In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it; at the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. | ||
| Isaiah 20:1-4 | ||
| Tartan was the general of the invading Assyrian army. Ashdod was one of the five cities of the Philistines. It was when Assyria invaded Ashdod that the Lord told Isaiah to take off his clothes and shoes and to walk naked and barefoot as a sign to the people of Egypt and Ethiopia. Why would the Lord have His prophet walk around naked? Because He loves people deeply (2 Peter 3:9). You see, God was not concerned only about the nation of Israel. I think of Jonah. God cared about the Assyrians so much that he sent Jonah to Nineveh, their capital city, to tell them to repent. In Exodus 19:6, God told the people of Israel that they were to be a kingdom of priests. A priest is one who stands before the people on behalf of God and stands before God on behalf of the people. Therefore, Israel was to be a spokesman for God to all of the other nations of the world. Israel was to be a missionary nation. Entrusted with the Word of God, they were to reflect and radiate God’s reality to the entire world. But Israel made the mistake that we are sometimes vulnerable to making. That is, Israel kept the word to herself and saw the surrounding nations as nothing more than fuel for the fires of hell. We must not fall into Israel’s error, having no compassion or concern for those around us who are headed for hell. We want to be powerful men of God or women of faith - as long as people marvel at our spirituality. But what about when we’re told to walk naked? Oh, God won’t call any of us to be physically naked. He does, however, call us to share the naked truth, the honest truth with candor. And yet I see us shirking away from the truth. Consequently, we live next to people year after year without ever saying, “I must be honest with you. God loves you but the wages of sin is death. And, according to John 3:36, he that has the Son has life but the wrath of God abides on the one who doesn’t have the Son. You might be angry with me for saying that, but I must be honest with you. You need Jesus. You must be born again or you’ll be destroyed.” How long has it been since you bared your heart to an unbeliever? God not only told Isaiah to bare his soul, but later He Himself would do the same thing. As the Son of Man, He would bare His soul in His teaching, bare His life by speaking honestly, and bare His body on the Cross of Calvary - all to bear the sins of humanity. He could have said, “I will not be humiliated. I will not be disgraced by these savages.” Instead, He said, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” Jesus died naked and exposed because He cared about me personally. He cared about you passionately. Is it any wonder Isaiah would obey the command - no matter how embarrassing - of a God like that? Pastor Jon Courson | ||
