Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
strap on your armor and be shattered.
10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
speak a word, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.
It was relatively early in the prophetic career of Isaiah. In chapter 6, Isaiah encountered the LORD, saw his sin, and in response to his mercy, was sent to tell of God’s plan. Most of it was bad. He spoke of the coming Assyrians. He spoke of the judgment due to them for rejecting God and his statutes. Praise God that the story did not end there! In 7:14, we see that help is on the way, and his name is Immanuel, meaning God with us. Here in chapter 8, Isaiah tells what will befall the “peoples”, the surrounding nations, when they take on God’s people. They will be taking on God because he will be there. Immanuel.
Now we can say to our health problems that the healer is come and, if not a cure, he will bring peace. Now we can say to financial worries that God is with us and he promises our basic needs. Now we can say to our heartaches over relationships that if God is for us, who can be against us? Now we can say to those who would silence God in the public arena, who would take away our voice as followers of Christ, and who would flaunt their rejection of God that this has been tried before. Enemies of God took him on and were shattered. They allied themselves against him and it came to nothing. We can say to them that sin has been shattered because…
God is with us.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church