Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: The Lord will judge the earth and bring a Savior who will judge in righteousness.
Woe to the land. The Lord will look from His dwelling place. He will cut down the branches, and they will be prey for the birds and beasts. A present will be brought to the Lord from a people "smooth and tall of skin... terrible from their beginning onward. A nation powerful and treading-down."
The burden against Egypt: The Lord rides on a cloud and will come into Egypt. The idols will totter, and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst. The Lord will set them against each other, and they will fight each other, and they will fall. They will consult the idols, charmers, mediums, and sorcerers, and they will be delivered into the hand of a cruel master and fierce king who will rule over them. The rivers will turn foul and the waters all dry up. Its foundations will be broken. But five cities in Egypt will speak the land of Canaan and swear by the Lord of Hosts. There will be an altar to the Lord there for a sign and witness in the land. They will cry out because of their oppressors, and He will send them a Savior, a mighty One, and He will deliver them. The Lord will then be known to them. They will make vows and sacrifice to the Lord. He will strike them and heal them, and they will return to the Lord. There will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria- a blessing in the land, whom the Lord of Hosts will bless, saying, "Blessed is Egypt, My people, and Assyria, the work of My hands, and Israel, My inheritance."
The Lord speaks by Isaiah and tells him to remove the sackcloth from his body and remove his sandals, and he walks naked and barefoot. Then, the Lord says that just as he has done this three years for a sign and wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, so will the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and Ethiopians as captives- young and old, naked and barefoot.
The burden against the wilderness from the sea (Babylon): Isaiah sees a treacherous vision. "Pangs have taken hold of me like the pangs of a woman in labor." The Lord tells him to set a watchmen, who sees chariots of donkeys and camels with horsemen, and he also sees a lion. He says Babylon has fallen and her gods with her. There is also a burden against Arabia, and the Lord says they will fail within a year.
The burden against the Valley of Vision (Israel): They are a tumultuous city. Isaiah says not to try to comfort him because of the plundering of the daughter of his people. It will be a day of trouble and perplexity from the Lord. When the Lord's house was destroyed, the Lord called for weeping, but the people said, "Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die!" Bu One is coming who will be a Father to the house of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. "The key of the house of David I will lay on His shoulder, so He will open, and no one will shut, and He will shut, and no one will open." He will be a throne to His Father's house.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
The passages about Egypt are interesting. The Lord's heart is that all might come to know Him.
God closes doors that no man can shut, and He opens doors that no man can open. Ask the Lord to open and close doors in your life.
Jesus has the key of David. David had intimacy with the Lord. Jesus is our way to intimacy with the Father.