The Book Of Isaiah. Day 165, Hezekiah's Illness, Part One

In our last study session we learned about how the Lord delivered the city of Jerusalem from the nation of Assyria. He put to death 185,000 Assyrian soldiers who were camped outside the walls of Jerusalem where they were preparing to lay siege to the city. He also caused King Sennacherib of Assyria to return to his own country where, before he could mount a second expedition to Jerusalem, he was assassinated by two of his own sons.

We might expect smooth sailing now, but as so often happens in life after a great victory, a great trial comes. It's a common method of the enemy of our souls to strike out at us when we have just experienced a marvelous deliverance from a problem. I think that's because it's a tendency of humans to kind of sit back and take it easy (spiritually speaking) right after something wonderful happens. It's a time when we are more likely to let our guard down. If we think about it, we rarely let our guard down when we are in the thick of battle, do we? It's often during our worst trials that we spend the most time on our knees in prayer and the most time reading the word of God. Satan has more difficulty distracting us with temptations when we are praying or reading the word of God. But when we sit back and relax after a mighty deliverance---when we slack off on prayer and Bible study---our enemy sees a weak spot in our defenses. I would like to propose that, right after a major victory, we need to pray and read the Bible more than ever.

I am not saying Hezekiah slacked off in his spiritual life but I am saying that he likely did not see a particular trouble coming his way. "In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death." (Isaiah 38:1a) The Lord had rewarded the faith of Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem by turning the enemy away from their gates and sparing them from siege and the fall of the city and captivity. I can only imagine Hezekiah's shock when he contracts a deadly illness. The Lord has just done such a marvelous thing for him that I imagine he feels not only shock but also confusion, possibly bitterness and anger and hurt. I dare say he might even feel offended because I have felt offended by certain troubles that have come my way in life when I was living close to the Lord and trying to as obedient to Him as I knew how. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt like you were living smack dab in the will of God and yet some terrible trial came into your life? 

Hezekiah is so sick that even the prophet Isaiah has no good news for him. Isaiah had good news for him in regard to the Assyrian threat but he has no good news for him in regard to this health threat. "The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, 'This is what the Lord says: 'Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.'" (Isaiah 38:1b)

We don't know what Hezekiah's physicians were telling him. Perhaps they were not being entirely truthful with him. Considering he is the king of Judah, they may be reluctant to let him or his family or the general populace know he is on his deathbed. The death of a national leader can be a threat to national security, for usurpers may see it as a time to rise up against the royal household or foreign enemies may view it as a time to attack. In addition, Hezekiah is a good king who loves the Lord and may be well-liked by his team of physicians. Perhaps they are reluctant to tell him the truth due to their affection for him. This reminds me of the day my sister and I had to give our mother the bad news that her tests had come back showing very advanced cancer. The day we took her for her first oncologist visit was even worse because he had to inform her that while chemo and radiation might extend her life for a few months, these treatments were not capable of saving her life. I can well understand it grieving the hearts of Hezekiah's physicians to come right out and say, "You are not going to recover."

I think it grieves Isaiah's heart too but he must do what the Lord tells him to do. The Lord tells him to go to the king and inform him, "You are going to die." Isaiah must tell him to get his house in order. It is important for Hezekiah to publicly name a successor to the throne prior to his death, just as King David named Solomon as his successor prior to his death, so the way forward is made clear. This will help to prevent civil unrest, with various factions within and without the royal family vying for the throne.

But the situation is going to turn around, as they sometimes do. Have you ever known anyone who was given a terminal diagnosis who overcame the illness? Here at the beginning of Chapter 38 the situation with Hezekiah's health appears hopeless. I've been in situations that appeared hopeless, haven't you? I can think of one in particular where people around me were telling me it was hopeless. They were telling me to give up and move on. The only reason I didn't take their advice is because I knew that the Lord was capable of turning it around. I didn't know if He would but I knew that He could. Hezekiah knows this too and that is why later in our chapter we find him calling out to the Lord to change his circumstances.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 164, The Lord's Message To Sennacherib Comes True

Our text today concludes the Lord's words of comfort for King Hezekiah and the news that what He predicted came to pass.

"Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: 'He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. By the way he came he will return; he will not enter this city,' declares the Lord. 'I will defend this city and save it, for My sake and for the sake of David My servant!'" (Isaiah 37:33-35) 

The Lord defends the city for His sake (because the heathen king blasphemed His name) and defends it for David's sake (because of the promises He made to him). David has been dead for about three centuries by this time but that doesn't negate the promises the Lord made to him about remaining faithful to those who are faithful to Him. The Lord will allow the city to fall to an enemy a little over a century later due to how much idolatry the people will have fallen into by then, but during King Hezekiah's reign and during the reigns of some of the successive kings there has been a revival. The king and his people are looking to the Lord for help, not to idols for help. This is how David lived his life---looking to the Lord for help---and the people of Hezekiah's day have the same attitude. The Lord is going to reward their attitude of faith just as He rewarded David's attitude of faith.

We have already talked about how Sennacherib was forced to withdraw from nearby Lachish in order to fight at Libnah, likely due to an uprising there against him, and then he heard that the forces of Egypt were marching toward the southern border of Assyria and he had to go there to line up in battle array against them to defend his border. That is the fulfillment of the Lord's promise to send Sennacherib back by the way he came.

While Sennacherib is absent from the region of Judah, the Lord fulfills another portion of His promise---the portion that states no Assyrian arrow will fly into the city and that the Assyrians will not build a siege ramp against the wall. "Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning---there were all the dead bodies!" (Isaiah 37:36) We read about this event when we studied the kings of Israel and Judah. We don't know by what method the Lord put them to death but it happened as swiftly as the final plague of Egypt in which the firstborn of all the Egyptians and of all their livestock perished suddenly in the night. 

We don't know at what point Sennacherib broke camp at Lachish. We were told of him breaking camp earlier in our study as if it had already happened before the deaths of his soldiers but this next segment makes it sound as if he doesn't leave Lachish until 185,000 of his men perish. The chronology of these events is not entirely clear and I'm not certain that this next verse means he breaks camp after so many of his men die or whether it happened before. It could simply be that this verse is saying something like, "Thus was the Lord's word fulfilled that Sennacherib would depart. All these things happened as the Lord said they would."

"So Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there." (Isaiah 37:37) He returned to his palace in the capitol city of Nineveh, intending to come back later to lay siege to Jerusalem, but he was prevented from doing so, just as the Lord said. "One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Addrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king." (Isaiah 37:38) 

Sennacherib's death did not occur immediately upon his return to Nineveh. According to Assyrian records, about twenty years elapsed between his retreat and his death. He himself wrote some records in the annals of Assyrian history after he left the land of Judah. But during that period of time he did not make a second attempt of a siege upon Jerusalem, perhaps having too much fear in his heart after the supernatural slaughter of so many of his soldiers, perhaps having too many matters to attend to on the homefront and too many rebellions to quell in the areas he'd already conquered. Whatever the reason for his failure to return as he threatened, we know it was by the divine hand of God that he did not return. The Lord kept His promise to Hezekiah.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 163, The Lord's Message To Sennacherib, Part Three

The Lord has something to say against King Sennacherib of Assyria. We have been studying this message for the past two days and now we are going to look at the third section. The Lord gave this message through the prophet Isaiah to King Hezekiah of Judah. We do not know whether Sennacherib ever heard of it but the Lord has been speaking the words as if they are being spoken directly to that wicked king.

"Because you rage against Me and because your insolence has reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came." (Isaiah 37:29) Sennacherib thinks he is the master of his own destiny but that isn't so. The Lord uses imagery that is very familiar to the king, for it was the practice of the Assyrians to line captives up in a row and drive a hook through their noses or lips to connect them all to each other, then they would march them wherever they wanted them to go, all chained together in a line.

We know that Sennacherib returned to his own land because he heard that the Egyptian army was marching toward his southern border. After dealing with that matter, he resided at his palace in Nineveh for a time with the intention to put together a new army (having lost 185,000 of his soldiers outside of Jerusalem and having lost some soldiers in his fight against the Egyptians) to come back against Jerusalem. But two of his sons conspired together to assassinate him while he was bowing in the temple of one of his false gods.

Now the Lord turns his message toward King Hezekiah and provides him with a sign to look for. This sign is the proof that what He has said is going to come true. Sennacherib will not return to make another attempt at a siege of the city. 

"This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: 'This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.'" (Isaiah 37:30) As we briefly discussed earlier in the book of Isaiah, the Assyrians had already invaded many regions of Judah. They had already destroyed several villages, towns, and cities. They had interrupted trade routes. They had interfered with agricultural pursuits. They would prevent people from tilling and planting, from reaping anything that had already been planted, from tending vineyards. They would run their horses and chariots over any crops that had already come up, thereby destroying them. These things are still going on in the countryside even though Sennacherib has had to postpone his siege of Jerusalem. 

