Isaiah - Verse By Verse

Scripture:  Isaiah 2:16 (NIV):  "for every trading ship and every stately vessel"

Thought:  To me, it is clear that God is in control of all areas of our lives and of the whole globe, including its seas and oceans.

Question:  Will we come to God on His terms?

The tall masts of man-made ships, thrusting out to sea to spread their idol-worship to other lands, will also be brought down.  The reach of God's indignation over idolatry is not confined to forests, mountains and civilized cities, but will also stretch across the seas.  "Every trading ship and every stately vessel" will be affected.  Read, if you will, in Revelation about God's inclusion of the oceans and seas in His judgmental wrath.  No area of our globe will be excluded.  And without ocean-going trade, economies will collapse.  God will truly cut at the core to humiliate mankind.

Does God speak this, through Isaiah's writings, to totally dishearten mankind?  Is God irreversably angry--to the point of our annihilation?  How can we tolerate this harsh message?  If the whole message of Isaiah, or all of the prophets, major and minor, for that matter, is openly heard and taken in, one cannot help but hear the call to repentance and the extended, open hand of God's large offer of love, forgiveness and mercy.  Will we hear?  Will we respond?  Will we repent, that is, turn away from wrong and idolatrous choices?

Prayer:  Sovereign Lord, turn my heart to You every day, in every way.  Show me in what areas I need to repent and empower me to yield up my will to You always.  Amen. 

Scripture:  Isaiah 2:15 (NIV):  "for every lofty tower and every fortified wall,"

Thought:  To me, earth's great cities are temporary displays of man's "pride of place".

Question:  How much of my heart is in awe of what man has built?

The "Day of the Lord" is "for every lofty tower and every fortified wall."  "All that is exalted" (Isaiah 2:12) will be brought low.  Not just mankind, but all the features of man's world must come crashing down.  Why is this?  Man is so "tied up" in his world, so wrapped up in its elements.  To me, God must work a great separation.  He must violently strip man away from those things he has trusted in the place of God.  Idolatry is the worship of things in place of God.  To dismantle idolatrous hearts God must tear down the very things that men, over time, have worshipped in place of God.  Idols have been carved out of wood, or worshipped in the groves, and so we see verse 13 and the destruction of the cedar and oak trees.  Idols have been chiseled out of stone or worshipped in the high places, and so we see verse 14 and the collapse of every mountain and hill.  Idols have been created and erected in the cities and walled towns, and so we see verse 15 and the tearing down of "every lofty tower" and "fortified wall."

The Day of the Lord is "for" every one of these arenas.  It is there to eliminate the chaff of false gods and to replace each with the Great, Omnipotent and Worthy God and Father, our LORD Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and Him alone.

Prayer:  Great God of All, I pray that I will never bow to any idol.  Lord, You have the ability to level us all down to the ground.  You are an awesome God!  Amen. 

Scripture:  Isaiah 2:14 (NIV):  "for all the towering mountains and all the high hills,"

Thought:  To me, the levelling of the prominent and "permanent" mountains strikes at the essence of man's pride and confidence in how things are around him.

Question:  Do I rely on things around me or God's presence within me?

Looking back at verse 12 we see that the Lord "has a day in store for all the proud and lofty."  This "day of the Lord" will level, or flatten, mankind.  The essence of pride will be hard struck.  What man has begun to trust in--what he calls enduring--will be wiped away.

In each of these 4 verses in series following verse 12, key words describe pride and loftiness.  These words include, "tall", "lofty" (verse 13); "towering", "high" (verse 14); "lofty", fortified" (verse 15); and "stately" (verse 16).

God is making a point:  man has become high-minded and arrogant!  Webster defines arrogant as "offensively exaggerating one's own importance."  Man has flaunted his self-made importance in God's face and now God will bring down everything that is elevated, including, here, the mountains and hills.  To me, this will most logically be done by earthquake activity.  Revelation records the future incidence of many earthquakes, five to be exact, but verse 14 of Revelation 6 is applicable especially:  "the sky receded like a scroll rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place."

Prayer:  High King of Heaven, help me, in reading these words today, to humble myself before You!  You have my attention:  I pray that others would turn and listen to You as well.  Amen.

Scripture:  Isaiah 2:13 (NIV):  "for all the cedars of Labanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan,"

Thought:  To me, destruction of the earth as we know it should awaken mankind to the power of God--maybe.

Question:  Do I hear God's voice through natural disasters?

The Day of the LORD will strip mankind of all those elements that contribute to man's ability to be independent.  The forests will be destroyed, perhaps by the fires mentioned in II Peter 3:10:  "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare."

How desperate God must be to reach the mind and soul of rebellious mankind by resorting to the destruction of His own hand of creation:  the majestic cedars and strong oaks!  What a sad day when the humiliation of man must be accomplished this way.

