Devotions

gut moaning like a harp

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 16:6-11

⁶ We have heard how exalted Moab is –very proud that his majesty is exalted– and his arrogance. What he boasts is not so. ⁷ For this reason Moab will howl; everyone belonging to Moab will howl, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you will moan, surely destroyed. ⁸ Because Heshbon withers the fields, the vine of Sibmah; rulers of nations have broken down her tendrils, they reached up to Jazer, they reached desert; her shoots spread abroad, they crossed over a sea. ⁹ Therefore I am weeping along with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I drench you with my tear, Heshbon and Elealeh, because a triumphant shout has fallen over your summer fruit and harvest. ¹⁰ And joy and gladness is taken away from the fruitful land, and in the vineyards no one exults, no one shouts for joy; no treader treads wine in the presses; I have put to an end to the joyful shout. ¹¹ Therefore my gut moans like a harp for Moab and my inner parts for Kir-heres.

gut moaning like a harp

We do not all see things the way God sees them. The prophets do. Isaiah challenged his people to look beyond the prideful boasting of their northern neighbors, the Moabites. He invited them to travel in time just enough to see all that prosperity and arrogance destroyed and replaced by the howling of a ruined state. The joyful shouts of triumph and prosperity have all been replaced by grief and shame. God is there, and he feels it with them. He challenges his people to be there too.

There is coming a time when all who have exalted themselves against God and oppressed their fellow men will be judged for their sin. God is not happy for this, and neither should we be. The purpose of anticipating this judgment is to help us find ways of rescuing people from it. To do that, we need to see things as they will be. Such vision will naturally get our guts churning and moaning. Our insides will play a dirge like a harp. But that is the price we pay for choosing to be compassionate instead of indifferent.

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be a hiding place for them

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 16:1-5

¹ Send a ram to the ruler of the land, from Sela desert to the mountain of daughter Zion. ² And this will happen: the daughters of Moab at the fords of Arnon will be like a bird fleeing from a thrown away nest. ³ “Bring counsel, make a judgment; make your shade like the night in the middle of noonday. Hide outcasts; you must not betray the fugitive. ⁴ Let my Moabite outcasts dwell as aliens among you; be a hiding place for them from the destroyer’s face.” When the oppressor is no more, destruction has stopped, the trampler has disappeared from the land, ⁵ then a throne will be established by steadfast love, and someone will sit on it who is faithful, in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and zealous for righteousness.

be a hiding place for them

There is a challenge here for Moabites – a challenge to overcome their old animosities and prejudices and reach out to Judah for help. But the major challenge is for Judah. The LORD challenges them to open their gates and take in the Moabites who are fleeing from the destroyer. There are to be a hiding place for them. The LORD promises that once the trampler has finished, these Moabites would welcome the rule of the a Davidic Messiah whose people had rescued them from that trampler.

When our enemies are going through difficult times, we easily see the judgment factor. We think it only right. But the LORD challenges us to look for opportunities to love those who have not loved us. Imagine what would happen if we started acting as a hiding place for our enemies.

LORD, give us the courage to love those who have harmed us – to be a hiding place for those who are suffering.

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my heart cries out for Moab

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 15:1-9

¹ An oracle about Moab: Because Ar has been devastated in a night, Moab is destroyed; because Kir of Moab has been devastated in a night, it is destroyed. ² It has gone up to the temple and Dibon to the high places for expressing grief over Nebo, and Moab weeps over Medeba. On all its heads baldness, every beard shaved. ³ They gird themselves with sackcloth in its streets; on its roofs and public squares everyone wails, going down in weeping. ⁴ And Heshbon and Elealeh, he cries out, their voice is heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the armed ones of Moab cry out; its soul quivers[1] for him. ⁵My heart cries out for Moab; its fugitives escape to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. Because on the ascent of Luhith it goes up it with weeping; because on the road of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction. ⁶ Because the waters of Nimrim are wastelands; because its grass has withered, its vegetation has vanished, no more greenness. ⁷ Therefore they carry the abundance it has made and their store of goods over the river of the poplars. ⁸ Because a cry for help has encircled the territory of Moab, we hear her wailing as far as Eglaim, and her wailing as far as Beer Elim. ⁹ Because the waters of Dimon are full of blood; but I will add more things to Dimon: a lion for the survivor of Moab and for the remnant of the land.

my heart cries out for Moab

There is a picture of the nation of Moab weeping and wailing over its destruction in a night attack, the survivors fleeing to their temple to mourn their loss and plea for help from their gods. But there is someone else crying, too. The prophet Isaiah, a relative of the Moabites (descendants of Lot), tells this message of judgment with tears in his eyes. Although God is just in bringing this devastation upon the Moabites, the message cannot be expressed except with tears and heartache. Perhaps that is why Isaiah chose the word for oracle here that can be translated burden.

