Zion’s Sinners and Righteous Ones
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Isaiah
31. An expository study of Isaiah, chapter 33
God’s
cup for measuring evil
Throughout the book of Isaiah, we find the prophet
taken up with the development and the advance of the Assyrian Empire and army.
It was establishing its dominance on the world scene of that day. God informs
His people concerning it and encourages them by referring to its ultimate
destruction. His word reaches out to the Assyrian himself to warn him of the
coming judgment. As I have mentioned previously, these prophecies stretch beyond
the immediate situation to the rising Babylonian Empire and to other world
powers, which will take their place in the future, and sometimes they reach to
the end of the age.
Therefore in verse 1, the subject addressed is
primarily Assyria, but takes in any oppressive human system that exerts its
power over weaker nations. They are characterized as destructive and
treacherous and they attack without provocation. They are not seeking to
recover, what has been taken from them, or to take revenge on harm done to them.
Those under their attack have not betrayed or hurt them in the past. That is
not necessary to an army made up of fallen human beings. They are inherently
evil.
God allows them to progress up to a certain point and
carefully measures the level of their evil deeds. He makes a curious statement
in the book of Genesis, stating that “the
iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Gen.15:16), giving this as a
reason why He would delay the beginning of His plan to use Abraham’s descendants
to conquer the Amorites and Canaan, for four generations. On the other hand,
Christ stated that the generation had come and the time was ripe for rebellious
Jews to “fill up, then, the measure of
your fathers” (Mt.23:32). The prophecy before us declares that the time will
come, when all evildoers will be visited with the same treachery and
destruction that they have dealt to others.
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God and His People
Labels:
Isaiah
30. An expository study of Isaiah, chapter 31-32
Chapter 31
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| The Egyptians have always been known for their horses. |
Earlier in this book we learned much about God dealing
with the enemies of Judah and now we are learning about their ally. We do not
need much discernment to beware of our enemies, but the Lord wants to help us
to see a greater danger in our would-be allies. Above all, we need to be
aware of ourselves; the truth is that we are our own worst enemies.
Great precautions have to be taken against the one,
who we see when we look in a mirror. An old preacher used to say, “My greatest
enemy is the man, who married my wife!” In these days of common divorce and
remarriage, he may have been misunderstood, so just in case something else
comes to mind, I will clarify that he was referring to himself.
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