The Blessings of the Future that Cush Received (Isaiah 18:1-7)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
“1 Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings, Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, 2 Which sends ambassadors by sea, Even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying, ‘Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin, To a people terrible from their beginning onward, A nation powerful and treading down, Whose land the rivers divide.’ 3 All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth: When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it; And when he blows a trumpet, you hear it. 4 For so the Lord said to me, ‘I will take My rest, And I will look from My dwelling place Like clear heat in sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.’ 5 For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect And the sour grape is ripening in the flower, He will both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks And take away and cut down the branches. 6 They will be left together for the mountain birds of prey And for the beasts of the earth; The birds of prey will summer on them, And all the beasts of the earth will winter on them. 7 In that time a present will be brought to the Lord of hosts From a people tall and smooth of skin, And from a people terrible from their beginning onward, A nation powerful and treading down, Whose land the rivers divide-- To the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, To Mount Zion.”
Introduction
There was a faith political named Daniel Webster and one night at a hotel, he was having a meal with 20 people. During the meal, they were having a discussion and during that discussion, David Webster started entering into a deep thought. Someone who saw Webster in deep thought asked what Webster was thinking about, and asked what Webster thought was the most important. Webster responded, “What I think is most important is that all my work that I am doing on earth will not only be on earth but what I will be doing in heaven as well. And whenever I think about this, I become humbled and my heart becomes soft.” When I read this message, I thought that Webster was a very serious and sincere person. Whatever work that I am doing, am I doing it with this kind of thought and attitude as well? From here, I think if we have these thoughts then we can make God most pleased and happy. If all of my thoughts and actions are directed towards what will be achieved in heaven and will be most glorious to God, then God will be most pleased with us. I believe God will bless you greatly. God has given us a very important message today. When I was listening to today’s Biblical scripture, I was very happy. I received a lot of grace while reading the scripture.
1. Cush in Search of the Kingdom of Judah
1) The historical background
Verse 1 - Until now, all of the nations surrounding the land of Judah received messages of warning and Isaiah was relaying God’s word and giving messages of warnings from God to the nation of Judah as well. But in verse 1, it starts with, “Woe..”, which can be interpreted as sadness. But this “woe” in this context is referring to a surprise, an expression of awe. They were surprised but why was it written as “woe”? From here, the book of Isaiah talks about God and God’s heart, and the Israelites kept falling into idolatry but something surprising occurred here. The people of God, the Israelites, were falling into idolatry but there were some people who weren’t worshiping idolatry. That nation was Cush that didn’t fall into idolatry. The present day Cush is Ethiopia, the nation in Africa. Ethiopia is explained as, “…Buzzing with wings.” Cush received the report that Assyria will attack Judah. Ethiopia received this report so they predicted after Assyria attacked Judah that Assyria will attack Cush so they started making preparations. What kind of situation was occurring in Judah? Judah at that time, after King Ahaz passed away, King Hezekiah became king. King Hezekiah became king in 715BC and he started his reign with good faith. As you know very well that King Hezekiah had good faith but he later fell into a trial. If you look in King Hezekiah’s perception, this was a great shock to him. Northern Israel was a land that were made of descendants of Abraham and the descendants of Abraham were people who were supposed to be protected by God. They were considered to be people of God’s covenant so King Hezekiah was shocked that northern Israel was being attacked. King Hezekiah thought that God will protect northern Israel no matter what because it was a nation made of people of God’s covenant but northern Israel was being attacked. This made King Hezekiah so shocked. A nation that was supposed to be protected by God, it was being attacked by Assyria so King Hezekiah thought that he couldn’t rely on God alone so he went to the king of Assyria and pleaded for mercy. King Hezekiah took all of the gold from the temple of God and took it all to the king of Assyria. The king of Ethiopia heard what King Hezekiah did. At that time, Cush was a very strong nation. Even now, it is located in the same place in Africa. At that time, Cush conquered and controlled the northern kingdom of Egypt and they made the 25th dynasty of Egypt so they were a very mighty nation back then.
2) God speaks through Isaiah
Verse 2 - Cush sent an envoy to Judah. They sent an envoy and ambassadors with a boat and these boats were very light and fast. They went to the land of Judah and made an offer to make an alliance to fight against Assyria. But here it explains how powerful the Ethiopian army was. At that time, Ethiopian army was made up of very strong, tall, and handsome soldiers. Many people were afraid of the Ethiopian army and were feared among many nations. This showed how powerful the Ethiopian army was and even now, they are seen as a fearsome army. Here we see Assyria attacking many nations and so Cush was offering to make an alliance with Judah. But God commands a prophet of Israel to tell Cush to return back to their land. This means to just go back to Cush and give offering and worship to God. This was this situation at that time but it made no sense to them at all.
This was the recording of God’s word in 2 Kings 18:22 “But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” - This was what was told to the people of Cush. They were told to just give worship in Cush and return back to their land. God commanded them to return back to Cush and God spoke to them in verse 3.
2. God's Absolute Plan
1) Proclamation to all nations of the world
Verse 3 - From here, there was an astounding message. The proclaiming messenger here was proclaiming, “All inhabitants of the world…” This means that they were speaking to not only the Israelites but for all people of world to hear this message. What were they told to look at? They were told to look at the banner on the mountains. This means that this banner was raised up when a nation has victory in a war. The trumpet is blown when there is victory. God is commanding that to see the war that God will win and have victory in for on their behalf. God said that He will fight and win for them so all that Cush needed to do was witness this. God was speaking about His absolute goal.
2) God's absolute goal
Verse 4 - God is watching us from the blessing of the heavenly throne. God gives us rain, sunshine, and light. It says that God is quietly watching us. Whether it is evil or good people, God is quietly watching us. The wicked people are doing wicked things and bearing wicked fruits. And the good people are bearing good fruits. God is watching all of that. From here, we need to open our spiritual eyes. God is observing us.
We need to hold onto Matthew 18:10 “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” - As God said to us in the introduction, God is always watching us. The Assyrian army was attacking many nations at that time and many nations were suffering as a result, even the Israelites. But God was observing all of this. When we are in hardships, God is aware of it and is observing and watching over all things. He is aware of all things. Then, when does God move for us?
It tells us in verse 5 - When does God move for us and take out His knife for us? He does that when it is time for harvest. God watches us until the fruit becomes abundant. When the fruit become abundant, then God will take out His knife and cut it off. At that time, God finally completely destroys Assyria. At that time, God was just observing Assyria quietly and watching the Israelites suffer. There were people who were criticizing and cursing God but God was watching all of this. But in the end, God bought judgment and final destruction to Assyria. What kind of judgment did God bring to Assyria?
It was written in verse 6 - There were so many dead corpses that there were so much food for the birds to feast on for days. From here, it fulfilled the message of 2 Kings 19:35 “And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.”. When God brings judgment on a nation or people, they will face destruction no matter what. We can see many times in the Bible that the nation of Assyria faced destruction. Why was this recorded in the Bible and mentioned numerous times in the Bible? The Bible is showing how important this event was. This miracle and event, there were many miracles that occurred for the Israelites before this miracle. The last miracle for the Israelites was this miracle. This miracle showed a great and most important meaning of salvation to the Israelites.
3. The Flow of Blessings for Those Who Remain
1) The blessing of Ethiopia
Verse 7 - At that time, Cush bought a blood sacrifice to Mount Zion as an offering to God. This was a joyful and a pleasing event to God. A nation that was in the midst of idolatry, they were giving worship and sacrifice to God. God was so pleased that it was mentioned numerous times in the Bible in verse 2 and again in verse 7. This mighty nation, Ethiopia, was giving offering and sacrifice to God on Mount Zion. Why was that? The nation of Ethiopia went to the land of Judah but returned back to Cush after they heard God’s command from a prophet. Cush did not comply to their own ulterior motives but they listened and obeyed God’s word. God commanded Cush to just witness and watch what God does and how He will win the war for them. After they returned back to Cush, they were really able to witness how God won the war for them, raised the banner on the mountains for them, and how the sound of the trumpet was blown. What did Cush realize from this? They were able to hold onto that God is truly alive. This was an astounding event. The Israelites strayed from God and fell into idolatry. Even though God gave them many warnings, the Israelites continued to disobey God’s word. But a gentile nation, Cush who was in idolatry, returned to God and gave worship to God. God came to them and established a temple, this means that they entered into God’s covenant. The people of God, the Israelites, who left God, God gave His salvation and covenant to a gentile nation instead.
Acts 8:26-27 “Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, 'Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship.” - We heard many times of how the Ethiopian eunuch received the gospel. The Ethiopian eunuch was giving worship to God and returning back to Cush after giving worship when he met deacon Philip. The Ethiopian eunuch was going to Jerusalem to give worship to God. The 185,000 Assyrian army dying, this event was years after this event but the nation of Cush continued to go to Jerusalem to give worship to God for 700 years. God was so pleased with this. At that time, God commanded a deacon to meet the Ethiopian eunuch. God commanded Philip to go towards that chariot that the Ethiopian eunuch was in. The Holy Spirit was forcibly commanding Philip to go to this chariot. The Ethiopian nation received the gospel through deacon Philip. If you look at the land of Africa, many of its nations were colonized by the land of Europe. But Ethiopia was never colonized by Europe. God was protecting this land. All of the nations of Africa all fell into idolatry but this is a very important message. An idolizing nation, they were all destroyed by God. But Cush who sought after God, they were protected and saved by God. Even now Ethiopia has many Christians even though many Muslims live there as well. This means that they are enjoying the blessing of the remaining ones.
2) Blessings for those who remain
Who are the remaining ones? The remaining one is one who makes Jesus their master and Lord.
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” - When you make Jesus your Lord and master, it says that you will come out of your fate and destiny. All darkness that was tormenting you, that will all be broken. This is because the True King who has overcome the world is your master and Lord now.
John 2:3, 7, 19 “And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, 'They have no wine.' 7 Jesus said to them, 'Fill the waterpots with water.' And they filled them up to the brim. 19 Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' ” - Mary tells Jesus that they were out of wine but God commands Mary to fill the water pots with water and serve this. The water was turned into wine. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the Creator. When we go before God, we will become a new creation. We must hold onto from here is that Mary was commanded to fill the waterpots with water. Water represents God’s word. When you fill your waterpots with water, then you will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
John 2:19 - When you make Jesus your master, then you will receive the power of resurrection in three days. When we discard all things and our old self, we have a new life. The Old Testament is over and the new church is raised. With our new body, we are able to start to live a new life. With the new church and new body, may we have the new start in our lives.
Conclusion
Zephaniah 3:10 “From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, The daughter of My dispersed ones, Shall bring My offering.” - Zephaniah was the 4th descendant of King Hezekiah. This message was given when King Manasseh and the land of Judah was in corruption and idolatry. This message was speaking about the prophecy that a gentile nation will receive salvation from God. This model nation was Ethiopia. The background on how they received this blessing was that they gave worship to God. This is so important. Romans 10:13 “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” - When you give worship, just like the nation of Ethiopia who gave worship to God, God will bestow great blessings upon you. God who is truly alive and watching us, when we give worship to God, then God will always protect and bless us in all situations.
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