Without Christ, Your Evil Deeds Will Be Exposed

 

Good day! I’m Duane Matz and this is Today’s Living Word:

 

Isa 20:1 In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it, 2 at the same time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet." And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. 3 Then the LORD said, "Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, 4 "so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5 "Then they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and Egypt their glory. 6 "And the inhabitant of this territory will say in that day, 'Surely such is our expectation, wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and how shall we escape?'"

It's not easy being a prophet! In this chapter of Isaiah we start out in verse 1 with a definite time frame. It was the year that Tartan came to Ashdod and conquered it.

Tartan was the commander-in-chief  who served under Sennacherib who was the king of Assyria. Ashdod was a city of the Philistines. The Assyrians were on the march! This verse would be a headline in the Jerusalem times. The date and event is certain.

 

Now it gets a little strange. At this time God tells Isaiah to get out of the sackcloth he had been wearing. (typical garb for a prophet) and to take off his shoes and walk around basically barefoot and in his undies (he was likely not totally naked, just not fully clothed)

 If someone were to ask Isaiah, “What in the world are you doing? He would reply, “this is just a sign against Egypt and Ethiopia.”

What does it mean Isaiah?”

It means that Egypt and Ethiopia will be similarly dressed as they are marched off  to captivity after their capture by the Assyrians.” Young, old, barefoot and in their undies as prisoners of war.

 

The point being made to God’s people is this. Do you really want to trust in the Egyptians and the Ethiopians to deliver you from the Assyrians? Good luck with that. They are going to be conquered by the Assyrians!

In the same fashion for you and I the question is the same. Do you really want to trust in anything other than the grace and power of God to deliver you from the inevitable destruction of the end?

 

Put your trust in Jesus. Wear his robe of righteousness given to you at your baptism and be spared being paraded around shoeless and in your undies on the Last Day.

 

Of course that’s not literally what will happen on that day, but without Jesus and His covering, you and your evil deeds will be totally exposed as you are marched off to the forever captivity of hell.

 

I’m Duane Matz and that’s Today’s Living Word