Stand Firm

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

STAND FIRM

Isa 7:1-9

7:1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it. 2 Now the house of David was told, "Aram has allied itself with Ephraim"; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind. 3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field. 4 Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood — because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. 5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying, 6 "Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it." 7 Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

"'It will not take place, it will not happen, 8 for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. 9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.'"

NIV

Although there is a whole lot of historical information contained in these verses, this information only sets the time of what is happening, or rather what did not happen. Several kings formed an alliance to attack Israel, but they were not to prevail. That is it in a nutshell. What is of interest to us here is the last statement. “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” Isaiah said that to Ahaz who at the time was the king of Judah and was under attack, by what Isaiah said were two smoldering stubs of firewood, or by nothing worth being concerned about. Here is the truth for us. There is an enemy afoot who most likely has made an alliance with many people, in an effort to take us down, to charge against us, to destroy our city center, or soul. Even in the last days we see him allied with the Beast and the False Prophet in an effort to deceive the believers. He will present himself as the Christ, but he is nothing but the anti-Christ. However, although he knows he will lose in the end, he tries his best to destroy us in the here and now. So we are told to, “Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of this smoldering stub of firewood.” Do not fear the enemy of our soul, the devil. This Satan will not prevail against us. God has declared it so. “It will not take place, it will not happen”. However, there is this condition which requires something of us. If we do not stand firm in our faith, we will not stand at all. It reminds us of the armor of God explained to us in Eph 6. Four times the concept of standing firm is stated.

Eph 6:10-18

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

NIV

This is what we are told here in Isaiah, to stand firm. Those sandals of the Roman soldiers were of two types, the marching one and the battle ones. When they went into battle the sandals had sharp cleat like nails on the bottom soul so they would not slide or slip in muddy ground. This is the idea if being able to stand firm in battle. We are not to give ground to the enemy, we are not to retreat, to turn and run. We are to face him front on and lift our shield of faith against him. All his attacks, all his flaming arrows will not harm us. But if we do not have faith in God, if we do not put our complete whole-hearted trust in God, if we think we can stand up to this enemy on our own, we will not stand at all, we will fall, we will fail, we will be overrun. So we take our stand on the word of God, on God, our Almighty Lord and Savior. We stand firm in our faith.