Isaiah: Lesson 6

Overview

The Beauty and Reliability of God's Word: Oracles to the Nations

The Gentile oracles of Isaiah unfold a pattern that reaches well beyond Judah's borders. God speaks judgment against the nations, but woven through that judgment is mercy—a call for the Gentiles to repent and come to faith. Isaiah's sweep across Ethiopia, Egypt, Babylon, Judah, and Tyre serves a single overarching theme: the beauty and reliability of God's Word.

Prophecies Fulfilled in the Nations

Ethiopia (Cush) represented, in the imagination of Isaiah's first hearers, the farthest edge of the world. Yet Isaiah 18:7 promises that even from there gifts would be brought to Mount Zion. The fulfillment is striking: in Acts 8:26-40, Philip is sent to an Ethiopian official who is reading Isaiah, hears the gospel, is baptized, and—according to church tradition—carries the faith home, where the Ethiopian church endures to this day.

Egypt receives a similar promise in Isaiah 19:21-23: "The Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians." The Messiah, not Moses, is the deliverer in view here, and a highway joins Egypt and Assyria in common worship. The ancient Egyptian and Assyrian-speaking churches still bear witness to this fulfillment. Then in Isaiah 21:1-2, Babylon's downfall is foretold at the hand of Elam (the Medo-Persian empire)—roughly 150 years before the events, and before Persia even existed as a kingdom. When Scripture is breathed out by God, it is inerrant and infallible, because God does not exhale error.

Warnings Against Misplaced Trust

Isaiah 20 records the prophet's striking sign-act—walking stripped and barefoot for three years—as a warning to Judah not to lean on Egypt and Ethiopia for deliverance. The principle reaches forward to us: Exodus 23:31-32 cautions against covenants that draw God's people into the worship of other gods, and Psalm 118:8-9 reminds us, "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." Christians today must ask whether the alliances we form—in business, in organizations, in causes—are ones we could honestly commend before God's people as pleasing to Him.

The Fundamental Problem Is Spiritual

Isaiah 22 traces the reasons for Jerusalem's fall: worldly merrymaking, fleeing leaders, overwhelming military force, the lifting of God's protective hand, decadence ("let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die"), and finally a refusal to repent and receive atonement. Judah's failure was not chiefly political but spiritual. They had tried political alliances; what they had not done was repent.

This remains a vital pastoral word. When the church mistakes the world's trouble for a political problem, she reaches for political solutions and neglects the tools Christ has actually given her—Word and Sacrament. Luther's two kingdoms must be kept distinct: the state protects life; the church proclaims the gospel. Individual Christians, with consciences informed by Scripture, can and should be involved in civic life, and faithful believers may disagree on prudential matters. But when the church corporately binds herself to particular politics that Scripture does not require, she compromises her witness, and the world rightly recoils. Politicians can pass laws; only God changes hearts—and He does so through His Word. That Word, as Isaiah's fulfilled prophecies attest, is utterly reliable. We can trust it.

Transcript

The gracious Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the beauty of today and the beauty 2s

of your promises. 8s

We ask Father for your rich blessing upon our time and your word today. 10s

We thank You for the book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, for your use of Him and for the 13s

treasured words with which we read. 20s

For we know that as we open up the pages of Scripture, the voice we hear is yours. 23s

And so bless us now with our study to Your glory in Jesus' name. 28s

Amen. 33s

Well, we began last week a study on what are called the Gentile oracles. 34s

And we saw here a prophecy with regard to the rise of another power, Babylon. 40s

Like a Syria, Babylon would be used as a tool of God to bring judgment. 47s

And also like a Syria, Babylon would also then receive the judgment of God upon them. 55s

We talked about how important it is with regard to our witness and how we go about witnessing. 66s

That in our boldness of faith, we must be careful in terms of how we go about making that 75s

witness because the manner is important along with the message. 82s

And so we talked about that a little bit. 90s

We also talked about how amidst the expressions here of judgment that we see in Scripture 92s

are these beautiful words of mercy and how God establishes His church for the spiritually 98s

poor which are all of us in which we take refuge there. 105s

Well, today we're going to continue on in this section of the Gentile oracles. 110s

