Writings on the Wall
Isaiah 41:1–10
“Be silent before Me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment. “Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before. Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD—with the first of them and with the last—I am He.” The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward; they help each other and say to their companions, “Be strong!” The metalworker encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths with the hammer spurs on the one who strikes the anvil. One says of the welding, “It is good.” The other nails down the idol so it will not topple. “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
God is sovereign over all, and that includes believers and non-believers alike. This is made clear exceptionally so with Moses and Pharaoh, Jonah and the ship crew and passengers (Jon 1:5), and Daniel and the writing on the wall (Dan 5). We remember that most of the people in these scenes in history were not believers themselves, and with hardened hearts some of them had, “Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord. And I will not let Israel go (Exo 5:2).” Daniel said to king Belshazzar, "But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from His temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honour the God who holds in His hand your life and all your ways. Therefore He sent the hand that wrote the inscription (Dan 5:22–24).” Isaiah talks about mighty conquering kings (vv. 2–3), and that ahead of them is the Sovereign One, God, “Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD—with the first of them and with the last—I am He (v. 4).” It is a question of “whence the power?” (~Psa 121:1, ~Matt 21:25). Where does power and authority come from? God alone. "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realise I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" Jesus answered, "You would have no power over Me if it were not given to you from above… (John 19:10–11).” A discussion on God’s sovereignty always takes me back to the sonnet “Ozymandias” (1818) by English writer Percy Shelley. The poem speaks of ‘hubris’ and “the inevitable decline of leaders of empires and their pretensions to greatness.” God will eventually place His writings on the walls of all our leaders yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and this applies to believers and non-believers alike, all persons, leaders or not, after all, as with all blessing, “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt 5:45),” and yet we need not fear, because of Christ the real King of kings, we are made friends of God like Abraham (v. 8) once again. ‘Ozymandias’ is the Greek name of the Egyptian pharaoh, Ramses II or Ramses the Great [1300 (traditional chronology) or 1000 BC (Rohl’s controversial new chronology where Rohl identifies him with Shishak of I Kings 14, II Chron 12)]. The sonnet paraphrases the inscription on the base of the statue, given by Diodorus Siculus in his Bibliotheca Historica. I quote the sonnet in full this time:
“Be silent before Me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment. “Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before. Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD—with the first of them and with the last—I am He.” The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward; they help each other and say to their companions, “Be strong!” The metalworker encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths with the hammer spurs on the one who strikes the anvil. One says of the welding, “It is good.” The other nails down the idol so it will not topple. “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
God is sovereign over all, and that includes believers and non-believers alike. This is made clear exceptionally so with Moses and Pharaoh, Jonah and the ship crew and passengers (Jon 1:5), and Daniel and the writing on the wall (Dan 5). We remember that most of the people in these scenes in history were not believers themselves, and with hardened hearts some of them had, “Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord. And I will not let Israel go (Exo 5:2).” Daniel said to king Belshazzar, "But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from His temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honour the God who holds in His hand your life and all your ways. Therefore He sent the hand that wrote the inscription (Dan 5:22–24).” Isaiah talks about mighty conquering kings (vv. 2–3), and that ahead of them is the Sovereign One, God, “Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD—with the first of them and with the last—I am He (v. 4).” It is a question of “whence the power?” (~Psa 121:1, ~Matt 21:25). Where does power and authority come from? God alone. "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realise I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" Jesus answered, "You would have no power over Me if it were not given to you from above… (John 19:10–11).” A discussion on God’s sovereignty always takes me back to the sonnet “Ozymandias” (1818) by English writer Percy Shelley. The poem speaks of ‘hubris’ and “the inevitable decline of leaders of empires and their pretensions to greatness.” God will eventually place His writings on the walls of all our leaders yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and this applies to believers and non-believers alike, all persons, leaders or not, after all, as with all blessing, “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt 5:45),” and yet we need not fear, because of Christ the real King of kings, we are made friends of God like Abraham (v. 8) once again. ‘Ozymandias’ is the Greek name of the Egyptian pharaoh, Ramses II or Ramses the Great [1300 (traditional chronology) or 1000 BC (Rohl’s controversial new chronology where Rohl identifies him with Shishak of I Kings 14, II Chron 12)]. The sonnet paraphrases the inscription on the base of the statue, given by Diodorus Siculus in his Bibliotheca Historica. I quote the sonnet in full this time:
“I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
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