America 935 B. C.

America 935 B.C.

Isaiah 3:1-26

You don’t have to tell me. I know that America didn’t exist in 935 B.C., but she sure was described. In the chapter of Isaiah that we’re going to look at today he’s talking to and about Israel. But when we look at the circumstances that are described it could just as easily be America 2006.

On March 3, 2006, as I was driving to Eureka from Augusta, I had what I call a life-changing meeting with God. We have most of our serious conversations while I’m driving. I guess that’s the only time He can catch me where I’m not doing something else and can really take the time to listen to Him.

I’m convinced, after this meeting that this nation of America is collapsing in on itself. It’s imploding. And the church has let it happen! Don’t get me wrong, I love this country, and I’ve served her in different capacities for most of my adult life. I’d still fight for her, but she’s sick. And I’m not at all sure that she’s going to recover.

I also believe that God’s sick and tired of preachers that ignore the facts and keep teaching that everything’s just hunky dory as long as we keep sending money into their coffers. The Bride of Jesus, in America has fallen in love with the world. We’re seeing the prophecy in 2 Tim 4:3 come to pass in the church. The teachers with itching ears are alive and well in the American church today. We will no longer listen to sound doctrine. We’ve gotten to the point that God has to fit into our little box. And even worse, He’s got to obey us by waiting on our every want, normally without even a please of thank you.

Listen to what the prophet Isaiah has to say in the 3rd chapter of the book of Isaiah.

1-8 (Amp)

1 For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff [every kind of prop], the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water.

2 The mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the [professional] prophet, the one who foretells by divination and the old man.

3 The captain of 50 and the man of rank, the counselor and the expert craftsman and the skilled enchanter.

4 And I will make boys their princes, and with childishness shall they rule over them [with outrage instead of justice].

5 And the people shall be oppressed, each one by another, and each one by his neighbor; the child shall behave himself proudly and with insolence against the old man, and the lowborn against the honorable [person of rank].

6 When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, “You have a robe, you shall be our judge and ruler, and this heap of ruins shall be under your control”.

7 In that day he will answer, saying, “I will not be a healer and one who binds up: I am not a physician. For in my house is neither bread nor clothing: you shall not make me judge and ruler of the people.”

8 For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of His glory and defy His glorious presence”.

In these verses we see Isaiah prophesying Israel being under siege, her leaders destroyed. He’s denouncing the sins of the affluent upper class, telling them that God’s going to take away their leadership.

The referral to the stay and the staff means that He’s going to take away everything that they’re depending on as a nation. Then He goes on to list several things that they’re going to lose.

• The mighty man of war (their armies)

• The judge (National leaders “King, etc.”)

• The professional prophet.

• The diviner

• The old man (counselor)

• The chanter, or “prayer”

• The eloquent orator

And in the place of these national leaders He’s going to place “children” to rule over them.

In other words, He’s going to allow their competent leaders to be replaced by incompetent rulers. The instability of the nation will become so bad that the people will be oppressing one another. People will become “unneighbourly” and constantly be at each other’s throats. The leaders, being childish and incompetent, will do nothing to correct the situation.

The last half of verse 5 can be interpreted two ways.

1. It can refer to the childish and incompetent leaders ignoring the wisdom of those who have gone before them, and doing a “new” thing.

2. It can also be speaking to insolent and rebellious youth who ignore the values of preceding generations and therefore devalue, among other things, the morals and self-control of earlier generations.