DAY 283

BACK AND FORTH

Isaiah 32 & 33 and Colossians 1

Some days these chapters of Isaiah seem to go “back and forth.” At first we read of a righteous king, but then there is what seems to be a chastisement of women. Next a destroyer is named, great tribulation is proclaimed, followed by crying out to God who then proclaims that Jerusalem’s stakes will not be pulled up! What are we suppose to understand about these two chapters of Isaiah.

Like much of what we have been doing, we need to pick our way through it, and yet at the same time I want to try to stay “high enough” that I do not mire you down in so many details as to get lost (a forest for the trees kind of thing.)

The present day situation is when King Hezekiah is making a last ditch effort to negotiate (read “pay off”) Sennacherib of Assyria (cf. 2 Kings 18-19). So in one sense the chapters deal with the failure of the current government and the promise of a future one. These two chapters actually fit pretty well together in dealing with this theme of government (as ours is “partially shutdown right now I will try and avoid the temptation of any comment.) Good government in Isaiah’s world is one that is grounded ultimately in the presence of the Lord among its people, and by the recognition of its people of God’s ultimate kingship. Consider verse 1 of chapter 32: Behold a king will reign in righteousness…” and the climax of this theme is reached towards the end of chapter 33 as we read “The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who saves us.” (vv.21-22)  For the most part Isaiah is looking towards the future, but he is also dealing with his present day situation—and so we get some back and forth—let us try and unpack it a bit.

Chapter 32 starts with announcement of a good king and government, but then he departs and turns to the women. Isaiah has certainly had chapter after chapter of pointing out the men’s issues. In this chapter he turns to the women, in part I think, because he calls on them to mourn—to mourn what will become of the present day. But then we bounce back again. After the consequences of the present day, the Spirit will be poured out on high. Isaiah is saying there is no shortcut. There is judgment for the abandonment of God—there are consequences to poor choices—but God does not abandon and His Spirit will again be poured out.

Then there is the part about the Destroyer. Who is that? Commentators think it refers to Sennacherib, who, after receiving monetary tribute, arrives at the Gate of Jerusalem to destroy it. We see here the people of Jerusalem crying out to God and so the text again bounces back in 33:2 and God begins to move again.

And so as we read these verses we move back and forth—back and forth between the ugly reality of the present day and the promise of the future—for the Lord alone can save (33:2, 22).

What can we take away from this text today—look at Colossians—in it we read with great clarity who Jesus is! Now the Israelites should have had great clarity about who God is. They are the people who have the heritage of deliverance from Egypt. Think about that story of all the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea—it is huge. They are also the people who have the great stories of King David. Yet their story is one of forgetting, indeed turning away from God, and in the process greatly complicating their lives. Cannot the same be said of us? The first chapter of Colossians lays out very clearly that he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sin. He (the Son) is the image of the invisible God…We are the people of the greatest story ever told—of God coming to earth for us.

Read the part of Colossians again and firmly plant in your heart the image of Jesus—never let go of Him. We run the same risk as the Israelites of old, that we forget who we are, and that we turn from Him who loves us and died for us. Let us not bounce back and forth, but rather let us continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel (1:23).