Tomorrow is Not Yours to Predict (Isaiah 22:12-14)

Children's Lesson (click here)

I. 'Annie-esque'?

What is your perspective on tomorrow? To be clear, not tomorrow in general (like do you think we'll have flying cars one day). No. Your tomorrow. What is your perspective on your tomorrow?

Would you call your perspective, Annie-esque? What does that mean? It means you believe “the sun will come out tomorrow”, and that you would “bet your bottom dollar” on that outcome. Or to put it differently, “Are you generally optimistic about tomorrow?” Or are you generally pessimistic? And no matter how you answer, I'd also ask, “Why?” Keeping that in mind, turn to Isaiah 22.

II. The Passage: “For Tomorrow We Die” (22:12-14)

So before we look at our main verses this morning, verses 12-14, let's set the scene described here, beginning in verse 1. One of the three valleys that borders the city of Jerusalem is described in verses 1 and 5 as “the valley of vision” (which may mean, 'the valley described in the vision'). What does that description reveal? It reveals the coming of the Assyrian army in 701 BC. But for some reason, in the face of the overwhelming power of their enemies, the people of the city (according to verses 1 and 2) are shouting and celebrating. One commentator explains it this way, “The naive bravado of pumped-up nationalism covered the nervous fears of the city. But the city had no reason to cheer.” (John D. W. Watts) Indeed, verses 2 and 3 already depict causalities. But they are not soldiers. They are captured leaders who had attempted to escape the siege. This tragic situation is precisely why, in verse 4, we find the prophet weeping for the people in light of this vision.

So how did Judah's leaders respond to the approaching threat? They were, according to verses 8-11, arming residents, repairing breaches in the walls, and securing their water supply in order to prepare for the expected siege. You can read more about this in 2 Chronicles 32. But we can't miss two key references in these opening verses. One is in verse 5... “For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision...” V. 11 points us in a similar direction, “You [leaders] made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did [or made] it, or see him who planned it long ago.”

It is that spiritual neglect that provides us with a clear context for our main passage in 22:12–14...

In that day the Lord GOD of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth; [13] and behold [what does the prophet see instead... behold], joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” [14] The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: “Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts.

Now in terms of a response to this awful situation, think with me, first ,about what the people should have done. According to the prophet in verse 12, they should have wept. They should have been mourning. They should have practiced the well known rituals of repentance: shaving their heads and wearing sackcloth. You see, for almost forty years, the prophet Isaiah had been calling the people to repentance. The second half of the 8^th century BC was a time of injustice and idolatry in southern Israel. It was a time of empty religious practice, but fervent faith in military and political solutions. As God mercifully declared to them through the prophet:

“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, [17] learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” [18] “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD: “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow...”.

And now, as He had done many times before in Israel's history, in keeping with their covenant with him, God was bringing a foreign army again his people. Why? In order to judge their covenant unfaithfulness. What should the people have done in light of this news? They should have listened to prophet and to their own history and turned to God in repentance.

But, second, think with me about what the people did instead. We find a description of what they did in verse 13. Surprisingly and sadly, instead of repentance there was revelry. Instead of confession there was celebration. Instead of mourning... there was, if you can believe it, feasting. In light of the frightening scenario unfolding before them, they were doing exactly the opposite of what they should have been doing. This leads to the million dollar question: why?

Well, we don't have to look far for an answer. It's right there at the end of the same verse. What was their rationale for reveling rather than repenting? “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” The people of southern Israel had a very clear perspective on tomorrow. And it definitely was not Annie-esque. In contrast to Little Orphan Annie, I would described their perspective as hedonistically pessimistic. They felt sure that their lives would soon come to an end. Therefore, they were going to distract themselves, they were going to medicate themselves, with earthly pleasures with whatever time they had left. If there time was short, then it was time to indulge. Of course, it's not hard finding examples of this perspective today. Even if people don't believe they're literally going to die tomorrow, they still subscribe to a YOLO mentality, and then justify all sorts of excessive and even reckless choices.