The Lord will cause so many "volunteer plants" to come up this year and next year that the people will have plenty to eat even though they cannot go out to till and sow the fields or to do planting and pruning and tending of the vineyards. They will survive quite well by simply hunting and gathering. But by the third year the threat will be gone in the region of Jerusalem and they will be able to resume the normal cycles of planting and reaping. When the people have enough to eat this year and next year, and when they are able to go out and resume farming, Hezekiah will know that the Lord is not going to allow the Assyrian king to return.

Our text for today concludes like this: "Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this." (Isaiah 37:31-32) The Lord is going to protect the people of Jerusalem. They will not have to lift a finger against their enemy; He will do their fighting for them. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 162, The Lord's Message To Sennacherib, Part Two

King Sennacherib of Assyria sent a threatening message to King Hezekiah of Judah, stating that after he quells the current rebellions against him in other regions he will return to lay siege to and eventually conquer Jerusalem. In yesterday's study we began looking at the Lord's message to Sennacherib. It could be said that this is a message about Sennacherib since we don't know whether he ever heard it. But the Lord provides these words to King Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah to encourage the king and the people of Jerusalem.

Sennacherib bragged about all the territories he and his predecessors have already conquered. While it's true that he has subjugated or even completely destroyed a number of cities, he did not do these things outside of the Lord's will or control, which the Lord points out in our first segment of text today.

"Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone." (Isaiah 37:26) The kings of Assyria didn't do these things on their own. If the Lord had not allowed it, they could never have become a nation in the first place, much less have conquered other nations. As the Apostle Paul phrased it in Romans 13:1, "There is no authority except that which God has established." The prophet Daniel said the same thing about the Lord being in charge of kings and leaders: "He deposes kings and raises up others." (Daniel 2:21)

It has been the Lord's practice throughout history to administer correction or judgment upon nations by allowing other nations to trouble or conquer them. In the case of Assyria, for example, he allowed that heathen nation to be an instrument of judgment against other heathen nations. But in time He will allow another nation (the Neo-Babylonian Empire) to be an instrument of judgment upon Assyria. Next the Lord speaks of how these corrections and judgments have affected the idolatrous nations that have already fallen prey to the Assyrian Empire.

"Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up." (Isaiah 37:27) The Lord compares these nations to weak and tender plants that cannot take the heat. In contrast, later in Chapter 37 the Lord will speak of how He intends to cause the people of King Hezekiah's nation to flourish.

The last segment we will study today is an ominous and very personal word for King Sennacherib himself. We know that he was obliged to break camp at nearby Lachish, first to quell an uprising at Libnah and then to meet the forces of Egypt that were coming against Assyria from the south. After that he will go home to his palace at Nineveh, intending to regroup and plan another campaign against Judah, for by then he will have lost a vast number of soldiers camped within the borders of Judah. If Sennacherib believes the God of the people of Judah is real at all, he no doubt thinks His arm is too short to reach him in Nineveh. It was common for ancient idolatrous cultures to believe that the various gods had authority over only certain regions or over certain aspects of nature. But the Lord can see Sennacherib in Nineveh just as easily as He can see him in Judah and He can reach him just as easily as He can reach him in Judah.

The Lord says: "But I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage against Me." (Isaiah 37:28) If Sennacherib truly understood who he is dealing with, these words would have him shaking in his boots. 

Tomorrow's text will include another prophecy against Sennacherib before moving on to a message of hope for King Hezekiah. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 161, The Lord's Message To Sennacherib, Part One

In Monday's study session King Hezekiah went to the temple and spread out before the Lord the letter from Sennacherib, king of Assyria. The Lord has a message for Sennacherib and we are going to study the first portion of it today.

The Lord gives the message through the prophet Isaiah. "Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the Lord has spoken against him: 'Virgin daughter Zion despises and mocks you. Daughter Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee.'" (Isaiah 37:21-22)

Most scholars believe that the reason the Lord refers to Jerusalem (rendered here as "Zion") as a virgin is because she has never been conquered and plundered by the enemy. Many other cities in that region of the world had already been conquered and plundered by Assyria and by other nations, but not Jerusalem.

Earlier in our study King Sennacherib used mocking words for Jerusalem, for her king, and for her God. In response the Lord says that the people of Jerusalem are mocking Sennacherib. Sennacherib can threaten all he wants but his plans against Jerusalem will not come to pass. The Lord is going to rise up against him and judge him for his blasphemy.

The Lord says to this Assyrian king: "Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! By your messengers you had ridiculed the Lord." (Isaiah 37:23-24a)

Sennacherib boasted of his many conquests earlier in our chapter and went so far as to state that not even the Lord would be able to stand against him. The Lord now quotes this king's boasting words back to him---words he will "eat" as the saying goes---because nothing at Jerusalem will turn out the way Sennacherib thinks it will.

"And you have said, 'With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of the junipers. I have reached its remotest heights, the finest of its forests. I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.'" (Isaiah 37:24b-25) As was common with many pagan kings of ancient times, Sennacherib uses grand imagery for the things he has accomplished and in that imagery he goes farther than he actually went in real life, resorting to hyperbole when he states that the soles of his feet dried up all the streams of Egypt. If we should read the annals of various ancient nations, such as Egypt or Assyria or Babylon, we would find their kings making sweeping generalizations about the way they dealt with other nations and peoples. They claim to have wrought far more destruction than they actually did, in many cases. 

The Lord is going to make some very broad and sweeping claims when we continue on with His message this week but, in contrast to the words of Sennacherib, the Lord is able to do everything He says He is going to do. The Lord will point out that nothing which has ever happened on earth has ever been outside of His control and His purpose---and nothing ever will! He is going to state that He is in control of Sennacherib's army and is in control of Sennacherib himself. The king won't be able to protect his army from the angel of the Lord and the king won't be able to protect himself from a murderous conspiracy that forms within his own household.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 160, Hezekiah's Prayer

King Sennacherib of Assyria was obliged to break camp at Lachish, first to quell (presumably) an uprising at Libnah and then to meet the forces of Egypt as they came out against the southern portion of Assyria. But he sent a letter to King Hezekiah of Judah threatening to come back and take the city of Jerusalem. Today we see what Hezekiah does when he receives the letter.

"Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord." (Isaiah 37:14) This is one of my favorite scenes in the Bible! I picture him bowing down on his knees, spreading the letter out on the floor in the temple, and resting his forehead on the floor in front of the letter in a position of supplication and humility. 

Of course the Lord knows what's in the letter and Hezekiah doesn't have to open it up for Him. Of course Hezekiah could have prayed to the Lord from the royal palace. But sometimes, in seasons of deep distress, we feel better when we pray in the house of God, don't we? It's not as if the Lord can't hear our prayers anywhere else but there is just a sense of closeness when we are in His house. We might compare this to the difference between seeing our doctor in person and seeing our doctor by virtual visit; some conditions just seem to call for a personal visit. I believe Hezekiah feels better about talking to the Lord in the Lord's house than he does about talking to the Lord in his own house.

Spreading the letter out before the Lord symbolizes bringing the matter to the Lord. Hezekiah could simply bring the matter to the Lord in prayer at the palace but spreading the letter out in His house adds another layer of intimacy to this interaction. It is as if the two of them are reading the words together.

By the way, I highly recommend this method! I have prayed over bills in this manner by spreading them out before the Lord. I have prayed over family members in this manner by placing printed pictures of them on my floor and bowing down over them. I have prayed over written prayer lists in this manner. If you have never tried it, I guarantee it will add an extra layer of intimacy---and power!---to your interactions with the Lord. 

"And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 'Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.'" (Isaiah 37:15-16) Hezekiah begins his prayer by reminding himself who God is. God is all powerful. Nothing in heaven or on earth is beyond His control. Reminding himself of this gives Hezekiah the confidence to ask the Lord to act on behalf of Jerusalem and the people of the city. He knows that the Creator of all things is more than able to handle the threats of the enemy.

"Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God." (Isaiah 37:17) When we studied this message yesterday we found Sennacherib ridiculing the Lord by comparing Him to the gods of the nations---gods that do not exist. Sennacherib announced that the God of Israel would be no more effective against his army than the gods of the other nations. Hezekiah is saying something like, "It's not only for our sake that we ask You to intervene. For Your own sake, intervene on behalf of Your reputation. This heathen king has blasphemed Your holy name and Your perfect character and Your unlimited power."

The king of Assyria was not lying when he bragged of all the nations he's conquered. Hezekiah is well aware of this. But he is also well aware that the gods of those nations could not protect those who worship them because those gods are false gods. "It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these people and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, Lord, are the only God." (Isaiah 37:18-20) To paraphrase the king's words and intentions: "Put them to shame, Lord, who trust in false Gods! Prove to them that You are the only God! Then they will be afraid to attack those who have committed their hearts to you. Then some of them may even give their own hearts to You." 

