Isaiah 31:1-32:8.  When I read this I thought, “Not another warning about Egypt.  How many times can someone be warned about not making an alliance with Egypt?”  But then I realized how many times I have made the same mistake with in my relationship with God.  And I’ve never been under attack from a foreign army.  I suppose I have been attacked spiritually or in other ways that tempted me to wander from God.  Verse 2 says that God is “wise and will bring disaster.”  That may seem odd but sometimes it takes trouble for us to see how much trouble we are in.  Sometimes we call that kind of trouble a “wake up call”.  It’s a little taste of what’s in store if we don’t start doing things God’s way.  Proverbs 23:29-35 gives an example of someone who likes to drink alcohol.   Solomon warns not to be fooled by the pretty red sparkling drink.  If you fall in love with alcohol in the end you will find out it is like being bitten by a viper.  Don’t know what that is like but I’m sure it’s not fun.  Or you will be like a person who falls asleep on heaving waves or in a crows nest on a mast.  It may sound fun but trust me it’s not, that part I do know about.  The dizzy feeling is very, very unpleasant and then you puke your guts up.  If that’s not a wake up call to stay away from alcohol I don’t know what is.  Some times it takes a little disaster to keep us from big trouble.  In that same verse the “evil doers” are the Israelites and so are the “workers of iniquity”.  Remember Isaiah started out this book by describing the people of Judah that way (Isaiah 1:13, 16-17).  The “helpers” are the Egyptians who Hezekiah, the king of Judah, paid and asked for help against Assyria.

In the following verse we see God compared to a lion that kills the prey and protects it.  We also see God compared to a bird hovering over something.  In Deuteronomy 32:11 there is a similar picture of God as an eagle protecting it’s young.  So in the verses in Isaiah we see God both punishing (to correct) and protecting the people of Jerusalem.

Isaiah encourages the people to return to God, to trust him rather than their own plans (v. 6).  There are two reasons to return to God.  First, a day is coming when everyone will realize that their idols are not really God.  So it makes sense to return to God now rather than to bow down to him on judgment day (Philippians 2:10; Pomans 14:10-11).  The second is that God will deal with Assyria directly.  The Assyrian place of security (the rock in v. 9) will disappear (maybe a reference to their strong king).  The other Assyrian leaders (princes) will be terrified by the standard of God when he attacks.  A standard was a flag carried by an army that identified the army, in this case the princes would realize they were being attacked by Yahweh (the LORD).  The fire and furnace probably refer to judgment and sacrifice to God.  In other words the Assyrian army will be a sacrifice to God at his place of worship in Jerusalem.  Again the people of Judah should be encouraged to return to God because he will deliver them.  He is the true place of security (2 Samuel 22:2; Psalms 18:2 and if anyone should know it was the warrior king of Israel, David).

In verse 7 “that day” probably has a double meaning.  It is talking about the day when the Assyrian army will be destroyed (that happened in 701 BC) and also is a reference to the final time of human history “the Day of the LORD” which we have talked about before (Maybe in the post on Isaiah 2:12).  Chapter 32 definitely is talking about that eventual end time kingdom of God.  In the end a king will rule on the “throne of David” (Isaiah 9:7 compare with the promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:8, 12, 16.  Although this had a partial fulfillment through Solomon, David’s son, there are parts of it that will only be fulfilled in a later descendant.).  this king will be assisted by fair helpers.  It will be a time of peace and security and goodness.  In contrast to the time of insecurity and siege which was coming.  The time of the new king would also be a time of rightness and fairness (as I mentioned above), a time in which people would hear and see the truth and also agree with it.  All of these changes contrast with the times in which Isaiah was living.  Times in which the people did not seem to see and hear God.  Times in which the king, Hezekiah, was advised by foolish noble men, and surrounded by the rich and famous who got that way by taking advantage of the poor (See Isaiah 1:21-23; 3:14-15).  The coming kingdom will not be that way.

