Isaiah 17:12-14

d. CHAOS

TEXT: Isaiah 17:12-14

12

Ah, the uproar of many peoples, that roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!

13

The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters; but he shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.

14

At eventide behold, terror; and before the morning they are not. This is the portion of them that despoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

QUERIES

a.

Why does Isaiah break into his train of thought with this ah?

b.

Who are the nations roaring like rushing waters?

PARAPHRASE

Ah, permit me to pause and tell you of the defeat of the enemies of God's elect. I see multitudes and multitudes of peoples rushing upon God's elect to consume them. They roar with a deafening ferocity, like the roar of the pounding sea. But God will rebuke them and silence their roaring. He will defeat them and they will flee, scattered like chaff by the wind, like whirling dust is blown by a storm. The fear of God's elect as they stand before their enemies will be over in a very short time. Almost overnight they will know deliverance, and their enemies defeated. This is the destiny of those who plunder and destroy the people of God.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 17:12-13 a THE BATTLE: This is rather like a soliloquy by Isaiah. He is talking as if to himself. It is a predictive pause. Its initial fulfillment probably occurred at the onrushing tide of Assyrians as they invaded first Syria, then Israel, then Judah, in the days of Isaiah, Hezekiah and Sennacherib. Jerusalem was surrounded and besieged. Jehovah's angel slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night and the Assyrian's left in defeat. However, it is our judgment that the soliloquy finds its ultimate fulfillment in the victory God wrought at the death and resurrection of Christ. No greater battle was or ever will be fought than the battle between heaven and hell when Christ came to earth to conquer sin in the flesh. That night in Gethsemane the destiny of righteousness, justice and mercy hung in the balance. That struggle of Jesus with Himself and with the devil's temptations was the ultimate struggle between the forces of God and the forces of the devil. When sinful men (agents of Satan) crucified the Son of God, they calculated they had defeated God's attempt to regain His rule over men. What more could Satan do in his warfare against God! We believe the historical event at Calvary and the Empty Tomb is what the prophets (Joel, Ezekiel, Zech-ariah) are predicting with their highly figurative (and literally impossible) great battles between God and the nations (valley of Jehoshaphat; Gog and Magog, etc.). One, great, complete, decisive victory of God over His enemies and the enemies of His people is predicted.

Isaiah 17:13 b - Isaiah 17:14 THE VICTORY: Psalms 2:1-6 depicts the nations raging against God. But God defeats them through His Son. Daniel's interpretation of the great image seen by Nebuchadnezzar has the stone (God's kingdom) crushing the four great empires of man into dust and the wind blowing them away! Colossians 2:15 tells us that the atoning death of Christ was the moment when God disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him. Hebrews 2:14-18 tells us that Jesus-' substitutionary death destroyed him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and delivered all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage etc. So you see, God has rebuked His enemies, He has defeated them and scattered them and, like whirling dust before a storm, they are no longer to be feared. What God has actually accomplished (victory) and what we appropriate by faith and obedience, awaits only the consummation at the end of time.

QUIZ

1.

What is probably the initial fulfillment of these verses?

2.

What is their ultimate fulfillment?