The Book Of Isaiah. Day 144, The Key To The Treasure

Today's text appears to primarily be a reference to the Lord's intention to deliver the people of Jerusalem from the Assyrian army, although as we continue on through our chapter I believe it also speaks to the future day when He will judge all the enemies of His children. 

"The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure." (Isaiah 33:5-6) The Lord is the sure foundation in every time. We can quote this verse for our own lives today. Since the world was created, there has been no other sure foundation except the Lord. The Lord is the Solid Rock and, as the saying goes: "On Christ the Solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand".

The Lord is the One in whom the people should trust as the Assyrian army advances toward their gates. He will deliver them from the enemy. He will continue to deliver all who call upon His name in every age. He will dispense salvation and wisdom and knowledge. No one else can do this for us! And the key to receiving this salvation and wisdom and knowledge is to fear (reverently respect, submit ourselves to, obey) the Lord. 

This treasure belongs to the children of God. But what belongs to those who place their hopes and trust and faith in other things and other people instead of in the Lord? "Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly. The highways are deserted, no travelers are on the roads. The treaty is broken, its witnesses are despised, no one is respected. The land dries up and wastes away, Lebanon is ashamed and withers; Sharon is like the Arabah, and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves." (Isaiah 33:7-9) 

Alliances with heathen nations were forbidden to the people of God; anyone who trusts in those alliances will be ashamed because their pagan neighbors won't be of any help to them. The Assyrian army has already defeated many other tribes and nations whose people called out to false gods. How then can the worshipers of false gods be of any help to the nation of Judah? There is no god except the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is to Him alone the people are to look for help. 

This is true in every generation, not just in Isaiah's generation. As I said earlier in our study of this chapter, it's not that the Lord doesn't sometimes use other people to bring us help---He does. But we aren't to look to other people for help first and we aren't to look to other people instead of God. For example, if we get a scary diagnosis from the doctor, the first place we should go is to the Great Physician and cry out to Him for help. But that doesn't mean He expects us to eschew the medical science with which He has gifted mankind. We are to acknowledge Him as the source of all healing, whether that healing comes miraculously or whether it comes through the ingredients for medicine that He has placed in this world for our benefit. We are to allow Him to guide us when seeking treatment so we will know which course to take as we navigate this troubling circumstance.

In that same way, Isaiah's people were to bring their fear of Assyria to the Lord, recognizing Him as their defender. If the Lord is on their side, no enemy can defeat them. In some cases in the Bible we find the Lord supernaturally defending His people and in other cases we find Him allowing them to fight the battles while He supplies the weaponry and the strength they need for the battles. The Lord uses various methods according to His purpose in each situation. But ultimately He is the source of every victory and we are to look to Him first for guidance and help. He will direct us. Sometimes that means sitting still and waiting to see what He will do on our behalf. Other times that means wading right into the thick of battle while He strengthens our arms for the fight. But every victory is due to Him and Him alone. The key to this awesome treasure is fearing Him, for if we fear Him we need not fear anyone else.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 143, Our Strength Every Morning

Our text today may regard the approaching Assyrian army and its threat to lay siege to Jerusalem. Whether that is the occasion or not, we find the hearts of the people crying out to the Lord for help, so we know that it is an occasion of distress.

"Lord, be gracious to us; we long for You. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress." (Isaiah 33:2) Previously in the book of Isaiah we learned that the people were attempting to ally themselves with Egypt in hopes that their forces combined with the forces of Egypt could repel their common enemy. But time and time again the Lord instructed the people to trust only in Him. Here we find them calling upon Him alone, in obedience to those instructions.

There's nothing wrong with looking for help from earthly things if we have called upon the Lord first and are trusting the situation to Him. For example, when we get bad news our first thoughts ought to go heavenwards, asking the Lord the same thing the people in our text today are asking Him: "Lord, be gracious to us!" But after committing our problem to Him, that doesn't mean He won't use other people or medical science (in the case of illness) to solve our problem. In the case of the Assyrian army coming to lay siege to Jerusalem, the Lord will handle the entire matter Himself without involving any human beings at all, but there are other instances in the Bible where the Lord brings help to His children through other human beings. 