When we remind ourselves who God is and how powerful He is and how much He loves us, the problems of this life fall into perspective. Our human enemies don't seem so powerful anymore. Our spiritual enemy (Satan) doesn't seem so scary anymore. The daily problems that plague us reduce in size in our eyes, just as Goliath was reduced in size in David's eyes when he visualized the Lord in his mind's eye. Take all those problems to the Lord, whether in your house or at a house of worship, and lay them at His feet. 

 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 159, Sennacherib's Threatening Message

In Friday's study we found King Hezekiah of Judah sending some of the top officials of Jerusalem to the house of Isaiah the prophet to relay to him the words of the field commander of King Sennacherib of Assyria. Isaiah had a message of good news for the king: the Lord will cause Sennacherib to return to his own country. In today's text we find this happening but, as a parting shot, Sennacherib sends a threatening message to the king of Judah.

King Sennacherib is not camped with the troops that are outside of Jerusalem but is camped at Lachish. The Assyrian records contain a depiction of Sennacherib seated on a throne at Lachish, backing up what Isaiah is saying in our passage today about the king of Assyria not headquartering himself outside of Jerusalem. Something happens at Libnah that causes the king to have to break camp and engage in a conflict there. When the field commander outside of Jerusalem hears about this conflict, he rushes to aid his master, which halts the activity that he was previously engaged in: threatening to lay siege to Jerusalem.

"When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah." (Isaiah 37:8) We don't know what is going on at Libnah but I presume it is some sort of rebellion against being subject to Assyria. The Assyrian government was forcing many villages, cities, and even some entire nations to pay tribute. 

In Friday's study the prophet Isaiah told King Hezekiah that the Lord was not only going to cause Sennacherib to leave off the imminent siege of Jerusalem but that He would cause Sennacherib to go all the way back to his home country. Next we find out why this happens.

"Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, was marching out to fight against him." (Isaiah 37:9a) At this time in Egypt's history it was ruled over by the Cushites. In some versions of the Bible they are referred to as Ethiopians. Tirhakah was not actually Pharaoh of Egypt yet; he was the crown prince of Egypt and the general of the army, but by the time our passage was written down he may have ascended to the throne. Also it was typical for ancient writers to ascribe to a person the status they eventually achieved when writing about them, even if they had not yet achieved that status at the time of the event being described. Sennacherib hears that the Egyptian army is advancing toward his nation, causing him to have to temporarily abandon some of his military pursuits in other regions in order to meet this threat from the south. 

Earlier in the book of Isaiah we learned that the nation of Judah hoped that the nation of Egypt would be a helpful ally to them against their mutual enemy. The Lord warned the king of Judah through the prophet Isaiah that Egypt would not be able to neutralize this enemy. The Lord urged the king and his people to trust only in Him, not in an alliance with a pagan nation. Tirhakah meets the Assyrian forces north of Jerusalem in battle at a location called Eltekeh but, as we learned during our study of the kings, this was ineffective in preventing Assyria's advancement throughout the region and Assyria will later conquer the nation of Egypt.

Sennacherib doesn't want the people of Jerusalem to think he has given up on his intention to conquer the city. He sends a message that basically says, "I'll be back!" as he breaks camp upon hearing of the threat from  Egypt.

"When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: 'Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, 'Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.' Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them---the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?'" (Isaiah 37:9b-13)

He is saying something like, "Your god, Hezekiah, is no more effective than any of the other gods who could not stand against me or against the kings who came before me. If you try to hold out against me, my troops will besiege your city until you are all about to die of thirst and starvation. Then, when our siege ramps are tall enough to go over your walls, we will pour in and slaughter everyone who has survived the siege. Why put yourself, your family, and your citizens through this? You've already brought trouble onto everyone by refusing to pay tribute to me any longer. Now your only choice is to surrender and be deported to foreign lands where you will live---or continue to rebel against me and die!"

The gods of the people on the list in verses 9b-13 truly were ineffective against the kings of Assyria because these gods do not exist. But the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob exists! And this is the God with whom Sennacherib is dealing. This is the God whose name Sennacherib has blasphemed. This is the God who will soon supernaturally destroy 185,000 Assyrian troops. This is the God who has already said that He will see to it that Sennacherib is struck down in his own country.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 158, Isaiah Foretells The Deliverance Of Jerusalem

As we concluded Chapter 36 we found the three top officials of King Hezekiah of Judah returning to the palace to relay to him the words of the field commander of the king of Assyria. In their distress they tore their robes along the way to symbolize the anguish that was in their hearts.

They are distressed because the field commander said some things that were true. He pointed out to them that no city anywhere had so far been able to hold out against his army. He pointed out that none of the gods any of the nations trusted in had defended them against his army. But he said some things that were not true. He lied and claimed that the Lord Himself had commanded him to come and lay siege to Jerusalem because the Lord was angry with the people. He compared the Lord to the gods of the other nations, as if He is impotent to help those who trust in Him, and thus he blasphemed the holy name of God.

When Hezekiah's men tell him what the field commander said, he displays the anguish these words stir up in his own heart. "When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord." (Isaiah 37:1) Hezekiah is troubled but he is not hopeless. No child of God ever has to feel hopeless! He tears his robes in distress but then puts on sackcloth (which symbolizes humility and repentance) and he goes to the house of the Lord. He takes his troubles to the One who can solve his problems.

We studied this event in 2 Kings 19 but we are studying it again because it took place during the lifetime of the prophet Isaiah. After going up to the house of the Lord to pray and seek the help of the Lord, Hezekiah sends some of the chief officials of Jerusalem to the house of Isaiah to tell him what the field commander said.

"He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They told him, 'This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them.'" (Isaiah 37:2-3) These words reveal Hezekiah's feelings of utter helplessness. As a woman whose labor has been so long that she lacks the strength to push the child into the world, Hezekiah feels completely unequal to the situation confronting him. He knows that neither he nor all of the people of Jerusalem put together can repel the Assyrian army.

The men continue repeating the king's words to the prophet. "It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that He will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives." (Isaiah 37:4) The Assyrians have already attacked and destroyed a number of cities and small towns throughout the nation of Judah; therefore, the king refers to the citizens of the capitol city of Jerusalem as "the remnant". Many people of the outlying areas of the nation have been captured by the Assyrian army and many others have been killed when attempting to defend themselves from the enemy. Hezekiah asks Isaiah to pray to the Lord to protect the people of Jerusalem from Assyria.

Hezekiah doesn't ask this on behalf of his own righteousness or on the behalf of the righteousness of the people. Although there has been a revival in the nation since the death of Hezekiah's father, due to Hezekiah's love for the Lord and the many religious reforms he instituted, he isn't saying anything like, "I have served the Lord faithfully and am asking that He protect me and the people of my city from the enemy." Instead he's saying something like, "The field commander and his master have blasphemed the holy name of Almighty God. They have compared Him to idols. They have lied about Him and impugned His character. Please pray that the Lord will defend His honor and the glory of His name by striking back against these men and their army."

I believe this shows a great deal of humility. Hezekiah loves the Lord but he is not a perfect man. No one in the city of Jerusalem is perfect, no matter how much they may love the Lord. Hezekiah is aware of his spiritual weaknesses and the spiritual weaknesses of his subjects. Rather than pointing to his own instances of obedience to the Lord and to the many reforms he made in the nation by tearing down the abominable idols of his father and his other predecessors, Hezekiah points to the perfect character of the Lord and to the Lord's right to defend His own honor.

Isaiah, in contrast to all these other men, is not in distress. We find him calmly receiving the messengers and comforting them with the prophecy the Lord has given him concerning how things are going to go. "When King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, 'Tell your master, 'This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard---those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.'" (Isaiah 37:5-7)

Having the king return to his own country where he will be cut down with the sword is not all the Lord intends to do to the enemy. But we will stop here for today and think about how often the Lord solves our problems for us without us even having to lift a finger. Sometimes we are confronted with bad news or with worrisome circumstances. Sometimes we dread an upcoming event that we don't want to deal with. But many times the Lord takes care of the problem in such a way that we never have to deal with it at all! It's a normal human response to react with alarm when confronted with a troubling circumstance but Hezekiah sets a wonderful example for us about what to do next. In our alarm we must not allow ourselves to become hopeless. We mustn't throw up our hands and exclaim, "There's nothing that can be done!" There is something we can do. In a spirit of humility and in a spirit of hope we can go to our heavenly Father and lay our troubles before Him. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 157, The Assyrian Threat, Part Five

The field commander of the Assyrian army is calling up to the people seated along the city wall of Jerusalem, urging them to come out and surrender. Although he makes no secret of the fact that they will be taken captive, he pretends that they will be able to peacefully live in their own homes until they are deported and he pretends that they will enjoy peace and prosperity in the land to which they will be deported.

