Let's go to Isaiah chapter 18. We'll continue our series in the book of Isaiah. This is now message number 25, entitled, Woe to Cush. And we'll be looking at chapter 18, has seven verses in it this morning. Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, a nation meted out and trotted down, whose land the rivers have spoiled. All ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers of the earth, see ye when he lifteth up an incense on the mountains, and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. They shall be left together under the fowls of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth, and the fowls shall summon upon them and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. In that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, a nation meted out and trodden underfoot, whose land the rivers have spoiled to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion. So chapter 17 that we looked at last time was the burden of Damascus. And of course we're continuing in this section of Isaiah from chapter 13 through 23 that gives various woes, various oracles of judgment to different nations. And so this was the burden for Damascus or as the capital of Syria or Aram. Chapter 17 is somewhat unique in that also included is the northern kingdom of Israel who were in an alliance with Syria to resist the empire of Assyria. Now the prophecy in chapter 17 confirms that word to Ahaz as much as two decades earlier when God sent the prophet Isaiah to warn Ahaz about Assyria and to assure him that the conspiracy of the Israel and Syrian alliance would fail. And so the fall of both the northern kingdom and Syria is prophesied here in this particular oracle of judgment. And the chapter ends with a more general woe to the nations of the earth raging in rebellion against God. And so we've seen the blending again of the near and the far prophecies and fulfillments that are spoken of, and so we get more of that continuing here. They're reminded that the nations rise and fall overnight. And also we could say that God keeps records and holds accountable. We are promised that This is simply going to continue in this age and nations will rise and nations will fall. Nations will be aggressors and cause much havoc and suffering and oftentimes when one enemy is removed another rises up and sometimes many more others rise up and take that place. So chapter 18 continues this section with the woe to Cush, or as it is mentioned, Ethiopia here in this passage. Now, chapter 18 of Isaiah is admittedly somewhat obscure. There are definitely some difficulties here. If you go to commentaries and read scholars and commentators on this chapter, there's going to be a pretty wide variance, and you'll find some of them just simply admitting just a lack of knowledge or ability to interpret. And so there's some difficult imagery and references here, and things that just are hard to apply to a particular nation, but there is enough clarity to get the primary message. And we encounter this at different times. Sometimes a passage, we may be able to sort of pin down every detail of the passage to something in particular, and sometimes we're not able to, but generally, as I have found, is that you can still get the main message of the passage, even if there's maybe some detail there that you don't know exactly what is the intention. And really all I'm talking about here is just the goal of contextual exposition. The goal is that we understand the main point when we come to any passage of Scripture in its contextual setting. And so again, there may be some details that we're not able to tell for certain about, or maybe some obscure word that's used and things like that. But nevertheless, we want that main message. Now, in this section of Isaiah, it might seem like that it's a bit more difficult to connect this message with the rest of the woes in this section. And really, you can read it and look at it, and it might seem like that this is just sort of a random collection of these prophecies against these various nations. And I would certainly agree that there's not really a particular order and there's not a progression from nation to nation necessarily. I don't think that's the way that it's organized. But it is a good opportunity here at chapter 18. to ask, what is it that really connects all of these oracles together? And we're more than halfway through or about that. And so we've seen several of these now. What is it that is really connecting these oracles of judgment against the nations together? And I believe that there's two primary connections. that are consistent throughout the context. And the first would be that all of these nations are around Israel and Judah, and they have some relationship to them, whether historically or in the present time of the prophecy. So they are related. They're surrounding Israel and Judah, and they're related to them in various ways. in this particular region that is of a concern. So that is a major connection between these nations. We don't find any nations addressed that are really outside and far off, have nothing to do with Israel and no history with them and all of that. So we've got a primary connection there. And another important connection, and something that we've actually seen running through, sometimes it's stated very overtly, and sometimes it's not quite as clear, but nevertheless is there, is that all of these nations that are being written to in this section, all of them are subject to Assyrian invasion and conquest. Assyria is the real power at this time, and they are conquering nations. attempting to rule the world. And they think that their success means that they're just going to keep rolling, that basically they're invincible. We've already seen some words spoken to Assyria about their pride and all of that. So there's a recurring message that goes through these oracles of judgment. about the fall of Assyria. And we encounter that numerous times as you go throughout this passage, and we do so again here in chapter 18, though this is the woe or the burden of Cush. So just because And this is an important message that follows that. In other words, this is something that certainly connects all of these nations together. They're