumpet sound recall. Only thirty-nine years before at Waterloo, the North British Dragoons as they were then called, had made a similar charge, one that ended in disaster because the troops ignored the trumpet call to rally. Very much of the regiment were cut down by the French, and only a handful survived. But at Balaclava the young troopers of 1854 remembered the experience of their father’s generation, and gathered quickly to the bugle call.
Whenever the true Church rallies to the Word of the Lord, in Isaiah’s or any other time, then we may know the truth of God’s word here. There is still a little juice in the grapes, and rather than destroy them, a very fine wine may still be gathered in. In fact, the French would have it that the dryer the growing season, the sweeter the wine. And some fine wines from drought years command a great premium. May the Church that rallies to the Master’s call in times such as ours prove to be sweeter than wine, as a popular song goes. Thank goodness for our own salvation that God has not destroyed all of us sinners, but by His grace has called us to be servants. Those who are empowered to back out of the dark alleys of our day will inherit the bountiful valleys of Sharon and Achor, because they do indeed seek God’s face.
Verse twelve again threatens the wicked who are content being stuck in the dark holes of their own minds. These are all of those who while they have heard the trumpet call of salvation, have gone their own way to worldly pleasures and done evil in the sight of the Lord. Look at the promise of verses thirteen to sixteen for those who are called to be God’s servants. Compare those blessings with what is in store for the worldly. And at long last, the end of verse sixteen tells us that the worldly wicked will be forgotten and hidden far from the eyes of the Almighty.
Ah, did you notice that I passed over one verse in our passage, so that I could save the best verse till last: verse one. “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’” By God’s grace we have heard the trumpet call to rally to our Lord and our King. By His providence we have been gathered in this little company of faith where we may earnestly work out the exercises necessary for sanctification. We are indeed ministers in this enterprise to one another, warning, encouraging and sustaining each other.
A few years ago, when a major highway was being reconstructed, I met a Semi-truck driver on one of the back roads. He was so wide I couldn’t get around him, and I knew there was a weak bridge just over the hill behind me. I stopped and got out to talk to him. He admitted that he had made a mistake taking a short cut to get around the state detour. How could he get out, he wondered. I had to back him up a quarter of a mile to a place where he could turn around. Then I gave him instructions on how to find his way back to safe roads. Theologically, like Isaiah, that is our calling in our century. To point out how the Lord our God works through His Spirit and His Word to call men and women, boys and girls to repentance. To show people how to get out of even the darkest alleys and find the bright light of eternity revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord. May we be so empowered whenever opportunity comes our way.
Resources Used:
Ellis, Charles..
The Wells of Salvation.
Thomas, Derek..
Welwyn Commentery Series: God Delivers.
Young, Edward J.
The Book of Isaiah.
The Holy Bible.
New International Version (1984 Edition)
NOTE: I am not able to automatically
recommend any future editions.
Christ Covenant Reformed (Presbyterian Church in America) -
Box 13926 - Columbus, OH 43213
(c) 2001
26 February 1995
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.