This is where we left off yesterday, with him making these false promises. But the people had been warned beforehand by King Hezekiah that the man would tell lies and say awful things. He told them not to speak a word to this man and in today's text we find them being obedient to his command. 

Hezekiah was correct to tell them to remain mute. It's never beneficial to get into a discussion with the devil. The field commander himself is not the devil and neither is the king he represents but the spirit behind the words of these men is from the evil one. This becomes even clearer than ever as the field commander blasphemes the God of Israel by comparing Him to the false gods of the heathen nations.

He shouts to the people: "Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, 'The Lord will deliver us!' Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?" (Isaiah 36:18-20)

It's true that he has successfully captured the cities named in the verses above. It's true that the gods worshiped by the citizens of those cities didn't lift a finger to defend the cities. But how could they since they don't exist? We don't know whether the field commander is a religious man or not. He likely makes offerings to the gods of his master, King Sennacherib of Assyria, but whether he believes in those gods or in any gods we do not know. If he believes in the gods of Assyria then we can safely assume he believes they are more powerful than the gods of the other nations, considering he has been successful in conquering those nations. 

He mistakenly believes that Almighty God is as impotent as the gods of those nations. We know this because he says something like, "Why are you trusting in your king who says God will help you? God can't help you! Did any of the gods of these other places help them? No, and your God will not help you. Why set yourselves up for a long siege? Why bring mass casualties upon yourselves when our siege ramps are large enough for us to come over your walls? Surrender now and save yourselves from these tribulations."

We don't know how many doubts and fears may be assailing the people's hearts as they hear the words intended to completely demoralize them. But they don't speak a word in return to him. They don't argue with him. They don't ask him questions. You'll recall from our study of the book of Genesis that this is where Eve went wrong in the Garden of Eden; she engaged in a conversation with Satan and fell for his lies. We have all engaged in conversations with Satan from time to time (when we mull over a particular temptation in our minds and when we try to justify it to ourselves and when we wonder what's the real harm in it) and that's a slippery slope because the next thing you know we've believed his lies and are even beginning to lie to ourselves. The people wisely heed the warning of their king and refuse to engage in conversation with the man who is shouting lies about their God. "But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, 'Do not answer him.'" (Isaiah 36:21)

This is the end of the discussion at this time. Hezekiah's officials return to the palace to relay all the words of the field commander to him. It would not have been safe for the king to come outside the gates of Jerusalem to face the commander and the soldiers behind him. That could have led to him being assassinated. Also, since the field commander is lower than King Hezekiah in rank, I feel it wouldn't be politically proper for a king to come out of his palace to speak face to face with someone who is not also a king. It would have made him look weak if he allowed himself to be summoned outside of the city by someone of lower status than himself. "Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said." (Isaiah 36:22)

Though no one argued with the field commander and got caught up in a useless debate with him, his words have had an effect on them. The men have torn their robes in grief as they made their way to the palace. They are deeply troubled. Hezekiah will be deeply troubled too but he will turn to the One who is far more powerful than the enemy.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 156, The Assyrian Threat, Part Four

The field commander of the king of Assyria is standing outside the gates of Jerusalem speaking with the three top officials of King Hezekiah of Judah. This man is speaking in Hebrew as he threatens to lay siege to the city, as he threatens to cause so much hardship and deprivation for the citizens that they will be forced to eat and drink their own excrement for lack of food and water. Hezekiah's officials begged him to speak to them in Aramaic, not Hebrew, so the citizens of Jerusalem would not understand his threats and be demoralized by them. Instead he takes it up a notch, shouting very loudly up to the people in Hebrew.

"Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, 'Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you! Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, 'The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'" (Isaiah 36:13-15) For the second time in our chapter he refers to his master as "the great king". The Lord has made King Hezekiah great, to be sure, for our study of the kings informed us that the Lord granted him a great deal of success because Hezekiah was faithful to him. But at this time in history the kingdom of Assyria is the most powerful kingdom on earth and the field commander considers his king to be the "king of kings", if you will. But he doesn't know that the Lord---the true King of kings---is on the side of the people of Jerusalem.

This man wants the people within the sound of his voice to rebel against their king. He wants them to rush the gates and force them open, coming out with their hands up and waving white flags. That way he can take the city without a siege and without a fight. "Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, until I come and take you to a land like your own---a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards." (Isaiah 36:16-17)

The Assyrians and many other ancient nations engaged in forced resettlement. They would deport the citizens of a land they conquered and they would resettle the land with conquered people from other cultures. They did this to break the spirits of conquered people and to cause them to assimilate into the culture of the land in which they were resettled. Also, settling lands with a mix of races and languages helped to prevent the people from successfully banding together well enough to mount a rebellion; they had difficulty understanding and trusting each other.

Forced resettlement should have been a horrifying prospect to any people, but especially to the people descended from Jacob. The Lord Himself gave them the land of Canaan---the land of milk and honey---and under no circumstances should they be willing to simply hand it over. But King Sennacherib wants to make it sound like an attractive prospect. He's saying, "Yes, you will have to leave your land but it really won't be a hardship and a sacrifice for you. I will move you to a land that is just as prosperous. You will always have plenty to eat and drink there. Why, it's pretty much identical to where you're living now!''

This is a lie, for he has no intention of allowing them to live in prosperity anywhere. No matter how nice the land may be where they end up, they will not be free to enjoy it. They will be under the authority of a foreign king, a pagan king, a cruel king. It will be much like the conditions their ancestors endured in the land of Egypt when the Egyptians decided to enslave them.

The words of King Sennacherib, which are relayed to the people by his field commander, are the same type of words Satan speaks to us. He asks us to surrender without a fight. He promises us that giving up what the Lord has promised us really won't be any sacrifice at all. Satan claims he's going to give us something just as good, if not better, by tempting us with worldly pleasures in order to weaken our resolve. We must not listen to his lies anymore than King Hezekiah intends to listen to his lies. Hezekiah is going to do what we all need to do when confronted by the enemy: he is going to take his case to God.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 155, The Assyrian Threat, Part Three

When we left off yesterday's study the field commander of the king of Assyria was standing outside the gates of Jerusalem relaying a message to King Hezekiah of Judah through three of his top officers. The field commander urged the king to surrender the city to him, for his master had already subdued several other cities whose citizens could not defend themselves against such a mighty army.

The field commander spoke some very demoralizing words. First he claimed that even if the people of Jerusalem had thousands of horses and chariots, they could not assemble enough able-bodied men to utilize them in battle. The second thing he said was that God Himself had given King Sennacherib orders to attack Jerusalem---that God was angry with the people. This is not true but, if he can get the people to believe it, they will give up. 

While Hezekiah's officers are speaking with this man, many of the citizens of Jerusalem are listening from the top of the city walls. City walls were quite thick in those days, with the walls around many ancient cities being wide enough to ride a chariot atop them. Hezekiah's officers are horrified when they hear this man claiming that the Lord wants the city to fall. "Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, 'Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.'" (Isaiah 36:11)

Aramaic was a much older language than Hebrew. By Isaiah's day the average citizens of Judah and Israel did not use it. They spoke Hebrew. Those who could read and write did it in Hebrew. The exceptions were the wealthier and more educated people, and especially the government officials. It was typical for top government officials to be able to speak, read, and write in several languages in order to communicate with other heads of state.

Hezekiah's officers don't want the citizens of Jerusalem to understand what the field commander is saying. They ask him in a respectful manner (referring to themselves as his "servants") to use Aramaic. If the people should lose heart and revolt, they could end up surrendering the city to the enemy against Hezekiah's orders. They wouldn't be the first or last group of people in history to do such a thing. 

The field commander ignores the men's request because he wants the citizens to hear what he's saying. He continues shouting loudly in Hebrew so the people will understand what a long siege of the city will entail. "But the commander replied: 'Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall---who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?'" (Isaiah 36:12)

In our next study session this man will begin shouting even louder, looking up at the people on the wall and directing his words to them in Hebrew. He will warn them of the deprivations of siege and of the mass casualties that will occur once his men finally build a siege ramp big enough (which took time in pre-earthmoving equipment eras) to come over the walls and begin engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the people inside.

