The Major Prophets

Lesson 7

 

                                    ISAIAH, THE LORD GOD, AND THE NATIONS

 

 

1.                  Isaiah’s declarations that there is no other God but the LORD GOD of Israel assume his interest in the nations and their obligation to him.

a.                   Isa. 48:12-13

b.                  Isa. 45:18-19, 21-23

c.                   Isa. 46:8-11

 

2.                  The sovereignty of the LORD GOD over the nations turns out to be one of the great themes of Isaiah (as well as of the other Major Prophets).

a.                   Oracles concerning the judgment of the nations form a section of the book, culminating in a pronouncement of judgment upon the whole earth (13-24; cf. especially 24:5-6, 21-23).

b.                  Specific nations are named and said to be tools the LORD was using to work his work in the world (10:5-6, 15; 47:5-6).

c.                   Individual rulers are identified by name and are shown to be subject to God, even his servants (44:28; 45:1-3; 37:21-22, 26-29).

 

3.                  Why are the nations so prominent in a book which is about the only God and what he will do regarding the sinfulness of his covenant people?

a.                   It is one of the ways in which idolatry is condemned.  The judgment of the nations occurs in connection with their idols (10:10-11; 17:7-8; 19:1-4; 21:8-10; 46:1-2, 8-11).  God shows himself to be first, last, and only by demonstrating that idols cannot save those who are devoted to them.

b.                  It is part of the call for the people of the LORD to put their trust in him and not in an alliance with human powers (31:1-6; 30:1-5).  Amidst the upheaval of a period when nations were rising and falling, this would have been a big issue for people in Judah and Jerusalem.  What the prophet says about the nations assures his people that God has not forgotten them.

c.                   It is an expression of the interest God has in the nations (11:9; 12:4; 19:24-25; 42:6; 45:22-23; 49:6; 66:23).  One implication of God’s being the first and the last is that there is none to save any people but him.  Isaiah began to reveal that the God of the whole world intended to work for the salvation of the whole world.

 

4.                  What Isaiah says about the way God deals with the nations is consistent with glimpses of the exercise of his sovereignty in other parts of the biblical record.

a.                   He has intended to bless all the nations of the earth all along (Gen. 12:3; 22:18).

b.                  He has acted so as to judge the idols of the nations and to show himself to be God alone (Ex. 7:4-5; 12:12).

c.                   He has delayed until the iniquity of one nation is full, then used another nation to bring his judgment upon it (Gen. 15:16; 1 Kings 21:26), and then, at the proper time, he has worked a work by allowing another nation bring judgment upon that one (Hab. 1:2-6).

i.                     All the while, his sovereign rule remains past any man’s tracing out (Hab. 1:13; 2:1,4).

ii.                  In this way, he is a God who hides himself (45:15).

 

5.                  The oracles against the nations in Isaiah can be understood when they read against that background.

a.                   Because of their idolatry and faithlessness, the LORD is going to allow Israel and Judah to be delivered into the hands of some of their neighbors.

b.                  Those nations, however, are going to misunderstand why this is happening. 

i.                    Their arrogance is going to be increased by their conquests, and they are going to feel confirmed in their wickedness (consider, for example, 10:5-7;  47:5-7).

ii.                  Neighboring nations not directly involved in inflicting the judgment against Judah and Jerusalem will draw the wrong conclusions and take advantage of the situation.

c.                   Isaiah says that God will, therefore, allow these nations to reap what they have sown while he is in the process of bringing his people home from their captivity (10:12-19; 47:1-4, 8-15). 

i.                    The judgment he has exercised against the pride and arrogance of Israel will surely be extended toward the nations who are guilty of the same transgressions (cf. 9:8f). 

ii.                  The judgment of God which will once have been the dread of the people in Judah and Jerusalem will now become their assurance (see 10:24-25; 14:3,4).

iii.                As God has been able to raise up rulers into whose hands he could deliver them, he will be able to raise up a king whose hands he can use to bring them back (45:1f).

 

6.                  The concept which the prophet emphasizes in these messages about the nations to his people is that “the Lord GOD of hosts has a day” (22:5).

a.                   Isaiah says to the various nations that “the day of the LORD is near” (13:6), and that “the day of the LORD come” (13:9), and that it is the of “the wrath of the LORD of hosts” (13:13).

b.                  He sometimes uses apocalyptic language to indicate the complete nature of the judgment a nation would meet (13:13-16, 19-20; 24:21-23).

c.                   The judgments of which the prophet speaks in this section seem to be brought upon nations through nations (cf. 13:17).

i.                    This is “the day of the LORD” within history: his judgment upon a nation by a nation.

ii.                  There is also “the day of the LORD” outside history: his judgment upon the world by his Son (Acts 17:31; 2 Pet. 3:10).

 

7.                  The sinful attitudes which are identified in the oracles against the nations delivered by Isaiah are meant to be taken to heart by all nations because they do reflect the operation of the sovereign rule of God.

a.                   The nations named–Assyria, Babylon, Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Cush, Egypt, Arabia, Media, Tyre and Sidon, and others–drive home the point that it is the whole earth which is under the rule of God (cf. Ch. 24).

b.                  Arrogance–the idea that anyone exists on his own and has destiny in his own hands–is therefore condemned throughout these oracles (9:9; 13:7; 14:10f; 23:8-9).

c.                   When the people faced the kinds of circumstances which the prophet described and did not learn from them, but instead took them to be reinforcing the idea that life has no meaning, they proved themselves deserving of their judgment (22:8-14).

d.                  God is often referred to throughout this section as “the LORD of hosts” who is quietly in control, and who is working his purpose, and whose faithfulness and justice is being demonstrated by the events to which Isaiah refers (16:5).

e.                   This part of the book describes what happens when people “have forgotten the God of your salvation” (17:10), and it makes us “wait for him, that he might save us” (25:6-9).

 

 

“...And the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,

the God of the whole earth his is called....

 

For a brief moment I deserted you,

but with great compassion I will gather you.

In overflowing anger for a moment

I hid my face from you,

but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you...”

 

–Isaiah 54:5b, 7-8