Today’s passage: Isaiah 21

Helpful thoughts:

• The “Wilderness of the Sea” was a name for a region in the Babylonian empire.
• Judah, before being defeated by Babylon, had been an ally with the nation.  This is why there would be weeping and anguish as it is depicted in verses 3 and 4.
  • Therefore, verses 1-10 are very similar in meaning to the previous chapter.  Neither Egypt or Babylon were the answer for Judah.  They needed to trust in God, not foreign nations.
• Verses 11-12 picture the people of Edom (Along the trade routes between warring nations) asking when the time of turmoil will end, yet with no answer.
• Verses 13-17 prophesy a southern campaign of Dedanites versus the people of Kedar (Descendants of Ishmael).  The people of the Arabian peninsula are to be prepared to care for those who are being pushed further south.
  • The contents of verses 11-17 should be considered separate prophecies from verses 1-10

Questions to consider:

1. What would the intended audience of these messages (The people of Judah) be reminded of after hearing/reading these prophecies?  Who is over Babylon?  Does God even consider the less powerful, more historically obscure desert nations?
2. What do we learn about God when we consider his attention to and knowledge of all these people groups and events and times and how each nation affects all the others (Past, present and future)?
3. What other things are going to take place in the future because the “LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken”?  What can we look forward to with all confidence and eager expectation?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 20

Helpful thoughts:

• Historical background: At this time, the Philistines, Egyptians and Judah were all under the thumb (To different extents) of Assyria.  The city of Ashdod (A Philistine city) had just been taken after a “rebellious” act and Egypt, whom the Philistines had aligned themselves with, was next, along with Cush.
  • Isaiah is telling the people of Judah not to make the same mistake.  Egypt couldn’t help the Philistines and they wouldn’t be able to help Judah either.
• In wearing sackcloth prior to God’s instructions, Isaiah evidenced he was already in a state of mourning.
• Isaiah was to share this prophecy through nakedness (The state of those who were to be taken captive for the purpose of humiliation) for three years.
  • Isaiah did not have to remain naked for three years straight, 24/7…
  • There would have been times, places, people that were to receive this sign and prophecy over a three year period.
  • Just because God gave Isaiah this highly unusual task, does not mean that it should be normalized or expected from people today.  It was a humiliation, it still is a humiliation.
    • That was the point.  As the people of Egypt and Cush will be led away in nakedness, so will the people of Judah (Isaiah being the example) if they should seek protection from Egypt.

Questions to consider:

1. What is God telling the people of Judah through this prophecy?  Who were they to trust in?
2. In what way would the sign of nakedness even the playing field as far as viewing the different peoples as superior or inferior?  Were the Egyptians superior to Judah?  Were the Assyrians even superior?  What did they all have in common?  Were any of them on a level where they could compete with the LORD of hosts?
3. Jesus promised that Christians would have tribulation and persecution in this world. (John 16:33, John 15:20)  So, to say that if we trust God nothing bad like losing a battle or being taken captive will ever happen to us would be a wrong application.  But, what does Romans 8:31-39 teach us?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 19:16-25

Helpful thoughts:

• None of the events of Isaiah 19:16-25 have yet taken place.  This is still to come.
• When you are in opposition to the LORD of hosts, it is a good thing to be brought to humility and submission through fear.  It is right to know you cannot defeat or escape Him.  It is good to repent of your rebellion.
  • Healthy appropriate fear turns into worship…and joy.
• God will one day be worshiped by the nations in peace.

Questions to consider:

1. Why is it dangerous to try to “soften” God in the hopes that He will be more desirable to unbelievers?  If we try to redesign God in order to make unbelievers (Or believers) like Him better, what god are we giving them?  — (As if one would say, “Why repent if we can change what God is like?  Why should we change if we can just change God?”)
2. One way we can perhaps inadvertently misrepresent God is to say, “He loves you just the way you are” or “He’s crazy about you!”  While Romans 5:8 does say that God loved us “while we were yet sinners” (Praise God!), how do these potentially romantically oriented phrases diminish God, the problem of sin, the immense sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the true definition of love?
3. Did Jesus die so that God could get to know me better and hang out with me, or did Jesus die to pay the penalty for my rebellion against the holy, all-powerful, all-loving God?  Which one of those options makes God look like a normal person and which one makes God look like…God?  How would my pride blind me into preferring the “Crazy about you” god?  How would an accurate view of God make me love Him more?

Today’s’ passage: Isaiah 19:1-15

Helpful thoughts:

• God does not ride on swift clouds…that’s figurative terminology.  But, it does point out that The LORD of hosts is no territorial, national god like the Egyptians worship.  God is the only true God and creator of the world.
• Four different dynasties struggled against each other for control in Egypt until an Ethiopian king took control before 700 B.C.  This was God’s doing!
• With a political vacuum and the loss of the fruitfulness of the Nile, Egypt is brought to its knees.
  • Judah would certainly be foolish to try and align herself with Egypt for protection if God was about to bring this civil war and economic hardship about.

