BIG IDEA:
REGATHERED ISRAEL FLOURISHES IN THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM AS GOD DEALS DECISIVELY WITH HER ENEMIES
INTRODUCTION:
Today we are completing another major section in the prophecy of Isaiah – chapters 24-27 – the Mini Apocalypse that prepares God’s people for worship in the Millennial Kingdom. [unveiling of God’s plan for the future] Ultimately, what God desires from us is not just that we are people of discernment who know Him and understand the times and the outworking of His program in history. He desires a people who love and worship Him in united harmony in accordance with His truth. This section is similar to the Hallelujah Chorus – emphasis on songs of Praise to God.
C. (24:1 – 27:13) Songs of Praise for the Blessings of Faith Enjoyed in Millennial Triumph After the Catastrophic Devastation of the Guilty World – City of Man Reduced to Rubble While the City of God Worships and Sings Praises
1. (24:1-23) Judgment on the Earth – The Whole Earth is Headed for Catastrophic Devastation and Only the Remnant Remains to Praise God
a. (:1-12) Catastrophic devastation and gloom on the entire guilty world in the day of the Lord
b. (:13-16a) Worldwide songs of praise from the meager remnant glorifying the Lord
c. (:16b-22) Catastrophic devastation of eschatological judgment
d. (:23) Songs of eternal triumph – Kingdom of God exalted in the new heavens and new earth
2. (25:1-12) Songs of Praise for God’s Greatness and His Salvation – The Redeemed Need to Express Their Praise to God for His Greatness and His Salvation Culminating in Swallowing Up Death for All Time
a. (:1-5) Song of praise of the prophet Isaiah – exalting God for His greatness
b. (:6-12) Song of praise of the redeemed nations – exalting God for His salvation
3. (26:1-21) Songs of Praise for the Blessings of Faith – Faith in the Rock of Ages is Fortified by Valuable Lessons From God’s Righteous Judgments
a. (:1-6) Celebration of faith – blessings and motivations
b. (:7-19) Instruction in righteousness – via God’s righteous judgments – impact on the righteous and the wicked
c. (:20-21) Application: Escaping the day of the Lord’s wrath
Oswalt: These verses provide a fitting climax to chs. 24–27 with their emphasis upon God’s sovereignty over the nations and his intention to restore his people from the nations. In this respect this is the second of three such passages. The others are 11:12–16 and 35:1–10. Each of these occurs at the end of a major segment. This fact suggests something about the structure of the book. As pointed out in the comments on ch. 11, chs. 7–12 make the point that if you trust in the nations, the nations will destroy you. Nonetheless, God will not leave his people in destruction; he intends to deliver them from the nations. But this raises the immediate question: Can he deliver them from the nations? Chs. 13–27 answer that question with a resounding affirmative. They do so first in a particularizing way, showing that all nations, including Israel, are under God’s judgment (chs. 13–23). Then chs. 24–27 make the same point in a more generalized way, asserting that God is the main actor in the drama of human history. These things being so, God can deliver his people, and the promise is reaffirmed in these two closing verses.
Our narcissistic society wants to divert our attention from the exposition of God’s truth to a shallow focus on man’s individual needs and desires.
Quote by Al Mohler: The fixation on our own sense of need and interest looms as the most significant factor in this marginalization and silencing of the Word. Individually, each human being in the room is an amalgam of wants, needs, intuitions, interests, and distractions. Corporately, the congregation is a mass of expectations, desperate hopes, consuming fears, and impatient urges. All of this adds up, unless countered by the authentic reading and preaching of the Word of God, to a form of group therapy, entertainment, and wasted time—if not worse.
But God calls us back to be a transformed people, forgiven of our sins by the reconciliation He has accomplished through the sending of His Son to die for us; a people equipped by the indwelling Holy Spirit to worship God in Spirit and in truth; to fulfill the purpose for which God created man.
