Daily Bible Devotionals

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Jeremiah 19. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Jeremiah 12. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Jeremiah 5. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Isaiah 64. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Isaiah 57. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

“In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:  ‘We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.  Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.  You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.  Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.  For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city.  He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust.  The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.’”  Isaiah 26:1-6 (ESV)

Isaiah depicts pilgrims coming from far off, arriving at the gates of the city, and calling out in song for the doors to be opened wide to receive them.  Jerusalem’s strength, the peace enjoyed by its inhabitants, comes from the salvation God has caused to make known within its walls.  

The song is not only a testimony of what those who sing it have come to know.  It is also an exhortation to others to put their trust in the Lord and experience the same transformation in their own lives.  For that matter, it should be the passionate cry of all believers!  While we may not all be called to be “evangelists,” per se, we are all called to evangelize.

Several points are worth noting in today’s chapter, distinctive features of those who “occupy the city of God.”

1) They are righteous. (26:2, 7) Those who are righteous have received their righteousness from the Lord.

2) They are blessed. (26:7) The way they travel is level and smooth.  It makes John the Baptist’s message more understandable: “Prepare the way for the Lord; make His paths straight…”  It also clarifies that fire consumes the wicked. (26:11)

3) They long for His presence. (26:8-10) Even in times of judgment, the righteous learn repentance.  The wicked remain in unbelief despite God’s warnings.

4) They enjoy peace. (26:14) Isaiah sees the wicked as being denied resurrection into God’s kingdom.  This does not mean that Isaiah denied the resurrection of the dead as such.  His point was merely that those who trouble the righteous will trouble them no more.  This is especially so in Heaven.  

5) They confess past failure and frustration. (26:16-19) Evidently, Israel had been in such distress that they were barely able to pray.  It reminds me of the silent prayer Hannah prayed in Eli’s presence. (1 Samuel 1:9-20) Now we see the resurrection of the righteous.

6) They wait patiently and quietly for the Lord’s coming. (26:20-21) The exhortation is for us to faithfully believe His Word and promise.  He will deliver!

“Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; for You have worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.  For You have turned a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin; a palace of strangers is no longer a city, it will never be rebuilt.  Therefore, a strong people will glorify You; cities of ruthless nations will revere You.  For You have been a stronghold for the helpless, a stronghold for the helpless, a stronghold for the poor in this distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a rain storm against a wall.  Like heat in a dry land, You subdue the uproar of foreigners; like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.” Isaiah 25:1-5 (NASB)

Isaiah’s words in today’s passage are very similar to Mary’s praise in the Gospel of Luke:  “And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.  For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed.  For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.  And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.  He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.  He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.  He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.’  And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.” Luke1:46-56 (NKJV)

The remnant was pitifully small – like the gleanings left in the corner of a field or a few olives missed at the top of a tree (Isaiah 24:13).  Amos compared the remnant to a single coal left glowing after a campfire or to legs and ears left from a lion’s kill.

But after the storm comes a bright rainbow of promise.  God will not only deliver His people; He will take away their hearts of stone and give them new ones: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” Ezekiel 36:26-27 (NKJV)

He also promised to establish a new covenant with His people: “’Look, the days are coming’ – this is the Lord’s declaration – ‘When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.  This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – a covenant they broke even though I had married them’ – the Lord’s declaration.  ‘Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days’ – the Lord’s declaration.  “I will put My teaching within them and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be My people.  No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them.” – this is the Lord’s declaration.  ‘For I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sin.’” Jeremiah 31:31-34 (HCSB)

Today, we remember that God is faithful (even to His most ancient promises).  He helps the helpless, and He is immutable.  His character never changes.

“On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and kings of the earth, on the earth.  They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished.  The moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.” Isaiah 24:21-23 (ESV)

One thing is clear: No one should be complacent about the future.  Isaiah, in his youth, may well have heard Amos preach.  Both share certain themes, and in this chapter, certain verses are identical. (compare Isaiah 24:17-18 with Amos 5:19) Amos warned the Northern Israelites about complacency, saying:

“Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord!  Why do you long for the day of the Lord?  That day will be darkness, not light.” Amos 5:18 (NIV)

History is moving toward its inevitable goal: The Day of the Lord.  For those who are in fellowship with God, this is a matter of supreme joy.

