Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20031228.htm

ISAIAH: GOD'S DIRECTIVES TO THOSE TROUBLED AT GOVERNMENTAL APOSTASY
Part XXIII: God's Salvation Of The Social Order By Means Of His Holy Spirit
(Isaiah 32:1-20)
  1. Introduction
    1. The social order in many communities of the world is in need of salvation: one need only consider the constant terrorist threats that seem to loom around us at Christmas and New Year's to see the need exists.
    2. God plans to saved man's social order, and the way He does directs us on edifying action toward society:
  2. God's Salvation Of The Social Order By Means Of His Holy Spirit, Isaiah 32:1-20.
    1. God led Isaiah to predict a wonderful social order would exist in Judah in the Messianic Kingdom, 32:1-8:
      1. In the Messianic Kingdom, a King (Christ) will reign in righteousness with godly administrators, 32:1.
      2. In that day, from this Messiah all of the way down to the lower officials in His administration, rulers will edify their subjects rather than abuse them as follows, Isaiah 32:2a,b:
        1. From Messiah on down, each ruler will protect rather than destroy his subjects, Isaiah 32:2a.
        2. From Messiah on down, each ruler will encourage rather than discourage his subjects, Isaiah 32:2b.
        3. Also, deception will end as people are attentive to God's truth, Isaiah 32:3-4; as a result, people will no longer judge others by false credentials so that a fool is honored and a noble abased, but men will be judged for their actual character (the KJV's "liberal" = "noble," cf. Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 652; Harris, Archer & Waltke, T.W.O.T., v. II, p. 554-555; Young, Isaiah, v. II, p. 388ff), Isaiah 32:5-8.
    2. Yet, the social order in Isaiah's day was not nearly so good as is seen in his description in Isaiah 32:9-14:
      1. The women of Judah were complacently indulging themselves in materialistic lifestyles, Isaiah 32:9.
      2. Thus, Isaiah warned their sinfully self-centered lives would be shaken as the Assyrians stripped the grapes from the vines, foiling their joyful ingathering feasts, 32:10-13; Bib. Kno. Com., O. T., p. 1082.
      3. Eventually, these materialistic women whose happiness depended on their surroundings rather than on God would grieve over their empty palaces and deserted cities due to the Assyrian invasion, Isa. 32:14.
    3. Nevertheless, by way of the outpouring of God's Spirit upon all (believers) who begin as God's subjects in the Messianic Kingdom (at Christ's Second Coming to earth), the social order along with all nature will be saved from such current destructiveness, and will enjoy God's blessed peace, Isaiah 32:15-20:
      1. In the middle of a sentence of woe, verse 15b unveils a turn of events in the social order, a turn starting with the outpouring of God's Spirit from heaven upon God's people in Judah, cf. Isaiah 32:15a.
      2. With that outpouring of God's Spirit in the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom, all the destruction of the Assyrians (and any other Gentile nation for that matter!) will be reversed (Isaiah 32:15b-20):
        1. With the outpouring of God's Spirit on the people, the wilderness will become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field in turn will become so overgrown that it will be considered a forest, Isaiah 32:15b.
        2. Isaiah then explained how the Spirit's outpouring will produce this blessing: (1) due to the filling of the Spirit, people will be righteous in the wilderness and field, (2) and this righteousness will yield God's reward of peace, quietness and lasting security in the wilderness and field where such righteousness is practiced, 32:16-17. (3) People will then dwell in peaceful, secure, quiet habitations, 32:18. (4) Indeed, versus the social harm to occur due to sin in Isaiah's day (32:19), the upright in the Kingdom will enjoy agricultural bounty and peaceful coexistence with their neighbors: in contrast to the grief caused by crop-denuding Assyrian invaders, farm animals in Christ's Kingdom will range free on everyone's property with no harm or complaint, Isaiah 32:20!
Lesson: Because of their SINFUL injustice and self-indulgence, in the short-term, the people of Judah would be judged by God to have the Assyrians denude their land; yet, at the Kingdom's outpouring of God's Spirit, the people will view each other truthfully and deal rightly with one another, protecting and helping each other so that God will bless their social order and land.

Application: (1) As believers, may we confess any sins we might harbor and live by God's indwelling Holy Spirit to enjoy blessing, security and good relationships with one another TODAY, cf. Gal. 5:15-16 with Eph. 6:3; 1 Peter 3:10-12. (2) Then, may we disciple the lost to believe in Christ and be indwelt and controlled by the Holy Spirit that they might enjoy a greater degree of social order blessings typical of those in Christ's future Kingdom. In SO doing, we can address the world's social order needs today!