Thoughts on Isaiah 36

Today’s reading: Isaiah 36; Revelation 2

Isaiah 36 is a great picture of the lies and insidiousness of sin in general, but especially as it tries to short-circuit the discipline of the Lord at work in our lives.

In Isaiah 36, Assyria has already defeated the larger part of Judah, and the Assyrian army is now knocking at the gates of Jerusalem. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, sends one of his officers, the Rabshakeh, to Jerusalem to try to convince them to give up without a fight. The Rabshakeh yells to the people from outside the wall, assuring them that Assyria will indeed defeat them, and painting a bleak picture of what each one of them is going to be facing if they continue to oppose Assyria. However, in the midst of his threats, the Rabshakeh also makes an offer to each individual Israelite. Even if Hezekiah won't surrender, they can, and for anyone who surrenders to the Assyrians, instead of facing death, starvation, etc. in the city under siege or once captured by the Assyrian army, they will be able to enjoy the fruits of their lands in peace until the Assyrian invasion is complete, and then the Assyrians will take them away, not to harm them, but to give them even better land than they have in Israel.

This is an enticing offer. As it stands now they are looking at suffering, and probable death. Judah does not have the resources left, either to defend itself, or to hire another nation to come and fight off the Assyrians on their behalf. All they are able to do it hold up inside the city walls, waiting to be starved out, on the incredibly slim chance that something big enough happens elsewhere in the empire, such that the Assyrians pull their army and end the siege before everyone in the city has died. So even if the Rabshakeh's offer is only half true, it could still be significantly better than what the Israelites are looking at facing over the next months of siege.

The important thing, theologically, to remember here though is that God is involved in all of this. The Assyrians attacking Israel is not happenstance, and it is not merely the cogs of the global geopolitical machine turning, but is the hand of God's disciple on Israel for her unfaithfulness to Him. He declared from the beginning that this would be the cost of their unfaithfulness in general, and we have already seen Him declare, through Isaiah, that the Assyrians are the rod of discipline in His hand. But He also declared, at the same time, that if Israel turned and repented, He would rescue and restore them. His disciple is not for their destruction, but to lead them to repentance and faithfulness, and this changes the equation the Israelites in Jerusalem are facing before the Assyrian siege.

This adds a question of faith to the decision the Rabshekah is placing before the Israelites. Yes, from a natural standpoint, they are looking at starvation and death to the Assyrian army, but Yahweh is greater than any nation, even Assyria. If they repent and turn to Him in faithfulness, He is able to rescue them, no matter how badly the odds appear stacked against them. This is the same God who parted the sea to rescue their forefathers from the army of Egypt, so if He desires to act, He can make a way for them again. The Rabshakeh's offer sounds enticing, but God has promised so much more to Israel than Assyria could ever give them. So do they take the illicit path that short-circuits their fear and suffering in the moment, but that is probably not nearly as good as it sounds, or do they stay faithful to God, trusting that He will bring them through the suffering, and that He has much greater things for them on the other side of it?

This is often how sin looks in the midst of our own sufferings. We have talked about this quite a few times on this blog, including in the last few days, so I'm not going to rehash the subject here, other than to say that God promises to bring discipline into our lives if we are truly His children. There will be times of difficulty, suffering, trials, disappointments, etc. that we will face that God is allowing ultimately for our good and for His glory, and if we allow Him to do the work He is doing, it produces for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. But there will be opportunities to short-circuit the disciple, end the suffering, skip the trial, etc. Just like the Rabshakeh outside the walls of Jerusalem offering peace and security if they will only abandon their trust in the Lord and surrender to him instead, Satan will lay these same offers before us. There will be promises of ease if we just abandon situations the Lord has brought us to that are causing suffering. There will be promises of relief if we just indulge in that sin that God has said not to pursue. There will be promises of counterfeit versions of all that God offers us, but achieved with none of the difficulty, suffering, or trial.

But Satan's lies are just as false as the Rabshakeh's. The Rabshakeh offered them peace and security if they would leave the city, but do you really believe any woman would be able to leave that city and go to her land without being raped by multiple Assyrian soldiers? Do you think any able-bodied man would be able to leave that city without getting conscripted by the Assyrians and forced to do all the work around the camp that none of the soldiers wanted to do, like shoveling out the latrines? Do you think pretty young girls could leave the city without being kidnapped and taken home to be a soldier's wife or concubine once she was 12 or 13? Maybe they would have made it out alive, and maybe they would end up in a decent situation after they were relocated from Israel, but believing the Rabshekah's lies rather than trusting in the Lord would carry it's own kinds of sufferings and pain, but without the comfort of knowing Yahweh is involved and is not looking to destroy, but to ultimately restore.

In the same way, Satan's offers are never more than enticing half-truths. He tells you your sin will relieve the pain and the suffering, and it may, for a moment, but it also brings pain, damage, shame, and/or trials of it's own. He tells you that turning away from the Lord will end His discipline, and it may, but the world apart from God is just as full of suffering, it is just suffering without a purpose.

God promises to bring incredible things out of His discipline, both in this life, and in the next, if we will submit to it and let Him do His work, but when Satan comes to show us the way out, we have to trust that the Lord is good and is good for His word, and allow Him to bring about that eternal weight of glory He desires to produce in us.