Sun (11/1/15): Mocking Isaiah's Words (Isaiah 28).

• Thank God who helped us study 28 chapters of Isaiah by this Sunday.

• Pray for me as I leave on Nov 4 for Manila and to attend my mother's 98th birthday in Malaysia.

• Check out Mocking Isaiah's Words (Isaiah 28) and the attached powerpoint.

Our One Security: God's Sure Foundation (Isaiah 28)

I. Two Crowns (1-6): Pronouncement Against Ephraim. What are you proud of?

In 28:1-6 there is a play on "crown" or "wreath." This is the circlet of flowers or vines worn on the had of champions or revelers in Greek and Roman cultures. The drunken partygoers in Samaria wear these wreaths on their heads as they try to forget the terror facing them. Isaiah sees a day when all these wreaths, both the real and the symbolic, will be thrown to the ground and trampled. The "pride" of the northern kingdom is going to be snatched up like a ripe "fig" (Isa 28:4).

In contrast there is another "wreath," the Lord himself (Isa 28:5). He will be the source of beauty and glory for those who have abandoned their own pride in glad submission to him. He will give "justice" to the judges and "strength" to the soldiers (Isa 28:6). The mention of "crown" in Isa 28:5 puts the issue in clear light: Who is the King, the drunken political leaders or "the Lord Almighty"?

II. Two Words (7-13): Continuing Pronouncement Against Ephraim. What are you hearing?

28:1-4 spoke of the political leaders and the nobility, whereas 28:7-8 show that the priests and prophets are no better off. They too are besotted with the attempt to please and satisfy themselves. Alcohol abuse is a problem for them, but it is also a symptom of their deeper problem, an unwillingness to surrender their needs and desires to the Lord (Mal 2:1-9).

So instead of giving clear guidance and teaching in that desperate hour, they are staggering, reeling and befuddled in a stupor (Isa 28:7). The tables (Isa 28:8) used either for judgment or for partying are covered with vomit.

Isa 28:9-10 express the mockery of these religious leaders toward Isaiah. "Who does he think he is, treating us like little children?" Alcohol and refusing to face reality causes one to become childish, while unable to recognize what is truly going on. They denounce the repetitive simplicity of Isaiah's teaching, clearly wanting something more nuanced and ambiguous as befits their supposedly sophisticated understanding.

Isaiah responds in Isa 28:11-13 by saying that since this is what they think they are getting, then it will be exactly what they will get, only from lips other than his. Since they refuse God's invitation to rest in him by abandoning their petty pride and demeaning pleasures, they will learn his truth through "foreign lips and strange tongues" (Isa 28:11), the Assyrians who will teach them that what Isaiah said is true. Their demands as conquerors will really be repetitively simple. If they will not learn the easy way of faith, then they must learn the hard way of experience.

III. Two Covenants (14-22): A Message to the Leaders in Jerusalem

The focus shifts to the leaders in Jerusalem. "Therefore" (Isa 28:14) calls them to pay attention and learn from Ephraim, the northern leaders who are facing imminent judgment. If Judah continues in her present ways, she too will face the same fate. Isa 28:15a may not be an actual quote from the Judean leaders but Isaiah's sarcastic restatement of their words, for they have made a lie their refuge.

Isaiah's serious and unflattering epithet to the leaders is to call them "scoffers" (Isa 28:14). They not only reject the truth, but also make light of it. Like the northern leaders, these Judean scoffers have laughed at the foolishness of trust God and made their covenants "with death" (Isa 28:15, 18), which is probably an alliance with Egypt whom they think will guarantee life for them and their nation when Assyria, the "overwhelming scourge" (Isa 28:15b) comes. They ally themselves with the "lie" (Isa 28:15b) that human power is better and more reliable than simply trusting God (Isa 28:12).

