| | | | Isaiah Chapter 18 - "Ive got this..." Have you been watching the news lately? My wife and I have an evening ritual where after dinner we'll relax and watch one hour of news. Honestly, one hour is all I can take! See, on one hand I want to know what's happening in the world. I feel its important to know the times because biblical prophecy is being fulfilled right before our eyes.
But on the other hand, it's easy to get a little dismayed at what's happening in the world. It seems like we've reached a point where there are so many wrong things happening, its impossible to do anything about them. The list of woes is long: A stunted economy, insurmountable public debt, partisan gridlock, border security, immigration, terrorism… It seems as if we've reached a point where no person, party, or agency can right all of the wrongs.
It's at these times that people need a word of encouragement, a sense that something good is going to happen, that someone is really in control. Is anyone driving this car??? Yes! There is a God, and He is in control!
Isaiah 18 carries a message for Isaiah's day, but also for our day.
Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, wich sends ambassadors by sea, even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying, "Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin, to a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation powerful and treading down, whose land the rivers divide." (Isaiah 18:1-2)
Isaiah chapter 18 has been noted as one of the most obscure passages in Isaiah, but in fact it's simply a statement from God to King Hezekiah, advising him not to make an alliance with Cush.
Cush, which is modern day Ethiopia, and "Egypt," were names used to describe a kingdom ruled by Ethiopia during Isaiah's time. In 715 B.C. an Ethiopian named Shabako gained control of Egypt as founder of the twenty-fifth dynasty. Ethiopian domination continued until 633 B.C. when a native Egyptian regained the throne. (citation: Wolf) Cush was a strong kingdom, it's army was strong and capable, it's warriors, described as being "tall and smooth skinned" (still an accurate description of the people of Ethiopia) were feared by many.
Isaiah seems to be referring to an event where ambassadors from Ethiopia traveled by sea to Judah for the purpose of offering an alliance against Assyria. Many commentators date this prophecy at around 714 B.C. If so, Samaria had already fallen to Assyria eight years earlier (722 B.C.) and it would be twelve or thirteen more years before Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem (2 Kings 18-19).
The opening word, "hoy," is "woe" in some translations, but according to the Brown-Driver-Brigss Lexicon the word is better translated "Ah" - an exclamation arousing attention, perhaps with a hint of pity. So the prophecy here is not so much a prophecy against Cush, but rather a word of encouragement to Hezekiah from the Lord, saying "I've got this!"
All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth: When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it; and when he blows a trumpet, you hear it. For so the LORD said to me, "I will take My rest, and I will look from My dwelling place like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest." (Isaiah 18:3-4)
When things seem like their going to h$%## in a hand basket, man's response is to rally the troops. In Isaiah's day, Assyria was swallowing up entire kingdoms. Banners were being raised, trumpets were being blown, "we need to do something!" was the rally cry.
But God is sending a different message, "I will take My rest, and I will look from My dwelling place like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest." In other words, "I've got this!" Hezekiah didn't need an alliance with the northern kingdom, or Syria, or Cush. All Hezekiah needed to do was trust the Lord!
Saints, what was true then is still true now. We don't need an alliance with many countries to defeat ISIS, or to fix our economy, or to straighten out our government. What we need is to repent, and trust God, and walk in His ways.
Will our nation do that? Will there be a national repentance, and a turning back to God. Not likely. But individually we can trust God, and as He noted in the previous chapter, He will protect His remnant.
So next time you feel overwhelmed at all of the problems that our world is facing, instead of jumping up with a banner and blowing a trumpet, drop to your knees and worship the true and living God! And know that God IS in control, He IS on His throne, He IS watching everything, and He has your back!
Oh, and lest I forget, Ethiopia will worship the Lord:
In that time a present will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people tall and smooth of skin, and from a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation powerful and treading down, whose land the rivers divide— To the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion. (Isaiah 18:7)
This may have been fulfilled in some way close to Isaiah's time, but we know it was fulfilled in Acts 8:26-40, when an Ethiopian trusted in Jesus at the preaching of Philip. It was also fulfilled in the strong Ethiopian church in the first few centuries after Christ. It is still being fulfilled in the enduring Ethiopian church today. And, it will be fulfilled in the Millennial kingdom. How do we know this? Because God's word always stands!
Pastor Clay
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