prophecy

God’s Territory

The Promised Land and in particular mount Zion was considered to be God’s territory. As much as God was interested in protecting and preserving his people, he was also interested in maintaining possession of the city of Jerusalem. Knowing the Assyrians intended to capture and take possession of Judah’s capital, Isaiah declared, “So shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it” (Isaiah 31:4-5).

The terms defend  and deliver were typically used in connection with God’s people, but in the case of mount Zion, or as it was also known as, Jerusalem, God’s resources would be expended to retain a territory dedicated to his Messiah. Zion was mentioned throughout the book of Isaiah appearing in 31 of its 66 chapters. Clearly Isaiah saw Zion as a critical element of his prophecy about Israel’s future. The significance of Zion was both its geographical location and its purpose as a worship center for the entire world. According to Isaiah, the LORD founded Zion (Isaiah 14:32) and would reign there after his judgment of the world for universal sin (Isaiah 24:23).

Although the importance of mount Zion was connected to God’s people, the LORD’s protection of it was independent of their situation. God intended to personally defend his territory (Isaiah 31:4) in spite of his children’s rebellion. In fact, the LORD told Isaiah, “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD” (Isaiah 30:8-9).

Eventually, Jerusalem would fall into enemy hands (2 Kings 25:4), but not to the Assyrians. God would miraculously deliver Jerusalem from king Sennacherib of Assyria in 701 B.C. and delay the city’s destruction for more than a hundred years, allowing the people of Judah to escape Assyrian captivity and end up instead in Babylon. Isaiah described the Assyrian attack as punishment for the Judah’s rebellion.

Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, because ye despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out of a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare. (Isaiah 30:12-14).

Rebellion

Survival of the kingdom of Judah was important to God because the Messiah was going to come from that tribe of the nation of Israel. Whereas the purpose of captivity was to disperse the northern kingdom of Israel throughout the world, God intended to keep the southern kingdom of Judah in tact. In order to do that, God had to convince the people of Judah that their natural instincts couldn’t be trusted. Only God knew what was best for them.

Isaiah referred to the people of Judah as rebellious children. Their tendency to turn away from God and rely on the advice of false prophets caused them to be broken and crushed by their own sin. Isaiah stated, “Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me, and that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin: that walk to go down to Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and trust in the shadow of Egypt” (Isaiah 30:1-2).

Fear was the greatest enemy of God’s people. When they were confronted with difficult circumstances, they wanted to go back to Egypt, which represented to them the comfort of a familiar way of life. God wanted his people to do something that was completely against their nature, sit still (Isaiah 30:7). Otherwise, they would be broken beyond repair (Isaiah 30:14).

Isaiah conveyed a sharp contrast between God’s will and the people’s intuition to flee to Egypt when he said:

For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill. (Isaiah 30:15-17)

God wanted to prevent the people of Judah from making a big mistake, but he knew their rebellious nature would get the better of them. Therefore, he was determined to make a disastrous example of those who fled to Egypt when the Assyrians attacked Jerusalem in 701 B.C.

In order for God’s children to survive, they had to learn to listen to him and do what he told them to do. Like little children receiving instructions from their parent, God expected his people to pay close attention to every word he said (Isaiah 30:21). Eventually, they would receive the benefit of God’s faithfulness “in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound” (Isaiah 30:26).

Denial

The subconscious mind sometimes filters unpleasant thoughts or memories that the unconscious mind wants to get out. Denial is one way this process may work. As a defense mechanism, denial enables a person to avoid confrontation with a personal problem or with reality itself by denying its existence. Unfortunately, dreams often subvert this process and can force a person to accept that a problem really exists.

When the northern kingdom of Israel was taken into captivity in 722 B.C., Judah did not expect to go with them. Because the people of Judah were engaged in religious activities, they thought they would be excused from God’s punishment. In particular, Jerusalem was thought to be a safe haven because the temple of God was there. Priests and false prophets told the people they had nothing to fear because their sacrifices guaranteed God’s protection.

Isaiah used the name Ariel instead of Jerusalem in order to trigger the people’s awareness of danger when he declared, “Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be to me as Ariel” (Isaiah 29:1-2). The people’s sacrificial system had become a defense mechanism against their awareness that the Assyrian army was closing in and was about to attack Jerusalem.

Isaiah used the illustration of the subconscious mind at work during sleep in order to convince the people they were in denial about their future. He said, “And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall even be as a hungry man dreameth, and behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty” (Isaiah 29:7).

