The Book of Isaiah, Part 7: Pronouncements Concerning the Nations, Part B
Survey of the Old Testament Prophetic Books • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
Intro
Series - The Book of Isaiah, part 7
Sub-series - Pronouncements Concerning the Nations, Part B
Background
Background
King Ahaz and Judah
King Ahaz and Judah
Ahaz was king over Israel for 16 years
he became king at 20 and died at 36
he was an evil king who did not trust in the God of Israel
he died on 722 b.c.
Assyria’s role
Assyria’s role
Assyria first became interested in the region around the time of king Ahab of israel
this is the second time that Assyria became involved in the geopolitics of Israel
the Assyrian rulers involved at this time were -
Tiglath-Pileser III - he was the one who killed king Rezin of Damascus, and king Pekah of Israel
Shalmaneser III - he conquered Hoshea of Israel, who became his tribute king
Sargon II - he conquered Israel, killed Hoshea, ended its kingdom, exiled the people
Sennacherib - he will conquere the region in the days of king Hezekiah
Notable events (or see separate note)
Notable events (or see separate note)
742 b.c. - Tiglath-pileser III became king of Assyria
732 - Tiglath-pilser capstures Damascus and killed Rezin, conquers Samaria and kills king Pekah
722 - Sargon captures Samaria and destroys the northern kingdom
715 b.c. - Assyria invades Philistia
712 b.c. - Assyria destroys Ashdod
712 b.c. - Ethiopia’s Shabaka qonquered Egypt, and unites the two kingdoms of Egypt and Ehiopia
711 b.c. - Assyria invades Moab
701 b.c. Sennacherib becomes king of Assyria
The pronouncements
The pronouncements
Concerning Philistia - Isaiah 14.28-32
concerning Moab - Isaiah 15-16
concerning - Damascus - Isaiah 17
concerning Ethiopia - Isaiah 18
concerning Egypt - Isaiah 19
Main Idea
Main Idea
God was actively involved in the rise and fall of kingdoms in the region, emphasizing His sovereignty over all the nations.
God has purpose in raising the Assyrian kingdom
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation,
6 I send it against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture spoils and to seize plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets.
24 The Lord of armies has sworn, saying, “Certainly, just as I have intended, so it has happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand,
25 to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulders.
26 This is the plan devised against the entire earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations.
27 For the Lord of armies has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”
God was turning the circumstances in these nations into instruments by which He gives imprtant lessons to His people in Judah.
Main Points
Pronouncement concerning Philistia
Pronouncement concerning Philistia
the pronouncement - Isaiah 14.28-32
28 In the year that King Ahaz died, this pronouncement came:
29 “Do not rejoice, Philistia, all of you, Because the rod that struck you is broken; For from the serpent’s root a viper will come out, And its fruit will be a winged serpent.
30 “Those who are most helpless will eat, And the poor will lie down in security; I will kill your root with famine, And it will kill your survivors.
31 “Wail, you gate; cry, you city; Melt away, Philistia, all of you! For smoke comes from the north, And there is no straggler in his ranks.
32 “What answer will one give the messengers of the nation? That the Lord has founded Zion, And the poor of His people will take refuge in it.”
God’s message to this nation
God’s message to this nation
do not rejoice at the death of your oppressor/enemy because something/someone worse will rise after him
serpent to winged serpent
Philistia was invaded multiple times by Assyria under successive kings - 715, 712, 701
God’s message to His people
God’s message to His people
it was the LORD who founded Zion
it is the LORD who will be their only refuge - verse 32
Pronouncement concerning Moab
Pronouncement concerning Moab
Contents
its destruction - Isa 15.1-4
1 The pronouncement concerning Moab: Certainly in a night Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined; Certainly in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.
2 The people have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; Everyone’s head is bald and every beard is cut off.
3 In their streets they have put on sackcloth; On their housetops and in their public squares Everyone is wailing, overcome with weeping.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out, Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz; Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud; His soul trembles within him.
Isaiah cries over its destruction - Isa 15.5-9
Judah opens its doors for Moab’s outcasts - Isa 16.1-5
Moab refuses to come under Jerusalem’s protection - Isaiah 16.6-12
this message we called into mind in a later time - Isaiah 16.13-14
13 This is the word which the Lord spoke earlier concerning Moab.
14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “Within three years, as a hired worker would count them, the glory of Moab will become contemptible along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and impotent.”
God’s message to this nation
God’s message to this nation
you can put your trust in the God of israel
your pride will lead you to destruction - Isaiah 16.6-7
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride; Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury; His idle boasts are false.
7 Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail. You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth As those who are utterly stricken.
God’s message to His people
God’s message to His people
human pride is the number on1 reasons people refuse to trust in God
Uzziah’s pride killed him
Ahaz’s pride killed him
Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before stumbling.
Edom’s pride was his fall - Obadiah 1:3-4
3 “The arrogance of your heart has deceived you,
The one who lives in the clefts of the rock,
On the height of his dwelling place,
Who says in his heart,
‘Who will bring me down to earth?’
4 “Though you make your home high like the eagle,
Though you set your nest among the stars,
From there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.