And let me just give you a little outline of where we're going to go on this. 115s

Ethiopia, Egypt, Babylon, 132s

Judah, 140s

Tyra, 144s

and the theme is all going to focus on the beauty and reliability of the Word of God. 147s

So there you have it, there's the lesson. 156s

Ethiopia, Egypt, Babylon, Judah, Tyra, and the theme is the beauty and reliability of the Word of God. 159s

One of the reasons why God gave the Gentile oracles was to reveal that the sad state of affairs 169s

would come to an end. 178s

We know, don't we, that the sad state of affairs of the world will one day come to an end when the Lord comes again. 180s

But He also gave the Gentile oracles as a call for the Gentile nations to repent of their sinfulness 188s

and to come by God's grace through to faith. 197s

The first oracle here in the section we're going to study today, Kush, is mentioned. 203s

Sometimes in some translations that's translated Ethiopia. 209s

So I'm going to use Ethiopia because that's what's being referred to here. 213s

Ethiopia was really at the farthest heart from where the people in Jerusalem would have found it. 220s

Kind of like if you think of the end of the world, it would have been in their mind Ethiopia was there, was there concept. 227s

But here even in the farthest point for what they would conceive, there would be so far away from them. 237s

God's judgment was going to fall. 245s

So let's start in Isaiah chapter 18 as we continue on in the oracles and we'll start in verse 7 of chapter 18. 247s

At that time, gifts verse 7, at that time gifts will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people tall and smooth, from a people feared near and far. 264s

A nation mighty and conquering whose land the rivers divide to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of hosts. 276s

This section here is prophesying with regard to Ethiopia. 291s

And Ethiopia would bring tribute to Mount Zion here or to the church bring offerings to the Lord as a sign that which they believe. 297s

So the prophecy here is that Isaiah is communicating is that Ethiopia would be a place that brings tribute to God. 310s

Let's see fulfillment of this. Let's go to Acts the eighth chapter, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and then Acts, Acts chapter 8, verse 26. 322s

And here we see a story of the fulfillment of this. 342s

Acts 8, 26. 352s

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. 355s

This is a wilderness road. So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian, eunuch, a court official of the Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians. 364s

In charge of her entire treasury, he had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home, seated in his chariot. He was reading the prophet Isaiah. 375s

Then the spirit said to Philip, go over to this chariot and join it. So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. 386s

He asked, do you understand what you're reading? He replied, how can I, unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 395s

Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this, like a she. He was led to slaughter, like a lamb silent before a shear, so he does not open his mouth. 406s

In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation for his life is taken away from the earth? 417s

The eunuch asked Philip, about whom may I ask you? Does the prophet say this about himself or about someone else? 430s

Then Philip began to speak and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 439s

As they were going along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, look, here is water. What is to prevent me from being baptized? 449s

He commanded the chariot to stop and both of them Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 457s

When they came out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way, rejoicing. 466s

The Ethiopian eunuch then, through the preaching of the prophet Isaiah, God brought him to faith. According to church history, this Ethiopian here returned to his homeland and spread the gospel there. 476s

And the Christian church in Ethiopia is still there today. The beauty and reliability of God's word, where you see in Isaiah that indeed Ethiopians would come to faith. 494s

We see the fulfillment in Acts, we see the fulfillment to this day in the Christian church in Ethiopia. 512s

As we move into Isaiah the 19th chapter, there's an oracle here against the pagan nation of Egypt. 522s

But God purposed for Egypt not only destruction here, but also deliverance, and that we see that Egypt would know the one true God. 533s

So let's go back to Isaiah. The 19th chapter will pick up in verse 21. 545s

The Lord will make Himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord on that day, and will worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform. 558s

Vem. 577s

During the Exodus, the deliverer was Moses, and now the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, here, is going to be the deliverer of the Egyptians. 579s