Everything King Sennacherib of Assyria will say about his success on the field of battle, up until the day he sends his army against Jerusalem, will be true. It is true that he has already defeated other nations and tribes. He has already destroyed several villages around the land of Judah. He has already managed to affect the economy of Judah by disrupting trade routes and by instructing his men to rush in and destroy crops before they can be harvested. He is going to send a very threatening letter to King Hezekiah of Judah and in that letter he will brag about how no one has been able to stand against him. Hezekiah will spread the letter out and pray to the Lord over it and in his prayer he will admit that the things the enemy king is saying are true. But he will also profess his faith that the reason Sennacherib has been successful is because the gods of the other nations don't exist and that the Lord does exist and that the Lord fights on behalf of those who trust in Him.

As we've already mentioned several times over the past few days, we know that the Lord struck down 185,000 of the soldiers encamped around Jerusalem. This obliged King Sennacherib, who was not camped with his soldiers but at another location, to pack up and go home with the remainder of the forces he'd brought into Judah. His intent was to come back once he figured out a new strategy. The Lord's swooping in during the night and putting the enemy to flight may be what these next two verses are about. We don't know whether these verses are being spoken as a prophecy (the event hasn't occurred yet) or whether these verses were written after it had already happened.

"At the uproar of Your army, the peoples flee; when You rise up, the nations scatter. Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it." (Isaiah 33:3-4) The phrase "Your army" may indicate that the hosts of heaven came in under the leadership of the Lord and fought for Jerusalem during the night. You may recall when we were studying the life of the prophet Elisha that when enemies surrounded the city where he was staying, Elisha's servant became panic-stricken. Elisha prayed for the Lord to open the servant's eyes and when He did the servant saw all the hills around the city filled with horses and chariots of fire: a heavenly army waiting to defend them from the enemy. Something like this may be what happened when the Lord saved Jerusalem from the enemy or this could just be a figure of speech in our text today when we find the reference to the Lord's army.

When the people of Jerusalem found all the enemy soldiers lying dead, they took the plunder of the plunderers. They took the goods the Assyrians had brought with them from Assyria and the goods the Assyrians had stolen from the people of Judah and from many other places. This is why verse 4 above states that the plunder was harvested. The weapons of the enemies of God's people are now in the hands of God's people. The food of the enemy is now food for God's people. 

The Lord has accomplished many astonishing turnarounds in my own life and I bet He's accomplished many of them in yours too. He is our strength every morning! His mercies are renewed every morning! This means there is an unending, inexhaustible supply for us when we submit our lives and everything in them to Him and trust in Him to help us.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 142, Woe To The Destroyer And The Betrayer

The "destroyer" and the "betrayer" referenced in Chapter 33 is believed by most scholars to be a reference to the Assyrian Empire or to its current leader (Sennacherib) at the time this text was written. We know that the Lord supernaturally turned away the Assyrian army during the days of Isaiah's ministry and it is generally thought that the material at the beginning of our chapter has to do with the most imminent threat that was facing the people of Jerusalem in Isaiah's time.

"Woe to you, destroyer, you who have not been destroyed! Woe to you, betrayer, who have not been betrayed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying, you will be betrayed." (Isaiah 33:1) King Sennacherib of Assyria had already laid waste to a number of cities and villages in that region of the world. He had attacked the northern kingdom of Israel and he had attacked the southern kingdom of Judah, destroying many cities and villages there. He appears unstoppable as he advances toward Jerusalem. He believed he was unstoppable; indeed, he will make the boast that no nation and no nation's god can withstand his assault. 

Not only will the Lord destroy 185,000 of Sennacherib's troops when they encamp around Jerusalem in preparation to lay siege to the city, but this will force Sennacherib to withdraw from where he headquartered himself nearby in order to return to Nineveh to regroup and plan his next attack---and it is in Nineveh that he will be assassinated by two of his own sons. If Sennacherib is primarily the one who is the "destroyer" and "betrayer" of today's text, then it's clear that this destroyer and betrayer was himself betrayed and destroyed just as the Lord told Isaiah. 

