The oracles against the nations recorded here declare something very important about God that we sometimes forget: God rules over the nations and he is Lord over all the politics and power struggles that get splashed over our television screens every day. As we look at the political upheavals in our world today, we might very well be alarmed. As we see various political and religious systems taking power in the world, we might feel uncertain and afraid about what the future holds. But Isaiah’s oracles here tell us that the future of the nations is in God’s hands. He lets nations rise and he causes nations to fall. The future is not uncertain, it is all heading toward a climax when Jesus Christ becomes Lord over all. The things that Isaiah declared in these chapters all came about. And God’s plan for planet earth described elsewhere in Scripture will also come about. Jesus assures us, saying: “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:6,7). God’s plan is being birthed in this world and like any birth there will be pains. But in the tumult of events let us not lose sight of the fact that Jesus is, even now, fulfilling his plans for the world. The only sure thing in this life is the plan of God. Stick with him.
Ask God to lead you more into his plan for you.
Read Isaiah 18-21
