Waiting On God
Isaiah 18
July 23, 2023
Psalms 27:14 “Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.”
Psalms 62:5 “My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him.”
Psalms 130:5 “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope.”
And of course the famous one:
Isaiah 40:31 “Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”
We read that word often in Scripture and it is easy to read.
“Wait” (sometimes it is translated “trust”)
And if you’ve ever waited on the LORD,
Then you know how much faith is involved in that decision.
IT IS HARD TO WAIT.
Perhaps you remember the story of the new young King Saul.
• Thirty years old
• New on the throne
• At war with the Philistines
• Waiting on Samuel to arrive and offer the sacrifice to seek the LORD.
• The people are scattering in fear.
1 Samuel 13:9-14 “So Saul said, “Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. But Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the LORD.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.” Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, for now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. “But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”
Saul found how difficult it is to wait on God, in the midst of peril,
When it didn’t appear God was doing anything.
Perhaps you remember the story of Elijah the prophet.
• He had the mighty showdown on Mt. Carmel
• He slew the 450 prophets of Baal
• He ran back to Jezreel expecting revival,
• All he got was a death threat
• Elijah couldn’t figure out what God was doing
• So he ran to Mt. Horeb to find God.
TURN TO: 1 KINGS 19:9-21
God was moving, but He was moving like a gentle breeze,
Barely detectable, barely noticeable, but effective none the less.
AND THEN WE COME TO OUR TEXT TODAY
And we see God’s intervention described in similar terms.
(4) “For thus the LORD has told me, “I will look from My dwelling place quietly Like dazzling heat in the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
The intervention of God here is described like “heat” or like “dew”.
• It is real, it is powerful, it accomplishes much,
• But it’s really hard to see.
• It’s really hard to recognize.
Today we use phrases like:
“Watching paint dry”
Which indicates something that is occurring,
But it is occurring so slowly you can’t really see it happening.
AND THIS IS OFTEN HOW GOD WORKS.
He is at work, but many times His work is difficult to discern for a while.
And the TEMPTATION that we face is to opt for QUICKER SOLUTIONS.
And that reality brings us to Isaiah 18.
ISAIAH 18 IS NOT AN ORACLE.
It is not a burden that God has laid upon a neighboring nation.
BUT IT ADDRESSES A SCENARIO
That has obviously arisen within the border of Judah.
As you know there is an enemy lurking in the world.
That enemy is Assyria.
• They are conquering at will
• Thus far no one has been able to stand up to them.
Isaiah has already told us why they are so successful.
Isaiah 10:6 “I send it against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture booty and to seize plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets.”
Assyria is God’s rod.
• He is using Assyria to punish pagans and to purify His remnant.
Isaiah has even told us that God is going to deal with Assyria.
Isaiah 10:12 “So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness.”
Isaiah 10:25 “For in a very little while My indignation against you will be spent and My anger will be directed to their destruction.”
So God’s plan & purposes have been clearly articulated by Isaiah,
But right now Judah is still waiting for that to come to fruition.
RIGHT NOW Assyria is a force.
RIGHT NOW Assyria seems unstoppable.
THE PLAN OF THE DAY for most nations around Judah is to find an ally.
We already saw how PHILISTIA reached out to Judah and invited them under their protection.
• Isaiah’s counsel was, “Don’t do it, just keep trusting in the One who founded
Israel, for He is the One who will sustain her.”
We saw last week how MOAB was in trouble and Isaiah’s counsel was that Moab should come and seek the protection of Judah, but Moab was too proud to seek such a thing.
And we know that ARAM and ISRAEL had already made an alliance in hopes of strengthening their chances of withstanding an Assyrian invasion,
• Isaiah said, “It won’t work”.
But THE PLAN OF THE DAY for most nations is clear.
Go get an ally; go find someone to stand with you against Assyria.
And even though God has told Judah not to fret Assyria,
That can be easier said than done.
Waiting on God can be a serious test of faith.
SO HERE it is apparent that an IDEA has arisen in Judah.
One can only imagine how many would-be counselors have been more than willing to offer their advice regarding what Judah should do to prepare for the Assyrians.
It would seem that one of the pieces of advice that was gaining traction
Was that Judah should reach out to Cush.
So just a quick clarification regarding who this is.
• The land of Cush actually included what is today the southern part of Egypt, all of Sudan and the northern part of modern-day Ethiopia.
• Many commentators simply refer to Cush as Ethiopia.