all facing threat from Assyria. And so just because nations have been the victims of the Assyrian aggression, that doesn't mean that each nation's own sins will not be judged. So these woes, these oracles of judgment delivered to these different nations shows that beyond question to be the case. Oh yes, they have been the victims, they have been oppressed, they have been threatened, they've been invaded, they've faced all these things from the Assyrians. The Assyrians have conquered and is going forth to conquer many. But nevertheless, that doesn't excuse them for their sins. And I think if we would really think about that for a while, it would correct some problematic thinking. Because we have sort of an idea that if I have suffered at the hands of another, then I'm a victim, and they are evil, and they're facing judgment, they're worthy of condemnation, but not me. Now, again, I'm not saying that someone who's a victim hasn't been victimized and truly are not guilty of what they've suffered at the hands of another. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that doesn't excuse the sins that that person or nation does have. So that comes out very clearly when you're looking through this section, these judgments that are pronounced on these nations. They are suffering under threat of Assyria, but nevertheless, they're facing judgment for their own sins. And the fall of Assyria doesn't exonerate them. The fall of Assyria doesn't clear them of their own guilt. When we understand these connections and we see this sort of in the broader context of this section, then I do believe that the primary message of chapter 18 becomes much clearer, even though there are still things here that we just really can't be certain about. So as we look at this chapter, In verses 1 and 2, we get this alas for Cush, this statement of lamentation. And then in verses 3 to 7, we really focus there on the coming fall of Assyria, and that's a combined message. So we want to start here with these first two verses, beginning here with verse number 1. Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia." So, woe, of course, is this prophetic interjection. We've encountered it a number of times here in Isaiah in particular. And it's a word that can be used in other contexts. It can be a cry of mourning for the dead. It can be a lament of devastation. But in the mouth of the prophets, this woe is a threatening cry of judgment for what is to come. I think in the newer translations they refer to it as whirring. It refers to the buzzing, like the wings of insects is what the word literally refers to. And so it's one of those things that is somewhat uncertain. What is the exact intention? Many would say, well, that region is known for certain flies and certain insects, and maybe that's a reference that ties it to that region, and certainly could be. But beyond that, there are some that try to tie it to some other things that seem to be quite a region unnecessary. Ethiopia, this reference that is referred to Ethiopia, is also known as Cush. And it is a region south of Egypt, and it's not equal to modern-day Ethiopia. So when we encounter this Ethiopia here in the Old Testament, it's not the same as modern-day Ethiopia. In fact, this region includes some parts of modern-day Egypt, some parts of modern-day Sudan, and some parts of modern-day Ethiopia. But again, it's not a direct equal to the modern-day Ethiopia that we know of in northern Africa. Now, the Cushite king, Tiraqa, he conquered Egypt and he resisted Assyria. He's mentioned in 2 Kings chapter 19 and verse number 9. And Ethiopia came to control Egypt from around 715 B.C. through about 633 B.C. And this is referred to somewhat there in 2 Kings chapter 17. In verse number four, we don't have a lot of historical reference to them in the Bible, but this much we do have, and it does agree with other history that we know of outside. Now, the land of Ethiopia, really south of Egypt, was the farthest extent of the peoples known to Israel at that time. That was essentially the uttermost part of the earth to them. They didn't really seem to have knowledge or dealings with those further beyond that. Verse number two. Now again, this verse is somewhat obscure. The word for sea that's used here really just means a large body of water, not necessarily indicating an ocean that we might think of. In fact, can refer to a large river and that is probably the case here when it refers to a large river and the dividing by the waters. So it makes sense also because these vessels that are referred to here, vessels of bulrushes. These were light river boats that were made out of papyrus. They could be ported. They could traverse the Nile and its tributaries and it does seem to be the referent here. And so most likely this refers to the nation of Cush as they were sending out messengers and probably sending messengers to Israel to form an alliance against Assyria. And of course the condition of Israel was not good at the time and wouldn't be a help to them, especially since Israel was about to fall. Now this land divided by the rivers again seems to be a description of this region known as Cush. And obviously there's a message here that this nation, this people of Cush was trusting in alliances to oppose the Assyrian threat. So they're under threat from the Assyrian conquest and invasion. And they're seeking alliances. They're sending out their messengers. They're seeking alliances with other nations to withstand this threat. Then we get to verses 3 to 7. And we get a bit of a shift here because now this word is going out more generally. So notice in verse 3, which lets us know that this is a message now that's being pronounced and this message is one that's extending to all nations. This isn't just to Cush, it isn't just to Egypt, it isn't just to Israel, whatever. This is to all nations. And this reference to his banner on the mountain as a sign is something that we've encountered before. We've encountered it in a couple of different contexts. Sometimes it was in the context of calling nations to battle against Israel. In other contexts, it's a gathering of nations to Israel. So we've seen this in a couple of different ways. But more generally, When we see the Lord