“They raise their voices, they sing out; they proclaim to the west the majesty of the Lord.  Therefore, in the east honor the Lord!  In the islands of the west honor the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.  From the ends of the earth we hear songs: The Splendor of the Righteous One.  But I said, ‘I waste away!  I waste away!  Woe is me!’  The treacherous act treacherously; the treacherous deal very treacherously.”  Isaiah 24:14-16 (HCSB)

For those who are not in fellowship with the Lord, the Day of the Lord is, indeed, a day of darkness.  According to Isaiah’s words in today’s chapter, it will be a day of judgment that:

1) is final (Luke 16:26).

2) includes Satan and his angels (1 Corinthians 6:2-3; 2 Peter 2:4).

3) takes place after a period of imprisonment (Revelation 20:1-3).

4) concludes in sheer glory (Revelation 21:22-24; Isaiah 60:19-20).

The big question on all of our minds should, perhaps, be, “How will I survive that Day?”

There is a way.  Salvation is offered exclusively through Messiah, Jesus, and it is freely offered to all who would accept it.

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.”  John 3:16-18 (HCSB)

“And at the end of the 70 years, the Lord will restore Tyre and she will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.  But her profits and wages will be dedicated to the Lord.  They will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live in the Lord’s presence, to provide them with ample food and sacred clothing.” Isaiah 23:17-18 (HCSB)

Isaiah 23 is a prophecy about the downfall of Tyre’s influence in commercial trading on the high seas.  These prophecies against the nations began with Babylon and ended with Tyre.  If Babylon symbolizes power, then Tyre stands for commerce.  The connection between them is clear: both represent the attempts of man to live without God.  In the Revelation, chapters 17 and 18, the two nations are combined as representatives of the world’s seductive and oppressive powers.  Tyre is portrayed as a prostitute plying her trade.  Other prophets had things to say about Tyre: Ezekiel and Amos, for instance.

Two things emerge here and deserve closer inspection.  The FIRST has to do with the danger of MATERIALISM.  Tyre’s commercial activity is compared to that of a prostitute.  The figure seems apt: commercialism can easily assume the policy of the highest profit, regardless of the means.  It is this characteristic of idolatry/spiritual adultery which is underlined in the book of Revelation.

“For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries.  The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries” Revelation 18:3 (NIV)

Few businesses run on principles that seek first the kingdom and glory of God.  Consider Chick-fil-A, the only major Christian-owned business that has taken the idea of observing the Sabbath seriously.  We need to take heed to Jesus’ warning about the seductiveness of material things.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth and nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.” Matthew 6:19-20 (NASB)

The SECOND danger mentioned in today’s chapter has to do with God’s OWNERSHIP of all property.  Isaiah gives us a glimpse of things to come.  He sees a day when Tyre’s earnings will be given to the Lord’s treasury.  What appears to have happened is that Tyre has converted to the Lord.  The Lord then uses her to bless Israel.

If our culture would recognize that God owns everything, perhaps we would be less obsessed with prostituting ourselves to obtain stuff.  Instead, we would approach the Lord and ask Him to provide for us according to His great knowledge and plan.  At least, that was what Isaiah was trying to convince Judah.

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Isaiah 22. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

“Therefore I am filled with anguish.  Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor.  I am too perplexed to hear, too dismayed to see.  My heart staggers; horror terrifies me.  He has turned my last glimmer of hope into sheer terror.  Prepare a table, and spread out a carpet!  Eat and drink!  Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!  For the Lord has said to me, ‘Go, post a lookout; let him report what he sees.’” Isaiah 21:3-6 (HCSB)

In today’s chapter, we get somewhat of a glimpse of Isaiah’s personality.  The focus of his attention is further away, both geographically and historically.  So far, Isaiah has concerned himself with Judah’s near neighbors.  Babylon, on the other hand, was about as far away as the Bible world ever knew.  Not only that, but the events of which he speaks did not take place until almost 200 years after Isaiah’s time.