The problem the people needed to acknowledge was they had become spiritually numb and were no longer communicating with God. Although God had been speaking to them, they didn’t hear what he was really saying. They were tuning him out. Isaiah declared:

And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed…Wherefore the Lord said, forasmuch as this people draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me…Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work amongst this people. (Isaiah 29:11, 13-14)

A sure foundation

One of the reasons God sent the nation of Israel into captivity was to get rid of all the people that didn’t believe in him. Captivity was a type of refining process that enabled God to work with only those who wanted to be a part of his kingdom. Particularly in the northern kingdom of Israel, there were many people that wanted nothing to do with God. Event the priests and prophets were willing to lie in order to lead the people away from God rather than to him.

Focusing on the time period when the Messiah’s kingdom would be established, Isaiah stated, “In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people” (Isaiah 28:5). We know this time period has not yet taken place because Jesus was rejected and killed by the people of Israel and his followers were scattered throughout the world after his death. The reason being, the Jews didn’t understand God’s plan of salvation included everyone.

God had revealed his plan, but his people misunderstood and rejected his messages. Isaiah explained the situation as though his people perceived God’s word to be childish nonsense. “But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little, that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken” (Isaiah 28:13).

A clue that Christ’s arrival on earth would not immediately clarify God’s intentions and initiate his reign was the declaration that a foundation must first be laid before God’s kingdom could be erected. Isaiah declared, “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste” (Isaiah 28:16).

The sure foundation Isaiah referred to was the process of salvation, which is now known as being born again. Whereas God’s people were originally determined by birth, according to the Lord, the Messiah’s kingdom would be determined by a deliverance from death. “And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand” (Isaiah 28:18).

In his effort to cleanse the world of sin, God planned to show everyone it was possible to change the course of one’s life. The key to change was believing. Unfortunately, the majority of the Israelites didn’t believe and missed their opportunity to be saved. “Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth (Isaiah 28:22).

The power of the grave

In the book of Hosea, God used the analogy of a marriage to depict his relationship with the nation of Israel so that his people would understand he wanted a personal relationship with them. The prophet Hosea was chosen to model that relationship and was told to marry an adultress because Israel had been unfaithful to God and did not deserve his mercy. The only way Hosea could model God’s love effectively was to forgive his wife and redeem her from a life of prostitution.

The story of Hosea’s wife was meant to portray God’s redemption of his people, but it also showed his people that God’s love was not dependent on their behavior. In spite of their wickedness, God intended to fulfill his promise to king David that he would establish David’s throne for ever (1 Chronicles 17:12). In order to do that, God had to not only forgive his people, but provide a way for them to live eternally. Through Hosea, the LORD declared, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave: I will redeem them from death” (Hosea 13:14).

As when Hosea bought his wife Gomer for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley (Hosea 3:3), God planned to ransom his people. The Hebrew word translated ransom, padah indicates that some intervening or substitutionary action effects a release from an undesirable condition…When God is the subject of padah, the word emphasizes His complete, sovereign freedom to liberate human beings” (6299). Rather than taking away his children’s freedom to choose sin, God intended to take away Satan’s ability to punish them for it.

The power of the grave was the power of Satan to separate someone from the love of God. Sin was the key that enabled Satan to lock a person in the prison called hell, or the grave. Satan was given the key to hell when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:5-6), but God told them he would one day take that power away (Genesis 3:15). The message God communicated through Hosea was that the day of their redemption was about to arrive.

Although Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection was still hundreds of years away when Hosea spoke to Israel, the events were relatively close compared to the thousands of years that had transpired since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden. As if Hosea had a clear picture of the process of salvation, he stated, “O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously” (Hosea 14:1-2).

The harvest

The universal law of the harvest, sowing and reaping, applies to all areas of life and experience (2232). Referring to Israel’s idol worship, the prophet Hosea declared, “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind” (Hosea 8:7). In this instance, the wind “may be a suggestion of purposelessness, uselessness, or even vanity (emptiness)” (7307). The wind is regarded in Scripture as an emblem of the mighty penetrating power of the invisible God, therefore, the whirlwind or hurricane, suggests a spiritual storm that would snatch away the peaceful existence of God’s people.

