Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 14:24-32

Consider these questions as you dwell in Isaiah 14:24-32:

1. How does the concept of God's control and sovereignty over His plans and judgments in the Book of Isaiah provide comfort and assurance to His people, even in the face of impending judgment?

2. What is the significance of the repeated imagery of God's hand being stretched out over all nations in these verses, and how does it emphasize the impossibility of thwarting God's purposes?

3. How does the idea of finding refuge in God relate to the overall message of these passages in Isaiah, and what does it teach us about our response to God's sovereignty and control over all things?

Transcript:

This prophetic word that we keep seeing in the Book of Isaiah is always seeming to be one of judgment. This again can be hard to hear, but the overarching message is that God is in control. And for those who are his people, is that not a message of good news? Despite judgment that is coming, God is in control, and he is the one who is doing it. If we believe that God is good and that God is holy and that God is just, we know that His judgments are all of this. So here I want us to draw out some of the language that is used here, but the power and the Majesty and the certainty of God's plans. So we see here in verse 24 right away, The Lord of horse, as I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purpose, so shall it stand. It doesn't matter what the intention is. It doesn't matter what we think. When God makes a plan, it comes to that. That is the idea that we see here. Now, this makes sense to us, right? Even though I think we think that somehow we have autonomy and we have power and we can ordain things in our way, we understand that there is a God who is good and just and holy and all those things that we know to be true about God, then He makes a plan.

It's going to come across. We can't thwart it. He is going to accomplish it. That's an important thing that we are seeing here in the Book of Isaiah. While some of this stuff looks bad, the judgment that's coming upon the people of God still is the plan of God, and He is doing as he planned, but he has a purpose for it. We've talked about that purpose, that His purpose is discipline, that his purpose is repentance, to draw his people back to himself. But we see here real truth and an understanding of this idea that God is in control here, don't we? And we see this also in verses 26-27, that is purpose concern the whole earth, not just Israel, not just Israel. The whole earth is in hands of God. And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. There's that repetition there. I think that's good poetic work here by an Isaiah to say the word of the Lord in this way. This is the purpose that is focused concerning the whole earth. Then we repeat that idea here that his hand is out over all the nations. Same thing twice, driving that point home to the audience as well.

We see here in verse 27, For the Lord of hosts has purpose, who will know it? He's going to stop the Lord of hosts, right? His hand is stretched out and who will turn it back? Again, a repetition of the image of God stretching on his hands, he's repeated from verse 26 again. Poetic structure here helps drive home this point. We're not going to undo the purposes of God. If his hand is stretched out, He's going to move it back. Who is going to slap God's hand when he reaches out for something. You're not going to stop the Almighty. And we see this also in verse 32, when Ziah is proclaiming the word of the Lord with people in Philistia. What will one answer the messages? The nation, the Lord has found Zion, and in her, the afflicted of these people find refuge. This God whose hand cannot be turned back to where the people of God find refuge, is not going to stop his plan. He's going to answer on the prophets of God. If God is speaking, His work is going to be done, and that is where those people find refuge. May you and I think about this passage and this language here at the end about this idea that we find a refuge in God.

May we hear God's word. May we trust His sovereign hand. May we understand that when we are afflicted, when things don't seem to be going our way, we run to the one who is in control because he is able to take all of these things, and he is able to work them together for good, for those who love him. We rest in that. We trust in him. So may we do that.