We'll be going to Isaiah chapter 20. Continuing our series through Isaiah. We have come to message number 27, entitled Stripped of Hope. Isaiah chapter number 20, and it's a short chapter, so six verses. So we're going to look at all of this chapter here this morning. In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and fought against Ashdod and took it. At the same time spake the Lord by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia, So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians, prisoners, and the Ethiopians, captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia, their expectation, and of Egypt, their glory. And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation. Whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria, and how shall we escape? Well, chapter 19 was the burden of Egypt, and Isaiah in that chapter gave far future prophecy connected to the end-time return of Christ and the conversion of Egypt in that future day. So we could see that a remnant will be preserved and saved from the tribulation judgments upon that nation of Egypt. depicted in that chapter through a future peace between Israel and Assyria and Egypt. And Assyria also then will have those who will be saved who will enter into the kingdom as well. Now we made A note of the fact that chapter 19 of Isaiah is just a remarkable prophecy of the future salvation of these nations. Important to understand, important for understanding really the overall story of Scripture concerning the kingdom and the nations of the earth and Israel. The language that is used there for Egypt and for Assyria is language that is almost exclusively used of Israel. And here it is used of Egypt and Assyria. But it's also important to note that it's used of Egypt and Assyria as such. Israel is the third with them. So the point is that none of those nations lose their identity in the fulfillment of these prophecies. They continue to be ethnic and geopolitical realities upon the earth. They don't merge into some sort of nationless mass of humanity. They don't all become Israel or some sort of new Israel. That doesn't happen at all. Israel is, in fact, a nation with particular history, with particular promises, with a particular future and a particular people. And so we come away from this passage, and of course this is obviously not the only passage that speaks of such things. It's just remarkable that this passage in particular speaks of those nations in these particular terms. But what it shows us is that Israel is not a type. Israel is not a type. Israel is a nation of particular people with particular promises and a particular history and a particular future that will be fulfilled just as it is promised. So again, it is a very, very remarkable passage of prophecy concerning the end time, and one that I'll just say again, does not get the attention that it deserves. Now we come into chapter 20, and in chapter 20, Isaiah, this is returning more to the immediate time. And we have to remember that these prophecies, it's not like they were necessarily given one right after the other in this sort of a succession. This is the way that the book is put together, the way that Isaiah's prophecy is put together, not necessarily, again, not necessarily chronologically, not necessarily in a certain order or in a concurrent or, you know, a series of sorts. So chapter 20 returns us to the more immediate time of the time of Isaiah's prophecy. So Egypt and Cush will both be involved in this prophecy. This is a more near prophecy about the downfall actually of both of those nations to Assyria. And ultimately in this chapter we are given a warning to Judah. And it's another emphasis on the fact that they are not to trust in other nations. God, Isaiah was not the only prophet to go to Israel and to go to Judah and to rebuke them for their trust in other nations and to exhort and command them not to trust in them but to trust in Yahweh. Isaiah is just one of those prophets that has given this message. Now, sometimes maybe we wonder, well, what You know, what is the issue? What is the issue with this? How does this figure in? Should a nation never have any sort of a partnership or alliance with another nation or something of that sort? The reason for these rebukes, when you follow it out, is because the old covenant actually commanded Israel not to make covenants with other nations, not to enter into alliances with the nations around them, but rather they were to trust in the Lord. So they were to act and they were to act in faith. They were to act in trust on the Lord to deliver them, to secure these victories as they were to expel these nations from the land of Canaan. So you have places like Exodus chapter 23 verses 32 to 33, thou shalt make no covenant with them, this is talking about the nations of the land, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in thy land lest they make thee sin against me for if thou serve their gods it will surely be a snare unto thee. A little later, Exodus 34 12, take heed to thyself lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whether thou goest, and lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee," later in verse 15, "...lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice." This is just a couple samples. There are some other references in Deuteronomy and so on. So in the Old Covenant law, they were commanded not to do this. Specifically commanded not to do this. And as you put the whole picture together, they were sent as they went into the land of Canaan and they were to expel these nations. It wasn't just merely an expulsion of nations. It wasn't sort of a conquering empire of Israel that's just going about to conquer other nations the way Assyria and Babylon and these other nations we're reading about and Isaiah were doing. No, they were to be the instrument of God's judgment on these nations for their sins, for their wickedness because they had defiled that land and they were going to be essentially expelled from it. So we see some reasons in those verses given because of their pagan practices, because of their idolatry. And essentially what Israel trusting in another nation and entering into an alliance with another nation or covenanting with another nation, basically seeking their protection, it's a betrayal