The Fear of the Lord is His Treasure Text: Isaiah 33:2-6
Introduction: The Unstable World and the Unshakeable God
We live in an age that prides itself on its instability. Our politicians are shifty, our currencies are flimsy, our philosophies are built on sand, and our moral convictions change with the seasons. Men look at the chaos, the constant uproar, the fleeing of peoples and the scattering of nations, and they call it progress. They build their towers of Babel with the latest intellectual fads, and then act surprised when God introduces a little confusion of tongues and the whole project comes crashing down. They seek stability in the creature, in the state, in their own autonomous reason, and the result is a world that is perpetually rattled, anxious, and coming apart at the seams.
Into this chaos, the prophet Isaiah speaks a word of glorious, rugged stability. He speaks to a people, Judah, who were caught between the Assyrian hammer and the Egyptian anvil. They were tempted, as we are, to make frantic alliances with the world, to trust in horses and chariots, to seek salvation in anyone and anything other than the living God. But Isaiah calls them back to the only source of true security. He calls them to a right understanding of who God is and what He provides. This passage is a prayer, a prophecy, and a profound statement of worldview. It lays out the only possible foundation for a stable life, a stable family, a stable church, and a stable nation. And the foundation is not a principle, or a program, or a political party. The foundation is God Himself, and the key to accessing this foundation is what our age despises most: the fear of the Lord.
This is not a message our therapeutic culture wants to hear. It wants a God who is a celestial butler, a divine affirmation machine. But the God of Isaiah is the exalted King, the one who dwells on high, whose very presence scatters the nations. He is a God of justice and righteousness, and He is the only one who can fill our empty institutions with substance. To approach this God is to approach a consuming fire, and the only sane way to do so is with reverence and awe. This fear is not the cowering dread of a slave before a tyrant. It is the respectful, loving, trembling awe of a son before a great and good Father. And Isaiah tells us that this fear is not a burden; it is a treasure.
The Text
O Yahweh, be gracious to us; we have hoped in You. Be their strength every morning, Our salvation also in the time of distress.
At the sound of the tumult peoples flee; At the lifting up of Yourself nations scatter.
Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; As locusts rushing about men rush about on it.
Yahweh is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
And He will be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; The fear of Yahweh is his treasure.
(Isaiah 33:2-6 LSB)
A Prayer for Daily Grace (v. 2)
The passage begins with the cry of a people who know where their help comes from.
"O Yahweh, be gracious to us; we have hoped in You. Be their strength every morning, Our salvation also in the time of distress." (Isaiah 33:2)
This is the starting point of all true spiritual life: a plea for grace. Grace is unmerited favor. It is God giving us what we do not deserve and withholding what we absolutely do deserve. The people of God do not approach Him on the basis of their own righteousness, their track record, or their good intentions. They come as beggars, asking for a gift. And their plea is grounded in their hope: "we have hoped in You." This is not a flimsy, sentimental wish. Biblical hope is confident expectation based on the character and promises of God. They are saying, "We have placed all our bets on You. There is no Plan B."
Notice the rhythm of their request: "Be their strength every morning." This is a request for daily bread, for daily strength. It is a recognition that yesterday's grace is not sufficient for today's trials. God's mercies are new every morning, and so our dependence must be renewed every morning. We are like spiritual batteries that leak power overnight. We cannot run on the fumes of a past spiritual experience. Each day, with its own set of temptations, duties, and distresses, requires a fresh infusion of divine strength. This is a prayer against self-reliance. It is an admission that without His arm to lean on, we will stumble before we even get out the door.
And this daily strength is connected to crisis management: "Our salvation also in the time of distress." The same God who provides the steady, morning-by-morning strength is the God who provides dramatic, decisive salvation when the walls are caving in. He is the God of the mundane and the God of the miraculous. He is our sustenance and our savior. The world looks for salvation in political saviors, economic bailouts, or technological fixes. But the people of God know that true salvation, whether from an invading army or from the tyranny of our own sin, comes from Yahweh alone.
The Terrifying Sovereignty of God (v. 3-4)
Isaiah then pivots from prayer to a description of the sheer power of the God to whom they are praying.
"At the sound of the tumult peoples flee; At the lifting up of Yourself nations scatter. Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; As locusts rushing about men rush about on it." (Isaiah 33:3-4 LSB)
This is not a tame God. This is not a manageable deity. When God merely lifts Himself up, the nations, with all their pomp and military might, scatter like dust. The "tumult" is the sound of His majestic approach, and it sends godless armies into a panicked retreat. We live in a world that has forgotten the terror of the Lord. Men think they can defy God, mock His law, and build their secular empires without consequence. But Isaiah reminds us that the nations are but a drop in the bucket to Him. When He decides to act, all human opposition melts away.
This is a profoundly postmillennial picture. The nations rage, they plot in vain, but when the King in Zion begins to move, they are broken. The advance of the gospel in the world is the "lifting up" of God. As Christ's kingdom advances, the pagan structures of unbelief and rebellion are scattered. They do not fall all at once, but they do fall. History is the story of God dismantling the kingdoms of men and establishing the kingdom of His Son.
