Daily Devotions
Isaiah
"Your country is desolate"
Text: Isaiah 1:7
A PROPHETIC VISION
The reign of King Uzziah brought great prosperity to Judah. His son, Jotham followed in his father’s footsteps. But his reign was much weaker. The people “acted corruptly” (2 Chronicles 27:2c).
“Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
Strangers devour your land in your presence;
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard,
As a hut in a garden of cucumbers,
As a besieged city.
Unless the LORD of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like Sodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah.”
Isaiah 1:7-9
1. “Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire”
a) This was a prophetic vision of the future.
b) The nation of Judah will become desolate.
i) The verb “is” was inserted by the translators (in italics).
ii) This word was a prophetic word of warning.
c) The cities (will be) burned with fire.
i) The verb “are” was added by the translators (in italics).
ii) The reigns of the 4 kings did not see Judah devastated.
iii) The future of Judah was experienced by the prophet Jeremiah.
iv) In Jeremiah’s time, these prophetic words were fulfilled.
2. “Strangers devour your land in your presence; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.”
a) This was a grim picture of what would happen to Judah.
b) Strangers (the Babylonians) would devour the land.
c) The land would become desolate, overthrown by strangers
(Babylonians).
3. The plight of Zion (Jerusalem)
a) It is compared to a booth (a hut) in a vineyard.
b) It is further compared to a hut in a cucumber garden.
c) Jerusalem would be besieged one day.
4. A sobering comparison
a) Judah was compared to Sodom and Gomorrah.
b) These cities were destroyed by the Lord because of their
wickedness.
5. A small remnant
a) If God had not spared a small remnant, the nation would have been
obliterated.
b) It is out of God’s mercies that a small remnant would even be
preserved!