Sermon Tone Analysis

So tonight we pick up in Isaiah again in Chapter 20.

Here again the message is to the Jews and is regarding the Assyrians who were the world power at that time.

- 6

So here we have a very brief chapter that begins with “Tartan” meaning the Commander in Chief of the Assyrian army taking the Philistine city of Ashdod.

Now the Philistines were in the promised land and were continually at war with the Jews.

They were right there, bad neighbors so to speak.

It would be like as if Mexico or Canada were taken out by China.

What would be the US response?

Certainly we would be thinking we are next!

Verse 2 is remarkable as to what the Lord told Isaiah to do.

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.

How would you like that ministry?

To walk around naked and shoe less as a sign.

There is some discussion as to whether he was completely naked and as to whether it was for a period of time each day.

Either way it was for 3 years!

It sees from the context that it was exactly as it reads.

The word for naked is `arowm in Hebrew and means nude, either partially or totally:—naked.

Verses 3 & 4 speak to Gods purpose

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.

The point here is that Judah was considering asking the Egyptians and Ethiopians for help.

God is saying, I am your help, your only help.

5 & 6 “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?’

”

There are battles that are to big for you.

I am having one right now and God has let me know that He wants to fight my battles.

Collection story

Chapter 21:1 -10 are parenthetical and refer again to Babylon.

1 The burden against the Wilderness of the Sea.

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​​As whirlwinds in the South pass through,

​​So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.

2 ​​A distressing vision is declared to me;

​​The treacherous dealer deals treacherously,

​​And the plunderer plunders.

​​Go up, O Elam!

​​Besiege, O Media!

( is the key to ancient names)

​​All its sighing I have made to cease.​

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3 ​​Therefore my loins are filled with pain;

​​Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor.

(end times clue?)

​​I was distressed when I heard it;

​​I was dismayed when I saw it.

4 ​​My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me;

​​The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.

5 ​​Prepare the table,

​​Set a watchman in the tower,

​​Eat and drink.

​​Arise, you princes,

​​Anoint the shield!

(Possible sarcasm regarding the future fall of Babylon)

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6 ​​For thus has the Lord said to me:

​​“Go, set a watchman,

​​Let him declare what he sees.”

7 ​​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.

8 ​​Then he cried, “A lion, my Lord!

​​I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime;

​​I have sat at my post every night.

9 ​​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.”

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10 ​​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.

What is remarkable here is that the vision is of Babylon falling.

Remember Babylon wasn’t a world power for more than 100 hundred in the future.

A burden against the Wilderness of the Sea: Babylon is called the Wilderness of the Sea because the great plain of Babylon was divided with lakes and marshes, so it was referred to as a "sea."

In Verse 2 he mentions Elam and Media which were ancient names for the Persians, modern Iran.

This a vision of the Medo Persian empire who would take down Babylon.

Isaiah envisions the preparation, the fear, and the battle: ​​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.

4 ​​My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me;

​​The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.

5 ​​Prepare the table,

​​Set a watchman in the tower,

​​Eat and drink.

​​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.

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.

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 ().

But God's people rejoice over the fall of Babylon ().

Isaiah continues with the Burden against Edom:

11 The burden against Dumah.

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​​He calls to me out of Seir,

​​“Watchman, what of the night?

​​Watchman, what of the night?”

12 ​​The watchman said,

​​“The morning comes, and also the night.

​​If you will inquire, inquire;

​​Return!