The Motivation behind the Oracles

"My heart cries out for Moab" Isaiah 15:5

In these oracles we should never forget that all people are God's people.  He loved and loves not only Judah and Israel but ALL men - Assyrians, Philistines, Moabites, Egyptians, Cushites, etc..  He warns for the purpose of repentance.  His intent is always redemption and salvation for all.

This is true even today.  He doesn't force repentance, but He does graciously and repeatedly extend the opportunity.

I wrote this on a Sunday morning, and then our pastor preached on Jonah.  Is this the only prophetic book that records a repentance?  Jonah prophesied about 40 years before Isaiah.  Ninevah was in Assyria, the enemy that was pounding on Judah's door during the time of Isaiah.  Evidently, the Assyrians were cruel beyond belief, so cruel that Jonah's unwillingness to go there is understandable in human terms.  

Unlike the 66 chapters of Isaiah's prophecies, we have one line from Jonah.  

"Yet forty days and Ninevah will be overthrown."

Maybe he said more and it's not recorded.  Maybe he just spent a day walking the city and shouting this prophecy.  What happened next illustrates for us the reason God sent prophets.

"Then the people of Ninevah believed in God... (and the king issued a proclamation) 'Let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.  Who knows, God may turn and relent, and withdraw His burning anger so that we shall not perish?' When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked ways, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them.  And He did not do it." Jonah 3:5,8-10

This is the heart of God!!  Jonah defines it for us later on (even though he's complaining).

"For I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity." Jonah 4:1

I believe this is God's hope and desire for all nations and all people.  This is why He sent prophets, and this is why Isaiah wrote the oracles against the nations.  God's desire was that the nations would hear the warning, believe in God, and repent.  

As we were reminded in chapter 14, what God intends will stand.  His intent is repentance and His desire is to 'relent concerning calamity.' But God holds back from forcing repentance.  He does not grab us and slam redemption into our chests, forcing us to embrace it.  He offers.  He warns.  He knows ahead of time who will accept and who will reject.  I believe He grieves.

"My heart cries out for Moab."  And Assyria.  And Israel.  And Judah. 

And Iran.  And ISIS.  

"For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You."  Psalm 86:5

Who is God?

After chapter 13, I leap at the first words of chapter 14! "The Lord will have compassion ... and will choose." Me! I'm reading this with my name substituted for Jacob's.  Never forget that no matter how great God's wrath and anger appear when He is punishing for sin and wickedness, His compassion for His children is equally as great.  

It's somewhat unique that much of this chapter is written as a taunt that reveals attitudes as well as events.  I find verses 13-14 most revealing.

"But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God... I will make myself like the Most High."

Matthew Henry says the following: "It is a gracious ambition to covet to be like the Most Holy, for he has said, Be you holy, for I am holy; but it is a sinful ambition to aim to be like the Most High, for he has said, He that exalteth himself shall be abased, and the devil drew our first parents in to eat forbidden fruit by promising them that they should be as gods."

We should strive to be holy as God is holy, but we must never strive or put ourself in a position to try to be God.  This may seem obvious, but I'm not confident I'm in the clear.  Does my pride ever lead me to judge what God does as faulty?  Do I ever think I have a better plan than what I see God doing? Do I ever reject God's ways?

I don't think I'm likely to raise a throne or a banner to myself or consciously proclaim myself to be like God.  But I feel I need to be watchful of the heart attitudes that creep in and lead me to consider myself the sole authority and the one with the best ideas.  When I grumble about what God is doing, perhaps I need to check my heart and make sure I'm not acting as the clay berating the potter.

I more frequently fall into this when I see things happening around me that I conclude can't possibly be the will of God.  But look at verses 24 and 27.

"Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand."

"For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it?"

The times that I doubt God's plans are the times I must be careful not to think of myself as God or more highly than God.  When I think I could run things better.  When I suspect God is impotent. When I doubt God's goodness as I look at circumstances.  

This is hard!  Divorce, illness, death, financial devastation, floods (literally!), fire, job loss.  How do I reconcile the plans of God with the things that from my perspective seem solely destructive, negative or full of evil?

I believe that this is why knowing the character of God is crucial.  When we can't see the goodness of God, we need to be able to remember who He is.  From our study so far in Isaiah, here is what I have gleaned about God's character:

-God always has a plan for redemption.

-God is for the poor, the widow, and the orphan.

-God is for justice and righteousness.

-God invites us to walk with Him.

-The Lord alone will be exalted.

-The Lord is holy.

-God is with us.

-God is light, salvation, strength, song.

He planned it.  It will stand.  He is good.  

That's all I have to stand on.