Isaiah 33:1-16 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 33:1-16. Let’s go! As usual, I recommend that you read the whole passage by yourself a couple times and see what you can extract from the passage before reading the message below.
Isaiah 33:1 (NIV)
1 Woe to you, O destroyer, you who have not been destroyed! Woe to you, O traitor, you who have not been betrayed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying, you will be betrayed.
On verse 1: Remember that chapters 28-33 contain 5 messages of both woe and hope, all in connection with Judah, Judah’s alliance with Egypt and the threat of Assyria. Here in this third of five messages of woe, Isaiah is likely addressing Assyria and predicting that after Assyria has destroyed other nations, Assyria itself will be destroyed. The reason Isaiah calls Assyria a “traitor” is possibly because Assyria and Judah seemed to make peace in 2 Kings 18:13-16, only for Assyria to break that peace shortly after and invade Judah (as described in 2 Chronicles 32:1).
Isaiah 33:2 (NIV)
2 O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.
On verse 2: Perhaps in light of the havoc and destruction that Assyria will bring, Isaiah calls out to God for help. Whether or not you have an Assyria breathing down your back, we can pray this prayer as well to express our need for God.
Isaiah 33:3-5 (NIV)
3 At the thunder of your voice, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.
4 Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts men pounce on it.
5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
On verses 3-5: With “justice and righteousness” (v5) – this is Isaiah’s favourite pair of words. The only one Isaiah tends to ascribe these words to are the LORD and His Messiah. While God is so powerful that at the sound of His voice nations scatter (v3) and plunder is recovered (4), God does everything with justice and righteousness (v5). He “dwells” (v5) and operates on a much higher level than we do.
Isaiah 33:6 (NIV)
6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.
On verse 6: If you want a sure foundation for your life and a wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge, the key to all this is to fear the LORD, that is, to trust God and honour Him.
Isaiah 33:7-16 (NIV)
7 Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways are deserted, no travelers are on the roads. The treaty is broken, its witnesses are despised, no one is respected.
9 The land mourns and wastes away, Lebanon is ashamed and withers; Sharon is like the Arabah, and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.
10 “Now will I arise,” says the LORD. “Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up.
11 You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you.
12 The peoples will be burned as if to lime; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.”
13 You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge my power!
14 The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?”
15 He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil–
16 this is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him.
On verses 7-16: These verses are likely describing the shame, humiliation and desolation that Judah would experience at the hands of the Assyrians. Once fruitful places in Judah like Lebanon, Sharon, Bashan and Carmel will turn them into a fruitless desert (v9). All this is happening as God brings judgment upon Judah (v14), for only those who truly walk righteously can dwell with God on the heights (v16).
What can we learn from this? Since God reigns on high in perfect righteousness, those who want to be with him on the heights must be righteous as well. God’s standard is perfect. Who then can get to where God is? None of us can, not by our own strength. That is why God would send Jesus Christ to come down to our level, to live the life only God in the flesh could live, and to die on the cross for our sins. When we couldn’t go up to where God is by our own merit, God came down to where we are by His own mercy.
Father, I can never go up to where You are on my own merit. It’s only because of Your mercy that I am not destroyed by Your wrath but am rescued by Your grace. Thank You for being gracious to us. We long for You. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of distress. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
