Lesson 8

ISAIAH 23-27 

As the Holy Spirit moves Isaiah along the pathway of divine revelation, we are brought face to face with a period of time that has yet to be encountered, the Great Tribulation.  Judgment has been pronounced against eleven nations and cities in Isaiah 12-23.  Now the whole earth, (Hebrew word erets), becomes our focus of attention.  The great thing to realize is that as God unfolds His plan for the ages, it includes a message of hope and eternal blessing regardless of the darkness of the hour.

God in Noah’s day destroyed with water, but the future method of judgment will be fire as recorded in Isaiah 24:6, “The earth is burned.”  The Hebrew verb harv translated, “they are desolate,” means to be burned or charred.  This fits as a hand in a glove to the last book of the Hebrew Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ.  As surely as there was a flood, there will be a judgment of fire by God visited upon the earth.  It is quite clear that as mankind is totally committed to a party atmosphere, God is not amused.  Isaiah 24:7-13 indicates that God will end the party time much like He did in Daniel’s day at the great feast that Belshazzar held on the night he lost his kingdom and his life in Daniel 5.  The good news is that as God delivered Daniel in Belshazzar’s day, so He will deliver His faithful remnant in a future day.  For in the mists of terror, God’s faithful will lift their voices in song and hope, verse 14-16.  Then in Isaiah 24:19-23 the prophet continues his description of world wide judgment and the windows of heaven are open and God’s wrath will fall on a Christ rejecting world.  Even the moon and sun will be affected, which fits in with what is written by the apostles in the Gospels and goes along with the final accounts recorded in the last book of the Bible by the apostle John in Revelation. 

Chapter 25 opens as a hymn of praise, for this begins a period of time known as the Messianic reign or coming Kingdom of Messiah on earth.  God has a future for this world, and Israel as a nation will be right in the center of things.  God’s point of view is that judgment leads to repentance and conversion.  God’s arms are wide open to receive His prodigals and prepare a feast for them in Zion upon their return.  The good news is that death will be swallowed up, and He shall wipe away all tears.  Evil will not prevail, and injustice will no longer crush the people of the world.  Paul was acquainted with Isaiah, for in I Corinthians 15:54-57 he quotes from this text as did the apostle John who echoed the same theme in Revelation 21:4. Isaiah’s heart swells in anticipation of the blessings God has for the future.  As one seeks and finds a pearl, so hope is kept alive in the midst of the most trying times man has ever faced when faith unlocks the door of future blessing.  Moab, which we have learned speaks of a pride in false religious profession, will be trodden down by God and reminds us of the end of those who reject the message of the Word of God.  Pride more than any one thing will find itself on the chopping block of God’s justice in a future day. 

Isaiah 26 opens with the term, “in that day,” which reveals a new time period of God’s dealings with His people.  It should not be lost on those who are members of the Body of Christ, the Ecclesia.  There is a longing for Messiah in Israel today.  How many of us have memorized Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusted in thee.”  In this song of divine protection, peace can be experienced even in the face of God-defying arrogant power.  This peace can be a source of inner strength individually or as recorded in the context, the city of Jerusalem.  The peace of Jerusalem we pray for is coming despite all the terror that is being rained down on her even to this day.  The humble prayer for peace found in Isaiah 26:12 is coming and should be a source of refuge to a person of God as well as the city of God.  The passion with which this should be pursued is that of a woman who in birth pangs cries out.  Our sports arenas are filled with passion far exceeding those who would dare to exhibit such emotion in our churches.  When was the last time you saw a person crying out to God with the passion exhibited in Luke 18:13, “beat his breast and said God, have mercy on me, a sinner”? At the end of Isaiah 26, God’s people are told to be patient and wait for God’s wrath to pass.  For the Lord cometh, and all victims of injustice will be vindicated by a God who knows all and plans to make it public. 

In Isaiah 27 God will deal in judgment on world empires and also chasten Israel, but worship on the Holy mount in Jerusalem will be the outcome.  Judgment is coming on all of Israel’s neighbors who are today pouring out terror on the land, but that is not the final outcome.  How can any child of God read Isaiah 27:6 and not understand that Israel will be a source of world wide blessing in the not too distant future?  Israel will fill the face of the world with fruit and blessing, and this has not happened until this very day.  God has declared a place of future world wide leadership for Israel and woe to the so called people who says they are followers of God who get in the way or impede the program as outlined in the Word of God.  God shall gather the Jewish people one by one and bring them back to the land, and the worship of the Messiah of Israel shall take place in Jerusalem.  The United Nations or European Union may try to cut up Jerusalem, but the prophet Isaiah as well as the whole Biblical Testimony, makes it clear: peace will only be realized when God’s program is followed to the letter.