Isa 28:16-19 is God's response to the "covenant of death" (Isa 28:15a, 18a). God asserts that He alone is trustworthy (Isa 28:16). God is the "tested stone" (Isa 28:16) in contrast to the "lie" on which the leaders have built their "refuge" (Isa 28:17b). God's measurements are the "justice" and "righteousness" of God (Isa 28:17a), which can stand whatever shocks might come to it. Anyone who builds on it "will never be stricken with panic" (Isa 28:16b). They can be calm and deliberate by experiencing the place of quiet rest and repose (Isa 28:12). When any other trust is measured against God's "sure foundation," its faultiness becomes apparent at once, as with the "covenant with death" (Isa 28:18).

IV. Two Methods (23-29): Illustration from the World of Agriculture. Can you trust God's ways with you?

Isaiah concludes with two graphic illustrations. Scoffers and drunkards, literal and allegorical, have refused to listen to God's word. Isaiah has been saying that there are simple cause and effect principles that rule the spiritual world, which if they are flouted will result in disaster (28:23-29).

The least educated peasant farmer, just a serf, knows that there are some things you do and some things you don't. "Listen and hear my voice" (Isa 28:23) has overtones of wisdom literature. The comparison of one activity with another, royal counsel with farming, is characteristic of wisdom literature.

A time of rough plowing before planting new life (28:23-26). A farmer knows that there are certain appropriate ways to do things. He does not keep on plowing forever (Isa 28:24), as though that were an end in itself. When he plants he does not mix up all the different seeds together (Isa 28:25). Each has to be grown separately. Though just a peasant serf, he is smart enough to know that the upheaval of plowing is only temporary and that plowing changes to planting. Therefore God knows that endless upheaval and disruption in our lives would be fruitless. Yes, God does break up the rock-hard soil of our hearts. Yes his work of plowing does get rough with us. But not continually and only in order to plant new life there. God always has a life-enriching purpose. Yield to him.

Each crop requires its own unique special treatment and refinement. When he threshes, he uses appropriate tools according to the size of the grain involved (Isa 28:27-28). To use a heavy threshing sledge or a stone roller on the tiny "caraway" and "cummin" seeds would crush them to dust (Isa 28:27a). Instead, he uses a jointed "stick" called a "flail" in English. And even a correct method must not be overused. Therefore, God knows exactly how to work with each of us (Jn 21:20-23). God has just the right touch for you. Trust him.

Isaiah is saying that these peasants have learned these principles from God (Isa 28:26, 29). God's natural revelation has taught them how life works. Why can't these wise counselors, who have the benefit of both natural and divine revelation, be as intelligent as the uneducated peasant when it comes to understanding that God can be trusted and humans cannot?

Woe to Drunken Rulers (Isaiah 28-29)

Having established God's sovereignty over the nations both in particular (13-13) and in general (24-27), Isaiah now returns to particular situations in Israel and Judah (28-33) that illustrate the folly of trusting the nations instead of God. The Assyria with which Ahaz had allied himself is first finishing up with Samaria (28:1-13) and then turning its unwanted attentions on Judah (29:7-8). The flood which Isaiah had foretold (8:6, 8) is about to burst full force against the southern kingdom, Judah. Between Samaria's fall (722 BC) and Sennacherib's attack on Jerusalem (701 BC), it appears that Judah's foreign-policy makers turned more and more toward alliance with Egypt (Isa 30:3; 31:1). To Isaiah, this alliance was just as stupid as the earlier one with Assyria. Though Egypt would not seek to devour Judah as Assyria did, any help she could give was unreliable (30:3-7; 31:3; 20:1-6). To trust Egypt instead of God was incredible (30:15-33). This exposed a faithless leadership drunk on its own power and privilege (Isa 28:7-8; 29:15-16; 30:1; 1:23; 7:13; 9:14-16; 19:11-15).

The structure of 28-33:

1. 28-29: Foolish leaders--false counsel that something must be done at once, for there is no hope in God.
   
2. 30-31: The proposed solution--dependence on Egypt and the folly of doing so.
3. 32-33: The true solution--the revelation of the King and his presence in their midst.

