The Glorious Hope of Isaiah (#11: The Nations)

What I am about to say next may shock you.  The key to enjoying Isaiah 13-23 is to read fast.  My point is not that this section was not important when Isaiah delivered it, nor would I argue that there are not good, helpful truths in it today.  I do believe that “all Scripture is inspired and useful….”  But given the feebleness of our minds and the limitedness of our attention spans and the distance between our world and Isaiah’s, I suggest that you almost skip this section when you study or teach through Isaiah.

Here’s an outline to show you what you ‘re missing:

• The Lord announces his plans for Babylon (13:1–14:23)
• The Lord announces his plans for Assyria (14:23-27)
• The Lord announces his plans for Philistia (14:28-32)
• The Lord announces his plans for Moab (15:1–16:14)
• The Lord announces his plans for Damascus (17:1-14)
• The Lord announces his plans for Cush (18:1-7)
• The Lord announces his plans for Egypt (19:1–20:6)
• The Lord announces his plans for Babylon (21:1-10)
• The Lord announces his plans for Dumah (21:11-12)
• The Lord announces his plans for Arabia (21:13-17)
• The Lord announces his plans for Jerusalem (22:1-25)
• The Lord announces his plans for Tyre (23:1-18)

Given that you don’t live in any of those places (or more properly, belong to any of those people), and given that most of these plans have already transpired, and given that the Bible is so huge that you ‘ll never know it all anyway, I think I can safely suggest that your first time through, you need not get hung up here.  Indeed, that, I fear, is a problem too real for too many.  They get bogged down and, unlike when they ‘re playing cars and run into a muddle puddle, they never just pick the car up and plop it down on the other side and keep going.

What is the larger point of this section?  I think it can be summed up this way: by announcing his plans (judgment) on the other nations, the Lord is demonstrating his sovereignty over them.  The God of Israel is also the God of Babylon (not Marduk).  Ok, you say, couldn’t he just say that and move on?  I think that God had more in mind.  He wanted to display to the world that he could do what their gods could not.  As he says in a challenge to the gods:

Isaiah 41:23 (ESV) “Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified.”

The oracles of chapters 13-23 do not describe the sins of the nations.  You might expect that they would.  But they instead declare God’s judgment against them with much detail.  He tells the nations what will happen before it happens so that they will know the Lord is God. 

Ho, hum, you’ve heard this before, right?  Wait and consider the time in which Isaiah spoke.  Isaiah has already prophesied that Assyria would invade and destroy Israel.  Shortly he will predict that Babylon will carry off the treasures and princes of Judah (Isa 39).  The Philistines and the Moabites and the rest would either take advantage of Israel’s judgment or gloat in her downfall, and all would be tempted to conclude that the weakest god of all was the god of Israel.

God really had himself in a bind.  On the one hand, he was duty-bound to punish Israel for her covenant violations.  If he did not, he would be a faithless God.  On the other hand, if he had Israel carried off into exile as he had threatened, then it would appear that he was a lesser god than Marduk and Dagon and Chemosh and the rest.  How did God get out of this bind?  Isaiah to the rescue!  Through this prophet (and others), the Lord made it clear that his sovereignty was not impugned by Israel’s exile.  In fact, the most glorious passages of the Lord’s sovereign control over the world and history are probably in Isaiah.

Now all of this, quite frankly, is off our topic of the thread of messianic hope.  But I’ve already repeatedly made a point in this series that is relevant here.  Throughout this section, as in chapters 1-12, the bulk of the message is dark judgment, but the prophet intersperses some glimmers of hope.  I include just a couple here to warm your heart. 

Isaiah 16:4b-5 (ESV) “When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land, 5 then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness.””

Isaiah 17:7-8 (ESV) “In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. 8 He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense.”

Now having said that, I realize another reality: if you just read these verses above, out of context as they are, your heart may not be warmed.  But if you are an Israelite and you ‘re listening to these messages of doom and then you hear these verses, I think your spirit soars.  So maybe I was wrong after all.  Read chapters 13-23.  But don’t try to figure everything out.  Instead keep your highlighter handy for the iron-clad promises of hope that God made to his people. And rejoice that he is Lord of the nations, powerful without limits, righteous without exception, and faithful every time.