I think also that the Assyrian Empire itself is included in the prophecy, for as powerful as it seems in Isaiah's time, it will be destroyed by the rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. At one time this appeared impossible to the human way of thinking, since Assyria had so abjectly trodden down the nation of Babylon, but kingdoms have risen and kingdoms have fallen all throughout history---with Assyria being no exception. The only kingdom that will never fall will be the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ our Lord. The prophet Daniel foresaw kingdom after kingdom rising and falling until the arrival of the eternal one, and of it he said: "The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever." (Daniel 2:44)

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 141, How Blessed You Will Be

The remainder of Chapter 32 concerns future blessings for Isaiah's people. I think this prophecy has been fulfilled in part, in various ways, but I think its complete and eternal fulfillment will take place when the King from David's line sits on the throne and reigns over the world.

We back up to the verse we finished with yesterday and then we go forward from there. The scene opens upon a view that suggest desertion and defeat but it ends with a promise of restoration.

"The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured out on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. The Lord's justice will dwell in the desert, His righteousness live in the fertile field." (Isaiah 32:14-16) We know that the Lord did deliver Jerusalem from the Assyrian army but we also know that a little over a hundred years later He allowed it to fall to the Babylonian army (because so many of the people fell into idolatry), and also that He made a way for the people to return from captivity to the land. In that sense their fortunes were restored in part but we know that Isaiah's people were troubled and subjugated by several more nations and that Israel ceased to be a sovereign nation in the world for many centuries. The fact that Israel is a sovereign nation in the world today is a fulfillment, in part, of this prophecy. 

Another partial fulfillment is the pouring out of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost in the book of Acts. Since Christ's ascension to heaven, all who place their faith in Him are literally indwelt by the Holy Spirit. In Old Testament times we see in the Scriptures that the Holy Spirit came upon individuals in various times and in various ways but we never find Him being described as continually indwelling a believer. The Lord has kept His promise to pour out His Spirit upon mankind. 

But I believe that the majority of this prophecy will be fulfilled in the eternal kingdom. Only those who belong to the Lord will live on the earth then. No one will ever sin or be tempted to sin. No injustice will ever take place. There will be no corner of the world where anything is wrong. Illness, injuries, and death will cease to exist. Isaiah says of that everlasting era: "The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever." (Isaiah 32:17)

No matter how many times in the past enemies came up against Jerusalem, and no matter that its walls were broken through and leveled by those who hated Isaiah's people, the soldier's boot and the clank of the sword will never be heard there again. No matter how many times in the past---because of sin---the Lord had to withhold rain or allow natural disasters to occur, nothing will threaten the peace and prosperity of His children ever again. Sin will no longer exist on the earth and neither will any of the consequences of sin. "My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free." (Isaiah 32:18-20)

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 140, A Warning Against Complacency

I apologize for there being no Bible study on Tuesday. I was so sick on Tuesday that I didn't even realize we hadn't done the Bible study until late last night. My husband had to have me at my medical group's walk-in clinic as soon as they opened at 7am because my throat was so inflamed and swollen that I couldn't even swallow a sip of water without crying. But thankfully I was prescribed some medicine that already has me on the mend and I'm very grateful for that.

Our next segment is a warning about the complacency of the women of Jerusalem. Although the Lord is not going to allow the city to fall to the Assyrian army, we learned in our study of the kings that the Assyrians made repeated forays into the land of Judah, disrupting the economy by preventing many people from going about their work and by destroying crops so that the people could not harvest them. This took its toll on the financial prosperity of the nation. Jerusalem will be exempt from falling to the enemy but its people will not be exempt from experiencing some of the hardships their fellow citizens are experiencing.

"You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say! In little more than a year you who feel secure will tremble; the grape harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will not come. Tremble, you complacent women; shudder, you daughters who feel secure! Strip off your fine clothes and wrap yourselves in rags." (Isaiah 32:9-11) 

As the capitol city, Jerusalem was the finest city in the nation and many of its citizens lived in economic comfort. The residences of the people in the king's service were there, as well as the shops and homes of tradespeople. It might have been easy for people living in comfort inside the fortified city walls to think that the troubles of their countrymen would not also come upon them, but what they need to do instead is take heed to the things happening in the various regions of Judah, the things happening in the northern kingdom of Israel, and the things happening in the nations around them. The troubles coming upon others can come against them if they are not careful to be faithful to the Lord.