28:1-13 - Ephraim

28:14-29:24 - Jerusalem

Two Choices (Isaiah 28)

Isaiah 28:1-29

"God has told his people, 'Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest.' But they would not listen" (Isa 28:12, NLT). "So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic'" (Isa 28:16, NIV).

1. Two crowns (1-6). What are you proud of?
   
2. Two words (7-13). What are you hearing?
3. Two covenants/foundations/alternatives (14-22). Who are you trusting?
   
4. Two methods (23-29). Can you trust God's different ways of dealing with you?
   

How To Live In Perfect Peace (Isaiah 26-27)

1. Live righteously (Isa 26:2). Cf. Isa 26:10.
   
2. Be steadfast (Isa 26:3a; Rev 2:10b).
3. Trust God (Isa 26:3b-4), wait on him (Isa 26:8).
4. Yearn for God and desire God (Isa 26:9).
5. Know that God does everything (Isa 26:12; 1 Cor 1:31; Gal 6:14).
6. Honor God's name (Isa 26:13).
7. Live for the resurrection (Isa 26:19; 25:8; Dan 12:2).
8. Know your real enemy (Isa 27:1).
9. Embrace God's punishing blows (Isa 27:6-9).
   

The Folly of Trusting the Nations (Isaiah 28-35)

Isaiah 28-35 has been titled:

• The folly of trusting the nations.
• Do not trust in enemies who will be defeated.
• Human schemes and God's plans.
• Six woes.

In Isaiah 28-35 Isaiah continues the lessons in trust since Ahaz decided not to trust God as recorded in Isaiah 7. Having established God's sovereignty and supremacy over the nations, both in particular (ch.13-23) and in general (ch.24-27), Isaiah now returns to particular situations in Israel and Judah that illustrate the folly of trusting the nations instead of God. The key issue in Isaiah 28-35 is whether Judah, and in particular its leaders, will rely on Egypt or on the Lord in the face of the growing threat posed by the ever-increasing power of Assyria.

Egypt was addressed in Isaiah 18-20. But it appears as a central issue in Isaiah 28-35 because this is immediately before the account of Sennacherib's invasion of Judah in Isaiah 36-37. Hezekiah, the king of Judah after Ahaz, almost destroyed Judah by listening to his counselors to rely on Egypt. Isaiah 28-35 show how strongly and consistently Isaiah had opposed this foolish counsel in the deepening crisis that led up to the events recorded in Isaiah 36-37.

Because refusal to trust God will only lead to destruction, Isaiah begins several of the sections with the funeral word "woe" (Isa 28:1; 29:1, 15; 30:1; 31:1; 33:1). Consider this section in groups of two chapters each:

• Isaiah 28-29: The crisis and problem is that of foolish, drunken leaders and their false counsel.
• Isaiah 30-31: The proposed false solution is dependence on Egypt.
• Isaiah 32-33: The true solution is reliance on the true Leader, the righteous King.
• Isaiah 34-35: The result of trusting the nations (ch.34) or God (ch.35) is the "desert" (judgment) or the "garden" (salvation).

Isaiah 28:1-29

"Therefore the Lord God said: 'Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable'" (Isa 28:16, HCSB).

Most of these chapters are focused on Judah since that is Isaiah's home. However Isaiah 28 begins with a woe addressed to "Ephraim" (northern Israel). But by Isa 28:14 the focus has shifted to Jerusalem. However, most of what is said after 28:14 is still relevant to the northern kingdom since she has entered its final death throes.

When it became clear that the northern kingdom was going to fall to Assyria (722 BC) and that Ahaz's alliance with Assyria was as worthless as Isaiah had predicted, the only human hope left was Egypt. No other country in the area had the wealth or resources to mount an army of sufficient size to stand up to the Assyrians. But to Isaiah, trusting Egypt is as foolish as trusting Assyria. Although it is unlikely that Egypt will turn on Judah as Assyria had, they are still only mere humans (Isa 31:3).