Isaiah calls, as it were, for watchmen to be posted on the city walls of Jerusalem.  They were to look out for messengers coming from Babylon with the news that Babylon had indeed fallen.  The fall of Babylon is of great significance in the Bible because it symbolizes the fall of everything evil.  Henceforth, all the way through to the end of the book of the Revelation, “Babylon” becomes a metaphor for evil.  We also learn here that whenever “Babylon” and God’s people become intimately intertwined, God will purge the evil, even to the shame of His children and (in the short term) His own Name.  Still, we also learn that God will not allow His people to be ultimately destroyed in the process, and His Name will be exalted in the end.  It just may feel otherwise at times.

In terms of Isaiah’s personality, what emerges clearly from this chapter is Isaiah’s reaction to what he sees.  Clearly, Isaiah is a sensitive man, deeply affected by the destruction he saw ahead for the Babylonians.  A similar picture emerges in the next chapter when he asks to be left alone so that he might weep.  In short, Isaiah was empathetic.  He genuinely felt remorse on behalf of the sinner and longed for their repentance.

Isaiah’s heart reminds us of Jesus, Who, when beholding the sinful state of Jerusalem, wept over it. (Luke 19:41; Mathew 23:37) The Apostle Paul also experienced such emotions when he thought of the lost condition of his non-Messianic Jewish countrymen.  (Romans 9:3) Question: Do you mourn for the sinner or simply scoff?

David Hume was an 18th-century British deistic philosopher who rejected Christianity.  One day, a friend saw Hume hurrying down a London street and asked where he was going.  “To hear George Whitefield preach," he replied.  His friend was amazed and asked, “But surely you don’t believe what Whitefield preaches, do you?”  “No, I don’t,” answered Hume, “but he does.”  Hume would have gone to hear Isaiah, too, I believe.

This leaves us with two questions: 1) Does your knowledge of God’s Word lead you to humble empathy or puff up your spiritual pride? 2) Who is hurrying to hear you preach?

“In the year that the commander-in-chief, sent by Sargon King of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it – during that time the Lord had spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, ‘Go, take off your sackcloth and remove the sandals from your feet,’ and he did so, going naked and barefoot – the Lord said, ‘As My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot with bared buttocks, to Egypt’s shame.”  Isaiah 20:1-4 (HCSB)

We are a third of the way through the book of Isaiah. So far, we know almost nothing about Isaiah himself! We know he had a wife and two sons. But what kind of person was Isaiah, the man? He was obedient.

The cost of obedience to God’s will is high, and the follower of Jesus knows that. But few have gone to the lengths to which Isaiah was commanded. Have you ever felt that you were called to do something that was just a little below your dignity? Many followers of Jesus feel just like that. I have. When the congregation’s building needs cleaning, we insist God has gifted us with theological insights, not the skill to use a vacuum cleaner. It is along these lines that David once said:

“Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” Psalm 84:10 (NIV)

Paul urged the Philippians not to think too highly of themselves. (Philippians 2:3)

God’s message (through the media of Isaiah’s “performance art”) is not primarily for Egypt, Ashod, or Cush. It is for Judah and especially for King Hezekiah, who was tempted to look to other nations for military deliverance from the Assyrian menace.

It is foolish to trust anyone apart from God. Though Hezekiah was essentially a godly king, given to reform, he was also prone to compromise in a crisis. Sound familiar? It is the essence of world politics today! Hezekiah’s glances at Egypt for help did not win him favors with Isaiah. This is a message Hezekiah will have to hear again.  (30:1-3) The attraction of Egyptian/Philistine military expertise might bring short-term benefits, but as guardians of the truth, God’s people are to be separate from ALL forms of unbelief.

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the Name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we will rise up and stand firm.” Psalm 20:7-8 (ESV)

The promise of God’s Word compels us to endure His calling, standing firm even when He beckons us to humiliating circumstances.

“On that day, there will be an altar to the Lord in the center of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the Lord near her border. It will be a sign and witness to the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord, because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and a leader, and he will rescue them.” Isaiah 19:19-20 (HCSB)

In the first half of chapter 19, we see (in Egypt) the people were looking for meaning in their lives. It is a picture of modern civilization. Is it any wonder that one of the top-selling books of our time is The Purpose Driven Life? People are still looking for purpose almost everywhere except in Jesus. Ours is a culture of men with sore eyes. They find the light painful and consider darkness (which permits them to see nothing) as restful and agreeable.