They showed up as enemies of Israel back in the days of Rehoboam.
2 Chronicles 12:2-3 “And it came about in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were without number: the Lubim, the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians.”
And again in:
2 Chronicles 14:9-13 “Now Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and he came to Mareshah. So Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up in battle formation in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” So the LORD routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that they could not recover, for they were shattered before the LORD and before His army. And they carried away very much plunder.”
So you see there were times when the Cushites or the Ethiopians
Were formidable enemies against Israel.
Eventually Cush became so prominent and powerful that for a time
They even brought Egypt into subjection to them requiring tribute.
They were warriors.
They were mighty.
They were dangerous.
And it is apparent that someone in Judah had launched the idea
That we should reach out to the Ethiopians
To be our allies in this battle against the Assyrians.
Chapter 18 is Isaiah’s counsel to such an idea.
Let’s break this chapter down into 3 parts.
#1 AN INTRIGUING ALLY
Isaiah 18:1-2
There is much said here by way of description of this nation of Ethiopia.
They are called the “land of whirring wings”
• Some see that as a reference to the locust, as there were plenty in Ethiopia,
• Some see it as a reference to the tsetse fly, which is also prevalent there.
• Either one is fine with me.
“Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush”
It is the GEOGRAPHICAL explanation of where they are.
• You see more at the end of verse 2
• Where we learn, “whose land the rivers divide”
• Which would speak to the many tributaries of the Nile.
We find out of them also that they “send envoys by the sea, even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.”
• Most likely this refers to their travel up and down the Nile in papyrus boats.
And then we see that
• They are called “a nation tall and smoot”
• They are “a people feared far and wide”
• They are “a powerful and oppressive nation”
In short, this land of Cush has a reputation for being fierce warriors.
They are big and they are powerful.
And everyone knows how strong they are.
They are feared by others.
And, as we said, the question has been whether or not
To send messengers to Ethiopia and to ask for an alliance.
Incidentally this mindset is seen more clearly in chapter 20.
Isaiah 20:5 “Then they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast.
So you can see how Judah was looking to Cush
As their hope against the Assyrians.
BUT BEAR IN MIND THAT
God has already announced through Isaiah
That He is going to deal with the Assyrians.
Judah merely needs to wait on Him.
IT’S JUST THAT WAITING IS SO HARD
Judah can reach out to Cush now.
Judah wants to send to Cush for help.
And in these first 2 verses Isaiah weighs in on that idea.
(but his answer might shock you)
He says in verse 2, “Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth…”
Isaiah’s answer is to by all means “Go!”
• Send the messengers
• Send the delegates
But as you might have expected, Isaiah’s message might be a little different than the one the nation of Judah had thought to send.
#2 AN INTERESTING ANNOUNCEMENT
Isaiah 18:3-6
Judah was kicking around the idea of sending messengers to Ethiopia to enlist their help.
• Isaiah says to by all means send them some messengers,
• BUT NOT to ask for help.
Isaiah has a different message in mind.
(3) “All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth, As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, you will see it, And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.”
Go tell them that something is about to happen that everyone will see.
• There is about to be a standard raised.
• There is about to be a trumpet blown.
You are familiar with the “standard” terminology.
Isaiah 5:26 “He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation, And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth; And behold, it will come with speed swiftly.”
It was terminology that God used to describe
When He calls an army for judgment.
So it will be here.
• God is going to once again lift a standard
• And blast a trumpet
• And call for destruction.
And when it happens, “you will see it” and “you will hear it”
And the INITIAL POINT to be made is that
Isaiah wants the messengers of Judah to go and tell Cush
That “God is at work and is about to move.”
(4) “For thus the LORD has told me, “I will look from My dwelling place quietly Like dazzling heat in the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
We saw this at the first of the sermon,
But what a great way to describe how God often works.
• He is like Elijah’s gentle blowing.
Here His work is described like “dazzling heat in the sunshine”
• It’s that sort of wavy appearance that you get when you look off into the distance during the summer heat.
• It doesn’t stand out, but you know it is working.
• It actually has a profound effect on everything, but it’s not dramatic, it’s steady.
The same can be said of the “cloud of dew”.
• You can’t really see it until it starts to show up on the ground,
• But it too can have a dramatic effect.
Remember Elijah wanted God to be like
That violent wind or like that violent fire.
Often times that’s how we want God to move.
• We want Him to be instant, bold, dramatic, even violent.
