When God Calls You to Mourn for Sin, Don’t Party Instead

Isaiah 22

Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die! (Isa 22:13)

Main Idea: God calls on the citizens of Jerusalem to fast and repent; instead, they party and die.

1. Jerusalem: Besieged like Any Other Sinful City (22:1-8a)
   1. The context: God’s judgments on all sinful nations
   2. Bitter surprise: Judah and Jerusalem no different than Gentile sinners
   3. The valley of vision: Jerusalem more accountable because of prophets
   4. The siege described
   5. Isaiah’s overpowering reaction
2. What Jerusalem Should Have Done: Faith and Repentance (22:11-12)
   1. The visions of the prophets warned Jerusalem of this for centuries.
   2. Now current events verify the prophets’ warnings.
   3. Isaiah told the people what to have: faith and repentance.
3. What Jerusalem Did: Faithless Preparations and Feasting (22:8b-11,13)
   1. Faithless military preparations
   2. Self-indulgent feasting
4. God’s Solemn Response: This Sin Will Never Be Forgiven (22:14).
   1. A shocking response to shocking actions
   2. The unforgivable sin: attacking the means of grace
5. Jesus Christ: Our Sovereign and Immovable Support (22:15-25)
   1. The range of God’s piercing vision: from national to individual focus
   2. Shebna: arrogant official seeking worldly security
   3. Hilkiah: humble servant exalted by God
   4. Christ: the fulfillment of the promise

Jerusalem: Besieged like Any Other Sinful City

Isaiah 22:1-8a

This chapter displays a stunning judgment from God against his own people for this statement: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” God swore that this sin would never be wiped out. In our pleasure-loving age it’s easy to misunderstand that verdict and think the God of the Bible is against all human pleasure. But the fact is, God created us for eternal pleasures in his presence (Ps 16:11). And Jesus likened heaven to a wedding banquet prepared by a king for his son in which the oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered and everything is prepared (Matt 22:1-14). So why does God pronounce such a dire judgment on feasting in Isaiah 22?

The context is God’s oracles of judgment on the Gentile nations of Assyria, Babylon, Edom, Arabia, and Egypt. God’s wrath-filled justice toward the wicked pagans of the earth would have brought delight to any patriotic Judahite. But suddenly, in Isaiah 22 the shocking verdict comes like a thunderbolt: God threatens Jerusalem with destruction just like any Gentile nation. In fact, they are actually much worse than the Gentile sinners. Because Jerusalem had been so clearly instructed and warned by the prophets (including Isaiah), they were even more accountable and guilty for their sins.

So in verses 1-3 Isaiah describes a deadly siege to come on Jerusalem. The city is filled with tumult and revelry: a city of laughter and lust, of eating, drinking, and making merry, of bloodshed, covetousness, and greed, of sexual immorality and idolatry. What should have been the “Faithful City” (Zech 8:3) was the Party City. But it was so no longer; under the wrath of God, it would become the Dead City. And the perished will not have died through valiant struggle in battle but by famine and plague as in a siege.

Amazingly, the invaders of Isaiah 22 were identified by name: Elam and Kir (v. 6). The exact same people who would later help to destroy Babylon (21:2) would join in the invasion of Judah and the siege of Jerusalem. As it turns out, the invading power would not be the dreaded Assyrians but the Babylonians. Strangely, Isaiah lists the Elamites as taking part with the Babylonians in the assault on Jerusalem before they would turn later to destroy Babylon as well. Thus the events of Isaiah 22 precede those of Isaiah 21!

So “the Lord God of Armies had a day” in store for Jerusalem (v. 5) in which he would judge them for their sins. As a result of this, Isaiah is once again moved to an emotional reaction (v. 4), as he had been earlier concerning Moab and Babylon (Isa 15–16; 21). However, here his grief is more intense because this is his own people and his own city that were being destroyed by God’s wrath.

What Jerusalem Should Have Done: Faith and Repentance

Isaiah 22:11-12

Isaiah was plain: “On that day the Lord God of Armies called for weeping, for wailing, for shaven heads, and for the wearing of sackcloth” (v. 12). This is the only proper response to the river of wickedness that had flowed from the corrupt hearts of the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. God wanted them to repent with great grief over their sins and “look to” the Lord in faith (v. 11). So he called on them to do this as they saw the Babylonians approaching. This is what they should have done. But what did they do?

What Jerusalem Did: Faithless Preparations and Feasting

Isaiah 22:8b-11,13

Instead of deep, heartfelt repentance, instead of sackcloth and mourning, instead of looking to the Lord in faith to meet the coming threat, Jerusalem made faithless military preparations and feasted. When they should have been mourning, they celebrated. When they should have been trusting in God, they trusted in themselves. The military planners prepared for battle, trusting in the weapons in their arsenal (called “the House of the Forest”); they shored up their defenses and stored up their water. But they did not look to (trust in) the God who created the water pool long ago (v. 11). A city or nation can make all the preparations it wants; if God is against them, it doesn’t matter what they do, for disaster is imminent.

