The LORD Is Exalted
“Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.
O LORD, be gracious to us! We wait for You. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble. The peoples flee the thunder of Your voice; the nations scatter when You rise. Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.
The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.
Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly. The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. The treaty has been broken, the witnesses are despised, and human life is disregarded. The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
“Now I will arise,” says the LORD. “Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted. You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will consume you. The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and set ablaze. You who are far off, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge My might.”
The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?” He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured.
Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and behold a land that stretches afar. Your mind will ponder the former terror: “Where is he who tallies? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?” You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand.
Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there the Majestic One, our LORD, will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals, where no galley with oars will row, and no majestic vessel will pass. For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our King. It is He who will save us. Your ropes are slack; they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided, and even the lame will carry off plunder. And no resident of Zion will say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.”
The Assyrian army is advancing toward Jerusalem! One of the most destructive armies of all time is leaving nothing but scorched earth in its wake as it ravages the countryside, counting its victims by the severed heads piled up after each battle. Truly, the Assyrians do resemble a swarm of locusts as they pillage everything they can. The citizens of Jerusalem are naturally terrified, and King Hezekiah is doing everything possible to prepare Jerusalem for the coming siege. The water tunnel King Hezekiah built remains in Jerusalem today, a monument to the skills of ancient builders.
“The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.” Those areas already conquered by the Assyrians bear mute witness to the destruction that threatens Jerusalem. Mount Bashan is a mountain in northeastern Israel in the area of the Golan Heights, while Mount Carmel is a mountain range that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. The Assyrians are making a complete sweep of the countryside.
Isaiah is prophesying over the Assyrian army, that they will NOT enter Jerusalem. In fact, the Assyrians laid siege to Jerusalem and attempted to terrorize its citizens by sending envoys to scream frightening messages at the gates. “Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.”
The story of Sennacherib and his attempts to conquer Jerusalem are told in 2 Kings 18:13 – 19:37. Just when things looked bleak, God struck the Assyrian army and 185,000 men died overnight. (If cholera broke out in the Assyrian camp, this is entirely possible. Later in India in the time of British occupation, thousands of people died within hours in cholera epidemics.)
When God shows up, who can stand? “The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?” He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured.”
The chapter ends with a description of Jerusalem when Messiah will reign – a place of rivers and broad canals, of peace and prosperity. “For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our King. It is He who will save us.”
APPLCIATION: In recent months, nations ruled by unstable dictators have been playing with nuclear weapons in defiance of international agreements. We don’t need to be besieged by armies to feel threatened when nuclear warheads can be launched thousands of miles away and yet strike us. While weaponry may have changed, the human heart does not.
What protection do we have in this situation? Our only protection is the Lord God Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, the same One who wiped out one of the mightiest armies in the world in a single night. Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there the Majestic One, our LORD, will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals, where no galley with oars will row, and no majestic vessel will pass. For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our King.”
Our part of the bargain is to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness and to follow Him closely. God’s part is to protect us and save us from the Evil One. We may endure suffering. “Weeping endures for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” And we must remember God’s promises in Romans 8:37-39 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to put all our trust in You, realizing that there is no army and no leader on earth who can deliver the way you can. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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