Key Verse: Verse 3 – “And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia
Key Words: for a sign and wonder
As you read about Isaiah, you read many wonderful truths. He was a prophet during the reign of King Uzziah and Hezekiah (II Chronicles 26:22 and 32:32). He was a statesman who loved God and his country. But most of all, he was a prophet of God. In no uncertain language, Isaiah foretold the future of Israel and Judah, and the downfall of the Gentile nations. But in Isaiah, chapter 20, we read a strange thing. God tells Isaiah to walk naked and barefoot for a sign to Egypt and Ethiopia.
Now, this raises an interesting question: does God condone nakedness? The answer is absolutely not! This was a one-time event for a one-time message; and that message was: “God is going to strip Egypt and Ethiopia of their glory” (see verses 4 and 5).
For us to take that message and apply to us personally today would be to take God’s Word out of context.
People often take verses such as this and use those verses to justify some act they are committing or to justify some decision they are making. They feel as though they must have some Scripture to justify their actions so they can look good before men, and that is a grave mistake!! You cannot make the Bible say what you want it to without suffering the consequences of being out of God’s will.
I have a saying that I use often, “You are free to choose your course of action, but you are not free to choose the consequences of your actions.”
In 1934, Ward Kimball was a young artist working with an upstart named Walt Disney. They were working on a major project called Snow White. Kimball worked on a four-and-one-half minute sequence for 240 days. All day and many nights he labored to create this brief section where the dwarfs showed affection for Snow White by making her some soup. Once Kimball had completed his work, Disney called him into his office and said, “I don’t know how to tell you this, because I love the sequence; but we’re going to have to cut it out. It’s getting in the way of the story.”
So it is when we impose our own private interpretation to the Scripture for our own self-gain, our desires get in the way of what the Scripture is truly saying.
What to do:
✞ Keep the Scripture in context and do not use the Scripture for your personal desires.
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