There are a lot of difficult-to-understand passages here that might tempt us to give up on understanding prophecy. I hope to be able to give a better understanding without making this post too long. The message in Isaiah is too good to miss!
In chapter 28, the crown is a reference to the leaders of Israel, whom God is preparing to punish using a “strong and mighty agent” that He’s going to “cast down to earth with His hand.” (That agent would be Assyria, and that treading underfoot came in 722 B.C., as we read in II Kings 17.) Even the religious leaders were mocking the words of God sent through His prophets, believing they were too sophisticated to heed their messages. My Bible has the following footnote for verse 28:10: “These Hebrew monosyllables, imitating the babbling of a child, mock the prophet’s preaching.” Then in verse 13, “The Lord responds to their scoffing by imitating their mockery, to represent the unintelligible language of a conqueror.” The covenant with death they think they have made is the same lie people believe today, that death is not the awful thing it truly is, that it shouldn’t drive them to God for rescue. God’s glorious answer to that deception is Messiah. The man who continues to seek repose in such lies will find them inadequate to stretch out on, and too short to cover himself; he will be left exposed on the day he is confronted with the truth. Think about what a terrifying prospect that will be.
The cultivation object lesson in chapter 28 is teaching about the appropriateness of the infinitely wise God’s methods for bringing His rebellious people to the point where they bear worthwhile fruit. Plowing, sowing (which was done by scattering seed in those days), threshing, crushing the seed coating – cultivation is rough. It requires breaking up hard ground (are we hard ground?), scattering, beating and crushing. His methods at time seem harsh, but they aren’t unnecessarily so, and they don’t last any longer than necessary to bring the desired result.
Chapter 29 pronounces woe on the city of Jerusalem. In other places in prophecy God points out that there was still hope for Judah at this point in their history, for they were more faithful to Him than Israel was. However, they were only going through the motions, more devoted to their traditions and practices than they were to God Himself. They were too blind and stupidly drunk on their sin to be able to perceive the truth of their condition. Is that anything like God’s people today? In His addressing Jerusalem, the place where He dwelt, we can’t see a reference to the U.S. in this object lesson, but a reference to the Church – to us. Let’s not miss it by failing to perceive the truth as they did.
God had a remedy in mind for this inability to perceive the truth. He called it a “wondrously marvelous” remedy; we generally don’t see the necessary remedy as a wondrous work. For the remedy He describes is a tearing down, a leveling. For it seems that only in the “gloom and darkness” of his lowest point can man (or woman) look to God in a way that enables him to truly see. It is when we come to God needy that we are prepared to hear from Him. He’s not talking about hearing the babble and nodding our heads in response, but hearing in a way that changes us and compels us to obey.
Chapter 30 describes how His people were sinning: they were making plans without consulting Him, and they were seeking their security in Egypt instead of in God. Do we consider that awful sin? Those aren’t the biggies that generally come to mind when we think of sin; those are way down the list, so far down on the list that they may actually fall off the list in our estimation of sin. However, God judged His Old Testament people for such sin. He doesn’t consider it minor sin. Sin produces sin, and the sin piles up until it can no longer be confined, breaking out of whatever walls we think we’ve constructed to keep it curbed. Sin – any sin – is a problem.
God has a remedy for that sin and the destructive, useless mess it results in: repentance and rest, quietness and trust. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? Resting in Him. Trusting in Him. He doesn’t want to plow us up, beat us, crush us forever; no, He “longs to be gracious” to us and waits to show us compassion. Why would we ever resist Him?
Hopefully we will give these prophecies careful thought, and give our own hearts, minds and lives careful thought in light of them. I pray that we long for God, rather than scratching the surface and settling for self-satisfaction, and that we will see ourselves as needy, so needy that we are driven to Him for rescue.