“The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day,” Isaiah 2:12, 17 NIV
Reflection: why does the Lord need to bring down and humble man; even His own people?
All throughout history, there seems to be this cycle of significant human progress before some major setback happens. At a macro level, it seems like some sort of a “course correction” for humanity, in a way. A couple such course corrections we have learned from biblical history include the flood at Noah’s time, and the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. In more recent memory, we can think of the Roman and British empires, which used to control vast portions of countries of the world. The British society has been in somewhat of a free fall since the Second World War, losing influence and control everywhere. Perhaps even more interesting, losing their own culture and identity. In fact, if we look at many of the western societies, they are not what they used to be only a few years ago. Proud, highly advanced nations becoming unrecognizable, with a confused culture and no direction as a nation. Interestingly, King Salomon wrote “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 NIV. Oh, so true.
We read from Isaiah that the house of Jacob, meaning the twelve tribes of the combined northern and southern kingdoms, had gone astray, no longer following the ways of the Lord. The Lord was clear there would be consequences for their actions “You, Lord, have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and embrace pagan customs. Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots. Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.” Isaiah 2:6-8 NIV. We see that they had adopted all sorts of religions of old, and of pagan customs. They had become rich in wealth and power; their land filled with idols. So God abandoned them, removing His hand of protection, of blessing off of them. To leave them to their own devices.
To humble them,
as we read in the focus verses today. “The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day,” Isaiah 2:17 NIV. Now, you might be curious about what “day of the Lord” Isaiah was referring to here? The final judgement? Perhaps he saw multiple time horizons, because we can read of many major course corrections for the house of Jacob throughout history. And, each time, the Lord was pleading with the people, “Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” Isaiah 2:5 NIV. But, at some point, the Lord will put an end to all evil; the final day of the Lord.
So what about us, our modern world and advanced societies of today? We see some of the same characteristics in our western countries, where our lands are “full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and embrace pagan customs. Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures”. We might be thinking that is only relevant to the secular portions of our countries. But what about our churches, our Christian fellowship and congregations, even our Christian brothers and sisters? Does it look more like we worship God, or the world with pagan roots and rituals? Are we very comfortable with what the church is teaching, or do we take it upon ourselves to challenge, to dig deeper? Perhaps even challenge some of the church orthodoxies, whether they are of pagan origin or founded in scripture?
Are we even open to learning new things from God,
or do we think we have what we need from God? The Lord says “Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?”Isaiah 2:22 NIV. Let’s not make the same mistakes as the house of Jacob we read about in Isaiah, so that we too will require a major course correction. Let’s instead humble ourselves before the Lord, trust Him and follow Him only. He alone is worthy of all our worship and praise.
