Last week's verses had a strong feel of Eden and focused on a time beyond us. The following Scripture was a least partly fulfilled but likely not entirely since it will probably be something God does again if He sends a powerful revival.
In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them. And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching breath, and strike it into seven channels, and he will lead people across in sandals. And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.
Isaiah 11:11-16
So you can puzzle over how much of this was fulfilled when Nehemiah's generation returned and rebuilt the temple. I think you need to say that much of it was fulfilled. God brought many back but the picture here is of a worldwide returning to God and Zion. In the time it was written it made sense in the scattering that must have occurred as Israel and Judah collapsed. Financing did come from others as Jerusalem was rebuilt so they were plundered in a sense. There was also military opposition to overcame. If you were alive in Nehemiah's day then I think you'd have seen harmony between those formerly of the Northern Kingdom (Ephraim) and those of the Southern Kingdom (Judah). God promised to make it easy to return to Jerusalem. If you think of all that happened between Nehemiah's day and the time of the Temple in Herod the Great's day (37 BC to 4 BC) much of this portion of Scripture could be thought of as fulfilled.
One of the challenges in Isaiah is to keep up with the “already and the not yet” aspects. Isaiah, as inspired by the Holy Spirit, can move thousands of years in a verse. We have a tendency to be “futurists” as we read prophecies and see everything in the future. We need to be very careful about that since God is careful to work in history and some very important things have happened with regard to God's people in the past. For example, consider the following Scripture while thinking of 1) Nehemiah's day and how the priests told the people to stop weeping over their sins because the joy of the Lord was their strength, and 2) the joy of your salvation in Christ.
You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 12:1-6
I think that you'd be hard pressed not to associate the Scripture of chapter 12 with the events described in Nehemiah 8:5-10 and yet it is true of the Cross and the Grace of the Atonement. Notice that it is God who accomplishes salvation (Ephesians 2:8). God is the faithful one and not man. God keeps the remnant during persecution. God brings the remnant back and restores them. He made us alive when we were dead (Ephesians 2:5).
The ministry of reconciliation is the ministry in which God's anger is turned away and He lets us participate in this ministry as we share the Gospel with others (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Note that the reconciliation is first God being willing to have us and not us being willing to have God. The blood of sacrifice is a propitiation or payment for sin to make us acceptable in His sight because we are by nature children of wrath. God has become my salvation and He clearly had other options. God is our strength so that we can trust in Him for our preservation as Christians (Romans 8:38-39).
Jesus said that out us would flow living water (John 7:38). It is a never ending well of salvation. We overcome the enemy by the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11). Great in our midst is the Holy One of Israel. God has done wonderful things for us. If God is for us then who can stand against us (Romans 8:31).
In the 70s I worked with a precious believer named Andy Marion. I was the “mechanic” in the landscaping team. He decided that I needed a tool box so he gave me his along with some of his grandfathers wrenches. I still have all that stuff. I haven't talked with him in over 30 years but every time I open the tool box I see part of the KJV version of Isaiah 12:4. Andy had taken a label maker and put a little label in the box that says, “make mention that his name is exalted”. That tool box is worn out but it is always a good reminder when something needs fixing to remember that Christ's name is exalted and Christ fixed what couldn't be fixed in me. He resurrected my dead heart when it was owned by the prince of this world. He has become my salvation.
It will be a wonderful day when we can meet those Old Testament saints who were saved by faith during Nehemiah's day and rejoice that what was true for them has also become true for us. We can all testify to the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7).
At this point (Isaiah 13) there is a major shift in the topic of Isaiah's prophecy. God warns that judgment is coming for Judah and that God is in control. In a larger sense this section of Isaiah all the way to Chapter 27 expands on the fact that God, in His sovereignty, will rule over all.
The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. On a bare hill raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles. I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones. The sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great multitude! The sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The Lord of hosts is mustering a host for battle. They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the Lord and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
Isaiah 13:1-5
We will see 10 oracles or specific prophecies. The first 5 are directed to historically identifiable people (13:1 Babylon; 14:28 Philistia; 15:1 Moab; 17:1 Damascus/Israel; 19:1 Egypt) and the second 5 have 4 with more difficult titles (21:1 The Desert by the Sea, Babylon; 21:11 Silence, Edom; 21:13 Evening, Arabia; 22:1 The Valley of Vision, Jerusalem) and one with a plain title (23:1 Tyre). I'll try to indicate the transitions as we go through each one and why the context indicates the subject.
First we understand that the Assyrians would not take Judah. However, Babylon would take Judah and the remnant would naturally want to know and be reassured that God's faithfulness would preserve them during this time. We rarely ask ourselves if we think God is worried but we sometimes act as if we think God is worried. The signal or banner is to represent God's direction of history. Over and over God makes the point in the prophecies of Isaiah that He (God) is in control. As people form up into armies to go to war, God emphatically says He has His army prepared. They are consecrated but not because of their holiness but because God is sovereign. The armies of the world gather to do His bidding but of course they don't realize it. Apart from a sensitivity to God and paying attention to the Holy Spirit we rarely see world events as ordained by God. We will often not understand what God is doing but we must understand that He is in control and trust Him. You can't establish a neat cause and effect for every event but you can trust God.
In these verses, in spite of what it looked like to Judah and Babylon, Judah was about to judged for sin.
Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame. Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.
Isaiah 13:6-9
The comfort of Jerusalem, comforted by false prophets, that they held the Throne of David and God had a covenant with David would have made a loss to a pagan people hard to imagine. Judah was better than the Babylonians. How could God let them fail? Where was there a more righteous people? When you are righteous in your own eyes then it is a dangerous time. When you fail at that point then your heart melts.
Hands are outward. They are feeble. Hearts are inward. They melt. The anguish here, like a woman in labor, isn't something you can turn of or get out of. It is a ride you are going to take to the finish line. You can't stop halfway through labor because you've had enough. They will be confused and lack understanding (aghast) and embarrassed that they trusted in false things (faces aflame). The land that they though protected them will also suffer as sin is removed.
For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.
Isaiah 13:10-13
We take God's common Grace for granted. Here one element of His common Grace (light) is taken. The “normal” things that we assume to be ours by right are gifts of God. In this case God was going to withhold even elements of His common Grace to punish evil, the wicked, the arrogant, the prideful, and the ruthless. So that what we would generally assume to be fixed (heaven and earth) move to show us the Grace we live under day by day.
And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, each will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land. Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.
Isaiah 13:14-16
People will perish like hunted wild animals and like uncared for sheep. There will be no security at home. Running to your own land will not save you and children and wives will be lost. When common Grace is withdrawn then this is how people are to one another. Common Grace is gone from nature in verses 10-13 and common Grace is gone from mankind is verses 14-16. It is God, by common Grace that restrains and limits the extent of man's sin. We flatter ourselves as civilized and we take pride in our “humanity” but it is God's common Grace that we enjoy day by day in this world. When you “think to yourself, what a wonderful world” be sure to praise God for His work right now for His salt and light.
No comments:
Post a Comment