Isa 22:9-14 The Lord...Did...Call To Weeping...and Behold Gladness...Let Us Eat and Drink; For Tomorrow We Shall Die

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Isa 22:9-14 The Lord... Did... Call To Weeping... And Behold Gladness... Let Us Eat And Drink; For Tomorrow We Shall Die.

Isa 22:9  Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
Isa 22:10  And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.
Isa 22:11  Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.
Isa 22:12  And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
Isa 22:13  And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.
Isa 22:14  And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Remember that the Lord's punishments are always given to us freely out of His love for us.

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [Greek, paideuo], and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

You and I are blessed to know that the channel for God's chastening and scourging is His grace:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [paideuo: chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Like any loving father, the Lord does not charge us for the discipline and chastening when He takes the time to administer His chastening grace:

Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the [free] gift of God:

This principle had been in the Lord's heart from the very beginning of His work with mankind. Notice why and how Adam was punished for eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil:

Gen 3:17  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Gen 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

If we are "taken... out of... the ground", then we are the "earth, earth, earth" of:

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

Eve symbolizes the church, and Adam was, in effect, more interested in church doctrine than the Word of God. For Adam's sake the Lord cursed the ground.  "Whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges..."

What this tells us is that we are the ground which is "cursed for [our] sake". The 'bread' which we eat is the fruit of the thorns and thistles, which we produce by the sweat of our face, symbolizes the fruit of the false doctrines, which are the idols of our own hearts (Eze 14:1-9). It is by these lies and false doctrines that we are spiritually fed, all the while living in rebellion against our Lord. "The sweat of [our] face" symbolizes our own efforts. We think we are responsible for both our own sins and our own righteousness. However, the Truth is that "all things are of God", whether they are good or evil:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Therefore, the "ground" of which we are composed is cursed "for [our] sake" because "the Lord... chastens... every son He receives."  We are being shown in this burden against Jerusalem, how Jerusalem, the Old Testament type of us as we live out our part as the great harlot of Revelation 17-18, having witnessed the wrath of the Lord on her neighbors, inexplicably continues on in her unfaithful harlotry against her own marriage covenant with Her husband, our Lord.

Isa 1:8  And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Isa 1:9  Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Isa 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

I say "inexplicably" because that is the way it seems to us at that time. While the faithful city has become an harlot, we are being fed with the thorns and thistles produced by the sweat of our face. Thorns and thistles are not the fruit of the true Words of Christ. "Thorns and thistles" certainly include the false doctrine of "free moral agency".

Isa 42:22  But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
Isa 42:23  Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
Isa 42:24  Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
Isa 42:25  Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

Look at those words: "[The Lord] poured out upon him the fury of His anger and the strength of battle: and it has set him on fire round about, yet he knew it not; and it burned him yet he laid it not to heart." Which of us has not done just that? We knew we were doing wrong, just as Eve knew she was disobeying the Lord's commandment, and she did it anyway because she was tempted by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1Jo 2:16).

We have seen that all these words are words which each of us must "live by", and we must acknowledge these words as an excellent description of what we as this harlot do against our husband, Christ. This 'harlot' is our own rebellious old man whom we all eventually come to see in his full blossom, just before his utter destruction at the merciful, but painful, coming of Christ into our lives:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth [Greek: restrains] that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let [Greek: restrains], until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they [we] received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Today we will continue to see this revelation of the love of our loving heavenly Father as He punishes and destroys the kingdom of our old man, and the essential part this "scourging" plays in bringing us to know the mind of Christ.  What we are learning is that it is the destruction of the kingdom of our old man within us which is expedient to bring forth the birth of our new man who, Lord willing, we are becoming "day by day".

2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

This is what is required to "put off... the old man", and in so doing brings forth and "put[s] on the new man" within us:

Isa 22:9  Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
Isa 22:10  And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.

Oh yes, we have seen the breaches of the city of David, and our city has been breached many times by our own wickedness which we, as any harlot, have caused to be breached. Yet we refuse to acknowledge our unfaithful, rebellious and adulterous ways:

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

But the fact still remains that we will reap what we sow:

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Jeremiah says the same thing in another way:

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

The doctrine of the great whore is "the doctrine of that woman Jezebel". Her doctrine is "things sacrificed to idols", which seduces us and convinces us to disobey our Lord and break our marriage covenant.

Rev 2:20  Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Our fornication against our Lord brings His chastening upon us in many and various ways, but as we have seen we don't even realize or acknowledge it, and we carry on in our own strength in our own wicked ways, unable to change our own marred heart and our own rebellious, carnal mind, until "a great falling away" occurs in our lives. Only then are we made to see our old man as the dying creature he is:

Isa 22:11  Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.

King Hezekiah had gone to great lengths to bring water through a tunnel into the city and at the same time deprive any invaders of easily accessible water.

