ISAIAH 30: “Woe To Those Who Execute Plans Without The
Lord”
By
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study we looked
at the next two woes that Isaiah pronounced.
We remembered that all of these 6 total woes which Isaiah wrote of are
woes brought about as a result of principles coming into action which regard
how the Lord deals with His people when they rebel against the Him
1.1.1.
Woe to Ariel
1.1.1.1.This was a woe to Jerusalem
1.1.2.
Woe to those who deeply hide
their plans from the Lord
1.1.2.1.Those who think that they can hide their sins from the Lord
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to look at a couple more of the ‘woes’ which Isaiah pronounced, ‘woes’
which have to do with principles that are enacted for God’s people whenever
they rebel against Him
1.2.1.
‘Woe’ to those who make and
execute plans without seeking the Lord’s counsel
1.2.2.
‘Woe’ to the beasts of
burden which are carrying the tribute riches to
2.
VS 30:1-2 - “1 “Woe to the rebellious
children,” declares the Lord, “Who execute a plan, but not Mine, And make an
alliance, but not of My Spirit, In order to add sin to sin; 2 Who proceed down to Egypt, Without
consulting Me, To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh, And to seek shelter in
the shadow of Egypt!” - Isaiah pronounces a ‘woe’ upon the rebellious
children who execute plans and make alliances but not those which are led by
the Lord
2.1.
Again we see that in this section of the book
of Isaiah that there are principles that become enacted when God’s people rebel
against Him in disobedience.
2.2.
There are really two ‘woes’ in one in these
verses:
2.2.1.
The ‘woe’ of making plans without consulting
the Lord in prayer.
2.2.2.
The ‘woe’ of making any kind of an earthly
alliance for you to rely upon other than the Lord.
2.3.
Both of these ‘woes’ will always result in a
spiraling set of circumstances that are the beginning of disaster.
2.4.
We see also in these verses that Isaiah has
never left his main message that he has tried to convince
2.4.1.
As we have seen over and over again in the
book of Isaiah, Isaiah tries to tell the children of
2.5.
There are many times in our lives as
Christians where we make plans that are not from the Lord.
2.5.1.
I know that many times in the earlier years
of my Christian walk I made plans to go here or there and visit my friends that
I had before coming to Christ, however I was making those plans because of a
feeling of obligation to my friendship to those friends rather than because the
Lord had sent me to them. After
realizing time after time that my efforts were not fruitful and not blessed by
the Lord, God one day revealed to me that my life was no longer my own and that
I was not to just go and visit friends or even family unless I felt through
prayer that this was something that He was leading me to do.
2.6.
We in the church also need to realize that
our dependence must be completely upon the arm of the Lord and that no arm of
the flesh will be able to protect us. We
need to have the protection of the Lord in our life if we are to have any
protection at all.
2.6.1.
In our country since the events of 9/11/2001,
I have seen many profound changes in our country, and in many ways our country
is the better because of what happened because we have become united in our
struggle against the evil of terrorism which threatens to destroy all that is
good in civilization on our planet.
However, even though for a time our country’s leadership called upon us
for prayer, those same leaders are not urging us now to have that same
vigilance of prayer for our nation. The
reason is that we only came to the Lord in the hour of our trouble, but as soon
as we seemed to be getting a handle on the problems of security regarding the
terrorists, we left God out of the picture and began to make our plans without
consulting the Lord.
2.6.2. The principle that Isaiah gives us in the first five
verses of this chapter is that the result of God’s people making plans and
alliances without consulting the Lord is always going to be a spiral of
catastrophe and end up bringing shame and humiliation upon them!
2.7.
We see in verse 2 however,
that instead of Judea of heeding Isaiah’s warnings to the nation that she is
now in approx. 701BC making that alliance with
2.7.1. After
all of the troubles that the Jews had had over the centuries because of their
alliances with
2.7.1.1.After
all,
3.
VS 30:3-5 - “3 “Therefore the safety of
Pharaoh will be your shame, And the shelter in the shadow of
3.1.
3.2.
The Lord would have worked
miraculously and defeated the Babylonians when they tried to defeat Judea and
take her captive if the people had just looked to and cried out to the Lord for
their help, instead the Lord intended the very alliance which Judea had made
with
3.3.
