Victory Baptist Church

  Isaiah 33 — “When God Arises” When God's people face trouble, they can trust the Lord because He is holy, sovereign, just, and able to save. Key Verse: Isaiah 33:22 — “For the LORD is our judge , the LORD is our   lawgiver , the LORD is our king; he will save us.” Isaiah 33 falls in the middle of a section of Isaiah that addresses Judah's crisis under the threat of Assyria. Found in 2 Kings 18:13–19:37 The people of Judah were living in uncertain times. They had enemies around them. They were tempted to put their confidence in political alliances, military strength, and human solutions. But Isaiah repeatedly brings God's people back to the same truth: Our ultimate security is not found in what we can see around us; it is found in the God who rules over everything around us. Isaiah 33 moves from desolation to deliverance, from fear to faith, and from judgment to God's presence. The chapter begins with an enemy who has been attacking others but has ...

  Isaiah 32 is a chapter of contrast and transition. In the preceding chapters, Judah had been tempted to trust political alliances, military strength, wealth, and human wisdom rather than the Lord. Isaiah repeatedly called God's people back to faith in God. Chapter 32 turns our attention from unreliable human rulers to a coming righteous King. Isaiah 32:1 says, "Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment." This statement points beyond the immediate political circumstances of Isaiah's day. It looks forward to the Messiah's righteous reign. At the same time, Isaiah 32 contains language concerning the outpouring of the Spirit: Isaiah 32:15 says, "Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high." Therefore, this chapter contains what we can call dual prophetic themes. Isaiah speaks to Judah's immediate needs while also looking beyond his generation toward God's greater redemptive purposes. We shou...

ISAIAH 31 — TRUSTING GOD WHEN WE ARE AFRAID Where Do We Turn When Trouble Comes? Isaiah 31 continues the warning that began in Isaiah 30. Judah was facing a serious military threat from Assyria. Instead of trusting God, Judah was tempted to look toward Egypt for military assistance. Egypt had horses, chariots, soldiers, wealth, and military power. From a human perspective, seeking military assistance from Egypt seemed like the logical answer. But God wanted His people to understand something very important: what looks strong to us may be completely inadequate compared with the power of God. Isaiah 31 is therefore not merely an ancient warning about Judah and Egypt. It is a powerful lesson about where we place our confidence. We may not look to Egypt today, but we have our own versions of Egypt. We may trust money, government, education, technology, influential people, possessions, retirement accounts, physical strength, political power, or our own abilities. Isaiah 31 gives us three ma...

  Isaiah 30: “When God’s People Look Everywhere but to God”  The Danger of Looking for Help in the Wrong Place. We come to Isaiah 30, a chapter that speaks powerfully to a problem that is just as relevant today as it was in Isaiah’s day. The problem is not that God's people had no faith at all. The problem was that they had faith in God, yet they were looking elsewhere for security. That is an important distinction. Sometimes we do not completely reject God. We begin looking for another source of security alongside Him. We pray, but we also panic. We trust God, but we also try to control everything ourselves. We say that God is sufficient, but we become convinced that we need something else before we can have peace. That is essentially what Judah was doing in Isaiah 30. Judah was facing a serious political and military threat from Assyria. Instead of turning completely to God, the leaders of Judah began to look to Egypt for protection. Isaiah tells them that their po...