Image: "Dimly Seen Future", 2014, Bombay Hook, De
Isaiah 13:6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Isaiah 14:1–2 For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob. 2 Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the LORD; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors.
Isaiah 14:12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!
Isaiah 16:5 In mercy the throne will be established; And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, Judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.”
Isaiah 19:23–25 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. 24 In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land, 25 whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
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When you are on a 2-yr through the bible reading schedule, it means that some of the daily readings can be quite a chunk. That's certainly the case today with 8 total chapters on the line. I can understand why the chapters were lumped together though because they all are part of an extended prophetic warning about the coming judgment of God on the wickedness of the nations. Isaiah stands and sees the hand of God moving Babylon to come and wreak havoc on the entire area. But God is not going to let that nation's cruelty and perversity prosper for very long. Isaiah looks down through the ages and sees God raising up another nation, the Medes (13:17) who will bring Babylon to its knees. Babylon's destruction will be so great that "It will never be inhabited, nor will it be settled from generation to generation." (13:20) There's a lot more going on here however, than simply a prediction of the immediate future. Interspersed in Isaiah's visions are something else... a glimpse of something beyond the immediate circumstances of the near future... a glimpse into the heavenly plans of God that these coming events represent.
Notice first of all that the coming judgment this near-term turmoil represents, is a downpayment on God's plan to "punish the (entire) world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity." (13:11) Of course, in chapter 13 this is in the context of the judgment on Babylon proper. But it goes beyond that. In the subsequent chapters we see that Assyria, Philistian, Moab, Syria, Israel, Ethiopia and Egypt will all be addressed in their turn. Thus, if one was standing in Jerusalem, it would mean that all the nations surrounding Israel were to be devastated by God's judgment as was Israel herself. This is the "whole world" for all practical purposes.
In these chapters we see God's plan to deal with evil once and for all and that He will do so with serious and terrifying intent.
But though this judgment will be manifested in this world, the ultimate warfare and judgment are in the spiritual world. In chapter 14 Isaiah cries out to "Lucifer", Satan, the Anti-Christ, and proclaims "How you are fallen!" We are reminded of our Lord's same observation when His disciples returned from their missions trip and He saw Satan falling from the heavens. Isaiah is here seeing in the present physical events, namely the fall of Babylon, the real judgment on the spiritual power of darkness that Babylon everywhere in Scripture represents. (Rev. 17:1-5) There will come a day when God's temporal judgments, that He has done through history, will be summed up in a final judgment and Satan will be stripped of all his power of lies and deception. He will no longer work through the baser instincts of fallen mankind to bring about wickedness, pain and suffering. That Day is coming. Isaiah saw it foretold in the total destruction of Babylon as it then existed. But the true fulfillment would come when God at last says "enough" and Satan will be cast into he fiery pit which he and all his minions deserve.
But in the midst of all these cosmic events another set of insights burst forth. Isaiah sees in the midst of judgment a Deliverer coming. The Lord will have mercy on Jacob and Israel and settle them in their own land. (14:1) Moab, though punished for her unfaithfulness, will yet see the oppressors "consumed out of the land" (16:5) but they will also see a throne established and "One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David." A deliverer will come and the whole world will see its wickedness purged and a new day commencing with a glorious King on His throne. Even Assyria will gaze with wonder on what the Lord has done and all of their previous hatred for God's people will be ended. "In that day a man will look to His Maker, and his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel." (17:7) There will be a glorious morning when a road will link Egypt with Israel and on to Assyria in the North. In other words, there will be one world, centered on the One who sits on the throne in Spiritual Jerusalem. On that day God will say, "Blessed is Egypt, My people, and Assyria, the work of My hands, and Israel, My Inheritance."
Do you see it? Does it fill you with wonder? It does me. I am so looking forward to it. God will be glorified in the midst of all the nations He has created and our Lord Jesus Christ will reign over all mankind. There will be one language as the curse of Babylon is reversed and never again will the human race be divided on itself.
Lucifer must fall... Christ must be exalted... and then the eternal party will begin.
