Who Do You Call?

Who do you call? When you find yourself in a spot you didn't expect to be in? Whether it's the car accident, the basement full of water, the unexpected health news. When you're sitting there not sure what to do next, who do you call? Who's the person you reach out to for help, for perspective, for advice on what to do next?

I hope you have a person. And I hope it's the right person.

From the earliest days of the story of Abraham and his children, Egypt was the one that they called when they got into trouble. In Genesis 12, literally right after coming to the promised land for the first time, there was a famine in the land, and where did Abraham go? Not back where he came from, but down to Egypt.

His grandson and great-grandchildren did the same, and eded up settling there, where—as we know—the were enslaved by the Egyptians and had to be rescued by God's mighty hand.

And you think that they would have learned their lesson at that point. But no. Solomon married Pharoah's daughter, making an alliance with Egypt (1 Kings 3:1). That didn't stop Egypt from harbouring and nurturing one of Solomon's main enemies for years (1 Kings 11:14-22). That didn't stop Egypt from coming up and plundering Jerusalem when Solomon's son was king (1 Ki 14:25).

You think they would have gotten the message at that point. But no, after the kingdoms divided, Israel's last king tried to make an alliance with the Egyptians when the Assyrians were breathing down his neck (2 Ki 17:4). And it didn't work out for him—Egypt couldn't save him, and the northern kingdom was destroyed.

You think the kingdom of Judah in the south would have gotten the message. But apparently not. By the time of Isaiah, with Assyria breathing down their neck, Egypt was back on the list of potential political partners. People to call to help them out.

What a great idea. Let's get help from Egypt. That's worked out so well for us in the past, right?

And so God speaks to His people, through Isaiah, in this open-letter oracle concerning Egypt. He tells His people about His plans for Egypt. Here's where Egypt is headed. He is going to humble Egypt, and those who depended on Egypt will have no place left to turn. But He is also going to heal Egypt. And those who depended on the Lord will find unexpected fellowship with Egypt in the future.

So let's take a look at the passage. We'll see that there's three big swaths to the passage. Chapter 19, verses 1-15 tell us about the collapse of Egypt. Then we'll jump ahead to chapter 20 which gives us a sign of Egypt's collapse. Then next week we'll end back in chapter 19, verses 16-24, which tell us about the curing of Egypt.

A. The Collapse of Egypt (19:1-15)

And all of this is set up for us with the opening verse in chapter 19, which tells us to behold, because  “An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them” (Isaiah 19:1).

The idea of the Lord riding on a cloud is a picture we see elsewhere in the Old Testament, and it's borrowed from the religious language of the ancient world. Baal is described in Canaanite texts as the cloud-rider, and when the Lord applies this symbolic language to Himself, it's a way of saying that He, and not Baal, is the one true God.

And certainly that's the point of verse 1. The Lord is not just the local, territorial God of Israel or Judah. He's coming to Egypt in judgement, and "the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence." "Idols" is a word here that has the basic meaning of "worthless nobodies" or even "no-gods." God is coming, and the no-gods of Egypt will shake before Him.

Remember the last time God came out in judgement against the no-gods of Egypt? That didn't work out so well for them. No wonder they are shaking. And as Egypt's idols shake, so do Egypt's people.

1. Social Collapse (2-4)

Now we said that this first section is about Egypt's collapse. as God comes in judgement against Egypt, they collapse in three ways. First, in verses 2-4, we see social collapse. Verse 2 describes what sounds like a civil war. Egyptians at war with each other, "neighbour against neighbour, city against city" (19:2).

The Egyptians loose heart and their ability to give or receive good counsel. They can't find wisdom among people, so they turn to fortune-tellers and psychics and try to talk to dead people. They fall into the hands of a dictator, either a brutal Pharaoh or one of the Assyrian emperors who subdues them.

Egypt collapses socially.

2. Economic Collapse (5-10)

Next, verses 4-10 in more detail talk about Egypt's economic collapse. One of the world's critical resources has always been water. Haven't we been feeling the effects of no rain here in dome devastating ways this spring?

Egypt was a superpower in the ancient world mainly because of the Nile river, which gave it a strong and stable supply of water, as well as a dependable flooding cycle that naturally irrigated a huge delta where they grew their crops.

So when verse 5 says that "the waters" will be dried up, and "the river will be dry and parched," this would be like an Egyptian's worst nightmare. When the reeds and rushes start rotting away because the irrigation channels of the river are dry, it's game over.

