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Isaiah: Book of Good News!

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His mother, she was taken up to Rockford after a stroke the other day, was just there for two days,
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I think, and made great improvement and basically recovered back to where she was before the stroke.
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So that was an answer to prayer. She went back to Allure on Friday, so she's back in the nursing home here in Sterling.
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All right, Tim Chester, who has written a book that I'm using as a basis for our study in Isaiah, he suggests this, and I'll quote.
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He says, we long to reach for the stars. We want to be at the top of the league, the top of the class, best in show.
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We climb the career ladder or clamber up the property ladder. We want to rise.
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But he continues, perhaps we feel that desire because we know we're fallen.
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We're trying to regain the glory we once had, but we do it without God. Not content to reflect
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God's glory, we want to establish our own glory. And so, we got to keep moving.
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We got to keep building. It's a relentless and exhausting endeavor that leaves us restless and anxious.
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And the message of these chapters we're looking at today, Isaiah 13 through 23, is that that exercise is an exercise in futility, because human glory is both fleeting and temporary.
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I want to, first of all, just do an overview of these chapters, 13 through 23, and then we're going to come back to chapters 13 and 14 and look at them in some more detail.
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These chapters, all of them contain prophecies concerning nations that are surrounding
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Judah, that are around the tribe or the nation of Judah in some way.
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And it seems that these prophecies are gathered together from across Isaiah's ministry.
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So not like all at one time, but a compilation of different prophecies at different times that Isaiah compiled and put together in these chapters.
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So chapters 13 and 14, first of all, describe the fall of Babylon. And Babylon, when
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Isaiah pronounced this prophecy, Babylon as an empire didn't even exist. It wasn't even on the radar screen in terms of world empires.
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It didn't even rise up to that status until well after Isaiah had died. It also contains prophecies against Assyria and the
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Philistines. Remember, Philistines are Israel's old enemy, and the Philistines are going to be defeated by the
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Assyrians. Chapters 15 and 16 are prophecies against Moab.
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If you can think of your geography of the region, Moab is across the
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Jordan River. Judah is on the west side of the Jordan River and borders against it.
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Moab is on the other side of the Jordan River, southeast of Judah. And remember how
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Moab came into existence. The Moabites were descendants of Lot, Abraham's nephew, by way of incest.
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Lot had an incestuous relationship with his daughters. One of them gave birth to the father of the
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Moabites. And notice in chapter 16, verses 6 and 7, that Isaiah laments the pride of Moab.
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He says, We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath, but his lies shall not be so.
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Therefore Moab shall wail for Moab. So he laments this fall of Moab, and she falls because of her pride.
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In verse 4 of chapter 16, Moab is called upon to provide refuge for Judah.
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So the prophet writes, the Lord says, Let my outcasts dwell with you,
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O Moab, outcasts of Judah. Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler, for the extortioner is at hand.
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Devastation ceases. The oppressors are consumed out of the land. Let the refugees from Judah find refuge in you,
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Moab. However, in verse 6, Moab refuses to do so. Chapter 17 contain prophecies against Damascus.
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Damascus is the capital city of Syria. Another name for that country or nation would be
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Aram, A -R -A -M. Think of the language, the
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Aramaic language. So Damascus is the capital of Syria, and there's prophecy against Damascus and also against Ephraim, or against Samaria.
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Samaria is the capital of the nation of Israel, which also goes by the name
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Ephraim. So these are prophecies against these two nations, the Syrians and Israel, that are ganging up against Judah.
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But I want you to notice in chapter 17 the repetition of the phrase, in that day, and the different effects of that day.
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So in verse 4, it says, in that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall wane.
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Jacob, the glory of Jacob would be the glory of Israel. The glory of Israel will wane, and the fatness of his flesh grow lean.
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In verse 7, some are going to turn to idols instead of the Lord in that day.
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In that day a man will look at his Maker, and his eyes will have respect for the
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Holy One of Israel. They'll turn from idols to the living God, is the way I should have put that.
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In verse 9, in that day cities that were once strong will be desolate.
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It says, in that day his strong cities will be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
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And then in verse 11, it says, in that day you will make your plant to grow, and in the morning you will make your seed to flourish.
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But the harvest will be a heap of ruins in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.
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Harvest will fail, and what will be harvested is grief and desperate sorrow.
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That's chapter 17. Chapters 18 through 20 contain three prophecies against Egypt.
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So notice chapter 19 says the burden against Egypt, so that would be the burden that will fall upon Egypt, the burden against Egypt.
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And the first prophecy is that Egypt is going to be devastated, verses 1 and following.
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And look at verse 15. Verse 15 says there's nothing that can be done about it.
