Isaiah 29:5-8 – A Bad Dream
Jerusalem is laid very low indeed, but not destroyed. For God raises his hand to work, and that which remains is delivered. We see this in verses 5-8. Jerusalem’s enemies are destroyed. With the hypocrites removed, Jehovah rescues his remnant. At the very point of seeming complete triumph, the enemies of God are swept away and crushed.
When the Assyrians laid siege to Jerusalem and blasphemously assailed Jehovah, they were nearly all destroyed the next morning. Later on Babylon wrecked the Temple, destroyed the city, and carried off the people. But God destroyed Babylon in the proper time by the Persians, and God’s people were restored to the land. Even when the Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70, God was building His people. Those who seek to assail God’s people may triumph in a large way. But at the right time, God rescues.
This destruction of the wicked demonstrates that ultimately God is at work with power. We have a picture here of people dreaming. Those are the dreamers here who dream that they are carrying all before them. That they can shake the fist at God, that they can make up their own rules, and go their own way, and do what they will. But they’re about to wake up, says God. He has this way of waking them. And for the godly, well, the wicked in their plots end up like a bad dream. Children, have you had a bad dream? Did it ever really harm you? No, it can’t because it’s just a dream. And that is the way the wicked are to us. They are scary. Just like a bad dream is scary. But God is basically saying, just like they’ll wake up from their wonderful dream to find that everything is horrible, we shall wake up from our bad dream, in a manner of speaking, and everything shall be safe. We can be absolutely sure that there will be times that are very scary. We can be absolutely sure that there will be unfaithful ones and hypocrites. But all along, we can be absolutely sure that what seems scary shall end, and our deliverance shall come.
Questions
- What will happen when the wicked wake up from their dream?
- What can we be sure of as believers?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks that what is scary will end.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.