When "all that is sown by the Nile" is "parched," like verse 7 says, and nothing is growing, the nation can't survive. Whole industries collapse. Verse 8 describes the collapse of the fisheries, verse 9 textiles, and verse 10 describes the whole economic foundations crumbling—"all who work for pay will be grieved."

Remember that the Egyptians worshipped the Nile as a God. God, the true God, has struck down that false God, and Egypt experiences economic collapse.

3. Political Collapse (11-15)

Finally, thirdly, Egypt experiences political collapse. Verses 11-15 picture the princes and wise counsellors and wise men having no idea what is going on and speaking nonsense as a result. "The wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel" says verse 11. “The princes of Zoan have become fools, and the princes of Memphis are deluded; those who are the cornerstones of her tribes have made Egypt stagger” (Isaiah 19:13).

And all of this is God's doing. The Lord has sent this confusion, verse 14 says, making Egypt "stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit."

And the result is that Egypt is out of options. “And there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do” (Isaiah 19:15).

The social fabric is torn. Economies and industries are crumbling. Politicians have become fools and lead Egypt around like a drunk driver at a traffic stop. God has judged the idols of Egypt, and the nation that trusted in those idols is collapsing.

B. A Sign of Egypt's Collapse (20:1-6)

So all of this is going to happen. Egypt will fall. And so certain does the Lord want His people to be about this fact that he calls on Isaiah to act out a sign of Egypt's impending doom. Here we are jumping ahead to chapter 20.

Chapter 20, just six verses long, will make a bit more sense if we remember the history going on in Isaiah's day. The kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem as the capital city, wasn't the only nation looking to Egypt for help against Assyria. Philistia, the land of the Philistines, had also reached out to Egypt to make an alliance, and from what we know, Egypt had made assurances to come and save them should Assyria attack.

And our first clue that something is off is in verse 1, where we read that the commander-in-chief, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod, one of the five cities of the Philistines, and fought against it and captured it.

And it sounds like the Philistines were still hoping for Egypt to come through and rescue them and fight off the Assyrians for them. And probably, in this time, with Assyria right on Judah's doorstep, it would have been a key time for Judah to think: we need Egypt to save us, too.

And right "at that time," as we read in verse 2, “the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, ‘Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,’ and he did so, walking naked and barefoot” (Isaiah 20:2).

Ok. What is going on here? Why is Isaiah walking around naked from the waist down?

There's a few things we want to note here. First, in the ancient world, nakedness had more of a range of meanings than it does in our world today. We tend to associate nakedness with sensuality or lewdness. But in the ancient world, wearing no clothes could mean other things as well.

In Egypt, clothes were about status. Wearing more clothes meant more status. Slaves in Egypt were often given no clothes, and their nakedness was a sign of their low spot in the social hierarchy.

To the Jewish people, being unclothed in front of others was a basically shameful experience. Think of Adam and Eve realizing they are naked, and running to hide themselves. Or those nightmares even modern people still have of being back in school with no clothes, and how utterly shameful that experience is.

The Assyrians, as did many others in the ancient world, would combine these ideas of status and shame and when they had captured prisoners of war, would commonly strip them naked as a sign of their utter lowness and shame. Being led away, bound in ropes or chains, with no clothes, was a way of saying that you were nothing now and Assyria had completely triumphed over you.

So that's the background we need here for Isaiah's actions here. What he is doing here is not inappropriate in the same way it would be in our culture today. What he is doing is bringing shame on himself by taking on the dress—or lack thereof—of a prisoner of war, identifying himself with the lowest of the low, the trash in the eyes of the world.

No doubt this would have been extremely difficult for Isaiah. Can you imagine that first step out of his door that first day? I tried to think about a modern equivalent to this, and I really can't think of anything, except maybe dressing up like you lived on the streets, with clothes and hair that hadn't been washed in months, dirt caked everywhere. And imagine walking in to a really nice restaurant, and asking for a table, and sitting down while everybody stared at you.

And no doubt people stared at Isaiah. People would have wondered and talked. How much respect did he lose? How many of his friends or family came to ask him if he had lost his mind?

And from what we know, there was a long while where Isaiah's only answer was "God told me to." And there's a whole sermon here about the beauty and the glory of obedience even without understanding.

As far as we can tell, Isaiah had no explanation for his behaviour until three years later. And then the answer came. Verse 3: “Then the Lord said, ‘As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt’” (Isaiah 20:3–4).

