Isa 12:1 NASB  Then you will say on that day, “I will give thanks to You, O LORD; For although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, And You comfort me.  (2)  “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the LORD GOD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.”  (3)  Therefore you will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation.  (4)  And in that day you will say, “Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make them remember that His name is exalted.”  (5)  Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth.  (6)  Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. 

• Compare with Isaiah 5, what is the attitude of the people now?  What has changed?
• Why have the people changed?
• Can we, as Christians on this side of the cross, relate to this?
• Is this a message for the future, for His people in the past, or for now?

(Isa 13:1)  The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.  (2)  Lift up a standard on the bare hill, Raise your voice to them, Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles.  (3)  I have commanded My consecrated ones, I have even called My mighty warriors, My proudly exulting ones, To execute My anger.  (4)  A sound of tumult on the mountains, Like that of many people! A sound of the uproar of kingdoms, Of nations gathered together! The LORD of hosts is mustering the army for battle.  (5)  They are coming from a far country, From the farthest horizons, The LORD and His instruments of indignation, To destroy the whole land.  (6)  Wail, for the day of the LORD is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.  (7)  Therefore all hands will fall limp, And every man’s heart will melt.  (8)  They will be terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of them; They will writhe like a woman in labor, They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame.  (9)  Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it.  (10)  For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. 

• Who is in the army? (verse 3)
• Who is mustering the army against Babylon? (verse 4)
• What attitude do you see in the Babylonians now (7-8) as compared to Isa 10:8-11?
• What would pride and arrogance look like in the Christian community?

ISAIAH 13:11-22

(11)  Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.  (12)  I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir.  (13)  Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger.  (14)  And it will be that like a hunted gazelle, Or like sheep with none to gather them, They will each turn to his own people, And each one flee to his own land.  (15)  Anyone who is found will be thrust through, And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.  (16)  Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces Before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished.  (17)  Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them, Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold.  (18)  And their bows will mow down the young men, They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, Nor will their eye pity children.  (19)  And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 

(20)  It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.  (21)  But desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy goats will frolic there.  (22)  Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers And jackals in their luxurious palaces. Her fateful time also will soon come And her days will not be prolonged.

• Why is God causing so much suffering; even among the children? (Verse 11)
• Is God punishing only Babylon?
• Gold of Ophir (1Kings 9:28) – Gold celebrated for its purity.

NOTE: The Medes weren’t in existence as a separate people or nation at the time of this prophecy.  Babylon fell to king Cyrus in 538BC – king of Persia.  Media was added to the Persian kingdom partially by conquest.  Xenophon (serving under Cyrus) documents Cyrus’ address to the Medes before a campaign: ‘Ye Medes and others who now hear me, I well know, that you have not accompanied me in this expedition with a view of acquiring wealth.’  That was the character of the Medes.

ISAIAH 14:1-21

Isa 14:1-27 NASB  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, andthe 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.’  (12)  “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!  (13)  “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.  (14)  ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’  (15)  “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.  (16)  “Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, saying, ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms,  (17)  Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’  (18)  “All the kings of the nations lie in glory, Each in his own tomb.  (19)  “But you have been cast out of your tomb Like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit Like a trampled corpse.  (20)  “You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have ruined your country, You have slain your people. May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever.  (21)  “Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter Because of the iniquity of their fathers. They must not arise and take possession of the earth And fill the face of the world with cities.” 

• The LORD will settle Israel in their own land and their captors will become servants and captives of God’s people (1-2)
• Israel and all the world rejoices in peace and the LORD’s victory over their oppressors. (3-9)
• Nations who thought of themselves as powerful as God will be brought down lowest of all (Verses 9-21)

Questions

• Who has settled Israel in their own land?
• Who is giving Israel rest?
• Who is Israel boasting in as they taunt their former oppressors?
• Give examples of the depths that the mightiest nation has fallen from verses 9-21.
• What did Israel do to defend and protect itself?  Who received the Glory?
• Can you think of a time when God defended you?  Can you think of a time when you defended yourself?  Which was more effective?  Which was lasting?

ISAIAH 14:22-27

(22)  “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity,” declares the LORD.  (23)  “I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of hosts.  (24)  The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand,  (25)  to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulder.  (26)  “This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations.  (27)  “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

• Does this fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 10:12,25-27 – that God will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of Assyria?
• How is this judgment different from God’s judgment of His people?  Why?
• Is this plan and judgment only for a specific place?
• Did verses 26 and 27 happen in the time of Ahaz?  Were they a comfort for him?  Have these things happened yet?  How can they be a comfort for the faithful even if they don’t happen in one’s lifetime?

THEME

APPLICATION
 

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

References

1Ki 9:28 NASB  They went to Ophir and took four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

Isa 10:8-11 NASB  For it says, “Are not my princes all kings?  (9)  “Is not Calno like Carchemish, Or Hamath like Arpad, Or Samaria like Damascus?  (10)  “As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, Whose graven images weregreater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,  (11)  Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?”