As the Babylonians approached, the citizens of Judah and Jerusalem should have been asking themselves and the Lord why this Gentile power was even coming their way to begin with. They should have understood that God had promised to bring Gentile armies to discipline his people for their idolatries if they failed to keep his laws (Deut 32:21-25). They should have mourned for their sins. But instead they faithlessly prepared for battle. And then, when all their preparations were complete, they filled their bellies with meat and wine and celebrated. They said, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (v. 13). Paul quoted this exact expression in 1 Corinthians 15:32 as he was working through the implications of life if there is no resurrection from the dead. If this life truly is all there is, then mindless hedonism, grabbing as much pleasure as possible while living in the moment, is the only reasonable course.

God’s Solemn Response: This Sin Will Never Be Forgiven

Isaiah 22:14

The response from the Lord is solemn and terrifying: “This iniquity will not be wiped out for you people as long as you live” (v. 14). It’s as though God says this is an unforgivable sin. The wrath of God will be poured out, and there will be no atonement. But why such a terrifying response from our loving and forgiving God? Certainly it is true that no sin is so great that it cannot be covered, given the infinite value of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. But the real issue has to do with how God works salvation in sinful hearts. God calls on sinners to repent and provides the means of grace by which sinners can avail themselves ultimately of the finished work of Christ on the cross. But if instead of repentance and faith the sinners harden their hearts and go exactly the opposite direction, if they party instead of mourning, there is no other way of salvation available.

Jesus Christ: Our Sovereign and Immovable Support

Isaiah 22:15-25

The rest of the chapter shows a shift from the national warning he gives a century and a half ahead of time to an individual warning given to a man who lived in Isaiah’s time. God’s Word covers the entire range of human experience, from the global to the individual. Global issues arise from the tendencies of individual human hearts. The universe is made up of atoms. So human history is made up of individuals.

In verses 15-25 God addresses the sinful selfishness of a specific man, Shebna, the palace steward, who had arrogantly misused the prerogatives of his office to carve out a privileged place for himself, including a luxurious crypt where he would ultimately (so he supposed) be buried with full honors. Instead, Isaiah prophesies that he would lose his position of power and be hurled to die in a foreign land. In his place God would raise up a faithful and godly official, Eliakim son of Hilkiah (v. 20). God would clothe Eliakim with Shebna’s robe and sash and install him in power to serve God’s people in Jerusalem and Judah (v. 21). But then this prophecy soars above Eliakim, for God promises to place on his shoulder the key to the house of David: “What he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.” God will establish this man as a firm peg for his father’s house, and everything will hang on him—all the descendants of his father’s house (vv. 23-24). But even he will be sheared away (v. 25) when he also dies.

These verses show the relationship between actual leaders in Judah’s history and the ultimate fulfillment in Christ. Judahite history was made up of godless leaders, like those in verses 1-14 and Shebna, as well as of godly, capable leaders, like Eliakim. But ultimately, good and bad will all be sheared away, and all that will be left is Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. The words of verse 22 are ascribed to the resurrected and glorified Christ in Revelation 3:7. He is the one who holds the key; what he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open. Unlike any human leader (good or bad), now that Christ has risen from the dead, he cannot die again. He is an infinitely strong peg that can never be sheared away. Everything hanging on Christ will be held securely for all eternity.

Application

The strongest application of this chapter is for the people of God to learn how to mourn for sin and how to trust fully in Christ. Mourning for sin is never easy, but it is truly part of the Holy Spirit’s work in us as we continue to struggle with sin. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be happy, to celebrate, to eat and drink and be merry. But when God calls on us to mourn, we must not party instead. Many Christians, under conviction of sin, try to take a shortcut back to God: a quick prayer, a brief bowing of the head, a shallow promise never to do it again. But in many cases God is calling us to a far deeper work of mourning and trusting. James 4:9 was written to Christian people to “be miserable and mourn and weep.” Sometimes that is the healthiest thing a person can do. Ask God to search you and know you and show you if there is any deep-seated sin pattern that is destroying your life. When the Spirit reveals it to you, do not go too quickly on to happy feelings. Ultimately, trust in Jesus, the firm foundation for your life. Hang everything on him, and he will never let you go.

Reflect and Discuss

1. In our fun-loving age, so saturated with ways to please our senses, how is the message of this chapter (“When God calls you to mourn for sin, don’t party instead!”) a particularly needed one? Why is it hard for us to accept this message?
2. How does James 4:9 especially support this message?
3. What is the significance of the apostle Paul quoting Isaiah 22 in 1 Corinthians 15:32? How do non-Christians live out this hedonistic philosophy, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die”?
4. How can we Christians use these concepts to preach the gospel to people who are living for earthly pleasures?
5. What do you make of the fact that God laid all of this out so plainly to Judah through Isaiah the prophet more than 150 years ahead of time?
6. What does this chapter show about the nature of the sinful human heart, especially in the faithless preparations and celebrations?
7. What are some ways that we can go deeper in repentance when the Spirit convicts us of sin? How do we tend to take shortcuts and seek quick fixes so that we can feel good again in our walk with the Lord?
8. How would Psalm 139:23-24 help us in going deeper to do genuine heart work under the painfully thorough convicting work of the Holy Spirit?
9. What do you learn about wicked and godly leadership from the examples of Shebna and Eliakim?
10. What does Revelation 3:7 (quoting Isa 22:22) teach you about Jesus Christ? How is Jesus’s power to open doors that no one can shut essential to the advance of the gospel, especially into closed countries where Christianity is illegal?