God's Ultimate Purpose for His People (Isaiah 27)

Isaiah 27:2-13

"In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bloom and fill the whole world with fruit" (Isa 27:6, HCSB).

Isaiah 27 closes this section (ch.24-27--the triumph of God over the nations). It summarizes and illustrates God's sovereignty regarding Israel and the nations. The result of God's sovereignty will be redemption. In contrast to the earlier songs in this section (Isa 24:9; 25:5; 26:1), 27:2-13 is more personal and intimate. It praises God for delivering his people. Isaiah 24 and 25--the first two songs--declare universal judgment and universal salvation. It is hyperbole to emphasize the point regarding God's universal judgment and salvation. In Isaiah 26--the third song--the people proclaim their trust in God, and also confess their inability to deliver themselves and fulfill their ministry in the world. In Isaiah 27, God confirms his promise to deliver them. God himself is the singer of this final song of the apocalypse. His people sing to him (Isa 24:14-16; 25:1-5; 26:1-6), and now he sings over them. The Lord and his people are one, and their joy is complete (Zep 3:17).

As ch.24-27 draw to a close, Israel comes back into focus as the nation which stands at the center of God's purposes for the world (Ex 19:5-6) as summed up in Isa 27:6, which is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham (Gen 12:2-3). This notion is basic to the whole book of Isaiah: God has a plan which embraces all nations, and Israel is destined to play a central role in that plan. But before it can fulfill its calling it must be cleansed.

1. The Lord's vineyard (2-6): The vineyard people. The future.
   
2. Cleansing versus destruction (7-11): The work of the Lord. Destruction of the Lord's enemies. The present.
   
3. Restoration (12-13): The jubilee harvest, the great trumpet. Return from the nations. Summary conclusion of ch.24-27. The future.
   

27:2-6 matches the vineyard song of 5:1-7. In both songs/passages the vineyard is Israel and the farmer is God. In 5:1-7 the emphasis was on what Israel, the Lord's people made of his vineyard. In 27:2-6 it is on what the Lord will make of his people. They are also a contrast in that in 5:1-7, the farmer (God) abandoned the vineyard (Israel) to the wild, while in 27:2-6 God has not forsaken her utterly. His care for her has never ceased and now flows unimpeded. This expresses a fundamental truth for all times: God's wrath and judgment never supersedes his care. Behind the wrath the care continues unabated. It requires only repentance and change of heart to experience it again.

27:7-11, in contrast to 27:2-6 jolt us back, in Isaiah's characteristic fashion, to present realities. She was in the midst of the cleasing process, when the Lord had broken down the wall of the vineyard and allowed it to be overrun, as graphically described in Isa 1:6-8. This goes back to the painful waiting period because of the judgment (cleansing) of God, which so much of Isaiah 26 takes up. Three things are said about this judgment:

1. It is less severe than what God had exercised against Judah's enemies (Isa 27:7).
2. It is carefully controlled (Isa 27:8), with no more severity than is required to achieve the desired end.
3. That end is atonement--the removal of what is offensive to God so that forgiveness can become possible (Isa 27:9).
   

All the strands of this major segment of Isaiah converge on a single point: worship--God being acknowledged for who he is. Such worship is not an escape from reality but a return to it, and it is in returning to reality that the world, so long out of joint, will finally be made whole (Isa 66:22-23).

God's Triumph Over the Nations (Isaiah 24-27), 1-39

Outline of Isaiah 1-39:

• 1-5: The problem: A lack of servanthood.
  
• 6: The solution: The call to servanthood.
• 7-39: Lessons in trust, the basis of servanthood.

7-12 (739 BC): God or Assyria. No Trust (Ahaz). Thus the need to learn lessons in trust.

13-23: God's judgment on the nations--Don't trust the nations.

24-27: God's triumph over the nations--God is the sovereign actor on the stage of history.

28-33: Woe to those who trust the nations, who do not trust and wait on God.

34-35: Trusting God or the nations--Results.

36-39 (701 BC): God or Assyria. Trust (Hezekiah).