But Scripture also speaks of another unhealthy perspective on tomorrow. This is how the book of James describes that perspective:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)

I would label this perspective as humanly optimistic. Unlike the first perspective, which sees one's time as limited, this perspective leans the other direction, seeing one's time as unlimited (practically speaking, of course). To give you more insight into what he's saying here, it's helpful to note that James goes on in verse 16 to describe his intended audience as arrogant. But why? Surely making plans is not inherently bad, is it? No. The kind of planning James is addressing here is planning as if tomorrow is in your hands. Or, it is faith in our predictive powers to reassure ourselves regarding our assumptions about tomorrow. Do we do this consciously? Not usually. But according to the Bible, such assumptions are still wrong. And they are revealing.

The point James has made for us, and what Isaiah is stressing in 22:12, is that our perspective on tomorrow shouldn't be hedonistically pessimistic or humanly optimistic. It should be humbly theistic. My tomorrow, your tomorrow, is in God's hands. “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As Isaiah makes clear, God was calling the people of Judah to repentance. What would that mean? It could mean that God would relent. That tomorrow did not have to be characterized by judgment and death. It could be characterized by mercy and life instead.

And guess what? That's exactly what happened. According to 1 Kings chapters 18 and19, as well as 2 Chronicles 32, a descendant of David named King Hezekiah helped lead the people into that very repentance. And in His mercy, God spared them. But as verse 14 indicates, the iniquity remained. And eventually... judgment would come.

III. In This Life Only?

So what about you? What's your perspective on tomorrow? Hedonistically pessimistic? Humanly optimistic? Or humbly theistic? Are you tempted to live for today? Or to presume upon tomorrow?

For me, the latter is a more common temptation. How easily I can taken tomorrow for granted. How easily I can slip into prideful planning. But my desire is to be humbly theistic. I hope that's your desire as well. So... how can we do that? Where does it start? It all starts with another king; a descendant of David named Jesus. Or to be even more specific, it starts with the resurrection of Jesus. Listen to how the Apostle Paul refutes this false teaching in 1 Corinthians 15:13-19, teaching that asserted there was no such thing as resurrection from the dead. Paul writes...

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. [Now, please don't miss this part...] If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Now listen to just one more point Paul makes as he continue to detail the implications of rejecting

the truth about resurrection. This is 15:32... “If the dead are not raised,” writes Paul, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” That sounds familiar, doesn't it? Okay. Why does Paul quote here from Isaiah 22? Because if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we have no hope for tomorrow. We only have fairy tales for today. We only have a placebo, something to make us think everything is okay. But it isn't. If the body of Jesus Christ is still in a Middle Eastern tomb, then we might as well 'medicate' ourselves with the pleasures of today, while we still have time.

But if Jesus was raised (and he was), if he lives (and he does), then everything about your tomorrow changes. Why? Because when you are promised eternal pleasures, eternal blessings, in the presence of God (promises sealed in the blood of Jesus and confirmed by his resurrection),

then you really can reject that live-for-today mentality and the allure of earthly pleasures. And when you know that Jesus reconciles you to a loving Father who really will take care of you, who really will cause all things (good and bad) to work together for your good, then you really can reject that prideful planning, that idolatry of control, and those foolish assumption that your tomorrow will be just as you expect it.

Brothers and sisters, friends, please don't leave God out of your equations about the future. Ask yourself instead, “If my tomorrow really is in God's hand (all of my tomorrows, in fact), then what has he told me in his word about that tomorrow?” No, he doesn't give me all the specifics regarding my tomorrow. But He has revealed what matters most. And what matters most about your tomorrow will absolutely transform your life today. But only through Jesus. Apart from Him, your tomorrow has no hope... and is hopelessly hurtling towards judgment. But when we trust in Jesus Christ as our only hope, as the one true Redeemer and King, then you can be sure of this: tomorrow... there will be sun. Or we might say "light". Bright. Warm. Forever. In the presence of God himself.