July 23, 2008
Isaiah 26
The “Isaiah Apocalypse” which began at chapter 24 is continued. The prophet has announced God’s judgment on all mankind and described the blessings of salvation that follow. Now he records a song of praise, which features the hope of resurrection (26:1-19).
“In that day” (26:1). Here, “that day” is the eschatological Day of the Lord, but in its aspect of salvation’s bright joy, which follows the darkness of divine judgment. These chapters give us perspective. The punishment that God visits on the Earth purges the world of sin. His triumph is the vindication of His people and their release from oppression.
Peace replaces oppression (26:1-6). The society salvation builds will be righteous, made up of individuals who trust God. Those whose minds are steadfastly fixed on God will have perfect peace, “for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal” (v. 4).
Inner peace (26:3). This is one of the most beautiful of Scripture’s “descriptive promises.” It’s descriptive in that it portrays the experience of the individual who trusts in God. It’s a promise in that each of us today can rely on the Lord and know that trust will bring peace to us as well. Here’s a verse all should memorize: “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.”
The path of the righteous (26:7). The Heb. word describing God is yasar, upright. The path of the righteous is smooth because God Himself is righteous.
In the Yukon of old, one man was often sent ahead to “break trail” for others or a dog sled. This passage reminds us that a righteous God has already broken trail for those who follow Him because they are committed to righteousness too.
The redeemed person yearns for God and desires to walk in His ways. This longing for God, rather than the Law, or fear of punishment, produces righteousness. The renewed person will want God to be the center of his thoughts and his hope.
Walk while you wait (26:8). To “wait” in the O.T. is to look forward expectantly and with hope. But waiting is never a passive experience for the believer. Waiting for the Lord must be demonstrated by constantly walking in His ways. The way to wait for God is to be actively committed to doing His will.
Irresistible grace? (26:10) Grace is God’s kindness compassionately displayed to those who deserve no good at His hands. Everyone lives and breathes only in virtue of God’s grace. There is no good thing we experience in life except what comes from His loving hands. But grace is not irresistible, in that many who snatch the gifts refuse to acknowledge the Giver. The appropriate response to grace is not only to accept it, but to acknowledge God and put our trust in Him.
Humility replaces pride (26:12-18). God’s people have been haughty and arrogant, but coming to know God will make them see that “Lord, You establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished You have done for us” (v. 12).
One especially poignant passage describes how redeemed Israel will recognize that she failed to accomplish God’s purpose. Rather than being a witness to surrounding lands, Israel chose to follow pagan ways:
God will redeem His people. And He Himself will undertake the ministry of world redemption through His Son.
“Your dead will live” (26:19). Some argue this is a figurative application of the idea of resurrection. But there could have been no figure of speech if no belief that “their bodies will rise” existed in ancient Israel.
And what a wonder this is. Storms of judgment may sweep over our earth. Wars may devastate, and disease may ravage. Famines may decimate the land, while starvation stalks our families. There are indeed dread fates that are to be feared. But these are not history’s last words! At the end of history—both the history of nations, and the personal history of each individual—the shout of God’s promise echoes. “Your dead will live; their bodies will rise!” What a truth to hold fast in troubled times.
Isaiah 27
The promise that “in that day” destruction of Israel’s oppressors will result in deliverance for God’s ancient people (26:20-27:13).
The day of wrath (27:1-13). This section concludes with another sketch of judgment, but without the hints of terror seen in earlier passages. Through judgment there will come blessing. “In that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” (v. 13). The revelation of our Saviour God brings deliverance.
“You, O Israelites” (27:12). This chapter’s viewpoint narrows as Isaiah looks ahead at the destiny of God’s ancient people. God will again tend His vineyard (see 27:2-4 with Isa. 5:1-5). As history’s final day draws to a close, Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for (Isa. 27:9). Here, as often in the prophets, the ancestral name, “Jacob,” stands for the Jewish people. And that people “will be gathered up, one by one,” and return to Jerusalem and the Promised Land (27:12-13).
Isaiah 28
Isaiah’s grim predictions of judgment were briefly set aside in the last chapters (Isa. 26-27). But now he returns to his forbidding theme. This time his gaze is focused directly on God’s own people, the Jews of Isaiah’s time, who represent in both northern and southern Hebrew kingdoms the unbelief of every historic age. In a stunning sermon that has been praised as one of the most powerful of any prophet’s preachings, Isaiah decries his people’s foolish reliance on a protective “covenant with death” (Isa. 28:15-18). That covenant will be annulled, and death will sweep in, a terrifying scourge (vv. 1-19a). As nature itself follows a seasonal pattern, so history has its pattern. And the planting of sin leads inevitably to a harvest of judgment (vv. 19b-29).
Woe to Ephraim (Isa. 28). The message to the Northern Kingdom, Ephraim, was to rest in God (v. 12). Unresponsive to the personal dimension of God’s message, they had twisted the Word of God into empty legalism. Stripped of His living presence, the Word of the Lord became:
Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there—so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured. Isaiah 28:13
We too can distort Scripture. God’s message is not a system of rules to imprison us, but calls us to a personal relationship which grows into a loving and holy lifestyle.
Decadence (28:1-6). In one of history’s most famous studies, Gibbon ascribed the fall of the Roman Empire to drunkenness and decadence. This is the image Isaiah has of Israel’s leaders, wearing floral wreaths, staggering drunkenly as the Assyrian forces loomed just over the horizon. The pride of Israel would soon wither. And at history’s end God Himself will be the beautiful wreath that crowns His people, and justice will be their strength.
Does our nation seek God as its crowning glory? Do we?
“Covenant with death” (28:15). The phrase simply means that the people of Israel thought they had an agreement worked out by which they could avoid death. But God will soon annul that and strike His people with judgment (28:28).
“A precious cornerstone” (28:16-17). This imagery is picked up in the N.T. and applied to Jesus as the Messiah (Rom. 9:33; 10:11; 1 Peter 2:4-6). The stone image is also repeated in Isa. 8:14, another instance in which contemporary leaders fail. Put the two messianic “stones” in Isaiah together, and we have a fascinating revelation. In human construction, the same stone cannot serve both as the foundation of the building and the capstone, which holds the arch atop it together. But the Messiah is both foundation and capstone in God’s building, both the beginning and end. What’s more, this stone both is God and is laid by God. Only Jesus, sent by God and yet God the Son, could possibly fulfill this requirement.
Too short a bed (28:20). This is likely a proverbial saying, much like one of our own time: “You’ve made your bed, Israel. Now lie in it.”
Reflection
How would you describe yourself when it comes to walking with God or waiting on God? Are you more of a walker or a waiter? God wants us to be walk with Him and wait on Him. Faith is not just knowing it is doing something because of knowing.
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