Constable: The recurrence of the phrase “in that day” in verses 1, 2, 12, and 13 ties this chapter to what has preceded. Here is more information about the future, specifically the Millennium.
REGATHERED ISRAEL FLOURISHES IN THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM AS GOD DEALS DECISIVELY WITH HER ENEMIES
(:1) TRANSITION VERSE – DESTRUCTION OF POWERFUL ENEMIES IN PREPARATION FOR BLESSING
A. End Times Prophecy of Destruction
“In that day the Lord will punish”
Why do I care?? People complain all the time: Why does the Lord permit sin to go unchecked? Why doesn’t He rise up and deal decisively with Satan? He will! But be glad for the patience of God; for the heads of the unsaved would be chopped off by the guillotine of God’s wrath as well; a day of accounting lies ahead – wickedness will not go unchecked
B. Threefold Description of Powerful Wicked Enemies – couched in mythical terms
1. “Leviathan the fleeing serpent” – enemies in the air
2. “even Leviathan the twisted serpent” – enemies on the ground
3. “and He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea” – enemies in the sea
Reminds me of movie Jaws – if you took the tour at Universal Studios out in Hollywood – that beast rises out of the water to try to terrify you – great dinosaur living in the sea
Are there 2 (Leviathan and the dragon) or 3 adversaries mentioned here?? Identification?? Fleeing (gliding through the skies – dangerous because it can cover territory quickly) and Coiling (ready to strike)
Satan symbolized as mighty Leviathan; the dragon is the Anti-Christ on the earth who represents Satan and will be targeted for destruction; Rev. 20:1-3
Motyer: The picture of the power of the air, the coiling serpent on the ground and the dragon which is in the sea shows the whole creation infested with alien powers which will be sought and destroyed wherever they are.
Constable: Leviathan was a symbol of the immense power arrayed against the Lord’s people. It was also a figure in Canaanite mythology. Isaiah’s reference to it does not mean he believed in the Canaanite myth. He simply used a term used in mythology to illustrate.
Grogan: [after Delitzsch] — the swift serpent is an allusion to the fairly straight Tigris River, the coiling serpent to the more twisting Euphrates River, and the dragon by the sea to Egypt (the Nile River). Thus Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt are in view.
Oswalt: This verse is saying the same thing then as 24:21-23, although in different words. God is the sole sovereign of the universe, and while evil and destruction now seem to threaten the principles of justice upon which his 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. But the true monster which must be destroyed, the one before which God’s people find themselves helpless, is not some primordial chaos; it is the monster of moral evil. That, too, God will destroy, and his people may await that day with joy.
C. Threefold Description of Powerful Divine Weapon – Wielded by the Lord Himself
1. “with His fierce sword”
2. “great sword”
3. “mighty sword”
No defense against such a powerful instrument of destruction
Deut. 32:41, 42 Moses had spoken of this same sword; Is. 34:5, 6; 66:16
Rev. 19:15 “From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations”
Motyer:
Fierce – harsh, severe, unsparing
Great – enough for any task
Powerful – enough for any foe
Young: The sword is said to be hard, which would suggest that it cannot easily be broken; it endures while it smites the foe; it does not become dull or lose its sharpness. Possibly also it is to be thought of as relentless. The sword is described as great, for it is mighty and powerful and sufficient to slay all the enemies of the Lord. Lastly, it is a strong sword; not one that will fail, but one which will be fit to be wielded by the arm of the Lord. The punishment which the Lord metes out will be sure and unfailing. The power of destruction resides not in the sword itself, but in the Lord who wields it
I. (:2-6) CONTRASTING SONG (PARABLE) OF THE VINEYARD (cf. 5:1-7) –
THE PROTECTION AND CULTIVATION OF THE VINE KEEPER PRODUCES GOOD FRUIT THAT IMPACTS THE WORLD IN THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM
A. Contrast in Timeframe – Eschatological Focus
– Chap. 5 – “now” – sad current condition of the vineyard
– Chap. 27 – “In that day”
The vineyard is identified as Israel … not the church – How could you have a church of redeemed believers portrayed in such a state as the rejected vineyard of Chap.5?
