Ichabod, the Glory Has Departed

By Pastor Matt Black

July 07, 2006
Lord's Day Evening
Isaiah 7:18-25

 

Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 7. 

 

Review: Last week we looked at one of the kings of Judah by the name of Ahaz.  He was a wicked unbelieving king.  He was under attack by his two neighboring countries: Aram (Syria) and Northern Israel.  Because of his unbelief, he panicked.  Instead of calling on God, he called on the great Assyrian nation.  When God told Ahaz to ask for any sign he wanted in order to prove that the LORD would protect him from any enemy, Ahaz put up a pious front as if he were too spiritual to ask anything of God.  Remember, God had said to Ahaz in verse 4 to “fear not” and “be not fainthearted.”  God would be on his side.  Even though Aram and Israel were against Ahaz, God said that their plans would come to nothing.  God made a promise to Ahaz in verse 7 says, “It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.”   But Ahaz refused to ask for a miraculous sign to verify God’s promise.  By the way, why didn’t Ahaz want God’s assistance in this crisis?  Remember what he had done?  He took all the gold and silver out of the Lord’s Temple and sold it all to the Assyrian army in exchange for their assistance.  He sold out God and tried to be his own savior.  So God said to Ahaz that He would not only give him a sign, but He would give a sign to the entire house of David. We read in verse 14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you [ALL] a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”  We see three miracles in this verse:

 

  1. We learned that this virgin would conceive a child as a virgin (which is naturally impossible);  “a virgin shall conceive”
  2. We learned that the virgin would still be a virgin at the time of birth, for “the virgin shall … bear a son”
  3. The third miracle is that the child would be God in the flesh, Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). 

 

Two other prophecies are noteworthy:

  1. Within 65 years, the northern kingdom would no longer be purely Jewish, but would intermarry with the Assyrians and become a half pagan/half Jewish people.  Look back at verse 8-9, “within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. 9  And the head of Ephraim is Samaria.”  This people became known by the New Testament times as the “Samaritans.”  These are the people this prophecy is talking about.  We read the story of the “good Samaritan.”  The Samaritans were despised by the pure bred Jews.  The northern kingdom of Israel is “broken” and no longer “a people.”

 

  1. The other significant prophecy in this passage is that within two years God was going to defeat Aram and Israel.  Regardless if Ahaz would have paid Assyria off or not, Judah’s two neighboring countries would have been taken over by Assyria.   The prophecy is found in verse 16, “For before [a] child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.”  By the time a child begins to develop a conscience, about two and a half years, Israel and Aram would be defeated.  The fulfillment of this prophecy took place in 732 AD, at the exact time God said it would happen.

 

That leaves us with a man who has rejected God in unbelief.  Tonight I want to remind you that if you reject God’s presence in your life, His glory will depart from you!! 

 

There’s a man in the Bible named Ichabod.  About the beginning of Samuel the prophet’s ministry, Israel went to battle with the Philistines.  They put the ark of the covenant, the symbol of God’s presence with them, at the front of the battle.  This is still the time of the judges before Saul is king.  Eli was the high priest of Israel, and God judged him for not having his family in order.  Hophni and Phinehas were his wicked sons.  To judge Eli, God allowed the Philistines to capture the Ark of the Covenant. 

 

When the tidings of the disastrous defeat of the Israelites in the battle against the Philistines came to Shiloh, the wife of Phinehas "was near to be delivered. And when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed" (1 Samuel 4:19ff). As she was dying, her child was born and she called his name Ichabod, which means glory.   With the child born, she cried out, "The glory is departed from Israel;" and with those words on her lips she died.

 

This is exactly what happens to Judah.  The down trend begins here.  The glory departs from Israel and Judah because they have become idolatrous nations.  Ahaz rejects God’s help and now he must deal with God’s punishment.

 

Having given that review, will you stand with me as we read verse 18-25?  The title of tonight’s message is “Ichabod, the Glory Has Departed”.

 

Isaiah 7:18-25, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19  And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes. 20  In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard. 21  And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; 22  And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. 23  And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns. 24  With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns. 25  And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

 

Let’s go through our test verse by verse and make some applications.

 

I.       Sin is real: The reality of the consequences (verses 18-20)

  1. Sin will take over your life like.
    1. First we see that if you continue in sin, the Lord will give you to it.  It is the “LORD” that shall “hiss” or “whistle”  and call out the judgment.  Even though Judah is an arid land, and even around the dry water courses, there are very few insects, the whole land will be covered. 