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It says, neither will there be any work for Egypt which the head or tail, palm branch or bulrush may do.
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Nobody can do anything about this devastation that is to come. That's prophecy number one.
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Prophecy number two in chapter 20, verses 3 and 4, is that Egypt and Cush related are going to be defeated by the
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Assyrians. So verse 3, chapter 20, says then, the Lord said, just as my servant
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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
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Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot with their buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt.
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This is going to be a very humiliating defeat of Egypt and the
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Ethiopians by the Assyrians. Then the third prophecy, by the way, note back in chapter 18, verse 3, that the warnings against Egypt are warnings for all the people of the world.
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Chapter 18, verse 3, all the inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, colon, here's the message.
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When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you shall see it, and when he blows a trumpet, you hear it.
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So the point here is that at the end of history, God is going to judge all the nations as He wants to judge these nations surrounding
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Judah. So the third prophecy related to Judah is a prophecy that is a promise.
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It's a promise. So look at chapter 19, verses 18 and following, it says in that day, five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear by the
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Lord of hosts. One will be called the City of Destruction. I have a little comment in my
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Bible that that could better be translated the City of Righteousness, perhaps.
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Anyway, it goes on to say, in that day, there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the
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Lord at its borders. And it will be a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt, for they will cry to the
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Lord because of the oppressors and He will send them a Savior and a mighty one and He will deliver them.
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That is the Egyptians. It's a promise for Egypt. He goes on to say, then the
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Lord will be known to Egypt and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and will make sacrifice and offering.
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Yes, they will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. And the Lord will strike
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Egypt, He will strike and heal it. They will return to the Lord and He will be entreated by them and heal them.
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Now notice verses 23 and following. In that day, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria and the
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Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria and the
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Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. In that day, Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the law of the land whom the
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Lord of hosts shall bless saying, blessed is Egypt, my people and Assyria, the work of my hands and Israel, my inheritance.
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Now essentially what this promise is, is that one day there will be a new exodus, not an exodus from Egypt, but an exodus for Egypt, for Egypt from the paganism and the idolatry and unto the service and worship of the
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Lord. Chapter 21 is another proclamation against the yet future
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Babylonian Empire. And notice he speaks of the burden against the wilderness of the sea.
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That is another name for, and could better be translated, the desert of the sea, which is a reference to Babylon, all right, it's a reference to Babylon.
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Notice verse 9, chapter 20, verse 9, says, look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen and he answered and said,
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Babylon is fallen, is fallen. All the carved images of our gods, he has broken to the ground.
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So this prophecy in chapter 21 is against this yet future Babylonian Empire.
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And verse 2, verse 2 of chapter 21 tells us that the, those who attack and destroy
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Babylon are going to be the Medes and the Persians. Says verse 2, a distressing vision is declared to me, the treacherous dealer, speaking of Babylon, deals treacherously and the plunderer plunders.
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Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Media, that is Elam, the
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Persians, Media, the Medes. Go up, O Elam, besiege,
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O Media, all its sighings I have made to cease. So the Babylonian Empire, this prophecy says, is going to be overcome by the
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Medes and the Persians. By the way, notice that verse we read a minute ago, chapter 21, verse 9,
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Babylon is fallen, is fallen, is repeated and echoed in Revelation chapter 18, verse 2, speaking of that which is yet to come, yet future.
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So chapter 21, primarily a proclamation against the yet future Babylonian Empire, but also in verses 11 to 17, it ends with prophecies against Edom and Arabia, Edom and Arabia, verses 11 to 17.
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Verse 11, the burden against Duma or Edom, and verse 13, the burden against Arabia.
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So notice verse 12, verse 12 says, the watchman said, the morning comes and also the night.
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If you will inquire, inquire, return, come back. This statement, the morning comes and also the night, what's that mean?
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That means that literal morning may come with a new day, but night will come when that morning arises.
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What does that mean? What's the night? It's the night of judgment. Judgment is also coming.
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Chapter 22 says, the burden against the valley of vision, that is a prophetic way of speaking of Judah and Jerusalem.
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These Judah, God's people, are supposed to be the people of vision. They're supposed to have the
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Word of God to declare to others. But verses 8 and 9 speak of the removal of protection from Judah.
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It says, you looked in that day to the armor of the house of the forest. You also saw the damage to the city of David that it was great, and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
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And the point here is, of chapter 22, is that by including
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Judah in the list of judgments against Gentile nations, it indicates the failure of God's people, of Judah, of providing the vision of proclaiming the
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Word of God as they were supposed to do, and they were supposed to be the light that shined forth in the surrounding areas, but they did not.
