Read Isaiah
26-27 & Ephesians
5
To discover:
As you read note the main
things Isaiah predicts.
To ponder:
Chapter 26 records a song that will be sung on the “day” the
earth is judged, death is defeated and God’s people enjoy the promised banquet
(as chapters 24-25). It celebrates the strength of the new Jerusalem – a
strength that flows not from bricks and mortar, but God’s saving act of
destroying all who are evil so that his people can be secure. The gates are
open to the righteous of the nation who keep faith, and who are promised
perfect peace. So the people are exhorted to trust God forever as their rock of
strength, the one who humbles the proud, and who enables the oppressed to
trample down their cities – implying they are therefore those of faith who end
up exalted (26v1-6).
God is then affirmed as the one
who enables the righteous to walk in his laws without stumbling. The people also
state that they will wait with patience for God’s action rather than take matters
into their own hands, that they desire his glory above all else, and yearn to
be with him day and night (26v7-9). Most likely the new Jerusalem remains in
mind. So these things describe those there. What follows is acknowledgement
that it is God’s judgements that teach people righteousness, just as the previous
oracles have revealed what provokes him. And this is necessary, for although
grace is shown to the wicked in the many goods God patiently gives them, they
learn nothing from it, even in an upright land. Yet now judgement has come, it
is prayed that such people (ie. the wicked) would see God’s zeal for his
people, as he consumes them in his anger just as has been predicted (26v10-11).
We are therefore urged to learn from the judgement oracles, so that we would
join those of faith.
The singer goes on to acknowledge
that it is the LORD alone who has enabled his people to accomplish anything,
and who they honour, even though ruled at times by other kings. And this is
wise, because these kings died under God’s punishment, whilst God has enlarged
the nation. 26v16-18 clarifies that this enlargement is through peoples from
the world coming to join Israel
in fulfilment to God’s promise to Abraham (Gen 12v1-3). And it was certainly
not achieved through Israel ’s
doing, as she metaphorically gave birth to wind – failing in her calling
(26v17-18). Rather, peoples who could barely even pray came to the LORD because
he disciplined them (26v16). This may refer to his judgements causing people to
turn to him as they experience hardship (26v9). The point is, the gathering of
those who are the new Jerusalem is a work that God has performed, and performed
even through his judgements in this world. Again, we should ensure we share in
this.
As for those God has gathered:
they will be resurrected from death with joy, springing from the earth for a
new dawn like plants covered in dew on a new day. Yet, alluding to the Passover,
they are urged to hide themselves behind their doors while God’s wrath passes
over as he comes to punish the people of the earth, calling then to account for
their sin – here, bloodshed (26v19-21). “In the day” ends the first section
with a focus on the slaying of the Leviathan (27v1). Most probably, this fictional
monster is a symbol for evil and the chaos it brings, perhaps even for Satan
(see Rev 12v9, 20v2). The sense is that all that evil will then be destroyed.
What follows is a call to sing of
Israel as a
fruitful vineyard that God watches over, waters, and guards without anger. No
doubt this is his justified anger at her previous failure to bear the fruit of
righteousness and so attract the nations to join her. Now he states a readiness
to attack any who might hinder the vineyard’s fruitfulness like thorns, whilst
calling them instead to escape that by coming to him themselves for peace and
refuge (27v2-5). This suggests that, as in previous oracles, the “day” in mind
throughout these two chapters spans the two comings of Christ. So it is
predicted that Jacob (ie. Israel ,
representing God’s people) will be established and bear good fruit throughout
the world as people from all nations choose to join him, escaping God’s
judgement (27v6).
This picture is obviously far
removed from Israel ’s
state under Isaiah. 27v7-9 addresses this by noting that God has not punished Jacob
to the extent of other nations. Rather, through war and exile he will atone for
his (Jacob’s) sin – ie. count it sufficient punishment to put the nation at one
with him again. And the result will be that he brings the nation to a point of
repentance, seen in bearing fruit by destroying the means of idolatry. This
time of righteousness in which the nations come to join Israel
therefore lies beyond the exile Isaiah is predicting.
27v10-11 may describe the whole
world, throughout which God’s people have destroyed the means of idolatry. But
the context suggests it refers to the land
of Israel after the exiles return,
as the settlements are “abandoned” because the people were taken away. It is a
picture of Israel ’s
strength (fortresses) in ruins, with animals grazing in the towns, and the
people left dwelling in the land lacking knowledge of God, and so lacking his
favour. It is from this low point, that the LORD promises to bring in a harvest
of Israelites from the land stretching from Assyria (by
the Euphrates ) to Egypt ,
calling them with a trumpet to worship him in Jerusalem
(27v12-13). In the light of 26v19, the fact that some are described as
“perishing” may hint to this being fulfilled ultimately in the resurrection, as
all who are God’s people through faith will come to worship him forever as part
of the new Jerusalem.
What is clear in both chapters is
that through the coming trial of exile, Israel has a glorious future in which
her people will be brought to repentance, gathered to worship God, bear good
fruit, be joined by people from all nations, and after the judgement of the
entire earth in which all evil is destroyed, be raised from death and live
forever in righteousness and peace within a new Jerusalem. This is the “day”
Isaiah sees in his vision 700 years before Christ.
Praying it home:
Praise God for the
different elements of this glorious future. Pray that you would learn from the
judgement oracles and so place your trust in him.
Thinking
further:
None
today.
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