Pronouncement concerning Damascus
Pronouncement concerning Damascus
Its contents
is destruction announced - Isa 17.1-3
1 The pronouncement concerning Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city And will become a fallen ruin.
2 “The cities of Aroer are abandoned; They will be for herds to lie down in, And there will be no one to frighten them.
3 “The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, And sovereignty from Damascus And the remnant of Aram; They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel,” Declares the Lord of armies.
Jacob/Israel is connected to its downfall - Isa 17.4-6
4 Now on that day the glory of Jacob will fade, And the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
5 It will be like the reaper gathering the standing grain, As his arm harvests the ears, Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain In the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet gleanings will be left in it like the shaking of an olive tree, Two or three olives on the topmost branch, Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree, Declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
this places the time of the prophecy, in the early years of king Ahaz (see Isaiah 7)
God’s message to His people
God’s message to His people
God was mostly concerned with Israel in this pronouncement
You have forgotten the God of your salvation - Isa 17.10—11
10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the rock of your refuge. Therefore you plant delightful plants And set them with vine shoots of a strange god.
11 On the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in, And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom; But the harvest will flee On a day of illness and incurable pain.
they exchanged God for worship of spirits in nature
God destroys those who do not acknowledge Him
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
If God destroys those who do not acknowledge Him through His creation, how much more those who do not acknowledge Him in Christ!
29 How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”
31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Pronouncements concerning Ethiopia
Pronouncements concerning Ethiopia
Its contents
the nation identified - Isaiah 18.1-3
1 Woe, land of whirring wings Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush,
2 Which sends messengers by the sea, Even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, To a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation Whose land the rivers divide.
3 All you who inhabit the world, and live on earth, As soon as a flag is raised on the mountains, you will see it, And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.
God’s message to this nation
God’s message to this nation
God sees your rise,
but you will not become a superpower like the other nations you see - God will cut him down - Isa 18.4-6
4 For this is what the Lord has told me: “I will quietly look from My dwelling place Like dazzling heat in the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms And the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, And remove and tear away the spreading branches.
6 They will be left together for mountain birds of prey, And for the animals of the earth; And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, And all the animals of the earth will spend harvest time on them.
God’s message to His people
God’s message to His people
even in a nation as far and diverse as Ethiopia, God will have worshipers in the last days - Isa 18.7
7 At that time a gift of tribute will be brought to the Lord of armies From a people tall and smooth, From a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation, Whose land the rivers divide— To the place of the name of the Lord of armies, to Mount Zion.
God is looking for worshipers not only in Israel, but also in all other nations
in John 4.24 - Jesus conmmenced the time when worshipers from other nations need not go to Jerusalem!
Pronouncement concerning Egypt
Pronouncement concerning Egypt
Its contents
civil unrest - Isa 19.1-3
1 The pronouncement concerning Egypt: Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
2 “So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will fight, each against his brother and each against his neighbor, City against city and kingdom against kingdom.
3 “Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; And I will confuse their strategy, So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead, And to mediums and spiritists.
God delivers them to another nation - Isa 19.4—10
God exposes the reason of its downfall - Isa 19.11-15
God declares the nation’s future - Isa 19.16-25
God’s message to this nation
God’s message to this nation
your trust in sorcery has brought your own downfall - Isa 19.11-15
The officials of Zoan are mere fools;
The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings”?
Well then, where are your wise men?
Please let them tell you,
And let them understand what the Lord of armies
Has planned against Egypt.
The officials of Zoan have turned out to be fools,
The officials of Memphis are deluded;
Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes
Have led Egypt astray.
The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of distortion;
They have led Egypt astray in all that it does,
As a drunken person staggers in his vomit.
There will be no work for Egypt
Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.
you will be put to shame when you see the nation that you enslaved become strong in their God - Isa 19.16-17
16 On that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in great fear because of the waving of the hand of the Lord of armies, which He is going to wave over them.
17 The land of Judah will become a cause of shame to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in great fear because of the plan of the Lord of armies which He is making against them.
God’s message to His people
God’s message to His people
Even the worst enemies can be turned into true worshipers of God - Isa 19.19-22
19 On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a memorial stone to the Lord beside its border.
20 And it will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry out to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will save them.
21 So the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord on that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it.
22 And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the Lord, and He will respond to their pleas and heal them.
even Assyria becomes a worshiper of God - Isa 19.23-25
23 On that day there will be a road from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 On that day Israel will be the third party to Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
25 whom the Lord of armies has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
God is foreshadowing the time when He will establish His New Covenant to the nations of the world
22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with great patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction?
23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon objects of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,
24 namely us, whom He also called, not only from among Jews, but also from among Gentiles,
25 as He also says in Hosea: “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’ ”
26 “And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
God’s sovereignty over all nations is not confined to judging their sins and wickedness -
His sovereignty over the nations also means He is able to save them, and make worshipers out of the worst of sinners!
This He did when He sent us the Savior -
Jesus was mercy personified!
Jesus was grace personified!
Jesus was longsuffering personifed!
Song - Hallelujah to the Lamb
