Daily Devotions
Isaiah
"Then I said, 'Lord, how long?'"
Text: Isaiah 6:11
DEEP CONCERN EXPRESSED
Isaiah was stunned by the Lord’s word of revelation. The prophet would not be able to see much “success” in his preaching ministry. He could not but ask how long the state of spiritual resistance would last.
“Then I said, ‘Lord, how long?’
And He answered:
‘Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant,
The houses are without a man,
The land is utterly desolate,
The LORD has removed men far away,
And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
But yet a tenth will be in it,
And will return and be for consuming,
As a terebinth tree or as an oak,
Whose stump remains when it is cut down.
So the holy seed shall be its stump.'”
Isaiah 6:11-13
1. A natural inquiry.
a) How long would the people not respond?
b) Isaiah expressed deep concern for Judah.
2. The sombre answer from God.
a) It was a very hard answer to hear.
b) Until the cities were devastated and be devoid of living inhabitants.
c) Until the residents were removed from the land they had profaned.
d) The LORD warned of exile to a faraway country.
e) The land of Judah with its many cities would be without the expected inhabitants.
3. A quiet word of comfort.
a) A remnant would be allowed to remain in the land.
b) A tenth of the population would be there.
c) But even the remnant would not escape judgment should they turn away from God after their return to Judah.
d) The remnant may be divided into two groups:
i) There would be the physical remnant.
ii) There would be the spiritual remnant.
4. Was there real hope?
a) Yes! For the true and faithful remnant.
b) Those who truly determine to be holy would survive and thrive.
c) They form “the holy stump”.