But positive spiritual times lie ahead for Israel in the day of the Lord.
B. Contrast in Productivity — Between Lack of Fruitfulness = Failure (despite fertile soil) vs Fruitfulness
– Chap. 5 – “And hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. . .”
“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and
My vineyard. What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?”
– Chap. 27 – “A vineyard of wine” – produced what was expected of it
God’s expectation is always that spiritual life produces spiritual fruit – the two are inseparable; you cannot claim to be united to the life of Christ if there is no evidence of spiritual fruit
C. Contrast in Tone – Lament vs Rejoicing
– Chap. 5 – “Let me sing”
– Chap. 27 – “sing of it!” – this vineyard brings delight to mind
Connection between wine and joy in Scripture – Judges 9:13; Ps. 104:15 “wine which makes man’s heart glad”
D. Continuity of Identity and Ownership
– Chap. 5 – “for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.”
– Chap. 27 – “I, the LORD, am its keeper;”
E. Same Care and Protection But Different Intent = Punishing vs. Protection
– Chap. 5 – “And He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it,”
– Chap. 27 – “I water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I guard it night and day. I have no wrath.”
Van Parunak: vs. 3 — The order in Hebrew is slightly different, to establish a chiasm: “I the LORD do keep it; every moment I will water it: lest any hurt it, night and day I will keep it.”
• The outer layer answers “who”: It is the Lord himself who is guarding the vineyard.
• The next layer answers “when”, emphasizing the constancy of his care (every moment, day and night)
• The central two items tell us “how,” focusing on two threats to the vineyard: natural causes (drought), and predators (“lest any hurt it”).
Look at the activity of Satan in trying to harm believers:
– John 10:10 “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy”
– 1 Pet. 5:8-9 “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”
Illustration of God’s Providential Protection – Brian Bell:
The British express train raced through the night, its powerful headlamp spearing the black darkness ahead. The train was carrying Queen Victoria. Suddenly the engineer saw a startling sight. Revealed in the beam of the engine’s headlights was a weird figure in a black cloak,
standing in the middle of the tracks and waving its arms. The engineer grabbed for the brakes and brought the train to a grinding halt. He and his fellow trainsmen climbed out to see what had stopped them. They could find no trace of the strange figure. On a hunch, the engineer walked a few yards farther up the tracks. Suddenly he stopped and stared into the fog in horror. A bridge had been washed out and had fallen into a swollen stream. If he had not heeded the ghostly figure, the train would have plunged into the stream. While the bridge and tracks were being repaired, the crew made a more intensive search for the strange flagman. But not until they got to London did they solve the mystery. At the base of the engine’s headlamp was a huge moth. The engineer looked at it for a moment, then on impulse wet its wings and pasted it to the glass of the lamp. Climbing back into his cab, he switched on the lamp and saw the “phantom flagman” in the beam. He knew what had happened: the moth had flown into the beam, seconds before the train reached the washed-out bridge. In the fog, it appeared to be a phantom figure waving its arms. When Queen Victoria was told of the strange happening she said, “I’m sure it was no accident. It was God’s way of protecting us.”
F. Contrast in Role Played by Enemy Nations – Instrument of Discipline vs. Destruction
– Chap. 5 – “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground.”
– Chap. 27 – Should someone give Me briars and thorns in battle, Then I would step on them, I would burn them completely.
(:5) Destruction Mitigated by Offer of Reconciliation and Peace
– Chap. 27 – “Or let him rely on My protection, Let him make peace with Me, Let him make peace with Me.”
