Good Monday to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Are you a treasure hunter? I’ve watched people with metal detectors walk the beach and then dig in the sand looking for treasure and sometimes finding rings or other valuables. I’ve seen very optimistic people find hopeful things to say even in very dark situations.
Come with me, back to Jerusalem, in 740bc, as the young prophet Isaiah is having his life changing encounter with God through an amazing vision which also results in God commissioning Isaiah to a lifetime of being God’s prophet, His spokesman to the people of Israel and their kings, at an increasingly dark time.
But Isaiah is a ‘treasure hunter’ so even in the bad news warning God is giving Isaiah there is hopeful, good news! Let’s join Isaiah today, first understanding the bad news, and then finding that hopeful treasure.
Isaiah recorded this devastating message from God in Is. 6:11-13 in response to Isaiah question of HOW LONG he would be bringing warnings to the kings of Israel and Judah: “God answered: ‘Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitants, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken…”
As Isaiah the prophet shared this with kings Pekah and Hoshea of the northern kingdom Israel, over the next few years, both kings rejected Isaiah’s warning and only 18 years after Isaiah received this horrific message from God, it became reality for Israel. 2 Kings 17 is an entire chapter dedicated to God’s accomplishment of this horrific warning. I urge you to listen to it in the Audio Bible link below.
In 722bc Shalmaneser, king of Assyria invaded and conquered the northern kingdom of Israel. “The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for 3 years. The Assyrians captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria… All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God who had brought them up out of Egypt…The Israelites persisted in their sins and did not turn away from them until the LORD removed them from His presence, as He had warned through all His servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria…” (2 Kings 17:5,7,22,23)
That summary description is very clear, isn’t it? From the time of King Solomon’s death and the division of the nation of Israel into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom had 20 different Kings, most of them idol worshiping men who were unfaithful to God and ignored the warning messages of God’s prophets. The land which once was blessed and protected by God was ravaged by invaders. The people who once had worshipped as God’s people in Jerusalem, united as one great nation under Kings David and Solomon, were dragged away as captives.
The devastation described by God to Isaiah in his temple vision became a desperate reality for the northern kingdom of Israel. Furthermore, the empire of Assyria had a second strategy to be sure conquered nations were forever changed. 2 Kings 17:24 records: The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath…and settled them in the towns of Israel to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in all the towns… Each national group made its own gods in several towns where they settled…to this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did.” (2 Kings 17:24,29,41)
This is the intentional strategy of interbreeding Israelites with peoples of other nations so the treasured bloodline of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his 12 sons could NOT be easily traced for the Israelites of the captured northern kingdom Israel. These mixed ethnicities people became known as the Samaritans. And yes, 700 years later, when Jesus encountered the deep ethnic hatred of Jews and Samaritans, the roots of that prejudice reach all the way back through history to 2 Kings 17 and the days of Isaiah the prophet!
Perhaps you noticed Isaiah 6:13 “And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste.” The king of Assyria did not drag into exile ALL the inhabitants of northern kingdom Israel, he left behind a few, perhaps about 10% of the people, and those were intermixed with other peoples brought in to replace the captives taken out.
But as we know the history of Israel, that same region has been decimated by marching armies many, many times over the years since the days of Isaiah. And even today, as Hezbollah rockets and drones shower down on the Galilee region from Lebanon, God’s warning through Isaiah is once again being lived in Israel.
But as I mentioned, Isaiah is a treasure hunter and the last few lines of God’s commissioning message to Isaiah awakened HOPE for both Isaiah and the people of Israel. Isaiah didn’t know it in 740bc, as God was giving Isaiah this first dreadful message, but not too many years in the future God would give Isaiah another message, a hopeful message to proclaim, which he recorded in Isaiah 11:1 “A shoot will come from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him – the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord – and He will delight in the fear of the LORD.” (Is. 11:1,2)
Do you suppose a chill ran up Isaiah’s spine as God spoke the word ‘stump’? Immediately Isaiah would have remembered his initial encounter with God in his Temple vision & commissioning. God was clearly saying that while the 10 northern tribes were decimated by the Assyrian army, like a forest cut down to nothing but stumps, there was yet a hopeful future with God!!
Do you recognize the treasure Isaiah found? Who was Jesse? Yes! The father of King David! Of course Jesse and his family lived in Bethlehem and that would have been about 300 years BEFORE Isaiah. Isaiah would have known that history well. (1 Samuel 16:1) But did you notice the capital B on the word Branch and the capital S for the word Spirit of the LORD who will be upon that Branch? Isaiah would have understood this to be a prediction of Israel’s Messiah!
While God was pouring out great judgment on His rebellious, idolatrous people Israel, God was at the very same time looking forward in time, preparing a miracle unlike Isaiah nor any other Jewish person could imagine! God Himself would come to earth from heaven, in the person of Jesus, and be born in Jesse’s hometown Bethlehem through the miracle of divine incarnation!
This Jesus would grow up in the town of Nazareth up in the Galilee, in the region decimated by the King of Assyria! This Jesus Christ would call 12 Jewish men to follow Him as His disciples. He would teach them and they would become apostles of Jesus, commissioned as Isaiah was, to bring God’s message to their generation.
Only their message is the glorious Gospel story of Jesus, spoken and written so the entire Roman Empire would know of Jesus in the first century. And passed on from generation to generation so that through the centuries and now in our time the Gospel of Jesus is known worldwide and the Church of Jesus includes people from every part of the world, just as Jesus promised! (Matt. 16:16-18)
Now that’s what I call a great treasure, and Isaiah was given several messages from God which helped the people of his dark days look forward with hope! So my friends, if you feel a heavy darkness or discouragement as you look around your city or your part of the world in 2024, invite God to give you some hopeful treasure truths from His Word. As we continue to trace the work of God in Israel in the days of Isaiah, you’ll be amazed at some wonderful, hopeful, miraculous times of God’s great blessing.
There’s hope even in our day, my friends, wherever you live, because as Peter wrote “The LORD is not slow as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
Let’s praise God for His patience with us and His HOPE always available to us in Jesus, and here’s a hopeful song to help us thank Him.
Today’s Scripture: 2 Kings 17; Isaiah 11:1-3.
Choose below to read or listen.
2 Kings 17
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Isaiah 11:1-3
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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