Isaiah 21: Morning on the Mesopotamian Marshes & Arabia -- 2019/10/14

Rev. Zelwyn Heide, pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Grassy Butte and St. Peter Lutheran Church in Belfield, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 21. Isaiah 21 contains three oracles that seem to be related somehow, but they sound so strange and alien to us! The first oracle has to do with the fall of Babylon, and the second two oracles have to do with refugees being rescued from the Kedarites. When did all of these things happen though? Babylon was at the center of conflict for centuries, captured and recaptured time and again. One possibility is that Isaiah is talking about the downfall of the centuries-long Assyrian Empire and their allies the Kedarites. Babylon fell and was taken from the Assyrians—by the Babylonians! Perhaps Isaiah and Habakkuk were talking about the same thing. As God finally banished the Assyrian shadow, we long for the morning of the resurrection to dawn. “What time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?” Though the darkness is deep, God is in control of all, and Christ is coming soon.