Where Is The Hope?

Hard hitting. Confrontational. Authoritative. Commanding. Judgmental. All terms that could be used for God’s stern rebuke and proclamation of destructive judgment on Judah.

Where is the hope? We have become use to Isaiah swinging back and forth between forcing Judah to look in the mirror (along with facing the judgment which is coming due to their condition), and granting them a glimpse of how God sees their future. This chapter appears to leave out that word of hope ... all we are left with is a army in hot pursuit.

Often good news gets buried in the bad news. Because of current circumstances we are unable to see past the worry and anxiety of our situation. Our problems shout at us in a loud voice. God often whispers in the midst of our pain.

Yet buried in this passage is a spark of hope. We can't see it hear, but when we look at Isaiah as a whole it begins to shine. It's that word "banner". God raises a banner. Hope through judgment.

God will lift the banner repeatedly in Isaiah. Each time he does he is calling to the nations. In every other call it is not to military conquest. It is to partake of the blessing of being included among God’s people.

This banner carries a gospel motif that ought to be stirring to most of us. The reason it ought to stir us is that it includes us. We are present in among the nations streaming to God’s presence.