Isaiah 32:1

Isaiah 32:1 says, Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.  This seems to be a prophesy made about the time during the reign of Hezekiah with the overall prophesy referring to the reign of Jesus Christ after He died for the sins of all mankind, which each person must accept for His gift of salvation to apply to them.  Hezekiah was to reign in righteousness and all the princes under him would rule with honest judgment, but it would be a temporary reign.  Jesus Christ reigns in righteousness forever. 

Verse two adds, And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.  This would be a time of rest for the people of Israel.  Once the people returned to worshipping and obeying God, He would gain bless them.  I don’t believe that we should ever obey and worship God because we expect material blessings, but often when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, God will bless us materially as He meets our needs. 

Verse three continues, And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.  Isaiah said that the people would be able to clearly see God at work in the nation and would be able to hear and understand His word.  When we become a follower of Jesus Christ, we should be able to clearly see God at work in the world and to hear and understand His word. 

Verse four states, The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.  When they turned to God for guidance, those who had acted rashly would now act out of understanding of what God wants from His people.  They would be able to clearly speak His word.  As Christians, we should act out of obedience to God and His word and not just go through life acting rashly.  We should also be able to clearly speak His truth to the world. 

Verse five adds, The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.  Those who were bad, or proclaiming things that went against God and His commandments would no longer be preferred by the princes, those in power, to give advice.  They would look to those who gave advice from God.  We need to have leaders today who give advice and make laws based on the truth of God.  Isaiah also said that they would speak in error against the Lord and leave the soul thirsty.  We will never be fulfilled spiritually by anything other than by putting our f faith in Jesus Christ and living by the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Verse six continues, For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.  Vile and evil people would speak of bad things and practice hypocrisy in what they said.  They would speak of good and do evil, and this goes on a lot in the world today. 

Verse seven says,  The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.  A churl is an impolite or mean-spirited person, and this churl would look to do evil and devise wicked devices to destroy the poor.  This would be done by lying words even when the poor were speaking the truth.  Sometimes today we become churlish toward the poor even when what they are saying is the truth.  We almost demonize the poor instead of reaching out to them with compassion and the love of God. 

Verse eight adds, But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.  We have also demonized the word liberal too often, but here the liberal is said to be a good person.  They look forward to helping the poor instead of looking for ways to keep them down.  I believe that just as the liberal was said to be good then, that God expects us to be liberal in helping the poor and needy today.  Of course, our main objective should always to be to reach them with the gospel, but sometimes it may be hard for them to hear the gospel if we are speaking of them as if they are less than human. 

Isaiah 31:6

 Isaiah 31:6 says, Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.  Isaiah calls on the people who had deeply revolted against God to turn to Him once more.  If we are living in rebellion against God, even as followers of Christ, we need to hear His call to turn to Him once more.  Though we are forever saved if we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we can still turn away from God’s will, and if we do, we need to repent and turn to following Him once more.  We could also apply this to any nation that professes to be a Christian nation but that has turned away from God’s law.   

Verse seven adds, For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.  Isaiah said that when the people turned to God once again that they would destroy all their idols, those things made by hand that they put above God.  As Christians, we must remove everything from our lives that we put above God if we are to successfully follow Him. 

Verse eight continues, Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited.  Isaiah said that when the people of Israel turned to God once more that the Assyrians would fall.  This would happen not by the swords of Egypt or Israel, but by the sword of an angel.  God has already defeated all our spiritual enemies, and this was done by His power and not ours.  We can only accept His gift of salvation and look to Him for our strength. 

Verse nine concludes, And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.  Isaiah said that the king of Assyria would return to his stronghold out of fear, but there is no place that a person can be safe if they are outside of the will of God.  No matter how powerful a nation or an individual may be, if they are living in defiance of God, there is no safe place for them to hide.

Isaiah 31:1

Isaiah 31:1 says, Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!  Matthew Henry points out that this is the last of four chapters that begin with woe, and they all speak of woe to the sinners that were found among the professing people of God.  The sin here was idolizing the Egyptians.  The people of Israel were looking to Egypt with all their horses and chariots for protection instead of looking to God for His protection.  They thought that the Egyptians would be better equipped to deal with the Assyrians than they were by putting their faith in God.  As followers of Christ, we should never look to anyone else for our strength and protection spiritually in this world, no matter how powerful they may be. 

Verse two adds, Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.  The people of Israel, God’s Chosen people, looked to Egypt because they were known to be good in war, but they were not as wise or powerful as God.  If we do not rely on God’s wisdom to guide us in bad situations but look to the world for answers instead, we will find ourselves with nothing but woe because of it.  There is none more wise or powerful than God, so He is the One we should always look to for deliverance spiritually.  I will not say that we will always be victorious physically, but if we are putting our faith in anyone or anything other than God for victory, even if we are victorious in this lifetime, we will still fail spiritually.  As Christians, we must always first and foremost put our faith in God and rely on His protection and deliverance.

