ISAIAH

Isaiah 14:1-11

quote:

"When the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors. 3 And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, 4 that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, "How the oppressor has ceased, And how fury has ceased! 5 "The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of rulers 6 Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes, Which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution. 7 "The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; They break forth into shouts of joy. 8 "Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.' 9 "Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. 10 "They will all respond and say to you, 'Even you have been made weak as we, You have become like us. 11 'Your pomp and the music of your harps Have been brought down to Sheol; Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you And worms are your covering."

Isaiah begins with a word of comfort and hope. God will have mercy on Israel and restore them to the Land. Furthermore, they will rule over their oppressors. Notice particularly that strangers will join themselves to the house of Jacob. The concept of strangers aligning themselves with Israel is not new. Within the theocratic nation, the sojourner was a person, who though from another group of people and land, would join himself to Israel and their God, follow the Lord's instructions given to Israel and enjoy His blessing. (Leviticus 24:22) They were to be treated as though they were native-born because Israel was to remember they were once aliens in a foreign land as slaves in Egypt (Leviticus 19:34). Here in these opening verses is a prophecy of Gentiles who will be included as strangers and join others in the Kingdom as part of the true people of God. (Romans 9-11)

Verse 3 declares there will be a rest from oppression. "Rest" is a common theme used in prophetic literature to speak of the future. It picks up the theme of the sabbath rest from the beginning of creation (Genesis 2:1-3 ) and the conquest of the land referred to in Psalm 95: 6-11 –

"O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. 7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. 10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: 11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest."

That their hearts were hardened and they did not walk in His ways should resonate in our spirits if we desire to enter His rest. The concept of rest also anticipates a final restoration in the age to come (Hebrews 3, 4). The One who gives this rest is Jesus, the Messiah Himself (Matthew 11:28).

Rest will be given to the people and it will be given by the Lord. The rest promised here is from sorrow, fear and bondage. "Pain, turmoil and harsh service" describe the difficulties experienced by Israel under the cruel anger of the pagan Babylonians. The power of these oppressors is to be broken and the judgment to come will bring great joy, not only to Israel, but the entire world. The fulfilment of this prophecy is not all together immediate, for history shows the enemy had not been destroyed fully and the glorious appearance of the Messiah did not come for quite some time and is still yet to come again. So "Babylon" also typifies a greater Babylon of the future (Revelation 19). The enemy of God has not been completely and fully destroyed.

Verse 7 says the whole earth is at rest and is quiet. However, there is one place that is not and that is "Sheol", the place of departed spirits, particularly those unrighteous ones. There they await the coming of the King of Babylon, who has above all oppressed God's people. Though he once ruled in power and pride in luxurious surroundings, he now takes his place with the other nations' kings and has become as one of them, where their pomp has turned to decay.

The words of Isaiah are enough to make us ponder our own heart's condition. Will we have hearts of stone or hearts of flesh to receive the rest He has provided? Will we seek the luxury of this world through destructive means or align ourselves with those in the Kingdom of God, who are truly His people? Let us not fail to make the choice to enter His rest!