A translation and sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, 03 Dec 2006
A burden of the desert of the sea:
As whirlwinds in the Negev sweep on,
he comes
from the wilderness,
from a feared land.
(2) A hard vision has been related to me;
the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys.
Elam, ascend!
Media, beseige!
All her sighs I have caused to cease.
(3) Therefore my loins filled with agony;
pangs seized me, like birth pangs;
I have been bent from hearing;
I have been dismayed from seeing.
(4) My heart staggers; trembling overwhelmed me;
He makes the evening of my pleasure into fright for me.
(5) To arrange the spread,
To attend to the watch,
To eat, to drink.
Arise, O princes; oil the shield!
(6) For thus said the Lord to me:
"Go, install the watchman; let him relate what he shall see.
(7) And he shall see
A procession of teamed horses,
A donkey procession,
A camel procession,
let him pay close attention with great attentiveness."
(8) Then he called like a lion,
"Upon a watchtower, O Lord, I am standing,
continually by day, and at my guardpost I am stationed all the nights.
(9) And look at this: a manned procession of teamed horses is coming.
And he responded and said,
"Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the earth."
(10) O my threshed one and son of my threshing-floor,
what I have heard from Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel,
I announce to you.
(11) A burden of Dumah.
One is calling to me from Seir,
"Guard, what of the night?
Guard, what of the night?"
(12) The guard says:
"Morning comes, and also the night.
If you will seek, seek; repent and come."
(13) A burden in Arabia.
Nomads of Dedan,
you will be making stopovers in the thicket in Arabia.
(14) To the thirsty caller bring water,
inhabitants of the land of Tema!
With his bread they go before the fugitive,
(15) For they have fled
from the face of swords,
from the face of an unsheathed sword,
and from the face of a bent bow,
and from heaviness of battle.
(16) For thus the Lord said to me,
"In another year,
Like the years of an employee,
Then all the glory of Kedar will end.
(17) And the remnant of the number of bow
of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few,
for Jehovah, the God of Israel, has spoken."
· “masa’s” burdens or oracles
1. (Isa 13:1) Babylon
2. (Isa 14:28) Philistia
3. (Isa 15:1) Moab
4. (Isa 17:1) Damascus
5. (Isa 19:1) Egypt
6. (Isa 21:1) desert of the sea (Babylon) – by Euphrates and desert
7. (Isa 21:11) Dumah (Edom) – town in the area, permutation of Edom, means “deathlike-stillness”
8. (Isa 21:13) Arabia – Tema, Dedan, Kedar (Dedan & Kedar were sons of Ishmael: Gen 25)
9. (Isa 22:1) The valley of vision (Jerusalem)
10. (Isa 23:1) Tyre
11. (Isa 30:6) the beasts of the south
· “hard” v2
· painful v. 3 (cf. 15:5)
· overwhelming, evenings unpleasant now v.4
· Application: Jesus calls us to take up His burdens, too
o (Mat 16:24) Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
o (Mat 11:29-30) Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
o Often this means exercising compassion when others are hurting. Isaiah empathizes with Babylon. (Gal 6:2) “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
o We are called to accept what is hard for our flesh – it’s easier to watch TV than to make disciples
o We have the word of God in our hands; read it and share it!
· Watchman posted before the feast starts, and misses the feast (v.5 KJV/ASV/Delitzsch) - this is a picture of what happened in Daniel 5
o Arrange the spread of food, roll out the rugs on which Mid-Easterners ate (could refer instead to setting a watchman on the watchtower, however)
· He “stands” v.6 – no lying down on the job
· He sees and pays very close attention (v.7)
· V.8 “like a lion”
o More recent translations translate this “seer”, following one of the copies of Isaiah found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. If you take the Hebrew word for “lion” and switch two letters around, you can get “seer” but I am following the standard of textual criticism which holds that the more unusual reading is more likely original
o My cat – nocturnal, cries to his master, sits still and waits patiently, absolutely focused on what she’s observing – every muscle poised
o cf. (Rev 10:1-3) Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded.
o Not a foreign phrase to Isaiah: (Isa 31:4) For thus the LORD said to me, "As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. (Like the lion, the watchman is not going to leave even if people come to frighten him.)
