My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths. The Lord has taken his place to contend; he stands to judge peoples. The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: “It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?” declares the Lord God of hosts.
Isaiah 3:12-15
God still claims His people as His own and He will not abandon us during judgment of our nation. The view here in Isaiah is of a severe judgment. The leadership is compared to an infant indicating immaturity and an inability to make decisions based on the appropriate criteria. They react to situations without wisdom and show no prudence. The reference to women is likely a reference to the harem and how an immature king would be manipulated and distracted from leading by a harem. Their guiders misguided them. We see the analogy of a courtroom as God judges the leadership. The reference to devouring the vineyard may be to allowing your cattle to graze the vineyards of others. Good for the cattle but bad for the vineyard owner. And then in other ways they bleed off the wealth of the poor and place it in their houses.
One thing we can easily lose sight of in the midst of a trial such as described in Isaiah is that you can't fix this by changing leadership. You don't even delay God's judgment by changing leadership. You fix this problem by getting your life right with God, praying for guidance in being prudent in all your ways, and praying for your nation. Don't complain about leadership for any more minutes than you pray for them each day … and may I say that you'll still be sinning if you're actually expressing anxiety (Phil 4:6).
The Lord said: Because othe daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet, therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of othe daughters of Zion, and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; the signet rings and nose rings; the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils. Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle. And her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground.
Isaiah 3:16-26
Well you knew God would catch up with the trophy wives eventually. Seriously though, Zion is personified here in her daughters. The attitudes expressed are present in the whole culture and not just in these young women. Everything is designed to impress the eye and the heart attitude is judged. It isn't the adornment as such but the heart that is wearing it that needs judgment. Instead of mourning they wear evidence of opposite and God removes it. Some of the items such as the “crescents” were likely the charms for pagan gods. So these adornments are to show others their wealth, to provide wealth in emergencies, and protection. God was ignored and the glory, provision, and protection that are His and His to bestow were given to wealth. We tempt God's to judge us when we allow pride a foothold in our hearts seek provision and protection apart from Him.
And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”
Isaiah 4:1
Sometimes our chapter divisions are inconvenient. Here for example the verse is part of the previous verse. The consequence of “your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle” along with “her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground.” The picture is of Israel as a whole in desperation. There is an awareness of reproach and failure but the solution isn't sought in God. The solution sought in men in the middle of failure and without real hope. The contrast drawn by Isaiah also shows men who put their faith in men for leadership unable to find anyone who would take the position of leader (Isaiah 3:7b “you shall not make me leader of the people.”) and women who put their faith in their ability to manipulate and attract men (Isaiah 3:16 “the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet,) fail completely and are eventually willing to settle for just the name. As people come to the end of their abilities they begin to turn to the Lord but we do seem to need to bottom out before we turn our eyes up.
As Isaiah delivers such a heavy message to a people that will not hear it, we still have flashes of light that let us see what God will do. When we have no security in leadership, money, and power then God shows offers eternal security. Leadership with prudence, wealth that will not fail, and power that is perfect and without limit.
I'm thankful for the following verses this Easter. We have a security in Him that we can take comfort in. A title for Christ that points to his kingly and priestly offices is “The Branch of the Lord”.
In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
Isaiah 4:2-6
The Branch of the Lord also is an indication of “Family Tree”. We have a Righteous Branch for David at places (Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15) but here we have “The Branch of the Lord”. Jesus does have the dual ancestry in that He is rightly in David's line and in God's line. Remember that Jesus has 2 complete natures. He is fully God and fully human and will be so forever. Here we have His humanity in view as the “Branch” is the “fruit of the land that is the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel”.
The Chalcedonian Creed (451 AD) summarized Scripture by teaching that Christ is to be acknowledged in two natures, without mixture, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of the natures is not taken away by the union, but each nature is preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
He really did suffer and die on a tree a couple of thousand years ago. The Branch of the Lord is beautiful and glorious. His beauty is not an outward adornment but rather a quality of His being. He was a Jew and He is our pride as we boast only in the Gospel. We honor Him and all we give Him glory and He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. We are Holy in Him. He has imputed His perfection to God's children. We are washed by judgment and suffering. The price for our sins was paid and in Christ we are saved by works we couldn't accomplish as His grace is poured on us.
We have are justified in Him and yet God is not finished with us. The verse says that those who remain will be called Holy and it is emphatic. We will be made fit for living in the presence of God. We have our names recorded (as in Exodus 32:32-33). Our survival is not accidental. Our salvation is not accidental. God has been for us.
God will establish us in His presence. We have not yet seen this fulfilled. Isaiah is using imagery from the exodus to describe what God will do. We will dwell in His presence continually (cloud by day and fire by night) and over all the manifestation will be a “canopy”. The canopy means a marriage chamber. The marriage supper of the Lamb with the Church (the Bride of Christ).
I remember someone saying of a Christian that had passed on that “nothing can now disturb their bliss” and I think that concept fits well with the last portion of Chapter 4. We will have every sorrow and every tear wiped away. Not by a spiritual drug but by dwelling in the truth and holiness of God. This is what Christ bought for us at Calvary and it is why we have something to celebrate in the resurrection. Happy Easter. He is risen.
