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Thursday 31 August 2017

Isaiah 17:1-18:7: Political security? Desolation, more like.

Isaiah returns to the fate of Ephraim, or Jacob, or Israel: the northern kingdom.

In the face of the Assyrian threat, the natural thing to do would be to band together with another small nation. There is strength in numbers.

What about Damascus? They're in the same boat as us. Surely the Arameans will come to our aid!

But Isaiah looks, and sees desolation in Damascus. Isaiah looks, and all across the countryside it looks as if the harvest has come early. All the growing crops have been cut down. Nothing to be seen but the leftovers that the poor were allowed to glean. Proud fortifications taken over by weeds.  It had happened before - when Israel took the land from the nations that had lived there before - their fortresses were left in ruins.

Isaiah looks, and sees it happening again. A nation of tall, smooth-skinned strangers are going to sweep over the land and ravage it.

And yet, and yet ... chapter 18 ends with an unlikely picture: these tall, smooth-skinned strangers are bringing tributes to the Lord! Even the Assyrians will bow the knee to Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.

Wednesday 30 August 2017

Isaiah 15:1-16:14: Pride goes before a fall

A long section to read today - Isaiah is still scanning the map of the region, and foreseeing trouble for Moab, another old enemy.

Isaiah describes the devastation of Moab. The worrying thing is that Moab is to the south of Israel, on the eastern side of the Dead Sea opposite Judah. If Assyria have got to Moab, they will probably have gone through Israel, and be knocking on the door of Judah.

Isiah describes weeping, mourning, distress and despair. The panicky leaders of Moab consider asking Jerusalem for help, and Isaiah imagines eavesdropping on their cabinet meeting.

He offers hope - if Moab could deal with its pride, it might discover that God's promises to Israel, of a king from David's line, might even extend to protect them. If they could shelter under David's throne, perhaps they would be safe. But they would rather trust in their own strength, and so they will fall.

Here's the lesson for us all - God's promises of protection can only hold good if we dispense with our pride.

Tuesday 29 August 2017

Isaiah 14:1-32: surveying the sweep of world history

I have a mental picture of a royal court, a large table, spread with maps, the king and his counsellors poring over these very valuable documents, and Isaiah standing quietly in the corner, waiting for instructions; "will someone fetch me the map of Persia?"

I don't know if this is remotely likely to have ever happened. It's probably more likely that Isaiah was part of the inner circle of the Temple, more allied with the priesthood than the monarchy, but sometimes  can detect in his thinking that birds eye view of events that ordinary people probably never had.

Nowadays we can all watch the news and see a picture of the globe zooming in to a particular country, city, district, street, house, to allow us to understand where in the world this newsworthy event is taking place. In Isiah's day, many people would never travel beyond their daily horizon more than once a year.

In chapter 14, we have the long view. We are watching from the satellite, standing over the maps in the throne room, looking into the future. Assyria is the big threat right now, but Isaiah is looking beyond them for most of the chapter. There are signs that there is a new empire rising - Babylon - and one day it may eclipse Assyria. But Isaiah is seeing beyond even that day, and describing the mocking taunts that will accompany Babylon's fall.

Babylon, that hasn't finished rising as of yet, will inevitably fall. That thought brings comfort to the counsellors: never mind today's threat, tomorrow's threat will pass as well. At the end of the chapter, the fall of Assyria is almost mentioned as an afterthought, and as the picture zooms back in to the present, we realise that we are a turning point for Judah - Ahaz the king has died, and his son Hezekiah is untried as yet. The Philistines are jubilant - they think they've seen off an old foe - but this long view reminds Isaiah and us that it takes more than the death of a king to interrupt God's plans.

Monday 21 August 2017

Isaiah 13:1-22: Who rules the world - Babylon?

We seem to be starting a new section here - we get a little intro: "A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw."

Babylon wasn't really on the radar at this time - Assyria was the big threat. But babylon would sweep away Assyria. Later, the Medes are mentioned. The time will come when they sweep away the Babylonians. Empires rise and empires fall.

What Isaiah is inviting us to consider here is that God is behind this chaotic surging of  forces of political power. Like a conductor drawing forth crashing cadences from the orchestra with sweeps of his baton, God is conducting these superpowers as they boil up out of their territories and inundate everything in their path, only to be devoured themselves by the next.

