Devotionary

Those who express belief in God must constantly strive to maintain their awareness of His omnipotence and His timelessness. God is all-powerful and operates outside the confines of time and space. He is not relegated to any particular time period and His knowledge is not limited to what has happened in the past. He exists outside of any time constraints, so to Him, the past, present and the future are all equally accessible and knowable. So, when God spoke to and through His prophets, He was delivering information that revealed future events as if they were present reality. In Isaiah 26:10-21, the prophet speaks as if the prophecies of God, dealing with as-yet-to-happen events, have already happened. He writes of future promises concerning the people of Judah with a confident assurance that they can and will happen. In fact, he almost gives the impression they have already taken place. He speaks of them as if they are in the past tense. It wasn't that Isaiah didn't know what God had in store. He knew that the fury of God had to fall before the mercy and grace of God could be experienced. But he wanted the people of Judah to have confidence that, once the fury of God had passed, the blessings of God would fall.

As Christians, we know we should praise God. The Bible makes that perfectly clear. But we don't always do it. In fact, far too often we find ourselves whining and moaning to God, rather than singing His praises. Our circumstances can leave us complaining about our lot in life, and failing to recognize the grace, mercy, and kindness of God happening all around us. In Isaiah 26:1-9, we are going to hear a song being sung by the people of Judah, but it's a song that has yet to be sung, because it is prophetic in nature. What we will see in these verses is a glimpse into the Millennial Kingdom, that 1,000-year period of time that comes at the end of the seven years of Tribulation that will come on the earth. The Millennium will feature Jesus Christ ruling in Jerusalem from the throne of David. He will be the King of kings and Lord of lords, and all those who live within His kingdom will sing His praises. The people of Israel and Judah, the Old Testament Saints, the Tribulation martyrs, and all those who come to faith in Christ during the church age, will worship God the Father and God the Son, singing their praises for all that they have done.

Current conditions have a way of clouding our understanding of God's sovereignty and power. What we are going through any given moment of the day can easily lead us to believe that God does not have a plan. We can begin to think that He has lost control. But Isaiah would have us remember that God has plans that were formed of old – in other words, they have been around from before the world was made. God is not up in heaven reacting to conditions in the world with surprise. He is not knee-jerk reacting to unforeseen situations and circumstances. He is all-knowing and fully in control of all things, all the time. And in Isaiah 25:1-12, the prophet is going to provide us with a glimpse into the distant future, where we will see God's redemptive plan played out in all its glory. At no point in time, has God's plan been in jeopardy. And there has never been a time when He has been forced to alter His plans in response to some unexpected event that caught Him off guard. No, His divine strategy for the future restoration of this world is safe and secure. We may not always see what He is doing. We might not always think that He has His hands on the wheel. But God is in full control and His plans have not changed.

There is a sense in which the people of God should always be singing the praises of God. If we truly believe that He is all-powerful and sovereign over all things, then we can rejoice in the fact that our God reigns over all – all the time. There has never been a time in history where God was out of control. And there never will be a time when the will of God fails to take place just as He has preordained it. When reading a passage like Isaiah 24:14-23, we are reminded that our God deserves our praise. Even in the midst of looming destruction, brought on by the blatant disobedience of His people, God reveals that He has a plan in store that will involve the restoration of a remnant. The judgment of God was coming, but so was the grace and mercy of God. The people of Judah would be disciplined severely for their sins, but they would one day experience the undeserved favor of God. And this incredible reality would leave the people of Judah rejoicing and praising God for His majesty. Like so many other passages in Isaiah, this one has a now/not yet aspect to it. Some of God's promises have already been fulfilled in part. But there are still some as yet fulfilled elements to this passage for which the people of Judah can still eagerly anticipate.

There's a lot of talk these days about the condition of the environment. Politicians and pundits of all stripes use the earth's ecological condition as a means to push various policies and political agendas. And there is little doubt that our world is suffering because of man's abuse and misuse of this incredible resource provided for us by God. But Isaiah 24:1-13 is going to reveal that there is a greater problem behind the sorry state of the earth's environment. It is sin. Ever since the fall, the sins of mankind have had a dramatic impact on this planet on which we live. Rather than acting as God faithful stewards, caring for the earth and all that it contains, we have tended to treat it with disdain and disrespect, taking advantage of its many resources and using them for our own selfish pleasures. And this passage is going to support the fact that a day is coming when God will renew His creation and return it to its original, pristine, pre-fall state. While we should care about the environment and do all that we can to clean up and care for the earth, God lets us know that it is irredeemable and unrepairable. He won't just fix it. He will replace it. He will make all things new.