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This chapter, chapter 22, ends with prophecies against two individuals in verses 15 to 25.
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One of those is a man by the name of Shebna, verse 15, thus says the
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Lord of hosts, go proceed to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house, and say, and then deliver this prophecy.
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Who is this? This Shebna is probably one of the leading officials in King Hezekiah's court.
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In chapter 37, verse 2, there is this leading official that serves under Hezekiah, whose name is
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Shebna. But the key thing is that this is a foreign name.
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Shebna is not a Hebrew name. So the point seems to be brought out by Isaiah in verse 16, which he essentially says, what are you doing here?
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What have you here, and whom have you here, Shebna? Who do you think you are that you are in this place?
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You don't belong here, in essence, is what he's saying. But the deeper issue is that for a foreigner like Shebna to be in such a high position of influence and leadership indicates just how much
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Judah has been influenced by unbelievers, by outsiders, by Gentiles, and so this prophecy against Shebna.
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Shebna is going to be displaced. And the one who displaces him is brought out in verses 20 to 24, a man by the name of Eliakim.
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It says in that day, it shall be in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.
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And the Lord is going to raise up this Eliakim, who's going to replace Shebna, but, verse 25, he's not going to be able to do anything to prevent
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Judah's fall. In that day, there's that phrase again, says the Lord of hosts, the peg that is fastened in a secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off, for the
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Lord has spoken. So even though an outsider is replaced by an insider, one who's not one of God's people by one who is a servant of the
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Lord, he's not going to be able to prevent the fall that is coming. Then chapter 23 is a proclamation against Tyre, and we won't say more
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Tyre and Sidon, we won't say any more about that other than, again, there's going to be total devastation, and there's more to come in the book of Isaiah in the prophecy about Tyre and Sidon.
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Well, let's go back to chapters 13 and 14, because those two chapters are kind of a case study of God's devastation and judgment that He brings on an empire.
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The overall theme of these two chapters is that human glory is futile and fleeting.
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Now the significant thing about this prophecy is that Isaiah is writing about things 200 years into the future.
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Now think about the significance of that, almost 200 years into the future. This is like, this is as if somebody in 1800 could write about the events that are happening in our country today, and do so with specificity.
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That's really incredible. Nobody ever did that in 1800. Nobody wrote about what's happening in 2022 in any kind of detail, had no notion about our nation being the size that it is from coast to coast, and including
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Alaska and Hawaii, and had no notion whatsoever, had no inclination that there would be the kind of division and so forth that there is, that there would be the level of immorality and godlessness that exists.
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This just wasn't there. It wasn't on anybody's radar screen. So to think that Isaiah is writing what he's writing in chapter 13 about events that are going to take place almost two centuries into the future is significant.
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So I want us to think about what happens between the time Isaiah writes this prophecy in the early 700s
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BC, before the fulfillment of the prophecy in 539
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BC. So as Isaiah writes, the
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Babylonian Empire does not even exist. It won't rise to the status of an empire for almost 100 years after the time
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Isaiah writes. So this would be like somebody prophesying that,
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I don't know, Costa Rica, there's going to be a
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Costa Rican empire that is going to take over the whole Latin America and reach down into South America and up into North America.
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A Costa Rican empire, who would even think of such a thing? Well that's the significance of this.
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This is a hundred years into the future before Babylon even rises to the place of an empire and it's going to be another 20 years after it rises to some degree of power before Babylon, the
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Babylonian Empire, overthrows the Assyrian Empire. So well into a century into the future.
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When Babylon does rise to that level of power, also in 605
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BC, the Babylonians are going to attack Judah and that will be the first deportation.
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It's that deportation when Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are taken from Judah and taken back to the palace in Babylon, that's 605
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BC. Eight years later, in 597, is the second deportation.
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Again, the Babylonians attack Judah, they take more people captive back to Babylon, and then in 586, another 11 years, 586
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BC, the Babylonians come and completely decimate Judah and Jerusalem, just totally destroy it.
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And there's a third deportation of people from the city of Jerusalem.
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And it's not until 539 BC that Babylon falls to the
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Medo -Persians. And that fall is what's predicted here in Isaiah chapter 13.
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So chapter 13 is a prediction of what will happen.
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And what does Isaiah prophesy? What does he say is going to happen? First of all, in verse 3, he says, the
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Lord God will send His sanctified ones. I put that in quotes because that's what he says in verse 3.
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The Lord says, I have commanded my sanctified ones. I have also called my mighty ones for my anger, those who rejoice in my exaltation.
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So the sanctified ones are the instruments that God is going to use to judge
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Babylon. And notice that the Lord sends them in His anger.
