On the evening of October 8, while in Israel, I asked the Lord to show me the Scripture for this time, just as in Kyiv at the beginning of the war in Ukraine. And He said to me: “Chapter 33 of Isaiah.” Very often, when I ask the Lord something like this, He names places in which I don’t remember what is written. Here’s what this chapter says:
“Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.” (Isaiah 33:1).
In the current situation, this is a very serious prophecy, which, it seems to me, is very encouraging for both Israel and Ukraine. The question for me here is only one phrase: “When thou shalt cease to spoil.” That is, there is some time allowed for these forces of evil to rampage. Both in Ukraine and in Israel, for one reason or another, this was allowed.
Prayer for mercy and God’s protection of His children
And then suddenly, after such a serious warning to these robbers and devastators:
“O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.” (verse 2).
This is a very characteristic transition from the prophecies of the Tanakh (Old Testament) from a threatening warning to Israel’s enemies to Israel’s prayer to God for mercy. Why? Because the prophet understands that Israel is not in such a spiritual state where one can safely say that there is nothing in the people that could lead to such consequences. Unfortunately, there is. And so the prayer is for mercy.
It is clear that believers pray not only for themselves. They pray for the whole people, all of Israel. Also, believers in Ukraine pray for all of Ukraine. But above all, we expect mercy to be shown to God’s children. And this is consistent with the revelation that we in our community received at the beginning of the attack on Ukraine according to 1 Timothy 5:8 that the Lord will protect and care, first of all, for His household. And His household is the Jewish New Testament communities.
Having received these promises, we thought about Israel, but then everything was so prosperous in Israel that it seemed: “What does this have to do with communities in Israel?” But now we see that this promise also applies to our communities in Israel. And in this war we can firmly rely on God’s, I will say boldly, promise through His Word.
The Lord Himself will speak out for Israel
“At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.” (verse 3).
God’s mercy for us in Israel and Ukraine must manifest itself first of all in the fact that the nations that are attacking will flee, they will not withstand the terrible voice of the Lord.
“The Lord is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.” (verse 5).
Zion is the projection of Heavenly Jerusalem on earth. And the Lord promised that He would never revoke the promises made to the people of Israel in the land of Israel, given to Jerusalem. Sooner or later everything will be fulfilled, and Jerusalem will become a true spiritual center, filled with judgment and righteousness.
“And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.” (verse 6).
Next we read a description of very difficult events, after which verse 10 says:
“Now will I rise, saith the Lord; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.” (verse 10).
I remember at the beginning of our community there was such an amazing song that began with the words: “Kuma, Adonai” (Arise, Lord, rise for us). I think now is a good time to sing songs like these and proclaim these prophecies and promises.
The wicked will be stricken in their iniquity
“Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.” (verses 11-12).
A very interesting point. It says here that those who attack Israel, God’s children throughout the face of the earth, will be burned with the fire of their own breath. That poisonous breath that comes from their insides will itself burn them. That is, they will be struck by their own lawlessness. They will be overwhelmed by the consequences of their sins, iniquities and crimes.
Think about what would happen if Hamas once again made some sort of attack, killed Israeli soldiers, “nobly” knocked out a couple of tanks, took several hostages and went back into Gaza. There would be strikes on Gaza, then a truce and bargaining for an exchange for terrorist killers who are in Israeli prisons.
But the evil that sits inside these Islamic organizations has burst out. I think they couldn’t control the demons that control them. And now it is their own iniquity that strikes them. Now neither America nor Western Europe is trying to stop Israel, but on the contrary, they support it in every possible way. This is what the Lord is describing here: their own demonic corruptive breath afflicts them.
Another fire and another fear
“Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.” (verse 13).
Here the Lord addresses everyone – both His people and the peoples who do not know Him.
“The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” (verse 14)
And here we are talking about another fire – about the eternal flame. These desperate cries of sinners in Zion are the cries of those Israeli sinners who no longer felt the breath of demon-possessed Hamas, but the breath of the fire of hell. And this kind of fear is God’s fear. Because the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God.
Some say they saw hell on earth. This is nonsense, because if even the slightest breath of hell, the fire of hell touches a person, he will forget about everything, he will run to God in despair. And we can pray that this is now happening in Israel.
Don’t focus on the horrors of war
And then God answers this desperate cry:
“ He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil…” (verse 15)
Thanks to the Internet, we constantly see terrible images and descriptions. I want to say that we must understand the horror that demons who have taken control of people create. But we don’t need to go into these details. We must understand that this is terrible and disgusting and will entail God’s terrible retribution. And that’s enough for us.
By the way, it was discovered that the main distributors of photographs and videos of Hamas horrors are Hamas itself. And it’s clear why – to demoralize Israel. But we don’t need to focus on that. If we feed on this, it inevitably produces in us either such rage, such carnal anger and desire for revenge, or such fear and confusion, or such bewilderment towards God (how could He allow this?) that it unsettles God’s children .
We encountered this in Ukraine and still continue to encounter it. When the horrors were revealed in Bucha, Irpen, Kherson, Izyum and other cities, this greatly influenced some believers. It is no coincidence that in the Old (not New!) Testament Isaiah says:
“He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.” (15-16).
We can take this literally, but we can also take verse 16 allegorically: The Lord wants to lift us above everything that happens, to the level where we are already seated at the right hand of the Father in the Messiah, so that we will respond to another call of Isaiah: “ Raise your eyes to the heavens and from there look at the earth.” He wants us to take His high view, establish ourselves there, and see from His perspective what is here.
Promises of a glorious future with the Lord
What else does verse 16 say? “His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks.” We know who our rock is. “Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.” Bread is the Word of God, water is the Holy Spirit. What does it mean that bread will be given? We all have the Bible, but God will put His Word into our hearts, into our minds, into our souls, into our mouths, saturated and saturated with the water of the Holy Spirit.
“Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” (verse 17).
I am reminded of the 11th chapter of Messianic Hebrews. All the biblical heroes described in it could become heroes only because they saw with spiritual eyes the eternal city, not the earthly Jerusalem, but the Heavenly one, the architect and artist of which is the Lord Himself.
“Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?” (verse 18)
Here we are talking about the fact that those who conquered lands and peoples, they registered everyone either in order to rip off exorbitant taxes, or in order to take them captive.
“Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us. ” (verses 19-22).
I agree with the main line of commentary on these verses. It says that “wherein shall go no galley with oars” means that no one can enter where the Lord Himself is instead of rivers. We don’t have to row when the Lord catches us. We will be immersed in the Lord and will flow in Him and will be part of His flow, and we will not need to move forward with our own strength, our perseverance, our willpower or with gritting our teeth. It will fulfil usand guide us. Not only are no oared vessels needed, but they will not be able to pass into the Kingdom of the Lord with the slavish efforts of the rowers. Why not a ship or a ship? Because there will be no big and small. In His love that will prevail, all will be equally loved and accepted.
Boris Grisenko, rabbi of KEMO / Исаия 33: Слово для Израиля в эти дни (kemokiev.org)
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