The Israelites’ idolatry centered around two golden calves made by king Jeroboam I after Israel was divided into two kingdoms (1 Kings 12:28). The worship of these calves was most likely connected to the 400 years Israel spent in Egypt in slavery. Shortly after they were miraculously delivered from Pharaoh’s army, the Israelites made a golden calf and their leader Aaron declared, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:8). King Jeroboam I spoke similar words about his golden calves (1 Kings 12:28). God’s sentence against the Israelites specifically condemned this practice:

Of their silver and their gold have they made their idols, that they may be cut off. Thy calf , O Samaria, hath cast thee off, mine anger is kindled against them…The workman made it, therefore, it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. (Hosea 8:5-6)

While the Israelites were dwelling in the Promised Land, they had enjoyed the benefit of God’s blessing and were given something no other nation received, God’s mercy. What this meant was that even though they had sowed wicked deeds like everyone else, the Israelites were not punished for their transgressions. Their sacrifices cancelled the record of their debt and they were blessed by God even though they didn’t deserve it. Because they turned their backs on God, things would to change.

Now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins…The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come; Israel shall know it. (Hosea 8:13, 9:7)

The northern kingdom of Israel received harsher treatment than Judah because their idolatry was blatant and continuous from the time of king Jeroboam I until the people were taken into captivity by Assyria. In particular, the capital city of Samaria had a reputation for paying tribute to foreign kings and relied on its army rather than God to deliver her from her enemies.

Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity, ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled. (Hosea 10:13-14)

Special status

God’s plan for the nation of Israel was unique in that he guaranteed salvation for his people based on a special status they held. Because he had chosen the Israelites, the LORD was committed to them and went to great lengths to secure their position in his kingdom. God described his care for his people as that of a man tending his vineyard. The objective was to bring forth good fruit. Isaiah stated, “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit” (Isaiah 27:6).

It may have seemed as if God was too harsh with the Israelites when he sent them into captivity, but the process of salvation was different for them than everyone else. Originally, there was a need for atonement, a transaction in which the sins of the people were covered through a substitutionary sacrifice. Isaiah explained, “By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin” (Isaiah 27:9).

As the Israelites were scattered like seed out into the world, their relationship with God became more evident to the people around them. It was obvious they were not like everyone else. God’s work continued in and through them in spite of their dispersion. In some ways, it could be said, that the disintegration of the nation of Israel was a sign to the rest of the world that God required payment for sin. If he did not let his own children get away with their rebellion, how much more would he punish those who denied his existence.

One of the characteristics of the last days, or end of time, is that there will be a harvest. During that time, God will call his people back home. Isaiah said, “And it shall come to pass in that day that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, o ye children of Israel” (Isaiah 27:12). The gathering of God’s people was compared to the threshing of wheat in order to emphasize a separation from the rest of the world. The reference to one by one indicated that God would track the whereabouts of Jacob’s descendants and supernaturally return them to the Promised Land.

Although there was an initial fulfillment of this prophecy when a remnant of the nation of Israel returned from Assyrian and Babylonian exile, Isaiah 11:11 indicated there would be a second effort to recover the remnant of God’s people. It is likely the final return will be a complete recovery sometime in the future. Isaiah stated, “And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:13).

Upside Down

The land God intended the Israelites to possess was described for Joshua as being, “from the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast” (Joshua 1:4). The closest Israel came to occupying the entire land promised to it was during the reign of king David when a friendship was formed with the king of Tyre, the Philistine hold on Israelite territory was broken, the Moabites were subjugated, and Damascus was forced to pay tribute to David (David’s Conquests).

Because Israel never gained full control of the land, kingdoms such as Tyre and Syria continued to exist and were a continual threat to Israel’s well-being. The only way for God’s kingdom to truly be established was for these kingdoms to be destroyed. God used the Assyrian empire not only to execute his judgment on Israel, but also to punish the universal sin of the nations that rebelled against God and the establishment of his kingdom on earth.

Moab, a kingdom to the east of Israel, was described by Isaiah as an extortioner, a spoiler, and an oppressor that would be consumed out of the land (Isaiah 16:4). Concerning Moab, Isaiah prophesied, “but now the LORD hath spoken, saying, within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble” (Isaiah 16:14). “The destruction of Moab was probably connected with an invasion by Sargon of Assyria in 715/713 B.C.” (note on Isaiah 15:1).