But for now we will stop to consider his graphic and disgusting description of what will happen during months of siege. He's not lying. A city under siege will run out of food eventually, for nothing can be brought in. An enemy army will block off any water sources coming into the city from the outside, reducing the water supply for people, animals, and vegetable gardens. Well water would presumably still be available but water would have to be severely rationed. People under siege actually did sometimes get so hungry and thirsty that they ate and drank their own bodily wastes. Not only that, but medicine and medical supplies could not be brought into a city under siege, causing deaths from illnesses and infections. In many ancient cities under siege (including on the pages of the Bible) citizens engaged in the cannibalism of their dead. They were so hungry that when their loved ones perished from hunger or thirst or untreated diseases or untreated injuries that they ate them instead of burying them.

The field commander wants to draw a horrifying picture in the people's minds. He wants them to think about the possibility of their children dying right before their eyes. He wants them to think about how hungry and thirsty and sick they will all become. He wants them to imagine having to eat their dead in spite of how abominable the idea is. In tomorrow's study we will find him trying to drive home his point and trying to persuade them not to trust their king's assurance that God will come through for them.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 154, The Assyrian Threat, Part Two

In yesterday's study we found King Sennacherib of Assyria, camped at Lachish, sending his field commander to the gates of Jerusalem to relay a message to King Hezekiah of Judah. Hezekiah sent three of his men to meet the commander and hear his words: Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah.

This is how the message begins: "The field commander said to them, 'Tell Hezekiah: This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have counsel and might for war---but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?'" (Isaiah 36:4-5) In yesterday's study we looked at a portion of 2 Kings 18 in which we were told that Hezekiah rebelled against paying tribute to the king of Assyria. That segment of Scripture stated that Hezekiah trusted in the Lord and that the Lord has caused all of his work as king to be successful. 

Sennacherib refers to himself as "the great king" in this message. He is ridiculing the strength of the king of Judah (whom the Lord has prospered) and next we find him ridiculing another king (Pharaoh of Egypt) and then the Lord Himself---the King of kings.

"Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. But if you say to me, 'We are depending on the Lord our God'---isn't He the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Jerusalem and Judah, 'You must worship before this altar?'" (Isaiah 36:6-7) 

It's true that the people of Judah hoped the nation of Egypt would be a valuable ally with them against their common enemy, Assyria, and it's true that at one point an envoy bearing gifts was sent to Pharaoh to ask for his help. But when Pharaoh marched his army out against a contingent of the advancing Assyrian army, he was soundly defeated and had to retreat to his own country from which he was quick to send much tribute and gifts of appeasement to the king of Assyria. So King Sennacherib is not wrong when he states that Egypt won't save Judah from Assyria. But he is very, very wrong when he states that the Lord God won't save Judah from Assyria!

Sennacherib displays his ignorance of the Jewish faith when he says that Hezekiah tore down the Lord's altars in Judah and Jerusalem. The altars Hezekiah tore down were the idolatrous altars of his late father. He also tore down many of the old "high places" that their ancestors had used for worshiping the Lord prior to the construction of the temple and the altar there. After the temple was constructed, the Lord no longer authorized the use of the high places. It was too easy for each person to customize his or her religion that way or to mix heathen theology with their worship of the Lord. It was important for the people to form a body of believers who assembled together at a central location to make offerings to the Lord and to hear the word of God read aloud and to be told what is the proper way to worship Him. 

But Sennacherib doesn't understand any of this. He thinks Hezekiah offended the Lord and many of the people by removing all these sites from the landscape and ordering the people to worship only at the altar in Jerusalem. I think Sennacherib is also insinuating that this was a power play---that Hezekiah wanted to force the people to come to his capitol city to worship at the same altar he used in order to control them better.

The king of Assyria is saying, "Why are you trusting in the Lord? He's angry with you! You have acted against His wishes in tearing down all these altars. He won't lift a finger to help you." But then the king goes even further. He tells a lie intended to shake the faith of Hezekiah and all the people within earshot. Through his field commander he claims the Lord Himself told him to come and take the city.

The field commander says, "Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses---if you can put riders on them! How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master's officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord Himself told me to march against this country and destroy it." (Isaiah 36:8-10) 

The commander makes fun of the army of Judah, stating that even if he supplied it with two thousand horses, there aren't enough soldiers to ride them. He says that even if Pharaoh sends chariots and horses, the soldiers of Judah aren't skilled enough to fight the soldiers of Assyria. As if that isn't insulting enough and demoralizing enough, he attempts to completely destroy the people's confidence in the Lord by saying, "Who do you think put it in my mind to attack Jerusalem? The Lord Himself is against you! He will give you into my hands!"

The king of Assyria is a liar. The field commander is a liar. And Satan is a liar. Haven't we heard his lies---lies that claim the Lord is angry with us and isn't going to help us, lies that claim the Lord has covered His ears to our cries for help? No one can speak for the Lord except the Lord, which is why it's vital to our faith to know what the Scriptures say. What are the Lord's promises to those who trust in Him? What does He say He will do for the one who loves and serves Him? This is why we have the expression of "standing on the promises of God". We must know His promises in order to stand on them. We have to know what God says about Himself and what God says about His children in order to stand on that firm foundation when lies are coming at us.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 153, The Assyrian Threat, Part One

Chapter 36 is a chapter of action. During the reign of King Sennacherib of Assyria, the Assyrian forces attacked the nation of Judah and threatened the city of Jerusalem. We looked at this event during our study of the kings but, since this took place during the ministry of the prophet Isaiah, we are looking at it again from his perspective.

"In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them." (Isaiah 36:1) Assyria had already come down from the north, conquering the capitol cities of the nation of Aram and of the northern kingdom of Israel. Now it intends to conquer Judah as well. The invasion of Judah occurred in the 700s BC, according to the timeline of Hezekiah's reign.

Although the Lord will not allow Jerusalem to fall to Assyria, He did allow Assyria to plague the nation of Judah. The Assyrians were able to attack and capture a number of cities. They interrupted trade routes and they destroyed many fields full of crops and trampled many vineyards. But at this time in history the people of Judah had not fallen as far into idolatry as the people of Israel; indeed, there was a revival for a time in Judah after Hezekiah came to the throne, for he did away with the idols of his father and made a number of religious reforms in the nation. The Lord allowed Israel to fall to Assyria because of the idolatry that began when the northern tribes split from the southern tribes---idolatry which became worse and worse with each successive generation. Allowing the Assyrian army to plague Judah was a warning that the same thing could happen there if the people's spiritual condition became like that of the citizens of Israel.

King Sennacherib does not come in person to Jerusalem but sets up his headquarters at Lachish and sends his field commander to Jerusalem to tell King Hezekiah that Jerusalem is next on the list to be attacked. "Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer's Field, Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him." (Isaiah 36:2-3)

Why have the Assyrian forces marched into Judah? 2 Kings 18 tells us that Hezekiah had refused to pay tribute to Assyria. A number of other nations were paying tribute in order to keep from being invaded or destroyed. Earlier in our study of the book of Isaiah we found the prophet warning Hezekiah not to make an alliance with Pharaoh of Egypt, for Pharaoh would be of no help to Judah against Assyria. Pharaoh attempted to be of help but, as we learned in our study of the kings, his army was soundly defeated in a battle with the Assyrian army and after that he made haste to appease the king of Assyria, willingly handing over much tribute to him (including fine horses and chariots) in order to remain on the throne of Egypt, albeit as a vassal king and not a sovereign one.

Why did Hezekiah not pay tribute to Assyria earlier in time, before the fourteenth year of his reign? Because he placed his trust in the Lord rather than in submitting himself to this bully of the ancient world. "Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following Him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory." (2 Kings 18:5-8)

King Hezekiah wasn't a sinless man, of course, but his heart belonged to the Lord. He lived his life based on godly principles and as a result the Lord gave success. Hezekiah made his plans according to the will of the Lord and the Lord blessed him. Naturally, with all the successes the Lord had already given him, Hezekiah thought the Lord would bless his refusal to serve the pagan king. 

Hezekiah was not wrong. The Lord will bless Hezekiah and the capitol city of Jerusalem. As we move on through Chapter 36 we will find the Assyrians pointing out that no nation has successfully rebelled against them so far. This is true and Hezekiah knows it is true. But he also knows something else: the gods of those nations are not gods! The idols the Arameans trusted in, for example, could not help them. The idols the people of Israel had trusted in, for another example, could not help them. But the one true God of Hezekiah's ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? He will help them!

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 152, The Joy Of The Redeemed, Part Three

The prophet Isaiah has been foretelling deliverance for Jerusalem from the Assyrian army but at the same time he has been foretelling of a future deliverance---an eternal deliverance. It's true that many who fled the Assyrian invasion and many who were deported by the Assyrians (and later by the Babylonians) returned to the land, but someday there will be a return on a scale that has never been seen before. 

Isaiah speaks of how the Lord makes a way for His people. The Lord made a way for His people many times on the pages of the Bible. He has made a way for His people many times between then and now. He will make a way for His people in the future.