 

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss [WHISTLE] for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers [THAT FLOW INTO THE NILE] of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

 

EGYPT: Each year the flooding of the Nile river brought swarms of flies to Egypt.  The flies picture the pestiness of Egypt to Judah.  God will call the armies of Egypt to swarm around Judah like flies. 

 

ASSYRIA: The hills of Assyria were well known for their bee keeping and making of honey. The bees from Assyria picture the Assyrian army’s cruelty and danger.  The Assyrian army would be mighty in number but also fearsome and dangerous.  They were something to fear.

 

Egypt and Assyria seemingly had a lot to offer.  Ahaz thought they would protect his country.  Yes the water of the Nile brought much productivity and industry to Egypt, and the bees of Assyria brought sweet honey.  But these insects can destroy people and crops. 

 

Sin always TEMPTS, but it’s promises are EMPTY!

 

    1. Sin is consuming like a swarm of insects. 

19  And they shall come, and shall rest [SWARM] all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.

 

These bees and flies are said to go even where they are not normally known to go—to the empties barren places like rocks and thorns and bramble bushes. 

 

That is how sin is!  The effects of sin will hurt you in places you never dreamed.

 

Application:  Perhaps you give yourself to a bad Hollywood movie.  You think, no one will know!  You listen to the Name of the Lord taken in vain.  You watch sensual scenes that are filthy in God’s sight.  God’s going to call the whistle on you!  What you do in secret he will judge openly!

 

Numbers 32:23  Be sure your sin will find you out.

 

Luke 8:17  For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.

 

Sin will take over your life! 

 

  1. Sin will leave you shorn and humiliated.

20  In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.

 

The beard was a glory to a man.  It was a sign of his manlihood.  God promises that sin will humiliate us and make us like schoolboys.  But not only their beards were shorn!  To shave the whole body was the highest humiliation.  You see, if you give yourself to sin and the world, it will ultimately have it’s way with you.

 

Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34).

 

So we see the reality of sin, but secondly, we see….

 

II.    Sin has Results: The Results of the Conquest (verses 21-25).

 

  1. Sin results in poverty.  Previous abundance will be gone.

21  And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;

Just a few animals will be sufficient for the few people that will remain in the land.

 

22  And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.

In a time of poverty, the pour have no agriculture.  Israel was known for it’s vines and vineyards, but now it has nothing but a few cows.  The culture and economy has changed radically! 

 

  1. Sin results in NO profit.

1. Money spent on sin and self will have NO Return.  No return on sin and self!!

23  And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns.

 

2.  Now men must protect themselves from vandals.  There is no peace.  When you give yourself to sin, you have NO Protection.

24  With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.

 

3.  With sin there is now NO

25  And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock [HOE], there shall not come thither [MEN FOR] the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

 

 

The precious hills of Palestine could not be reached with a plow of oxen, but were delicately digged and cultivated with a mattock, which is like a garden hoe. That which was once precious and cultivated, now is for wild oxen and despised cattle. 

 

Application:  Sin will take its toll on your life if you give yourself to it.  When the glory of the Lord departs from you, all worth in yourself will be gone, and you will be worth nothing but to be trodden down in the world.

 

Sadly, there are some today, that once gave first place to faith and obedience to God, but now have given place to unbelief and worldly wisdom. 

 

Turn over Psalm 1.  Do you want the glory of God’s presence in your life, and will you go the way of the world?

 

This Psalm makes clear the blessed glory of those who obey the Lord, and they emptiness of the wicked:

 

Psalm 1, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

    4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6  For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

 

Conclusion:  Dear friend, don’t let “Ichabod” be written on your life!  

 

Has God’s glory departed from your life because of some sin?  Is your heart dull and cold and lukewarm toward the things of God?  You need to deal with your sin before you will experience all the benefits of God’s presence.  Remember, if you are a believer, the Lord will never let you down.  His promise is just as sure as when it was first given in Hebrews 13:5.  What does the Lord Jesus Christ say to us there?  “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”   Forsake your sin, Flee to God, and Find your fellowship in Him alone and not in the unfruitful works of darkness!

 

Closing Hymn: Stand up, Stand up for Jesus

 

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