• We want to see things happen and happen fast.
I’M REMINDED OF when Naaman the leper came from Aram to visit Elisha so that he might be healed of his leprosy.
• Elisha told him to go dip in the Jordan 7 times.
Naaman said:
2 Kings 5:11-14 “But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’ “Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.”
We understand Naaman.
We want God to move dramatically faster in our situations too.
But that’s NOT how God often works.
Sometimes He does that, but not always.
God works most through HIS DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
• He is steady, thorough, consistent, faithful, loyal, and patient.
• He accomplishes His purposes in gentle and to some even undetectable ways.
But He is always at work.
• Like heat in the summer
• Like dew in the morning
• Like a gentle blowing
And this is Isaiah’s message to the Ethiopians.
God is at work all around us,
And soon you will see what He has been doing.
(5-6) “For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms And the flower becomes a ripening grape, Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives And remove and cut away the spreading branches. They will be left together for mountain birds of prey, And for the beasts of the earth; And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.”
Isaiah speaks of the COMING JUDGMENT of the Assyrians.
Again, it is compared to a harvest.
Right now Assyria’s fields look good.
• They are green, they are lush, they are thick and full.
Assyria is expecting a massive harvest.
• That is, they expect to soon rule the entire area.
But…
“as soon as the bud blossoms and the flower becomes a ripening grape, then He will cut off the springs with pruning knives and remove and cut away the spreading branches.”
Assyria is never going to enjoy the harvest they expect.
Just when it seems like everything is withing their grasp,
God will intervene and destroy His harvest.
And the effect it will have on the Assyrians will be devastating.
(6) “They will be left together for mountain birds of prey, And for the beasts of the earth; And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.”
ASSYRIA WILL FALL.
And again, let me show you that in history just to again verify the absolute accuracy of Isaiah.
TURN TO: 2 KINGS 18
(READ 13-18
• So Assyria has invaded Judah, they have reached Jerusalem.
• The King of Assyria has stayed in Lachish but sent two of his men to deliver a message to Hezekiah in Judah.
• The message is found in verses 19-37 and it basically states that you need to surrender to us for no one, not even God, can save you from our hand.
Hezekiah will hear their taunt and go tell Isaiah, and Isaiah will answer.
(READ 19:6-7)
So again, God has promised to deal with the Assyrians.
SO WHAT HAPPENED?
(READ 19:8-13)
• So when the messengers returned to Lachish to the king
• They found that Cush had attacked and now Israel was fighting on two fronts.
So the king of Assyria would momentarily turn his attention to Cush and leave Judah alone,
• But he was quick to send a letter to Hezekiah telling him that he would be back
• And he should not see this as some sort of divine intervention.
(READ 19:14-19)
And again God answers Hezekiah with a promise of victory.
God promises that the Assyrians
Won’t so much as shoot an arrow into the city.
And then we see what God did.
(READ 19:35-37)
Just when it looked like Assyria had everything they wanted.
He was about to annihilate the Ethiopians and the nation of Judah,
BUT GOD INTERVENED.
JUST WHEN HIS HARVEST LOOKED RIPE,
• God intervened and “cut off the sprigs with pruning knives and…cut away the spreading branches”
• And left the Assyrian army “for mountain birds of prey, and for the beasts of the earth;”
Up until that point the working of God had appeared as nothing more
Than heat or dew, but on the day “you will see it”
AND THEY DID.
And the PROPHECY OF THIS EVENT is the one that Isaiah says
The messengers should go and tell the Ethiopians.
• I know it looks bad…
• I know it appears as though God is doing nothing…
• But just wait on the Lord, He will act swiftly and deal with this threat.
So instead of going and asking for their help,
You should go and tell them not to worry, God is at work.
AND AGAIN, THIS IS VERY ENCOURAGING TO US.
IF WE ARE HONEST, in this evil world in which we dwell,
IT FEELS LIKE NOTHING IS HAPPENING.
• We hear of political corruption…
• We hear of sex trafficking…
• We hear of racial tension…
• We see sin celebrated and paraded…
It feels like we’re living in Sodom and Gomorrah
And like Lot we feel our soul tormented as we dwell among evil men.
And if we’re honest, sometimes it feels like Jesus is sleeping in the boat.
We cry out with the Psalmist, “How long O Lord?”
And we are tempted to look for worldly allies
That might bring a change about faster.
But here we are reminded that God is always at work.
