Fc – Surely This Is Our God; We Trusted In Him 25: 9-12

Surely This Is Our God; We Trusted In Him
25: 9-12

Surely this is our God, we trusted in Him DIG: What will be the effects of Messiah’s reign on those who submit to Him and on those who do not? How is Mo’ab used as an example?

REFLECT: What is your attitude toward Isra’el? Do you pray for the peace of Jerusalem? In whom, or what, have you placed your faith, trust, and belief? How can we keep our lives in true perspective?

This third section is in the form of a song and once again turns to the salvation of some of the nations and to the destruction of others. Mo’ab symbolizes the nations who are destroyed. God does wish to save all the nations, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (Second Peter 3:9). But this does not mean all will respond to His invitation. For those who refuse to do so, the final grim word is judgment. Those who oppose the will and purposes of the Lord with regard to Isra’el will eventually be crushed. They will live apart from the love of ADONAI for all eternity. There is no other way.

In that day, the believing remnant will be delivered and they will affirm their faith, trust, and belief in the LORD who saved them, saying: Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him and He saved us. There is rejoicing, because salvation had come from God and the enemy of Isra’el had been trampled down. In response they will say: This is the LORD, we trusted in Him, let us rejoice and be glad in the salvation He provided (25:9).

Isaiah referred to Mo’ab as representing those who oppose God and will be judged by Him. The same hand of ADONAI that will lift up Isra’el will strike down Mo’ab (25:10a). This is not the result of favoritism on God’s part, but the result of two different attitudes. Those who put their faith, trust, and belief in YHVH will be lifted up. However, those who lift themselves up against God in their own self-sufficiency will, at some point, be crushed under the power of His hand (Isaiah 16:6; Jeremiah 48:29; Zeph 2:10). Stated another way, God’s deliverance must come to those who trust Him, but those who oppose Him cannot escape His judgment.

Here He centers His attention on Mo’ab; because Mo’ab can be used as a representative of Isra’el’s enemies, because it is characterized as having a continual hatred of Isra’el. Isaiah gets very graphic; he says: Mo’ab will be trampled under Him as a straw is trampled down in the manure (25:10b). Madmen (madmen) is the capital city of Mo’ab mentioned in Jeremiah 48:2; it also rhymes with straw (matben).

They will spread out their hands in it, as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim (25:11a). As we saw in Chapters 15-16, Mo’ab was known for its pride. The Bible teaches us that pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). So here we see Mo’ab’s pride was destroyed. The picture is one of a man trying to swim in a cesspool and the more he struggles, the more he sinks in. God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands (25:11b). The way to avoid Mo’ab’s fate we must stay humble by continually giving praise to the LORD, and deflecting any glory to Him. Then we can point others to ADONAI and at the same time, keep our lives in true perspective.

He will bring down the high-fortified walls and lay them low; He will bring them down to the ground to the very dust. The change from third person to second person in this verse seems to shift the focus from Mo’ab back to Babylon, the political/economic capital of the antichrist. ADONAI will humble those who dwell on high, He will lay the lofty city of Babylon low. He will level it to the ground and throw it down to the dust (25:5). All its towering pride, with its supposedly unshakable walls will be brought down to the dust (25:12). Only God’s people, both in Isra’el and in the world, will enjoy the LORD’s time of prosperity and blessing.