Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my ninety sixth episode. In this episode I want to return to our study of the book of Isaiah. We will be looking at chapters 31 and 32. I’ve decided to combine these two chapters because they are relatively short. Chapter 31 reiterates Isaiah’s warning from chapter 30 – remember that he warned the people of Jerusalem against depending on Egypt instead of depending on God. Chapter 32 shifts the narrative and looks ahead to when Jerusalem will be ruled by a righteous king – most likely Hezekiah, although this prophecy has a distant-view that looks ahead to the reign of Jesus Christ Himself. Hezekiah was already king during the Assyrian threat of chapters 30 and 31, so if chapter 32 is about Hezekiah, then it was likely recorded before chapters 30 and 31. It just speaks of a time when the Assyrian threat is no more and how Jerusalem is brought back to peace and stability because of Hezekiah’s obedience to God. It also gives us insight into the peace and stability of life inside the Kingdom of God. So these two chapters provide good contrast by allowing us to see first the futility and struggle of Hezekiah and Jerusalem as they depend on Egypt – and then it shifts the perspective to give us a look at the well-being and satisfaction that comes with righteous obedience to God. Let’s begin with chapter 31:1:
Isa 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!
If you missed the previous episode, I’ll give you a quick recap of what’s happening here. The Assyrian Empire is targeting Judah for its next conquest. God has promised Judah that He will protect them from the Assyrians. Judah refuses to trust God and instead sends ambassadors to Egypt seeking their help. Egypt visits Jerusalem and decides that they aren’t interested in helping Judah beyond what is necessary to keep them as a buffer zone between themselves and Assyria. Egypt is only looking out for themselves. Judah wastes a lot of money and treasure by sending an appeal to Egypt anyway – desperate for an alliance. So Isaiah confronts the leaders of Jerusalem as being guilty of a twofold sin: first in turning away from God, second in putting their faith in Egypt.
Isaiah tries to explain to Judah that trusting Egypt is a futile enterprise – but the leaders can’t resist the powerful appearance of Egypt’s military. They reason that Egypt is trustworthy because their chariots are many. They reason that Egypt is trustworthy because their horsemen are very strong. Since they had their eyes set on worldly power, they were unable to see any reason to trust God. It’s not like these people were faithless – they just had their faith invested in the wrong things. We see this problem today. Many people walk around claiming to be skeptics and consider faith to be foreign and silly. But the reality is that these people walk by faith all of the time. Faith that the airplane won’t break apart at 30,000 feet. Faith that our military will be proactive enough to stop a nuclear first strike. Faith that your doctor or pharmacist handed you the right medication. The truth is that we cannot escape living by faith – we only get to choose what or who we invest our faith in. Psalm 20:7 says:
Psa 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
Trusting in the name of the LORD is what Isaiah was directing the people of Jerusalem to do. Not only was God unimpressed with the military schemes of Judah and the power of Egypt – but He would actively work to frustrate these plans because they were divergent from His own. In the same way, you can work to build up power in this world – but God is not impressed and if you aim to use your power in defiance of His will you can be certain that you won’t be powerful for very long. Psalm 147:10-11 says:
Psa 147:10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
Psa 147:11 but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
Let’s see how God responds when humanity attempts to rise up in powerful defiance – back to Isaiah 31:2-3:
Isa 31:2 And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.
Isa 31:3 The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.
Judah’s diplomats considered themselves deeply wise by forging a military strategy they hoped would involve Egypt. In their arrogance they believed disaster was averted. But God would show them the true meaning of wisdom when He used their own schemes to bring about the disaster they were drawn up to avoid. Isaiah says that God does not call back His words. Unlike humanity, God is omniscient and never needs to change the course of His will in reaction to disobedience or new information. When Isaiah tells them that God will rise against the house of the evildoers, he’s trying to remind Jerusalem of the reasons they have to trust in God.
In verse three Isaiah argues for the superiority of a spiritual ally over against an ally that is flesh and blood. As mighty as Egypt and Assyria looked to Judah, all God would have to do to topple them is stretch out His hand. Eventually this idea would get through to Hezekiah king of Judah, and when the Assyrians bore down on their doorstep, Hezekiah said this to his people:
2Ch 32:7 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him.
2Ch 32:8 With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
God’s promised defense of Jerusalem is what Isaiah pictures in the next two verses, verses 4-5:
Isa 31:4 For thus the LORD said to me, “As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him he is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.
Isa 31:5 Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it.”
When you look to God for protection, what you get is an all-powerful Being Who cannot be rattled by anything in the universe. Jesus is called the Lion of Judah. When you trust in Christ to be your Savior – not even Satan himself can take you away from Him. In verse four God’s protection is likened to a lion guarding his prey – completely unfazed by the shouts and attacks of His enemies. Listen to Jesus talking about this protection in John 6:35-40:
Joh 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Joh 6:36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
Joh 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
Joh 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
Joh 6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
Joh 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Despite Judah’s intention of looking to Egypt as their protector, God was their true Protector all along. God was both like an unperturbed lion straddling its defeated prey and like a bird gently hovering over its nest. These analogies to the lion and the bird are very carefully chosen here. God’s protection is simultaneously characterized by the strength and ferocity of a lion as well as the tender loving care of a mother bird. Judah didn’t trust God, but it was God’s plan to protect Mount Zion and so He would do it whether Judah trusted Him or not. Let’s read verses 6-9:
Isa 31:6 Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel.
