Two Cities (Isaiah 24-27)

Isaiah 24-27

Isaiah 24-27 contain the third set of visions of the future. In the first set (ch.13-20) Isaiah looked at the world around him. In the second set, using cryptic titles (ch.21-23), he probed forward and found the same features dominating the future as he had seen in the present. In this third set, Isaiah is looking right to the End. Similar aspects to prior visions emerge:

• The collapse of the "world city," the human attempt to organize the world into one "global village" (24:1-20).
  
• At long last, the Lord's reign over the kingsof the earth in Zion (24:21-23).
• Gentile problems at last solved in the great messianic feast (25:1-12).
• The Lord's people secure in the strong city of salvation (26:1-21).
• The joy of the world-vineyard (27:1-13).

God's Triumph over the Nations (John Oswalt, 1988).

1. A strong city laid waste (24-25).
• The earth is crushed (24).
• God's feast (25).
  
2. The Lord's day (26-27).
• Judah's song (26:1-27:1).
• Hymn of thanksgiving (26:1-6).
• Psalm of dependence (26:7-19).
• Oracle of salvation (26:20-27:1).
  
• The Lord delivers Judah (27:2-13).
• The Lord's vineyard (2-6).
• Cleansing versus destruction (7-11).
• Return (12-13).
  

Two Cities in Contrast: Endurance Through to Glory (24-27) [J. Alec Motyer, 1993]

1. The Lord's harvest from a destroyed world (24:1-13).
• Destruction (1-12).
• Gleanings (13).
  
2. The song of the world remnant (24:14-16a).
3. The sinful world overthrown (24:16b-20).
4. The waiting world (24:21-23).
5. The song of the ruined city (25:1-5).
6. MOUNT ZION (25:6-12).
7. The song of the strong city (26:1-6).
8. The waiting people of God (26:7-21).
9. Spiritual forces of evil overthrown (27:1).
10. The song of the remnant of the people (27:2-6).
11. The Lord's harvest from a destroyed people (27:7-13).
• Destruction (7-11).
• Gleanings (12-13).
  

The End of the World-City (24:1-20) [J. Alec Motyer, 2011]

1. Earth devastated: divine action (1-3).
2. The earth withered: explanation (4-6).
3. The song stilled: the fall of the city (7-12).
4. The song overheard: the Lord's gleanings (13-16a).
5. Personal wasting away: grief over the ultimate consequence of sin (16b-18a).
6. Earth devastated: moral/spiritual causation (18b-20).