May 20, 2025: Isaiah 49:23 (Part 1 of 7) - They Shall Bow Down to Thee

“And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.” - Isaiah 49:23

Note to readers: Because of the length of this devotional, I have decided to split it up into seven parts. This is part 1. I also have a link that contains the entire devotional.

The Scriptures above describe a time that is coming that will happen after the 7-year time of Jacob’s trouble, during which time God will judge Israel for its disobedience to Him and their rejection of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. During this 7-year time period, also known as the tribulation period, God will also judge all of the nations of the world who, like Israel, also will choose to remain in their sin instead of accepting Jesus’ free gift of salvation of sins. During this time period, God will preserve a one-third remnant of Israel, who will be put through the fire but will come out refined as gold. Afterwards, Israel will finally be gathered together in the land that God gave them, and He will replace the sons and daughters that they will lose during their time of trouble, and those sons and daughters will be from the Gentile/non-Jewish nations. This whole chapter of Isaiah is specifically speaking of Jesus and His coming redemption of Jacob and Israel, I want to take the time to study about the nation of Israel and how it came about with the Biblical patriarchs, beginning with Abraham, his son Isaac, his son Jacob, and his sons that became the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus, I will be doing a deep-dive into their family history. Are you ready? Let’s begin our study of the patriarchs of Israel.

Long ago before the time of Isaiah the prophet, the Bible tells us in Genesis about a promise that God had made to a man named Abram, who was 75-years old at the time and was married to his wife, Sarai, who was 65-years old. They were living with Abram’s family in his father Terah’s, house in a land called Haran. When Terah died, something happened:

“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD has spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance [possessions] that they had gathered, and the souls [people] that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem [or Shechem], unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed [descendants] will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.” (Genesis 12:1-7)

In the promise of God to Abram above, God told Abram that He would make of him a great nation, meaning Abram would have many descendants, i.e., children, that would be born of him and Sarai. However, years passed by and they were both getting up in age and still they had no children. Growing impatient, Abram asked God if one who was named Eliezer, who was a servant born in his house, should be his heir because God had not given him any children yet. However, God told him no, Eliezer was not his heir, and God reconfirmed what He had previously told Abram, even saying to Abram:

“And he [God] brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell [count] the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (Genesis 15:5-8)

God then reconfirmed his covenant with Abram by a blood covenant, as described in Genesis 15:9-21. A blood covenant was normally performed by two parties; however, the blood covenant that God made with Abram was sealed by God Himself, for He had put Abram into a deep sleep before God sealed the covenant. Thus, God made this covenant by Himself; it is a unilateral, unconditional covenant. It was when God made this blood covenant with Abram that this happened:

“And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance [possessions]. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace [die and join your ancestors]; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full [complete].” (Genesis 15:13-16)

God told Abram that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign nation for 400 years and God would judge that nation. God also told Abram that after 400 years, his descendants would come to the land that God gave to Abram and his descendants, the land of Canaan. God was going to wait 400 years for the Amorites, the people living in the land of Canaan, to change their wicked and evil ways, before God would bring Abram’s descendants into the land. Because God knows all things, He knew that the Amorites would not change their ways. Thus, He was giving it to Abram and his future descendants for an everlasting possession. That is exactly what happened, and we will read about what happened prior to that in Egypt with Abram’s great-grandson, Joseph.

When Abram and Sarai had lived in the land ten years and still had no heir, no child of their own, Sarai decided to take matters into her own hands and told Abram he should have have sexual intercourse with her handmaid, Hagar, in order to produce an heir. Hagar got pregnant, and afterwards, she despised Sarai. Let us read what happened next:

“And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly [harshly] with her, she fled from her face [presence].” (Genesis 16:5-6)

This is a perfect example of what happens when we ignore God’s promises and commands to us and decide not to trust in Him but to take matters into our own hands; we mess things up, big time. This is what happens when we don’t want to wait on God and we want things to be done according to our own timeline. Let us finish reading about what happened with Hagar:

“And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain [spring] of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed [descendants] exceedingly; that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael [God hears]; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of his brethren. And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after [seen the back of] him that seeth me? Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi [Well of the One Who Lives and Sees Me]; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bore, Ishmael. And Abram was fourscore and six [86] years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.” (Genesis 16:7-16)