Van Parunak: The natural destiny of a weed is to be pulled out and burned. But here is a gracious invitation. The weed can become a true plant, the brier can turn into a fruitful vine, by fleeing to the very one who threatens to remove him, the Divine Gardener. . . The noun “strength” refers to an isolated stronghold, a place of refuge. Isaiah uses it of the fortress cities of Damascus and Samaria, and twice of Island Tyre (23: 4, 14), seemingly secure in its offshore location. But the only true refuge is God (25:4, where the word is twice translated “strength,” but in parallel with “refuge” and “shadow”). There alone can one find refuge from divine judgment, and in the grace of God, refuge is offered there.
Constable: In the Hebrew text the emphasis is on “with Me” in the first “Let him make peace with Me” and on “peace” in the second.
Pat Damiani: the only way that we can make peace with God is to lay hold of His protection. In other words, it is God alone who provides salvation and the only way that we are made right with Him is to take hold of that salvation on His terms.
G. Desolation vs. Growth and Fruitfulness that Impacts the Whole World
– Chap. 5 – “And I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.”
– Chap. 27 – “In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout; And they will fill the whole world with fruit.”
II. (:7-11) TWO DIVINE ACTIONS AND TWO CONTRASTING RESULTS:
THE MODERATED DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD AND THE UNMITIGATED DESTRUCTION OF THE ENEMY CITY LEADS TO PEOPLE BEING EITHER FORGIVEN OR FORSAKEN (ATONED FOR OR ABANDONED)
A. (:7-8) First Divine Action: Moderated Discipline of Judah
“Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has He struck them? Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been slain? Thou didst contend with them by banishing them, by driving them away. With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the east wind.”
Motyer: The Lord has never been as harsh with Israel as he has been with its foes. . . Always there was a divine restraint (cf. Je. 4:27; 5:10, 18).
Van Parunak: God’s treatment of his people is always in measure, modulated to their ability to profit from it. Compare Jeremiah’s frequent statement:
Jer 10:24 O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
Jer 30:11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
Jer 46:28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
Martin: He will judge her by warfare and exile (cf. Deut. 28:64-68). The east wind, strong in the Middle East, may refer figuratively to Babylon, east of Israel, which took Judah into captivity. The Exile would help purify Judah so that she would not worship foreign gods and goddesses.
Young: The punishment extended to Judah was for the purpose of purification, in order that a remnant might be preserved. . . God uses chastisement as a means of bringing His own people to their senses.
Heb. 12 – God uses discipline to get the attention of His people and lead them to true discernment
B. (:9) Result: Forgiveness and Repentance of Judah
“Therefore through this Jacob’s iniquity will be forgiven; And this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones; When Asherim and incense altars will not stand.”
Martin: Evidence of that atonement would be her pulverizing her altar stones dedicated to idolatrous gods, and removing the Asherah poles, wooden symbols of the Canaanite pagan goddess of fertility.
C. (:10-11a) Second Divine Action: Destruction and Desolation
“For the fortified city is isolated, A homestead forlorn and forsaken like the desert; There the calf will graze, And there it will lie down and feed on its branches. When its limbs are dry, they are broken off; Women come and make a fire with them.”
Van Parunak: Throughout the Cantata the “city” (24:10, 12; 25:2, 3; 26:5) represents human efforts at self-sufficiency.4 It becomes a wilderness. In spite of its fortifications, it is now vulnerable to the weakest adversaries.
Constable: The prophet pictured the deserted condition of that city: calves grazing there and stripping the vegetation without human restraint, and women gathering dry wood for fires. Normally these activities took place outside cities. Dry limbs reflect a desolate condition since normally trees in cities were alive. The reason for the destruction of this city is that its inhabitants did not have discernment. They did not see their need to humble themselves and submit to God, even though He took great care to form them as His creatures.
D. (:11b) Result: Abandonment – Removal of Divine Compassion and Favor
“For they are not a people of discernment, Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them. And their Creator will not be gracious to them.”
Motyer: The relation of Creator to creature is like that of mother to child, but the divine love has been alienated by people’s determination to trust their own discernment. Thirdly, the tragic consequence is that they have put themselves even beyond the reach of favour, the outreaching of unmerited, saving grace to sinners.
