Daily Bible Devotionals

“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)