Isaiah 21-23: Not An Easy Job....
Image: "Valley of Vision", 2009, Vicinity of Eastern Grand Canyon, Pa
Isaiah 22:5 For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity By the Lord GOD of hosts In the Valley of Vision— Breaking down the walls And of crying to the mountain.
Isaiah 22:12–13 And in that day the Lord GOD of hosts Called for weeping and for mourning, For baldness and for girding with sackcloth. 13 But instead, joy and gladness, Slaying oxen and killing sheep, Eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
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Isaiah did not like what he saw. Even though he had no love whatsoever for Babylon and the other pagan nations surrounding Israel, yet there was in him that God given empathy for his fellow humans that comes with a regenerate heart. Suffering and devastation are not scenes of joy. The horror of a battle field burns particular images into the brain such that soldiers never forget them.
One of the members of the celebrated Light Brigade in their historic charge, could not forget the image of his sergeant, riding in front of him at full gallop toward the Russian cannons only to have a cannon ball cleanly separate his head right from his shoulders. He remembered the headless body remaining on the horse, holding the lance in attack position, for what seemed to be several full minutes until finally it fell off. Isaiah was seeing visions like that and worse. It so affected him that he was afraid to go to sleep lest even more visions open up before him. This truly was the prophet's burden.
Yet what we must realize is that the horror of the Lord's judgment on evil men and women is fully justified. The Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. (Ezek. 33:10-11) God's continued stance before all His created universe is for the "wicked to turn from his way and live." Yet they do not. God warns them that it is coming. He sends His prophets .... He sends HIs Son... He sends preachers and teachers to proclaim the words of the prophets and the Son.. He calls "for weeping and mourning, for baldness and for girding with sackcloth", that is, for true repentance. And yet, what does sinful man do with these messages? They spend their time pursuing "joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine", adopting the attitude "let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." (22:12-13)
There is a word for this kind of reaction... 'insanity." That is just what a full blown sin nature exhibits. It is insane to thumb one's nose at the righteousness of God. It is insane to persist in wickedness when all the testimony of history and the witness of God's Holy Word teaches that it only brings disaster. And yet they love darkness more than light (John 3:19). This is the final choice of every unregenerate heart. Confronted with the light of Christ they will choose darkness even though it means their own destruction.
These chapters continue to reveal the destruction coming on the entire world and particularly on Jerusalem and Judah. Here is the entire world represented as being caught up in the judgment on "Babylon." The exact same picture is painted in Revelation 14:8 where the angel cries out "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." Compare this with Isaiah 21:9 And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!” Then he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground.” "Babylon" was not just a city back then. It was the earthly metaphor for the rebellious heart of mankind, dominated by the desire for self-glorification and lustful pleasures. "Babylon" is the desire of man to control his own destiny, gain eternal life on his terms, decide for himself what is right or wrong, establish his own advancement as the highest good of all things. "Babylon" is the serpent hissing in Eve's ear... it is the tower of Babel built for the purpose that man might rise to heaven in his own power... "Babylon" was Nebuchadnezzar's nation in his day and it was the nation-states which have followed him that sought for world-domination and power. It was "Rome" in John's day when he wrote the Revelation and it is the movement toward world consolidation today as mankind still pursues his insane pretensions.
It is this "Babylon" in all its historic eruptions that God will judge in time and space and will bring to an end in eternity.
Like Isaiah, on one hand we passionately long for this to happen. On the other hand we cringe at the images which will attend its destruction. Truly there will be horror and weeping. Truly the remnant will be saved through the fire. However the thought of these things should arouse longing in our hearts for those who remain in their insanity. We should... and we must... recoil from the vision of what is in store for them. And this vision should move our hearts, in love, to plead with them to repent.
That was Isaiah's mission in his day... it is our mission now.
Posted by Gadfly on May 29, 2020 at 11:40 AM in Christian Apologetics, Church, Commentary, Culture, Movies, etc., Ethics, Evangelism | Permalink | Comments (0)
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