Van Parunak: Jacob’s understanding led him to put away his idolatry. In 44:9-20, Isaiah mocks the idolater who carves an idol from the very tree that he himself has cut down and whose branches he burns for fuel. The idolater’s error is at root a lack of understanding:
Isa 44:18-20 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? 20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
III. (:12-13) TWO IMAGES OF THE DIVINE REGATHERING OF SAVED ISRAEL
A. (:12) Imagery of Threshing to Regather Saved Israel
“And it will come about in that day, that the LORD will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel.”
Oswalt: the direction from which the returnees will be gathered—across the Euphrates from Assyria and across the Wadi el-Arish from Egypt.
J. Vernon McGee: This section reveals that God definitely intends to restore the nation Israel to the Promised Land. They will be returned personally and individually, nothing could be clearer than this. Assyria, Egypt, Israel and Jerusalem are all literal and language means what it says. The logical conclusion is that God will regather Israel. This has never been fulfilled in the past. It is yet future.
B. (:13) Imagery of Trumpet Call to Regather Saved Israel for Worship
“It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.”
Van Parunak: This trumpet is a shophar, a ram’s horn, not the silver trumpets that Moses made (Num 10:2). . . It is first mentioned in Exod 19:16, 19; 20:18 to describe the sound that the people heard from Mt. Sinai, and represents the Lord’s kingship over his people. The prophets often mention it in connection with the day of the Lord, because that is the point at which the Lord’s kingdom comes on earth, as it is in heaven.
Beall: Jubilees, Feast of Trumpets–see Matt 24:29-31: “He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
“(Cf. Exod. 19:16, 19; 2 Sam. 6:15; Ps. 47:6 (Eng. 5); 81:4 (Eng. 3); Isa. 18:3; Joel 2:15; Zech. 9:14. Cf. also Matt. 24:31; 1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thess. 4:16; Rev. 10:7; 11:15)” (Oswalt, 501).
Vine, “Just as in the year of jubilee, the trumpet sounded on the evening of the Day of Atonement, and every man returned to his own possession (Lev. 25), so will scattered Israel return to worship at Jerusalem when the Lord gives His signal among the nations (v. 13; cp. 11:12).”
Gary Smith: “The role of the great trumpet in v. 13 is not clearly explained. In other passages it was sounded to signal or call people (a) to battle (Judg 6:34); (b) to the temple for worship (Lev 25:9; Joel 2:1,15); (c) to announce the beginning of a feast or new moon celebration (Lev 23:23–25; 25:9); (d) to announce the coronation of a new king (1 Kgs 1:39; 2 Kgs 9:13); or (e) to signal the beginning of God’s final battle against evil (Zech 9:14). In each example, the trumpet announces the beginning of some special event. Like the banner or trumpet blast in 11:11–12 and 18:3, this great trumpet in 27:13 will be employed to signal the beginning of a unique new opportunity to worship God at Jerusalem. The holy mountain where the glory of God dwells will be the center where people will gather. Nothing is said about the specific nature of this worship experience but certainly it will be a time of praise to God. (Isaiah 1-39, 465).”
Rich Cathers: Many trumpets in Scripture – don’t get confused and think they are all the same. . .
there is a trumpet that blows when Jesus returns and the nation of Israel is gathered together after the end of the Tribulation:
(Mat 24:30-31 KJV) And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. {31} And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
I believe this is the same trumpet that we see here in Isaiah 27:13. The point is that when Jesus returns, the Jews will have been greatly scattered during the Tribulation due to the intense persecution. A trumpet will blow and gather them once again back in their land.
CONCLUSION:
This world in which we live today is so chaotic – with the forces of Satan operating with such strength and venom. But that will not always be the case. The Day of the Lord is coming when God will deal decisively with even the most powerful enemies of His kingdom. He will cause regathered Israel to prosper and will transform this world of chaos into one of peace where the worship of God will dominate.