Isaiah 24-27 has been titled by various commentators as:

• God's Final Victory.
• God's Triumph Over the Nations.
• God is the Sovereign Actor on the Stage of History.
  
• Trusting Now in God, Who Will Reign Over All.
• Two Cities in Contrast: Endurance Through to Glory.
  
• The Little Apocalypse (or The Isaiah Apocalypse).
  

Isaiah 13-23 has been titled:

• God's Judgment of the Nations.
• Don't Trust the Nations.
• Messages for the Nations.
• The Oracles of Judgment.
• Lord of the Nations (ch.13-27).
• The Kingdom Panorama: The Whole World in His Hands (ch.13-27).
• The Supremacy of God Over the Nations (ch.13-27).
  

After viewing the separate nations in Isaiah 13-23, now the world as a whole comes into view in Isaiah 24-27. Isaiah writes about the downfall of supernatural as well as earthly enemies (Isa 24:21-22; Eog 6:12; Isa 27:1). They contain one of only a few clear promises of bodily resurrection in the OT (Isa 26:19; 25:8; Dan 12:2; Job 19:25-26). But this wider scene is still viewed from Isaiah's own vantage-point of Jerusalem, with Judah, Moab (Isa 25:10-12) and the great powers of Egypt and Assyria (Isa 27:12-13) in the near and middle distance. Overwhelming as the judgments are, the dominant note is of joy, welling up in the songs which frequently break into the prophecy.

Perfect Peace and Confident Trust (Isaiah 26)

Isaiah 26:1-27; 27:1

"You will keep the mind that is dependent on You in perfect peace, for it is trusting in You. ⁴ Trust in the Lord forever, because in Yah, the Lord, is an everlasting rock!" (Isa 26:3-4, HCSB).

Isaiah 24 is a general summary. All nations will be destroyed (Isa 24:1-3) and her drunken songs silenced (Isa 24:7-9), because the Lord alone will be exalted in that day (Isa 24:3). In Isaiah 25, God is going to have a feast on his great holy mountain (Isa 25:6). It is a feast for the whole world, for "all peoples." This is hyperbole here: the whole world is destroyed, and the whole world will be saved. No one escapes judgment, and everyone has the possibility of redemption. God will pull away the shroud that covers humanity (Isa 25:6). God will raise us from the dead. We will have songs in the night because of what he has done (Isa 25:9). But the arrogant will not escape. Proud and arrogant Moab will be pushed down into a manure pile (Isa 25:10). Isaiah 26-27 continues the thought of 24-25, such as the song of joy (Isa 26:1, 19; 27:2), because of God's victory over the city of oppression (Isa 26:5; 27:10, 13), but with a somewhat changed focus. Whereas ch. 24-25 focus on the victory and the feast which follows, ch. 26-27 reflect in a somewhat more solemn view upon the meaning of this victory for Judah. However, the general theme of God's sovereignty remains of central importance as does the atmosphere of hope stemming from that conviction.

Isaiah 26 is an affirmation of trust and a call for God to demonstrate his sovereignty through his people. Isaiah 27 concludes the section with a promise of return and restoration for Israel, making special use of the imagery of a vineyard.

1. Thanks for God's deliverance (26:1-6): With steadfast trust, keep faith in God who has kept faith with Judah.
2. Dependence on God (26:7-19): The sober reality that the wicked understand nothing but God's rod of judgment (7-15), and the helplessness of God's people (16-19).
3. Promises to the faithful (26:20-27:1): The promise that God will indeed act. God will punish the sinful earth and triumph over it for his people's sake.
   
4. God's passion for his vineyard (27:2-12).
   

The movement from future to present to future has the function of assuring the reader that God's promises are not merely rosy daydreams which ignore the contradictory present. In fact, these promises are made more convincing because they are made in the full light of the present. Revelation serves a similar purpose in NT times. It assures people that God was aware of the present but was not defeated by it. God's people are thus called to continued steadfast trust (Rev 2:10, 11, etc). We are called to the same kind of confidence today. We do not deny the present, nor do we know of any power to help ourselves. But we know a God whose strength is as limitless as his love and whose purposes remain steadfast: to bless all those who will commit themselves to him.

