ISAIAH 20

OPENS WITH...GOD SAYING FOR NOW..Don't Trust In Egypt!


Verse 1 tells us ISAIAH ACTS OUT the political setting for the sign.

"In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it,"

In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod...This describes the time when the army of Assyria conquered the Philistine city of Assyria. Isaiah's sign is a response to this victory of Assyria.

This invasion has a concrete marking point in secular history: 711 B.C.

The Philistines were BOTH neighbors and thorns to Israel, and the fall of Ashdod would certainly make Israel think, "We're next. We need protection."

Verse 2 tells us The LORD gives Isaiah a sign to act out.

"At the same time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet." And he did so, walking naked and barefoot."

Remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet...Before this, Isaiah wore an outer garment of sackcloth -clothes of mourning. Now, God tells him to remove his outer garment of sackcloth, and to take his sandals off.

POOLE explains it well, "God would sometimes have his prophets to add to their word a visible sign, to awaken people's minds to a more serious consideration of the matters proposed to them."

JUST AS IF YOUR WEATHERMAN DIRELY AND URGENTLY INTERRUPTED ALL PROGRAMMING TO REPORT FLOODS COMING, TORRENTIAL RAINS FOR THE NEXT WEEK BE PREPARED...BE PREPARED, THEN THE TELEVISION STATION CAPTURED THIS WEATHERMAN LEAVING THE STATION IN TENNIS CLOTHES, OR GOLFING CLOTHES, WITHOUT EVEN AN UMBRELLA, RAIN GEAR OR GALOSHES IN SIGHT...WE WOULD TEND TO DISMISS HIS URGENT REPORT AS BOGUS OR HIM A FRUIT LOOP.

THE SAME IS TRUE OF THE PROPHETS IN THAT DAY, THE PEOPLE WATCHED HOW THE PROPHETS LOOKED, DRESSED, BEHAVED TO CONSIDER THE TRUTH AND THE URGENCY OF THEIR WORDS GIVEN THEM BY GOD.

ALMIGHTY GOD KNOWS HIS CREATION TO THE CORE, SO HE ASKED ISAIAH TO BE HIS HUMAN FLASHING NEON BILLBOARD TO THE PEOPLE, AMEN?

And he did so, walking naked and barefoot...

THERE ARE THOSE WHO TEACH AND SAY THAT ISAIAH WALKED AROUND COMPLETELY NUDE. BUT WE MUST KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THE HEBREW PEOPLE AND THE TIMES.
We shouldn't think that Isaiah was nude, completely without clothing. Instead, he only wore the inner garment customary in that day - sort of like wearing only your underwear or a nightshirt OUT IN PUBLIC.

THE REASON WHY?

AN ATTENTION GETTER FOR THE PEOPLE. AND THE MESSAGE GOD WAS ASKING ISAIAH TO SHOW AND GIVE THEM PEOPLE WAS NOT ABOUT NUDITY, IT WAS ABOUT COMPLETE POVERTY AND HUMILIATION.

Isaiah dressed as the poorest and most destitute would dress.

BUT WE KNOW FROM STUDYING THE BIBLE, THAT GOD ASKED OTHER PROPHETS TO GO THROUGH EQUALLY DIFFICULT EXPERIENCES AS SIGNS TO ISRAEL. SUCH AS HOSEA, WHO ENDURED A TRYING MARRIAGE, & EZEKIEL'S WIFE WHO DIED AS AN ILLUSTRATION TO ISRAEL IN EZEKIEL 24:16-24.

AND AS ALWAYS, GOD DOES NOT GIVE A SIGN WITHOUT ANNOUNCING ITS MEANING...GOD IS TELLING THE PEOPLE OF THE JUDGMENT AND HUMILIATION OF EGYPT.

Verses 3-4 tells us just that, it is a sign of God's judgment and humiliation of Egypt.

"Then the LORD said, "Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt."

My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years as a sign and wonder against Egypt...Under the command of the LORD, Isaiah dressed in this poor and humble way for THREE YEARS. It was a message against Egypt, because the king of Assyria would lead away the Egyptians as prisoners.

