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Isaiah 33

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Verses 1-9, “Woe to you who plunder, though you have not been plundered; And you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you! When you cease plundering, You will be plundered; When you make an end of dealing treacherously, They will deal treacherously with you. O Lord, be gracious to us; We have waited for You. Be their arm every morning, Our salvation also in the time of trouble. At the noise of the tumult the people shall flee; When You lift Yourself up, the nations shall be scattered; And Your plunder shall be gathered Like the gathering of the caterpillar; As the running to and fro of locusts, He shall run upon them. The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, And the strength of salvation; The fear of the Lord is His treasure. Surely their valiant ones shall cry outside, The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. The highways lie waste, The traveling man ceases. He has broken the covenant, He has despised the cities, He regards no man. The earth mourns and languishes, Lebanon is shamed and shriveled; Sharon is like a wilderness, And Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.”

The Assyrisns were plundering and dealing treacherously with the Jewish people, thinking that they were unstoppable. What is worse is that their victims had not done anything to them that would warrant the attacks. But the Lord would deal with the Assyrians according to how they treated others; and finally the Jews were ready to look to God for help, rather then to Egypt. When we wait upon the Lord, He will deliver us. We will not be ashamed, but our persecutors will be...in due season.  Psalms 25:1‭-‬3, “To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me. Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.”

Verses 10-20, “ 'Now I will rise,' says the Lord; “Now I will be exalted, Now I will lift Myself up. You shall conceive chaff, You shall bring forth stubble; Your breath, as fire, shall devour you. And the people shall be like the burnings of lime; Like thorns cut up they shall be burned in the fire. Hear, you who are afar off, what I have done; And you who are near, acknowledge My might.” The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, He who despises the gain of oppressions, Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, And shuts his eyes from seeing evil: He will dwell on high; His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; Bread will be given him, His water will be sure. Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will see the land that is very far off. Your heart will meditate on terror: 'Where is the scribe? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?' You will not see a fierce people, A people of obscure speech, beyond perception, Of a stammering tongue that you cannot understand.”

The Lord is announcing His judgement, where He brings forth fire to destroy all those who oppose Him, and exalts Himself to His rightful place of honor. When this happens there will be two outcomes for the people. The sinners will be overtaken with fear, knowing they have no escape from His righteous judgement of fire. However, those who walk in righteousness and keep themselves from evil will not only be blessed with protection and provision, but will get to see the glory and full beauty of their King. We do not get these blessings by simply claiming to know Jesus or speaking a one time prayer, though. You must walk by the power of the Spirit in truth and righteousness. 

The bible tells us to abstain from every form of evil. Only those who obey are truly His.  II Timothy 2:19, “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are His,' and, 'Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.' ”  Seeing Jesus face to face should be the most glorious day, but for the ungodly and the hypocrites, it will be the most terrifying day of all. The book of Hebrews tells us that if we continue to sin after knowing the truth, we should have a fearful expectation of this fire that will consume all the enemies of God. And if you want to be a friend of the world, YOU have made yourself His enemy.  Hebrews 10:26‭-‬27, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”

Knowing this should motivate us to pray for our unsaved loved ones, those who think they are saved but aren't, and those who have walked away from the faith. It should also motivate us through fear to do ALL that we can, and pray that we would be able to escape the judgement of this world and before Him.  Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”  Luke 21:36, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Comments

  1. HaleyApril 10, 2021 at 12:41 PM

    “Woe to you who plunder, though you have not been plundered; And you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you! When you cease plundering, You will be plundered; When you make an end of dealing treacherously, They will deal treacherously with you. O LORD, be gracious to us; We have waited for You. Be their arm every morning, Our salvation also in the time of trouble. At the noise of the tumult the people shall flee; When You lift Yourself up, the nations shall be scattered; And Your plunder shall be gathered Like the gathering of the caterpillar; As the running to and fro of locusts, He shall run upon them.”Isaiah 33:1-4 Although the Assryians looked like the could not be defeated, they actually could. Anything is possible will the help of God, but we have to want His help. The people of God had to wait and pray for the Lord l’s help and they had to believe he could stop the Assryians. In the end God was able to defeat the undefeated. Many times people do think something is possible so they do not ask for help. In some way the do not think that God cannot help them. This is not true. Anything is possible for God. We just have to pray and ask. Others will also turn to the world for help thinking that they will get a better outcome. Instead of thinking He can't, we need to turn to God and ask for help. We also need to believe He can do anything, and only will do it if we ask. Not only should we ask but we need to make sure we have the right motives. When people ask God for something and He does not give it to them, the people get mad and think they prayed so He will give them what they want. He does not work like that. We need to make sure we have the right heart with what we are asking for and we need to pray if it be His will. “You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” James 4:2-3

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