Recap

So far in Isaiah, we’ve read through the section focused on the judgement and future hope of Jerusalem, and have started on the section focused on the judgement and future hope of the nations.

Through these different preaches and visions, we gathered a series of images. We saw Isaiah in God's courtroom, purified to be in God's presence and then commissioned to be a warning to the people that they will ultimately ignore. God was about to pour judgement on the Israelites for their wickedness and corruption. This punishment was described like God laying an axe to a tree and just a stump remaining. It was destruction intended to purge and purify.

Out of the remnant of his people, this tree stump, God would raise up a branch from the line of David, who would be king who reigned over the earth and brought peace. Isaiah mentioned a future son who would be born and who would come after the period of judgment. He would be king over, God's people, bring peace to the world, and restore all nations under his rule.

Focusing on the foreign nations we got mention of a 'day of the Lord'. On this day God will bring judgement, waging war on evil and wickedness. He will destroy powers that set themselves up against him, whether they be human kings or spiritual beings. These foreign nations are judged for their pride, oppression, and wickedness. Yesterday we looked specifically at Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, and Moab. 

Isaiah 18-22

The next nation that Isaiah looks at is Cush also known as Ethiopia. This one is a little different. Here God is calling for messengers to the people of Cush, to tell them to look what God is doing to these other nations. The prophecy predicts that when the people of Cush look they will turn to God and bring him offerings. While Isaiah is preaching to the people of Judah, this prophecy is useful to them. It is an example of a nation that turns to God and doesn't face judgement.

The next nation, Egypt, does not fair as well. God will come to defeat Egypt and their gods. He will cause them to fight amongst themselves and dry up their rivers so that their land produces no crops.

God then calls out the leaders of Egypt, pharaoh and its princes, for their foolishness. We get several sentences that start with 'in that day', and this is Isaiah's way of showing he is looking far into the future.

What's interesting is that God's intention 'in that day' is to restore Egypt, just like he wants to restore Jerusalem. The people of Egypt will turn to God. There will be altars to God in the land of Egypt. He then includes Assyria in this, saying that the Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. This chapter ends with an incredible statement from God, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:25).

The reason this is so incredible is that, until now, the Israelites alone have been God's people. But here God is saying he will take the people that have been his enemy, oppressing his people, and he will bring them round to include them as his people. We are starting to see what God's promise to Abraham, that his descendants will be a blessing to all nations, will look like. God takes people that were his enemy and makes them his.

In the next prophecy, God draws on an event that has just happened. The Assyrians have come and captured a Philistine city Ashdod. God tells Isaiah to walk around naked and barefoot. God then says to his people that just as Isaiah is walking around naked, and just as the Assyrians have defeated this Philistine city, so will the Assyrians defeat Egypt and lead them into slavery, naked and barefoot. The reason he tells his people this is so they would not put their trust in Egypt, but would trust him instead.

The people do not learn this lesson properly and instead put their trust in Babylon, so Isaiah goes back to predicting the downfall of Babylon. It is worth getting this timeline straight though, so we don't get confused. The Assyrians were the first empire to rise up. These were the one that conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and take them into slavery. This Assyrian empire also attacked and defeated Babylon.

It is this destruction that Isaiah is now prophesying about. Later, the Babylonians regrouped and strengthened, and then defeated the Assyrians. It was then this Babylonian empire that defeated the southern tribe of Judah and took them into slavery.

In this prophecy against Babylon, Isaiah is deeply grieved. In his vision, God tells him to set a watchman to keep a lookout, and the watchman sees messengers come and reports that Babylon has fallen.

He then switches back to Jerusalem and their foolishness for putting their trust in Babylon. Bizarrely, the people of Jerusalem are celebrating. They think because they have put their trust in Babylon, their war with Assyria has already won.

But Isaiah cries out to them, letting them know they should be mourning, not celebrating. God is calling them to repent and turn back and put their trust in him. Instead, they are getting drunk and partying.

Isaiah then focuses on one person, Shebna, who was likely the chief advisor to the king at the time. Shebna has failed his king and his people, so God will remove him and replace him with someone God can trust. A man named Eliakim.

Psalm 113

This psalm isn’t attributed to anyone in particular and falls into the category of praise psalm.

Psalm 113:1-5 - Praise the Lord

Psalm 113:6-9 - For he lifts up the poor and needy

The psalmist opens with a call to the servants of the Lord to praise his name. The name of the Lord should be praised forever, all day. Why? Because “the Lord is high above all nations”. His glory is even greater than the heavens. Who else is like him that can look out over all creation as he does?

But this Lord isn’t some distant figure that just looks down from above. He interacts with his creation and his people. He lifts up those who are poor and needy. He makes them equal to princes. He places the woman with no family into a home and surrounds her with family.

In short, this psalm argues that the Lord is a redemptive God. He takes people out of their places of struggle and pain, and puts them into places of flourishing.