I. Thanks for God's Deliverance (26:1-6)

Instead of the silent and ruined chaotic city of the earth towering over the oppressed (Isa 24:8-10; 25:2; 26:5), there is now the city of God, one whose walls are salvation (Isa 26:1), whose gates are open to all who will enter (Isa 26:2), whose might is not arrogance but in humble commitment (Isa 65:17-25; Rev 21:9-27), and peopled with the faithful singing his praises (Isa 26:1-2). As always, God destroys the false, only to raise up the true. Negatively, the specific stimulus for this song is the overthrow of Moab (Isa 25:10-12), which is symbolic of the world-city. But more likely, the praise is offered for the positive side of all that is negatively represented in Isaiah 25.

The strong city of salvation with open gates is where the the righteous may enter (Isa 26:1-2). What are the four characteristics of God's people (Isa 26:3-4)? How does one experience "shalom shalom"?

1. righteousness.
2. faithfulness.
3. steadfastness.
4. trust.
   

What is the result of living as God's people? Do we first experience peace and then live this way? Or do we live this way because we experience peace? Practically, does it make a difference which comes first? John Oswalt writes, "One is able to behave (live) in this way because of a complete inner integrity that stems from complete dependence on God: "trust" (Isa 26:3)." Such is the kind of behavior that mirr ors that of the King.

Trust--the theme of this entire subdivision (ch.7-39)--is once again repeated. It is trust in the Lord, not in the nations. This trust is eminently justified because the Lord is as secure as a "rock" that is "eternal" (Isa 26:4), and because he will bring the "lofty city" of earth down into the dust (Isa 26:5-6). "I tried to exalt myself, but God humbles me." The Lord is the eternal Rock, whereas the city, the symbol of all earthly power, is crushed into dust. God will one day put the high and mighty under the humble and lowly, for the meek will inherit the earth (Ps 37:11). Especially for the people of God, it makes no sense to put one's faith in the mighty rulers and leaders of the earth (Isa 2:22).

II. Dependence on God (26:7-19)

A smooth path. In 26:7-11, Isaiah asks God to speed that day of retribution. He asks to "make the way (path) of the righteous smooth" (Isa 26:7, NIV; Dt 10:12). "The path of the righteous is level; You clear a straight path for the righteous" (Isa 26:7, HCSB). "The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous" (Isa 26:7, ESV). God levels mountains and fills valleys so that our path may be straight and smooth (Isa 40:3). God asks his people to live in the way they were made for based on his word and revelation. What way is that?

Wait on God, express his character. God desires that we trust him and wait on him (Isa 26:8a), rather than try to take control of our lives and manipulating situations according to our own plans and will. We don't say we trust God and then rush ahead to take care of ourselves in ways that violate God's law, his instructions (Isa 26:8a). They want to live in a way that will bring honor to God and not disgrace (Isa 26:8b). "I want your name to be glorified through me no matter what. I want the world to remember who you are and what you're done from what they see in me." How might this be achieved? "Morning" and "night" the believers passionate longing is for God (Isa 26:9a). This is not merely an emotional feeling that is desired. Rather, it is the manifestation of God's character in one's life. He is longing for the ethical evidence of God's presence to be unmistakably seen, because this is the only way "the people of the world" will learn what is right (Isa 26:9b).

Isa 26:9-11 express a profound truth. In the absence of repentance, grace "does not work." Until and unless people experience the consequences of their behavior, they often see no reason to change. What does Isaiah apparently not want God to do for the wicked? It is to not do good for the wicked (Isa 26:10). This may be our desperate condition in the U.S. God has been so good to us for 200 years we think we earned it, we deserve it. Isaiah says, God you need to give these folks a dose of judgment: they're not learning righteousness, they're learning wickedness. These are grim verses. It's painful. Lord, we're waiting, we're trusting, but unless you bring judgment on the wicked, they're going to keep doing what they're doing.

