It used to bother me that the Bible would repeat itself from time to time. But these days when I am trying to remember what I am reading it seems to be a helpful memory aid. Who knows, maybe that’s why God inspired the authors to write the same thing several times.
I was reading (as you likely were) about the impending assault on Israel from the Assyrian army when my Google searches took me into a completely new direction. Bear with me for a second and I will share with you.
Before I wander too far off the main themes, let me jot them down to further aid in my recollection. Isaiah is marking the progress of the Assyrian army as they move toward Israel. The Assyrians are ferocious, proud and evil and they are devouring every nation in their path. No one seems able to stand before them. People are abandoning their homes and fleeing for their lives because they know how ruthless the Assyrians are. So it seems worth mentioning that even though they are wicked, and are treating the people cruelly, God takes credit for sending them. I suppose this should end the discussion about whether or not God can use evil people. He can, and He does, to suit His own purposes. If God can bring the
Assyrians to punish His people, and later use Cyrus the Persian to bless them…can He not also bring resources to the Church from outside of the faith? He certainly can. And, if the body of Christ is being rebellious or disobedient, then God can use non-Christian people and means to “shock or shame” them back into obedience. Every once in awhile I am in a situation (as a leader) where I think to myself “this could end badly” but then it doesn’t. Is that luck? I doubt it. Rather, I think God is blessing the Church. Should the Church begin to disobey, then one of those instances could in fact end very badly…because God will simply withhold His blessing, or His protection.
God is angry with Israel, so He is doing exactly that. But wait, there’s more.
Today we read that Uzziah and his son Jotham were both godly men. (sure, Uzziah strayed and disobeyed and developed leprosy..but overall he was a godly man for much of his rule). Jotham is remembered as a man who was careful to obey what God commanded. So, the Assyrian army is literally “at the door” and moving south toward him. Will God allow the Assyrians to conquer a godly nation while permitting them to gobble up the ungodly? Jothams grandson (Hezekiah) will discover that nothing is too difficult for the Lord. The Assyrians will surround Jerusalem and then mysteriously vanish in defeat in the middle of the night. Their commander will be assassinated by his own shortly after returning home.
God is able to both deploy and detain the wicked at His command. Nothing is to hard for the Lord.
We shouldn’t leave this reading without celebrating the wonderful prophecy about the coming of the Lord in physical form to rule over the earth. This passage may refer to the millenium, or to life on the new earth after this one has been destroyed. God himself will reign with peace and justice eternally. The images here of children playing with snakes and cows grazing with bears are meant to help us understand that this will be a time of unprecedented peace. No one will be thinking of war. No one will be stockpiling weapons or hoarding resources. The whole earth will be filled with righteousness and justice and peace. It truly will be Utopia…but it cannot occur without God being at the head, and directing it. And, it cannot occur with the devil is still operating outside of his eternal punishment. Utopia will come, but never because of human effort.
Okay, God promises that His people will return from all over the globe when this time of peace draws near, right? You will see that the Euphrates will split into 7 different streams, all so shallow that people can cross them on foot. In a few days, we will read about how the same thing will happen to the Nile. Here’s the interesting fact I looked up this morning:
The Euphrates river is drying up. The Euphrates river basin is losing water faster than anywhere else on earth, outside of northern India. There is serious concern of drought in the area…farmers in Iraq in the Anbar province have had no water for years. When ISIS was defeated there they blew up 6 of the 10 doors on one great dam, which limits the ability of the government to shunt water away from the Euphrates to the canals. Now the land is in drought. On the Nile, the Ethiopians have created a new dam…it was completed in April of 2017 that will take a great deal of water away from the Nile, which is downstream. At one time the idea was so controversial that the Egyptians threatened war if the dam was built, but now they have reluctantly agreed to go along with it. There are serious concerns that the Dam will partially dry up the Nile. By the way, the Bible says that in the end time the Nile and the Euphrates will become very shallow.
I have also been watching for years the gradual drying up of the Dead Sea. It is less than half the size it used to be. The Middle East is running out of water, just as the Bible predicted.
Coincidence?
PR