This is very good, godly advice because whenever trouble begins hitting a nation it behooves the citizens to search their hearts and repent of any personal sins they are committing. It also behooves them to cry out to the Lord about national sins. This is why we find the prophet Isaiah telling the women to clothe themselves in "rags", possibly meaning sackcloth, for this symbolizes humility. This symbolizes an awareness of having sinned against the Lord (for everyone has sinned) and it symbolizes repentance over those sins.

"Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines and for the land of my people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers---yes, mourn for all houses of merriment and for this city of revelry. The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field becomes like a forest." (Isaiah 32:12-15)

Hard times are never pleasant for anyone but there is an appropriate way to respond to them. The first thing we should do is prayerfully search our hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us any personal sin that might have caused our troubling circumstances. If we submit ourselves to the Lord in this way, and if He does not point out anything that we specifically did that caused our troubles, the next thing to do is ask Him what He intends to teach us with this hardship. Hardship is not always a result of living in rebellion; it is sometimes used as a training tool. 

I'm reminded of the way David spent many years on the run with his life being threatened by King Saul. This did not happen to David because he was living in rebellion toward the Lord. Although everyone sins and David was not perfect, during that era it appears in the Scriptures as though he was relying on the Lord and being responsive and obedient to the Lord's instructions for his life. The hardships David went through were training for his future position as king of Israel. If David had not gone through those years, I don't think he would have developed the spiritual muscle or the leadership skills he would need in order to lead the nation in a way that would be far different from the disappointing way Saul led it. Saul was a pretty effective military strategist but he was quite spiritually wayward. Israel did not need another king like Saul; Israel needed a king whose faith would be tested and tried and found to be unshakable. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 139, Righteousness And A Refuge From The Storm

Chapter 32 begins with a prophecy about a king who will rule rightly and officials who will conduct the government according to godly principles.

Scholars are in disagreement over which king is in view here. Some believe Isaiah's words are a reference to King Hezekiah, who reigned over the nation of Judah during much of Isaiah's ministry. Hezekiah rejected the idolatry of his father and instituted religious reforms throughout the kingdom, serving the Lord alone and not idols. Scholars point out that we don't know at what point during Isaiah's ministry this prophecy was given and many of them think it was given either before Hezekiah ascended to the throne or that it was given before the Lord miraculously saved Jerusalem from the Assyrian army, which was a subject we discussed in the preceding chapter. 

Others feel that these verses indicate a future king, not Hezekiah, and state that this may be King Josiah who was the great-grandson of Hezekiah. The Bible says of Josiah that he did what was right in the sight of the Lord and that he walked after the ways of his ancestor David. He was responsible for major religious reforms during his reign, so this may be a reference to him, although I am doubtful of it since the material we have been studying in Isaiah regards the imminent threat of Assyria during Hezekiah's reign. It seems odd to me that Isaiah would suddenly jump ahead to several generations down the line. 

The third opinion is that the king in view here is Christ and that the eternal kingdom is being spoken about in our passage today. While Christ is the only King who will truly reign "in righteousness", as verse 1 will state about this king, this verse does not necessarily have to mean perfect righteousness. The word "righteous" or "righteousness" is often used in the Bible to denote those whose hearts are committed to the Lord. This is the righteousness that is by faith, such as when the Bible told us that Abraham's faith was accounted to him as righteousness. This is an imputed righteousness, not one gained by perfectly keeping the commandments and the law. 

So although we can certainly say that the King of kings will reign in righteousness, I am not certain that the Messiah is who Isaiah has in mind. At this point in time I am leaning toward the opinion of the scholars who think that Isaiah is talking about events taking place in his own lifetime and that it is likely Hezekiah he is speaking of, especially since the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem took place during his reign. This doesn't mean that the conduct of Hezekiah and other godly kings doesn't point toward the perfect King though; I think we could call them a "type" of Christ, in a sense, because they give us an idea of what it would be like to live under the reign of a king who always rules according to the will of God.

