Latest / Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms / #143. The Valley of Vision: Finding God in Life's Lowest Places | Isaiah 21–27

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#143. The Valley of Vision: Finding God in Life's Lowest Places | Isaiah 21–27 · Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms

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  Steph: This is a Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.
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  Steph: I'm Stephanie Hickox.
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  Steph: In today's reading of Isaiah 21 through 27, we'll ponder whether we have more clarity on the mountaintop or in the valley.
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  Steph: And although it seems entirely like an oxymoron, we'll cover little apocalypse Chapter twenty one details the forthcoming judgment against Babylon, Edom, and Arabia.
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  Steph: Isaiah is thoroughly grieved by what he sees, and it's an eschatological ending of Babylon that lines up with what we read in Revelation.
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  Steph: In chapter two, we reach the oracle against Jerusalem because this is God's chosen nation of Judah, I'll read it in its entirety The oracle concerning the valley of vision.
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  Steph: What do you mean that you have gone up all of you to the housetops?
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  Steph: You who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town.
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  Steph: Your slain are not slain with the sword, or dead in battle.
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  Steph: All your leaders have fled together.
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  Steph: Without the bow they were captured.
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  Steph: All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away.
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  Steph: Therefore I said, Look away from me.
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  Steph: Let me weep bitter tears.
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  Steph: Do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.
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  Steph: First of all, calling this the Valley of Vision is a little bit confusing because the elevation of Jerusalem is higher.
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  Steph: And when scripture frequently says they went up to Jerusalem, it's because they were climbing the elevation.
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  Steph: But Young suggests that this was just recognizing that Jerusalem was the place of the revelation.
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  Steph: Isaiah asks the people, "Why are you rejoicing?
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  Steph: Destruction is coming."
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  Steph: And when he writes, "Your slain are not slain with the sword," He means you may not have been killed in battle, but you're still dead Let's pick back up in verse five.
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  Steph: For the Lord God of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains.
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  Steph: And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
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  Steph: Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
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  Steph: He has taken away the covering of Judah."
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  Steph: In that day you looked to the weapons of the house of the forest, and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many.
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  Steph: You collected the waters of the lower pool, and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.
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  Steph: You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool.
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  Steph: But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago They are surrounded by enemies And instead of looking to the Lord, they look at this fortress Solomon built to house their
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  Steph: weapons called the House of the Forest, and these tunnels that Hezekiah famously built to bring them water even in a siege?
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  Steph: And the walls that they've repaired, but they do not look to the Lord.
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  Steph: In that day, the Lord of Hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth.
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  Steph: And behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine.
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  Steph: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
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  Steph: The Lord of Hosts has revealed himself in my ears.
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  Steph: Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for until you die, says the Lord God of Hosts.
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  Steph: The people should be repenting before the Lord and pleading for mercy.
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  Steph: But instead They're chasing after fleeting pleasures Thus says the Lord God of hosts, Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him, What have you to do here?
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  Steph: And whom have you here that you cut out a tomb for yourself?
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  Steph: You who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock.
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  Steph: Behold, hurl you away violently, O you strong man.
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  Steph: He will seize firm hold on you and whirl you around and around and throw you like a ball into a wild land.
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  Steph: There you shall die and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house.
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  Steph: I will thrust you from your office And you will be pulled down from your station.
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  Steph: After we read about the people's arrogance To continue celebrating even in the midst of impending destruction We learned how Shebna, a mighty man, is brought low He was high up and served the king, but we read elsewhere that
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  Steph: he was brought low and became a scribe he had proudly been building an ornate tomb Which many believe was uncovered in 1953 But the Lord hurls him like a shot put, and he will be taken captive.
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  Steph: Not even able to use that fancy tombstone In that day I will call my servant, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your
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  Steph: authority to his hand.
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  Steph: And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
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  Steph: And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David.
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  Steph: He shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open.
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  Steph: And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place And he will become a throne of honor to his father's house, and they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and
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  Steph: issue, every small vessel from the cups to all the flagons.
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  Steph: In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off.
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  Steph: For the Lord has spoken This is complicated because as with many prophecies, some is fulfilled in the near future and some is for the distant future.
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  Steph: We know this points to the coming Messiah because in Revelation 3:7, Jesus says And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write the words of the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who
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  Steph: opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
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  Steph: So we can confidently ascribe portions of this to Christ Aloha.
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  Steph: Eliakim was elevated, given authority and influence, and God gives his station security.
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  Steph: But eventually, even though the text doesn't point to any sin or weakness, even he will fall because ultimately nothing but the Lord can stand, and Judah's hope needs to be in the Lord himself rather than rulers or leaders.
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  Steph: And don't miss that in 22:8, Isaiah wrote, "He has taken away the covering of Judah."
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  Steph: That is a terrifying place to be The Lord does not let His people go.
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  Steph: But when we know the truth and we're walking in sin and rebellion, God allows us to experience the consequences of our decisions and like the prodigal son, allows us to come to the end of ourselves so we can
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  Steph: realize how good we had it with the Father In all of these chapters of judgment can remind us that if the goodness of God allows his people to be disciplined, then godly parents also recognize The goodness of loving
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  Steph: correction.
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  Steph: Let's go back and meditate on that phrase, the Valley of Vision.
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  Steph: There was an English minister by the name of Arthur Bennett, who lived from 1915 to He devoted much of his study to the life of the Puritans, and he wrote The Valley of Vision, which is a collection of
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  Steph: Puritan poems and devotions.
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  Steph: His goal was to inspire us with the prayers of the Puritan saints that came before us.