Isa 26:12 is a beautiful affirmation. God is the One who has done everything for his people. Whatever is accomplished in my life is your work. It's hard to be arrogant when we truly believe this. Such an affirmation is perhaps only genuinely possible for those who are mature. Isa 26:13-15 then particularize what God has done in and through his people. Isa 26:13b says that we want your name written over us. Jesus said, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance. Remember who you are and who has made you who you are. Although Israel's enemies have made numerous attempts to wipe out the nation and enslave its people, God has frustrated them and "enlarged the nation" in spite of them. None of this is to the glory of its people or its leaders. It is all to the glory of God (Isa 26:15).

Isa 26:16-18 continue the previous theme, but the focus changes from the might of God to the helplessness of the people. When the nations triumphed over them, they recognize that it was because of God's discipline and not because of the power of the nations (Isa 26:16). They were helpless under that punishment, like a woman with a false pregnancy who goes into labor but has nothing to deliver but wind (Isa 26:17-18a). They knew that no matter how much and how hard they struggled they were unable to deliver themselves or anyone else (Isa 26:18b). Isaiah is perhaps here reflecting on Israel's larger mission to be a blessing to the nations (Isa 26:18b), which they have obviously failed to be.

But despite his people's helplessness (Isa 26:18), Isaiah, speaking for God, tells them to not despair in Isa 26:19. Despite much failure and defeat, and despite his people's impotence, helplessness and a lack of impact and influence upon the nations, and despite many of the faithful who have died, God is declaring that death does not have the last word, because God does (Isa 26:19; 25:8).

III. Promises to the Faithful (26:20-21; 27:1)

In view of the promise of the resurrection (Isa 26:19), the people do not need to fear that God has forsaken them in his wrath (Isa 26:20). Instead, they can trust in his protective covering until his judgment on the nations has passed (Isa 26:21).

Isa 27:1 is saying the same thing as Isa 24:21-23 in different words. God is the sole sovereign of the universe. While evil and destruction seem to threaten the principles of justice upon which God's order is founded, they will not prevail. God will triumph and those who have kept faith with him through dark days will triumph with him. The true monster (represented by Leviathan), the monster of moral evil, before which God's people find themselves helpless, will be destroyed. Till that day, God's people may confidently await with joy.

Trust God, only He Saves (Isaiah 25)

Isaiah 25:1-12

"On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food (fatness) for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines. ⁷ On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; ⁸ he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.⁹ In that day they will say, 'Surely this is our God; we trusted in him (waited for him), and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him (waited for him); let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation'" (Isa 25:6-9, NIV).

From shattered silence to joy is the sharp contrast of Isaiah 24 and 25. Isaiah 25 forms the response to the announcement of the destruction of the earth city (Isa 24:10). In Isaiah judgment and destruction (Isa 24:1, 3) are never God's intended last words. Rather, it paves the way for hope and redemption (Isa 25:9). From the silence of the shattered city (Isa 24:8) comes the joy of a feast where the host is the Lord (Isa 25:6).

1. The song (1-5): Thanksgiving for God's faithfulness. Joy in the Lord. Individual praise: his supernatural acts.
   
2. The banquet (6-8): Announcement that God's purpose in the destruction of the earth is her redemption from death.
3. The festivities (9-12): Joy that comes from being delivered from their enemies, typified by Moab. Communal praise: his saving acts.
   

I. The Song (1-5)

Redemption and deliverance is for all people. The note of praise (Isa 25:1-2, 4-5) is not only from the redeemed people of God, but also from "strong peoples" and "ruthless nations" honoring and revering the Lord (Isa 25:3).

