This correction comes
after all the expressions of hope spoken in the preceding few chapters, but it
explains the phantom pregnancies of chapter 29.
It will never work to walk in the counsel of the world.
The church has incorporated human and business ideas, believers have followed
success formulas and those in crisis have turned to psychology.
But we cannot seek counsel from the world and expect to come out better off.
But we cannot seek counsel from the world and expect to come out better off.
We have a covenant
with God. We need his counsel. I personally covet that with all my being.
The chapter opens with
“cover of a covering” and a libation. Those were both covenant terms,
reflecting a strong concord ratified by some form of sacrifice.
It was not just
general advice that they were soliciting, but deep counsel, which they went
down (down implies a descent from higher moral ground) to Egypt to acquire.
They found strength in
Egypt, but it would be their undoing, their weakness and shame.
Hoshea sent gifts on
beasts of burden (vs 6), to conspire with Egypt against Assyria and to lean on their
strength. It only made matters worse and provoked Assyria. That was the way of
Israel, but God urged Judah not to follow in their ways.
Rather he saw Israel
as a rebellious people, who would not heed the prophets or the counsel of God
and, as such he foresaw their ruin.
Verse 15 strongly
advocated a turning back and a trusting or resting in God, as the key to their
strength. He observed that one who trusts in him will rebuke a thousand and two
will drive out ten thousand. That kind
of gearing is available to all who trust in God.
The promises reserved
to those who stay in Zion and trust in God are many: despite some bread of
adversity, they are assured of lasting providence and favor.
Idols will be crushed,
towers will fall, the rivers will flow from the mountains, and the light from the
heavens will be seven-fold.
Then will God judge
the nations. The Assyrian will be beaten
down. The Tophet or place where Israel once sacrificed their children, would become
a heap of ruins for her enemies.
Woe to those who seek counsel from Egypt
(Isaiah 31)
He repeated his
admonition for those who insist on looking to others for strength, who trust in
horses and chariots instead of looking to God. It is a cry for them to turn
back. But they would not listen.
It is a very specific
warning to Judah, to not follow in the footsteps of their ill-advised cousins to
the north: which would come to nothing and speed their fall.
He cautioned that "he who
helps will fall together with he that is helped". It happened too. The alliance
between Israel and Egypt invoked the wrath of the Assyrians who ventured south
to crush Egypt and Ethiopia, together with the land of Israel.
Verse 3 makes a very
powerful point. Horses and chariots are physical, but God is spirit, and that
distinction is why their counsel will fail where God would prevail.
It’s a vital
principle. We may not see or touch or even hear God, but what he does in the
unseen has far greater implications than what is seen and more readily feared.
Never underestimate
the apparent silence of God. He works in ways that have always defied or
uprooted the mighty. He always prevails and always furthers his goals.
He then repeated his
promise in Chapter 29: to defeat Assyria and save his own. Like the birds
flying south he will sweep over his enemies and destroy them.
Thus he urged them to
turn back before it was too late and not to follow the wisdom of men. How clear
that has become to me as I have watched believers clamor after politicians and
leaders or fear other leaders, without trusting in God. How will that ever save
us?
God is moving and his
church is advancing. The ways of men are failing and will be crushed, but the righteous
will not perish in all the earth.
For the furnace, the fire
of this kingdom, the heart of God will ever be in Zion, and that will sustain
our courage and defiance of evil, until he judges the nations.
He crowns the call to return, with the promise
of a great King (Isaiah 32)
Then shall a king
reign in righteousness. What a glorious hope is reserved for all who do not
trust in nations or human ideas, but who look to the throne of God. We have a
king.
It directly spoke of
Hezekiah, who spared Judah and Jerusalem and who watched the promised fall of Assyria: their overnight humiliation in the plains where Sennacherib was turned
back home.
It prophetically
foretold the coming of Jesus, who will be the shadow of a mighty rock in a dry
and thirsty land: a place of refuge and shelter.
The eyes of those who
see him will not dim, the rash will think clearly, the stutterer will speak
plainly and what I really like: the vile will no longer be called liberals.
That is contemporary
political thinking. He adds, “the liberal will think liberal things and by
liberal things he will stand”.
But those who do not
hear, will struggle. He singles out idle women and promises them setbacks and
hard labor, unyielding teats and barren fields.
But when his spirit is
poured out, even the Wilderness will be fruitful. There are lessons about the
power of his spirit that I do not think we grasp. It will bring peace and
prosperity.
The spirit is confirmed from 32:15. It is the greatest factor in our lives. Isaiah started his book by receiving just a coal from the altar that made him wholly pure, Jesus washed feet to make the whole man pure. Its a principle: the word of God, his spirit on us, can change the course of our lives.
Contrast all that with
the end of those who follow the counsel of Egypt, or the world – they come to
nothing, but the faithful prosper.
(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com