Isaiah walked around like a prisoner of war for three years. But here we discover that he did so as a sign against Egypt and Cush. Because just like he was, so will be the Egyptians and the Cushites when the king of Assyria leads them away.

The point is that not even Egypt could stand against the might of Assyria. Egypt was going to go into exile like basically everybody else.

And the people who trusted in them, when they see that happening, will lose all hope. Verse 5: “Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’ ”” (Isaiah 20:5–6).

If Egypt has fallen, who can stand? If the Egyptians get led away as prisoners, how will the same thing not happen to everybody else?

And sure enough, within a few short years, much of this humbling had come upon Egypt. They fell to the Assyrians, they were battered by the Babylonians, conquered by the Persians, and they stopped being a major world power. It wasn't long until Egypt wasn't the kind of place anybody would run to for help.

And Isaiah's job was not just to proclaim this message, but to act it out as a sign that it would surely happen, that the people in his day would see it—as they did in just a few short years.

What This Meant for Israel, What This Means for Us

And seeing that big picture, I hope we can see what the big point of this prophecy is for the people of Judah in Isaiah's day. If this is Egypt's future, then why would you place your hope in them today? If Egypt is going to be so humbled by God, why play politics with them?

And that might seem like a simple enough point to make, but we need to put ourselves in the shoes of Judah in Isaiah's day, and know that trusting in Egypt was just the natural thing to do. This was as natural to them as locking your door at night.

But the Lord says "no." He makes Isaiah walk around naked for three years to prove the point. He's promised to take care of His people, and He wants the glory for doing that. He's going to humble Egypt, He's going to unite the world in worship around His name—and there's nothing to be done but trust.

So we can see how this prophecy has some similar lessons to the other oracles, open letters against the nations, that we've heard from Isaiah so far. Trust the Lord, not the nations around you.

But the particular way that Isaiah presses that point in this oracle might be particularly helpful to you and I today, with some of the situations we face.

Think of Egypt imploding from social, economic, and political collapse. Isaiah's prophecy shows that these are not just human experiences. Egypt is not having social issues. They are not having economic issues. They are not having political issues. They are having worship issues. They have put their trust in idols and God is in the process of showing His supremacy over all things.

Do you think we have a lesson to learn from this today? When we see our nation struggling with social issues, with economic issues, with political issues, don't we tend to think those must be human problems with a human solution?

Think of the way that we refer to things like abortion and homosexuality and justice and race and education as "political issues." Political issues with political solutions.

These things aren't political issues. They are worship issues. The fundamental problem with Canada is not a lost Liberal decade. The fundamental problem with Canada is that Canadians worship and serve the works of human hands instead of the Creator who is blessed over all.

And because of this, "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth" (Rom 1:18).

See, if you read Romans 1, you realize that what God did to Egypt was not a one-off. God is always in the process of revealing His wrath against people who worship what they made instead of worshipping Him.

And Romans 1 tells us that He reveals His wrath against people by giving them over to their own darkest desires. “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:28).

Friends, the corruption and chaos we see in our own nation—socially, economically, politically—these are not human problems looking for human solutions. Our nation is made up of people in rebellion to their Maker who need to repent and run to Jesus for refuge from the judgement that they deserve and are already experiencing in the chaos they have chosen to bring on themselves.

And in the face of all of this, we Christians have the least reasons of anybody to look to politics as our saviour. Getting our guy into office won't fix our nation any more than Egypt could save Judah from Assyria.

We need Jesus. Our nation—which means, at the most fundamental level, the people who make up our nation—needs Jesus.

Now friends, lets end by bringing this down really close to our level. Maybe turning to politics to reform our nation isn't the most pressing thing on your heart this morning. Maybe it's the wildfires. Maybe it's your bank account. Maybe it's a sick parent. Maybe it's a guilty conscience.

You do you call? Do you need the reminder this morning from Isaiah to call upon the Lord? The only one who can save you? The only one who wants to save you?

Jesus hung naked on a cross for you because he chose to. He wanted to die for your sins. He wanted to adopt you into His family, to give you His Spirit, to walk with you through this hard life, to pour out kindness on you forever.

Will you call on Him today for all that you need, for all that you're struggling with, for all of your burdens?

Would you find in the bread and the cup a reminder of the grace that He bought and paid for already, and you need only to take and receive?

Let's turn to him in prayer now.