II. The Banquet (6-8)

Everyone's invited. There is no sense in which God glories in the destruction of the wicked (Eze 18:23; 33:11). Rather, God wants to invite "all peoples" to his feast (Isa 25:6, 7a) from "all nations" (Isa 25:7b) and wipe tears away from "all faces" and remove their disgrace (Isa 25:8). Everyone on earth is invited to this celebration and to this great banquet prepared by the Lord.

One of the clearest teachings on resurrection in the OT. "Death" that has shrouded all peoples, covered all nations and ruled the world since Adam and Eve, drenching it with tears, is going to be swallowed up and removed. Whether we wish to acknowledge it or not, or just pass it off as something normal that happens to all people, the issue of death is the greatest issue in the world. In a very real sense, death makes a mockery of life. All our achievements and accomplishments, all our struggles and pain, are meaningless because, as the Preacher says, we all die, the saint and the sinner, the winner and the loser, the Bill Gates of the world and the homeless bums, together (Eccl 9:3-4). Death takes away the possibility of individual human significance. But Isa 25:8a, quoted by Paul in 1 Cor 15:54, tells us that we were not created for death but for life. Death has lost its sting, and the grave has been robbed of its victory (1 Cor 15:55).

The wedding supper of the Lamb. The feast of the King portrayed in Isa 25:6 will be the wedding supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:7-9). It is the feast of the Lamb because it is through his death and resurrection that death is conquered. This imagery extends back to Exodus, when a lamb's death made it possible for the firstborn of Israel to escape death (Exo 12:12-13). It is not accidental that Jesus instructs those who follow him to eat his flesh and drink his blood (Jn 6:53-56). Jesus was consciously associating himself with the Passover Lamb. After this glorious feast, "death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire" (Rev 20:14) and that "there will be no more dewath or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things as passed away" (Rev 21:4).

III. The Festivities (9-12)

The trustworthiness of God. Isa 25:9 emphasizes again the overarching theme of Isaiah 7-39: the trustworthiness of God. God can be trusted when nothing and no one else on earth can. If we trust the nations of humanity instead of God, they will turn on us and destroy us. They are all subject to God and will be judged. They cannot save us even if they wanted. The hope of every person is the trustworthiness of God.

Trust forsakes our manipulation according to our expectation and timetable. Trusting in/waiting for God is the kind of confident expectation that is willing to put the times and our unknown future in God's hands. It is to truly trust and wait and believe in spite of a long time interval. This kind of trust forsakes the manipulation which seeks our desire and gratification according to our own time schedule. It demonstrates the reality of its commitment to God by refusing to make God prove himself according to our human timetable. When such confident expectation is satisfied, the result is, as here, jubilation. One who waits, hopes, trusts and believes with confidence has proven the sovereignty of God. Such jubilation springs from the certainty that God can save. What a relief and a delight that is, because without a sovereign deliverer, we are merely pawns of a cruel chance.

The evidence of trust is... What does it mean to trust God? Many think that it is an attitude and a mental process. It surely is, Thus, many find it difficult to trust God because our thoughts and imaginations and mental images have been  filled with anything but God. We allow the culture around us, through media domination and our own insatiable desires, to saturate our minds and hearts. The result is that many who claim to trust God know little to nothing of inner security or serenity (Isa 26:3). Paul says, "Do not be anxious about anything" (Phil 4:6). This becomes almost laughable because we are anxious about everything, most of it beyond our control.

We trust what fills our minds. What can we do? We must guard much more closely what we let into our minds. Paul continues, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things" (Phil 4:8). How do we think about such excellent and praiseworthy things? Do everything in our power to keep those opposite things from filling our heads, our hearts and our homes.

Either run with God or run into him. God does wish to deliver all the peoples of the world. But this does not mean that all will respond to his invitation. For those who refuse to do so, the grim final word is judgment. Any nation or person must either run with God or fun into him. There is no other way. Those who are tempted to ignore Isa 25:6-8 because of God's soft heart will learn to regret that decision. [Note that 2:6-4:1 follows 2:1-5. Ch. 5 follows ch. 4. Ch. 39 follows ch.36-38.]