As the Assyrians took the Egyptians captive, they would humiliate them by stripping them and leading them away as prisoners. This would all be to the shame of Egypt.

TRAPP gives us a picture & a comparison to consider here. "So dealeth the devil with all his wretched captives, whom he driveth away hellward, naked a barefoot with their buttocks uncovered, the shame of their nakedness exposed to public view for want of the white raiment of Christ's righteousness that they might be clothed."

Verses 5-6 tells us The sign's message to Judah.

"Then they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and Egypt their glory. And the inhabitant of this territory will say in that day, 'Surely such is our expectation, wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and how shall we escape?'"

They shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and Egypt their glory...When God judges Ethiopia and Egypt, it will be evident how foolish it was for Judah to look to them for protection against Assyria.

Whenever our expectation is in something wrong, or our glory is in something wrong, the LORD will find a way to make those things disappoint us. Judah set their expectation on Ethiopia, and looked to Egypt for glory, but now they are left afraid and ashamed.

MORGAN says it well,"There is no place of security for the people of God, other than that to be found in the rule of God. All expectation not centered in God, is doomed to disappointment and discomfiture."

THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT TIME AND TIME AGAIN, THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL SAID OVER AND OVER AGAIN...

WHO DO WE TRUST?
WHO CAN BE OUR ALLY?
WHICH WAY DO WE GO?
WHAT DO WE DO?
WHO WILL PROTECT US?
WHO WILL PROVIDE FOR US?
HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE?

AND THE PATIENT AND LONG-SUFFERING ALMIGHTY GOD HAS SAID OVER AND OVER:

TRUST ME.
LOOK TO ME.
BELIEVE IN ME.
WAIT FOR ME.
I WILL PROVIDE.
I WILL PROTECT.
I WILL SAVE.
TRUST ME....JUST ME.

BUT THEY CHOSE MAN OR THINGS OR SELF WISDOM OVER AND ABOVE GOD...SOOOOOOO..

The LORD allowed Judah to be backed into a corner, caught between two mighty Empires (Egypt and Assyria), without being able to trust either one. There was NO escape - EXCEPT in the LORD.

AND WHY THIS WARNING SIGN AFTER SUCH A PROMISE/REVELATION OF FUTURE REVIVAL AND RESTORATION FOR EGYPT, ETHIOPIA, AND ASSYRIA?

BECAUSE GOD READ THEIR HEARTS AND MINDS PERFECTLY.

GOD KNEW....Because of the glorious promise of revival and restoration among Egypt in Isaiah 19, Judah might have been even more tempted to say, "Well, OKAY THEN, we CAN trust in Egypt. They are all going to come to the LORD someday anyway!"

But with the dramatic three-year sign, Isaiah shows Judah how vain it was to make Egypt their expectation or glory.



ISAIAH 21

OPENS WITH GOD'S BURDENS Against Babylon, Edom and Arabia

FIRST GOD'S BURDEN against Babylon.

Verses 1-2 tells us an army from Persia marches on Babylon.

"The burden against the Wilderness of the Sea. As whirlwinds in the South pass through, so it comes from the desert, from a terrible land. A distressing vision is declared to me; the treacherous dealer deals treacherously, and the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O Media! All its sighing I have made to cease."

A burden against the Wilderness of the Sea.

DID YOU KNOW GOD ALSO CALLS Babylon the Wilderness of the Sea?

WHY?

Because the great plain of Babylon was divided with lakes and marshes, so it was referred to as a "sea."

POOLE explains it well,"And the title of the sea might well be given to the waters of Babylon, because of the great plenty and multitude of them … the name of sea being given by the Hebrews to every great collection of waters."

Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O Media...

DID YOU KNOW...Elam and Media are the ancient names for the peoples of Persia, modern day IRAN. The Persian Empire conquered the Babylonian Empire, and Isaiah here prophetically sees their armies marching on Babylon.

