Isaiah 31:1-3 and 32:8

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,

Who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots

And in the great strength of their horsemen,

But do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord.

Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster;

He does not take back his words.

He will rise up against the house of the wicked,

Against those who help evil doers.

But the Egyptians are men and not God;

Their horses are flesh and not spirit.

When the Lord stretches out his hand, he who helps will stumble,

He who is helped will fall;

Both will perish together. Isaiah 31:3

Once again, Isaiah 31:1-3 is stating to Judah that trusting in others, and the strength of Egypt in this case, was foolishness. Maybe Egypt could save them, but it would be only temporary. Egypt too would fall and perish, and all those who fell under her protection would meet her same fate. So why bother?

Egypt’s army was well known for the charioteers and mounted cavalry. Indeed horses revolutionized warfare during the Bronze Age (1800 BC). Having a strong force of charioteers, and mounted soldiers gave a country an advantage. Therefore, Judah is looking to Egypt because they have what they believed was a more advanced military force than their own. However, God makes clear in these verses that Egypt’s army may be strong, but He is stronger. The destiny of a country doesn’t rest on either horses or other military weaponry, and when people depend on these things to keep them safe, they are actually headed towards destruction.[1] Verse 2 says, “He too is wise and can bring disaster.” Not only can God bring disaster, but He has in the past.

In this case seeking out Egypt’s help is a direct rejection of God’s help, and past deliverance from the Egyptians (the Exodus). So asking Egypt for help is not just a bad decision, but a complete rejection of the good that has always been offered.[2] Going this route means that Judah will suffer the consequences of rejecting God. During the Exodus the people rejected God when Moses was gone for too long on the mountain top by making an idol of a golden calf (Exodus 32). The consequence for this act was that many people died in a plague (Exodus 32:35), but also that those who participated in the sin that were blotted out of the Lord’s book (Exodus 32:33). Read that again: blotted out of the book of life. When we reject God, we don’t just embrace worldly sin, but also eternal damnation.

                                                

Isaiah is setting up a contrast here with Isaiah 32:8 (actually these verses contrast the entire section beginning in chapter 7 about the foolishness on relying on other countries for help):

The noble man makes noble plans,

And by noble deeds he stands.

The first seven verses of chapter 32 state that when righteousness rules the land, things will be made right. Those who were hailed as wise, yet gave bad advice (like turning to Egypt for help) would be shown as they truly are: faithless fools. “Fool” is one of the strongest negative words in the Old Testament because it refers to a person who has constantly rejected the ways of the Lord. The ways of God lead to life, but the fool choses the path to death. Furthermore, in the short term the way of the fool appears more desirable because they receive temporary rewards.[3] God cautions us against this because these rewards and gains will not survive the fires of the Day of the Lord (1 Corinthians 3:15).

Thus, the noble man, is one who trusts in God’s promises even when thing are going badly in this world. They make their plans based on God’s promises even if it seems foolish to do so. The fool does not depend on God to supply his needs, whereas the noble man does. This faith in God’s promises, both for this life and the next, allows the noble to live with peace in his heart, and to share and take care of others because he knows all his needs are supplied.

It is hard to hold onto the intangible promises of God when there are tangible and physical safety measures we can take.[4] We are physical and spiritual beings, and often times we depend on the physical too much, rather than trusting that the One whose spirit indwells us will provide and protect. The advisors of Judah were trying to protect their country, but ended up leading them into trouble with God. A bad decision is still a bad decision regardless of the intentions.

Today, we live in a post 9/11 world that is fraught with evil doers abroad, and in our own neighborhoods. Do we trust in the military and police force to protect us from others? Do we trust in the number of guns and ammo we have stored to keep us safe? Do we trust in our treaties with other countries, the UN, and NATO to give us more strength as we work to avert those who threaten our national peace? Or do we trust and believe that God is in control of every situation and that our names are written in the book of Life regardless of what happens to us on Earth? When we value our physical safety more than our eternal salvation we will find ourselves in more trouble than we started with.

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[1] John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 1-39, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986), 571.

[2] Ibid., 570.

[3] Ibid., 581.