Language of despair and terror makes us realise how it will feel to be on the ground, in the path of these oncoming storms. But behind it, we can see the arm of God. Yahweh is really in charge.

Friday 18 August 2017

Isaiah 12:1-6: Thank you for saving me!

Isaiah allow himself a moment of grateful praise that he has been saved by God's mercy, and around him, he imagines a remnant of God's people similarly singing God's praise.

In his vision, that represented his call to be a prophet, Isaiah was cleansed from his sin by a coal taken from the altar. My commentaries tell me that when chapter 12 opens "in that day you will say..." it is you singular. One person is praising God for his salvation.

Isaiah himself? Maybe.

But he doesn't remain alone for long. The next time the phrase comes, in verse 4: "in that day you will say..." it is plural. Now it's Isaiah and friends. Now it's the righteous remnant, singing their praise to God.

Thursday 17 August 2017

Isaiah 11:1-16: Glory is coming!

Suddenly Isaiah bursts into a paean of poetry more wonderful than anything we have read so far. These words are famous, and as I read them is sequence with the rest of the book, I can see why. They are sublime. This is a purple passage.

Also - it's good news, after we've endured so much bad. The pattern that Isaiah set out when he was speaking to Judah in the earlier chapters is now repeated to its conclusion for the northern kingdom: challenge, judgement, remnant and blessings.

And what blessings! Perfect peace, even amongst fierce animals. A new shoot out of a stump that seemed dead - a new king born of the kingly line which goes back to David's father Jesse. This king will rule with justice and gentleness, and all God's scattered people will be gloriously gathered together. They will forget their feuds, they will conquer their enemies, and in comparison with this, the great blessing of the Exodus will pale into insignificance.

God's ways will prevail, and it will be marvellous to behold.

I can't help but be swept along by the power of the words, I almost forget the terrible state that remnant Israel and Judah are in. Anything seems possible, when God's mighty hand is on the move. This is the power of Isaiah's poetic prophecy: it inspires faith.

Tuesday 15 August 2017

Isaiah 10:5-34: Assyria, my axe, is laid against the tree

Isaiah waxes poetical as he describes the terrible might of Assyria. This mighty empire is whistled up by God himself, and sent against Samaria and Jerusalem. Isaiah piles up extravagant descriptions of ho powerful and mighty Assyria is, and then suddenly turns the tables.

Assyria has become too proud. He is just a axe in God's hands. He hasn't cut down trees by himself, he must be swung by an even mightier arm. And because he's started boasting, he will be thrown away, a tool no longer to his owner's taste.

Just in time for the remnant of Jerusalem. Stricken but not destroyed, when Assyria is cut down to size, God's people will survive. Just.

Friday 11 August 2017

Isaiah 9:8-10:4: What's happening up North?

A quick history lesson - at this stage, there are two kingdoms in Israel. One (confusingly) is still called Israel, the other is Judah. Even more confusingly, Israel is sometimes called Jacob, Ephraim or Samaria: Judah is sometimes called Jerusalem or Zion.

They split after the death of King Solomon, and although the northern kingdom was far bigger, it lasted a shorter time. We're about to see it fall, as the mighty Assyrian Empire draws near. Isaiah lived in the southern kingdom, which wasn't much more than the capital city Jerusalem and its immediate neighbourhood (hence it's sometimes just referred to as Jerusalem, or Zion) but he still takes an interest in what's happening up North.

And we're going to see the same pattern that he's outlined for us in Judah: he's going to challenge them (are you going to obey God, or carry on ignoring him?); he's going to warn them of the coming judgement because of their rejection of God; but despite the judgement there will be a small remnant left; and that remnant can expect some amazing blessings, so they can continue to hope.

Isaiah talks about the disaster approaching from enemy powers - Assyria, Aram and Philistia. He talks about internal corruption, those who should be examples to society are sick and degenerate. He talks about blatant misrule, with the poor downtrodden, and widows and orphans the victims of theft. And each section ends with a chilling refrain: "His anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised."

God's fury continues unabated. Watch out, northerners - you're dining in last chance saloon.

