Isaiah 8 reminds me of the divisiveness in politics today. Sadly, many ordinary people get caught up in the fight, each claiming the other side is full of deception and each aligning with slogans of blame. The same underlying seed of arrogance can destroy marriages and relationships. A frustration or disagreement becomes a wedge that divides. Ridicule replaces understanding, each becoming too prideful to seek truth. Isaiah warns all of us that the only solution is for both sides to submit to God’s authority. His Word must be the arbiter and that is only possible with humility. The chapter begins with God’s instruction to Isaiah, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen“. He is saying, write in simple language so even the most common person can understand. This is a message for the people, not the leaders. He writes his soon-to-be-born son’s name as a reminder that the clock is ticking. As prophesied in the previous chapter, the timer is set for God’s judgment against the nations attacking Jerusalem. God declared, because they “rejected the gently flowing waters“, He will, “bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates the king of Assyria“. God will end the civil war in Israel by taking out both sides. God used the Assyrian army to invade Aram and the northern kingdom and finally the southern kingdom too. “It will… run over all its banks and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it…reaching up to the neck… will cover the breadth of your land.” Friend, is pride sinking your relation-ship?
Isaiah continues describing the attitude leading to self-destruction. “Raise the war cry… Prepare for battle, and be shattered… Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted“. This is what arrogance sounds like, “God is with us“. Forget hurling blame, the fix is to GET ON GOD’S SIDE! Isaiah adds, God is “warning me not to follow the way of this people“. Hear this news junkie, “The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, He is the one you are to fear“. Jesus Christ is the reconciliation of mankind, “He will be a holy place; for both” sides and “a stone that causes people to stumble“. If your hope is in any man then you are deceived, “Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken“. Are you broken?
God gave Isaiah another directive, “Bind up this testimony of warning and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples“. Here is the one vote that ensures victory, “I will put my trust in Him“. Isaiah adds, “We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion“. What do you symbolize? Are you in need of change? “Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning.” Isaiah tells what the end result of nations and individuals that reject God’s truth, “Distressed and hungry… when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God“. Without God, where is the hope? “Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness“. Friend, it is to these people that Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Maybe it time to stop blaming and submit to God’s authority?