“Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, ‘Since you have rejected this word and have put your trust in oppression and guile, and have relied on them, therefore this iniquity will be to you like a breach about to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant, whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar, so ruthlessly shattered that a sherd will not be found among its pieces to take fire from a hearth or to scoop water from a cistern.’ For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, ‘In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.’ But you were not willing” (Isa 30:12-15).
Isaiah 30 is all about in whom or what we trust for our salvation, a theme that is vividly illustrated both negatively and positively in the narratives about Kings Ahaz and Hezekiah’s responses to military threats against Jerusalem (Isaiah 7, 36–37). Striking is the description of the smashing of Jerusalem’s protective wall like a shattered pot (Isa 30:14). For those of us who are protected by the Iron Dome system in Israel, it is actually not at all difficult to understand how important city walls were for the protection of people living in the ancient world. A wall that could withstand the continued assaults of the enemy meant life; a wall that was breached meant exile and death.
In this chapter, God pleads with His people to stop trusting in their own defense systems (Isa 30:13–14, 16) and in political alliances with world powers (Isa 30:2–3, 7) for salvation, and to start trusting in the Rock of Ages (Tzur), who will never crumble (Isa 30:29). He continues to plead with His people to stop putting hope in people or things that can be taken away from us, and to start putting hope in the one hope that is eternal and secure.
“Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him” (Isa 30:18).
The post The Eternal Rock first appeared on ONE FOR ISRAEL Ministry.
The post The Eternal Rock appeared first on ONE FOR ISRAEL Ministry.