13 years later, when Abram was 99-years old (Genesis 17:1), God appeared again to Abram, reconfirming His promise to Abram that He would not only make of him a great nation but many nations:

“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God [El Shaddai]; walk before me, and be thou perfect [blameless]. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither [no longer] shall thy name any more be called Abram [Exalted Father], but thy name shall be Abraham [Father of a Multitude]; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed [descendants] after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:1-8)

God told Abram that He would multiply him tremendously so that he would be a father of many nations. God also stated that the covenant He was making with Abram was an everlasting covenant, meaning it could not ever be broken. God also told Abram that the land He was going to give to Abram and his descendants would be theirs forever. It wouldn’t matter if Abram and his seed were disobedient to God, and they were disobedient to Him and still are today; no, the land would always be theirs, for it is “an everlasting possession.” There was nothing conditional about these covenants that God had made with Abram. God also changed Abram’s name accordingly. Next, God then made a covenant that required Abraham, and notice that this is the first time that God used the new name He gave to Abram, and his descendants to keep:

“And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in [throughout] their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token [sign] of the covenant between me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man [male] child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul [person] shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.” (Genesis 17:9-14)

Next, God then spoke to Abraham about his wife:

“And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah [Princess] shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of [by] her: yea, I will bless her; and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.” (Genesis 17:15-16)

Can you imagine that you are Abraham, who is 99-years old, and here God is telling you that you and your wife, who is 89-years old, are going to have a son? What would your response be? I can’t even imagine a woman who is that age having the strength not only to be able to endure the demands of pregnancy but also to deliver a child. But with Almighty God, there is nothing impossible for Him to do, for He created the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all that is in them, including mankind. What do you think Abraham’s response was to God? Would it be similar to yours and mine? Let’s read what he said to God:

“Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?” (Genesis 17:17)

I absolutely love the Bible’s honesty, and how it doesn’t try to make people seem perfect and always trusting in God. Though we should always trust in God, God knows that we are humans and prone to sin and trying to do things our way. He also knows that we think in terms of our own ability and not His. God has told us:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:8-11).

Still thinking in his own limited human ability and still doubting what God had just told him - that he and Sarah would have a son in a year’s time - Abraham came up with a plan to make this happen and told it to God:

“And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!” (Genesis 17:18)

Abraham was telling God that the son He spoke of would be Ishmael and not a biological son born of him and Sarah, for Abraham was not thinking in the way that God thought but in his own human, limited way. God then told Abraham:

“And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed [descendants] after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. And he left talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.” (Genesis 17:19-22)

God was making it very clear to Abraham that it would be the son who could come from the biological union of Abraham and Sarah who would be the heir and the one with whom the covenant with God would be established, and the son would be named “Isaac.” God made it clear that His covenant was not with the son whose name was Ishmael, who was born of Abraham and Hagar. Abraham then did as God commanded him and had all males in his household, including himself, circumcised.

Next we are told in Genesis 18:

“And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward [to] the ground., and said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away [on by], I pray thee, from thy servant…” (Genesis 18:1)

Abraham obviously was honoring to these men to the extent that he bowed to them. I agree with gotquestions.org (See: https://www.gotquestions.org/three-men-Genesis-18.html) that one of the three men was either God taking on the appearance of a man, a theophany, or it was Jesus Himself, a Christophany, which is Jesus appearing in His pre-incarnate body. In the book of Revelation whenever John fell down on his knees to worship an angel, he is told not to worship him but to “Worship God.” (Revelation 19:10 and 22:9) Thus, if all three of these men were angels, I do not think they would have allowed Abraham to worship them and would have told him to worship God, as the angels in Revelation told John. I also believe with the referenced article that the other two men were angels, per Genesis 19:1.

Abraham invited them to wash their feet, rest, and eat with him. He had Sarah makes cakes for them and he had a calf killed and cooked for them. Then we are told:

“And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.” (Genesis 18:9-10)

Clearly, this is God talking to Abraham, for it is God Himself who came and visited Sarah after she bore Isaac, which we’ll read about in a minute. Let us read what happened next:

“Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women [Sarah had passed the age of childbearing]. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed [grown] old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.” (Genesis 18:11-15)

I must admit, after having gone through childbirth myself, I can’t even imagine having a child at 90-years old and my reaction may well have been the same as Sarah’s. Did you notice that it says she laughed “within herself,” meaning not out loud? However, God knows everything about us, including the thoughts we think in our minds. God asked Abraham why she did it, and I’m guessing Abraham didn’t even try to answer that question. I love God’s next statement to him: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” No, there is nothing too hard, nothing impossible for God; He is Almighty God! If he wanted to have a woman bear a child at 90-years old, He would make it happen. Did you catch that Sarah denied that she laughed and that God called her out and told her she did laugh. God sees, hears, and knows everything we do, before we even do it, and He made that known to her.

