Think on these questions as you dwell in Isaiah 19:1-15:

1. In this passage, the prophet Isaiah uses vivid and powerful language to describe God's judgment on Egypt. How does the imagery used by Isaiah emphasize the severity and inevitability of God's judgment on Egypt, and what lessons can we draw from it?

2. Isaiah challenges the wisdom of Egypt and its reliance on human knowledge and power. How does this passage highlight the futility of human wisdom and the need for reliance on God's wisdom and guidance? What does it teach us about human pride and self-sufficiency?

3. The passage mentions the Nile River and its significance to Egypt's prosperity. How does the impending drought and devastation of the Nile River symbolize God's judgment on the things that nations often trust for security and success? How can we apply this lesson to our own lives and priorities?

Transcript:

So, the prophetic words continue to flow from the pen of Isaiah, as he is inspired by the Holy Spirit. They are oracles of judgment once again. We see this time that he is speaking Egypt, and there is some unbelievably powerful and vivid language in this statement to Egypt. I particularly like the second half of verse 1. The idol of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. In other words, God is saying, Look, there is nothing that you can do about this. Even your false worship, your false gods, they will tremble at his presence. They are nothing. This is calling, of course, to imagery that would be in the minds of the Hebrew people. They know what happened in the Book of Genesis. They know how the false idol is that this false religion of the Egyptians was overthrown by the hand of God back in the Book of Acts. They know, they're calling upon, this imagery here, if they think of it, but this is not just something to the idol. This is not just a statement there. It's the heart of the Egyptians, will not within.

They will feel judgment, and they're going to call upon necromancers and sorcerers and mediums and all these things. Nothing will be able to be done by any human person. And we see the scope of this. And it's important for us to remember that the judgment of God, we imagine in our mind, don't we usually think of something like, say, Satam and Gamora, where it's just laid to waste. Fire from the sky, that's the judgment of God. So often, the judgment of God is very clearly God basically causing affliction to the people in that area through natural things, through maybe the weather, such as here we see it will be a drought, or other armies coming in by natural, ordinary means, but God ordains it by his sovereign hand. Here we see God is showing his power over this particular nature because it looks like there's going to be a drought, doesn't there? Verse 7 and verse 8, there will be places by the Nile on the brink of the Nile. The Nile is a sign of prosperity. This is where water is in the midst of relatively dry and arid region, right? But now that's going to be gone.

This will be normally considered a blessing, is going to be laid to waste. And all that is sown by the Nile is going to be parched, will be driven away. It will be no more. All of this is changed. The fishermen won't be able to fish. None of this will be able to happen. We see that the workers of flax will be in despair. The weavers of cotton won't have cotton. Everything will be gone for them. They won't be able to do it. Here we see the prophet, Isaiah saying, Consult some of your wise people. This is the first one. How can you say, Pharaoh? I am son of the wise. Isaiah asked a question, Where then are your wise men? They're so wise. Let me tell you that they might know why this is happening. They might know why this is coming, right? There's some sarcasm being used for lack of a better way of describing it by the Prophet. I say, He wants them to understand that they are not wise. God is wise. If they were truly wise, they would have known what God was going to do. They would have known not to stand rebellion against Him.

As this section that we've write to the A, we read in verses 14, The Lord has mailed within her spirit confusion, and they will make you to them, to them, to all of these. Here is this very vivid image that we can picture in our minds. This is a drunk man staggers in his van. It's meant to show us just how desperate this is, just how lost they are. This is very powerful imagery, and we're imagining it. It not only shows that they're staggering, they're dirty, they're filthy, they're getting into their own mess. So there will be nothing for Egypt to head or tail, palm branch, or reed major. There is nothing. So as we think about this word of judgment. May we be reminded the word of judgment comes against all of you. When it comes to our sin, we are dead in our sin. We are like this jerk of man, staggering as vomit. We are lost on our own. As humans, if we try to save ourselves, we are just like Egypt. We think we're wise, but we aren't. We're lost. We're staggering. There's nothing that we can do. We have been blessed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

While we deserve this type of judgment that is being described here, we are not receiving that when we are Christ. Instead, we are given wisdom to understand that we must rest on Christ alone. He is our hope. He is our joy. He is our peace. As we think about this word of judgment, all these words of judgment that we have seen by them, may we remember the good news that in Christ we have been judged. Christ has borne it for us. And so may we live in hope and live in peace today, trusting in that salvation.