Oh, non-Christian, when I speak to you of hell, of destruction from the presence of God and loss of life for eternity, please know that I do so with an aching heart. I want you to know life, and experience the blessing of God, not his curse. And the LORD also wants that. So, he has made a way for you to avoid hell with its fire and loss. That way is the same for everyone: believing and trusting Christ. But my burden for you is that if you refuse that way, God will be compelled by his own justice to destroy you. Fleeing to your temple and wailing will not help you on that day. The fire of hell is unquenchable: you cannot put it out. Flee to the LORD today, and seek him while he may be found!

LORD, draw my friend to you today. His impending destruction burdens me, and breaks my heart.

[1] The Hebrew words for “cry out” and “quiver” sound the same.

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the swing of the pendulum

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 14:28-32

²⁸ In the year of the death of king Ahaz there was this oracle: ²⁹ You should not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken, because a viper will come forth from the corpse of that snake, and its fruit is a striking serpent. ³⁰ And a firstborn of a poor man might eat comfortably, and a needy one might lie down in security; but I will cause your parent to die in famine, and it will kill your remnant. ³¹ Wail, gate! Cry, city! Melt, Philistia, all of you! Because smoke is coming from the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks. ³² And how will one respond to those spreading bad news about this nation? That Yahveh has founded Zion, and the needy of his people will take refuge in him.

the swing of the pendulum

Ahaz was not a righteous man. He repeatedly caused trouble for Isaiah, and refused to heed his warnings. But he was a king of Judah, and the LORD would not look kindly upon the Philistines when they rejoiced over his death. The armies coming will be so much worse.

The Philistines took the death of Ahaz to be a sign of the weakness of Yahveh. They took the opportunity to spread bad news about Judah, saying that the end of the nation was near, and plotting how they might take over. Isaiah concluded that they had gotten their prediction wrong. The future would not go their way, in spite of the present victory. Philistia would suffer for their sins.

Sometimes the pendulum swings back in our favor for a while. We should not allow those times to lull us into a false sense of security and forget our sins or our ultimate needs. The problem with Ahaz was that he had gotten just enough victories to cause him to disregard Isaiah and his words, so he felt he did not need God. His enemies, the Philistines, took his death as a sign of his God’s weakness. But, in fact, the death of Ahaz would hasten the coming of the next step in God’s plan, and that would show how strong God is.

LORD, when fortune favors us, help us to seek your favor first, and not to be blinded by the swing of the pendulum.

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a broom of destruction

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 14:22-27

²² “And I will rise up against them,” a declaration of Yahveh of armies, “and I will cut off name and a remnant from Babylon, and offspring and posterity,” – a declaration of Yahveh. ²³ “And I will make her a hedgehog’s possession, and pools of water, and I will sweep her away with a broom of destruction,” – a declaration of Yahveh of armies. ²⁴ Yahveh of armies has sworn, saying, “If this has not happened just as I have intended, so it will, and just as I have planned, the oath will stand: ²⁵ to break Assyria in my land, and I will trample him down on my mountains; and he will remove his yoke from them, and he will remove his burden from his shoulder. ²⁶ This, the plan that is planned concerning all of the land; and this, the hand that is stretched out over all of the nations. ²⁷ Because Yahveh of armies has planned, and who will frustrate him? And his hand stretched out, and who will turn it back?

a broom of destruction

It sounds almost comical – like a weapon devised for a third rate video game. But the broom of destruction that Isaiah spoke of was nothing to laugh at. Once the armies of Media and Persia were finished with the land that had once been the home of the Assyrians, and was presently under the control of Babylon – nothing was left. They swept it clean, and made it a desolate place. The ultimate defeat made all the previous victories nothing. One by one, all the nations who had carried the burden – the yoke – on their shoulder, would be relieved of that yoke. That is the plan of Yahveh of armies, and what he plans, no one can frustrate. It is going to happen.

Do we dare to believe that God can still do the same thing today? He will do it collectively and ultimately when Christ returns, and he sets up his kingdom of righteousness. All the oppression and evil of past victors will be removed from the victims. Peace and righteousness will reign through judgment.

But this God of armies also wants to sweep through our lives and remove the burdens that we are bearing now. He tells us “Come to me, all who work hard and carry a heavy load, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Because my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”[1] His broom of destruction can destroy all the things that are keeping us from the peace and rest he wants us to enjoy. His yoke can make life worth living again, and we need not wait for eternity to experience it. It is only a prayer away.

LORD, we invite you to destroy all the things in our life which are keeping us from the peace and rest you intend us to enjoy. Sweep through our lives with your broom of destruction.

[1] Matthew 11:28-30.