"See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water from the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land." (Isaiah 32:1-2) Here we see a king who wants to live according to the laws of a holy God. He will be a godly example to all the officials under him, so that people can safely and confidently come to them for help and to have their cases heard.

When a godly king is on the throne, the people don't live in the "dark ages" where they don't hear the word of God. Some of the kings either blended idolatry with their worship of the Lord or forsook the Lord in favor of pagan gods. During those times the people could not properly hear the word of God and did not have easy access to wise advice. But when a king who loves the Lord is on the throne, everyone has free access to the house of God and everyone is welcome to hear the word of God read aloud and everyone is welcome to consult the priests and elders about godly living. Injustice will no longer be tolerated. We take a look at examples of this below.

"Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. The fearful heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear. No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected. For fools speak folly, their hearts are bent on evil: They practice ungodliness and spread error concerning the Lord; the hungry they leave empty and from the thirsty they withhold water. Scoundrels use wicked methods, they make up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. But the noble make noble plans, and by noble deeds they stand." (Isaiah 32:3-8)

Although there will be perfect justice in the eternal reign of the Messiah, and although our text today may point forward toward His kingdom, I still believe that it primarily speaks of events of Isaiah's day. The text we just quoted above mentions fools and scoundrels, the hungry and the thirsty and the poor, which we will not find on earth during the reign of the Messiah. There will be no fools or scoundrels on earth in the eternal kingdom. No one will be hungry or poor or thirsty. When Christ comes to reign He will make all things new, eradicating all the problems the human race has experienced ever since mankind first fell from grace.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 138, A Supernatural Sword

The Lord gives Isaiah the message that the Assyrian army will be unsuccessful in laying siege to Jerusalem. The Lord promises that Assyria will fall---but not by human hands

We move back one verse to pick up where we left off on Friday. "Return, you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted against. For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made." (Isaiah 31:6-7) 

We studied this event in 2 Kings 19 when the Lord promised King Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah: "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 that 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 My servant David.' That night 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! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there." (2 Kings 19:32-36)

The Lord fought this battle alone on behalf of the citizens of Jerusalem and Judah. None of Isaiah's people had to even lift a finger; they simply lifted prayers to the Lord and the Lord came through for them. No idol fought for them. No idol ever answered them. In the day when the Lord supernaturally struck dead 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, the people gave Him the praise, so Isaiah says in verse 7 above, "In that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made."

Before this miraculous defeat of the enemy comes to pass, the Lord foretells it, saying, "Assyria will fall by no human sword; a sword, not of mortals, will devour them. They will flee before the sword and their young men will be put to forced labor. Their stronghold will fall because of terror; at the sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic,' declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem." (Isaiah 31:8-9) The reference to the Lord's fire may be a reference to the altar at the temple where burnt offerings were made. I believe He is saying something like, "I will defend the place of My name. I will defend My house. I will defend My people. Then the Assyrians will know that there is a God in Jerusalem and that He fights for the city."

When we studied the supernatural death of those soldiers we also learned that sometime after returning to Nineveh the king of Assyria was assassinated. "One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king." (2 Kings 19:37) Before breaking camp and returning to Nineveh, King Sennacherib had threatened the king of Judah that he would be back. But he did not go back. His successor Esarhaddon was plagued with intense paranoia and mental illness for the entirety of his rather short reign, although he did manage to subjugate Egypt, which is another reason we find the Lord in the book of Isaiah warning the people of Judah not to place their trust in Egypt. Egypt will be of no help to Judah and will be unable to prevent its own self from being conquered.

Eventually, as we learned from our study of the kings, the Assyrian Empire will be conquered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and will cease to be a threat. However, by that time a large portion of the people of Judah will have slipped into idolatry and, as a result, the Lord will allow the nation to fall to Babylon. But if they had stood firm in faith in the Lord, this could never have happened. You and I can learn a lot from what happened to ancient Judah and ancient Israel, for our trust is primarily to be in the Lord. That doesn't mean we aren't to use common sense and take reasonable precautions as we go through our daily lives but it means understanding that ultimately our lives are in His hands and that, as the Apostle Paul so confidently stated, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)