11 For thus the Lord spoke to me [m]with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
12 “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear [n]what they fear or be in dread of it.
13 “It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
14 “Then He shall become a sanctuary;
But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over,
And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 “Many will stumble over them,
Then they will fall and be broken;
They will even be snared and caught.”16 Bind up the testimony, seal the [o]law among my disciples. 17 And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will even look eagerly for Him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the [p]law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through [q]the land hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse [r]their king and their God as they face upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness.
One might look at Isaiah and think, “Oh, it’s easy for him to trust God, he had visions and dreams!” As he himself says, “the Lord spoke to me with mighty power…” That all might be true, but Isaiah also points out the things we focus on instead of God. This idea of conspiracies in v. 12 was not unique to Israel, we have plenty of conspiracy theories today, and far too many Christians fall into the same trap.
Isaiah admonished them, and God instructs us also, “…you are not to fear or be in dread of it. It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy.” Certainly, we might seek to expose lies, and corruption, so that the truth might be known. But we should not fear the plans of men, for they are like to those we saw yesterday, and will not stand.
Instead, God should be our fear and dread, though that often seems a silly thing. Why should we want to chase after One who is fearful and dreadful? The answer is in part seen in v. 14, “Then He shall become a sanctuary…” When we have a proper fear and respect for God, when we begin to know Him for who He really is, a strange thing happens.
Where things of this earth can fill us with fear, and that trend usually goes from bad to worse, with God it is the opposite. With God we are also filled with awe and wonder, for he is a rock indeed, either of stumbling or of security. He is the latter for those who “will wait for the Lord” and who “will look eagerly for Him.”
Even worse than fearing the plans of men, some fear the dead, or look to them for answers, as did Israel in that time (v. 19). That’s even more foolish, when we can instead look to the one living God, who has given us his law, his testimony, his very Word which is our sustenance. There is no substitute, accept only the genuine article. Instead of being “hard-pressed and famished”, let us feast upon God’s word, and his bounty that satisfies our very souls.