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He says that in verse 3. He repeats it in verse 5, says, the
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Lord and His weapons of indignation to destroy the whole land, the whole land of Babylon.
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In verse 9, he says, the day of the Lord comes cruel with both wrath and fierce anger.
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And in verse 13, he says, therefore, the Lord says, I will shake the heavens and the earth will move out of her place in the wrath of the
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Lord of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger. So again,
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I think I emphasized and made this point last week. It is erroneous to have a vision or a view of God that does not include
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His anger against sin and His judgment that He executes in anger.
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Now that is not contradicting, remember, our most recent
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Sunday School series, that God is gentle and lowly, right?
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Because Dane Ortlund actually pointed this out, that this is God's strange work.
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This is not what He does from His heart, if you will. And he's trying to express that in a way to communicate that God loves to display mercy and grace and gentleness.
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He loves to deal with people in gentleness. But in that He loves to do that does not mean
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He will not express judgment and anger against sin.
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So the Lord is going to send His sanctified ones. Verse 5 says they're going to come from a faraway country at the beginning of the verse.
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And in verse 17, as we looked at earlier, well, I guess we didn't look at verse 17, but verse 17 also points out that the identity of those whom the
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Lord will send. He says, I will stir up the Medes against them. I will stir up the
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Medes against them? Again, 200 years before this happened, the
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Medes, they're a nobody. The Babylonians as an empire don't exist.
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And the Medes, who are they? So the Lord God will send His sanctified ones.
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Second thing that Isaiah prophesies is that that judgment is going to be devastating.
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In verses 7 and 8, all hands will be limp, every man's heart will melt. They will be afraid, pangs and sorrows will take hold of them.
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They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth. They will be amazed at one another. Their faces will be like flames.
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This judgment is going to be fearsome. It'll be desolating, verse 9 says.
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The judgment's going to come to lay the land desolate. He will destroy its sinners from it.
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It will be annihilating in verses 14 through 16. And verse 18 as well, let's see if that summarizes a little better.
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Their bows will dash the young men to pieces and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb.
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Their eye will not spare children. You can talk about awful, this kind of annihilation.
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This is a devastating judgment. Verse 11 points out that this judgment will be representative.
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So the judgment that's coming on the Babylonian empire is a representative judgment.
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What do I mean by that? Well, look at verse 11. Verse 11, the Lord says, I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity.
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I will halt the arrogance of the proud and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. So the point here is that what the
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Lord is communicating is, look, just because you're not in the Babylonian empire, don't assume that my wrath won't be poured out against you.
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Whatever nation you're in who is also filled with evil and iniquity, the judgment's representative.
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Verse 6, I wanted to point out the fact that Isaiah prophesies that the judgment is divine.
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It's divine. It's the day of the Lord. It will come as destruction from the
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Almighty. Mighty. And notice the repetition of statements where the
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Lord is the subject of the verb. So verse 3, the
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Lord and His weapons of indignation to destroy the land. Last part of verse 4,
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I'm sorry, verse 3, the Lord says, I have commanded my sanctified ones. I have called my mighty ones.
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The end of verse 4, the Lord of hosts musters the army for battle.
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The end of verse 9, He will destroy its sinners from it. Verse 11 that we just read, the
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Lord said, I will punish the world. I will halt the arrogance. Verse 12 is another example.
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I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold. And verse 13,
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I will shake the heavens. Verse 17, I will stir up the meads against them. This is the
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Lord's doing. It is a divine judgment. And then chapter 14, verses 1 and 2 also show that this judgment is preparatory.
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It's preparatory. What I mean by that is it sets the stage, the judgment of the
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Babylonians and the Babylonian Empire sets the stage for the return of Jews from exile.
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Because the Lord also prophesied that. Remember through Jeremiah, He said that the people in exile are going to return to the land.
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How's that going to happen? Well, look at chapter 14, verses 1 and 2. The Lord will have mercy on Jacob and He will still choose
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Israel and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them and they will cling to the house of Jacob.
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Then people will take them and bring them to their place and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the
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Lord. They will take them captive whose captives they were and they will rule over their oppressors.
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So the Lord's going to completely flip this. God's people are going to be brought back into the land and then the way that's going to happen is by the overthrow of the
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Babylonians. All right, so chapter 13 is the prediction of what's going to happen.
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Chapter 14 provides the interpretation of those events.
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What do these things mean? What do these things mean? Few ideas. Let me give you five things very quickly.
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One of them is glory rots away. Glory rots away.
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And that truth is expressed in a taunting song in verses 3 through 11.
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Now, we're going to take the time to read all this, but just notice the taunting is expressed through the once was, but now contrast in verses 3 through 8.
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It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve.