In 19:16-25, we are given another picture of Egypt. It refers to events in the future and is signified by a six-fold repetition of “On that day...” We have seen Isaiah’s concern for Gentiles before, but it is breathtaking to consider the idea that Egypt, Israel’s cruelest oppressor in days gone by, should now be promised a place alongside Israel. Egypt’s progression from sin to salvation is worth noting. There appear to be five elements involved in their transition:

1) A state of fear

2) A state of submission

3) A state of access into God’s presence

4) A state of fellowship

5) A state of complete acceptance

Paul describes the calling of the Gentiles and their inclusion in the greater community of Messiah (the Church) as a breaking down of the wall that once separated Jews and Gentiles. (Ephesians 2:14) It is similar to what happened to East and West Germans when the Berlin Wall came down. They became simply “Germans” again.  

The fellowship that binds followers of Jesus together is much more profound. Believers share the promise of Heaven. (Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:29) This is a mystery, in that through the Gospel, Gentile believers are heirs together with Jewish believers, members of one body, ONE in Messiah, Jesus. (Ephesians 3:6)

What these past few chapters have been about is that God can raise children from the most unlikely sources: Ruth from Moab, Naaman from Damascus, a Eunuch from Ethiopia, or an Athanasius from Alexandria in Egypt. Oh, yes, and then there’s us.

In this understanding, we get a foretaste of Heaven.

“And after this, I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9 (HCSB)

“Ah!  The land of buzzing insect wings beyond the rivers of Cush sends couriers by sea, in reed vessels on the waters.  Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers.  All you inhabitants of the world and you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, look!  When the trumpet sounds, listen!”  Isaiah 18:1-3 (HCSB)

Tsetse flies are buzzing beside the Nile River.  We are in the heat of a Sudanese summer.  Today’s passage takes us southwest of Israel and almost to the equator.  We might be tempted to think that a country so far away from Jerusalem would not come into God’s reckoning, but we would be mistaken.  Nothing escapes His notice, no matter how far away it is.  Cush is called to account.

Cush (aka Ethiopia) is in trouble.  A flurry of ambassadors is bent on achieving diplomatic solutions to the oncoming Assyrian aggressor, but to no avail.  On the surface, Isaiah’s message to the Cushites is encouraging.  It brings out the truth that God is in absolute control of events.  The Cushites have no reason to be concerned about war: God will allow the Assyrians to come only as far as Egypt and no further.  A trumpet (shofar) will sound in the mountains of Judah, proclaiming the limits of Assyria’s power.

God is never taken by surprise because He is Lord of all, and the nations rise and fall at His command.  Isaiah predicts Assyria’s end with graphic imagery: wild birds and animals devour them.  This teaching is repeated by the Apostle Paul in his sermon in Athens:

“From one man He made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.” Acts 17:26 (HCSB)

We find the same message in the Book of Job.  Satan is allowed to bring so much devastation into Job’s life, but there are limits.  It is the same lesson that lies behind the “chain” that currently binds Satan. (Revelation 20:1-2)  

Just as Damascus and Ephraim (Israel) will return to the Lord as a result of His chastisements, so too will there be Cushites (Ethiopians) who will come and present Him gifts.  (Psalm 68:31-35)

We cannot help but be reminded of the story (Acts 8) of the salvation of the Eunuch servant of Queen Candice of Ethiopia.  Most likely, a dispersed Jew who found himself pressed into the service of the Ethiopian queen, the Eunuch would have been in Jerusalem during the Pesach (Passover) crucifixion of Jesus.  No doubt, he heard the testimony of other dispersed Jews who heard the gospel proclaimed in their own language during the festival of Shavuot (Pentecost) 50 days after Pesach.  God sent Philip to the Eunuch, who was reading Isaiah 53. No doubt, when they reached Isaiah 56, its message of grace and mercy towards eunuchs was the trigger for the Eunuch’s faith in Jesus.  Praise the Lord that His Word can be trusted and His salvation endures forever!

