Saturday, December 10, 2016

Reflection - Isaiah walked naked for three years

Source Website: https://tomvanderwell.wordpress.com/2016/11/07/gods-nude-performance-art-prophet/
Posted by Tom Vander Well on 07 November 2016 - God’s Nude, Performance Art Prophet


Isaiah walked naked for three years (Isaiah 20)
PHOTO: Isaiah walked naked for three years (Isaiah 20)
The ancient prophets did not only delivered verbal soliloquies (speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers) of the Word of God, but by their seeing, hearing and acting they presented a type for what was to come.
God is going to give the Assyrian army victory over Egypt and Cush, and plenty of Egyptians and Cushites are going to be dragged off in their birthday suits to foreign lands.
Our God is a jealous God. He does not want us trusting in anyone or anything more than we trust in Him. He demands to be first. (Isaiah 20:3-6).
Painting by Robert McIntosh (1916-2010) - "The Male Nude" (1935)
Posted by laurelanthenat on  06 May 2014 - Signs and Wonders
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiluIIN10k0PkmM7CelrKEG9J4erBb2P4gJBVyT2R8jUBWfCUaWXI4DAnnTKRxihSZdiO0IsqLg4nMW06IP3eO_LhIeHIindoMmddYRvKmI9DqVhssnzGPTst6HH7e0s7o3aI9rxD93DY_L/s1600/robert-mcintosh-male-nude-1935.jpg
http://openingtheseals.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/robert-mcintosh-male-nude-1935.jpg
http://openingtheseals.com/category/fulfilled-prophecy/


…at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.
Isaiah 20:2 (NIV)

I am taking a step back this morning and thinking long and hard on this little fact from this morning’s rather short chapter: God told Isaiah to strip and walk around naked as a living word picture and performance art piece that foretold what the Egyptians were going to experience under Assyrian captivity.


Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.
PHOTO: “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And Isiah did so, going around stripped and barefoot. (Isaiah 20:2 NIV).
Painting by Falzon - Isaiah stripped of his sack cloth
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2zQFDBdyigfVGu_2EiJPzqq9mL3n9lJqDtWtl8-sLZ1FVAR8zywU1IJfeBwN-PQ1MKpt_ObddsDTM_G1KWgTRlQUaZ0mwpZQoIAXH1lhkjuitakg0tNF__P9EvEXmH7wlm-mcj6cffc8Q/s1600/isaija2.jpg
http://paulfalzon.com/jm/images/stories/News/isaija2.jpg
http://paulfalzon.com/jm/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=1


I heard the voices of many an uptight grandmother, legalistic preacher, and fundamentalist friend explaining  that something must surely be lost in translation and God would never ask His servant to do something so shameful and improper. “Perhaps Isaiah just stripped down to his boxers or something,” I hear the voices say.

Yet just the next verse God makes the message very clear:

“so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame.” Isaiah 20:4 [emphasis added]

Bare-assed shame was the crux of the message. God was not pulling any punches.


Bare-assed shame was the message. God was not pulling any punches.
Bare-assed shame was the message. God was not pulling any punches.
PHOTO: Bare-assed shame was the message. God was not pulling any punches.
Art by Don Lawrence - Isaiah Walking Naked Through Jerusalem (Original)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpKw0OGWwlLDqr28nOIFO0spn56xWhwKOb3XvFmVYWsMgexsuyoxAaO96g8jbBZQ-GiGbizNHdZslPOV03Y-cy3pIf9hiAG8xzRwUP-dhjlWrb4rnzX5H7Xw44-7q01R5QEfyitPmPbq4o/s1600/LawrenceIsaiahLL-G.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzGI9EIvqDstCRnGfapVgAeBpnYhgev4hUNOY5OUkY0yfihEF3NiwJ9uBqwFAlGMsN1yMDxAUhmEGeYVGGNjBjVZ5tsb1X95kDd-w1OKPceM0Rk3gbocE_aOK5kWhyphenhyphenrNz9X345EgtOlxKw/s1600/LawrenceIsaiahLL-G-1.jpg
http://www.illustrationartgallery.com/acatalog/LawrenceIsaiahLL-G.jpg
http://www.illustrationartgallery.com/acatalog/info-LawrenceIsaiahLL.html