The crushing of Damascus, the capital of Syria, took place during the reign of Tiglath-pilneser king of Assyria who captured Damascus and made it an Assyrian province (note on Isaiah 17:3). Damascus was like Tyre in that it was included in the land given to the Israelites, but it could not be converted from Baal worship and it influenced Israel into practicing idolatry. Referring to Damascus’ destruction, Isaiah declared, “At that day shall a man look to his maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves or the images” (Isaiah 17:7-8).

An indication that Isaiah’s message about the doom of Egypt was both immediate and ultimate in its significance was its partial fulfillment in 670 B.C. when Esarhaddon conquered Egypt (Isaiah 19:4), but some of Egypt’s transformation had yet to occur. In particular, references to Egypt being converted to the Lord make it clear that Isaiah was talking about things that would happen after the Messiah was born (Isaiah 19:19-21). Isaiah’s shift in focus to the eternal kingdom of God indicated that the transformation of the world would not be complete until the Messiah’s reign began.

Speaking about the end of time or last days, Isaiah said, “In that day shall Israel be third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed by Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance” (Isaiah 19:24-25). God’s judgment for universal sin has not yet occurred, therefore, the transformation that occurred during Israel’s captivity was only phase one of God’s plan of redemption. In the end, Isaiah predicted, only God’s kingdom would be left standing.

Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof…Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. (Isaiah 24:1, 23)

Burdens

God was not only  interested in the sins of Israel, but also the sins of the entire world, when he put together his plan of salvation. What differentiated God’s children from everyone else was his mercy toward the nation of Israel. As God had promised Abraham that he would make of him a great nation, so also he said he would “bless them that bless thee and curse them that curseth thee” (Genesis 12:2-3).

The Assyrian empire was a key enemy of the nation of Israel because it wanted to create a single world system that its king would rule over. Within the Assyrian empire was a city known as Babylon that would one day rise to the top of God’s most evil list. Babylon symbolized the world powers arrayed against God’s kingdom and its role in the downfall of Judah and Jerusalem made it a target of God’s judgment.

In his burden of Babylon recital, Isaiah stated, “the day of the LORD cometh cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners  thereof out of it” (Isaiah 13:9). Isaiah spoke of a purging of sinners that would be cruel, meaning it would be violent and deadly (393). God intended to punish the world for its mistreatment of his people. In particular, Isaiah said of Babylon, “the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isaiah 13:19).

In his discourse, Isaiah spoke of the king of Babylon as if he were Satan himself. Isaiah said, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12-15). The king of Babylon was a type of antichrist, perhaps the first leader that attempted to exterminate the Jews.

God’s overthrow of the Assyrian empire was intended to set in motion the collapse of Satan’s kingdom on earth. The link between Jewish captivity and the destruction of Babylon was necessary to establish the true source of Israel’s spiritual weakness, idolatry. God said he would break the Assyrian and tread him under foot, “then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders” (Isaiah 14:25).

 

The problem of sin

Israel’s first act of idolatry occurred shortly after they had been brought out of Egypt. While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving God’s commandments, his brother Aaron made a golden calf for the people to worship. As they were about to enter the Promised Land, Moses reminded the Israelites of their mistake and said, “You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day I knew you” (Deuteronomy 9:24). Then Moses defined God’s great requirement of his people, “And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12).

The Hebrew word translated rebellious in Deuteronomy 9:24 is marah, which means to be bitter. “Marah signifies an opposition to someone motivated by pride” (4784). In the context of a relationship with God, marah primarily means to disobey. Therefore, the Israelites were guilty of sin even before they entered the Promised Land. In fact, Micah knew there had never been a period of time in their history when Israel had fully obeyed God’s commands. In an attempt to make the people realize they had a problem that would never go away, like Moses, Micah articulated the requirement for a relationship with God.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8).

Something Micah tried to make clear was that the only way God’s people could meet his requirement was through an act of salvation. Micah stated, “The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among man…Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me” (Micah 7:2,7). Micah eluded to a day of judgment in which those who had been held captive by sin, would be declared innocent. Speaking on behalf of the people of God’s kingdom, Micah said, “I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me” (Micah 7:9).

The key to God’s plan of salvation was an undertaking of the responsibilities for sins of others by substitution. Micah declared, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He will turn again, he will have compassion on us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depth of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19. Like Isaiah (Isaiah 1:18), Micah identified a way for God’s people to be completely free from the effects of sin. Sacrifices would no longer be necessary and God’s people would be able to overcome their problem with sin.