“An oracle against Damascus: Look, Damascus is no longer a city.  It has become a ruined heap.  The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be places for flocks.  They will lie down without fear.  The fortress disappears from Ephraim, and a kingdom from Damascus.  The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites.  This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.” Isaiah 17:1-3 (HCSB)

Anyone involved in ministry has experienced the trial of laboring in a difficult situation with little or no fruit.  Sometimes, we convince ourselves that our “mission field” is incapable of producing fruit, but we are wrong.  God can produce trophies of grace from the most unpromising of conditions.  This is what chapters 17-19 are all about.

If these chapters seem like difficult reading, it is probably because it is difficult for us to be confronted with the reality of how abhorrent sin is to Almighty God.  He detests it and will not pass it by as though it were not there.  The fact that this sustained judgment annoys us says more about us than it does about the narrative.  Perhaps it is just in this area that we need to re-evaluate ourselves as God sees us.

Isaiah continues to pronounce judgments on surrounding nations…Damascus (Syria), Cush (Ethiopia), and Egypt.  You may ask, “If God is the God of Israel, why is He judging other nations?”  It is because God is not ONLY the God of Israel…He is Lord of all!  He is Lord, whether people accept Him or not.  It is not as if He is Lord because we accept and worship Him as such.  He IS Lord, regardless of mankind’s recognition of His Lordship.  

That is what is so offensive to the world about God: Man has no choice as to Who is Lord.  Deny Him and invent your own god if you want.  Yahweh is still Lord of all!  And it is only a matter of time before He exposes all other worship as false.

Damascas was Syria’s capital city.  Syria’s future was to be one of ruin and lonely forsakenness.  The picture is of flocks grazing with nobody to look after them.  It is a vivid picture of what life is like for those who don’t know God when the glory has departed because their “idols” have proven to be mere, powerless, lifeless objects.

Whatever is left of Aram, after the Assyrians have raided it, will be like Israel’s so-called “glory” once God has departed.  It will be no more than the few gleanings left in the field after the harvest or the few olives on an olive tree once it has been shaken.  Because Israel (aka Ephraim) and Syria were allies (right down to the idolatry), that meant Israel was going to share the same fate as the Syrians.

Western society cannot expect a different future from what happened to Syria or Ephraim.  But there is Hope.  Assyria’s power will come to an end, and even in the most unlikely places, God has a faithful remnant: a few “gleanings,” but His, nonetheless. (Amos 4:11)

“We have heard of Moab’s pride – how very proud he is – his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance, and his empty boasting.” Isaiah 16:6 (HCSB)

Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the Moabites covers two chapters: 15-16.  Chapter 15 gives a picture of total destruction.  16 gives some of the causes of Moab’s downfall.  The devastation is complete, and the story receives even fuller treatment in Jeremiah 48.  Within a short period, Isaiah’s words were fulfilled.  Assyria came onto Moab, marching southward and driving those that escaped the sword into the territory of Edom.  City after city had fallen, and most of the places mentioned can still be located.  The picture of Moab that the Lord wants us to remember is of their arrogance.

Living in Israel 100 years after Isaiah, Jeremiah repeats Isaiah’s charge, adding for further clarity that God’s patience had run out:

“Make him drunk, because he has exalted himself against the Lord.  Moab will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughingstock.” Jeremiah 48:26 (HCSB)

Moab had wealth in terms of sheep.  We find this in 2 Kings 3:4. In Isaiah 16:1, Moab is asked to send tribute to Jerusalem.  The picture of the Moabites crossing the border into Edom with their family treasures is a graphic portrayal of the insecurity of riches.

Hysterical women are running southward, away from the aggressor; they are like young birds shaken out of their nests and fluttering about on the floor below.  (16:2)

Those who defy God turn to religion for justification.  Man’s religions are his greatest crimes.  Moab is no different, but even as she presents herself at high places, it is only to wear herself out.  Her praying is to no avail.  Jesus said the same thing about pagan religion:

“And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.”  Matthew 6:7 (BSB)

Nothing but grief comes to those who defy God.  And this is only a PICTURE of what awaits all who ultimately defy Him.

