Protection Removed – Isaiah 22:1-14

I am always amazed by how confidently the Old Testament prophets spoke of God's sovereign work in the nations. They saw (and thus we should see as well) that all circumstances come by the hand of God. The only way to understand the distresses of our own generation, and the only way to find comfort during them, is to affirm that they are fully ordained by God. The other option, to see our situation as something beyond even His control, is truly terrifying.

Isaiah describes the pending overthrow of Jerusalem (which he calls the Valley of Vision) as "a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity by the Lord God of Hosts." He goes on to be even more specific: "[The Lord God] removed the protection of Judah." The Hebrew word for protection literally means "covering." It is the same word that is used for the thick veil that covered the doorway of the tabernacle, that kept the people separated from the holiness of God. Now His holiness, and the wrath that accompanies it, are about to be poured out.

We are then told that the people in Jerusalem responded to this "day of trouble" by doing all they could to protect themselves. They saw that the walls of their city were damaged, so they went to work to guard their water supply. Next they tore down some of their own houses to provide materials to repair the broken walls.

God is not opposed to wise preparations or self defense...when He directs such activities. But there is no indication that the people had been instructed by Him to do these things. On the contrary, Isaiah writes this: "But you did not look to [Jerusalem's] Maker, nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago."

God's plan for the defense of the city was very specific. "And in that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for baldness and for girding with sackcloth." If only they could have realized...if only WE could realize...that the pending destruction was ordained by God, and would therefore only be stopped by God in response to sorrow and humble repentance.

But God was not in their calculations in any way. After the people did what they could to shore up their city walls, they did not turn to Him. "But instead, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!'"

If there was no God, this would make sense. Life is all there is, let's go for what’s left of it with gusto. But how wrong it is when we who truly know God allow ourselves to be caught in a mindset that excludes Him.

It is probable that in our day the covering is also being removed. It is also probable that God’s wrath will be released into our society, that we too will experience "trouble and treading down and perplexity." But I believe Isaiah, and all of scripture, has been incredibly preserved over all these millennia specifically because God wanted us to see that His hand is on His creation and on all of history to accomplish His will.

What is that will? God desires that we should know Him, that we should fear Him, that we should depend on Him, and that He would become our comfort and our joy (see, for example, Isaiah chapters 11 and 12). In other words, we were created specifically for His honor and for His glory. He will not allow us to change that plan...and we are fools if we try.