We see in verse 4 that the
ambassadors of Judea were arriving or going to arrive in Egypt to entreat her
favor and arrange a tributary tax for protection, however this would just end
up causing their shame and humiliation when Egypt would later offer no help
when Babylon came along and defeated Judea and deported the Jews captive to
Babylon.
4.
VS 30:6-7 - “6 The oracle concerning the
beasts of the
4.1.
Isaiah prophetically sees
and describes the beasts of burden going down through the deserts of the Negev
carrying on their backs tribute riches to pay to
4.2.
The ‘woe’ is given because
in spite of all of the hardship and work it would take to bring those tribute
riches through a dangerous desert that the bringing of the tribute would all be
in ‘vain and empty’.
4.2.1. It
is so sad and tragic in our lives when we see so many friends and family of
our’s who are heading down a road that they think will lead them to prosperity
and the good life, while we know that the road’s end is death and destruction.
4.2.2. We
warn these foolish friends and family members who are making their plans
outside of the Lord of their impending doom if they continue doing what they
are doing, but ultimately they have to decide on their own that they want to
serve the Lord. We can’t choose for
them.
4.3.
This word that Isaiah
calls
5.
VS 30:8 - “8 Now go, write it on a tablet
before them And inscribe it on a scroll, That it may serve in the time to come
As a witness forever.” - Isaiah tells us that the Lord tells him to
write this warning concerning
5.1.
Isaiah was told that he
was to write down this warning which he had given to Judea that
5.2.
In the future, after Judea
had been deported to
5.3.
Further, this written
record was to serve as a reminder forever.
It is recorded in chapter 30 of Isaiah in our Bibles, so evidently
Isaiah wrote it down as the Lord told him to do.
6.
VS 30:9-10 - “9 For this is a rebellious
people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the
Lord; 10 Who say to the seers, “You must
not see visions”; And to the prophets,
“You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.” - Isaiah tells us that the people of
6.1.
There is a principle that
Isaiah is conveying through these verses:
Whenever God’s people rebel against Him they want their prophets and
teachers to tell them only what they want to hear, they want soft and gentle words
about how much God loves them and that things are going to go well with them!
6.1.1. In
2 Tim. 4:3-4, Paul wrote to Timothy
about what the times will be like before the Lord returns for the church when
the church has gone into apostasy and is doing just what this principle tells
us of, “3 For the time will come when they will
not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will
accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires;4 and
will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.”
6.1.2. I have mentioned in some of my teachings in recent
times that I believe that this apostasy in the church is well under way in many
mainstream churches today. Does not this
description in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 remind us of the big fad in church growth in our
day, the ‘seeker friendly’ church?
7.
VS 30:11-14 - “11 “Get out of the way, turn
aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.” 12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of
7.1.
Isaiah tells us that those
who have turned ‘aside from the path’ and no longer what to hear more about the
‘Holy One’ of
7.1.1. Note
that Isaiah again uses his favorite title for the Lord, ‘the Holy One’, and the
use here is appropriate for the people to whom he is referring do not want to
have anything to do with holiness and right living before the Lord.
7.1.2. The
people of
7.2.
Isaiah tells us that these
ones have put their ‘trust in oppression and guile’ and ‘relied on them’. The people have placed their hope in
7.3.
Because the nation of
7.3.1. The
higher a wall is the greater will be it’s fall if it is to come down, and, if
the wall is not properly fortified the higher the wall the easier it will be to
fall.
7.3.2. I
recently watched a documentary on the fall of the
8.
VS 30:15 - “15 For thus the Lord God, the
Holy One of
8.1.
The people in
8.1.1. Isaiah gives us another principle in this verse, if God’s people who
have turned away and rebelled against Him want to get back in His favor they
must let the Lord search out their hearts so that they can see the ways in
which they need to repent, and they need to place their complete hope in the
Lord!
8.2.
Isaiah tells us also that
in ‘quietness and confidence’ would be their strength.
8.2.1. This
is such a great promise of hope for God’s people of all eras. We can be ‘quiet’ when we are resting in the
Lord and Him alone to be our help and to provide all that we need. Likewise, God wants us to have the ‘confidence’
that comes from faith, from trusting in the unfailing promises of the word of
God.