lifting up a banner on the mountain, it's a sign. It's referring to His sovereign control of history. The fact that God is directing the nations of the earth and the events. They are unfolding according to His purpose and they unfold in such a way to fulfill what He has purposed from before even the very creation. So this is a message that means... that we are to be assured that God's word will be fulfilled. So this sort of sequence would be what we might call a sort of a sign and a beginning of events. And so it's a message of certainty that once these events begin, they will be fulfilled and usually within a short time, just as they have been prophesied. So if you think back again to Ahaz and Judah back in the previous section beginning in chapter 7, they were also previously given signs of the near future failure of Israel and Syria in their plans. The judgment on Assyria after God's purpose was fulfilled and the far future kingdom of the Messiah. They were given signs of these as well. So there's some similarity to this. Now look at verse 4. So verses 4-6 now uses vivid imagery to describe the coming fall of Assyria. And the imagery is agricultural. It's that of the Lord like a master ventner as He's tending to the vineyard with patience and precision. So in other words, he's doing the right things at just the right time. Now, I certainly am no master gardener, and some here are certainly much better at that than I, but the concept is understandable when you are tending, and you are cultivating, and you're planting, and you're fertilizing, and you're pruning, and you're doing all of this work, and there's a time. For all this work to be done, there's a time that you can do this work and it's too soon. And there's a time that you can do this work and it's too late. And both of them will result in the harvest not really coming to fruition and certainly not as planned. So the imagery that's being used is that the Lord in his vineyard, and he is a master vintner, he knows exactly the right time when the right action needs to be taken, and he also knows the right time when he needs to be patient and to wait for that appointed time to come. So that's the image that we are being given. Here, specifically, in verse number four, he is waiting. He's waiting for that exact moment to reap the harvest. And again, if you move too soon or you move too late, both can result in a much less decreased harvest, a harvest that can be lost, a harvest that can be simply not what measures up to the potential. Now, in the broader message of judgment, This image is depicting God's patience. as nations like fruits to be picked are maturing for the harvest. And we can see something of an example of this when God spoke to Abraham, I believe it's in Genesis 15, when God spoke to Abraham and was telling him about how that his seed, that nation from him was going to go into a land that was not theirs. He was talking about their going into slavery in Egypt and would be there for 400 years and would come forth. And when they came forth, God would bring them back to that land. And when he did so, it meant the expulsion of those many nations of Canaan. And one of the reasons he said, and reasons that he gave for that gap of time, was that the iniquity of the Amorites and some of those various nations inhabiting that land of Canaan, it wasn't yet full. In other words, it's not yet time for the harvest there. It's too soon. It's not yet time. So he was going to give time. And of course, he also had a purpose in growing that nation into a large nation. Seventy people went into Egypt and millions came out. So he was going to grow them into a large nation. Let's go to verse 5. Now before the harvest, the vineyard must be worked and the plants must be pruned to maximize the yield and to maximize the quality. Now, this refers to the cutting off of the buds before the blossoms would produce the fruit. Doing so with a pruning knife, again like that master ventner that is working a vine. And God's work with the nations is being likened to this. He waits. He prunes, He clips, He ties, He brings His purpose to fulfillment, and then He reaps. Then He stands up to act. Verse number 6, They shall be left together under the fowls of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth. And the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. So all of this patience and all of this pruning and all of this work that has taken place when the time comes to reap, God will rise up and will reap. And this will leave this nation of Assyria scattered fodder for the wild animals. Now what is depicted here, and again it's a bit of obscure imagery and not a lot of direct reference, but actually the last verse of the chapter does help us tie it in. It depicts the downfall of Assyria when their defeat came at the hands of God's angel outside Jerusalem around 701 B.C. during Hezekiah's reign, when Sennacherib fled and he died as was prophesied. And Isaiah actually records this in chapters 36 and 37, which we will get to. But it is a reference to this downfall of Assyria and their defeat in one night that took place. 185,000 that we are told that were slain. And then we come to verse 7. In that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, a nation meted out and trotted underfoot, whose land the rivers have spoiled to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion." So what he is describing is the nations bringing tribute to Jerusalem after the downfall of Assyria. And not just the nations in general, but also particularly that nations whose land that the rivers have divided, that word for spoiled, it does have that sense of it's been divided, it's been carved up, referring again to the Nile and its tributaries and that land, that land of Cush that he began to speak about in the beginning of this. And this did happen. after Sennacherib's defeat. So 2 Chronicles 32, we'll just look at verses 20 to 23. And for this cause Hezekiah the king and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz prayed and cried to heaven. and the Lord sent an angel which cut off all the mighty men of valor and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was coming to the house of his God, they that came forth of his own bow slew him there with the sword." That was Sennacherib's sons. Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side." And notice this, "...and many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from henceforth." Now that's what's being referred to here in verse number 7, that after this downfall of Assyria would occur, and probably sometime within a couple decades or so of the time of this particular prophecy, this would occur, and even this Cush that had been under the threat from the Assyrians, they would bring this tribute. So just as God had promised earlier, once he has accomplished his purpose with Assyria. And remember, he said that Assyria was his rod and he was punishing Israel with Assyria. And he was going to punish Judah with Assyria. Now, in the case of the northern kingdom, that meant that they would fall and be scattered and cease to be. And then with the case of Judah, that meant that many of their cities would fall and they would come up to the very walls of Jerusalem they wouldn't succeed in taking Jerusalem. And we just read about that deliverance that came. So just as God had promised, He said previously, and we've already looked at it here in Isaiah, that once He's accomplished His purpose with Assyria, He would turn and judge them for their sins. So the conspiracy of Israel and Syria did not succeed, and they both fell. But the Assyrians didn't proceed any further, and God suddenly turned and moved against them, delivering Judah. And so the nations came to Jerusalem with tribute to Hezekiah and to Judah. And this reference here at the end to the Lord of Hosts and to Mount Zion is also sort of a clue. It's signaling us to the fact that while that did happen historically, there is a far greater fulfillment of this to come in the future. So there's future implications. This Lord of Hosts referring to when the nations of the earth will bring tribute to King Jesus when he is enthroned on Mount Zion after his return. And this is a time that's sung about in the Psalms. We've seen quite a few references in the Psalms when we studied that. It's also prophesied by other prophets like Zechariah in chapter 14. There's others as well. And it's also important to understand that in the unfolding of these events, that this bringing of tribute by the nations to the King at Jerusalem is something that is not only for the Millennial Kingdom, but will continue in the eternal ages of the new heavens, the new earth, and the new Jerusalem. So here is the ending of Revelation 21. Verses 22 to 27 referring to New Jerusalem on the new earth. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it. For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. And the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there, And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." So again, what is being foreseen, what is being foretold, what is being depicted here? While there was a lesser fulfillment, just like that return from Babylon that was a lesser fulfillment, it doesn't meet all of the prophesied criteria of what is to take place, but it will be fulfilled in the future. So again, we have those indicators that this isn't just a historical reality, though it is a historical reality to this point, but there's also a greater reality to come. So obviously there's a lot of insight in this time when Isaiah is giving these prophecies. There's a lot of insight into what God is doing with the nations. Of course the sad commentary is that very few believed it. And Isaiah will talk about that much later in his prophecy. Very few believed it. Even though God was revealing what he was doing with all of these different nations at this time and into the future. Now the truth of it is that we don't know today. what God is doing with all the nations of the earth. We don't. Some event will unfold, and we don't know what the significance of that event is. We don't know what God's purpose in that event is. We're not told that. Now, there are many volunteer self-appointed prophets that are glad to tell us what God is doing in these events with different nations, and they're wrong. And if they are right, it's by accident. They do not know. And again, and again, and again, they're wrong. They oftentimes will be so general and ambiguous that they can sort of be right kind of thing. But that's not been revealed to us. This is very unique. God didn't even reveal this at all times throughout history. But here in this time, in Isaiah's day, with the prophet Isaiah, God is giving revelation and insight into various events taking place in the world around Israel and what He's doing with these nations. But here's what we do know. God is the patient farmer. And God is doing what is needed, when it is needed, to bring the nations of the earth to maturity for that great harvest in the day of the Lord." So we see the continued message to the nations that they will not be totally destroyed, but some will be saved. Now we're going to see this even more in the next chapter, So this part of the message again, it is the same for us today. What is that message? Well, flee from the wrath to come. take shelter in the only refuge from that storm that is in Jesus Christ. And how do you do that? You do that by repenting of your sins and trusting in Christ alone for salvation. And so throughout this section, Isaiah has been holding out that messianic hope to the nations of the earth, not just to Israel, not just to Judah, but to all nations. And again, that message Remains that message continues that message is still relevant and applicable to us today Even though we can look around and see various nations around us and we see very various events unfolding and we don't know We don't know what God's purpose is in all of those things. We don't know. Maybe we'll know more about it Someday, how much we'll know. I don't know. Will we ever comprehend all of it? I don't know but we do know and understand that God is in control and And just like that patient farmer, he is waiting. He's waiting. He takes actions when it's time for those actions, and he's waiting for that appropriate time. And when that time comes, there will be no delay. His judgment will come in an unprecedented fashion upon this earth and all the nations thereof.