There's a twist to this prophecy. Go on into verse 23. 590s

On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. 596s

The regions of Assyria and Egypt were two of the regions among the first. We see historically to convert to Christianity. 617s

So we see embedded here then in the prophet Isaiah the prophecy about Egypt and Assyria, and about their con conversions here. 629s

And the ancient Egyptian and Assyrian-speaking churches exist to this present day, to the present day, the beauty and reliability of God's Word, where God says, 640s

Ethiopia, there will be believers in Egypt. We can slash it Assyria, there will be believers. The church will be established. 661s

Let's go on here. 675s

There's something odd here that happens in chapter 20. 683s

Verse 1, in the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by King Sargon of Assyria, came to Ashtod and fought against it and took it. 691s

At that time the Lord had spoken to Isaiah, son of Amaz, saying, 701s

Go and loose the sack cloth from your loins and take your sandals off your feet, and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot. 706s

Then the Lord said, 720s

Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and important against Egypt and Ethiopia. 722s

So shall the King of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as captives and the Ethiopians as exiles, both the young and the old naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt. 732s

And they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia, their hope and of Egypt, their boast. 748s

In that day the inhabitants of this coastland will say, 757s

See this is what has happened to those in whom we hope and to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the King of Assyria. 763s

And we, how shall we escape? 774s

Second Chronicles tells us that the stripping of captives was a common practice. 780s

It was done so so that their clothes could be received as booty. 787s

And also it was a way to humble them and to shame them. 795s

So the action here that God calls Isaiah to do, the action here was intended to warn Judah, not to rely on Egypt and Ethiopia. 801s

Now we see from the prophecies we've just studied here, that indeed there will be believers in Ethiopia and Egypt here. 817s

And 20 here, see here's one of those swings in Isaiah. 824s

He's swinging here, dealing with the immediacy of the situation and the prophecy. 830s

The warning then is against earthly alliances that are opposed to the will of God. 837s

earthly alliances that are opposed to the will of God. 846s

Keep your finger here, let's go back to Exodus chapter 23. 852s

Exodus chapter 23 verse 31. 858s

I will set your borders from the red sea to the sea of the Philistines and from the wilderness to the Afraidies. 875s

For I will hand over to you the inhabitants of the land and you shall drive them out before you. 886s

You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 892s

In Psalm 118 we read this, it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in mortals. 900s

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. 908s

The question then to ask if we apply this to ourselves is as we enter into alliances, let's take business for example, as businesses enter into alliances with one another. 916s

Is that a God-pleasing alliance that is just being made or is that something that is being done because it seems like it could benefit us, 933s

even though God would not be pleased with the alliance being formed? 943s

When we come into our own personal lines to say, is that an organization that we want to align ourselves and to be a part of? 949s

Is God going to be pleased with that? 958s

In other words, could I stand up in front of the church and advocate for an alliance of a group that I am a part of and know that I am communicating that God is pleased with this? 962s

Or is that something that I would hide from my brother and my sister in the field? 977s

God is concerned today with, is the alliance being formed pleasing unto Him? 984s

Or is it that which does not please Him? It is the same question that comes to us. 994s

We then turn from 20 and we swing back into the Oracle and now an Oracle against a Babylon. Let's go into chapter 21, verse 1. 1005s

The Oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the negybs sweep on, it comes from the desert, from a terrible land. 1019s

The stern vision is told to me that the trayer betrays and the destroyer destroys. 1032s

Go up, O Elam, lay siege, O media. All the sying she has caused, I bring to and end. Let's break this down. 1039s

The Oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea, that's just another way of saying Babylon. Another way of saying Babylon. 1051s

And what the Oracle reveals in verse 2 here is the nation that would ultimately defeat the Babylonian empire. 1058s

When I say as writing this here, it's well over, it's 150 years before this is going to happen. 1068s

So he is writing here with regard to the issue with regard to Babylon, which is 150 years. 1079s

And then he's writing even further to the one that's going to displace Babylon. 1087s

And so this is a peak once again into the future. 1093s

Elam, that's mentioned here, was part of what was called the metal Persian empire. 1098s