In today’s reading we see more of the warning about not following God and more of the hope for following him.  God forgives repeatedly and in yet another warning against making a treaty with Egypt we see that.  It is awesome how relentless God is about getting our attention.  Sometimes people ask about people who have never heard about Jesus, how can God condemn them to Hell.  It is so clear from Isaiah so far that God hunts us down for the purpose of bringing us back to himself.  He never forces us to return but he does make sure we have a chance, chances.  Romans 1:18-23 makes it clear that every person who has ever lived has had a chance to admit God’s existence.  Like the people of Judah, though, we continue to go our own prideful way, but God keeps on calling to us.  Lord, help me listen to what you are saying.  Give me eyes to see and ears to hear what you want me to do today and every day.  Thank you for your persistence.  Thank you for your love.  Thank you for pursuing me.  Help me honor you and help me show you to others.

Isaiah 30:18-33.  Yesterday’s message was a warning about rebelling against God.  The people of Judah had decided to make an alliance with Egypt instead of letting God protect them.  God had repeatedly told them not to make such an alliance but because of Assyrian oppression they did it anyway.  But there was hope, if they changed their ways and stopped trying God would save them (Isaiah 30:15).  This second half of the chapter describes God’s forgiveness in more detail.

Notice that right away we are told that God waits to have compassion on them.  Some translations say that God “longs” to be compassionate.  The word usually means to wait, like delay what you are doing.  That makes good sense here because we already have seen that God wants us to return to him and when we do that is when we will be taken care of.  Although I am sure that he wants to do it too, that is very clear because of the number of times God makes the offer and how often he follows through even after repeated rebellion (remember the book of Judges?).  The rest of verse 18 tells us that he is waiting because it is the right thing to do (tht’s what justice is about).  Also notice how Isaiah turns things around on these people facing an invasion.  God is waiting for you to trust him you need to trust him and wait to see him take care of you.  Don’t be impatient after you decide to trust God.

Isaiah then assures the people that it was God who let thigs get desperate but after they return and wait they will not be disappointed.  The next part of today’s reading goes on to describe God teaching the people, opening their eyes and ears to what he is doing and wants done.  And they will respond by cleaning up their spiritual lives.  Often blindness and deafness are used to describe our attitude toward God.  It is interesting though that, at least in the beginning; it is a choice we make.  God does not arbitrarily keep people from seeing and hearing him.

The result of turning back to God is that he will make their environment better and more productive, plenty of water and sunshine, good things if you are a farmer.  Even the cows will have a lot to eat.  I like the picture of God  taking care of our broken parts in verse 26.  He doesn’t just say be healed he is hands on (however that works for a spirit being).  Notice that this will happen “in the day”.  We have to be careful to remember that some of what God has promised to do will not happen right away.  In 2 Peter 3:1-10 people were making fun of the Christians because they believed the promises of God and were patiently waiting for Him to act on them.  Peter reminded them that God has priorities and those involve people retuning to Him.  So we wait until God’s priorities are fulfilled, then he will deal with all the evil in the world (See 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).  In the mean time we “wait” just like God waits.  But the enemy will be punished, sometimes now sometimes later.  In Isaiah’s day the Assyrians did attack Jerusalem but the people were not saved by the Egyptians.  God physically killed 185,000 Assyrians troops in one night.  That’s action, and that is what is described in this prediction.  Later in the book Isaiah will tell us the story.  But for now the people had to hear the promise and decide what to do and then wait.  Unfortunately they had made a treaty with Egypt, in fact it was that treaty and not paying the tax or tribute to Assyria, which led to the invasion.  And that invasion cost over 40 cities in Judah and over 200,000 captives.  I’m sure it would be tough to wait for God when all of that was going on.  But as I said God followed through, after Hezekiah, their king, returned to God and admitted he had been wrong.

We need to learn to be patient and wait for God.  We need to make sure we are not causing God to wait being rebellious.  WE need to do our best to understand what god wants and to do it. When we make mistakes we need to turn back to God, quickly.  It is never too late to turn back to God, and what we do in never too bad to return from.  Remember God is waiting to be gracious to us.  Lord help me hear and see and follow.  Help me return quickly when I stray away or am outright rebellious.  Give me a clear picture of how my life can please you.  Give me patience as I wait for your will to be done.