Last week we saw a beginning of a shift of focus in portions of Isaiah's prophecy that have multiple fulfillments. I forgot to point out the parallel last week in which Isaiah (25:7-8) says, “And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.” He did not turn away from the cup in the garden (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22: 42; John 18:11) given Him by the Father. He swallowed up the shroud of death that covered us. Your salvation has been His plan since the beginning. Since the first promise of God to send a redeemer and end the rule of the enemy of our souls (Genesis 3:15) and the first animal sacrifice performed by God to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21), He has been focused on redeeming you. He saw you before you were born and before the foundation of the earth and purposed to redeem His people. That first promise in Genesis 3:15 had no conditions and neither did His promise to swallow death up forever. Soli Deo Gloria.
Much of what we see in Isaiah about the redemption of Israel applies to us as the Body of Christ although we have fulfillment of portions in the restoration of the nation of Israel prior to the birth of Christ.
In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. In that day, “A pleasant vineyard, sing of it! I, the Lord, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day; I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would march against them, I would burn them up together. Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me.” In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.
Isaiah 27:1-6
God describes His sword in three ways and names three enemies. The sword is hard (fierce, harsh, severe, unsparing), it is great (sufficient to any task), and it is strong (powerful enough for any enemy). The sword is used against Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and the dragon that is in the sea. Leviathan is used in various ways in the Old Testament including as a reference to Egypt. It can also mean a real horrible animal. Like a Crocodile and I've mentioned before that Judah and Israel never really cared for the sea so the dragons of the sea were enemies to be feared. The point is that the worst that can come against God's elect spiritually or physically is no match for God's protection of us.
God celebrates His vineyard and pours out His Grace on it. He declares Himself the keeper, He irrigates, He watches it night and day, and has no wrath. He says, “I have no anger at all.” There is no anger and no weeds and if there were weeds then Grace would be offered to the weeds. Jacob roots, Israel blossoms and the whole world has fruit. This would be an encouragement in Isaiah's day to the Northern Kingdom but in context we'd see the link of both Southern and Northern Kingdom to these Patriarchs and of course our link by our being made the People of God. God is doing great things and many more great things will be done I'm sure by God in the world but remember how many elect God had in Isaiah's day and how they were distributed and how many elect God has now and how they are distributed in the whole world. God has not been sleeping and I pray we find ourselves in the center of His work for as many days as each of us has.
God also begins to address how these things are accomplished.
Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain? Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them; he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind. Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing. For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; there the calf grazes; there it lies down and strips its branches. When its boughs are dry, they are broken; women come and make a fire of them. For this is a people without discernment; therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them; he who formed them will show them no favor.
Isaiah 27:7-11
God's point is that, while He kept a remnant and the nation of Israel was punished, they never were crumbled like Egypt at the Red Sea, Babylon's destruction, or the Assyrian's losses. He didn't save a remnant of those who struck Israel and work salvation into their nation. God's dealing with us is “measure by measure” and as a Shepherd. His actions can be severe because sin in our life warrants severe measures but He never acts without control.
The fruit of God's actions is a purified man. With false gods removed and false altars gone. The contrast is with the fortified worldly city that, rather than being purified and redeemed, is deserted, forsaken, like a wilderness, and without Grace.
Sometimes we whine and complain at God's correction in our lives. Thankfully what God takes us through is typically minor compared with the difficulties we see in Judah and Israel. Some of us will likely face real hardship in our lives and some of us have so I don't want to belittle that and no trial is pleasant when you're in it. However, think of how fortunate we are that , like “the guilt of Jacob” here, God works all things together for God in our lives to make us mature men who trust Him and gain the “peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11).
In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Isaiah 27:12-13
God redeems one at a time. There are no accidental salvations or back door conversions. Sometimes we may feel that way sometimes when we look at our lives. However, God moves sovereignly to redeem individuals. Always has and always will. He gleans one by one. If you are a Christian then He gleaned you. He wasn't aiming at the guy in the seat next to you. It was not an accidental discharge of the salvation gun. He changed your heart, you heard the trumpet, and now you worship God. Soli Deo Gloria.
Chapter 28 is a major transition in Isaiah. Motyer titles chapter 28 through 37 as “The Lord of History” and we see God's actions in that sense. Again we'll continue to move through verses that have been memorized by generations of Christians and see them in their original context. One of the primary points of these chapters is that God is sovereign and God really wants us to grasp that truth. Also remember that Ephraim is a way of saying the Samaritan portion of the Northern Kingdom.
Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong; like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters, he casts down to the earth with his hand. The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot; and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer: when someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it is in his hand.
Isaiah 28:1-4
Rather than “crown” this word is better “wreath” as in the adornment of drunkenness at the head of the valley of those drunks. Their adornment is a drunken, fading, and inept protection of their their land. They will be gone like the first fig without much notice. However, Isaiah gives some hope since God is in control.
In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people, and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
Isaiah 28:5-6
God, not drunkenness will be the wreath of adornment and diadem of beauty for His redeemed. “In that day” the government and defense will be God's and it will be righteousness and effective.
These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed by wine, they stagger with strong drink, they reel in vision, they stumble in giving judgment. For all tables are full of filthy vomit, with no space left.
Isaiah 28:7-8
It is possible that Isaiah witnessed this. Maybe as a ceremony after ambassadors worked out a deal with a nation like Egypt. In any case the religious leadership is just as useless as the rest of the population and stumble in judgment.
“To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast? For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”
Isaiah 28:9-10
Isaiah was considered to have too simple a message. But Isaiah kept it simple on purpose. If you've failed to grasp the fundamentals then why would you feel entitled to discuss complexity? Judah and Israel had failed in the fundamentals. You would build up precepts and concepts gradually but you can't build on a flawed foundation and they did not trust God.
For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to this people, to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear. And the word of the Lord will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
Isaiah 28:11-13
At the risk of totally butchering the Hebrew, we move from verse 10 which is a derogatory baby talk that sounds like “ki saw l'saw, saw l'saw, qaw l'qaw, qaw l'qaw, same ze-er, same ze-er” to the promise that they will hear strange things and foreign tongues. They'll get complicated because they refused to rest in God. They will lean the first principles of trusting and resting in God. They will understand the baby talk of Isaiah. If they won't move forward into the things God has promised then they will move backwards without seeing what is coming, be broken, snared, and taken on Isaiah's baby talk. Foundations matter. Especially for us as men. Motyer says, “Trusting the Lord is not only an interior exercise of the soul in the calm of Sunday but a repose of the soul in the hard pressures of Monday.” If you're not resting in God on Monday then you haven't learned the fundamentals on Sunday.
God in His Grace will not leave us to ourselves. He must correct us because He cares for us.
Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem! Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter”; therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
Isaiah 28:14-17
The people of the day viewed Isaiah as a simpleton. They laughed at his pointing to trust in God and His promises. They had a political solution. They had a deal with the devil and in their minds they were going to be just fine. The whip would not touch them. God laid the foundation. He lays the foundation for you. The chief cornerstone. Whoever believes in Him will not panic. He gives justice as the measuring line and righteousness as the plumb line. Cornerstones were far more central to their building process. It was a reference point and standard for the entire building. Christ is ours. All of the Old Testament points forward to the Cross and all of the New Testament explains the Cross (Psalm 118:22; Romans 9:33 and 10:11; 1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:4-8)
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:4-5.
Soli Deo Gloria
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