2Ch 32:1  After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.
2Ch 32:2  And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,
2Ch 32:3  He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.
2Ch 32:4  So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?
2Ch 32:5  Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.

2Ch 32:30  This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
2Ch 32:31  Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

What was in Hezekiah's heart?

We struggle to internalize words like:

2Ch 32:4  So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?

The next verse should help us to apply these words personally:

2Ch 32:5  Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.

The spiritual lesson is that we do all in our own power and in our own strength to prepare fortifications against God's judgment upon our old man and his rebellious ways. We can do all that is in our power to "gather much people together" to provide life-giving water to ourselves, but when we work in our own strength, this is what the Lord tells us of the effectiveness of depending upon ourselves and our own ways, including our own righteousnesses:

Psa 127:1  A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Rom 1:21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

"They" is speaking of us! It is we who work hard to preserve our kingdom, and the Lord gives us to prosper in this world. We may even be given, like Job, to be a benefactor to many others in this life. It seems the Lord is smiling on all we do, when in reality He is simply answering us according to the idols of our heart.

Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

As the story of Job demonstrates for us, one of the most insidious 'idols of [our] hearts' is self-righteously seeing ourselves as God's gift to mankind. That was the point of verse 11. Just like Hezekiah, we celebrate our own self-righteousness accomplishments and our productivity under our own power:

Isa 22:11  Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.

When we do this, the Lord calls us to repentance:

Isa 22:12  And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

Like King Hezekiah we mistake believing that the Lord answering us according to the idols of our hearts is proof of the Lord blessing our self-righteousness.

Isa 22:9  Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
Isa 22:10  And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.

We have made great sacrifices to fortify the wall of our city and to  provide water for our kingdom "but [we] have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago." So we celebrate our carnal blessings instead of obeying the Lord's commandment to "weep [and] mourn". Instead:

Isa 22:13  And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a God who gives us over to our own desires, even as we know the penalty of our sinful ways. When that is made to happen there is but one solution to that state of our old man and His kingdom, and this is that one solution:

Isa 22:14  And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Now we know why the Lord destroys our old man with the brightness of His coming:

2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, while I was yet with you, these very things, I was telling you?
2Th 2:6  And, what now restraineth, ye know, to the end he may be revealed in his own fitting time;
2Th 2:7  For, the secret, of lawlessness, already, is inwardly working itself, only, until, he that restraineth at present, shall be gone, out of the midst:
2Th 2:8  And, then, shall be revealed the lawless one, whom, the Lord Jesus, will slay with the Spirit of his mouth, and paralyse with the forthshining of his Presence: (REV)

Against our own carnal will, the Lord will show us what we are in these clay vessels, and He will bring us to true repentance, and in doing so He will slay our old man with the spirit of His mouth, which tells us this about our old man and His kingdom:

Heb 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Heb 6:7  For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
Heb 6:8  But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
Heb 6:9  But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

There are "those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, [who] fall away, [and] crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame" in this age. We have witnessed this time and again as the apostles did themselves:

1Ti 1:19  Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
1Ti 1:20  Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

2Ti 4:14  Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
2Ti 4:15  Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.
2Ti 4:16  At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

3Jn 1:9  I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
3Jn 1:10  Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

It is the end of our old man "to be burned" by the "fire", and that 'fire' is the Word of God which will judge us in that day:

Joh 12:47  And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

What separated King David from King Saul is that when David was judged for his sins, he threw himself on the Lord's mercy, and he was willing to accept the Lord's judgment. This is what King David was well aware had been written:

Lev 26:40  If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
Lev 26:41  And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
Lev 26:42  Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
Lev 26:43  The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.

The almost universally accepted false doctrine of a "substitutionary atonement", which teaches that Christ died in our stead, flies in the face of all the scriptures which teach that Christ died to sin so He could repeat that process within each of us, and we can now be "crucified with Him, [and] die daily [with Him, and] suffer with Him":

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

Because "Christ lives in me" when I "suffer with Him", I am filling up in my body what is behind of His afflictions, "for His body's sake, which is the church". Here now is a verse of scripture which is avoided like the plague by all those who teach the false doctrine of a substitutionary atonement:

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Isaiah tells us:

Isa 22:12  And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
Isa 22:13  And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.
Isa 22:14  And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

It is obvious to those who have been given the mind of Christ, that if "Christ [is] in [you]", you are being "crucified with [Him], and filling up in [your] flesh the afflictions of [the] Christ for His body's sake, which is the church." There is no greater calling, and in that we all rejoice, and if that is our joy, then "this iniquity [is being] purged [because we are blessed to be given to "die daily... [now] for His body's sake which is the church".

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will cover these verses here in Isaiah 22:

Isa 22:15  Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,
Isa 22:16  What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?
Isa 22:17  Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.
Isa 22:18  He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house.
Isa 22:19  And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.