And the metal Persian empire was that which would supplant the Babylonian empire. 1104s

Throughout his entire prophecy, Isaiah here is giving us a picture of God's people. 1114s

He saw not only the past, what occurred, but he also sees what will occur in the future. 1122s

He saw the rescue of Jerusalem from the Assyrian armies. He saw the fall of Assyria. 1128s

He saw the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. He saw the fall of the Babylonians at the hand of the Persians. 1135s

And remember when he's prophesying that the Kingdom of Persia didn't even exist historically at this point. 1146s

So this is all prophecy where he's naming here Elam, part of the metal Persian empire here is the one that's going to displace the Persians. 1153s

He sees the return of the Jews then to rebuild in Jerusalem. He sees the coming of the Messiah and his work. 1164s

And what do we say to this reality, the beauty and the reliability of God's Word? 1173s

Right? That when we say, let us hear the reading of God's inerrant and infallible word. 1182s

Inerrant, it contains no errors infallible. It is incapable of errors. And why is that? 1187s

Because what Scripture says is that the word is exhaled from God. God does not exhale error. 1194s

And so as we read through Isaiah and we see these oracles against Ethiopia, we say, and there will be believers here. 1201s

We see the oracles against Egypt and there will be a day comes when there will be believers. 1210s

We see Babylon and Babylon is going to be displaced and then the naming of the Persians here when the Kingdom of Persia didn't even exist at time. 1215s

And we look at that and we say, when we open up then God's Word, when we study it and when we hear it, can we trust it? 1228s

You bet. You bet we can't. We can trust that what we hear is God's Word to us. 1237s

Now as we go into 22, it goes into referencing of Judah. 1250s

In 586 BC, Jerusalem was destroyed and the Babylonian captivity began. 1259s

So the prophecy that we just heard then is beyond that. 1269s

So now he swings back to a prophecy with regard to Babylon. 1276s

And what we see here is the reason for Jerusalem's fall. 1282s

Chapter 22 will pick up in verse 2, it is mid-set, but we'll get the sense. 1289s

You that are full of shoutings to mulch you with city, exaltant, town. 1297s

Your slain are not slain by the sword nor are they dead in battle. 1303s

One of the reasons why there was the fall of Jerusalem is there was worldly Mary making. 1310s

A love of the world and Mary making that was a curry. 1319s

Verse 3, your rulers have all fled together. 1324s

They were captured without the use of a bow. 1328s

All of you who were found were captured though they had fled far away. 1332s

And we will see here that a reason of the fall of Jerusalem was the leaders. 1339s

They fled. They fled. 1344s

Verse 6, 1348s

Elam bore the quiver with chariots and cavalry and curr uncovered the shield. 1351s

Your choices valleys were full of chariots and the cavalry stood their stand at the gates. 1357s

A third reason then for the fall of Jerusalem in 586, at BC, is going to be overwhelming military force. 1365s

Verse 8 of chapter 22, he has taken away the covering of Judah. 1377s

God had removed his protective hand upon Judah. 1386s

Why? Because they had not repented of their sin. 1392s

Verse 13, 1399s

But instead there was joy and festivity killing oxen and slaughtering sheep eating meat and drinking wine. 1402s

Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. 1409s

There was decadence and hedonism. 1413s

Verse 14, 1418s

The Lord of hosts has revealed Himself in my ears. Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die. 1419s

Says the Lord God of hosts. 1428s

No repentance meant meant that there was a refusal here of the atonement. 1432s

The fundamental problem in the world is spiritual. 1440s

That is a theme that we continue to hear over and over and over again in Isaiah. 1449s

It wasn't that the people didn't make the correct political alliances. 1457s

Because they tried. 1464s

It wasn't that they didn't make the correct political alliances then to keep all this at bay. 1465s

No, the fundamental problem was spiritual. 1472s

The solution then was to look to Him for hope and hell. 1479s

The solution was to repent on the sin. 1484s

The solution then was to proclaim the law to the hedonism and the decadence so that they might come to their senses with regard to their sin. 1489s

