Israel now and is between Israel and Egypt. Egypt is in danger and Cush comes right after Egypt. The last king of Israel, Hosea, had been a vassal of Assyria, but reneged on that deal and tried to ally himself with Egypt. (See 2 Kings 17.) That’s what this passage is about. Instead of trusting in God, the northern 10 tribes of Israel trusted in Egypt. But Egypt is about to be deeply shamed—a shame so deep that God demonstrates it by having Isaiah walk around naked! (Can you imag- READING THROUGH ISAIAH ine? Some churches complain if their pastor doesn’t wear a tie!) Contrast the trust of Hosea and Israel with that of Hezekiah and Judah in 2 Devotions for Isaiah 15-21 Kings 18 & 19. Only 8 years after Israel falls to the Assyrians, Hezekiah is in the By Scott DeVries same position—the capital city of Jerusalem under siege. But Hezekiah put his In Genesis 18:18 Abraham takes call to be a blessing to all nations seriously trust in God, and God rescues him. enough to try to even be a blessing to Sodom. As spiritual children of Abraham Sometimes it’s tempting to be ashamed of trusting God to help us in impossible we ought to feel similarly about spiritually dark places. We don’t condone wick- situations. It seems far more reasonable to trust in other human beings. But edness, but we should desire for people to be rescued from their wickedness God is the better choice by far. Are there difficult situations facing you right and into God’s grace. We invite you to read through Isaiah with these devotions and see how we too are called to be a blessing to the nations. now? Do you dare to place them firmly in God’s hands? Isaiah 21 Isaiah 15 & 16 Most of Isaiah’s prophecies so far have been about the Assyrian conquest God is God of all the earth. That means all the earth has to answer to Him, and which eventually takes the northern 10 tribes of Israel. Now we have a prophecy that His discipline and even punishment over anyone is right. When God steps about Babylon, which conquers Assyria and also Judah (chapter 13 was also in He never has to worry about stepping on some other leader’s toes. Even about Babylon). But Babylon will be conquered too—by the Medes and Per- though the people of Moab don’t worship God, we shouldn’t be surprised that God punishes them. sians. Isaiah longed for a vision about the end of Babylon, but when he receives it it What might be surprising though is that God doesn’t enjoy punishing the people horrifies him (v. 4—”twilight” is the end of Babylon). He is surprised by his com- that don’t worship Him. God never gets some sick satisfaction in anyone’s pain, passion on Babylon. Verse 10 addresses the realization that the feelings he had even if it is His discipline causing that pain. In Isaiah 15 and 16 God weeps over the punishment of Moab (vv. 5 & 9). in his vision will also be hard to swallow for the people of Judah. They have been crushed by Babylon—it wouldn’t seem like anything could be too bad to God often acts in strong ways toward human beings in the Bible. In at least wish on their conquerors. But there are some things we wouldn’t wish even on some of those stories we know that God is doing that to stem the destructive our worst enemy. power of sin. This is certainly the case in the punishment of Moab. In verses 3-5 Although these prophecies about various nations have their historical reality in God points out that He still has a place in His kingdom for future Moabites. or around the time of Isaiah, they also foreshadow the end times. Someday David’s great-grandmother was a Moabite (Ruth!) and that won’t be forgotten. when Christ returns we will be starkly confronted by the horrible future facing Verse 5 is about the coming Messiah and would remind it’s ancient readers that the Messiah, being a descendant of David, is part Moabite. the enemies of our God. It seems hard to believe right now that we will go through pangs of pity for people who were part of ISIS or Boko Haram. But Once again we’re reminded that God cares about the dark places of this world. that’s the implication here. Hell is scarier than we can imagine, and once we We can sometimes be so quick to write people off. God is not blind to their sins. realize what it really is, we won’t wish it even on our worst enemies. We look But we ought not be blind to His love for them either. forward to the end of the world as we look forward to the morning. But as the Jesus, help us to care for those being punished just as you do. Amen. short prophecy against Edom warns us, our morning is coming, but also the night—the night of eternal destruction for those opposed to God. Isaiah 15 & 16 God weeps over the plight of a people He is punishing. Specifically He weeps Pray for your enemies today. over what they are losing out on. Moab isn’t living up to their full potential. God 11 E. 32nd St., Holland, MI 49423 had created them so beautiful and so capable. But their sin has broken them in Office Phone: 392-2635 horrible ways. At one point we’re even told that the King of Moab sacrificed his Church e-mail: [email protected] firstborn son in order to win a battle (2 Kings 3:26-27). Preaching Pastor - Rev. Dan Walcott’s e-mail: [email protected] Associate Pastor - Rev. Scott DeVries’ email: [email protected] God thinks of all the world as His children. When anyone throws away the beau- Worship Leader - Christian Eastburn’s e-mail: [email protected] Calling Pastor - Rev. Jake Heerema’s e-mail: [email protected] tiful potential He created them with, it grieves Him. He wants to see His children Director of Service & Outreach - Kate Kern’s e-mail: [email protected] grow and thrive. That’s why it’s so important for those to whom He has revealed Website: www.bethanycrc.com Himself to share with the rest. The world needs to know that God does not take God wants to draw all people closer to Him, and we ought to adopt that same joy in punishing them. God’s joy is when they submit to Him, have a relationship purpose. If we are the family of God then when we push people away from us, with Him, and grow in Him. we tend to push them away from God as well. But that doesn’t mean people get Dear Jesus, help us to spread the news. There is a God in heaven that loves! a blank check to treat us anyway they wish. If our relationships are to serve Amen. God’s purpose for them, then both sides must hold to some of God’s ground rules. Just as God may hold off some of His common grace for a time to wake Isaiah 17 people up, so also we sometimes have to keep a relationship distant for a time The issue of the day in the early years of Isaiah’s ministry was that Israel and until we can be appropriately treated and appreciated. The important thing for a Aram had united in conflict with Judah. This history sets the backdrop for most of child of God is that the door is always open. the prophecies we’ve read so far. Here we see it again: verses 1-3 are about Aram and 4-6 are about Israel. The people of Judah are the subjects of verses 7- Are there any closed doors in your life? How might God’s approach to Cush model a way for you to have open doors without being taken for granted? 11 (that is seen from verse 9—it was the people of Judah who left cities because of the Israelites). Isaiah 19 If you’re bored, Google “Damascus, Bible” and you’ll get all kinds of speculation Again God’s sovereignty over all nations is on display and again His gracious about how Isaiah 17 applies to the current crisis in Syria (whose capital is Da- desire to draw all nations to Him is on display. Again and again Isaiah shows us mascus, the same city as the capital of ancient Aram). I wouldn’t recommend that it will take discipline for any nation to grow in their relationship with God. reading any of what came up—you’re not that bored! The point of Isaiah 17 is There is a distinction between discipline and punishment. Discipline intends to actually fairly clear—everyone loses. correct and lead to reconciliation and growth. Punishment is intended to even the scales of justice and perhaps ensure that the offender is rendered unable to do “Oh, the raging of many nations—they rage like the raging sea!” (v. 12). Last that again. Up until reading these chapters I always assumed that God disci- week in Isaiah 10 we dealt a little bit with the escalation of oppression and pun- plined His already-adopted children and punished everyone else. I didn’t stop to ishment among the nations. God allows Nation A to conquer Nation B because think about how God can also discipline those far from Him—and by doing that of Nation B’s sins.