Devotions

God Is My Salvation

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Isaiah looks forward to the day after the day of judgement. He looks to the day when the descendents of evildoers will never be remembered. He looks forward to the day when “he will gather the outcasts of Israel”. But Isaiah is not just seeing the war between nations in his day, he is also speaking prophetically about the end time, the last days when the the devil himself and “mystery Babylon” will be put down, the one who deceives the nations. But that is not the end, the Lord will “choose Israel” and will establish His throne in Jerusalem. 

God Is My Salvation

Isaiah 12:1–6
Isaiah says, “on that day”, the day after the day of judgement, the day after the wrath of God, on the day when in Isaiah 10:11 “The Lord will again extend his hand a second time to acquire the remnant of his people that is left … And he will gather the outcasts of Israel, and he will gather the scattered ones of Judah together from the four corners of the earth”. It is on that day that those who have done as Isaiah was instructed in

Isaiah 8:13 You shall regard Yahweh of hosts as holy, and he is your fear, and he is your dread.

Those that have kept themselves will now say,

Isaiah 12:2–3 Look! God is my salvation; I will trust, and I will not be afraid, for my strength and might is Yah, Yahweh; and he has become salvation for me.” 3 And you will draw water from the wells of salvation in joy.

 

The Day of Yahweh (the Lord) is Near

Isaiah 13:1–11
The Assyrians were mighty in Isaiah’s day, but the Lord had already spoken to their arrogance. And Isaiah is writing well before the Babylonian seventy year exile that was to come so there are days of battle and destruction. And one commentator puts it all to “humankind’s will” saying, “There was a dark power in the shadows, biding its time … humanity’s bid to organize life and create security and stability by its own resources and without reference to God began at Shinar/Babel (Gen. 11:1–9). More than any other name, therefore, ‘Babylon’ typifies humankind’s will to be its own saviour.”1

But this goes beyond the war of Isaiah’s time and even the desolation of the Babylonian Empire that follows and we find ourselves in the middle of end-time prophecy as we come to Isaiah 14:12 the fall of Lucifer and the connections later with reference to “mystery Babylon” in Revelation 17:5. So, it is not just humanities will, but also the devil and his fallen angels and “the day of Yahweh (the Lord)” is coming for a purpose in

Isaiah 13:9–11 Look! The day of Yahweh is coming, cruel and wrath and the burning of anger … and he will destroy its sinners from it … And I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. And I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and I will bring the haughtiness of tyrants low.

I Will Make the Heavens Tremble

Isaiah 13:12–22
Now there is a new entry, the Medes, described in Isaiah 13:17-18 “who do not value silver and do not delight in gold” but even worse, “they will not show mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not look compassionately on children”. 

Yahweh (the Lord) Will Again Choose Israel

Isaiah 14:1–2
In these two short verses, Isaiah 14:1-2 the Lord says he will

  • have compassion on Jacob
  • again choose Israel
  • set them on their land
  • the immigrant will attach themselves
  • the nations will bring them to their place
  • the house of Israel will take possession of then (nations) as slaves

so, “they will take their captors captive and rule over their oppressors”.

Yahweh (the Lord) has Broken the Staff of the Wicked

Isaiah 14:3–12

The Descendants of Evildoers Will Not be Mentioned for Eternity

Isaiah 14:13–23

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Isaiah 12:1-6
  • Isaiah 13:1-22
  • Isaiah 14:1-23

References

  • 1. Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, p. 129). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.