The fundamental problem is spiritual. 1501s

Here is a repetition of what the church continues to do to see the world as the fundamental problem is political. 1506s

Not spiritual. 1518s

And when the church sees the world as a political problem and not a spiritual problem, the church then moves for political solution. 1521s

If we only elect the right person, 1536s

if we only make these political changes, then the world will be as the world should be. 1542s

That doesn't get to the fundamental issue, does it? 1553s

Which is spiritual, which is sin. 1559s

Now, Luther talked about the two kingdoms and the importance of the two kingdoms and keeping them separate. 1565s

You've got the state and you've got the church. 1574s

So there are two kingdoms, two different functions. 1579s

The state is to protect life and the church is to proclaim the gospel. 1582s

When the church starts to function and mix and becomes the political entity, 1589s

because she thinks that it is through politics that we will save things, 1598s

the church is not operating how God called the church to operate. 1604s

And people get it. 1609s

When you listen to unbelievers, they're saying, I am turned off by the church, so many of them. 1613s

And you say, why is that? 1624s

Because I don't like the church's politics. 1628s

That's a telltale sign here that the church is doing something wrong here in many quarters. 1633s

Now, as individual Christians, are we called then to be informed by God's Word then? 1640s

And to be politically involved? Sure. 1650s

But be careful how we do it. 1654s

Be careful how we do it. 1656s

Because there's a distinction between the church functioning as a political element 1658s

and individual Christians with their conscience as informed by the words involved in politics. 1667s

And Christians can disagree on this, right? They can disagree. 1676s

The danger is when the church thinks that the solution is politics and then says, 1680s

here is the list of the people we think you should vote for and who's it coming from? 1690s

As church from church bodies. 1697s

Ears ago, I remember I got a voters guide from a group and it said that the church's positions was for term limits. 1701s

And I said to myself, where in Scripture does it say that there should be term limits thus sayeth the Lord? 1712s

See, now we can disagree with that. 1723s

Christians disagree with that. You might be for term limits. I might be for term limits. 1725s

You might be against it. I might be against it. 1729s

But when it becomes the church position on a non-scriptural issue because the church corporate believes that the solution comes from the church. 1731s

And doesn't regard, I just understand, the fundamental issue which is sin. 1754s

What happens? The people say, unturned off by the church. Why? I don't like your politics. 1763s

So Christians, should we be involved in politics? You bet. You bet. Sure. 1774s

As a church involved? Nope. And even in our individual lives, as we are involved, we have to be careful how we witness here. 1782s

We have to be careful so that someone who has the opposite politics of me won't be so turned off by me. 1795s

They say, I don't want to hear about your Jesus. Say. 1807s

So the message is important. The manner is important. 1813s

And in our boldness, we're right back to that theme again, in our boldness then, we must be careful so that we don't lose our witness. 1819s

And so that the two spheres that Luther, the two kingdoms that Luther talked about, don't become though. 1833s

Where Christianity is identified with a certain politics, see a few days later here? 1845s

When it becomes identified with a certain politics, men. 1857s

And those two kingdoms aren't kept. 1863s

Separate. And the world gets turned off because the two have mixed. 1868s

We see them, the fundamental issue here, that God keeps bringing the people back to, is that the problem is not political. 1879s

The problem is spiritual. And the church must stick to the tools that God has given us, word and sacrament. 1894s

Because the politician can only pass laws. 1910s

We're not to say that individual Christians, we shouldn't advocate for whatever laws we think are right. 1919s

But the politician can only pass laws. God changes the heart. 1928s

The heart. And he does that through word and sacrament. 1935s

Isaiah keeps bringing the people back to the truthfulness, that the fundamental problem is spiritual. 1941s

And we can stand with evidence here. I'll pick up Tyra next week. 1951s

Will we stand then on the reliability and the beauty of Scripture itself? 1958s

Well, we'll continue next week. We're going to see Isaiah glimpse even farther into the future than what we have been talking about. 1967s

We'll continue next week. 1976s