Isaiah speaks of the way like this: "And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way." (Isaiah 35:8a) Chapter 35 is titled "The Joy Of The Redeemed" and it is the redeemed that Isaiah speaks of when he refers to those who "walk on that Way". God-rejecters don't walk on that Way. This Way of Holiness is only for those who have placed their faith in the Lord, which the second portion of verse 8 makes clear.

"The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it." (Isaiah 35:8b) In the Bible the word "fool" was not used in the manner in which it is used in our day. In the original language the word that is translated as "fool" was a word used for a person who was spiritually reprobate and morally bankrupt. It didn't simply mean a person who unthinkingly makes silly mistakes. It meant a person who had no heart for the Lord or for His laws and who felt no desire to know Him or obey Him. The glorious highway spoken of by Isaiah in our passage is not for such people but is only for those who desire to know and serve the Lord.

I am reminded of a passage from the book of Revelation dealing with the restored earth and the eternal capitol city of the Messiah, which will be at Jerusalem. "Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life." (Revelation 21:27)

The redeemed will have no fear of man or beast. No human enemy will ever attack them again and, just as it was in the Garden of Eden, the human race and the animal kingdom will be at peace with each other. "No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there." (Isaiah 35:9a) The invention of highways did a great deal to advance the progress of civilizations but traveling on highways in ancient times was still a dangerous business. Robbers might be lying in wait. Enemy armies might swoop down out of the hills or out of the forests to attack a nation's soldiers as they marched along. Wild animals might attack someone traveling along a highway, especially if someone were traveling alone or in a very small group. Such things will never happen on the highway Isaiah foresees! People will go up to Jerusalem, rejoicing along the way, with no fear of anyone or anything.

"But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return." (Isaiah 35:9b) Several different rescues are in view here, I believe, such as the many times over the centuries when Jewish people have returned to the land the Lord gave them. But the primary rescue in view here is, I believe, the rescue of the soul---the redemption of the soul---because in the original language this verse uses the word "goel" which means "kinsman redeemer". Only those who have been ransomed by the Kinsman Redeemer will walk there, in other words. Only those who are saved by faith are walking on the Way of Holiness, both literally and figuratively.

"They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." (Isaiah 35:10) What an awesome way to end this chapter! What an awesome way to end the human experience! We who have placed our faith in the Lord will live in His presence with everlasting joy. We will live in an eternal state of gladness. There will never again be any sorrow in our hearts. We will never be tempted to sin against our Redeemer and we will live on a remade earth where no curse of sin exists. There will be no troubles of any kind. "Sorrow and sighing will flee away" when the Lord has made all things new! 
 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 151, The Joy Of The Redeemed, Part Two

We are studying a chapter that is titled "The Joy Of The Redeemed". Yesterday we talked about how this passage refers to the near future (the Lord's deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian army), and also the far off future (the eternal kingdom of the Messiah). As our text opens today we learn some of the things the Messiah will do---and indeed did do---at His first advent. In addition I believe this passage speaks of what the eternal kingdom will be like, for the redeemed will live in His presence forever in an immortal body like His and no one will have a disability, an accident, or an illness. No one will ever die. 

"Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy." (Isaiah 35:5-6) We know that Jesus of Nazareth performed such miracles, which were signs that He was who He said He was: the Son of God. Also I believe that since the Bible often uses the terms "blind" and "deaf" as terms for those who are living in disobedience to the Lord, we know that no one in the kingdom of the Messiah will ever be spiritually blind or deaf, which is a subject we will delve in our next session. 

Those who had physical impairments in their mortal bodies will be set free of their impairments when they receive a body like the Lord's. They will be set free of the spiritual impairments they dealt with in their mortal bodies as well. No longer will they struggle with doubts or fears; they will see the Redeemer face to face and they will know that everything He ever said about Himself is true and that every promise He ever made has now come true.

The earth will be restored to an Eden-like state, as the book of Revelation explains to us. Isaiah gives us a glimpse of that glorious state in today's text. "The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow." (Isaiah 35:7) There will be no barren land in the eternal kingdom. Everything will be lush and green. No one will ever have to trudge through a thirsty desert. No one will ever go hungry. Wild animals won't hold sway over any territories---chasing people away or attacking them---because the human race and the animal race will be at peace with each other once again.

This is the "new earth" as the Apostle John phrased it in Revelation 21:1. The Lord doesn't destroy the earth, as far as doing away with it completely, but instead recreates it, restores it, remakes it. And when He has done this, His promise will come true that: "He will wipe every tear from 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)

The Lord Jesus Christ gave us a foretaste of what it will be like when He reigns over the earth by giving sight to the blind, by giving hearing to the deaf, by giving speech to the mute, by healing diseases, and by raising the dead. Because He performed such awesome miracles, we know that everything He has promised for us in our eternal future with Him will come true. He will remake the earth and He will remake our mortal bodies. As the Apostle Paul so beautifully described our transformation: "Just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man." (1 Corinthians 15:49) We have borne the image of Adam, so to speak, for our souls have inhabited a mortal body. But we who have placed our faith in the Lord will also bear the image of the heavenly man---the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We don't fully understand all that this means but we know that the risen Christ in the New Testament had a body that was not bound by the laws of physics as we know them today. Even the Apostle John, who saw Him in his risen body, did not fully understand everything the immortal body can do, but he said this about it: "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2) In his mortal body the Apostle John couldn't fully understand everything he saw when the risen Christ appeared to the disciples a number of times. But when John inhabits his immortal body he will understand---and so will we---because our bodies will be eternal, immortal, and not bound by the same laws of physics and nature as they are today. 

I long for that day! I was sick almost the whole month of May and am still not quite one hundred percent. Won't it be a relief to throw off the infirmities of these old bodies? We will live an abundant life in ways we can't even imagine now!

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 150, The Joy Of The Redeemed, Part One

Chapter 35 is titled "The Joy Of The Redeemed" in the NIV. Some of the things included in this chapter have been fulfilled, but only in part, for the complete fulfillment will take place during the eternal kingdom of the Messiah.

We previously saw the Lord promising to punish the enemies of Israel. He has already, by our times, caused a number of nations to fall that persecuted Israel. He will also cause the fall of the kingdoms of the end times that band together to make war with His people. But after that comes restoration. After that comes renewal. The Lord will be the only King over the earth and the only people on the earth will be those who have trusted in Him. No sin will ever be committed again and the earth will no longer be polluted by sin. It will be restored to an Eden-like state.

"The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The joy of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God." (Isaiah 35:1-2) We know that the plans of the Assyrian army to lay siege to Jerusalem will be foiled by the Lord. In that sense there was a very immediate fulfillment in the promise that the people would have something to rejoice about. There was also a farther off reason for them to rejoice, for many in Israel who were dispersed by Assyria and many in Judah who were dispersed by Babylon would be able to return and rebuild. An even farther off reason to rejoice is that, after many centuries of not being a sovereign nation in the world, Israel would be recognized as a nation again---as it is today.

But the complete and eternal fulfillment of this restoration of Israel and of the earth itself will take place when the Lord reigns over the throne of the world. When He comes, He will judge every person and nation that has ever been the enemy of those who believe in Him. After He has carried out this justice, no enemy will ever stand against His children again. There will be no fear on the earth. No human enemy will ever attack, no accidents will ever happen, no illnesses will ever occur, no deaths will ever take place. As the book of Revelation states it, the Lord will make all things new. (Revelation 21:5) Those who have trusted in Him will live in the joy of His presence forever.

In the hard times of this life it can be easy to become discouraged when we look around at our personal circumstances and when we think about the things that go on in the world. This is why we must keep our eyes fixed on the Lord. He will help us with the difficulties of this life and He has a glorious and eternal life planned for us in the future. This next segment encourages us (and of course Isaiah's people in the distress they were facing in his day) to focus on the Lord and on His promise to avenge all the wrongs done to us.

"Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, He will come with vengeance; with divine retribution He will come to save you.'" (Isaiah 35:3-4) Isaiah's people were filled with dread at the prospect of what the Assyrian army planned to do in their region. They were well aware of what Assyria had already done to other nations. But they are to encourage each other with His promise that He is going to deliver them from this threat.

In addition, everyone who believes in the Lord can encourage themselves with the words of verses 3-4. No wrong that has ever been done to us has ever gone unnoticed by the Lord. It sometimes seems as if His retribution against our enemies is a long time in coming, for we don't always see an immediate judgment of their sins, but that doesn't mean He won't ever judge their sins---either in this life or in the final judgment. As the Apostle Peter said, the Lord isn't slack with His promises, but what we perceive as a delay is Him giving sinners opportunities to repent. (2 Peter 3:9) Even though the Lord knows some people will never repent, His righteousness demands that He gives them a chance to do so. 

