Isaiah 32:1-8 NLT
“1 Look, a righteous king is coming!
And honest princes will rule under him.
2 Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.
3 Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth,
and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it.
4 Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding.
Those who stammer will speak out plainly.
5 In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes.
Scoundrels will not be respected.
6 For fools speak foolishness
and make evil plans.
They practice ungodliness
and spread false teachings about the Lord.
They deprive the hungry of food
and give no water to the thirsty.
7 The smooth tricks of scoundrels are evil.
They plot crooked schemes.
They lie to convict the poor,
even when the cause of the poor is just.
8 But generous people plan to do what is generous,
and they stand firm in their generosity.”
Jesus is coming! That was my first thought when I read verse 1 of today’s reading. What other king could ever be called righteous? The theme of the coming Messiah is recorded throughout the Old Testament, and scholars estimate there are between 300 and 400 Old Testament messianic prophecies regarding Christ’s first coming, with roughly 109 to 300+ specifically fulfilled during His earthly ministry, and over 200 to 225 unfulfilled prophecies pointing specifically to His second coming. So here in Isaiah 31:1 we read one of them. But a Righteous King is desperately needed in this world today. Everywhere we look, we see men and women floundering in their leadership roles, gravitating towards ungodliness and foolishness as we watch verse 6 play out before us with their evil plans, ungodliness, and foolish policies that deprive ordinary people of food and water. Believe it or not, that very thing is happening in the UK today. In Psalm 72:1-4 we receive another view of the Righteous King: “Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son. Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly. May the mountains yield prosperity for all, and may the hills be fruitful. Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors”. That is our King. Come Lord Jesus, we pray.
Perhaps the “honest princes” are those saints who can be found in Revelation 20:4, “Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They all came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years“. What better qualification for being an “honest prince” than to be someone who had never succumbed to the beckoning of the world’s evils and hedonistic attractions, who had stood firm to the point of death for righteousness’ sake. Isaiah 32:2 provides a few more details of what these “princes” will be like. “A shelter from the wind” evokes a picture of something solid and dependable, something that can withstand the storms of life and provide protection for those who are unable to protect themselves. There are many in that category living around us, people with physical and mental issues that push them to the fringes of our society, a society which favours the strong and despises the weak. O Lord! They so desperately need an “honest prince” to speak out for them and protect them from the winds that bring so much adversity and distress. And as I wrote this I heard the Holy Spirit whisper to me to do something about it. There is an opportunity for all of us pilgrims to help those without food and water, and verse 8 of today’s reading says, “But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity“. That is a description of an “honest prince”, honesty going hand in hand with generosity.
During a severe storm, people naturally look for somewhere secure: a solid building, a shelter or somewhere protected from the wind and rain. In the same way, people experiencing bereavement, financial difficulty, family problems or uncertainty need somewhere spiritually secure. We pilgrims can become that shelter by listening, praying, helping practically and refusing to abandon people when life for them becomes difficult. However, when people encounter us during their storms, do they experience shelter or another source of pressure? An “honest prince” needs to prayerfully contact the “Righteous King” to provide what people need.
Isaiah 32:3 provides a wonderful picture of what life will be like under the rule and reign of the Righteous King. We read, “Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth, and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it“. This verse describes a spiritual awakening and it enables people to see reality correctly. As we look on at the confusion that has our country tied up in knots, even to the point that some people apparently don’t know the difference between a man and a woman any more. Is that the sort of problem that Isaiah could see when he wrote, “For fools speak foolishness and make evil plans. They practice ungodliness and spread false teachings about the LORD. … ”? In that respect, there are even some Christian denominations that suffer the same confusion themselves, denying the truth of Scripture when it conflicts with the worldview of people who walk through their church doors.
The “honest princes” are also “like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land“. Under a Godly leader, an “honest prince”, the people will thrive like the picture in Psalm 1:3: “They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do“. But, some ask, without a Godly leader, people still seem to prosper. They may for a while, of course, but no one takes anything with them across the Great Divide. We pilgrims know that a people without God ” … are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly”. This is why we do our utmost to help “everyone who has eyes [to] be able to see the truth, and everyone who has ears [to] be able to hear it“. Psalm 1 ends, “For the LORD watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction“.
Who is the “righteous King”? David knew the answer when he wrote Psalm 24. “Who is the King of glory? The LORD of Heaven’s Armies— he is the King of glory“. David glimpsed the coming King. We pilgrims have as well. But do we really know Him? There is only one way to find out, and that is to spend time with Him. Every moment that we can, and then there will come that wonderful day when we will never be out of His company.
Dear Lord Jesus, the Righteous King. We praise and worship You today. We pray for help, to see You more clearly, love You more dearly, and follow You more nearly, day by day. Amen.