Thursday 10 August 2017

Isaiah 9:1-7: A ray of hope

Although Isaiah has largely been giving his people bad news, there is a glimmer of light. The food may have overwhelmed them, but their heads are still above the water.

There is an important concept in Isaiah, of the Remnant. Once all the evil, faithless people have been flooded out, burned by fire, killed by the sword or swallowed by darkness, there will be a few left whose goodness and righteousness will shine out. The fewer there are, the brighter their light will shine. Take this to the nth degree, and you have just one individual left, who shines as brightly as God himself.

We met this idea for the first time today - one individual, who becomes the embodiment of all that Israel should be.

The poetic image Isaiah gives us in this passage is one of darkness, swallowing the land, from the north, moving south. Like a weather forecaster on a really bad day, he is describing a wave of invasion sweeping down across the country, but then promising that in the north where the darkness first hit, there the light will begin to shine again. Of course, we Christians get excited about this, because Jesus grew up in the north, in Galilee, and we love to see foreshadowing of Jesus in Isaiah's words.

But Isaiah's first hearers would have no inkling of this, and for them the weather forecaster is simply saying, there will be a spot of brightness in the darkest part of the map, and as we zoom in on it, you won't believe how brightly it shines.

There will be a son born to us, princely rule will be his. He will be a wonder amongst counsellors, supernatural in wisdom, God himself coming in person, in victorious power and fatherly care.

The prophecy of Isaiah has a very difficult mission. God gave this book  the task of conjuring hope out of complete and utter despair. The crisis hasn't hit yet, the despair is still in the future, but here is a first taste of the way Isaiah's words will rekindle hope.

Tuesday 8 August 2017

Isaiah 8:9-22: Keep calm and carry on

Although there is terrible trouble ahead, Isaiah foresees that there will be at least a few people who survive it. He's got them in mind in these words. He doesn't want them believing the conspiracy theories, getting panicked by wild talk, he wants them to stay secure in God.

So he reminds his hearers that just as God has got his strong hand on him personally, just as he and his family have become living signs to God's love, so God will be available like a strong tower, like a rock or a fortress. Some people will dash themselves against this rock, and be smashed, like a ship out of control in a stormy sea. They've allowed themselves to be blown this way and that by contradictory and untrustworthy voices, like asking the dead for their opinion of the living (what do they know about it?), like believing conspiracy theories.

Don't fill yourselves with random fears, he says. Fear God, and you need not fear anything else.

Monday 7 August 2017

Isaiah 7:18-8:8: Bad decision, Ahaz!

Yesterday, we heard God's message to the young king - "trust me."

Today, we read of the consequences of what his majesty actually did.

Ahaz realised that Aram and Israel had come together because of their fear of Assyria, so he tried to outwit them by asking Assyria to intervene on his behalf. He actually invited them in!

Isaiah puts it like this: "you have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah," (this was Jerusalem's water supply - see yesterday) and therefore "the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates" are sweeping in, and you'll be up to your neck in it.

The Euphrates river, of course, flows through Assyria.

Mess with these powers at your peril, God is saying.

There's also another prophetic baby. Perhaps both of them are Isaiah's children. This second one is saddled with an embarrassing name. Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz means something like "swift to the plunder, swift to the spoil," which is exactly what the Assyrians were. I wonder what the lad was called by his playmates?

Hosea called his children by prophetic names as well. Makes me think my children didn't have it so bad after all. Both of them have met friends at uni who were also vicarage children, and shared stories of the strange life they led. There's even a hashtag: #vicaragelife

I think I'd still rather be them than Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz

Friday 4 August 2017

Isaiah 7:1-17: A message for Ahaz

Uzziah died. A strong king, although unfaithful to God and stricken with leprosy. His death brought Ahaz to the throne, and God's call to Isaiah in the same year.

We are now a little further on - a couple of years into Ahaz's reign, and he is facing his first big crisis. The Northern kingdom has joined forces with Aram to attack Judah. Israel and Aram were old enemies, now forced to be friends in the light of a bigger aggressive force - the empire of Assyria. The two kings know they can't defeat Assyria, but maybe they can take Judah down, and so strengthen their hand.

We can imagine the anxious arguments and discussion in the royal court in Jerusalem: What's going on? Why are they doing it? What are their chances? How can we defend Jerusalem?

