The thing that really strikes me about these 6 chapters of Isaiah is the abrupt shifts between God’s judgment and God’s encouragement. The sharp distinction between the identification of all that’s wrong and all the evil in the world, and God’s retribution towards that evil on the one hand, and God’s mercy and renewal bestowed upon the faithful remnant of his people under the blessings of the coming Messiah on the other hand seem to swing so far to each extreme as to give me whiplash. These passages dwell on both the concept that God is absolutely serious about dealing with the unfaithfulness of his people, as well as the fact that God’s nature is unchanging, and his love, mercy, and restorative kindness are never-ending.
Last week, as we read through chapters 25-30, we were observing a series of specific judgments God was speaking into his own people, each beginning with the phrase “Woe to . . .” which then addresses a specific group. Chapter 28 was primarily an indictment of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, but also to Judah. Chapter 29 is aimed at the people of Jerusalem. Chapters 30 and 31 are addressed to “obstinate children” who rely on the military might of Egypt, or trust in the power of Assyria rather than on God.
Chapter 32
Chapter 32 opens with another head-snapping shift. Moving from God’s judgment falling like fire on Assyria at the end of Chapter 31, Isaiah presents us with a joyful vision of the messianic age. In verse 1, Isaiah calls our attention to a King who is not like the Kings that Judah is familiar with – this is a King who “will rule with righteousness,” and “rule with justice.” Yet, this goes much deeper here – we see the effects of being a subject of the Messiah – verse 2 states that “each one will be like . . .” This shows the personal, transformational effect of a relationship with Jesus. No one is left out. “Each one will be like . . .” That is all of us, folks! But this is not just an emphasis on individuals. It’s all about the people of God, the Lord’s redeemed – “the church” in language we can relate to. Every person under the Messiah’s reign will “be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert, and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.” (The reference to shadow means to provide protection from the heat of the day). These are terms applied to God himself in other parts of the book. Verse 3 speaks of opening eyes and ears. This could be a reference to physical healing, but in context, I think it’s a reference to the people having spiritual understanding.
Verse 4 gives us even more encouragement: “The fearful heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.” When we come into a relationship with the Messiah, and come under his protection and authority, the revelation of who he is and who we become in him changes us. We learn that the opposite of fear is not calm or peace, but knowledge. Fear arises from ignorance – once we understand the reality of the Messiah’s love and authority, we won’t be afraid anymore. The concept of stammering and stuttering is a product of fear – particularly connected to a person’s self-esteem and self-worth. I stammer because I am not sure of myself, or of what I’m talking about, or I am afraid of the people I’m talking to. I read this and see the image of a stern father browbeating his stuttering son, “Confound it, boy, spit it out!” Jesus sets us free from that oppression.
Verses 6-8 speak of the contrast of the transformed people of God with those who continue to oppose the Messiah. They are characterized as foolish and evil, as liars, and as oppressors. Verse 8 is one of the most quoted passages of the bible, often recited like a nursery rhyme “The noble man makes noble plans and by his noble deeds he stands.” But this concept is more than just doing right. In the context of the language about a King and his government, the Hebrew word here for “noble” would characterize a person of noble birth – a member of the royal family, or someone with a title, like “prince,” “duke,” or “earl.”
This ends up connecting back to verse 2 – the reference to “each one will be,” meaning every person in the kingdom is transformed by the power of the Messiah. Jesus changes “each one’s” nature, from that of the “fool” in v.6 or the “scoundrel” in v.7 to a person of noble birth – we are now part of the royal family. When verse 8 says “by noble deeds they stand,” it’s not speaking of currying favor with God by the good deeds we do, but that the good deeds are the by-product of “each one’s” transformation from “fool” to “nobility.” The Messiah changes our nature to be like his!
Chapter 33
This is the last of the series of six “woes” which started back in Chapter 28. While the first 5 “woes” were objectively aimed at the faithlessness and the lack of trust in God’s people, Chapter 33 opens with “Woe to you destroyer . . .” and “Woe to you betrayer.” Most bible scholars view these references as meant for Assyria, Judah’s primary enemy and oppressor during Isaiah’s lifetime. The first 9 verses are a prayer for the destruction of Assyria. Verse 7 speaks of “their brave men” and “envoys of peace.” I see this as a reference to the invasion of Judah by the Assyrian King Sennacherib, coming soon in Chapter 36 with the “envoys” being the three officials sent to confer with the Assyrian commander in 36:3.
This seems like an example where one of Isaiah’s prophecies has an immediate application to events of his time (Sennacherib’s invasion), while being a prediction of an event we know will happen later in history (the fall of the Assyrian Empire about a hundred years afterwards), plus having cosmic overtones of the coming of Jesus some 600 years after that — v. 6 uses language that is indicative of the messianic age (“fill Zion with justice and righteousness,” “sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge”). Verse 17 speaks of the people seeing “the king in his beauty,” overseeing a “land that stretches afar.”