Verse three continues, Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.  Isaiah told the people that God would remind them that the Egyptians were but men, and they were not undefeatable, but they were supposed to be serving God Who is undefeatable.  We as a Christian nation can put our faith in military might, but we should be putting our faith in God instead. 

Verse four states, For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.  Isaiah said that God would appear like a lion over its prey as He protected Israel.  If we are having problems in life today as followers of Christ, we should look to God, and not the world, for answers.  He is still like the powerful lion able to spiritually protect those who are His people.  The victory is already His, and ours through our faith in Jesus Christ, no matter what happens in this lifetime. 

Verse five adds, As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.  Isaiah said that God would be like a bird who defends her young in His protection of Jerusalem.  Israel, and even Jerusalem, were never powerful because of their own strength and ability, but were so because of the power and protection of God.  We as followers of Christ today still have that same protection spiritually, which is what really matters.  We might have more physical success by putting our faith in something other than God, but it will be a temporary success.

Isaiah 30:20

Isaiah 30:20 says, And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:  Even though God had promised that they would not be destroyed because His grace was still with them, they would still eat the bread of adversity and drink the water of affliction  Matthew Henry says this refers to prisoners fare.  God has already graciously saved us if we put our faith in Jesus Christ, but that doesn’t mean that we will never suffer persecution, and maybe even death, in this lifetime.  Isaiah also told them that in that day that their teachers would still be teaching and that now they would hear them.  If we are persecuted as Christians today, if we are a teacher of God’s word, we need to still teach and if we aren’t, we need to listen to what those who are teaching say, as long as we know that it is consistent with God’s word. 

Verse twenty-one adds, And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.  Isaiah said that the people of Isreal would have their teachers, but they would also have Someone behind them correcting them when they got off of God’s path for their life. Matthew Henry says this is their conscience, but I believe it is the Holy Spirit, Who should be behind all the decisions that we make.

Verse twenty-two continues, Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.  Isaiah also said that in that day that they would destroy all their idols and cast them away.  When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we must remove all the idols in our lives and cast them away as contemptuous things.  We should never remove idols, those things that stand between God and us, with remorse, but we should cast them away in gladness. 

Verse twenty-three states, Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.  Isaiah offered the people hope of a better day with his next prophesy from God.  When the people repented and began to sincerely worship God again, He would once more bless them with plenty to eat.  Rain would once more fall on the crops when it was needed and the pastures would be green once more.  When we repent and turn to God for the first time or after we have strayed away after we become a Christian, our spiritual blessings will abound, and materially we will have all that we need to do what God calls us to do.  This doesn’t mean we will be rich materially but spiritually. 

Verse twenty-four adds, The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.  The animals that were kept for work would also be fed better.  They would be fed corn or wheat instead of the chaff that they had been fed at times.  The people were even going to be able to share their abundance with their work animals.  I don’t believe that they were to consider the animals to be worth as much as people, nor are we to do so, but we are given the task of caring for them to the best of our ability. 

Verse twenty-five continues, And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.  Isaiah said God promised that the rivers and streams would flow full and freely.  This included the tops of the mountains which had often been barren.  We as followers of Christ may not always have everything we want materially, but we should never be spiritually thirsty, since we have access to the Living Water. 

Isaiah 30:15

Isaiah 30:15 says, For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.  God was giving the people of Israel what they needed to do to be restored to enjoy the benefits of being his people.  They needed to turn away from the world and return to being obedient to Him.  Then, they could rest in quietness and strength, but they wouldn’t.  If we have strayed away from God as followers of Christ, all we have to do is repent and return to Him and then we can rest in His peace with confidence. 

Verse sixteen adds, But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.  Isaiah said that they refused to turn to God for their strength, relying on horses to help them reach other people to save them instead.  Whatever our plan may be to save ourselves outside of God’s will, no matter how much faith we may have in it, will never save us.  There is no nation powerful enough to defeat God, so if we are putting our faith in a nation, even America, to save us spiritually, we are going to fail. 

Verse seventeen continues, One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.  God said that because of their fear, one of the enemy could cause a thousand of the people of Israel to flee.  Their defeat would serve as a beacon, a warning, to others about the danger of not obeying God.  If nothing else, our failure due to disobeying God may serve as a warning to others, but hopefully, we will repent and return to Him if we have turned away from Him before this becomes the case. 

Verse eighteen states, And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.  Even though the people of Israel had given up on God, He had not given up on them.  He would graciously wait for them to return to Him.  As Christians, if we have turned away from God, He still awaits to meet us once more with His grace. 

Verse nineteen adds, For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.  Isaiah said that God would hear and answer those who called on Him.  When they put their faith in Him, they would cry no more.  God hears us when we cry from fear, but if we put our faith in Him, He by His grace will dry our tears. 

Isaiah 30:8

Isaiah 30:8 says, Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:  Isaiah  was told by God to write what He said in a tablet or book so that the people would have His word to read forever and ever.  God has preserved His word for us since the beginning, and we have this recorded for us in the Bible today because He did.  Of course, we now have all the knowledge necessary to come to God by faith in Jesus Christ and to begin to live by His word. 

