Devotional – 041010

This week my church is preaching through Isaiah 13-14. I took the liberty of jumping ahead and read the text myself. The more I study the book of Isaiah the more I’m amazed at its astonishing structure. As it turns out, chapters 13-23 continue the “Lessons in Trust” the Lord has been trying to teach the nation of Israel. During the reign of Ahaz, Israel was tempted to trust in other nations when threatened by war. Chapter 13-14 is an oracle against the nation of Babylon. Although the Lord will use Babylon to judge Israel, the Lord Himself will also judge Babylon further emphasizing that no other nation, not even mighty Babylon, compares to God’s sovereignty.

Regarding the text itself, chapters 13-14 are written as a chiasm. Duvall and Hays says, “Chiasm is a fascinating literary feature that is seldom used in English but is employed frequently by the biblical authors, especially in the Old Testament. In a chiasm a list of items, ideas, or events is structured in such a manner that the first item parallels the last item, the second item parallels the next to the last item, and so forth.” For an illustration lets look at the actual text, which Motyer has outlined:

A1 The day of the Lord: the beckoning hand, a universal purpose declared (13:2-16)

B1 The overthrow of Babylon: the end of the kingdom, the fact of divine overthrow (13:17-22)

C The security and future of the Lord’s people: a contrasting universal purpose (14:1-2)

B2 The overthrow of Babylon: the end of the king, the explanation of divine overthrow (14:3-23)

A2 The end of Assyrian power: the outstretched hand, a universal purpose exemplified and validated (14:24-27)

Motyer goes on to explain that A1 and A2 raise the question of the locus of power in history. The appearance of things is the exercise of power by human will; the reality is the exercise of sovereign rule by the will of God. B1 and B2 stress the moral dimension in the purposes of God. They contrast the appearance of human glory with the reality of human emptiness and expose the worm in the bud: the pride which invites and merits divine judgment. To all this there is a common hub (C): consideration of the care of the people of God. The power that gathers nations (13:2-5), overthrows kingdoms (13:17-19), breaks kings (14:5) and ends empires (14:24) is a power of compassion towards church. It is allied to a divine world-view whereby aliens become Israelites (14:1b), Gentile peoples co-operate in the Lord’s purposes (14:1b, 2a) and the captor-captive roles are reversed (14:2b).

Yet, despite all the power and glory our heavenly Father displays; we, like the nation of Israel, persist in trusting everything else before God. We give our allegiance to the things of this world as though they can give us significance and worth. I know my personal battles with this daily. But I am wonderfully reminded that it was God who breathed life into our nostrils. This temporal world is only the veil and as John Oswalt states, “Why trust the veil when we may trust Him who is behind the veil and will assuredly one day pull that veil to the ground?” Christ said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matt. 7:24). Nations indeed rise and fall, but we can stand because His kingdom is forever.