Why Isaiah Went Naked For Three Years

In my sermon on Isaiah 20 on Resurrection Sunday we saw that God uses Isaiah, through a gripping and very dramatic and very personal illustration to summarize God’s warning about the folly of trusting in Egypt. In order to emphasize the gravity of the warning, God commands Isaiah to go naked for three years that would illustrate the problem. He became a spectacle of the spectacle of trusting in the world. God is using Isaiah's nakedness as a bullhorn to a people hard of hearing. They were not listening to his verbal warnings so God gives them a visual warning.

It is his clothing – and the lack of it – that is the illustration to tell them to trust in God alone. Isaiah is warning those who reject Christ, who trust in themselves or the world or anything, what state they will be in… He prophesies a scene in the future. In the scene a battle has just ended, and Judah is looking upon those they trusted, to the defeated Egyptians and Ethiopians walking away naked and barefoot into captivity. In the background is Isaiah, barefoot and naked who has been warning them this would happen. When the battle is over, and you look upon what you trusted, you will only see two things: the naked, barefoot and defeated walking away toward captivity, or the victorious savior riding on the clouds is resurrection glory. You will either see the object of your trust be taken captive for final destruction or rise from the grave victorious to everlasting life because you put your trust in Him alone. He is Risen!