of God. It's a betrayal of God and a betrayal of His Word. essentially seeing God as unreliable or unable to deliver them, and they have an immediate threat. And so out of fear and lack of faith, they would make covenants with these nations, and they did so throughout their history. Of course, it's easy to think that surely Israel, who witnessed God's wonders and signs in Egypt and miracles in the desert, would just readily trust in the Lord. I mean, they come through the Red Sea. Surely this God is going to deliver us from anything and everything. But of course, that is not how sinful unbelief works. And so their history has proven otherwise. So we are coming back now, so there is a strong message here for Judah, and even the, this is, of course, after the scattering of the northern kingdom, but a word that would speak to them as well. So in verses one to six, we see this conclusion of how shall we escape? So obviously, the downfall of these nations and the trust in these nations is really what is at stake in this chapter. So we'll begin looking at these, just going straight through these verses. We'll begin again with verse number one. In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and fought against Ashdod and took it." So this prophecy begins with a time marker. It was this year that this happened. Now Tartan is actually a title. It was a title referring to the general, the commander-in-chief, as it were, of the army. It was the second in command to the king in Assyria. So that's what the reference is. Sargon is Sargon II, who was king of Assyria. and sent his general against Ashdod in 711 BC. Now this was during the reign of Sargon, which extended from 722 to 705 BC over Assyria. This was during the time of the reign of Hezekiah over Judah, which there's a little bit of uncertainty about the exact start of Hezekiah's reign, but somewhere around 729 BC to 686 BC that Hezekiah reigned over Judah. Now Ashdod, this city-state of Ashdod that's referred to, they actually began to rebel against Assyria around 713 BC. And so this conflict went on for the next couple of years until finally Sargon sent his general down there to invade and to capture the city, which he did. And as history records, Ashdod, the city-state, was actually sort of instigated into rebelling against Assyria by the then Ethiopian pharaoh over Egypt. Now, Ashdod was one of the five principal city-states. We've talked about these a little bit before of the Philistines. So the Philistines had these city-states there along the coast of the Mediterranean. there, those cities of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, and Ashdod, these coastal cities, were these principal five city-states of the Philistines. And if you would look at a map, and you can see that you'll find it there sort of to the southwest of Israel, and then it's easy to see that Egypt and and Cush would be to the south and then and then these five city-states would would be there then Israel would be at about this area and then Assyria on up to the north. So these these city-states sort of geographically represented the final stronghold standing against Assyria and their their conquering of Egypt and Cush in particular. So at the time that Ashdod was captured. We read this in verse two. So at the time that Ashdod was captured, so this is a very definite time marker. Again, that happened in 711 BC. God spoke by Isaiah, by his prophet. He spoke, and in this case, the prophet was to be a live action sign. The prophet engaged in a symbolic action that was to convey a message, and he did this in obedience to the direct command of the Lord. So Isaiah was commanded to remove his clothes and his shoes and to walk publicly, most likely in Jerusalem. We're not given exact extents of where his travels were. And the word that is used for naked here, it is a word that does have a range of meaning. And so it's not always entirely clear. So it can mean on sort of from one hand, it can be referring to completely naked. It's a word that's used in Job 121, where Job said, naked came I from my mother's womb. And so it can be used in that way. So having absolutely nothing whatsoever on. But it can range from that to actually just being more of what we might consider underdressed. And it doesn't necessarily mean underdressed in some sort of immodest way. It can be that, but it can also just be underdressed in the sense of having insufficient covering for the circumstances. Like if you're out in the rain or if you're out in the cold and maybe you just have too few layers on or what you're wearing is thin. You're not clothed enough to be able to be warm and comfortable and safe in those situations. So it does have quite a range of meaning and it's not always clear. It's not always clear what the intention is. Sometimes the context gives a little more clarity because it adds some other details and sometimes it does not. So it's not always clear. We can't always just assume that it is this or that. But at least we know that it is some sort of exposure, some sort of underdressed for the occasion sort of situation. So it's not always clear what the degree of nakedness is that's being spoken of. So you go to commentaries and scholars and commentaries and preachers and things, they vary quite widely over what the meaning is here, what exactly it was that Isaiah did for these three years. And what I've noticed in many of them is that oftentimes in these sort of situations that they seem to sort of rely more on personal propriety and superior sensibilities to interpret and in some cases just simply correct the Bible. So there are some that make an argument that he wore some sort of a loincloth and others that, well, he must have only just appeared briefly this way once a day for the three years. We're not told either of those things. We cannot really know that. I mean, it's an assumption that probably has as much foundation as just about anything else we could say. All we know is that he did this, he appeared publicly in some form of undress, and we'll see just a little bit more about that in a moment. But one thing we also want to pay attention to is that this actually is not a unique situation. Now, I will say the ministry of nakedness was not a real common one. You know, that would be a pretty awkward deputation, I