When a nation is in serious trouble, where do we go for help? Let’s look at Isaiah 8.
What was the purpose in God naming Isaiah’s second son the longest name in the Bible? Is his name “swift booty, speedy prey,” a prophecy of Assyria conquering the northern tribes of Israel?
The Lord said, “Isaiah, get something to write on. Then write in big clear letters the name, MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ. I will tell Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah to serve as witnesses to this.” Sometime later, my wife and I had a son, and the Lord said, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. Because before he can say ‘Mommy’ or ‘Daddy,’ the king of Assyria will attack and take everything of value from Damascus and Samaria.” (Isa 8:1-4 CEV)
Had the northern tribes rejected the gentle waters of Jerusalem, God’s loving provision? So, will they be symbolically flooded with the waters from the Euphrates, the Assyrians?
The Lord spoke to me again: “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.” (Isa 8:5-8 ESV)
Will any human schemes thwart God’s plans to punish the nation? Does the meaning of “God with us” (Immanuel) shift from God being with the faithful remnant of Judah to God is literally with us in Christ?
Band together, peoples, and be broken; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for war, and be broken; prepare for war, and be broken. Devise a plan; it will fail. Make a prediction; it will not happen. For God is with us. (Isa 8:9-10 HCSB)
Who should we fear, those who spread panic and conspiracy theories or God?
For this is what the Lord spoke to me, as his forceful hand was resting on me, and as he was warning me not to live the way this people were living: “Don’t call conspiracy everything that this people calls conspiracy, and don’t fear what they fear, or live in terror. The Lord of the Heavenly Armies—he’s the one you are to regard as holy. Let him be the one whom you fear, and let him be the one before whom you stand in terror! Then he will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel he’ll also be a stone with which someone strikes himself, a rock one stumbles over, a trap and a snare to those who live in Jerusalem. Many will stumble on them; They’ll fall and be broken; They’ll be snared and captured. (Isa 8:11-15 ISV)
Were Isaiah’s sons Shear-Jashub (a remnant shall return) and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (swift booty speedy prey), and Isaiah’s name (God is salvation) prophetic signs of what God was about to do?
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. (Isa 8:16-18 KJV)
What does God say to those who seek an answer from the occult?
Now when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. And they will pass through the land hard-pressed and hungry, and it will be that when they are hungry, they will be angry and curse their king and their God as they face upward. Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be banished into thick darkness. (Isa 8:19-22 LSB)
How is Jesus both the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling?
For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, And the one who believes in Him will not be put to shame.” This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for unbelievers, “A stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief cornerstone,” and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this they were also appointed. (1 Pet 2:6-8 NASB)
When a nation is in serious trouble, where do we go for help? You decide!