And it's a good thing that He does, because what if He had never given you or me opportunities to repent? He gave me far more than one chance to repent and be saved. I bet He gave you far more than one chance too. But the fact that He provides many opportunities means that no one who repeatedly rejects His mercy can stand at His judgment throne and claim He never held out His hands to them in mercy. Those the Lord promises to judge for their sins against Isaiah's people are those who never repent.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 149, The Land Of Edom As A Symbol Of The Judgment Of The Nations, Part Two

The Lord has been speaking about His intention to judge the nation of Edom---the descendants of Esau---for its cruelty toward the descendants of Jacob. He means this literally but He also means this figuratively; He appears to be using Edom as a symbol for the judgment that will fall upon every nation that ever has or ever will persecute the descendants of Jacob, as we noted in our last session.

About literal Edom the Lord said that its palaces and citadels and strongholds would be deserted by humans and taken over by the wild animals and by briers. He listed several of the types of animals that would make these empty dwellings their abode and He picks up on that same theme today, saying: "The owl will nest there and lay eggs, she will hatch them and care for her young under the shadow of her wings; there also the falcons will gather, each with its mate." (Isaiah 34:15)

In the original language some of the terms used for the animals listed in Chapter 34 can also be used as terms for mythical or demonic creatures. I don't know whether the Lord literally means that evil spirits will indwell the ruins of the cities of the Edomites or whether He uses these terms to indicate the uncleanness of the cities of Edom where so much idolatry took place. I have often thought that it's highly likely that evil spirits (fallen angels) enjoy hanging around areas where a great deal of idolatry has taken place. After all, in the New Testament we are told that although idols don't represent real gods, there is a demonic influence behind idolatry. 

The Apostle Paul speaks on this subject in 1 Corinthians 10 where he states that although food that has been sacrificed to idols is edible because the deities represented by the idols do not exist, the Christian should not partake of food at any table where the Christian has been informed the food was first offered to idols. Paul referred to this as "the demon's table". It makes sense that demons would hang around an area where idolatry took place, where much sin and debauchery took place, where human sacrifice took place (as it did in several ancient cultures), and where other types of murders took place.

The Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, instructs us never to attempt to contact the dead and I believe that is because it is not departed humans who will answer us---if indeed anything answers us. We must not attempt to contact the spirit world because demons may masquerade as the departed spirits of our loved ones. Once a person dies and his or her spirit leaves their body, they move on to the destination they are assigned according to whether they believed in and belonged to the Lord or not. I do not think they are hanging around on earth rattling chains, opening squeaky doors, or communicating by means of a medium or a Ouija board or anything else. The Bible does not provide any evidence that such a thing happens but it does strictly warn us many times not to attempt to contact the dead. This warning is for our own good. At best, it's simply a waste of our time and it will affect our inability to move on from our loss and to craft a productive life. At worst, it will pull us into the occult and draw us away from the Lord.

The Lord concludes Chapter 34 by speaking again of the animals and by using them as a sign that He predicted the destruction of Edom long before it occurred. This is also to be taken as a sign that everything else He has predicted will occur: the destruction of all the enemies of the descendants of Jacob will happen just as He said. "Look in the scroll of the Lord and read: None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is His mouth that has given the order, and His spirit will gather them together. He allots their portions; His hand distributes them by measure. They will possess it forever and dwell there from generation to generation." (Isaiah 34:16-17)

When Edom has been destroyed and when the wild animals take over its ruins, people will be able to look back at the scroll of the book of Isaiah and see that the Lord told them this would come to pass. The wild animals will mate and bear young and increase in number in the ruins of the once-prosperous kingdom. They will "possess it forever", meaning Edom will never rise from the ashes. It was not rebuilt, in contrast to Israel. There is no nation of Edom on the earth today but there is a nation of Israel on the earth today. Because the things Isaiah predicted for his general era came to pass, anyone who reads his scroll can rest assured that everything else the prophet predicted will come to pass. The Lord said He would never allow the tribes of Israel to be wiped from the earth and He promised an everlasting kingdom to be made of Israel. This promise will come true. It already has, in part, but will find its complete fulfillment when the Messiah comes and reigns from Jerusalem over all the earth.

Laptop Issues

I'm sorry for the lack of a Bible study post today. For two days my laptop keeps continually disconnecting from the Wi-Fi but no other devices in the household are having this problem, so it's not the Wi-Fi but a problem of some sort with the laptop. By the time I got it to do a hard shutdown and restart and I managed to stay connected for more than just a few seconds, I was out of time to make a post before work. I hope it will remain connected this time so we can continue our study of Chapter 34 for tomorrow's post. The word of God deserves us taking our time to really delve deep into each section and the time ran out on me today. Please join with me in praying that the device keeps working so we don't miss any more studies this week. Thank you! Have a blessed day!

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 148, The Land Of Edom As A Symbol Of The Judgment Of The Nations, Part One

In our last study session we talked about how the Lord is going to judge all the nations that have persecuted His people. Today's text continues on with that theme. The Lord uses the kingdom of Edom in this text, both literally and figuratively. 

The Edomites were close relatives to the Israelites, for their founders were the brothers Jacob and Esau. But the Edomites quickly descended into idolatry, whereas the descendants of Jacob continued to serve the Lord---albeit not all of them, since idolatry crept into the nation over time, but at no time did every descendant of Jacob serve idols. The Edomites opposed the Israelites on their way to the land of Canaan, refusing to allow them to take a shortcut through their land and assembling in battle array against them. They continued to refuse to be friends with Israel and, even though the Lord strictly charged the Israelites never to attack or attempt to take any land from the Edomites, the Edomites did not show them the same courtesy. They took every opportunity to do Israel ill instead of to do Israel good.

So in our text today the Lord announces His intention to allow the nation of Edom to fall but He is also using the word "Edom" to symbolize all nations, tribes, and peoples who have hated the descendants of Jacob. Most mainstream scholars hold to this view and also to the view that the destructions mentioned in this chapter are primarily looking ahead to the end times and to the Lord's final judgment of those who hate Him and who hate His people.

"Edom's streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch! It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again." (Isaiah 34:9-10) The Lord did not rain down fire and brimstone upon Edom as He did upon Sodom and Gomorrah but He uses similar imagery when speaking of Edom's utter destruction. Like so many other ancient kingdoms, its once-amazing structures have fallen into dust and ruins. It went through a period of decline and then was largely destroyed by the Babylonians and by various Arabic tribes. Edom never rose again, in contrast to the nation of Israel which is a sovereign nation in the world today and whose people are still a distinct people in the world today.

The Lord's words against literal Edom paint a picture of devastation, of being uninhabited, of being unable to rebuild. "The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there. God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation. Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom, all her princes will vanish away." (Isaiah 34:11-12) The residences of kings and nobles and high officials will be deserted and will become the habitation of wild creatures.

The untended lawns and fields will overtake the luxurious palaces and the offices of the government.  "Thorns will overrun her citadels, nettles and brambles her strongholds. She will become a haunt for jackals, a home for owls. Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and wild goats will bleat to each other; there the night creatures will also lie down and find for themselves places of rest." (Isaiah 34:13-14)

Those citizens who once lived lives of idolatry and wickedness are no longer there. The lavish parties are no longer being held. No music is being played. No one is going about their business. No one is tending to matters of government. No one is tending to matters of everyday life. The human occupants are gone and the animal occupants have found shelter in the palaces of the nobles. The pagan temples and idols of false gods are lying in the dust, as helpless to protect themselves as they were to protect those who brought them offerings. A similar fate will befall those who, in the last days, seek to make war with the Lord and with the Lord's people. As we continue on with our study of Chapter 34 we will talk about how these verses apply not only to the literal kingdom of Edom but to the kingdoms of the world that oppose the Lord and that hate the people who serve Him.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 147, A Day Of Vengeance

In Chapter 34 we find the Lord again promising the descendants of Jacob that He will judge all of their enemies. We have seen this theme repeated previously in the book of Isaiah and it struck me this morning how gracious the Lord is to repeat His promises to mankind. He knows how weak and frail we are. He knows we need repeated assurances that everything will be okay in the end. He doesn't chastise us for needing to hear a promise more than once; instead He mercifully restates the promise to us many times and in various ways. He is so patient with us!

As we concluded Chapter 33 we found the prophet Isaiah predicting an era of eternal peace (from enemies) for the people of Israel. Chapter 34 explains how this will come about: the Lord will make certain that Israel has no enemies! Everyone who has ever persecuted the Jewish people will be judged for their crimes against humanity. As our chapter opens we find the Lord's message addressed to "the nations" and "the peoples", so we know His message of judgment is addressed to the wicked from among the Gentile nations, not the Jewish people. 

"Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! The Lord is angry with all nations; His wrath is on all their armies. He will totally destroy them, He will give them over to slaughter." (Isaiah 34:1-2) Many mainstream Christian scholars believe that the era known as the Great Tribulation is in view here. The Lord is not going to destroy every person on the face of the earth but in the book of Revelation we find a coalition of wicked kings and thousands upon thousands of citizens from their nations joining together to fight against the Lord's chosen King: the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will destroy those who hate Him with the words of His mouth. In the Great Tribulation there will be more persecution of the Jewish people than ever before and there will be more persecution of Christians (those who came to faith after the Lord calls His church out of the world) than ever before. But the Lord will judge all these persecutors to an eternity separated from the glory and the love and the joy of His presence.

"Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will stink; the mountains will be soaked with their blood. All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree." (Isaiah 34:3-4) There are several prophecies in the New Testament regarding great cataclysms on the earth and in the heavens above. These correspond almost word for word with this passage from the book of Isaiah. 

Next the Lord mentions the kingdom of Edom, which was founded by Jacob's brother Esau, as an example of an enemy of Israel that He would cause to fall. "My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed. The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood, it is covered with fat---the blood of rams and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. And the wild oxen will fall with them, the bull calves and the great bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked with fat." (Isaiah 34:5-7) 

The language in this passage is graphic but it is necessary for the Lord to use this type of language to make His people understand that He will avenge all the blood their enemies have shed. Throughout the ages a number of nations, including Edom, opposed the establishment and the continuation of the nation of Israel. Untold millions of the descendants of Jacob have been cruelly cut down by those who hate them. The Lord will not allow these crimes to go unpunished. He uses the example of the Edomites, whose nation no longer exists in our day, as an example of utter destruction. Where is the kingdom of Edom today? It has vanished from the earth and in this same way all nations that oppose the Lord's people Israel will vanish from the earth. 

The Lord speaks of sacrifices in the passage above. Normally the sacrifices made to the Lord were made with rams and goats and sheep and bulls. The Lord compares His slaughter of Israel's enemies to animal sacrifices, perhaps because so many people have behaved like animals toward His people. Or perhaps He mentions sacrifices because the great slaughter of the wicked of the earth in the Great Tribulation will be one not of atonement, as sacrifices usually are, but because this sacrifice will be one of vengeance. The wicked of that era don't want atonement. They oppose the Lord and the Lord's people to the very end and He makes a slaughter of them. 

"For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion's cause." (Isaiah 34:8) Long ago in the Old Testament, before the Lord brought the descendants of Jacob into the promised land and made a great nation of them, He said to them: "It is Mine to avenge; I will repay." (Deuteronomy 32:35a) He meant He would handle problems in their day to day lives and He meant that in the future He would handle their enemies in a permanent way. In the end times He will completely fulfill this promise by avenging all the wrongs ever done to His people and by establishing them as a secure nation forever. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 146, A Peaceful Abode

Isaiah has been predicting deliverance for the people of Jerusalem. The remainder of our passage from Chapter 33 appears to be a twofold prophecy: one for the immediate times (the threat of Assyria) and one for future times (the eternal kingdom on earth).

Although the Lord allowed the northern kingdom of Israel to fall to the Assyrian Empire due to the rampant idolatry that went on in the northern kingdom for many generations, the nation of Judah did not fall into such deep idolatry during the era of Assyrian dominance. This is why Judah continued to be a kingdom for approximately 130 years longer than Israel. When the Lord strikes down 185,000 enemy soldiers outside the gates of Jerusalem and the king of Assyria is obliged to retreat to Nineveh to plan his next move, then will come true this next segment.

"In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror: 'Where is that chief officer? Where is the one who took the revenue? Where is the officer in charge of the towers?' You will see those arrogant people no more, people whose speech is obscure, whose language is strong and incomprehensible." (Isaiah 33:18-19) Suddenly the threat against Jerusalem will disappear. The chief officer of the Assyrian army who boasted that he would take the city will be gone. The Assyrian tax collector who took and counted the tribute King Hezekiah paid to the king of Assyria will no longer have his hand out for more money. The Assyrian military strategist who walked around the city of Jerusalem and selected the best place to build a siege ramp or to break through a wall will be gone. The terrorizing threat will vanish like mist on a summer morning. 

This next portion appears to speak of a future day in which Jerusalem will never be threatened again. We have not yet seen this portion of Isaiah's prophecy come true, for many enemies have attacked Jerusalem since these words were spoken and the nation of Israel still has many enemies in the world today, but when the Messiah comes to reign over the world forever from His capitol at Jerusalem, these beautiful words of promise will be fulfilled.

"Look on Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken. There the Lord will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is He who will save us." (Isaiah 33:20-22) No enemy fleet of ships will ever set sail to invade the nation. The Lord will judge and destroy the enemies of His people. He speaks of these enemies as if they are broken down sailing vessels. "Your rigging hangs loose: The mast is not held secure, the sail is not spread." (Isaiah 33:23a)

Earlier in our study of this chapter we talked about how, after the Lord strikes down the army outside the gates, the people from Jerusalem take the spoil that is left in the Assyrian camp. The nation that intended to spoil Jerusalem is instead spoiled itself. The Lord brings about a reversal of fortunes for those who trust in Him---and He can do this in your life and in my life too! There were so many goods left lying unprotected outside of Jerusalem that even the weakest of the citizens were able to just pick up things off the ground for their own use. This final portion is a reference to that and it is also a reference to the fact that in the eternal kingdom no one will lack for anything. No one will be sick or disabled. No one will be poor. Everyone will have enough.

"Then an abundance of spoils will be divided and even the lame will carry off plunder. No one living in Zion will say, 'I am ill'; and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven." (Isaiah 33:23b-24) 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 145, The Consuming Fire

In today's passage the Lord speaks of Himself as a "consuming fire" when He speaks of His mighty and righteous acts of judgment.

"'Now will I arise,' says the Lord. 'Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up. You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you. The peoples will be burned to ashes; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.'" (Isaiah 33:10-12) Whenever the Bible uses the expression "the peoples" it is usually a reference to the heathen nations and tribes, not a reference to the descendants of Jacob.

Most scholars believe the passage above is directed toward the Assyrian Empire whose soldiers the Lord intends to strike down when they camp outside the gates of Jerusalem. Word of how the Lord supernaturally strikes down 185,000 enemy soldiers in the middle of the night will spread far and wide, testifying to His existence, testifying to His awesome power on behalf of those who call themselves by His name. Because of this, He says, "You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge My power!" (Isaiah 33:13)

The things the other nations hear about Almighty God should be enough to cause them to fear Him, to seek His favor, and to turn away from their useless idols. In addition, it should be enough to cause any backslidden or idolatrous descendants of Jacob to recommit their hearts and lives to Him. We don't know how much of an effect the news of His mighty power has on the pagan people of that era but this next verse tells us how some of the people in Jerusalem react when their consciences begin to trouble them at the mighty display of the Lord's power. "The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: 'Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?'" (Isaiah 33:14)

When the descendants of Jacob who have backslidden or who have fallen into idolatry witness the way the Lord decimated the enemy army, their hearts will be struck with fear. The hearts of foreigners living in Jerusalem will be struck with fear as well. A God who can do what He did to the enemy army---to the idolatrous and sinful army---can do the same to them. This is not a God to be trifled with. This is a God who is holy and who demands holy living of those who want to join themselves to Him. These conscience-stricken people cry out in dismay something like, "Who can deal with a God like this? His judgment is like a consuming fire! His wrath will burn us up!"

This statement is true for anyone who refuses to repent and acknowledge Him as Lord. But the Lord makes a way of escape from judgment! If they will repent and make Him the Lord of their lives and walk in His ways (with His help, of course, because no one is perfect), they will be the recipients of abundant living in this world and in the eternal life to come. The one who can stand before Him and not be consumed is the one like this: "Those who walk righteously and speak what is right, who reject gain from extortion and keep their hands from accepting bribes, who stop their ears against plots of murder and shut their eyes against contemplating evil---they are the ones who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be in the mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, and water will not fail them. Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and view a land that stretches afar." (Isaiah 33:15-16)

The words in verses 15 and 16 are not proclaiming a salvation by works. Salvation has never been by works but by faith. All the way back in Genesis we learned that Abraham's faith was accepted as righteousness; the Lord imputed to him that which he lacked in his frail mortal abilities. Abraham was not a sinless man and the Scriptures relay some of his mistakes to us. But Abraham was saved by faith and when we accept the Lord on faith and make Him our King, He enables us to resist many of the temptations that this world throws at us. When we mess up, He imputes a righteousness to us that we do not have on our own when we admit our fault to Him and ask for His mercy and forgiveness. Our faith is what enables us to stand in His presence and not be consumed. Our faith is what will enable us to "see the King in His beauty" someday.