imagine, but it's not entirely unique. We have some other instances of prophets and such, one being 1 Samuel 19, verse 24. This is when Saul, when actually by the Spirit of the Lord was prophesying. Another reference in Micah 1, verse 8. Sometimes this references to Nakedness are involved in judgments in the description of judgments Isaiah has that later in chapter 47. There's there's some other places as well at Jeremiah 13 that makes use of that so we'll go on seeing what context we are given so verse 3 and the Lord said that like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia." So the meaning of this symbolic action is explained. The real nakedness, again to whatever degree that it was, was symbolic for a sign. Now, the word for sign refers to a token, some sort of a visible signal of some future event, and we see that used throughout the Bible. The word for wonder most oftentimes usually refers to miracles, some sort of supernatural act, some sort of divine intervention in the human affairs or whatever the case may be. But it also can be a little more general, that again, it's much like the word for sign, that it's a sign, a signal of some sort of future event. And what we see about this sign, that what, again, what Isaiah did, which was very real, what Isaiah did, but it was symbolic of some future event. So this sign portended judgment that was coming upon Egypt and upon Cush. And we are told, the Lord said, they will be like Isaiah. Here the symbol corresponding to a reality. Then we see in verse number four. So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. So Egypt and Cush, what we're being told in this passage is that they're going to fall to Assyria, and their people are going to be led away as Assyrian captives. Now, oftentimes when nations conquered other nations, they would take captives, and they would do so for various reasons. And when they would take these slaves, Oftentimes, they would strip them bare, and they would do so and march them off, and they would do so to humiliate them. They would do so to sort of inflict a sort of psychological warfare upon them. It would sort of bring them into subjugation to this conquering nation. They would also strip them to remove anything that might be valuable that was upon their person. It could be some jewelry or could money or even valuable clothing if they had something of that sort. So there was several purposes for why this would be done, but it was very common to be done. And so this is what is being said is going to happen to Cush and to Egypt and Isaiah was walking around this way for three years publicly as a sign that this was going to happen to them. Again, complete correspondence between the symbol and the reality. Now the word for shame at the end of verse number four is actually a different word for nakedness. And this is the only place that it's translated shame. And there's one other place it's translated, I think, maybe unclean or uncleanness or something like that. But it's almost entirely translated naked or nakedness. So, but it's another word that essentially means being exposed or uncovered in some way. And again, it might be a little bit more direct than the other word, the earlier word that was used, but it's not always clear and usually sometimes the context adds enough to understand the degree of nakedness that's being discussed and sometimes not. But here it is, here it is translated translated shame, but essentially you can see from the description that essentially the nakedness of Egypt is going to be exposed, and that's what we see in this passage, even to the uncovering of their backsides. So, again, there's a correspondence between how that Isaiah walked and how that Egypt and Cush would be led away. And that really is all of the context that we have a description of to understand the nakedness of Isaiah that was described earlier. But it seems to be pretty total or pretty near total, whatever the case may be. Verse number five. And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia, their expectation, and of Egypt, their glory." So the fall of Egypt and Cush would cause fear and shame. And it would be a fear, a fear of Assyria, because many of those nations, Judah included, was looking toward Egypt and Kush as being sort of the power that would put a stop to the Assyrian advance. Many of the nations, and smaller nations in particular, were looking to these larger nations to be able to essentially protect them or to stop that Assyrian aggression. But they were going to be brought to shame. It's a different word here for being ashamed. And oftentimes the way that this word is used and the way that it's being used here of being ashamed, it is in the sense of Putting your hope in something, trusting in something, and then when it really matters, when it comes time, whatever it is that you've trusted in, failing. Failing. And that's being put to shame. In other words, you put all of your eggs in this basket and now they're all broken and you have nothing. That's being brought to shame in this particular sense. Being exposed as trusting in what would not deliver them. So they shall be afraid. Now, this word for glory here is not kavod. It's a word that speaks of sort of beauty or strength, their expectation of Kush and the glory of Egypt. These were things, in other words, These other nations and smaller nations that were under this threat from Assyria were looking to Egypt and Kush. These are large nations. These are powerful nations. These are very wealthy nations. They have resources. They have armies. They have all of these things, and they were looking to them to trust them, but ultimately that would be exposed a failure. Verse number six, And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whether we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria, and how shall we escape? So the inhabitants of the coast, and that's the idea there, the word that's translated isle, the inhabitants of the coast, the coastal regions, will be confounded. They placed their trust in Egypt and Cush, and they're going to fail. So their trust and their hope is going to fail. And they will see the fall. and they're going to despair. In other words, that's what they're going to experience. They were looking to Egypt, they were looking to Cush to be delivered