In our reading today, we have the LORD addressing the nations of Moab, Aram (whose capital is Damascus), the apostate northern kingdom of Israel, and Cush. How can we find a word for us today from these prophetic oracles to peoples of long ago?
Trusting The Gifts More Than The Giver
I think we can begin by highlighting a recurring truth in the prophetic oracles to each of these nations. Each of these nations are blessed in some significant way. For example, the region of Moab was very fertile. So much so, that long ago, the Israelite tribes of Reuben and Gad requested to Moses that this area, east of the Jordan River, would be allotted to their tribes. They would settle there after Israel conquered Canaan, west of the Jordan River (Numbers 32:1-5). This land was right next to where the Moabites lived.
The temptation for a people like Moab was to trust the products of their fertile land, to the exclusion of trusting the Giver of those blessings. As you read Isaiah 15 &16, we see that the bounty of the land is a fragile basis for your ultimate security in life (Is. 15:6-7; 16:8-12). The land of Moab has been overrun by a strong enemy and they have been forced to flee as refugees. In desperation, they asked Judah for safe refuge from the doom they are experiencing (Is. 16:1-4). So much for the permanency of the blessings that their fertile land yielded. It is ultimately transitory and flimsy, just like their fertility gods and goddesses they worshipped (Is. 16:12).
Isaiah proclaimed to the Moabites, as well as to his fellow Jews, that the hope of all nations lied ultimately in the Jewish Messiah. In Is. 16:5, we read these prophetic words of Isaiah:
In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it – One from the house of David – One who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.
How different in character is this Messianic Figure when compared to the leaders of the conquering nations like Assyria and Babylon. Not only that, how different in character when compared to the leaders of Moab, apostate Israel, Damascus and Cush.
The Nations’ Great Hope
It is powerfully revealing of what, or I should say who, is always in the forefront of Isaiah’s vision: the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 17:7). It is because of His character that people from all the nations of the world will one day flow to Him (Is. 2:1-4). It will be people like the Cushites who will bring gifts to the Name of the LORD Almighty at Mount Zion (Is. 18:7). When people exhaust themselves by their idols and see the vanity of such trust, the God of Israel is still there, waiting with outstretched arms. He is righteous and loving, all-powerful and tender, both a judge and a deliverer.
The Christian Church believes that the Jewish Messiah, the New David, promised in Isaiah 16:5, is Jesus. He is Immanuel, ‘God with us’ (Mathew 1:23). In John 14:9, Jesus said to Philip: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”. Wow! God incarnate! (John 1:1-2,14). “No one has ever seen God, but God the Only begotten Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (Jo. 1:18).
In the 4 Gospels, Jesus is revealed as righteous and loving, all-powerful and tender, both a judge and deliverer. He is worthy of our total trust.
QOTD: Who do you ultimately trust for your life and for your eternity?