[4] Ibid., 572.

Isaiah 26:16-19

These verses stuck out to me mostly because of the pregnancy and labor metaphor. But also because it reminds me that so often I try to do things as best I can, yet end up with little to show for my efforts. God is the one that brings us fruit for our labor. We are very capable of doing things, but God is the one who rewards our efforts.

¹⁶ Lord, they came to you in their distress;
    when you disciplined them,
    they could barely whisper a prayer.

¹⁷ As a pregnant woman about to give birth
    writhes and cries out in her pain,
    so were we in your presence, Lord.
¹⁸ We were with child, we writhed in labor,
    but we gave birth to wind.
We have not brought salvation to the earth,
    and the people of the world have not come to life.

¹⁹ But your dead will live, Lord;
    their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust
    wake up and shout for joy—
your dew is like the dew of the morning;
    the earth will give birth to her dead.

Verse 16 is meant to remind Isaiah’s audience that the trouble they have experienced is of their own doing. Rather than trusting in God, they looked to other nations to deliver them from their oppressors. Finally, when God sent them into exile for their continued disobedience, their prayers and cries of distress were more like groans of fatigue and silent cries of desperation. But ultimately, God’s discipline did not drive His people away, but rather it drove them back to Him. Oftentimes, we tend to complain when our lives aren’t going as we want them to: the job is more stressful than we’d like, or has just been taken away; the kids are misbehaving; and we have no time for ourselves and our projects. So, we do what we have been taught to do, we pray. But really we are just whining because our plans aren’t matching up to God’s. Scripture shows us that when we insist on being in control of our lives, our lives tend to fall apart. Whether by God’s hand (such as Jonah), or by our own limited powers.

When things aren’t going how we’d like, it should be an invitation to stop and examine what exactly we feel is going wrong, and whether our desires are lining up with God’s. Sometimes, our distress may be God’s discipline, other times it might be us walking into a trap we created. Either way, stress, trouble, distress, and hardship should drive us back into the arms of God because He is the one who is in control and can help and comfort. Each experience should deepen our faith in the God who holds all things in His hands, and help us to grow closer to Him.

Verses 17 and 18 demonstrate this principle well. We can do everything we can and know how to do, and still have nothing to show for it. We can cry out in our distress, hardship, and troubles, and yet if we do not turn to God and trust Him to carry out His plan for our lives, we still have nothing. The pain of labor is made bearable because of the end result: the joy of a child. However, for Isaiah’s audience, all their pain and trials have resulted in nothing.[1] “We have not brought salvation to the earth.” Israel’s suffering may have been worth it if through the exile they had been able to fulfill the Abrahamic Blessing on the nations (Genesis 12:1-3), or had seen God’s power and salvation come upon their host nations. While there were some notable individuals who rose to power during the exile (Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Nehemiah, Mordecai, Esther, Ezra, etc), the host nations were by and large spiritually unchanged throughout the time of the exile. So the people of God were exiled, punished, and brought back to broken cities with nothing of heavenly value to show for their time away, except for a greater desire to follow the law so such a thing would never happen again. Ouch.

Did you read that? A greater desire to follow the law so such a thing would never happen again. 400 years later this desire has developed into the Pharisees and Scribes of the Law – individuals who were trying to protect the purity of the Jews, and missing the point completely. When we are punished for our sins (either directly by God, or by God allowing us to reap the consequences of our actions), do we vow to do better by reading our Bibles more, going to that mid-week prayer meeting, and generally ticking off the boxes of what it means to be a “good Christian?” Or do we realize that we actually don’t know God very well and need to love Him better? The Bible Studies, prayer meetings, and other church events are things that are meant to help our relationship with God, but they are not the relationship itself.

A.W. Tozer says, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”[2] Do we think of all the good Christian things we do? Or do we think of who God is, and what He has done for us?

For Isaiah’s audience, the Jews in exile, there hadn’t been a revival of new life throughout the pagan empires, rather there had only been more death (see Isaiah 59:10).[3] So what happened to those that had died in this hopeless time?