8.3.
This verse brings out yet
another principle for God’s people, it is faith and obedience that places where
we can know and have God’s salvation and strength. ‘Faith and obedience’ these two are the key
to walking in the blessings of the Lord!
9.
VS 30:16-17 - “16 And you said, “No, for we
will flee on horses,” Therefore you shall flee! “And we will ride on swift
horses,” Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift. 17 One thousand shall flee at the threat of
one man, You shall flee at the threat of five;
Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top, And as a signal on a
hill.” -
Isaiah tells us that
9.1.
The foolish Judeans had
rebelled against the Lord and collected horses for their help in battle and to
flee an invading enemy, if necessary.
9.2.
God had told Solomon that
they were not to accumulate horses because they were sure to place the hope in
horses instead of the Lord, and yet in 1 Kings 4:26 we read that he disobeyed
for he had collected 40,000 horses for his chariots.
9.3.
The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 33:17 about the foolishness of trusting in horses
for victory in battle, “17 A horse is a false
hope for victory; Nor does it deliver
anyone by its great strength.”
9.3.1. The
Lord alone should be the one whom God’s people trust for victory.
9.4.
There is yet another
principle here: The backslider flees at
his shadow
9.4.1. Isaiah
tells them that 1,000 of them would flee at the threat of one man and the whole
nation at the threat of five men.
9.4.2. God
was against them because of their rebellion and thus they had no courage
because of the guilt of their backsliding.
9.5.
The horses of the Judeans
were not able to save them from their conquerors for in Jer. 52:4-16, Jeremiah documents for us what happened on
that day when the Babylonians overran Jerusalem and captured her and deported
the people to Babylon where they stayed for the 70 years, “4 Now it came about in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth
day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all
his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it, and built a siege wall all
around it.5 So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King
Zedekiah.6 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the
city that there was no food for the people of the land.7 Then the city was
broken into, and all the men of war fled and went forth from the city at night
by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden, though
the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah.8
But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the
plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.9 Then they captured
the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of
Hamath; and he passed sentence on him.10 And the king of Babylon slaughtered
the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the princes
of Judah in Riblah.11 Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of
Babylon bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon, and put him
in prison until the day of his death. 12
Now on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who
was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.13 And he burned
the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even
every large house he burned with fire.14 So all the army of the Chaldeans who
were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.15
Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away into exile some of the
poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, the
deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the
artisans.16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest
of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.”
9.6.
Isaiah tells us that when
the Judeans are conquered they will only exist on the land as like a flag or
signal banner that is left on a hill telling of days gone by. They will be like the historical markers that
we see along our roads here in the United States that tell us of events that
happened in history past at those locations.
10.
VS 30:18-22 - “18 Therefore the Lord longs to
be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on
you. For the Lord is a God of
justice; How blessed are all those who
long for Him. 19 O people in
10.1. Again,
as Isaiah has shown us over and over again, God disciplines His people when
they turn away from Him, however He always does so with a view to their
restoration. Here we see that the Lord
promises yet again that He will restore the faithful remnant upon the land.
10.2. Isaiah
tells us that ‘the Lord longs to be gracious’ to His people, for it is not His
desire to have to judge and discipline them.
He would much rather show compassion any day if God’s people will just
allow Him to do so.
10.2.1.Isaiah
tells us that the Lord will hear their cry when they cry to Him for salvation,
and at that time He will make Himself known to them and be their teacher again.
10.3. Isaiah
tells us that the Lord waits to be gracious to His people who are currently
rebelling, however because He is a just God, He must wait until they have
finally repented before He can begin to restore them.
10.3.1.We
see that when the people have finally repented that they will listen and heed
the voice of the Lord as he tells them which way to walk, and at each point
whether to turn to the right or turn to the left.
10.3.2.When
the people have finally repented and turned back to the Lord they will also
‘defile’ the graven images that created in their idolatry, and scatter them for
they are an ‘impure thing’.
10.4. The
people will repent and be restored after their 70 years of Babylonian
captivity. However, after many years
they will yet again allow their hearts to grow very cold to the Lord.
11.