TRAPP says it well, "God oft maketh use of one tyrant to punish another; as here he stirreth up the Persians to plunder and waste the Babylonians. So the Persians were afterwards in like sort punished by the Macedonians, the Macedonians by the Romans, those Romans by the Huns, Vandals, Lombards, Saracens, Turks; all whom Christ shall destroy at his last coming."

Verses 3-10 tells us of the fall of Babylon.

"Therefore my loins are filled with pain; pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor. I was distressed when I heard it; I was dismayed when I saw it. My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me; the night for which I longed He turned into fear for me. Prepare the table, set a watchman in the tower, eat and drink. Arise, you princes, anoint the shield! For thus has the Lord said to me: "Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he sees." And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen, a chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels, and he listened earnestly with great care. Then he cried, "A lion, my Lord! I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime; I have sat at my post every night. And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!" Then he answered and said, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground." 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."

As the people collapse from fear and pain (Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor), the nation prepares for war (Arise, you princes, anoint the shield!).

The report comes to the watchman...Babylon is fallen, is fallen!

This dramatic scene was fulfilled when the Medo-Persian Empire conquered Babylon, but it also has a prophetic application.

WHERE?

REMEMBER OUR STUDY OF REVELATION?

Revelation 18:2 describes the cry of an angel when God judges the world system, both commercial Babylon and spiritual Babylon: And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!"

The repetition of the phrase "IS FALLEN...IS FALLEN connects the two passages, AMEN?

The same panic and terror the people of Babylon felt when that great city was conquered by the Medes and Persians will be seen again.

When the LORD strikes the world system, both spiritual Babylon and commercial Babylon, the world will be terrified and mourn the same way (Revelation 18:9-19). But God's people rejoice over the fall of Babylon (Revelation 18:20).

Verses 11-12 tells us GOD'S BURDEN against Edom (Dumah).

"The burden against Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" The watchman said, "The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; return! Come back!"

Dumah was another ancient name for the kingdom of Edom, in the mountainous region of Seir.

AND REMEMBER OUR STUDY OF GENESIS?

WE KNOW The Edomites descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob (Israel).

They settled in the land to the south-east of Israel, and were the sometimes enemies of Israel.

Watchman, what of the night...Using a powerful dramatic scene of a cry to a watchman in the night, Isaiah paints the picture of the judgment and terror that will come upon Edom.


Verses 13-17 tells us GOD'S BURDEN against Arabia.

"The burden against Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, O you traveling companies of Dedanites. O inhabitants of the land of Tema, bring water to him who is thirsty; with their bread they met him who fled. For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the distress of war. 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."

Isaiah pictures the refugees from an attack on Arabia. They are traveling companies of Dedanites; they are thirsty, and they need bread, because they fled from the swords and from the bent bow, and from the distress of war.

This attack will come soon: Within a year … the glory of Kedar will fail. Poole on according to the year of a hired man: "An exact year; for hirelings diligently observe and wait for the end of the year, when they are to receive their wages."

SO WHO IS KEDAR?

THE BIBLE TELLS US...KEDAR IS THE SECOND SON OF ISHMAEL (GENESIS 25:13)

GENESIS 17:20 TELLS US, "And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation."

AND THE BIBLE TELLS US ISHMAEL IS THE FATHER OF THE ARAB PEOPLE.

GENESIS 16:12 TELL US, "And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren."

IT WAS SO THEN....AND ALMIGHTY GOD'S WORDS STAND TODAY. THE ARAB NATIONS AS A WHOLE ARE STILL THE SAME.

DO YOU SEE, GOD SPOKE IT TO ABRAHAM IN GENESIS, TOLD HIM WHAT WAS TO BE. HE REPEATED IT TO ISAIAH, AND SO IT IS.

OUR GOD DOES NOT CHANGE. OUR GOD DOES NOT LIE. WHAT HE PROMISED IN GENESIS, ISAIAH, AND DOWN THROUGH TIME HAS BECOME JUST AS HE SAID.

WE CAN TRUST OUR ALMIGHTY GOD AND HIS HOLY BIBLE.