Verse nine adds, That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:  God stated plainly what the people of Isreal, His chosen people, had become.  They were rebellious, lying children.  They were His chosen people in name only.  Of course, being His chosen people was never because they were better and more powerful than other people but because of God’s calling them into a covenant relationship with Himself.  We may call ourselves Christians and be lying and rebellious people, but we will never fool God by empty words.  We can only be one of His people by putting our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, and if we claim to be by any other way, then we are lying to ourselves and to God. 

Verse ten continues, Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:  Part of the way that they were rebelling and lying was by asking seers and prophets to tell them what they wanted to hear and not what God said.  There are still people today who don’t want to hear what God’s word says but want to have what they believe to become the truth.  We just need to make sure that we as followers of Christ are not that way.  It seems that today too many people who profess to be Christians want to change God’s word to fit their beliefs and not to hear what God’s word actually says.  We cannot allow ourselves to do the same thing, but we must make our lives conform to God’s word. 

Verse eleven continues, Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.  Isaiah continues to speak about what God said about the people of Israel wanting to keep God’s word from being the standard by which they lived.  No matter what else we do as Christians, we must never turn away from the truth of God as our guide, even when it doesn’t support what we might want the truth to be.  

Verse twelve states, Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:  Isaiah begins to give the people of Israel the reason God was going to allow them to be defeated.  They had begun to put their faith in alliances with other nations and in the perverseness of the world instead of putting their faith in Him.  We cannot effectively follow and serve God if we put our faith in anything other than Him.  To do anything less than putting our faith in Him is perverseness. 

Verse thirteen adds, Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.  Isaiah said God warned them that this coming defeat was close and would happen suddenly.  When we fail to follow God by faith as followers of Christ, His judgment of our actions will always be close and could happen at any moment.  I don’t believe that this always does happen, and we may go through the rest of our life without suffering for our actions, but one day, even though we are a part of God’s people, He will hold us accountable for any unconfessed sin in our life. 

Verse fourteen continues, And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.  Isaiah said that the nation was going to be totally destroyed, like the potter destroy a vessel that he decides is beyond being able to be shaped into what he desires it to be.  If we are Christians, we need to be like pliable clay in God’s hands.   

Isaiah 30:1

Isaiah 30:1 says, Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:  Isaiah continued to pronounce God’s woe on His children, the people of Israel and Judah, who refused to take counsel from Him.  They were called rebellious children, and if we who profess to be followers of Christ, who then refuse to obey the leadership of the Holy Spirit, then we become rebellious children of God.  At this time, Israel had turned away from God almost totally, and Judah, the two tribes that had remained faithful to God were also turning away from Him.  Like Israel and Judah, we are called to be God’s people today, but I believe that like them, too often people are followers of Christ in name only. 

Verse two adds, That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!  Isaiah said the people were once again looking to Egypt and the pharaoh for deliverance from their problems but that they hadn’t asked God for His help.  We should never look to anyone or anything else to bring us deliverance from our problems, but as Christians, we should look to God alone and ask Him for His help. 

Verse three continues, Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.  Isaiah said that their trust in the pharaoh would lead to their shame and confusion.  God had already shown His power over Egypt, but the people of Israel, who had been enslaved in Egypt, were looking to Egypt for help instead of looking to God.  As followers of Christ, God has already shown us His power over everything in the world, even sin and death, but sometimes we look to the things of the world in times of need instead of looking to God. 

Verse four states, For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.  The princes or leaders of the people of Israel were at Zoan, where they had an audience with the pharaoh to seek his help.  They were not looking to God for help.  If we are having problems in the world today as Christians, the first thing we should do is to look to God for guidance and help.  The government cannot offer a permanent solution to our problems, and we shouldn’t rely on them to do so.  

Verse five adds, They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.  Egypt could not supply the people promised to Isreal to help in fighting alongside them against the Assyrians.  Matthew Henry says that they were either too few in numbers, unfit for service, or the Egyptians did not really support Israel and secretly sided with the Assyrians.  I do know that we as followers of Christ, no matter how physically fit we may be, will never be accepted by the people of the world.  Also, they will not be a profit to us spiritually, which is why we should always put doing God’s will first and always rely on Him for deliverance from the problems we encounter in life. 

Verse six continues, The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.  The people of Egypt, who the people of Israel were so proud to be associated with for help would become a shame to them, because they would not be able to stand up to the Assyrians.  They would be of no profit to the people of Israel.  Anytime we look to the world for answers instead of looking to God, whatever help we get from them will ultimately be of no value spiritually. 

Verse seven concludes, For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.  Isaiah said that the people of Egypt would be of no help to Israel according to God.  He said that God said that the strength of the people of Israel was to sit still and wait on Him to protect them.  This is what we should still do as Christians.  God has already given us the everlasting victory, so we need to rest easy in His care, no matter what may happen in this life.