More of the Same

Isaiah 23 to 26

Ch 23:1 “Wail, O ships of Tarshish

For Tyre is destroyed

And left without house or harbor. “

The NIV Notes tell that Ezekiel also prophesies about this destruction and that it will be carried out by Nebuchadnezzar of Assyria.   More redemption and salvation. Punishment, destruction, desolation, and restoration. Sometimes these readings spark a big question mark in my mind.  Why?   Why all this?  

Ch 23:9 “The LORD Almighty planned it,

to bring low the pride of all glory

And to humble all who are renowned on earth.

15 All that time Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years,

The span of a king’s life.”

NIV Notes. Incidentally, 70 years was also the length of the Babylonian captivity.

And then we read the chilling subtitle of chapter 24.  “The LORD’s Devastation of the Earth”.

Ch 24 :1 “See the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it. 

He will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants.

3 …completely laid waste and totally plundered.

4 The earth dries up and withers,

The world languished and withers

The exalted of the earth languish.

5 The earth is defiled by its people.

They have disobeyed the laws,

Violated the statutes

And broken the everlasting covenant.

6 Therefor a curse consumes the earth;

Its people must bear their guilt. “

In these verses we are given an image of what it looks like when God pours out His wrath on the earth.  And what it looks like when people have to carry their own guilt. This price that is so great we could never pay it.  And God knew that too.  Already in Genesis.  All these glimpses we get of God’s Wrath that serve to illustrate the magnitude of His Mercy and which is greater still.

Ch 25: 6 “On this mountain

The LORD Almighty

Will prepare

A feast of rich food for all peoples,

A banquet of aged wine-

The best meats and the finest of wines

7 On this mountain He will destroy

The shroud that enfolds all peoples,

The sheet that covers all nations;

8 He will swallow up death forever.

The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces;

He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth.

The LORD has spoken.”

This feast spread before the nations.

And on this day death will be defeated.

This feast of Bread for Life and Living Water.

In the Land of Milk and Honey.

Both now and forevermore.  

Ch 25:9 “Surely this is our God;

We trusted in Him & He saved us.

This is the LORD, we trusted in Him;

Let us rejoice and be glad in His Salvation.”

And then in our evening devotional reading, which is taking us verse by verse through Malachi, the writer wrote this. 

Malachi 3:6 & 7 “I, the LORD, do not change.  So you…are not destroyed.   Return to me, and I will return to you.” 

“…the patience and mercy of God, who rules the universe, never run out.  IF we commit the same sin a billion times and are truly sorry for it, he will keep forgiving.      This is not to say there are no consequences.  God wants us to look to him.  We should not expect to be forgiven without wanting a relationship with God.  His forgiveness is about building a relationship with us that will keep us close to Him and far from hurting ourselves and others.  The heart of God does not change on that point, and if we truly want a relationship with him, the LORD will always take us back.”

I loved how that gave me a new understanding of all the back forth and wobbling and waffling that Israel does, and how God doesn’t change and yet He sends prophets with messages of doom and punishment and then relents and grants Mercy.   And longs for relationship with us.   I love that. 

Some days you get new words. Pieces of answers to big question marks.  The story always ongoing.