# 02 2025 Dev. Isa.8:18. Christ’s Children! Read all of chapter eight first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.
Isaiah 8:18 “Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.”
Isa.8. God speaks to Isaiah three times. Jesus and His people are prophesied, as well as the destruction of Aram, Samaria and much of Judah by the king of Assyria. Also, about light and darkness.
Vs.1-4 “The Lord said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.” This name means: “quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil;” This is Isaiah’s son name as Isaiah and his children are signs. Before the child is able to speak, Damascus and Samaria will be plundered as the name suggests.
Vs.5-10 “The Lord spoke to me again.” Here God speaks metaphorically. “Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloh” meaning God’s love, grace and peace. “therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—the king of Assyria.” The water will cover the land, a deluge “reaching up to the neck.” The neck (the head) is a metaphor for Jerusalem, that God (Immanuel) saved from Sennacherib. That is a comfort for all who continue to trust the Lord. If God is with us (Immanuel) who can stand against us?
V.11 “This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:” This is a warning for us as well. We live in a time where many people want to lead us astray. What God commands, hereunto, is understood as prohibitive, but now the world wants to deem that as normative, and some Christians insist what was prohibitive throughout history, to be righteous in our time. It is a matter of culture after all. No! God’s precepts do not change with culture.
Vs.12-17 “Do not call conspiracyeverything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear…” The Lord is the one to fear. “He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” Vs.14 is quoted both in the New and Old Test. Lk.2:34 “Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: ‘This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against…”’ Isaiah: “I will put my trust in him.”
V.18 “Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.” This is Jesus (here am I) and the children the Lord has given me. (Jesus and the Old and the New Testament church) John 10:29 “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than alI; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” Praise God!
Vs.19-22 Light and Darkness. Should someone “consult mediums and spiritists… should not a people inquire of their God?… If anyone does not speak according to this (His) Word, they have no light.” Apart from the Word, both the living Word and the written Word there will only be distress, darkness, fear and confusion when push comes to shove. But for those of us walking in the light, we thank God and we trust Him for the blessings of our Savior in this New Year. Amen!
© cgvanwyk, all rights reserved
Heavenhigh 