• He is at work today.
• He is at work right now.
• It is clearly not a title wave.
• It is clearly not a raging wind.
But I assure you He is at work.
Like heat, like dew, like a gentle blowing.
And we are promised that when He does come to the forefront
You will see it.
In fact, His word promises that EVERY EYE WILL SEE IT!
TURN TO: LUKE 17:22-37
I hope you see the similarities, they are obvious.
You see the similarities of:
• An evil world that would attack God’s people, even the Christ.
• The spread of that evil everywhere
• Constant false hopes of deliverance that aren’t real
• But a day is coming that everyone will see
• A day when God’s judgment falls
And I love how Luke ends the narrative.
(37) “And answering they said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”
As Jesus spoke of this coming judgment the disciples wanted to know where it would take place.
• Where will You kill them?
• Where will the battle be?
But the answer Jesus gives is NOT GEOGRAPHICAL.
Jesus says, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”
In other words Jesus doesn’t want you to focus on
The location of the battle or even the time,
But rather you should see the result of it.
And the result will be that wickedness will so thoroughly be destroyed that vultures from everywhere will gather to feast on the dead.
Revelation 19:19-21 “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”
What God did to the Assyrian army was just a sample of what God will one day do to all the wicked of the world.
All of the evil that we lament.
All of the evil that angers us.
All of the injustice, all of the corruption…
God is now working against it and one day He destroy it thoroughly.
“you will see it”
AND THIS IS THE MESSAGE
Isaiah wanted the messengers of Judah to take to Ethiopia.
THAT MEANS THAT: This is the message we take to the world.
When you’re at the coffee shop and a group of friends starts talking about how bad things are.
• Maybe they talk about inflation…
• Maybe they talk about politics…
• Maybe they watch the movie that came out about the sex trafficking problem in the world…
• And conversations start about despair and injustice and anger and grief.
(Such conversations are easy to have today)
And the universal question among the group is: WHAT DO WE DO?
Then take Isaiah’s message to them.
(even your lost friends who might agree with you politically)
You tell them God is at work.
He is moving at this very moment.
It is hard to see how. It is like heat, it is like dew, it is a gentle blowing,
But He is at work.
And tell them someday, you will see what He will do.
He will come with His holy ones and crush the wicked.
And that of course is also a warning to lost friends that even they will not survive apart from the salvation of Jesus.
Matthew 24:36-44 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”
So while Isaiah is in agreement that a message should be sent to Cush,
It is not necessarily the message they had anticipated.
It reminds us as believers that
We can’t have the same message as the world.
We have to be those who are light in the darkness.
We have to be those who are salt to the tasteless.
We don’t fall into fear and despair like the rest of the world.
• We walk by faith.
• We walk in hope.
• We are those who wait on the Lord
• And we encourage the world to do the same.
So you see an Intriguing Ally, An Interesting Announcement
#3 AN IMMINENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Isaiah 18:7
So Isaiah now announces to Judah that they should go tell the Ethiopians
That God will deliver them both from the Assyrians.
And then Isaiah tells his people
That when God does this the Ethiopians will respond.
This “people tall and smooth”
This “people feared far and wide”
This “powerful and oppressive nation”
They will bring to your God “a gift of homage”
For all their power and all their might
Even they will realize that victory was not due to their own strength,
But due to the strength of Judah’s God.
And they will bring it to “Mount Zion”
Scripture does not record that this happened in the kings, but I have zero doubt that it did.
• We already read how God intervened and spared both Judah and Ethiopia,
• I have no trouble believing that the Ethiopians would send a tribute of worship to the God who delivered them.
And this rings a bell for us as well.
Philippians 2:9-11 “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
So there you have this incident regarding the Ethiopians.
• As I said, it is NOT a burden, God has laid no burden on their back.
• Rather, it IS a message of God’s deliverance.
And it is a reminder to Judah and to us
That we don’t need the deliverance of the world,
For our God is constantly at work for us.
One day He will come and do His work publicly and dramatically
And He will put an end to the spread of wickedness in our world.
AND WE WAIT ON HIM.
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 “For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.”
Philippians 3:20-21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
2 Peter 3:8-9 “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
This morning pause and consider
The mighty providence and faithfulness of God.
Stop to see that
God is at work.
Stop to anticipate that
God will one day do His mighty work.
And like the saints of old, we exercise our faith when we wait on the Lord.
It is still going to happen.
We wait for Him.