Verse 19 answers this by stating that there will be a resurrection. All-powerful God will raise up His dead to enjoy His festivities in His Kingdom. This verse asserts that even though God’s people are humiliated and oppressed, God will have the final victory, and all those who belong to Him will be there to enjoy victory feast. So here, in the Old Testament, we also find the hope of what is promised in the New Testament: that Christ’s resurrection will bring an end to the domination of sin, and will usher in a new age of life for those who place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

This last verse gives us the reason that we endure the hardships of this world, and the discipline of God and all our unanswered questions: because there is life beyond death, there is true joy in the presence of our God and King, and we will partake in His kingdom. What we endure in this world is meant to form us, mold us, and bring us to greater life in Christ. Therefore, when we run into trouble from others or of our own doing, we must remember that God is above it all, and is the one who will bring us through it and into a life that is filled with heavenly joy and worship.

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[1] John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 1-39, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986), 484.

[2] A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1961), 1.

[3] Oswalt, 485.

Isaiah 25: 6-9

I picked this passage because the theme of death being defeated stood out to me. Isaiah 25 continues the theme of the nations – even the enemies of God and God’s people being saved as was seen in the previous post.

⁶ On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
    a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
    the best of meats and the finest of wines.
⁷ On this mountain he will destroy
    the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
⁸     he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
    from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
    from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.

⁹ In that day they will say,

“Surely this is our God;
    we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
    let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

Verse 6 speaks of the feast of the Lord at the end times when all the nations will be gathered to Zion to worship Him. The term, “rich foods,” actually refers to the fatty portions of the meat. As many foodies and chefs know, the fatty parts of the meat actually have the best flavor because the fat will melt into the meat and infuse it with a fuller taste. Likewise, the term, “aged wine,” speaks of wine that has been aged much longer and was stronger. This is like comparing a Port wine to a Zinfandel. The Port has aged much longer (at least three years, but ten to twenty is preferable), and is thicker, richer, and stronger than the Zinfandel which can be aged for less than a year before bottling for the market. The idea Isaiah is trying to get across here is that of an exquisite feast with expensive foods and drinks. This is what God has prepared for His people—the best of the best. Yum.

Verses 7 and 8 need to be read together. The “shroud” and the “sheet” that cover the people and nations is death itself, and the sin that leads to it.[1] Death is the first curse that came upon humanity:

And the Lord commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17.

God is working to redeem all of creation and to defeat sin once and for all. Therefore, He must redeem and destroy death as well. This passage shows that death will be swallowed up, not just removed or banished, but “enveloped in such a way as to destroy.”[2] The New Testament confirms that Jesus Christ is the one who will destroy death and reign victorious.

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death is your victory? Where, O Death is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57.

Death is the final obstacle that hinders us from having life abundantly (John 10:10). “This is the ultimate deliverance. We may be delivered form want and from oppression, but until we are delivered from death, and the sin which issues in death, all these other deliverances are a mockery; death is the final conqueror.”[3] And in Christ, death is conquered.

When I saw him, I fell at his feed as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Revelations 1:17-18.

He will wipe ever tear form their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:4.

Verse 8 continues to give a beautiful illustration of the tenderness of the great Lord Almighty. This term, Lord Almighty is more literally translated Lord of Hosts, that is, the Commander of the Armies of Heaven. God, all-powerful God, will tenderly wipe the tears of His people’s faces, as a parent would to a child. We cannot conquer death, disease, war, etc. Only God can. He is the only one that is truly sovereign over the nations. He will redeem, not just Israel, but all nations and will gather them to Himself where they can feast on the finest foods and wine, and sorrow no more.

Not only will God remove sorrow and death, but He will also remove the disgrace that covers us. Our sin and disobedience brings us shame in the eyes of others, especially when we continue to cling to our faith and hope in God.[4] We tend to look like hypocrites. But God will remove even this because the feast will be to honor us. We will be the guest of honor who are clothed in the righteousness of Christ so that none can say anything against us for we will shine with Christ’s glory.

In light of all this, what other response can there be but adoration, praise, and worship of the God who saves us?

“Surely this is our God;
    we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
    let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

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[1] John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 1-39, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986), 464.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid., 465.