from Assyria, and they're going to see those mighty nations fall to Assyria, and they are going to be in desperate desperate fear. So remember that for many years at this point, for many years at this point, because Judah would be included in those that were sort of looking toward Egypt and Cush to be able to deliver them from Assyria. But remember that for many years now to this point, beginning back with Ahaz in particular with Isaiah, the fall of Assyria had been prophesied. For many years by this point, the fall of Assyria had been prophesied. And so Judah should not have been in a state of fear and a state of desperation, and they should not have resorted to trusting in other nations or looking to other nations like Egypt and Cush. But of course, they were guilty of doing just that. So when we think about this particular passage that really sort of wraps up what we've seen over the previous couple of chapters, which have spoken to Egypt and Cush, and sort of wraps that up, what we're seeing is we're proceeding through this section of Isaiah that began in chapter 13, all these woes to the nations. we're seeing that there's a very consistent message to all of those nations as well as really to all nations of the earth. And that message is that all who refuse to trust in Yahweh will ultimately be brought to shame. Because they're trusting in something. Their hope is set in something. whether it's their own power and strength, or whether it's the power and strength of some allies that they could form, whether it's their own wealth, whether it's their own resources, or whether they just think that perhaps they're too powerful to fail, to fall. Whatever that it is, they're trusting in something. But all nations, all those that refuse to trust in the Lord will be brought to shame. So when we look at this symbolic action of Isaiah, and again we don't encounter it a lot, but it's not totally unique here. But the idea of being stripped naked, as was spoken of Egypt and Cush, as they will be led away in captivity, literally being stripped of one's clothing is an action that obviously we can understand some embarrassment, some humiliation, but it's something that even has greater significance beyond that. It's significant of being stripped of everything that you trust and hoped in, down to the very last threads that are covering your body that you are trusting to for coverage and for protection and being shielded from this sort of humiliation and so on. It literally speaks of there's nothing left. Everything has been stripped that you trust and hope in. And it's similar to what we've already seen in some of the judgments on Israel. In fact, very early in Isaiah, we saw how judgments would be aimed at certain sectors of Israel's society and their government and all of those sort of things. And God would bring judgments on different areas of those things that they trusted in, whether it be the army, or whether it be the wealth, their economy, their trade, whether it be their resources, their intelligence, their allies, whatever that it is, that God would bring judgment on them, causing those things sort of one by one to fail. In other words, there's a message here that says that God in judgment is going to take away everything that you trust in apart from Him. He's going to take it away. So it speaks of, when we think about this even down to a very individual level, It speaks of how truly exposed that we are before God. We just recently studied in Hebrews, Hebrews 4.13, neither is there any creature that's not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. And so that would include even coverings that we might try to put upon our mind or upon our heart. There is no garment sufficient to clothe us and to cover us from the eyes of God and from his knowledge. There is no covering that can hide us from God. Of course, the only covering. that can sufficiently hide us and cover us from God and clothe us is the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ through faith in Him. It's the only way. It's the only way to avoid exposure to God on this level that even I mean, you know, people sometimes, you know, people have those fears. They appear somewhere in public and they're undressed and whatever, and they're embarrassed and ashamed. And I can't remember that I've ever had such a dream, but I know some people have those kinds of dreams. It's kind of a fear. And as horrifying as that would be, as terrible as that would be, It is really nothing compared to the level of exposure that we are subject to before the throne of God. And there is no covering except that that can be found in Jesus Christ. So again, this message keeps getting underlined and emphasized to Judah. Do not trust in these other nations. The Lord has been sending them word. He's revealing to them what would happen to these various nations that they were afraid of, or to the nations that they were looking to for help. And they shouldn't have done either. They shouldn't have looked to other nations for help, and they shouldn't have feared these other nations that were threatening them. And I would say last of all, looking at these messages to the nations again, it does give us a lesson. It gives us something to think about. how that comfort and ease and prosperity and peace and on and on and on, how those conditions tempt us to trust in the wrong things. We are tempted to trust in the wrong things. I'm okay because I know my bank account is such and such. I'm fine. I'm okay because I have plenty of things to wear, plenty of food to eat, and a nice place to live. I'm okay because of this, because of that, because of the other thing, and all of those things They can be enjoyed. We can thank God for them. And he does bless us with those sort of things. But all of those things can also be gone in an instant. and we be exposed to shame for trusting in them. So there is, again, a great lesson here of how we are truly to trust in the Lord. Thank Him for those blessings. Thank Him for the comforts that we enjoy. Thank Him for whatever prosperity we have enjoyed, for whatever peace that we have enjoyed, for all these good things. We can recognize them as good gifts from God, but we should never trust in them. We should never worship the gift, but the giver of the gifts and trust in Him alone.