Slices
Prepare
‘Peace, perfect peace, ’mid suffering’s sharpest throes? The sympathy of Jesus breathes repose.’* Pause to be still. Breathe out the concerns you carry and, as you inhale, focus on the grace of God that is ever present.
Bible passage
The Lord will have compassion on Jacob;
once again he will choose Israel
and will settle them in their own land.
Foreigners will join them
and unite with the descendants of Jacob.
2 Nations will take them
and bring them to their own place.
And Israel will take possession of the nations
and make them male and female servants in the Lord’s land.
They will make captives of their captors
and rule over their oppressors.
3 On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labour forced on you, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor has come to an end!
How his fury has ended!
5 The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked,
the sceptre of the rulers,
6 which in anger struck down peoples
with unceasing blows,
and in fury subdued nations
with relentless aggression.
7 All the lands are at rest and at peace;
they break into singing.
8 Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon
gloat over you and say,
‘Now that you have been laid low,
no one comes to cut us down.’
9 The realm of the dead below is all astir
to meet you at your coming;
it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you –
all those who were leaders in the world;
it makes them rise from their thrones –
all those who were kings over the nations.
10 They will all respond,
they will say to you,
‘You also have become weak, as we are;
you have become like us.’
11 All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
along with the noise of your harps;
maggots are spread out beneath you
and worms cover you.
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.
Explore
Bring to mind a war that is currently happening in the world. Think of the aggression of the dominant nation and then imagine another power even greater than that one. Sounds confusing, but these are the prophetic gymnastics exercised by Isaiah. He goes beyond the present dominance of Assyria and sees the emergence of the Babylonian Empire. But there’s more: they in turn will be destroyed by the Medes.
Isaiah’s analysis of global power has a contemporary ring. Empires rise and fall. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the British Empire asserted its rule against others, whereas we now live with the dominance of the US and China. But Isaiah has a word of warning for Babylon and maybe for all superpowers. Their fall is inevitable (v 12), or in words popularised by eighteenth- century boxer Bob Fitzsimmons, ‘the bigger they are the harder they fall’. There can only be one superpower in the universe: the Lord who has mercy on his people and the poor of the earth (v 1).
Respond
Pray: Lord Jesus, you are our bright morning star, the ‘radiance of God’s glory’ (Hebrews 1:3), our coming king. To you I bring my adoration as I pray for my world.
Deeper Bible study
‘Rise up, Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve.’1
Many of us find it difficult to integrate expressions of God’s judgement into our thinking about God and the world. We readily respond positively to God’s renewal. We rejoice in the divine compassion that transforms a deceiver like ‘Jacob’ (v 1) to create ‘Israel’. We identify with the restoration of his people and we glory in the ‘foreigners’ who join them. However, as Isaiah constantly argues, judgement and restoration are not separate and opposite elements. They go together. Salvation comes through judgement of sin and death and the devil. Rescue necessitates defeat of powers that hold us (v 3). None of us sit comfortably with the idea of children slaughtered (v 21), Assyrians crushed (v 25) or Philistines destroyed by famine (v 30). However, all of us (even materialists and atheists) want to see right triumph, oppression stopped in its tracks and wicked powers overthrown (vs 4–6). There is rejoicing when judgement delivers lands ‘at rest and at peace’ (v 7) and when God’s people are set free from oppression (v 25).
Judgement comes when humans set themselves up as demi-gods (vs 13–15). They act as if they hold divine power, making themselves equal with God, if not greater. It does not take much imagination to take Isaiah’s scathing analysis of their pride-ridden rule and apply it to our world. World history is replete with examples of people (almost exclusively men) who have exalted themselves to de facto divinity. God will not brook such rivalry, especially as it results in human and ecological tragedy (vs 20). He brings humiliation on these rulers. They die and their grandeur dies with them (v 11); they are denied a proper burial place (vs 19,20) and their lineage is cut off (v 21). We heed the warnings around abuse of power and overweening pride. Our comfort is that these will be thwarted.
Where do you see the indicators of the sins of Isaiah 14 in our contemporary world? You long for God’s judgement to be exercised. How do you express that?
1 Ps 94:2
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 5,6; Luke 15
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray for new volunteers and young leaders helping on this year’s SU holidays and missions. Ask God to give them the confidence and the words with which to share their faith – many will be doing this for the first time. (This week's prayers relate to these stories: A real game-changer! and Celebrating volunteers: Wendy's story.)
Fancy a holiday?
We have been organising holidays and missions for children, young people and families for more than 100 years. With a huge range of fun on offer, from camping in tents to sleeping in log cabins, and from outdoor activity centres to luxury boarding schools, we're confident that there is something that is right for you!