But all is not dark.  In a display of Divine pity, God cries out for Moab. (15:5; 16:7, 9, 11) Isaiah is an evangelist as much as he is a prophet of judgment.  He, unlike Jonah, longs that his enemies turn to God and find salvation.  He takes no delight in the death of the wicked.  Isaiah speaks more than the facts of the gospel; he speaks God’s heart for sinners, as well.

“‘Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?’  This is the declaration of the Lord God.  ‘Instead, don’t I take pleasure when he turns from his ways and lives?’” Ezekiel 18:23 (HCSB)

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Isaiah 15. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

“For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again.  He will settle them on their own land.  The foreigner (aliens) will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.  The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland.  Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land.  They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.” Isaiah 14:1-2 (HCSB)

Years ago, I was on a trans-continental flight sitting next to a teenage girl who was really, really into the rock band Van Halen.  She was playing her Walkman sooooo loud that it was annoying passengers three rows away.  I decided to do what I always do: tune out the world and read my Bible.  Believe it or not, she turned off the Walkman and asked me about what I was reading.  We chatted a bit, and then she blurted, “I’ve always wondered about the UFOs in the Bible.”  “UFOs?” I asked.  “Yeah, the Bible talks about the aliens living among the Israelites…”  True story.

Sorry to disappoint all you Star Trek (or Van Halen) fans, but that’s not the kind of “aliens” the Bible is referring to.  Tucked away in this section of prophecy is a striking allusion to the future of God’s Church.  In the midst of this battle scene, where we can almost hear the command to attack in 13:4-5, leading to the overthrow of Babylon (13:17-22), is today’s passage, a word of promise to God’s people.

What amounts to a wholesale judgment on God’s enemies (represented by Babylon) turns out to be a blessing of deliverance for God’s people (Jacob).  God used Babylon to purge His people of sin and purify to Himself a people who will serve Him.

Once Babylon has served its purpose of purging, it will be destroyed, making a way for the Savior to come.  God’s treatment of these pagan nations, once used as tools in His hand, now rejected, may seem cruel.  But the reality is that they experienced God’s power, provision, and enabling, yet rejected the God Who provided their positions of prominence.

This little section is a cameo sketch of a theme that will occupy twenty-seven chapters (40-66) of Isaiah’s prophecy.  Even now, in the midst of words of terrible doom, God wants His own children to take refuge in Him.  He has not forgotten His promise, no matter how difficult times are or may become.  He has planned compassion for that remnant of Jacob (Israel who turn to Him through Messiah Jesus) and those “aliens,” Gentiles who will come to faith through Jesus as well.

What a glorious future lies in store for God’s children, both Jew and Gentile, who have received His covenant promise of salvation through faith in His Son, the Messiah Jesus!

“Look, the day of the Lord is coming – cruel, with rage and burning anger – to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners on it.  Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light.  The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shine.  I will bring disaster on the world, and their own iniquity, on the wicked.  I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant and humiliate the insolence of tyrants.” Isaiah 13:9-11 (HCSB)

Isaiah 13 introduces us to an important Biblical expression: The Day of The Lord.  The first occurrence refers to a not-too-distant horizon, the invasion of Babylon, some 150 years away.  But the second instance is quite different.

It is vital to understand that events actually separated by long periods of time are seen from an “Old Testament” perspective as following close after each other.  It’s like a “condensation” of time, where events are condensed and couched next to each other but actually occur decades or millennia apart.  This perspective is similar to what we experience when looking at two objects from a long distance away: they “appear” close together when in fact, they are not.

The prophecy of Joel regarding Shavuot (the Festival of Weeks, i.e., the Day of Pentecost) is an example of this.  

“After this I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions.  I will pour out My Spirit on the male and female slaves in those days.”  Joel 2:28-29 (HCSB)

Immediately after the prophecy of the outpouring of the Spirit, Joel gives an apocalyptic account of the coming of “the day of the Lord.”

“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke.  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.” Joel 2:30-31(NKJV)

The Day of the Lord can sometimes refer to a day that is in the near future, but usually, it is a phrase used by prophets to describe the final day of consummation when the wicked will be punished.  Question: when the events the prophets predict come to pass EXACTLY as prophesied, why is it that we doubt the probability of those events yet to pass?