This morning I’m thinking about the ways I let social and societal mores mold the way I see God. The further I get in my life journey the more I’m aware that I sometimes like to put God in the box of my own design, constrained by my own social, cultural, political, and religious preconceptions. The more willing I am to let God out of my own mental and spiritual box, the more deep and full my understanding and appreciation of God becomes, and the more transformative that knowledge becomes in my own life. [1]

Speaking a message is all fine and well, but a powerful illustration can really drive a point home. God decides it’s time for Isaiah to do a little role playing, so He tells the prophet to strip. Yes, Isaiah has to take off everything: even his underwear and shoes. This is awkward, but the fun is only beginning. God then orders the prophet to walk around in his birthday suit for three long years as a not-so-pleasant preview of the miseries that will soon come to both Egypt and Cush. God is going to give the Assyrian army victory over these two nations and plenty of Egyptians and Cushites are going to be dragged off in their birthday suits to foreign lands. [2]


The Assyrian army would have victory over Egypt and Cush, and plenty of Egyptians and Cushites are going to be dragged off in their birthday suits to foreign lands.
PHOTO: The Assyrian army would have victory over Egypt and Cush, and plenty of Egyptians and Cushites are going to be dragged off in their birthday suits to foreign lands.
Picture posted in Pinterest, A War of Words, Posters and propaganda related to WW1
The MetroPostcard Blog featuring articals on the history and printing of postcards as well as their role in our society.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN3X-2GjS68WvHZgoYYrn0vnjralNZSuNgAPMFwXSynHm8e1c7pzxoYywmVbxotbTYQJJoUuKYEjvCh_mhbInFt1NVlVMEgLKLLXkPGGb6XbwMiWmdWx1Pnx1ToUBsaXSd8phDN6abYHRr/s1600/c044ed2830bb80b3708d29f63958eaf3.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/c0/44/ed/c044ed2830bb80b3708d29f63958eaf3.jpg
https://www.pinterest.com/LBTrevithick/a-war-of-words/


This is the end of the chapter and it should also be the end of any delusions we have that people can protect us from God’s discipline. When we try to use human allies as stand-ins for God, He will either take those allies away from us or turn them against us. We see Him exercising both options all throughout the Old Testament. God is jealous. He does not want us trusting in anyone or anything more than we trust in Him. He demands to be first. (Isaiah 20:3-6). [2]

If you know that you’re not there yet in your personal life, ask the Holy Spirit to get you there and He will.  God wants us to live very conscious of the fact that we are dependent on Him for all things. As long as we are open to desiring His will in this area, we will find Him gentle, gracious and patient even when our priorities keep slipping. But if we scoff at the notion that we need God in every moment, and if we start arrogantly thinking that we can take care of ourselves, then we’re asking for trouble. [2]


Dear Lord, We pray that we heed the warning to depend on Him for all things. Please help us to trust Him and not to use human allies as stand-ins for protection and necessities. Through Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen!
PHOTO: "Dear Lord, We pray that we heed the warning to depend on Him for all things. Please help us to trust Him and not to use human allies as stand-ins for protection and necessities. Through Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen!"
Art by John Martin - The Fall of Babylon (1831)
Posted by NTX / LEER on 19 July at 19 03:14 hrs
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd4NverzrCE23M6RfjN3OQk_V2kL-qM2HmAD_2E6O5zJckSeKmvG58vBzqIDvyS-k3qJF_qd1Qgog68S2koQQLFkbX1_Y543atRdw9gghGyY8kYUEwovCQkVGHs9OM-A_KWataQaihf6w1/s1600/605293.jpg
http://img.informador.com.mx/biblioteca/imagen/677x508/606/605293.jpg
http://www.informador.com.mx/cultura/2011/308092/6/la-tate-se-rinde-a-john-martin.htm

Posted by Tom Vander Well on 07 November 2016



Reference
[1] Tom Vander Well, posted on 07 November 2016, God’s Nude, Performance Art Prophet, https://tomvanderwell.wordpress.com/2016/11/07/gods-nude-performance-art-prophet/

[2] Anna Diehl, posted on 25 June 2014, Prophets in Action: Isaiah Walks Around Naked,  https://924jeremiah.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/isaiah-walks-around-naked/

New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Isaiah 20 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+20&version=NIV

Isaiah 20:2 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+20%3A2&version=NIV

Isaiah 20:3-6 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isa.+20%3A3-6&version=NIV

Isaiah 20:4 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+20%3A4&version=NIV
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