Isa 31:7 For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.
Isa 31:8 “And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to forced labor.
Isa 31:9 His rock shall pass away in terror, and his officers desert the standard in panic,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
Isaiah is predicting that God’s victory over the Assyrians will spark a revival of mass repentance in Judah. Isaiah seems to indicate that serious repentance is in order because of how deeply the people have rebelled. But even though they have gone so far astray, they are still called children of Israel – which carries with it a sense of endearment in God’s sight. We can take comfort in this today. Even if you’ve strayed far away from God, He still loves you and He still wants you to come back. Repentance is the first step and repentance simply means turning away from anything that you have put in God’s place. For many people, that which they have put in God’s place is themselves.
So God’s defeat of Assyria accomplished two things. First, it showed Judah how wonderful it is that they may belong to God and be protected by Him. Second, it showed Judah how terrible it is to go to war with God as the Assyrians did. The Assyrian army utterly decimated the entire land of Judah – and then they set up camp outside the walls of Jerusalem. It didn’t look good and the people of Jerusalem felt doomed. Then one night something happened. An event that is well documented by secular historians and yet remains unexplained to this day. Scripture says it was God acting on His will to direct the course of history. Listen to 2 Kings 19:32-37:
2Ki 19:32 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it.
2Ki 19:33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD.
2Ki 19:34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
2Ki 19:35 And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
2Ki 19:36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh.
2Ki 19:37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
That fateful night when Assyria had committed to bringing down Jerusalem, their army was massacred by a sword that was not from this world. By a sword that was not of man. The Assyrians’ decision to attack Jerusalem was like walking into a furnace. And the promise God made to protect Jerusalem from Assyria was fulfilled – exactly the way Isaiah said it would be.
Okay so that episode brings us into chapter 32. King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem have rediscovered their love for God after watching Him save them from the Assyrian horde. Chapter 32 is a description of the well-being Judah would enjoy once they returned to God and enjoyed the righteous leadership of king Hezekiah. As we go through this, I want you to remember that parts of this prophecy have a distant-view as well. So this chapter will also give us some insight into what it will be like living under the reign of Jesus Christ. Let’s begin with verse 1:
Isa 32:1 Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice.
So first let’s consider king Hezekiah. He was part of the leadership in Jerusalem when God destroyed the Assyrian army and rescued the city. You can make the argument that Hezekiah was not as steadfast in his faith leading up to the attack as he should have been – but I would make the argument that he was just human. At any rate, listen to these descriptions of him after Jerusalem is saved from Assyria and he begins his righteous reign over Judah – this is 2 Kings 18:3-6:
2Ki 18:3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.
2Ki 18:4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).
2Ki 18:5 He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.
2Ki 18:6 For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses.
You can think of Hezekiah’s reign and a shade or a hint toward the ultimate truth of Christ’s reign. Isaiah is looking through Hezekiah unto Christ. Both Hezekiah and Christ present a stark difference from the apostate leaders of Judah and the plundering king of Assyria. Jeremiah says that Christ as King shall deal wisely, executing justice and righteousness in the land. Notice how Isaiah says princes will rule in justice. The Hebrew word for prince means any ruler under the king. So in this sense it doesn’t mean the king’s sons. Hezekiah’s princes were Eliakim, Shebna the scribe, the elders of the priests, and Isaiah himself.
So this begs the question: who are the princes of Jesus? The answer is His people – those who are faithful to Him. Your conversion makes you a servant of Christ the King. Your relationship with God is His mark upon you claiming you as His own. Listen to 1 Peter 2:9-10:
1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1Pe 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
In addition to that, Revelation chapter 5 gives us a picture of Jesus sacrificing Himself so that you may go to God through Him:
Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
Rev 5:10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
How do you describe a person who is a prince of Jesus Christ? What are these people like? 1 Peter 5:1-4:
1Pe 5:1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed:
1Pe 5:2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;
1Pe 5:3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
1Pe 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
A prince of Christ is simply a person whose highest calling is shepherding others in a way that Christ would shepherd them. You can start by doing this in your own home. It’s not a position of power or domination – but rather a duty to love and a duty to sacrifice. Just like Jesus did. Many of the seemingly unnecessary challenges in this life are part of God’s training us to be shepherds more like Him so that we can faithfully do it by His side. Okay back to Isaiah – verses 2-4:
Isa 32:2 Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
Isa 32:3 Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
Isa 32:4 The heart of the hasty will understand and know, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
Under Hezekiah, Jerusalem experienced spiritual renewal. This was like streams of water flowing onto a parched land. It was like merciful shade in the scorching heat of a weary place. God’s blessing allowed those who could see to see better than ever before. Those who could hear began to listen. Stammerers were able to speak more quickly and clearly. This revival changed the hearts of many in Jerusalem’s population and promoted trust in God’s Word.