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thrown away from your grave

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 14:16-21

¹⁶ Those who see you will gawk at you, they will gaze closely at you: ‘this is the man who made the land tremble, who caused kingdoms to shake, ¹⁷ who made a world like the desert and destroyed its cities, who would not let his prisoners return home?’ ¹⁸All kings of nations, all of them, lie in glory, each one in his house. ¹⁹ But you, you are thrown away from your grave, like a repugnant shoot, clothed with slain, those pierced by the sword, those who go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse that is trampled. ²⁰You will not be united with them in a decent burial because you have destroyed your land, you have killed your people. A descendant of evildoers will not be celebrated for eternity! ²¹ Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons because of the sin of their fathers. Let them not rise and take possession of a land or fill up the face of a world with cities.”

thrown away from your grave

On my many trips to Cebu, Philippines, I often visited and walked about in a Chinese cemetery. In stark contrast to the poverty and disorder that one could see everywhere else, this cemetery was ornate, immaculate and orderly. It was the only place that I have ever seen air conditioning and a Christmas tree – in someone’s grave. At the root of this kind of practice is the idea that the dead should be treated well, and that doing so will ensure that the living will fare well in life. Babylon had similar ideas in its culture. That is why Isaiah’s words bit so hard. He predicted that the kings of Babylon would not be treated well in death. Their corpses would be thrown away from their graves. Their soldiers would not be able to protect them, because they will be slaughtered, and thrown into a mass grave. Their sons would be killed as well, so the dynasty would not continue. What a fate to anticipate for the rulers of the world’s superpower!

Isaiah was telling the well-off that they will not experience their grandeur and fame forever. Death will show those wealthy tyrants who ruled the world by their oppression and violence that their power was a sham. They were in reality no better off than the slaves they mistreated.

Isaiah is also telling us something here. He’s asking us who we are stepping on in our race to the top. He is encouraging us to look beyond the power and fame of the present and seek a relationship with God now. He reminds us that nothing is more important than a relationship with the LORD, because only that will outlast our mortality. Jesus promised to raise those who believe and trust him on the last day. That commodity (faith in Christ) is the most precious of all things. It is worth surrendering all the wealth and fame the world has to offer, because those things will not survive. God’s kingdom will.

LORD, when we are tempted to put wealth or fame ahead of your kingdom, remind us of the fate of the Babylonian kings.

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waking to taunt Babylon

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 14:9-15

⁹ Sheol below is getting excited over you, to welcome your entrance, it wakes dead spirits for you, all of the leaders of the land. It raises all of the kings of the nations from their “thrones.” ¹⁰ All of them will respond and say to you, ‘You yourself were also made weak like us! You have become the same as us!’ ¹¹Your pride is brought down to Sheol, along with the sound of your harps; the maggot is spread out beneath you like a bed, and your covering is the worm. ¹²How you have fallen from the sky, morning star, son of dawn! You are cut down to the ground, conqueror of nations! ¹³ And you yourself said in your heart, ‘I will climb the sky; I will raise up my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the assembly mountain on the northern summit. ¹⁴I will ascend to high places where only a cloud goes. I will make myself like the Most High.’¹⁵ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.

waking to taunt Babylon

Sheol is the Hebrew term most used for the intermediate state – the state between death and resurrection. Isaiah pictures the dead rulers who had been put there by Babylon waking up from their sleep in Sheol and rejoicing that now their destroyer has been destroyed: the one who put them to death has now died. They exult over the fact that the king of Babylon who had such high ambitions for himself has been brought low – down to the dirt depths of Sheol.

Isaiah is not actually saying that people are awake in Sheol. He’s saying the exact opposite. In his vision, he saw those spirits who were asleep being woken up so that they could taunt Babylon. So, the point of this text is not to prove the unbiblical doctrine of innate immortality and a conscious intermediate state. Isaiah is predicting the death of Babylon. He would not be predicting death and denying it at the same time. In fact, he asserts the reality of death to all – even mighty Babylon.

When was the last time you thought about the reality that death comes to all? It is important to think about that, because no matter how great you are, or how successful you become, death awaits. Since we cannot escape it, it behooves us to approach the one who promises a resurrection unto eternal life. We can plan to succeed, but we must be aware that staying alive forever is not something that human beings are capable of doing. Only God has immortality, so if we want to overcome the death problem, we had better seek a relationship with him.

LORD, we confess our inability to survive this life. We trust your grace to raise us to a new, eternal life when you return.