Again, two things confound a fool: 1) how slow God is to act, and 2) how quickly He shows up!  Are you prepared for the Day of The Lord?

“Then you will say on that day, ‘I will give thanks to You, Lord; for although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.  Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.’  Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation.  And on that day you will say, ‘Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; make them remember that His name is exalted.’”  Isaiah 12:1-4 (NASB)

The sight of the mighty Warrior (in Isaiah 11 and 12) is awesome.  The effect of God’s judgment cuts Judah down to a stump.  There are times when the Church has almost been extinguished.  There may have been times when you felt you were personally on the verge of extinction!  But the roots remain, and from them, fresh signs of life grow once more.  Those who know the salvation of which Isaiah speaks know how thankful we should be and how full of joy it makes us, so much so that we burst out in song!

Today’s chapter is actually two songs, back-to-back.  After so many allusions to the coming Messiah, Jesus, the prophet bursts out into song.  The lesson here is that, although God has been offended with his people, He was also satisfied that the chastisement He inflicted on them was sufficient.  We should be encouraged that, although we may feel the rebuke of the Lord, it will be for only a season, and we will be comforted by Him as soon as He has disciplined us.  Now, that’s something to sing about!!  You see, salvation is what we are most in need of, and typically, we only compartmentalize “salvation” as the eternal alternative to “damnation.”  We often forget our day-to-day need for deliverance, not just for the afterlife, but to get through this life.

Throughout his prophetic book, Isaiah makes use of a widely used Biblical symbol: water.  (41:17-18; 55:1; 55:10)

“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Isaiah 12:3 (ESV)

Possibly the most well-known use of this imagery is found in the words of Jesus Himself to the Samaritan woman at the well.  In fact, the whole account is Jesus’ most in-depth address to the divided kingdom era (of which Isaiah was addressing with his prophecy) and His willingness to forgive Israel’s spiritual adultery.

“Jesus said, ‘Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again.  But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again – ever!  In fact, the water I give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.’” John 4:13-14 (HCSB)

What the Samaritan woman needed most of all was the water of salvation to relieve the spiritual thirst in her soul.  This has always been what we sinners need in every age.  This was the content of Isaiah’s songs of trust and joyful thanksgiving.

“On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples.  The nations will seek Him, and His resting place will be glorious.  On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover – from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coasts and Islands of the west – the remnant of His people who survive.” Isaiah 11:10-11 (HCSB)

Early in the days of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, the Israelites found themselves on the verge of war with the Amalekites.  Joshua was asked to assemble an army while Moses climbed a nearby hill.  With God’s staff in his hands, he lifted up his arms with Aaron and Hur helping him.  So long as his arms were held upward, the Amalekites were defeated.  Afterward, Moses built an altar and named it “The Lord is my banner.”  It marked a place where Moses and the people of God had witnessed God fighting on their behalf.

When God’s banner is planted in the ground, God’s people have no cause to worry.  He fights for His people.  As King Jehoshaphat was told, later in Israel’s history...

“This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army.  For the battle is not yours, but God’s.’” 2 Chronicles 20:15b (NIV)

The writer of Chronicles tells us that Ahaz ignored Isaiah and asked the king of Assyria for help.  Then, things got worse.

“In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord.” 2 Chronicles 28:22 (NIV)

What Ahaz refused to see was that Israel’s battle was primarily a spiritual one.  The truth is that ALL battles are primarily spiritual, even though our battles involve human interaction.  So, because Ahaz refused to fear the Lord, victory was not secured through his strategic military alliances.  He should have trusted the Lord because victory is only found in Him.  That oversight cost Ahaz (and Judah) dearly.  

Perhaps, you are facing an overwhelming adversary.  The only way you will find enduring victory is by humbling yourself and surrendering to the Lord’s will, revealed in His Word.  Remember that the battle is the Lord’s.   He plants His banner as a symbol of His conquests.  He is interested in winning YOU before He wins the world through you.  Do not resist the Lord!  Let Him plant His banner of love and Lordship deep into your heart, soul, and strength.

