*Scripture: Isaiah 33:1-24 (NKJV)* 1 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. 2 O LORD, be gracious to us; We have waited for You. Be their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. 3 At the noise of the tumult the people shall flee; When You lift Yourself up, the nations shall be scattered; 4 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. 5 The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. 6 Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation; The fear of the LORD is His treasure. 7 Surely their valiant ones shall cry outside, the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. 8 The highways lie waste, the traveling man ceases. He has broken the covenant, He has despised the cities, He regards no man. 9 The earth mourns and languishes, Lebanon is shamed and shriveled; Sharon is like a wilderness, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.
10 "Now I will rise," says the LORD; "Now I will be exalted, now I will lift Myself up. 11 You shall conceive chaff, you shall bring forth stubble; Your breath, as fire, shall devour you. 12 And the people shall be like the burnings of lime; like thorns cut up they shall be burned in the fire. 13 Hear, you who are afar off, what I have done; And you who are near, acknowledge My might." 14 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?" 15 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: 16 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. 17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will see the land that is very far off. 18 Your heart will meditate on terror: "Where is the scribe? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?" 19 You will not see a fierce people, a people of obscure speech, beyond perception, of a stammering tongue that you cannot understand. 20 Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet home, a tabernacle that will not be taken down; Not one of its stakes will ever be removed, nor will any of its cords be broken. 21 But there the majestic LORD will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will sail, nor majestic ships pass by 22 (For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our Lawgiver, the LORD is our King; He will save us); 23 Your tackle is loosed, they could not strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail. Then the prey of great plunder is divided; The lame take the prey. 24 And the inhabitant will not say, "I am sick"; The people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity. *Devotion* Fourteen years have passed between chapter 33 and 34. Isaiah is giving a fifth Woe against Assyria, who is returned to Judah and is threatening the city Jerusalem. Rather than trust in Him, God's people are sending ambassadors with gold and silver to Sennacherib, (2 Kings 18:14) the king of Assyria, asking him for help. His treacherous response was to take their goods, and then defeat Jerusalem. Isaiah says, "The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly" for their lack of trust in God. Once the Assyrians had plundered Israel, then the true God would plunder the Assyrians for their treachery. They will not get ahead. Luther says, "In short, however much you steal, depend on it that just as much will be stolen from you. Anyone who robs and takes things by violence and dishonesty must put up with another who plays the same game. For God is a master of this art; since everyone robs and steals from the other, he punishes one thief by means of another. Otherwise, where would we find enough gallows and ropes?" (Large Catechism, 243) In contrast to the treacherous, there were some in Zion who trusted in God. God was "their arm every morning." The strength of God's right arm, Jesus Christ, is "our salvation also in the time of trouble." With verses 17-24, the Prophet Isaiah is giving a description of the New Testament Church saying, "Your eyes will see the King in His beauty." Jesus brings believers into His Church, a solid defense. Need we say more than Isaiah's last line, "The people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity."
_______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
