God, Through It All by C. R. Oliver (bookstand for reading .txt) 📖

ZADOK PUBLICATIONS MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

October 1, 2014

Isaiah 21-27 
"God, Through It All"

Introduction:
           The use of an "over-theme" is difficult to describe, but this is the method God used in these six chapters. The "over-theme" in chapters 21-23 is a positive assurance to His people, that no matter what is going on around them---there is an end to it! They can be assured that "through it all" there is a forthcoming victory.
          The "over-theme" in chapters 24-27 is in the form of multiple Songs. The righteous, the redeemed of the Lord, are heard singing above the tragic events of history. Above the clashing swords, above the bloody ground and cries and groans of men, there rises praise to God. 

Louder than the screaming missiles is the chorus of the overcomers! 

          Also, in this study, we continue to see the overall scheme of "re-introducing the God of Israel to His people and the world" and "reviewing His methods and principles." 

Chapter 21: Babylon's Pay Back
Isaiah enters this vision as if he were present (a participant) as the events were transpiring. He calls to this one or to that one and expects an answer, just like a live event. (The event is approximately 200 years in his future.) To God, all events are in "now time." 

Listen as he addresses the participants from a pained heart, pained by what he sees and hears. He sees an inevitable battle between the Babylonians and the Medians who are then joined by the sons of Ishmael, Elam.

Isaiah 21:5
Arise, you princes,
Anoint the shield!

Isaiah hurries to give the outcome of their warfare: "Babylon has fallen, has fallen." Those who have dealt treacherously have themselves been dealt with treacherously. Those who have plundered Israel have been plundered.

Isaiah 21:2
The treacherous dealer deals treacherously,
And the plunderer plunders.
Go up, O Elam!
Besiege, O Media!

Then the prophet declares to the people of God, "All its sighing I have made to cease." 

Let us now look at some of the themes Isaiah draws upon. The "Watchman theme" used by him and Ezekiel is evident. The watchmen see two armies coming, and the armies move with the rapidity of a lion running after its prey (I have seen this in Africa and it "ain't" pretty when the prey stumbles.) 

THEN, Isaiah declares he has delivered the message of God through great pain. In other words, "He'd been through the mill;" however, what he relates is the truth (Would to God the church once again could hear the wrenched message from a true heart)!

Isaiah 21:10
Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor!
That which I have heard from the LORD of hosts,
The God of Israel,
I have declared to you.

Idumea:
Isaiah continues the watchman theme. The watchmen give a cryptic answer to the prophet's urgent appeal (In order to show urgency, they are addressed twice).

Isaiah 21:11-12
'Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?' 
The watchman said,
'The morning comes, and also the night.

The curse on Idumea came because they plundered Israel when the Babylonians conquered the nation. These were Edomites and they sided with the invaders and looted the children of God. (Those who loot share in this judgment.) It was a dark night for Israel, but the morning of deliverance was dawning for them, just as the night fell on Edom! 

Arabia:
In the Song of Solomon, there is a reference to the infamous "tents of Kedar." They were made of thick goat skins and were "black as pitch" inside (even during the day, if the entrance was closed). Kedar's darkness now plays a symbolic roll in the Arab future. It too is black.

Isaiah 21:16-17
For thus the LORD has said to me: "Within a year, according to the year of a hired man, all the glory of Kedar will fail; and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be diminished; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken it."

The prophet is concise when he times the event as being "within a year." (The reference to a hired servant was to acknowledge a contract had been made, similar to an indentured laborer who signed a document stating his beginning date, the amount of work required and his ending date. That is how precise God is with His judgment.) 

(The reference to Tema is only about their reputation of being hospitable to people who traveled through their territory.) 

Chapter 22: The City Where visions occurred for Isaiah: Jerusalem.

Isaiah 22:4-5
Therefore I said, 'Look away from me,
I will weep bitterly;
Do not labor to comfort me 
Because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.'

For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity
By the Lord GOD of hosts 
In the Valley of Vision -

Naturally, Isaiah is emotionally involved with his home city. "He weeps bitterly," but he stays the course and declares the truth.

l. The punishment of Jerusalem:

When they should have prayed and sought the Lord, they regaled and quoted the Hedonists' motto: "Let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die."