Looking ahead to the more glorious Kingdom of God, the Messiah will not allow any inept or corrupt leaders. Jesus will be like a shelter from the tempest – a sanctuary from the storm. His living water will cover the dry places and none shall ever thirst again. Christ is the Rock we can build our lives upon now and He will be the Rock that provides the shade we will enjoy in the hereafter. Under the reign of the perfect King, His subjects will be perfected in responsiveness. People with rash hearts will finally understand knowledge. Let’s read verses 5-8:
Isa 32:5 The fool will no more be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
Isa 32:6 For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the LORD, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
Isa 32:7 As for the scoundrel—his devices are evil; he plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right.
Isa 32:8 But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.
These verses show us how social ideals in Jerusalem as well as in Christ’s Kingdom are redefined so that prestige goes only to those who are truly noble. The spiritual renewal brought under Hezekiah allowed the people to reorient themselves properly to spiritual reality. With this new light shining on them, foolish people were seen for what they were – foolish. I’m sure the leaders in Jerusalem felt quite foolish for setting God aside before they came to understanding.
When the leaders were foolish, they would do such things as leaving the hungry unsatisfied and disregarding the proper needs of those in their charge. We also see this idea of the scoundrel devising wicked plans. Scripture defines wicked plans as planning for one’s own advantage regardless of the cost to others. After spiritual renewal, people in Jerusalem could see things correctly again – and so the fools and scoundrels were exposed – but so were the generous and the noble.
This same sort of thing happens today. Pluralism and moral relativism causes a society to lose its bearings on what is good versus what is evil. This radical confusion provides the perfect camouflage for malevolence and predation while making it difficult to comprehend things like nobility and honor. Spiritual renewal and resetting our orientation to God is how we fix this confusion. We need a revival. If our society could experience spiritual renewal like Hezekiah’s did, then those who are noble could plan noble things. People in powerful positions could aim for true nobility by planning ways to bring good to others and ways to advance the Kingdom of God here on earth.
These next verses shift the perspective. Imagine you are being pulled away from the vision of Hezekiah’s righteous kingdom and brought back to the days before the invasion. Here Isaiah is preparing the people for the difficulties of the coming Assyrian invasion but then he finishes the chapter by telling them about God’s promise to pour out His Spirit on Jerusalem in the post-invasion renewal. He makes his appeal to the women of Jerusalem:
Isa 32:9 Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
Isa 32:10 In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come.
Isa 32:11 Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist.
So the first thing we should notice is that Isaiah does not necessarily knock the idea of being at peace and being secure. He calls the daughters of Jerusalem complacent because their attempts at security and peace are not founded in God. They lived self-focused, indulgent lifestyles and Isaiah called them to repentance by telling them to tremble, to be troubled, and to put on the clothes of mourning because of what was coming. The Assyrians would arrive in just over a year. Let’s read verses 12-14:
Isa 32:12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
Isa 32:13 for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city.
Isa 32:14 For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;
Before the invasion, Jerusalem was populated by houses of exultant joy that were more like a false, escapist joys. A refuge of lies, if you will. God would bring economic distress onto Jerusalem in the time leading up to the invasion because He wanted to wake the people up from their spiritual slumber. Prosperity is tightly correlated with complacency and spiritual blindness – although the relationship is not causal. Let’s read verse 15:
Isa 32:15 until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
God’s defense and renewal of Jerusalem combined to form its salvation. The same thing happens to the individual who invests his or her faith in Christ. The person is justified by grace through faith Jesus and then by the power of the Holy Spirit the person is sanctified across time until they are finally free from their fallen nature in eternity. Salvation is beyond all human capability and can only come from God. The One who is spirit enriches His people with new life and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field. Through the power of the Spirit the fruitful field is deemed a forest – this is God taking what is good and making it even better. In Jerusalem’s case, this was a reversal of the economic calamity brought on by the invasion. Let’s finish with verses 16-20:
Isa 32:16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
Isa 32:17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
Isa 32:18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
Isa 32:19 And it will hail when the forest falls down, and the city will be utterly laid low.
Isa 32:20 Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.
Verses 17 and 18 show us how the people of Jerusalem took their security and peace away from that which was counterfeit and gave it to Him who is real. The hail that cuts the forest down is God laying waste to the Assyrian army. The city that is utterly laid low is Jerusalem being humbled into repentance so that they may turn back to God and experience the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the characteristics of the individuals who practice the presence of God and experience the Spirit poured out upon them. The Spirit of God helps you transcend the world of circumstances and take refuge in Him who is perfect. It’s a sense of peace that when fully developed reaches deeper than any of the difficulties this life can give you. So it’s fitting that Isaiah concludes the vision of messianic glory with the undisturbed peace of Messiah’s Kingdom.
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