One of the things that even Christians find easy to forget is that God has a plan. And that plan is not only long-term in nature, it is unchanging and unstoppable. What God has purposed will take place. What He has planned will come about. And that includes blessings and curses, the good and the bad. As we continue to look at the oracles delivered to the nations by Isaiah on behalf of God Almighty, we will see the recurring theme that His plans concerning the nations have been fully thought out and will be completely fulfilled. In Isaiah 23:1-18, God brings bad news to the nation of Tyre. Unlike Babylon and Assyria, Tyre was a relatively small player on the global stage. It was not a military powerhouse and posed no real threat to Judah or any other nation. But it enjoyed unprecedented wealth, exercised tremendous influence over that part of the world, and had built a reputation as a financial force to be reckoned with. Yet, God was going to bring their pride to an end. He had plans for them. Including their eventual restoration and, in the end times, their worship of the one true God.

Authority, power, influence. Everybody wants these things, but few people can handle them. They can become a powerful temptation in the life of any man or woman, causing them to turn inwardly and to seek profit from their position. It can be quite easy to succumb to the lure of lust that so often accompanies a position of authority. With great power comes great responsibility. But that responsibility is to be outwardly focused. It conveys the idea of using your power and position to better the lives of those under your care. But in Isaiah 22:15-25, we are going to get a real-life lesson from a man who let his power go to his head. He used and abused his authority in such a way that it led to God to remove him. He was replaced and, while his successor proved to be a much better leader who used his newfound power more justly and selflessly, he too would eventually give in to the temptation to use his power for self-advancement. The two men we will see in this passage were representatives of the king who had a responsibility to use their power and position for the betterment of the kingdom. But they failed. As believers, we represent the King of kings on this earth. How well are we using the power and authority left to us by Jesus Christ?

It was Jesus who spoke of the valley of the shadow of death in the sample prayer He gave to His disciples. The use of the valley as a metaphor for difficulty was common in Jesus' day. It was used to juxtapose the experience of the breathtaking heights of the mountain that loomed over the valley. And in Isaiah 22:1-13, God is going to use the metaphor of the valley to refer Mount Zion, the elevated height upon which the city of David, Jerusalem, sat. This spiritually lofty locale was going to experience dramatic change in its circumstances – all because of disobedience to God. While Jerusalem was home to the temple and the seat of the royal dynasty of David, it was going to go through a major shift in its spiritual fortunes. The presence of the temple was not going to protect them from the wrath of God. The city's reputation as the holy mountain of God was not enough to counter their years of rebellion against Him. Judgment was coming because the people of Judah had continually rejected God's calls to repent. And the holy mountain was about to become the valley of vision. And the scene surrounding Jerusalem's fall would not be a pretty or pleasant one.

If you stop and think about it, trying to run from God makes no sense at all. If He is indeed, all-knowing and all-powerful, any attempt to hide from Him will be unsuccessful. And if God intends to do something, any thought of escaping His judgment is wishful thinking. It was King David who wrote, based on his own personal experience, "I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!" (Psalm 139:7 NLT). David went on to say, "even in darkness I cannot hide from you" (Psalm 139:12 NLT). If this is true, then why is it we spend so much time trying keep things from God or attempting get out from under the will of God? In Isaiah 21:11-17, Isaiah is going to deliver yet another oracle from God. This time to the nation of Arabia and lesser-known nation called Dumah. As we will, this is a somewhat veiled reference to the Edomites, who were close relatives of the people of Israel. One by one, God is eliminating every nation in Judah's proximity as possible options to be their rescuer. God was bringing judgment on Judah and there was nowhere they could run and no place they could hide from His inevitable will.

Repeatedly throughout the Scriptures, we read the words, "Fear not." And they are almost always in relationship to some troubling trial or difficulty. When the people of Israel were standing at the shore of the Red Sea with the army of Pharaoh bearing down on them, Moses had told them, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord." Years later, when the Israelites were preparing to enter the land of Canaan, God told them, "Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them" (Deuteronomy 20:3 NLT). Paul would later encourage Timothy by reminding him, "God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control" (2 Timothy 1:7 NLT). But the truth is, we fear far more often than we would like to admit. And the people of Judah did as well. In Isaiah 21:1-10, we will see God calling His people to exhibit faith, rather than fear. Even with all that was going on around them, God wanted them to see His sovereign hand at work. If they had faith in Him, they would have a difficult time fearing what was taking place around them. Faith is the antidote for fear.