Isaiah 3

When people think about going back to a high school reunion many years after graduation they naturally consider how they have changed since they were seventeen or eighteen years old. They also think about the great athletes or the most attractive group of girls and wonder about what they might be like today. Many of the changes in our lives come upon us gradually, almost unnoticed day by day. What if it happened more suddenly that leading men and women in a nation were reduced to wretchedness through the power of an invading enemy? What if the enemy came against God's own people, and did so in such a way that it was clear that the disaster had come from the hand of God Himself?

Such changes in any society would be shocking - too much for any of us to take in all at once. In this chapter the prophet Isaiah is warning Judah and Jerusalem that His judgment will come against the leading men and women in their midst. He begins by talking about the men, and he includes leaders from all of society. God's judgment against them will not only be expressed in the removal of bread and water, but also in the removal of people. Military captains, judges, prophets, elders, wise men and magicians will all be taken away. All these leaders will be gone. It is not because God could not do anything to prevent this. Isaiah calls God the "Lord God of hosts." He has myriads upon myriads of the finest specimens of humanity at his instant call. God has provided leaders. He can take them away.

The result of God's action is that leadership falls to those who are less worthy of rule. Young boys, even infants, will rule over them. Those who have more years will lose the respect of those who are young. The one who has only a cloak will seem like a great man, and will be sought after to be a ruler over the "heap of ruins" that was once a great nation. These young ones who will be recruited by a desperate populace in some future time will not only be unable to rule, the text tells us that they will also be unwilling to do so. They will say, "You shall not make me leader of the people."

At the end of the chapter, the focus turns to those who were the leading women among the people, now brought low. These "daughters of Zion" were once haughty. They looked the part with all the outward ornaments that they used to enhance their grandeur. They had crescents, pendants, bracelets, special scarves, headdresses, perfume boxes, nose rings, robes, handbags, mirrors, and on and on. But when the enemy comes they will have rottenness, baldness, sackcloth, and branding marks on their skin. What a horror this is to consider!

How did this happen? The middle of the passage gives us the answer. Judgment has especially come upon the ruling elite "because their speech and their deeds were against the Lord, defying His glorious presence." It is clear that "they have brought evil on themselves." Through it all, for the righteous remnant in the midst of this national judgment, somehow "it will be well with them," but for the wicked who have have crushed the poor, it will not be well.

This is all so difficult to consider. Leading men and women have been brought so very low, ultimately by the God who has shown himself to be eternally committed to His people. How can this be? When we see a mighty man brought low, and low men unwilling and unable to reign, we can consider that we have a great King forever over the household of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. He who has compassion on us in our desperate condition is both able and willing to lead His people, and He will not suffer them to face eternal defeat. When we see beautiful and proud people brought into the lowest estate of bondage by cruel foes, we remember with hope that their is a glorious bride forever associated with our great King. This bride is the church, and she will be perfected not only with the wonder of eternal physical existence, but even with beauty of perfect holiness.

This is our destiny, and in the midst of our greatest distress, we must not lose sight of the perfection of the eternal plan of the Lord of glory. Destruction did come to the Old Testament people of Jerusalem and Judah, but the Lord of glory came in person, and He rescued His people that He has loved with an everlasting love. Our ugly wickedness is all too evident, and we should repent before we face far worse troubles in this present age. But we can never forget the eternal love of God for His people. Not a one of them will be lost, for the perfect King of Israel has given His blood for His glorious bride.