For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low; against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan; against all the lofty mountains, and against all the uplifted hills; against every high tower, and against every fortified wall; against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft. And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. And the idols shall utterly pass away. And people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.
Isaiah 2:12-19
This is a warning of judgment against pride, strength, and wealth. It should make a prideful, strong, and wealthy nation seek God. But it didn't and it doesn't today because we think He must be talking to someone else, we are too strong to fall, and we are too wealthy to become poor. Pride is a scary thing because it can suppress our sense of need for mercy and Grace. Pretty soon we are looking at God like an investment and trying to maximize our rate of gain for a limited cost. We simply look at God as a way to get our best life right now. He sees straight to our hearts and we don't fool Him at all.
The other aspect of this particular prophecy that is disturbing is the picture of running for cover in caves and holes in the ground rather than running to God. There really is only one effective way to run and that is toward God. There was a book written long long ago called “The Problem of Doing Your Own Thing” by Bob Mumford. One picture he uses that has stuck with me is that of embracing the bulldozer of God's work in our life. Rather than run and hide, we need to run and embrace. For God's children it really is sometimes as simple as when we were kids. Running from my father was never a good idea. Running to him was never a bad idea. It wasn't a “technique” to achieve happiness but it was simply the appropriate response when I failed.
In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?
Isaiah 2:20-22
This is the good news. In the day of God's judgment we throw out our idols. The animals that live underground and in caves get them. The picture is that the idols flee from before the Lord. Once we had a friend who was finishing seminary at Southeastern Baptist in Wake Forest, North Carolina. We had eaten dinner with them more than once and Pat commented on a couple of budda's that he had on a shelf. She commented that they looked like idols. He had been stationed in Southeast Asia and had them simply as mementos. They were not knickknack quality they were collector's quality. Maybe even gold leaf. She asked him why he had idols. He said they meant nothing to him but they were simply left over from Vietnam but he did indicate that he probably shouldn't have them. She said then he would not have a problem giving them to her when we left that evening. He said he would not have a problem and she could have them if she wanted them. So after the meal we were headed back toward Raleigh down some country road and I'm thinking about what am I supposed to do with this budda stuff. So I said, “What do you plan on doing with those” about the time she rolled down the window and pitched them out into the night leaving them to the moles and the bats. Problem solved. My spouse it given to me by God.
Much of our idolatry stems from a fear of man. Don't forget about Winfrid from the 670s. He is a brother of ours who is generally called Boniface. He became a missionary to Germany and the Netherlands. He had some hard core pagans who worshiped Thor and had a huge sacred oak dedicated to the worship of Thor. So Boniface thought that it might be instructive if he cut it down and made a church out of it. Then the native population, by the Grace of God, displayed that rare thing called common sense and reasoned that if Thor couldn’t stop some Brit from chopping down his tree then he wasn’t much of a god. He eventually died a martyr but he was over 80 years old at the time and those who killed him soon repented and followed Christ. Boniface was happy to remove idols where he found them and we certainly need to make sure that our hearts and lives are purged of idols as we call on Christ to be the Lord of our Lives.
The last line of this section is a rebuke of our irrational regard of man (in whose nose is his breath) and our irrational disregard of God who is the source of that breath of life (Genesis 2:7). When we stumble in our walk because of a fear of man that exceeds our fear of God then we have sinned and need to repent before God. Ask His forgiveness and move forward again in His strength praying for courage.
For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms. And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them.
Isaiah 3:1-4
In God's judgment against Jerusalem and Judah we see each support for society removed. Agriculture, water, military, domestic leadership, spiritual leadership for both the godly (prophet and elder) and ungodly (diviner, magician, and expert in charms) fail. Leadership becomes in experienced and capricious by making decisions without any good background, understanding, or values. There is an old saying that a people tend to have the leadership they deserve. But when we have poor leadership, we never think it is us or consider the possibility that we need to turn to God with an undivided heart and seek Him. God is working on things of eternal value and will not leave us to our own devices and sin.
And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable. For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: “ You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule”; in that day he will speak out, saying: “ I will not be a healer; in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; you shall not make me leader of the people.”
Isaiah 3:5-7
These verses address the social actions and hostility that will be a symptom of God withdrawing His blessing. People will seek to oppress or take advantage of each other. If they see an opportunity to take money they will take money. They will go to court to gain an advantage and not for justice. They will want punishment on their enemies above justice and even seek to get more than is just from a neighbor. Youth will fail to have respect for elders and those who should be dishonorable will be insolent to those who should be honored. It is hard to avoid seeing our society in this.
Eventually, no one will desire the leadership position. They will simply refuse to lead such a chaotic and rebellious mess. They will say, “you shall not make me leader of the people.” For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves. Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.