VS 30:23-26 - “23 Then He will give you rain
for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the
ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will
graze in a roomy pasture.24 Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground
will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.25 And on
every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with
water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.26 And the light
of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be
seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds
up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.” - Isaiah tells us of the final
restoration of the faithful remnant of God’s people when Christ establishes His
Millennial Reign upon the earth
11.1. The
Lord would restore the people to Himself after the 70 years of deportation and
exile to Babylon when Ezra and Nehemiah came back and began the rebuilding
process in the city of Jerusalem, however as I mentioned the people would again
harden their hearts and fall away, and
then when the Messiah was sent to them they were so far backslidden that most
of the nation did not recognize Him, and thus the Lord allowed the Romans to
again destroy Jerusalem in 70A.D. The
restoration however that Isaiah mentions in these verses will occur when the
Lord is also in the process of removing the curse from the earth and
establishing His kingdom upon the earth.
11.2. We
see that the curse on the earth and over
11.2.1.The
rain is falling and causing good growth of the crops.
11.2.2.The
yield of the ground is rich and plenteous.
11.2.3.The
livestock are grazing in a roomy pasture.
11.2.4.Every
loft mountain and high hill has streams running with water.
11.2.5.The
wicked have been slaughtered and removed from the earth.
11.2.6.The
light of the moon is as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun is seven
times brighter than normal.
11.3. The
fulfillment of these promises concerning the
11.4. In
restoring
12.
VS 30:27-28 - “27 Behold, the name of the Lord
comes from a remote place; Burning is
His anger, and dense is His smoke; His
lips are filled with indignation, And His tongue is like a consuming fire;28
And His breath is like an overflowing torrent, Which reaches to the neck, To
shake the nations back and forth in a sieve, And to put in the jaws of the
peoples the bridle which leads to ruin.” - Isaiah reveals to us the fury and indignation
of the Lord when He begins to judge and destroy the nations on the face of the earth
before He establishes His
12.1. Isaiah
has already shown us that when the Lord finally moves to judge a nation that He
will judge and destroy a wicked nation that He will do so without
compassion. Though He is always willing
to forgive and to restore sinners when they repent and turn to Him, and He will
never turn any who come to him away, none the less it is a frightening day when
the Lord turns His face to judge and destroy the wicked.
12.2. God
is love as the scripture says, but He is also righteous, holy, and just, and in
our day most people want to accept that God is love, but they don’t want to
accept the obvious conclusions drawn from Him also being righteous, holy, and
just. God will eventually have to judge
and punish evil, and a person must either have placed his faith in Christ and
His death on the cross as payment for his sins or he will himself have to pay
for his sins for eternity in hell. The
love of God has allowed for our sins to be forgiven, however God will also
judge and condemn those who refuse the offer of His grace and forgiveness
through Christ.
13.
VS 30:29 - “29 You will have songs as in the
night when you keep the festival; And
gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute, To go to the
mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of
13.1. The
Lord will place songs of praise and thankfulness into the hearts of the
Israelites on the day when He rescues them and establishes His Millennial Reign
upon the earth.
13.2. With
gladness of heart the Israelites will march to
13.3. The
Lord is ‘the Rock of Israel’ because He is her protection and place of refuge,
and when she is finally restored for the last time as a faithful remnant in the
land the fact that the Lord is her rock will be more evident than at any other
time in history.
14.
VS 30:30-33 - “30 And the Lord will cause His
voice of authority to be heard. And the
descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger, And in the flame of a
consuming fire, In cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones. 31 For at the voice of the Lord Assyria will
be terrified, When He strikes with the rod.
32 And every blow of the rod of punishment, Which the Lord will lay on
him, Will be with the music of tambourines and lyres; And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will
fight them. 33 For Topheth has long been
ready, Indeed, it has been prepared for the king. He has made it deep and large, A pyre of fire
with plenty of wood; The breath of the
Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.” - Isaiah tells us that as the Lord is battling
14.1. Again
we see the fury and indignation of the Lord aroused as He fights against
14.2. ‘Topheth’,
‘Gehenna’ in the New Testament, is the burning garbage dump where bodies were
thrown after being sacrificed to Molech.
‘Gehenna’ is the word in the New Testament that is most often used for
hell. The king of
14.3. We
have already seen that in the Old Testament it is recorded that Assyria had
it’s downfall when she tried to conquer