· He’s on duty all day and all night every day and every night (v.8)
· V.11 – standing guard through the night “guard, what of the night?”
· Application: God calls us to be an alert people, too
o Watchful against danger: (1Pe 5:8) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
o Watchful for opportunities to share the gospel: (1Pe 3:15) but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;
o Watchful over the well-being of the church: (Heb 13:17) Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls...
o Watchful for Jesus’ return: (Luk 12:36) and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.
o Are you paying close attention to every word as you read the Bible?
o Are there things that you indulge in that dull your eyes and mind and make you less alert? Fasting is another way to increase our alertness.
· v.5 “arise, prepare your shield!” (smear/anoint – make supple so as not to crack, or shiny so as to intimidate the enemy, or slick so as to make arrows glance off, cf 1 Sam. 1:21)
· v.6 “relate what you see” - not just see it for himself
· v.9 he doesn’t miss a detail “riders… teams of horses… donkeys… camels”
o These animals were all used in Cyrus’ army or Elymites and Medes that conquered Babylon in 539 BC
o The historian Xenophon mentions Cyrus’ army advancing “two by two”
o “Riders” can mean procession, troop, cavalcade, or chariot
· v.10 “what I heard from God… I announced to you”
· v.12 He changes from his standard Judean vocabulary to use Aramean forms of “come” and “ask” so his audience can understood better.
· Doesn’t shrink back from delivering a difficult message: v. 16-17 “…the glory of Kedar will end… for… God… has spoken”
· Application: God also calls us to speak up for Him
o Watchman passage in Ezekiel 3:18 - If I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.
o Are there times when we should speak up? (Example of when I was on the airplane wearing a Christian t-shirt and reading a book on missions when two Arabs sat next to me. I suddenly felt like avoiding all talk about Christianity. Turned out they were Christians and eager for fellowship!) Don’t be afraid to speak out.
o It is important not to miss a detail when we speak. (Example: Don Richardson, relates how he shared the Gospel with the Sawi people of P.N.G. They cheered when they heard how clever Judas was to betray Jesus. Don had unwittingly left out an important detail: that Jesus was the Peace Child.)
o It is important to share our message in a way others can understand. Work to cut through the “Christianese” and use language they are familiar with.
· V.8 “On the watch-tower” - in a unique place to see what many can’t see
· People have need of direction – End of each masa:
o V.9 Fallen is Babylon, her idols shattered
§ points away from idols to true God
o V.12 Morning comes, but also the night, if you will inquire, turn and come
§ Tiglath Pileser came through in the 730’s BC and conquered them, then Nebuchadneazzar came later, and then Alexander the Great…
§ Points away from stubborn haughtiness to repentance and seeking God
o V.17 Within a year the glory of Kedar will end
§ Points away from their man-centered glory toward God
· Application: God calls us to call others along in faith
o Take any given set of circumstances and bring spiritual meaning into it
o Jesus the woman at the well: (John 4:10) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." – He plays His circumstances and the woman’s curiosity for all it’s worth! He is our example!
o Peter and the lame man: (Act 3:6) But Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" – Peter points the way forward; it’s not in money but in Christ!
o I’m not very clever at doing this, but there was one time when I felt like I got it right, and that was on a tour of Yemen I took several years ago. A Yemeni man asked me if Christians had to obey the Sabbath laws of the Bible. I assumed he was a Muslim, and groped for a way to point him away from rituals toward Jesus, so I replied, “Yes, but there’s only one man who’s ever done it!” He responded to that hint and we were able to discuss how Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law.
Unbeliever, these warnings are not obsolete. Your idols, your pride and your glory are going to be destroyed by God just as the idols of Babylon, the pride of Edom, and the glory of the Bedouins. Take heed and turn to Jesus in faith, for only in Him can you be saved from the destruction which is coming.
Believer, You have a calling to be a watchman, to carry the burden God gives you no matter how difficult it is, to watch diligently, to speak up faithfully and clearly, and to point people to Jesus, our only hope.