The second half of the chapter also foreshadows another future event that would occur right at the end of Isaiah’s lifetime — the Babylonian exile. But the vision is not of the people of Judah defeated and being taken off to exile, but it looks to the RETURN of the people FROM exile. Verse 20 speaks of seeing Jerusalem as the “city of festivals,” a “peaceful abode.” It envisions the people joyfully returning to a restored Jerusalem. Isaiah is in full prophetic mode — seeing a vision that has application to the invasion that is about to occur, the future historic events of the Jewish people forced into exile (along with the destruction of their nemesis, Assyria) and then the joyful return to the holy land, all occurring in the distant future, and still, a more cosmic, ultimate, future event — the coming of the Messiah. But it’s not just the coming of Jesus in 4 BC, but the fulfillment of the messianic age at the end of time AND in every believer’s heart as well. The entire panoply of God’s redemptive history — deliverance now, a coming restoration within the next century, the birth of the Messiah 600 years later, and then the ultimate fulfillment of Jesus as the King of the universe at his second coming and the King of our lives in the here and now -- It’s all here to be taken in!
I am struck by the poetic contrasts in the final two verses of Chapter 33:
23 Your rigging hangs loose:
The mast is not held secure,
the sail is not spread.
Then an abundance of spoils will be divided
and even the lame will carry off plunder.
24 No one living in Zion will say, “I am ill”;
and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.
I think the reference to the “rigging hangs loose” seems to apply to the nation of Judah before Sennacherib’s invasion — unprepared for battle, and likely to fail. But because of the Lord’s provision, “an abundance of spoils will be divided” (literally fulfilled in chapter 37:36!). And then v. 24 here looks forward to the messianic age and connects to the references earlier in the chapter in v.17 and vv. 20-22.
Chapter 34
Just when we are starting to feel relaxed and comforted by these encouraging prophecies, we get another jarring, head-snapping shift back to the graphic imagery of God’s judgment. But here, Isaiah seems to be diving much deeper. Chapter 34 opens with the kind of graphic, “end times” type imagery I discussed last week — the kind of language usually associated with the “day of the Lord.”
If we were to make a film version of the events of this chapter, it would have to be rated “R.” The violence is overwhelming. When verses 2 and 5 say the Lord “will totally destroy” the nations and their armies, the word used for “destroy” means to irrevocably give something over to the Lord, and to let God have his way. The specific implication of this word is almost always complete and utter destruction.
Things really seem to come off the rails. In verse 3, all the dead bodies are left to rot in the streets. The mountains are “soaked with blood.” Verse 4 gives us “end times” imagery reminiscent of the book of Revelation, “the stars of the heavens will be dissolved, and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall.” Verses 5 and 6 presents images of the sword of the Lord not just covered in blood, but with “fat,” there is a connection made to the temple sacrifices, indicating God will do to the people he is judging the same things the priests do when they offer sacrifices on the altar.
This particular series of judgments is aimed at Edom — a nation that was often the most hated enemy of Israel.
Chapter 35
But hold on to your hats! It’s another whiplash-inducing shift – after a chapter full of the worst of all possible judgments crashing down on the enemies of God’s people, with God seeming to be elbow-deep in wanton carnage reminiscent of a Quentin Tarantino film, Chapter 35 begins. It’s like the dawn has come, the smoke has cleared, and somehow, we’re in a completely different place.
The formerly barren wastelands are bursting with life — ornate flowers blossom in the desert. The splendor of the mountains returns, along with the presence of God. Those who are weak and afraid are strengthened. The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame “leap like a deer,” the mute “shout for joy.” Streams are flowing in the desert. We see a road — the “Way of Holiness.” God’s people are safe and can roam freely.
What is going on? How can we so abruptly move from the desolation of Chapter 34 to the peace and tranquility we find here?
Just like in Chapter 33, Isaiah sees a prophetic vision with multiple applications. He sees a current, (or at least an event that will take place within the next 100 years or so) earthly application alongside a cosmic, end-times perspective.
The bloody carnage of Chapter 34 will eventually be fulfilled, perhaps in the next few years, when Assyria sweeps in and destroys Samaria, or further in the future, when Edom is crushed along with Judah when Babylon lays siege to the area 70-some years in the future, and then carries Judah’s people into exile.
But the hope expressed here in Chapter 35 evokes the passing of that generation, people who were crushed in spirit that went into exile, and the emerging of the next generation, and predicts the return of the Jewish people to Jerusalem after the exile. These images go hand in hand with Chapter 33’s images of the returning exiles. The language in v. 10 evokes the concept of “coming home at last,” and the fulfillment of a long hoped for dream:
“Those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
This is reminiscent of the “songs of ascent,” the Psalms sung by the returning exiles, but also at the time of Christ by religious pilgrims on their annual pilgrimage to the Jerusalem temple. For example, Psalm 126: 1-3:
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.
Ultimately, these images also evoke the fulfillment of the Messiah in our lives — the restoration that comes from a relationship with Jesus, and the transformation in us that comes from being filled with his spirit and his love. When we come to truly know Jesus, we also “come home” as the exiles did, “like those who dreamed,” “filled with laughter” and “songs of joy!”
Chapter 36
One last super-abrupt shift, but this time it is out of “prophetic mode” and into narrative history. Chapter 36 begins with the introduction of Sennacherib, King of Assyria, and his invasion of the nation of Judah. The Assyrian King sends one of his “field commanders” to address Jerusalem, while King Hezekiah sends three envoys to meet him. The commander makes threats that Assyria will destroy Jerusalem and conquer Judah.
Stay tuned!
John Russell
