Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it? (Isaiah 10:15)

 Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it? (Isaiah 10:15)

The Bible asks such simple questions that it makes one feel a little dumb to answer. “Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?” Of course not. That would be ridiculous. Except we do it all the time, acting as if we are in charge, when instead we are merely instruments in the Lord’s hand. 

The context in Isaiah 10 has to do with the ancient nation Assyria. A list of “woes” had been pronounced against ungodliness in chapters 9 and early 10, with the last “woe” against Assyria, who had been selected by God to act as the instrument of judgment against Israel (Samaria). The judgment would be severe, and yet the Assyrians were to act with restraint. Instead, their plan, not God’s, was to destroy the northern kingdom of Israel. And so the word picture: Assyria, the axe, was boasting over and against the God who was the master of the axe.

We’ve seen this kind of metaphor before. Jeremiah was sent to the potter’s house, who took a ruined clump of clay and was re-working it into something useful. “Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:5–6 ESV)

We are not mere, inanimate objects. We have thoughts and feelings. We assign value, whether accurately or not, and decide what is just (again, whether accurately or not). What we don’t do so well is remember that there is only one Creator, and we are His creatures. He has made us in His image, and yet we are still His subjects. We are made for His glory. We are to live according to His design. We are to obey His Word. We are to submit to His Lordship.

And so when we object against God that He is not doing things as we would like; when we get “mad” at God for messing up our plans; when we resent Him because He has not honored our priorities - we are totally out of line. We have missed the Big Principle, the Essential Rule of the universe: God is God, and I am not.

I can imagine a hammer, or a saw, or an axe, complaining that they are not being used properly, according to design. Of course, they can’t, because they are just tools. But we can complain. Except for one thing: our design is to be used by God as He sees fit, so there really is no room for complaining. He is God, and I am not.

Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? (Isaiah 6:8)

 Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? (Isaiah 6:8)

An ambassador’s job seems noble, representing the king or government and speaking for them before foreign powers. But we can imagine situations where their job is less enjoyable and even downright dangerous, as they are called to deliver a message that the foreign power does not appreciate. Isaiah was God’s ambassador.

But Isaiah was sent to God’s own people. However, they had wandered, and were no longer listening to God, and thus not listening to God’s emissary. The text from our title goes on to say that they are “listening, but not perceiving; looking, but not understanding.” They have ears and eyes and minds and hearts for other things.

Moses was sent before Pharaoh, ruler of Egypt, to seek the release of the enslaved descendants of Abraham. Appearing before the most powerful man in the world at the time, Moses was rebuffed, even as he introduced plague after plague that would decimate Egypt. He was an unappreciated ambassador!

Jeremiah the prophet, after Isaiah, was put in prison. He was publicly bound in stocks for humiliation. He was thrown in a watery pit, perhaps a sewer of sorts. Speaking God’s word to the people, he was regarded as unpatriotic.

The leaders of the northern kingdom said to Amos the prophet, “Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah and there eat bread and there do your prophesying! But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence.”

Jesus, then, in the Beatitudes, said “Blessed are those who have been persecuted … for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

What we must digest, then, from this consistent trend throughout Scripture, is that when commissioned by God to be an ambassador, or a prophet, or a preacher, or a witness - it is not for the sake of popularity. Our job is not to appeal to unbelievers with enticing words, though we should always be respectful. We are not to measure success by “customers’” happiness. Ambassadors are to speak the message of the authority that they represent - no more, and no less. And we seem to have forgotten that. 

Jesus sent His disciples on mission. His instruction? “Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.” 

Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? (Isaiah 1:12)

 Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? (Isaiah 1:12)

This question, from the opening chapter of Isaiah, critiques the “worship” of God’s people. God had given them Solomon’s temple, designed according to God’s plan, as a place for God to meet with His people. We do not have a temple-building today that corresponds to this. Rather, the “place” where God’s people meet with God is in Christ. Yes, we have church buildings, but church buildings are not the temple, and this won’t be an article against tracking mud on the sanctuary carpet.

How is it that we “track mud” on Christ? Or the community of Christ? The question is not that hard to answer, though we will go to the text first.

The question that serves as the title is from verse 12. A question in verse 11 says, “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” That is, you do the same things over and over, as though the mere doing of them is sufficient, even though you don’t mean them, or think seriously and spiritually about them. So Sunday we will observe Lord’s Table. Oh, it’s time for that again. No, it can’t be that way. It must be approached thoughtfully and soberly. The offering plate is available. Throw in another check. No, each offering is accompanied with the spiritual thought that God has given so much more to us. Read my Bible, then check it off the to-do list. No, this is God’s Word. It is the most distinguished message, and only heavenly message that you will read today. It is the light that illumines all else. We cannot do it perfunctorily.

The text goes on to emphasize God’s distaste for these thoughtless religious observances. The subject moves to prayer. Note this verse: “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2) We’ll talk more about this Sunday.

I remember standing at family’s door (everyone loves it when the pastor stands at the door) and the wife was giving the husband what-for because he had just tracked on her freshly mopped floor. She had a point. And so does God. We should not approach God’s presence in Christ with less care than we exercise when we trim our fingernails. Like the man at the altar who remembers someone who has something against him, stop what you are doing, take the time and the trouble, and make it right. Why? Because God has taken time and trouble for us, to make us right, through Christ.