And the result of this divine victory is plunder. "Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers." The wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just. When God overthrows His enemies, their resources are transferred to the hands of His people. The image of the caterpillar or locust is one of thoroughness. Just as a swarm of locusts strips a field bare, so the people of God will inherit the spoil of their defeated enemies. This is not a call for violent revolution. It is a description of the inevitable result of covenant faithfulness. As God's people are faithful, God blesses them and brings the wealth of the nations into the service of His kingdom (Isaiah 60:5).
The Foundation of a Just Society (v. 5)
The reason for God's ultimate victory is rooted in His very nature and His purpose for His people.
"Yahweh is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness." (Isaiah 33:5 LSB)
God's exaltation is not arbitrary. He is exalted because He is transcendent, holy, and utterly distinct from His creation. He "dwells on high." This is the Creator/creature distinction in action. Because He is above and outside the system, He is the only one who can provide an objective standard for how the system ought to run. If your god is part of the system, like the pagan deities, then your laws will be arbitrary and self-serving.
But the God who dwells on high does not remain aloof. His exaltation is the very reason He can fill Zion, His covenant community, with "justice and righteousness." Justice refers to making right decisions, conforming to a standard. Righteousness is the standard itself, the very character of God. A society cannot have true justice without a transcendent standard of righteousness. When a culture rejects God, it loses its moral compass. Justice becomes whatever the powerful say it is. Rights become privileges granted and revoked by the state. This is why our modern world is awash in injustice, because it has rejected the only possible source of righteousness.
God's intention is to build a society on earth, beginning with the church, that reflects His character. He fills His people with His standards so that they can be a city on a hill, a beacon of true justice and righteousness to the scattered nations. This is the theonomic vision: not a top-down imposition of law by a political elite, but a bottom-up transformation of a people who have been filled with the law of God.
The True Treasure (v. 6)
The final verse brings it all together, identifying the core principle that undergirds this entire reality.
"And He will be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; The fear of Yahweh is his treasure." (Isaiah 33:6 LSB)
Here is the answer to our anxious and unstable age. Where do we find stability? Not in our 401(k)s. Not in our military. Not in our politicians. "He," Yahweh Himself, "will be the stability of your times." Our stability is not a thing, it is a person. It is a relationship with the unchanging God. When the world is shaking, the believer is standing on the rock that cannot be shaken.
This stability is described as a "wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge." This is true riches. Salvation is deliverance from our enemies, chief of which are sin and death. Wisdom is the skill of godly living, knowing how to apply God's truth to every area of life. Knowledge is the raw data of that truth, the understanding of who God is and what He has revealed. Our culture is drowning in information but starved of wisdom. It has knowledge of all sorts of things, but it has rejected the one piece of knowledge that makes sense of everything else. The Christian worldview provides this wealth, this stable, coherent understanding of reality.
And what is the key that unlocks this treasure chest? "The fear of Yahweh is his treasure." The pronoun here is ambiguous. Is it our treasure or God's treasure? The answer is both, and that is the point. The fear of the Lord is the treasure that God gives to His people, and it is the treasure that His people return to Him in the form of worship and obedience. It is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). It is the foundation of everything.
"The fear of Yahweh is his treasure." (Isaiah 33:6 LSB)
To fear God is to take Him seriously. It is to order your entire life, your family, your business, your politics, your everything, around His revealed will. It is to live with a constant awareness that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. When a man fears God, he fears nothing else. When a man does not fear God, he fears everything else. Our anxious, fearful, unstable world is the direct product of a culture that has lost the fear of God. They have exchanged the treasure for trinkets, and the result is turmoil.
Conclusion: The Stability of the Cross
This entire passage finds its ultimate fulfillment and its deepest meaning in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who is truly our strength every morning. He is the salvation for every time of distress. At His first coming, the demonic powers fled, and at His second coming, the nations will be scattered and judged.
Jesus Christ is the one in whom Yahweh is exalted. It is in the face of Christ that we see the perfect blend of justice and righteousness. God's justice demanded that our sin be punished. God's righteousness was displayed when Christ, the sinless one, took that punishment on our behalf. The cross is where God's high and holy standard met our rebellious sin, and where grace provided the only possible solution.
Therefore, Christ Himself is the stability of our times. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). He is our salvation. To be in Christ is to be unshakable, because He has already weathered the ultimate storm of God's wrath for us. And how do we access this treasure? Through the fear of the Lord. To fear God rightly is to see your sin for what it is and to flee to Christ as your only hope. It is to abandon all self-reliance and to trust in His finished work.
So, do you want stability in these unstable times? Do you want a firm foundation when the world is sinking sand? Then you must begin where Isaiah begins. You must cry out for grace. You must trust in God's strength. And you must learn to fear the Lord. For this is not a burden to be endured, but the greatest treasure you could ever possess.