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Articles 2021-2023
After Solomon died, Israel was divided into two nations – Israel, (sometimes referred to in the prophets as Ephraim which was her largest tribe) and Judah. Israel consisted of ten tribes; her capital city was Samaria while Judah, made up of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, had Jerusalem as her capital. It was in Jerusalem that the descendants of David reigned. And over the span of her existence, she had both good and evil kings. On the other hand, Israel (Ephraim) had only wicked ones. And God had a controversy with her.
Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is at the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine!
The crown (referring to Samaria, Israel’s city of government, her capital city) was filled with pride and celebration expressed in much drunkenness. It had a certain measure of wealth (they were situated in a fertile valley) and a recognized glorious beauty. But in God’s view, because they had severed themselves from worshiping Him in His temple at Jerusalem and had instituted idol worship with their own self–designated priesthood, they were like a plant cut off at the roots. And the spiritual death permeating her national condition was spreading; she was a withering flower. And sudden destruction was coming.
Behold, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent; as a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, like a storm of mighty overflowing waters, He has cast it down to the earth with His hand. The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trodden under foot. And the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is at the head of the fertile valley, will be like the first-ripe fig prior to summer, which one sees, and as soon as it is in his hand, he swallows it.
The Assyrian Empire, God’s agent of judgment would devour Samaria like one would consume a fresh piece of fruit. But while Samaria was a proud crown, God would become a beautiful crown to the remnant of His people among them.
In that day the LORD of hosts will become a beautiful crown and a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people.
Our God has always had a remnant people, those who have loved Him even though surrounded by others who did not. Even today, across the whole of Christianity, there are many believers in a great diversity of organizations and local churches who identify themselves far more by their relationship with Him than they do by the groups of which they are a part. Their primary quality is the glorious crown of beauty upon them, the presence of the Lord Himself.
And to His remnant in Ephraim, He would also be:
a spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment, a strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.
At such times of great shaking among His people, the Lord promises to become a spirit of justice for those who sit in judgment. Today, it is imperative that we sit in judgment of the philosophies and lifestyles that the world pronounces as good and proper. But we must do so justly. In other words, we can have no agenda, political or otherwise other than the love, the purpose, and the priorities of God as revealed in His word. Our only “axe to grind” is our commitment to live in harmony with Him. And He then promises to be our strength as we repel the present moral onslaught against righteousness. Compromising for the sake of peace is simply not an option.
Then Isaiah turned his attention to those in Jerusalem who ruled the nation of Judah. They too, like the rulers in Samaria, were given to drunkenness (Isaiah 28:7 - 8). And they mocked Isaiah’s ministry (Isaiah 28:9 - 10). As a result, God would speak to them through a painful invasion by the Assyrian army, through those speaking a foreign language (Isaiah 28:11).
As much as the Lord had invited his people to come and to walk in intimate relationship with Him, they simply were not interested.
He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,” and, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.
So, step by step, they would be snared and taken captive (Isaiah 28:13).
Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, for we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”
Ahaz, a very wicked man who was king at this time in Jerusalem, was so evil that he even offered one of his sons in fire to an idol (2Kings 16:3 ESV). And when Israel in the north together with Syria plotted to overthrow him, he made a pact with the Assyrian Empire (or as Isaiah put it above, a pact with death and with Sheol) for military protection (2Kings 16:7). Instead of looking to the Lord, he put his trust in the strength of unbelieving men. And for God, it was the last straw.
His purpose had been to dwell among His people and to reveal His salvation out from them to the nations. So, He had given them His Law, revealed His design for His house of dwelling among them, and had raised up prophets to declare His word. But He also wanted them to recognize their total insufficiency for Heaven’s task. He wanted them to see their desperate need for His presence and power to be manifest among them. But instead of looking to Him and trusting in Him, they consistently put their trust elsewhere. And so, in keeping with his sinful priorities, Ahaz made a pact with the Assyrians. And God’s response was clear.
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed (Hebrew, CHUSH – in a hurry).
What God intended to build on earth of which the Old Testament temple was but a type and shadow would require a foundation far more solid than had ever been found among His people up to this point.
This Stone would be tested. Jesus faced every attack and every test that Satan threw at Him and He overcame. Never in all of human history had the devil faced anyone like this. Our Lord experienced every temptation that every person had ever or would ever face. And He was without sin in His essence of being and without sin in His every response. Here was a foundation stone sufficient to undergird everything that Heaven intended to accomplish among humanity.
But the tendency of God’s people had always been to see some particular need and not wait for Him to arise and reveal His wisdom and sufficiency to meet it.
Too often, we have hurriedly “done what needed to be done.” Our calling, however, is not to simply meet every need we see. When the people asked Jesus what they had to do to work the works of God, His reply was that God’s work was for them to believe in Him (John 6:29). Or as Isaiah had prophesied – whoever believed in God’s foundation stone would not be in a hurry.
Our calling is not primarily to the job of seeing whatever/whoever seems to need repair and then immediately trying to bring our solution for it. Instead, we are called to a Person – to know Him, to hear His voice, and to walk in union with Him. Jesus lived out that lifestyle perfectly as He walked in intimate relationship with His Father. And in doing so, He also met the needs of those that the Father wanted Him to address. And then ultimately through death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of His presence, He became the foundation stone upon which now rests the totality of God’s work among men.
He was also a costly stone. Jesus – the highest price ever paid for anything. The question that staggers our finite minds is: how important was it to our God to break the power of sin and to pay the price of His own holy requirements so as to purchase the salvation needed to bring His people into an eternal intimate relationship with Himself? And the answer lies in the price that He paid – the life of His Son. And in our own day, how important to our God is His ongoing present work among the nations? Surely, far more than it is to us. And if true, then we do not have to try and talk Him into arising among the nations; we simply have to believe in Him and in His already revealed commitment to His cause.
And yet He also calls us to take up with Him the burden of His heart, to join with Him in His purpose to make His name known in all the earth. And so, we stand in His presence and cry out before Him our longing for His presence among us and our longing for Him to arise in power and invade our nation with the Spirit of conviction concerning our many sins. Even so, arise O God in these days. Amen.
Donald Rumble – November 2022
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