Interestingly, God arranges a meeting between his prophet and his king, not in the city, not in the royal palace, but outside at their point of weakness. At this stage in Jerusalem's history, the city's water supply is brought in on an aqueduct from outside the city walls. Later on, it was put into a tunnel, so that enemies couldn't cut the water off. But as of now, Ahaz knows, if it comes to a siege of Jerusalem, this aqueduct is their weak spot.

So Isaiah has a message from God: Keep Calm and Carry On.

He seems to have forgotten the name of Israel's king - you know, what's his name? Remaliah's lad. Saying it like this diminishes him. If you can't even remember his name, you can't be too worried about him.

The essence of God's messages is unexpectedly political: don't worry about Israel and Aram - they're nearly burnt out. Pretty soon Assyria's going to crush them like a twig. Believe me! I'll prove it to you. Ask me for a sign.

Ahaz draws himself up and says, "No! I will not ask my God for a sign."

"Don't be an idiot," replies God. "I'll give you a sign anyway. Imagine a young woman giving birth to a son, calls him Immanuel. (which of course means 'God with us.') Before that boy has finished with his mother's milk, those enemies of yours will be as nothing.

Faith isn't a leap into the dark. It's a leap into the light.

Thursday 3 August 2017

Isaiah 6:9-13: God's message for Isaiah

"They won't listen, but tell them anyway."

That's quite often what God seems to say to the prophets. The people are blind and deaf, but I still want you to hold up signs in front of their eyes and shout my message into their ears.

There's a basic paradox going on here - we can't see what God sees. Isaiah was deafened by the din of heaven and blinded by the smoke of incense. He couldn't even see God seated on the throne, yet God can see clearly every little habit-forming choice that every little human being is making every little moment of their little lives.

God knows exactly what they're doing to themselves. They're heading for ruin and desolation, and they don't know and don't care.

They're in a pleasure boat, heading for a waterfall. And Isaiah's just been given the job of ringing the alarm bells.

Wednesday 2 August 2017

Isaiah 6:1-8: Isaiah's Call

Woh! Wait a minute. We turn the page to chapter 6, and suddenly we need to see what's come before in a new light. Why? Because now we get the beginning of the story - Isaiah describes his call to prophecy. Which makes what's gone before ... what? A prologue?

The themes we have encountered so far - the people's unfaithfulness, their forgetfulness of God, their preoccupation with pleasure and wealth instead of righteousness, and God's simmering anger about it all, begin to make more sense when we realise belatedly what sort of person Isaiah was.

He's an insider - a member of the royal court, casually dropping the names of kings as if he saw them every day. He is a religious man - maybe a priest or a Levite - someone very familiar with the Temple. Not a person who just came up once a year for the festival, but a regular. The sort of person who would notice when the building needs a clean.

And one day, perhaps when he was going about his daily duties (maybe even with a broom in hand) his view of the Temple shimmers and changes, and the peace of the half empty building is replaced by a clanging, roaring aural onslaught of angelic worship: the sound is turned up to 11 and the doorposts shook.

A dazzling throne has replaced what was normally in his field of view, and clouds of incense obscure the sight of the Majesty seated upon it. Whirling overhead are strange six-winged creatures booming out their praise to God.

Isaiah crumples to his knees. He feels ruined, dirty, unworthy to witness this spectacle. Then a burning coal singes one of the most delicate parts of his body, and a mighty seraph tells him that his sin has been burnt away.

Now he can understand an urgent question that is being asked in heaven: "Who is there who will go for me? Who can I send?"

Here I am Lord.

Send me.

Tuesday 1 August 2017

Isaiah 5:8-30: Judah's guilt & judgement

Image result for capability brownCapability Brown. A gardener on the epic scale. Could have been useful to some of the rich people of Judah, who found their way round the laws that were meant to ensure that every family had the same amount of land - enough to farm and live on. They'd been busy adding house to house,and field to field, until they lived in splendid isolation in the middle of a large estate.

Now they incur God's wrath, because, as Isiah knows, he has noticed. The rich have blinded themselves to other people's poverty, their consciences are untroubled. But God sees, and Isaiah has a vision of a day when their manicured lawns will be turned over to wild grazing, their big houses empty and open to the elements.

God will not be fooled forever.