Before continuing on with Abraham and Sarah, I want to mention something else, and that is that the three men also warned Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their grievous sins:

“And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure [suppose] there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? and the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” (Genesis 18:20-26)

Abraham then asked God if He would spare the place for 45, then 40, 30, 20, and finally then 10 righteous people, would He still destroy the place. God said He would not in each case. However, as you may know, God did destroy both Sodom and Gomorrah, meaning there were not even ten righteous people in those places. We can tell from God’s conversation with Abraham that Abraham had a heart for people who were righteous and did not want them destroyed. Now, we know that every single person alive is a sinner, but here Abraham was referring to certain people as “righteous,” who were separate and apart from the “wicked.” It tells us that though we may live in a wicked place, and many of us, it not all of us, do, it is still possible that there be righteous people living there, people who are appalled with what is happening in their town and city. Abraham asked God if He would spare the righteous from His judgment, saying, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” That is a very bold question that Abraham asked God. God’s answer to Abraham is an example of how God is willing to delay or stop His judgment from happening if there are righteous people still present. This reminds me of when God told Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land for 400 years before they would come again to the land of Canaan that He was giving to Abraham and his descendants because “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full [complete].” (Genesis 15:16) God was giving the Amorites a very long time to either turn from their wicked ways or until there was not anyone left who was not wicked. This reminds me of another statement of God through the apostle Paul, and that is way forward in time in the book of Romans:

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness [hardening] in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” (Romans 11:25)

I believe the fullness of the Gentiles Paul spoke about in the above Scriptures refers to the time after Jesus came to earth the first time, offering salvation first to His own people, the Jews, who as a nation rejected Him, after which He turned His attention and message of salvation to the Gentiles. We have been in that time ever since. I believe the fullness of the Gentiles will happen when God sees that the people on the world at that time will have been given the chance to turn to Jesus and be saved and who have not done so. It will be at that time that He will turn His attention back to the Jews and the 7-year time of Jacob’s trouble will happen. During that time, God will send a series of judgments not only upon the Jews but upon the entire unbelieving world. Until then, God is delaying His judgment to give people time to turn to Him and be saved. I personally do believe, based on Scripture, that people can and will be saved during the time of Jacob’s trouble, but it likely will cost them their physical lives here on earth; they will be martyred because of their faith in Jesus. Again, we can clearly see that God is not quick to judge; no, He delays His judgment in order to give us time to change our sinful ways and turn to Him.

Now, let us return to Abraham and Sarah. As He promised He would, God did appear to Sarah after she bore her and Abraham’s son, Isaac:

“And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah are to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck [nurse children]? for I have born him a son in his old age.” (Genesis 21:1-7)

On the day that Isaac was born, Sarah indeed saw with her own eyes that nothing was too hard for God. Abraham named the son, “Isaac,” which literally means “laughter.” Lest we ourselves sometimes doubt that God has forgotten about us, we who love Him and who are called according to His purpose, let us remember that God does things according to His ways, which are not our ways, and according to His timing, which is always perfect.

Isaac grew, and on the day he was weaned from his mother, Sarah, Abraham made a great feast. Next we are told that Sarah saw the son of Hagar, who was the Egyptian handmaiden that had born the son to Abraham, was mocking them:

“Wherefore she [Sarah] said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous [distressing] in Abraham’s sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed [descendant]. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle [skin] of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child [youth], and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.” (Genesis 21:10-14)

Again, God made it clear to Abraham that, though Abraham grieved over the situation between his wife Sarah and his son from Hagar, he was not to be the heir of Abraham and that it was Isaac who would be his heir. God told Abraham to listen to his wife, and he did, and sent Hagar and her son away. After traveling sometime, Hagar ran out of water for her son and she put him under one of the shrubs and went away from him, not wanting to see her son die. After she cried out and wept:

“And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileen thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the land where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in [with] thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle [skin] with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.” (Genesis 21:17-20)