READ IT! - Introduction to Isaiah 18-24

Readings for this week

Monday: Isaiah 18
Tuesday: Isaiah 19
Wednesday: Isaiah 20
Thursday: Isaiah 21
Friday: Isaiah 22
Saturday: Isaiah 23
Sunday: Isaiah 24

Introduction to Isaiah 18-24

Chapters 18-20 

Isaiah then prophecies against Cush. God will humble Cush. The Cushites will one day bring gifts to Zion. 

Isaiah then prophecies against Egypt. God will judge Egypt and her idols. “So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord... In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.’” 

Isaiah then prophecies against both Egypt and Cush. God told Isaiah to remove his clothes and his sandals and walk around naked and barefoot, preaching to the people in this way for three whole years. Just as Isaiah walks around “with buttocks bared” so will Egypt and Cush be led away “with buttocks bared” by the Assyrians. God will turn the tables on Egypt, and make them slaves instead of slave-masters. God will dry up the source of the Nile, devastating the nations of Egypt and Cush. 

Chapter 21 

Isaiah then prophecies against Babylon, Edom, and Arabia. Elam and Media will work together to bring Babylon down. Judgment will sweep away Edom and Arabia within a year. 

Chapter 22 

Isaiah then declared the day of Jerusalem’s judgment. The people had lived there in security for many years, and had come to believe God would protect them forever, no matter how they lived. Isaiah presented two pictures of leadership – Shebna and Eliakim. Shebna used his office for dishonest gain and God would bring him to nothing. Eliakim would serve his people as a father, but he was, unfortunately, one of only a very few examples of quality leadership in his generation. 

Chapter 23 

Isaiah then prophecies against Tyre. Tyre had used its strategic location on the coast to accumulate great riches. God would cause them to be destroyed because of their great pride. 

Chapter 24 

The next section of the book is known as “Isaiah’s Apocalypse.” He first speaks of the LORD’s devastation of the earth. 

“The floodgates of the heavens are opened,
the foundations of the earth shake.
The earth is broken up,
the earth is split asunder,
the earth is violently shaken.
The earth reels like a drunkard,
it sways like a hut in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion
that it falls—never to rise again.” 

“In that day the Lord will punish
the powers in the heavens above
and the kings on the earth below.
They will be herded together
like prisoners bound in a dungeon;
they will be shut up in prison
and be punished after many days.
The moon will be dismayed,
the sun ashamed;
for the Lord Almighty will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before its elders—with great glory.”