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And then in the song begins in verse 4, how the oppressor has ceased.
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He who once was the oppressor has now ceased. What once was a golden city is now gone, speaking of Babylon and so forth.
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And then in verses 9 through 11, this taunting song comes through the expression of a cemetery welcoming committee.
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Look at this in verses 9 and following. Verse 9 begins, hell or the grave from beneath is excited about you to meet you at your coming.
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So it's like this welcoming committee at the cemetery welcoming the Babylonians in their fall.
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Glory of Babylon rots away. A second point of interpretation is that status tumbles down.
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Status tumbles down. Verses 12 to 15 are famous verses that are used often to describe the fall of Lucifer or Satan prior to the
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Garden of Eden event. But actually, these verses primarily and directly are pointed at the king of Babylon.
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He is the Lucifer in verse 12. The word Lucifer, the name
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Lucifer, literally means a shining one, a morning star.
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The kings of Babylon, think of Nebuchadnezzar. Remember how Nebuchadnezzar was the star of Babylon and he thought so himself, thought about the glory of his kingdom and so forth, and the
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Lord humbled him, cut him down like a tree, and he's out in the eating grass and the dew is on him and all that kind of stuff.
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And he was out there until he realized his place. And his ultimate successor,
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Belshazzar, remember Belshazzar's pride and arrogance in Daniel chapter 5, how he had brought the golden cups that had been taken from the
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Lord's house and he was having this feast and they were drinking the wine from the Lord's, the cups from the
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Lord's house and he was so arrogant and the handwriting on the wall came, your time is up.
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And that night, Belshazzar was executed. So status tumbles down and Lucifer, the king of Babylon, the kings of Babylon follow in Satan's footsteps.
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They mimic Satan. Verses 12 to 15 really are an echo of Satan's fall.
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And the point here that we want to get is, and I'm quoting Chester again, he says, no matter how far your star rises, no matter how high you climb, in the end, you are brought down to the depths of the pit, as in verse 15.
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You shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit. The person whose status you envy, think about this, the person whose status you envy will one day hit rock bottom.
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It's inevitable. Status tumbles down. Third interpretation point, success is turned upside down.
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Success is turned upside down. And that happens to Babylon in verses 16 to 23.
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It happens to Assyria in verse 25. And it happens to Philistia in verses 28 through 31.
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These three nations all achieved great success. The Babylonian empire followed the
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Assyrian empire. The Philistines were, it's like they could never, the
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Israelites could never get rid of the Philistines. They were just always there. But the success of these great nations will be turned over, will be turned upside down.
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Fourth point, in verse 32, verse 32, the
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Lord works for the good of His people. The Lord works for the good of His people.
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Verse 32 says, what will they answer the messengers of the nation? Here's what they will answer, that the
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Lord has founded Zion and the poor of His people shall take refuge in it.
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Now Chester points out that this reference to Zion is not referring to physical
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Jerusalem. Because in chapter 22, there's a verse we looked at earlier, physical
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Jerusalem is going to be destroyed. It's going to be devastated. Zion instead refers to the faithful remnant of God's people who will find refuge in Christ.
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So chapter 16, verse 5, here's the promise. In mercy the throne will be established and one will sit on it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.
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Who is that? Who is that one who's going to sit in truth in the tabernacle of David? This is
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King Jesus. This is King Jesus. And likewise in chapter 22, verses 20 through 24, it says, then it shall be in that day that I will call my servant
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Eliakim and so on and so forth. But Eliakim is a picture of the
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Lord Jesus in His coming. Verse 22, the key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulders so he shall open and no one shall shut.
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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.
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This is King Jesus. So, the Lord works for the good of His people in founding
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Zion and providing a refuge for them. And then the last point back in chapter 14, verse 24, is the controlling truth in interpreting the fall of Babylon, and really we could extrapolate from that to all of these other nations that He's going to be talking about in verses 15 and following.
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The controlling truth is pointed out here in verse 24. The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so it shall come to pass.
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And as I have purposed, so it shall stand. The controlling truth is what the
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Lord purposes will come to pass. What the Lord thinks and determines to be will be.
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Again, let me close with a quote from Tim Chester. He says, this is sanity, believing that God is
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God and we are human. Believing that our lives are not in our own hands but in His.
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Sanity is found as we recognize that God is in control.
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What a very poignant point to close on, on this particular day. So our
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Father and our God, I pray that we would be a sane people. We would be a sane people, believing that You are
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God and we are but human. Believing that our lives are not in our own hands, with all of our planning and scheming and efforts and all the rest of that that we engage in, but they are in Yours.
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May we trust You even today, we pray in Jesus' name,