(Parallels could thus be drawn between their sin and the sin of current society. In the face of the most austere threat ever to befall this nation, society lives the Hedonist life.) 

The response of the Lord was, "no atonement for such sin." (Note: If God ruled this judgment over His people once, He will do so again!) 

Isaiah 22:14
'Surely for this iniquity there will be no atonement for you,
Even to your death,' says the Lord GOD of hosts.

2. Shebna, the narcissistic governor.

This self-centered man, who was the highest official in the land, did not escape the hand of the Lord.

He ruled in the stead of the king. His words were carried out featly. He answered to no one, only to the King himself. The last straw with God was when Shebna designed a crypt for his burial place. This monument to his position and power was to be outstanding. He shaved away a mountain of rock, high above the city, as a perpetual monument to his greatness. God took him down. 

His peg was removed from its secure place and another replaced it.

Isaiah 22:20-23
'Then it shall be in that day,
That I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah; 
I will clothe him with your robe 
And strengthen him with your belt;
I will commit your responsibility into his hand.
He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
And to the house of Judah. 
The key of the house of David
I will lay on his shoulder;
So he shall open, and no one shall shut;
And he shall shut, and no one shall open. 
I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place,
And he will become a glorious throne to his father's house.

Chapter 23: Tirade on Tyre
Just like Shebna, Tyre, as a commercial city, became enamored with its unique strategic position, its wealth, its power over the seas and its amoral approach to the world. They, like the harlot, would "lay with who could pay." So, God treated them as harlots.

Isaiah 23:14-18
Wail, you ships of Tarshish!
For your strength is laid waste. 
Now it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot: 

'Take a harp, go about the city, You forgotten harlot; Make sweet melody, sing many songs, That you may be remembered.' 

And it shall be, at the end of seventy years, that the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire, and commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. Her gain and her pay will be set apart for the LORD; it will not be treasured nor laid up, for her gain will be for those who dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for fine clothing.

The last part of verse 18 speaks of supernatural wealth transfer to "those who dwell before the Lord." 

Chapters 24-27 The Song of the servants of God heard over the tumult of Tribulation

Chapter 24

Song # 1

Isaiah 24:14-16
They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing;
For the majesty of the LORD
They shall cry aloud from the sea.
Therefore glorify the LORD in the dawning light,
The name of the LORD God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.
From the ends of the earth we have heard songs:
'Glory to the righteous!'

The righteous sing while the unrighteous hear another word:

Isaiah 24:6
Therefore the curse has devoured the earth,
And those who dwell in it are desolate.

Isaiah 24:11-12
All joy is darkened,
The mirth of the land is gone.
In the city desolation is left.
And the gate is stricken with destruction.

Chapter 25:
Song #2

Isaiah 25:1
O LORD, You are my God.
I will exalt You,
I will praise Your name,
For You have done wonderful things;
Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

The song of the "'terrible ones' will be turned low and then, no volume at all" while the righteous will have their volume turned up for a world to hear!

Isaiah 25:3-5
Therefore the strong people will glorify You;
The city of the terrible nations will fear You. 
For You have been a strength to the poor,
A strength to the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm,
A shade from the heat;
For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
You will reduce the noise of aliens,
As heat in a dry place;
As heat in the shadow of a cloud,
The song of the terrible ones will be diminished.

The song of the righteous ones could be entitled, "In this Mountain."

Isaiah 25:6-10
And in this mountain 
The LORD of hosts will make for all people
A feast of choice pieces,
A feast of wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow,
Of well-refined wines on the lees.
And He will destroy on this mountain
The surface of the covering cast over all people,
And the veil that is spread over all nations. 
He will swallow up death forever,
And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people 
He will take away from all the earth;
For the LORD has spoken. 

And it will be said in that day:
"Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the LORD;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."
For on this mountain the hand of the LORD will rest,

Ah! The Lord needs to do this for America. Oh! How the veil needs lifting. Yes, so the nation may see that He swallowed up death with Jesus and wiped tears from all eyes! 

Yes! Let Isaiah re-introduce the God of the heavens to the people of heaven.

"Behold, this is our God."
"This is the Lord."

Chapter 26:
Song # 3:

Isaiah 26:1-9
In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
'We have a strong city;
God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks.
Open the gates,
That the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.
You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You. 
Trust in the LORD forever,
For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting