The Deep Things of God

by Jon Paulien

Do you remember the principle that God is consistent? What He did for His people in Egypt, He will do again when they return from the Exile. Isaiah uses the language of the past to depict the future. But that isn’t all that is going on here. While we can describe the Exile in terms of the Exodus God is not bound to the entire pattern. Did Israel actually return from Assyria? No. By the time of the Exile, Israel no longer existed. Only Judah remained. Assyria had also been destroyed and Babylon had become the new superpower. Not only that, did the remnant of God’s people actually pass through the Euphrates River in sandals? No, bridges spanned the Euphrates River right in the city of Babylon. How do you explain the anomalies in this prophecy? God meets people where they are. At the time Isaiah was written, Israel had not yet been destroyed and Assyria still ruled the territory of Babylon. So He gave the prophecy in the context of the -49- time, place, and circumstances of Isaiah’s day. When the fulfillment came circumstances had altered the case.