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on the day Yahveh gives you rest

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 14:1-8

¹ But Yahveh will have compassion on Jacob, and he will again choose Israel and position them on their land, and the immigrant will join himself to them, and they will connect themselves to the house of Jacob. ² And Gentiles will rescue them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will take possession of those Gentiles in the land of Yahveh as slaves and female slaves. And this will happen: they will take their captors captive and have dominion over their oppressors. ³And it will happen on the day Yahveh gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and hard work which was you did. ⁴ that you will take this taunt against the king of Babylon, and you will say: “How an oppressor has stopped! Hostility has ceased. ⁵Yahveh has broken a wicked staff, a scepter of rulers, ⁶ that struck peoples in wrath, a blow without ceasing, that ruled nations in anger, bringing persecution without restraint. ⁷ All of the land rests peacefully; they break out singing. ⁸ Even cypresses rejoice over you, the cedars of Lebanon sing: ‘Since you were laid down, no lumberjack comes up against us.’

on the day Yahveh gives you rest

Isaiah’s predicts of the downfall of the Babylonian empire. He imagines the land breaking out in song because it is no longer under the oppression and pain of tyrants, seeking its destruction. Perhaps you have been going through a difficult time, and you are seeking that kind of rest. Maybe it has been a long time since you have felt like singing. Please know that you are not alone. The LORD knows the oppression you are feeling. He wants you to know that he plans to give you rest, and you will know a time when you can feel like singing again.

LORD, thank you for encouraging us with your presence during time when we feel overwhelmed. Thank you for the promise of deliverance, and the hope of future praise.

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goat dance

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 13:19-22

¹⁹ And Babylon, glory of kingdoms, the splendor of that the Chaldeans’ pride themselves in, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah’s catastrophic overthrow by God. ²⁰It will not be inhabited forever, and it will not be lived in even after generation and generation, and no Arab will pitch a tent there, and shepherds will not allow their animals to lie down there. ²¹ But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures, and the daughters of an ostrich will live there, and goats will dance there. ²² And hyenas will answer in its widowed palaces, and jackals in the pleasing temples; and its time is close to come and its days will not be prolonged.

goat dance

Isaiah’s prediction about Babylon is clear. It will be totally destroyed, and left uninhabited, except for the occasional wild animal straying into what was once a palace or temple, and dancing there. It will be like Sodom and Gomorrah. The destruction of these two evil cities was a direct result of God’s judgment, and was often used as a simile for his judgment upon other cities or nations.[1]

Jesus warned that his second coming will be like that too, only on a global scale. Like Noah’s flood or Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction by fire, the only hope is to escape it, because no one will live through it. The good news on both counts is that God had provided a means of escape, an ark for Noah, and an angel for lot. But most of the world ignored Noah’s ark, and Lot’s wife looked back, and was lost.

As we keep seeing in these Prophets, the LORD is the author of both the judgment and the rescue. Isaiah’s message to the Israelites is that God sees the oppression they are experiencing under Babylonian rule, and his judgment upon Babylon will be severe. The implication is that his power that can destroy mighty Babylon is available to deliver repentant Israel.

Jesus taught the same thing about his second coming. It will bring death and destruction to all – except those who are ready for it. Are you ready for the Lord Jesus to return?

Come, Lord Jesus.

[1] Genesis 19:24; Deuteronomy 29:23; Jeremiah 49:18; 50:40; Zephaniah 2:9.

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no mercy, no pity

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 13:14-18

¹⁴ And this will happen: like a hunted gazelle or sheep and without one who gathers them, they will each turn to his people, and they will each flee to his land.¹⁵ Everyone who is found will be pierced through, and everyone who is carried away will fall by the sword. ¹⁶ And their children will be dashed into pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be raped. ¹⁷Watch me stirring the Medes up against them, who do not value silver and do not delight in gold. ¹⁸ And bows will shatter young men. And they will not show mercy on fruit of the womb; their eyes will not look with pity on children.

no mercy, no pity

Isaiah continues to describe the future downfall of the Babylonian empire. He describes their soldiers as fleeing in panic back to their own country and their own kin. But that does not help them, because many will be caught and killed on the way, and those who arrive back home will be invaded and suffer the same atrocities that they had inflicted. Their children would be slaughtered before their eyes, and their wives raped. The God of armies sends armies that do not share his attributes of mercy and compassion. They will not be bribed by money to end their violence. They live for it.

Why is such a horrible depiction of violence in the holy scripture? First, it is the true depiction of the fate that Babylon suffered under the Medo Persian armies, as a punishment from God for its own violent overthrow of other nations, including Judah. Secondly, it hints of the terrible recompense that the planet will suffer on the day of Yahveh, when he brings punishment to cleanse the earth of its rebellion.

LORD, we shutter to think of the terrible retribution in store for those who have sinned against you by being cruel and violent toward others. We throw ourselves at your mercy, because you are a God of mercy and you have taken pity on us. By your grace you have atoned for our sins through Christ’s death on the cross. We cling to that cross, and seek deliverance from your terrible judgment. Our hearts also cry out for those still trapped in lives of sin and rebellion. Help us to reach them before they suffer such terrible punishment and destruction. Help us to reach them with the message of the victory you won for them at the cross.

Posted in atonement, destruction in hell, evangelism, judgment, violence | Tagged Isaiah 13 | Leave a comment