Questions to consider:

1. If Egypt could be brought low by God’s divine will, why were they also prosperous at other times?  Who must ultimately be in control?
2. Then, when Israel and Judah had relied on Egypt for strength and support in the past, whose strength were they ultimately benefiting from?  BUT, whose strength did they THINK they were relying on? (Which nation? What gods?)
3. Why is it foolish to put our trust in chariots (Or money, or people’s opinions, etc.) when we are tempted to be anxious?  (Psalm 20:7, Psalm 56:1-4)

Today’s passage: Isaiah 18

Helpful thoughts:

• The land of Cush would be the area in Africa south of Egypt (Think Sudan and Ethiopia approximately).
• Judah is reminded, the people of Africa are included in the promise of Isaiah 2:1-4.
• God’s dealing with Israel and Judah (Including the time of Isaiah’s ministry) had impact and consequences on the surrounding nations as well.
  • God was/is fully sovereign and aware of all the inner workings and consequences for all the people of the earth, not just Israel and not just the church.

Questions to consider:

1. Is God over just Christians?  Are people in the church under God’s sovereignty and people outside the church totally independent and on their own?
2. Why is it foolish for a person to decide they do not have any interest in learning about or obeying God?  Is God something you just choose to worship or not to worship?  Is God an option on a buffet line of lifestyle choices?
3. How can verses like Revelation 7:9-10 encourage you to have a proper view of God and a right understand of our mission to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20)?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 17

Helpful thoughts:

• Israel would suffer the same consequences of the nations and kingdom she had aligned herself with.  Israel had become like all the other nations.
  • Exodus 34:10-16
• For more information on the worship of Asherah, check out this website.
  • Asherah (Or her equivalent in surrounding nations) was considered a consort to whomever was the highest god…This is another reason why God forbade the planting of an Asherah pole next to an altar for His worship (Deuteronomy 16:21).  He did not allow the people to think that He had a wife-god, or a “Queen of Heaven”.
• Israel had chosen the designer gods of man (“Works of their own hands”), and all of their designs would be destroyed so that all which remained to be seen was the God who had designed and created them.

Questions to consider:

1. Why does mankind choose other things of our own making over God?  What motivates and what results from the attempted minimizing of our Creator and the maximizing of our own creations?
2. How is God’s discipline of Israel gracious?  Why is God doing good to us when He would strip everything that would distract us away?  What do we need the most?
3. How can you make sure that God is your primary focus and delight on this day?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 15-16

Helpful thoughts:

• Chapters 15 & 16 contain one continuous prophecy and message concerning Moab.
  • This prophecy takes a much different tone, one of sympathy or sadness over Moab’s demise.
• In the midst of the prophecy, Israel/Judah is told to take in and shelter the outcasts of Moab and promised the coming of the Messiah (Verses 3-5).
• Scattered throughout the prophecy and highlighted in verse 12, are remarks concerning the hopelessness and powerlessness of the worship of the Moabites.
  • It was a sad sight to see Moab trying to cry out to false gods for help…when of course, no help would come.

Questions to consider:

1. What would the connection be between the Moabites needing shelter from “The destroyer” (Verse 4) and their false worship of gods who do not exist?  (See Deuteronomy 32:16-17, Who is behind false gods and their worship?)
2. How were God’s people encouraged to look upon the struggling Moabites, even though their suffering was a result of their sin (Arrogance, pride, idle boasting, etc.)?  Do we gloat and brag when our enemy falls?  How should the Christian treat those who mistreat them? (Romans 12:9-21)  How do you find the strength and love to share with those who do not love you?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 14:24-32

Helpful thoughts:

• What God plans, happens. What God purposes, stands.  He is the LORD of hosts.  We have seen this name for God and these truths repeated often so far in Isaiah.
  • Even if man were to look at the Assyrians and be amazed by their strength…  God > The Assyrians
• In the second portion of today’s passage, God warns the Philistines.
  • They are warned not to think they have found relief after the death of Ahaz, king of Judah.
  • Ahaz was not the one they should have feared in the first place.  God is the Lord of Israel.  He is the one to be feared, and He hadn’t gone anywhere.
• If you are in Christ, you are on the victory side!  Proceed with humble confidence.

Questions to consider:

1. Is there a person or a nation on this earth that can overpower our God?  Can anything happen that He misses, that He did not see coming, or that He had not planned?
2. How should God’s power and sovereignty change how we look at world events, leaders, and even the people in our towns, neighborhoods, schools and workplaces?  Do you have to worry about playing defense for the LORD of hosts?  Does He need your protection?  Are we to have a defensive posture or an offensive one?
3. Why will the Church be victorious?  Who deserves the glory and praise for her growth and expansion?  Should a church be energized and mobilized because of new leadership (King Ahaz? New Pastor?), or because God is on the throne and Jesus Christ is risen from the dead?