Note:  Bashan is another name for the modern day Golan Heights.  Historically, the oaks here were used to create oars for sea-going ships, among other things.  But no doubt the offending idols were carved from these trees as well, and so, God will wipe them out!

Prayer:  Almighty God, I bow before Your power and Your wisdom:  power to create and to destroy at will; wisdom to bring down the proud at the proper time--in Your Day--as You see fit.  Have Your way, Lord.  Amen. 

Scripture:  Isaiah 2:12 (NIV):  "The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled),"

Thought:  To me, we do not take seriously enough the coming of "the Day of the LORD."

Question:  Am I among the "proud and lofty"?

God holds His Day in store.  He will display His anger only then.  For now He waits.  He continues to extend opportunities of repentance to all of us in the meantime.  We ought to understand this; that God is extremely patient.  He forbears with us decade after decade, even century after century.  But one day He will "let us have it"!  Then we will be humbled in a way we do not understand now, that is, as God deals "blows" to our worldly systems, causing economy, environment, infrastructure, etc., to collapse, man will finally be stripped of all "supports" and will have to accept the truth that something, Someone, bigger is in charge.  This is what we have forgotten.  We have forgotten because we are proud.  Our pride blinds us to the loftiness of God.  God's Day is reserved for the purpose of blasting away our pride and everything that exalts itself against God.

Our nation has witnessed the beginning, and today, the slight acceleration of, the kinds of "blows" against society that culminate in the events of The Great Tribulation, as described in the book of Revelation.  We currently see an increase in earthquakes, floods, forest fires, famine, disease, immorality and the like all over our globe.  These are the beginning of "birth pangs"--the "labor" to bring forth God's complete Lordship over the earth.  The LORD's "Day" will mark the end of the period of "labor" and the "birth" of the exaltation of God.  When mankind is brought low, God will be exalted. 

God has a purpose in striking out against man's pride.  He draws as many as will come, to repentance.  Do we see God at work in the natural disasters around us?  Are we willing to acknowledge our Creator's power and yield to His righteousness, forsaking our sin?

Prayer:  Lord, help me always to realize, and live every moment in, the acknowledgment of Your Lordship.  Amen. 

Scripture:  Isaiah 2:11 (NIV):  "The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day."

Thought:  To me, Americans could improve their lives by adding more humility and subracting more pride.

Question:  Have I humbled myself in the eyes of God?

This is speaking of the "Day of the LORD."  It is a (future) time when God will enter the scene in power and set things straight as far as Who is in control.  Man needs to see God's "splendor" with his eyes, instead of viewing his puny idols with his arrogant eyes.  He will at this time, and those idolaters will finally be knocked "down to size"--the "size" of their own idols!

God has, all through scripture, announced His dislike for the "arrogant."  God hates a "proud look."  Pride battles for a higher position; even as Lucifer wanted to exalt himself "above the stars of God", (Isaiah 14:13), so man often becomes arrogant against God and the position God has assigned him.  But in "that day" God will put each and every one of us in our proper place:  lowly creatures under the omnipotent Creator!  

The exaltation of God is so needed today!  And I, for one, am so happy that God alone will be exalted in that day.  He deserves it. 

Prayer:  All powerful Father, I eagerly await Your Day of exaltation when, at last, You will be lifted up and honored properly.  I pray today that I may remember my true and humble position as one of Your needy creatures.  Amen.   

Scripture:  Isaiah 2:10 (NIV):  "Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty!"

Thought:  To me, it is truly a sad day when mankind must hide from God's splendor.

Question:  Am I afraid of God's splendor (glory)?

The context has shown man's idolatry, God's "happy ending" in spite of idolatry, man's rebellion against a loving Creator, God's pain over His wayward people and His call, as ever, to repentance.  Now at the point where man is "abandoned" by God to "wallow" in his idolatry, God urges them to prepare for the worst:  an onslaught that requires them to hide for protection.  The "onslaught" at this point is merely the appearance of God's Holy greatness coming at them in glory and splendor, yet it will destroy in its power because of their abject unholiness.

We see similar descriptions of "hiding in the rocks" in passages elsewhere in scripture, particularly in Revelation 6:15 and 16, where men actually ask the rocks and mountains "fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb."  The wording here in Isaiah implies that God has ordered men to hide in the rocks, while the Revelation and Isaiah 2:19 and 21 (coming up later!) verses are a response to that very order where we see mankind doing exactly what God has prophesied!  We see in this so clearly that God is in sovereign control!

The two factors causing people to hide are: 1) dread and 2) God's splendor, or simply a combination:  dread of His splendor!  I would say, "dread" of punishment from God's anger over sin is logical, but a desire to avoid exposure to God's "splendor" is the unfortunate result.  

Adam and Eve went into "hiding" because of shame and guilt of sin but it was a temporary escape.   Later they accepted God's provided covering for their sin.  But here in Isaiah is a deeper "hiding", it seems.  These people have rebelled a long time and resisted repentance at every opportunity.  How sad!

