“He humbles the proud and brings down the arrogant city. He brings it down to the dust. The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot, and the needy walk all over it. But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them. Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.”
Isaiah 26:5-8 NLT
In the next few verses in Isaiah 26, another city emerges. It is not the same as the previous city, the City of God. This one is arrogant. Once again, we are back to the theme of how destructive pride and arrogance can be, and how a city full of people infected with these traits thinks it is invincible and untouchable. The Jebusites, who populated Jerusalem before it became the city of the Jews, thought they were invincible. In 2 Samuel 5:6, we read, “David then led his men to Jerusalem to fight against the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land who were living there. The Jebusites taunted David, saying, “You’ll never get in here! Even the blind and lame could keep you out!” For the Jebusites thought they were safe”. But in the next verse, we read, “But David captured the fortress of Zion, which is now called the City of David”. How did he do it? By finding a way into the fortified city through the water tunnel. With God there is always a way. Without God, wicked people, in their pride and arrogance, amount to nothing.
But the word “city” has another meaning. In the context of our verses today, it also means worldliness, the world system, and the people who support it. Many complacent people in the UK today believe they are safe from the collapse of their society. After all, they say, nothing bad has happened here for many years. Yes, they say, there are challenges and the tax rate is too high, but they’re comfortable and can get by because they think they are invincible in their riches, nice houses, and secure jobs. They are proud of their achievements, their education, their cars and so on. But none of them gives a thought that God can bring it all down to “dust, to a point where the poor, the needy, and the people they oppressed can trample over them.
In this prophecy, Isaiah highlights the benefit of those who trust in the Lord, as we read in Isaiah 26:4, “Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock”. Those who trust in the Lord obey Him, and this obedience to God leads to living a life of righteousness. Because of that, Isaiah pointed out that those who live such lives of trust and righteousness will find that their ways through life will not be “steep and rough”, and the way before them will be smooth, without the hassles the proud and arrogant would find. Trying to live outside of the Lord’s design for life always introduces obstacles and difficulty. We find in Proverbs 1:7 the difference between the proud and the righteous: “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline”. And for us pilgrims, we do well to take note of, and follow, Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take”. The paths the proud and arrogant have chosen will not end well, as their “house of cards”, their trust in the world system and ways, comes tumbling down. However, those who look to God will find that His way is free of the disasters experienced by godless people. A headline in one of the papers this morning mourns the experience of some greedy people with too much money who invested in poor-performing stocks, with returns far from those promised or expected. Perhaps they should have invested instead in God’s Kingdom, building up treasure that will never suffer from poor returns. The world system, and those who support it, will never last beyond the grave.
So does that mean we pilgrims should opt out of our societies and find a way of life in a monastery or foreign land, where life is more basic and untainted by the hustle and bustle of Western ways? No, because in our verses today, Isaiah is saying that there is a straight path through all the pride and arrogance that blights the lives of those around us. Isaiah 26:8 reads, “Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name”. We pilgrims are living in two kingdoms, the kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of God, but we are only citizens of the latter. We are God’s ambassadors to a lost and hopeless people caught up in the pride and arrogance of the world system. We need to be like Isaiah, who lived in Judah amongst a people who had forgotten God and were living lives tainted by evil and idolatry. We need to be beacons of light, speaking out God’s message to this lost and hopeless generation. And so we echo Isaiah’s words today, “Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name“.
Father God. Please help us to navigate the ways of this world, staying righteous in our societies of unrighteousness. Maximise our witness, we pray, so that Your voice will prevail through all the noise and darkness declared by evil people. We pray for our governments and leaders, our churches and congregations, our places of employment and recreation, so that Your name will be glorified. And we pray for our families and friends, that we will indeed be that beacon of light that draws them close to You. We pray all this in Your precious name. Amen.
