DO NOT FEAR WHAT THEY FEAR

Isaiah 8:1-22 / Keywords 8:13

The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread,

 Isaiah and His Children as Signs

8:1 The Lord said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.”[a] 2 So I called in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me. 3 Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 4 For before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

5 The Lord spoke to me again:

6 “Because this people has rejected

    the gently flowing waters of Shiloah

and rejoices over Rezin

    and the son of Remaliah,

7 therefore the Lord is about to bring against them

    the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—

    the king of Assyria with all his pomp.

It will overflow all its channels,

    run over all its banks

8 and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,

    passing through it and reaching up to the neck.

Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,

    Immanuel[b]!”

9 Raise the war cry,[c] you nations, and be shattered!

    Listen, all you distant lands.

Prepare for battle, and be shattered!

    Prepare for battle, and be shattered!

10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;

    propose your plan, but it will not stand,

    for God is with us.[d]

11 This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

12 “Do not call conspiracy

    everything this people calls a conspiracy;

do not fear what they fear,

    and do not dread it.

13 The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,

    he is the one you are to fear,

    he is the one you are to dread.

14 He will be a holy place;

    for both Israel and Judah he will be

a stone that causes people to stumble

    and a rock that makes them fall.

And for the people of Jerusalem he will be

    a trap and a snare.

15 Many of them will stumble;

    they will fall and be broken,

    they will be snared and captured.”

16 Bind up this testimony of warning

    and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.

17 I will wait for the Lord,

    who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob.

I will put my trust in him.

18 Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

The Darkness Turns to Light

19 When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. 21 Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

Footnotes

a. Isaiah 8:1 Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz means quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil; also in verse 3.

b. Isaiah 8:8 Immanuel means God with us.

c. Isaiah 8:9 Or Do your worst

d. Isaiah 8:10 Hebrew Immanuel

1. God is with us (1-10)

The Lord gave Isaiah a message and commanded him to name his next son Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. It was a sign to Judah who so much feared invasion by Aram and Israel that they became allies with Assyria. Ironically God would use Assyria as his instrument of judgment to plunder and destroy Northern Israel and Aram. The army of Assyria would flood over them and come right to the door of Jerusalem, but they would be thwarted and would not stand because Immanuel God was with his people.

 

2. The Lord is the one you are to fear (11-22)

The people of Israel were driven by fear. They feared all of the threatening nations around them. When God seemed silent they were quick to consult mediums and spiritists. But the Lord told Isaiah not to be like the people. It is the Lord we are to regard as holy and he is the one to fear. Isaiah would wait for the Lord and trust him even when God’s face was hidden. This is how he lived with the fear of the Lord in this dreadful time.

 

Prayer Lord, help me to inquire of you and wait for you in all things. Teach me to fear you.

One Word Don't fear what others fear