Isaiah 18
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Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
4 For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
5 For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
7 In that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion.
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Commentary
Although at times it looks as though God is being negligent or overly passive about the issues of the world, this prophecy indicates that at the right time He will act.
The divine gaze is all over the earth, even in the most distant places (v. 1). He knows the political and economic plans and intentions of the powerful nations of the world (v. 2). There is evidence that God acts in history, and we must be alert to His actions (v. 3), because, in due time, He will intervene (v. 4). God knows no delay (v. 5). The wicked will be judged, condemned, and executed (v. 6). In this prophecy, Isaiah says that God would bring Ethiopians to salvation (v. 7). The conversion of Queen Candace's treasurer, in New Testament times, evidences the fulfillment of this prophecy (Acts 8:27).
At the right time God will act in the world, and many will accept Him as King. The time for God's intervention is near; the signs of Christ's Second Coming indicate this (Matthew 24). Let us rejoice, for in due time the saved will worship God in the New Jerusalem.
Heber Toth Armí
District pastor at Fraiburgo, Santa Catarina, Brazil