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  Steph: And at the conclusion of this episode, I'll pray one of these prayers by this title, The Valley of Vision You see, the Puritans believed that Christians encounter God best not in our moments of success and on our mountaintop
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  Steph: moments, but often in the valleys when we're broken and humble and repentant.
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  Steph: If I think back on my life, the moments I've issued the purest of prayers and had the greatest clarity about what matters is often in the difficulties and when I'm most aware of my sinful status before a holy
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  Steph: Savior.
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  Steph: Isaiah has a much greater understanding of who God is than the nation of Judah, and his spirit is grieved at the destruction that is coming.
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  Steph: Yet he knows God's ways are just.
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  Steph: And we'll keep reading through this book because he's also going to write Life-giving promises of the hope of the Lord Chapter 23 is an oracle against the Phoenician city of Tyre.
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  Steph: They were traders and seafarers, and they were thriving.
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  Steph: And you might remember the city of Tyre because it's where Solomon accumulated the lumber for the temple And just like all of the nations, they're also going to meet their destruction.
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  Steph: They worshiped the sea god of Yam, but he would not be able to save or protect them.
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  Steph: And why?
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  Steph: Verse nine tells us, "The Lord of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honor of the earth."
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  Steph: Our last four chapters of Isaiah 24 through 27 are known as Isaiah's Little Apocalypse.
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  Steph: It's hard for me to say that without giggling a bit.
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  Steph: I had to look up the word apocalypse to make sure it's really as funny as it seems to me.
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  Steph: The word apocalypse comes from the ancient Greek apokalypsis, which means to lift the veil or unveiling.
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  Steph: It generally refers to literature with a prophetic intent, particularly in the Bible and especially in the Book of Revelation.
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  Steph: But it's become synonymous with global disaster, extinction, or end times But the purpose is to display the ultimate triumph of good over evil.
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  Steph: It's not just about the destruction, it's about the revealing of the truth Chapter 24 begins with God's judgment of the entire earth verse five tells us, "The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants, for they have transgressed the laws,
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  Steph: violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant."
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  Steph: It seems God is saying that everyone is held accountable for not choosing a relationship with Him.
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  Steph: This makes me think of Romans one when it says that all men are without excuse because God's attributes have been clearly shown since the creation of the world.
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  Steph: All we have to do is look around and see that a creator must have done this.
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  Steph: I love what Frank Turek says.
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  Steph: If you were walking along a beach and came across a message of seashells written on the sand that said, I love Erica," you wouldn't think, "Wow, isn't that amazing what the ocean arranged?"
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  Steph: You would instinctively and correctly acknowledge that someone created it That image of the seashells is nothing compared to the complicated structure of your DNA or the glory of the galaxies.
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  Steph: All of it points to a creator.
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  Steph: And some think that this everlasting covenant in verse five refers to the Noahic covenant in Genesis nine Because in 9:12, God says, This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living
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  Steph: creature that is with you for all future generations In chapter twenty-five, Isaiah records how God's people are going to respond after they see the entire world judged.
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  Steph: There will be a banquet, but it's not the wedding feast of the Lamb discussed in Revelation nineteen.
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  Steph: Let's begin in twenty-five:six.
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  Steph: On this mountain, the Lord of Hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined, and he will swallow up on this
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  Steph: mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.
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  Steph: He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth For the Lord has spoken.
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  Steph: It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God.
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  Steph: We have waited for Him that He might save us.
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  Steph: This is the Lord.
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  Steph: We have waited for Him.
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  Steph: Let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation."
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  Steph: Could you be more grateful for a God that will make death cease and wipe every tear from your eyes?
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  Steph: And chapter 26 is a song the people of Judah will sing someday.
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  Steph: It continues to remind us of the blessings of walking in righteousness.
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  Steph: A verse I've clung to for years is 26:3, You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."
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  Steph: This song continues, "Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
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  Steph: For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city.
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  Steph: He lays it low."
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  Steph: To the ground, casts it to the dust.
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  Steph: The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.
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  Steph: The path of the righteous is level.
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  Steph: You make level the way of the righteous.
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  Steph: In the path of your judgments, oh Lord, we wait for you.
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  Steph: your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.
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  Steph: My soul yearns for you in the night.
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  Steph: My spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
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  Steph: For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness Finally, the people will have that depth of desire for their maker that he so rightfully deserves And I loved that acknowledgement in verse nine
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  Steph: that through God's judgment, we learn to do what is right In chapter 27 Judgment continues And so does God's analogy of him being the vine keeper And we read again that Assyria and Egypt will worship together Today, you
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  Steph: may be able to relate to Isaiah.
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  Steph: You may be finding yourself in the valley or your family may be in a place of suffering.
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  Steph: But let's acknowledge together the blessing of the vision and the clarity provided in that low place as we pray this Puritan prayer Lord high and holy, meek and lowly.
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  Steph: thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths, but see Thee in the heights.
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  Steph: Hemmed in by mountains of sin, I behold Thy glory Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up.
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  Steph: That to be low is to be high.
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  Steph: That the broken heart is the healed heart.
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  Steph: That the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit.
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  Steph: That the repenting soul is the victorious soul.
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  Steph: That to have nothing is to possess all.
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  Steph: That to bear the cross is to wear the crown.
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  Steph: That to give is to receive.
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  Steph: That the valley is the place of vision.
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  Steph: Lord, in the daytime, stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells, the brighter thy stars shine.
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  Steph: let me find thy light in my darkness, thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace in my sin, thy riches in my poverty, thy glory in my valley.
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  Steph: In Jesus name we pray.
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  Steph: Amen