Devotionary

Isaiah describes a day in which the worship of Israel’s God by Israel’s former enemies will be commonplace. God will judge the nations, but He will also restore a remnant from among the nations representing every tribe, nation, and tongue.

Egypt would have enough problems of its own and find themselves unwilling and unable to do anything to help Judah out of its predicament. We may not like the discipline of God, but we will never escape it. He always disciplines those He loves.

As the people of Judah faced the prospect of God’s pending judgment, they were looking for someone to step in and rescue them. So, God makes it clear that the nations to whom they might turn would prove less-than-satisfactory saviors.

Judah was guilty of forgetting the God of their salvation. They had short-term memories, failing to remember all that He had done for them. And they will show a disregard for Him, believing they were responsible for all the good things they enjoyed.

God uses this verbal assault on Syria to remind His people to trust in Him. No nation in the world could stand against Him. And, in light of all He was going to do on behalf of them, why did they still refuse to seek Him?

The tables will be turned and the people of Moab will find themselves on the receiving end of God’s judgment. Like all the other nations who stood opposed to God and His people, they would learn that they were helpless against the righteous Judge and King.

The Moabites had been a stumbling block to the people of Judah, causing them to turn away from God and pursue what would prove to be a false and faulty alternative. But they would soon learn that not only does God have no alternative, He has no equal.

While the book of Isaiah is primarily a message of God to His chosen people, it contains prophetic pronouncements concerning humanity as a whole. Even the land of Philistia would one day experience the judgment of God because He rules and reigns over all.

Assyria, like every other nation that has ever existed, was subject to the sovereign will of God Almighty. And no matter how prideful or powerful they became, they were completely subject to the plans and purposes of God.

God revealed details concerning the destruction of a future Babylon, that would exist during the days of the Tribulation. The kingdom of Satan and the kingdoms of men have no chance against the power of Almighty God.

While God knows how the story ends, we as human beings tend to live with our eyes focused on the here-and-now, mesmerized by the current events that make up our lives. And the people of Judah were no different.

Over and over again, God assures Judah that He has great things in store for them. His plans for them include blessings that will far over-shadow any suffering they may have to endure. And they will happen because He is the covenant-keeping God.

God, because He stands outside of time, has plans in place that have yet to happen. But part of the purpose of God displaying proof of His wrath against sin in history is so that His people will trust His promises to deal with sin in eternity.

While the descriptions of God's coming judgment are difficult to understand, it is essential that we not diminish or downplay God’s hatred for sin and His righteous obligation to deal with those who have chosen to reject His rightful place as their God.

This oracle reveals God’s plans for the nations of the earth and reminds us that He is sovereign over all. He alone is God and the coming day of the Lord will find every tribe, nation and tongue coming under His divine jurisdiction.