Isaiah 3:8-11
So there was no shame for sin. The face of the sinner showed that they didn't feel shame and in fact they simply stated their sin as fact. When we as a people get in a place in which we feel free to defy God then we are in a place in which judgment will be coming. God will keep His people (think of Nehemiah) but God will judge sin. And it is likely that the sinner will persist without seeing the connection between their sin and God's judgment. To realize that you live your life before the face of God (Coram Deo) is a precious realization. We need to practice that awareness day by day.
How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.
Isaiah 1:21-23
When it comes to God we sometimes don't equate our lack of faithfulness to being a whore. However, it is an analogy that God uses frequently. A prostitute trades relationship (in fact the greatest expression of relationship) for money without any true relationship. So to acquire stuff you live a lie for the duration. For us, the love of God based on all of His perfections and His mercy and grace are degraded as we get the things we want we substitute other things in our heart. Guys are generally pretty simple. It is usually power, money, sex, or something else we take pleasure in. We can even take good things and make them bad as we give our affections to them rather than to God. We then live a life focused on getting what we want and giving whatever it takes. Which is the life we are called to live except we are called to desire God above all else and give our hearts to Him immediately and without reservation. Yes we can become whores. As Piper says, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
In the current Scripture we see a city that has become corrupt. Faithfulness is replaced by selling righteousness for cash. You can't sell righteousness for cash and a whore can't sell you love for money. Righteousness and love don't work that way. The best of the city has become corrupt; silver is dross, wine is adulterated, princes are rebels, accessories to theft. Bribes and gifts run the government while the fatherless and the widow are ignored.
God really doesn't like bribes. He really does care for the poor and expect that we will care too. He especially reacts to a system in which money affects the outcome of a decision with regard to justice. This is a particular problem for a nation like Israel that God has a relationship with. It is a problem you want to be aware of if you are a Child of God. God is faithful, merciful, and gracious to correct His children when they are unrighteous.
Therefore the Lord declares, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes. I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your adross as with lye and remove all your alloy. And I will restore your judges bas at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward cyou shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
Isaiah 1:24-26
It is frightening to be judged by God but it should be more frightening to be left alone. Of all the nations on the earth at that time Israel was going to have her dross and alloys removed and God was going to put righteous judges and counselors in place. Afterward they would be the city of righteousness. Not because they were righteous and faithful but because God is righteous and faithful and had chosen them to be His particular possession. We too in being chosen are not heading toward our destination because of our goodness but because of God's faithfulness and that is the hope or our salvation and the source or our eternal security. Think about your eternal security. God knows every hair on your head, when you get up, when you sit down, and He knows every word from your mouth beforehand. He will complete the work that He began in you. You can do it the easy way or you can do it the hard way. I'd recommend the easy way because even if the way is hard you can do all things through Him. God promises Israel a miraculous work and He does a miraculous work in us as He keeps us in Him.
Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen. For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water. And the strong shall become tinder, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them.
Isaiah 1:27-31
Here we start seeing some flashes of light forward 700 years to Christ. Zion will be redeemed or purchased from bondage. Zion will be redeemed by justice. In the Cross we see redemption by justice. Jesus paid the price for your redemption. You are the redeemed. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
Those who repent are saved by righteousness. How do you repent and become righteous? Can you do enough to counterbalance the evil prior to repentance? Would that make you half righteous? We repent and become righteous as God, in justice, counts the price Christ paid on the Cross as sufficient for your sins and imputes His righteousness to you. If you can get that clearly in your head and all the way to your heart then you'll be ashamed of any god you had before Him in your sin. The oaks and gardens were places of pagan worship and the people became ashamed of their false gods. The things they served before only embarrass them. All these things for those who cling to them will become dead and dry. Those who persist in them (the strong) will be consumed along with the false gods.
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It
shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Isaiah 2:1-5
This is one of those verses that flash from 700 BC past our day to the end times. There are various ways in which this has been partially fulfilled historically but we have yet to see the full completion of this prophecy. We expect tremendous revival and the Kingdom of God triumphant at some time. People differ on the sequence of events they think will lead up to this but we expect a wonderful outpouring of God's Holy Spirit. Instead of the earthly mountain and House of the Lord it seems best to understand these verses to refer to the actual House of the Lord. The temple in Jerusalem was only a representation of the heavenly temple and the temple in Jerusalem is gone. The priesthood we look for now is the priesthood of the ascended Lord. And these verses refer to Christ's rule over the nations and not just over Israel. The nations will have a righteous judge who settles disputes. There will be no need for a military and they will not even learn how to fight a war. It does seem like the prophet just pauses and says “come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.”
For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortunetellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners. Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made. So man is humbled, and each one is brought low—do not forgive them! Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty. The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
Isaiah 2:6-11
So These verses expand on the sins that God is going to judge. Syncretism is a mixing of religions. Nations both east and west are condemned. In our nation, we have embraced the materialism, atheism, and existentialism of nations across the sea to our east. We have also embraced the spiritualism of many eastern religions. We need to be careful to keep our hearts pure. We need to understand and minister to those who believe these things but when the church starts to lose touch with Scripture then we start to think that because someone says “god” that they must be a Christian. God will help keep us humble but He won't leave His Church alone.