When the people of God find themselves in any trouble, the Bible reminds them of His past victories and promises of future victories.  His Word acts as a banner fluttering in the breeze.  The very sight of it reminds us that our strength comes from His mighty power and strengthens our faithful resolve.

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

“On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will faithfully depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.  The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God.  Israel, even if your people were as numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return.” Isaiah 10:20-22a (HCSB)

God hates pride.  It was pride in the later years of King Uzziah that caused judgment to fall upon him.  Judah, too, was filled with arrogance, thinking they knew better than God’s prophet.  And disgrace was sure to follow. (Proverbs 11:2)

But once more, Isaiah brings into focus the mercy of God.  A remnant will return.  The clouds of God’s anger against sin are lined with the silver thread of His covenant promise: a Remnant will come forth.

The idea of a “Remnant” is something we believers should strongly consider…especially when sharing the gospel with Jewish non-believers.  Some Church leaders suggest we should not bother sharing the gospel with the Jewish people because God’s Word says that all of Israel will be saved.  But shouldn’t we consider Paul’s words, (directed by the Holy Spirit) when determining exactly what spiritual “Israel” means to the Lord?  

“But it is not as though the word of God has failed.  For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.  Neither are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants.  On the contrary, your offspring will be traced through Isaac. That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring.” Romans 9:6-8 (HCSB)

Those who are “Israel” are not strictly those of physical descent from either Abraham or Jacob…rather, they are those who faithfully BELIEVE the promise of God, that is, in the promise of Messiah Jesus, whom Isaiah called “Immanuel.”  Today’s passage defines the “Remnant” as those who faithfully depend on the Lord, the faithful One of Israel, Immanuel, Jesus.  Consider the apostle John’s words within the context of Isaiah’s prophecy.  The Remnant is expanded to contain both Jew and Gentile: EVERYONE who believes.  Also, those appointed for destruction are people of unbelief: Jew and Gentile.

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.  This, then, is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.  For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.  But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”  John 3:16-21 (HCSB)

“Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.  But in the future, He will bring honor to the Way of the Sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations.  The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.  You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy.  The people have rejoiced before You as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.”  Isaiah 9:1-2 (HCSB)

Light shines through Isaiah’s words in several ways.

1) The People of God.  Isaiah refers to “the people” and “the nation.”  He means the people of God, the remnant from within Judah.  Though the Lord will shame them through Assyrian oppression, He will not forsake Judah entirely.  He will gather them again and, through them, bring to pass His promise.

2) The Light of Jesus.  When Jesus was forced to move from Nazareth to Capernaum (in the region of Naphtali and Zebulon), Matthew says that this was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy. (Matthew 4:14-16; Luke 4:14-30) The point of Matthew’s quotation was to indicate that people who had been living in darkness now had the light of God’s Son in their midst. “Galilee of the Gentiles,” so long despised by the Jews, was earmarked for evangelism by Messiah Jesus.

3) The Impossible is Possible with God.  Isaiah knew His Bible!  He remembered that in the time of the judges, God had whittled down Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 10,000 to 300 to do battle with the Midianites.  He was anxious to demonstrate the principle: not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit.  A surprise attack on the Midianite camp was enough to send them packing.  This is a message Isaiah takes up again and again.  Three pictures are brought together in verse 4 to remind Judah that Assyria’s oppression is nothing new.  They had also been this way in Egypt 700 years earlier.  Here, Judah is compared to an ox.  Poor Judah – to be a beast of burden.  But things can change!  The zeal of the Lord Almighty can change things if Judah would only listen.

4) An End to Warfare.  Assyrian men are seen lying dead from battle with blood-stained clothes.  Everywhere there is a stench of battle.  The enemy has been totally destroyed and disarmed.  The refuse of war is burnt, and there is peace.  It reminds us of the end of the Revelation.  And what was the cause of all this?  The birth of a child to the royal house of David.

The World promises the light of hope but can only deliver darkness.  The World is OUR Assyria.  The child, Jesus, however, brings peace and light.  Peace is the first fruit of our justification.  (Romans 5:1)

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Isaiah 8. Click the links below to watch or listen now!