Prayer:  God of Splendor, may Your glory be a blessing to me and never a threat.  Help me to be rightly related to You that I may rejoice in Your splendor.  Amen. 

Scripture:  Isaiah 2:9 (NIV):  "So man will be brought low and mankind humbled--do not forgive them."

Thought:  To me, as a whole, our nation is blind to the consequences of its own idolatry.

Question:  Have I humbled myself to God already, or will He have to humble me at some point?

God watches us go down into the degradation of unchecked idolatry.  He disapproves of any forgiveness of mankind until the process finishes and full humility is obtained.  Is it that we must go down before we appreciate "up"?  Is it that God's glory, by virtue of contrast, can be desired only after we trample it down?  

To me, it almost seems as if God is talking to Himself here, particularly where He says "do not forgive them."  Who else but God has the power to forgive?  Another view of these words by Matthew Henry, Commentator, states that "some think it may read:  'And thou wilt not forgive them.' "  Whichever translation is more accurate is a minor issue.  The heart of this passage is clear:  idol-worship has brought the Israelites to an all-time low, and mankind right along with them, so much so that God does not offer His forgiveness any longer, only wrathful judgment.  Hence comes the "Day of Judgment", the "time of Jacob's Trouble", "The Great Tribulaion", or, more generically, God's wrath, to be finally let loose upon the earth after long ages of gracious longsuffering on God's part.  Mankind needs humbling.  This is the key message.  

Idolatry is the antithesis of what God desires and plans for us.  No one is farther from God than when he engages in idol worship.  One could say that the "turning point" must be near because man can go no lower.  This must be why God lets us linger "down"--He knows soon we must either turn or die.  And all along God has said there will be joy, there will be happiness, there will be beauty.  Do I believe Him?  Will I forsake my idols?  The work of my own hands...?

Prayer:  Merciful and longsuffering Father, open my eyes to see the necessity to repent of sin!  Cause me to accept Your forgiveness while it is still offered and before I must be "brought low".  Amen. 

Scripture:  Isaiah 2:9 (NIV):  "Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made."

Thought:  To me, paying obesiance to man-made objects is very prevalent in our world.  Idolatry is a pertinent issue today.

Question:  Am I caught up in worshipping an object? 

When God looks down on our nation does He see it "full of idols"?  Probably.  It is no less a problem today than it was then.  Some countries do still bow to statues and the like.  Those "worshippers" pray to these objects, too.  In my nation, however, it is more common to see idolatry exhibited more subtly, yet truly just as wrongly.  Here our idols have become more intangible.  The love of pleasure has been held in very high esteem.  Money, wealth, position, fame--these are very much sought after and "worshipped."  Webster's definition of "worship":  "the act or feeling of adoration or homage; the paying of religious reverence, the act or feeling of deference, respect, or honor toward virtue, power, or the like."  Do not those who pursue hard after money, position, fame and the like find themselves driven by their deference to and respect of the goal they seek?  Are some not even truly "religious" in the way they order their lives for these goals?  But if the end result is something other than glorifying their Creator, they have replaced Him with something made with their own hands and fingers. 

Anything, in my opinion, that we spend the bulk of our love, time and desire on is a potential idol.  What we invest in, (our "treasure"), is where our "heart" lies.  (Matthew 6:21:  "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.")  In considering idolatry, the question becomes, "what do I treasure above all?"

Here in this verse is the heart of idolatry and here is its greatest folly.  To worship something man-made as having power to make, or help, a man is the height of stupidity.

Prayer:  Keep me, oh Father, from idols!  Help me daily to sharpen my spiritual focus, that I may continually evaluate my heart.  Are You my Supreme Power?  Yes, Lord!  I pray You ever will be!  Amen. 

Scripture:  Isaiah 2:7 (NIV):  "Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures.  Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots."

Thought:  To me, this verse is a good description of what our country wrongly values!

Question:  Are money and might my top values?

The "their" refers back to the first vierse of chapter 2, that is, to Judah and Jerusalem.  Instead of being the revered location of God's Temple filled with worship for Him, Jerusalem has corrupted.  Yes, they are materialistically wealthy, the "land is full of silver and gold"; yes, the military might is strong, the "land is full of horses" and chariots.  But these should not and cannot define the success of a nation.  They have rejected God!  In place of God, "fallen" men will put many things.  Money becomes of paramount importance and is therefore accumulated.  To what end?  Material possessions are gathered and a strong defense militarily is maintained.  Why bother?

It is interesting to notice that twice in this verse it is mentioned that "there is no end to their......"  Man has opportunity and ability to preoccupy himself endlessly with worldly importances.  Man can successfully override God and spiritual values, apparently, forever.  Day after day, year after year, the accumulation of wealth and might can fill up our lives until God is squeezed completely out.   

Prayer:  Lord, break me if I allow the love of money and/or power to outstrip my love of You!  Amen. 

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