I'm sorry for not having a Bible study post on Wednesday. I normally do a post Sunday through Friday but several things happened yesterday that threw my whole day's schedule off course and I ran out of time to properly work on the study and to give it the attention it deserves.
Today we are beginning Chapter 19 which is titled "A Prophecy Against Egypt". Egypt was perhaps the most idolatrous nation on the earth during Old Testament times---or at least the Egyptians had the largest pantheon of false gods---and Egypt was an ancient enemy of the descendants of Jacob. There are times in the Old Testament when we will see the people of Judah and Israel being on friendly terms with Egypt but there were certainly times they were persecuted by Egypt. The Lord is going to judge ancient Egypt for its idolatry and cruelty.
"A prophecy against Egypt: See, the Lord rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before Him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear." (Isaiah 19:1) No idol can stand against the living God. The Lord is the only God and all idols (and the false deities they represent) are useless. The Egyptians can bow to their idols as often as they want but the idols cannot do a thing.
Not only will there be troubles from outside the nation, such as the growing threat of the Assyrian Empire which will in time subjugate Egypt, but Egypt itself is on the decline in Isaiah's day. There are many troubles inside the nation and these troubles will turn people against each other.
The Lord says, "I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian---brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom." (Isaiah 19:2) Civil unrest and civil war ensued within Egypt not long after Isaiah's lifetime and the kingdom of Egypt split into many factions.
In Isaiah's day the people of Egypt were concerned about Assyria, and rightly so. But Assyria wasn't the only nation to subdue them in Old Testament times; they ended up under the authority of Babylon and Persia as well. When the Lord speaks of placing them under a "cruel master" in our final segment for today, He is likely not speaking of only one master (nation/regime) but of several masters in a row who subdued the nation.
"The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will bring their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists. I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,' declares the Lord Almighty." (Isaiah 19:3-4)
The ancient Egyptians preferred to bow their knees to anyone other than the Lord. If they had honored Him and allowed Him to be their master, they would never have been mastered by anyone on earth. The same can be said of ancient Israel and ancient Judah; if they had made the Lord the King of their hearts, no other king would ever have ruled over them.
The same can be said for us as well. If we make God the Lord of our lives and the King of our hearts, sin won't have mastery over us. We won't live perfect lives as long as we inhabit mortal bodies in this fallen world but no child of God needs to live a defeated life. No child of God needs to live a hopeless life. No child of God needs to live a joyless life. If we are in the bondage of defeat and hopelessness and joylessness, this is not God's will for us and He did not shackle us with such chains---we have placed ourselves in such shackles.
Believe me, I've been guilty of this time and time again. Our text applies to me as much as it applies to anyone. I've needlessly trapped myself over and over in cycles of bad thinking. The Lord wants to set us free from such things. Living in negativity shouldn't be the constant state of the child of God. His children have the right to walk in the freedom of His love and care, just as a small child goes through his day without cares because he knows his loving parents are watching over him. A small child shouldn't have to worry about anything because that is his parents' job; in this same way it is the Lord's job to look after us. I am trying to hand my cares over to the Lord because I am weary of carrying them. This is what He wants all of us to do, for His beautiful promise to us is that we can cast all of our cares on Him because He cares for us. (1 Peter 5:7)
No comments:
Post a Comment