The Book of Isaiah

Hebrew Study

Explanation

The chapter opens with the fall of the great enemy: "In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan... and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." Leviathan, the twisting serpent of the deep, stands for every proud power arrayed against God, and God will cut it down. Then the tone turns tender. In chapter 5 Isaiah sang of a vineyard that yielded wild grapes and was left to ruin; now God sings over "a vineyard of red wine" that He tends with His own hand: "I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Toward His people His heart is not wrath: "Fury is not in me." He is ready to burn up the "briers and thorns" of opposition, yet even to the thorns He offers a way out: "let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me." And the result of His keeping is fruitfulness that overflows the world: "Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit."

Gospel Focus

Two glories of the gospel shine here. First, the dragon is slain. The "crooked serpent" that God will destroy is the same "old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan" of Revelation, whom the Lord finally casts down (Revelation 20:2). At the cross Jesus struck the decisive blow, bruising the serpent's head just as Genesis 3:15 foretold, and came to "destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrews 2:14). The enemy's doom is sealed by the sword of the Lord. Second, and just as wonderful, God offers peace to His enemies. "Fury is not in me," He says, and rather than only burning the thorns He calls, "let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me." This is the gospel in a sentence: God inviting rebels to stop fighting Him and lay hold of Him instead. "We were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" (Romans 5:10), for God has "made peace through the blood of his cross" (Colossians 1:20). You cannot overpower God, and you do not need to; you need only take hold of His strength. Grasp Christ, the arm of the Lord, and the war is over, "he shall make peace with me." And the life that follows is a kept vineyard, watered every moment, guarded night and day, made to "fill the face of the world with fruit."

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Isaiah now weighs how God treats His own people compared with their enemies. "Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him?" No. God does not deal with His children as He deals with their oppressors. His discipline is measured, "In measure... thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind." Like a farmer who softens a harsh wind, God restrains the severity of His correction. And its purpose is redemptive, not merely punitive: "By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin." The intended result is a purified people who turn from idolatry, smashing "all the stones of the altar as chalkstones" so that "the groves and images shall not stand up." Yet mercy refused ends in judgment: the hardened "defenced city" that will not learn is "left like a wilderness," its withered branches gathered for the fire, "for it is a people of no understanding." God's chastening softens the humble and hardens only those who refuse it.

Gospel Focus

Here is the tender purpose behind God's discipline of His people: it is measured, and it is meant to cleanse, not to destroy. "In measure" He corrects, staying His rough wind, "for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth... God dealeth with you as with sons" (Hebrews 12:6-7). His chastening "is all the fruit to take away his sin", it aims at holiness, at a people who smash their idols and turn wholly to Him, "that we might be partakers of his holiness" (Hebrews 12:10). If you are under the Father's correcting hand, do not despise it or faint under it; it is the measured, loving work of a God who is purging sin, not venting fury, and "afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness" (Hebrews 12:11). Yet the chapter also sounds a solemn warning: the "defenced city" that is "a people of no understanding," that will not respond, is finally left desolate. The same fire of trial that refines the yielded heart consumes the withered branch that will not bend. The difference is understanding, a heart willing to be taught. Receive His correction as a son, let it burn away your idols, and it will make you fruitful, not desolate.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

The whole section (chapters 24-27) has moved through worldwide judgment, the shaking of the earth, the swallowing up of death, the keeping of the vineyard, and now it lands on a scene of homecoming. "The LORD shall beat off" His harvest across the whole land, from the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, "and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel." No one is lost in the crowd; each is picked up by name. Then the summons: "the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt." The very ones nearest to perishing, the scattered, the exiled, the far-off, are called home, "and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem." The Little Apocalypse that began with the earth emptied ends with the worshippers gathered, judgment giving way to a great ingathering of the lost to the presence of God.

Gospel Focus

This ending is pure gospel hope. "The great trumpet shall be blown," and the lost are gathered home, exactly the picture Jesus gives of His coming: "he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds" (Matthew 24:31). Paul knows the same trumpet: "the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised" (1 Corinthians 15:52); "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven... with the trump of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:16). And who are gathered? Not the strong and the safe, but "they which were ready to perish" and "the outcasts", the very people the gospel seeks, for "the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Notice how personal it is: "gathered one by one." God does not save an anonymous mass; He knows His sheep by name and calls each one, "he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out" (John 10:3). If you feel far off, outcast, ready to perish, this is your invitation. The trumpet of the gospel is sounding now, and it is calling the lost home. Take hold of His strength, make your peace with Him, and be gathered, one by one, to worship the LORD.