Isaiah 26 vs 16-21 and 27 vs 1

Isaiah Chapter 26 Verses 16 – 19

·    As things got darker for Isaiah personally, he sought the Lord that much more. Like contractions that get closer and closer as the birth nears, so also the prayers of the righteous in their trouble. And here is a somewhat rare Old Testament foreshadowing of the coming resurrection… And the thought truly is that even if God doesn’t deliver out of the current trouble (because sometimes His way is to deliver you within the trouble), He will one day completely deliver all those that have trusted in Him.

Isaiah Chapter 26 Verses 20 – 21

·    There are a couple ways to interpret Isaiah’s prophecy in these verses depending on how you personally see the final judgment of God upon this earth occurring. There are some that say that during the Great Tribulation, the people of God will be protected. Sheltered somehow by the hand of God on this earth. These verses can support that perspective.

·    There are others that say that before God pours out His judgment on this earth, those that have already been judged by the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus are taken out of the way, raptured off of this earth only to return with Jesus at His second coming. These verses can support that perspective as well. 

·    These verses also can be taken as specific to the Jewish people who in both perspectives will go through the Great Tribulation as the nation (as a whole) has rejected salvation through Jesus and yet there is a promise found in Revelation 12:6 that the Jewish people will find protection as they “flee into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days,” or 3.5 years….

·    Any way you slice this is up to you but one thing that is common across all perspectives is that the Lord’s judgment is coming upon the earth. Zero ambiguity about that… His ways and word are sure!

Isaiah Chapter 27 Verse 1

·    Is this the same Leviathan mentioned by Job in Job 3 and 41? Interesting for sure if you utilize Isaiah 27 as an identifier for Leviathan in him being Satan then the other descriptions of Leviathan eerily make sense, especially Job 41. Job 41 is a chapter devoted specifically to Leviathan and when we read it with the idea that Leviathan is Satan in sea dragon form then it not only makes sense but also gives us a bunch of information about our enemy. Job 41 ends with this verse (Job 41:34), “He beholds every high thing; He is king over all the children of pride…”

·    Here in Isaiah 27, he is twisted as it says there in verse 1 and he is fleeing, and the context is that he is fleeing from the severe sword of God. So entirely interesting. The Word of God is described as the “Sword of the Spirit” in Ephesians 6:17, and since the beginning of creation, Satan’s front-line attack has been against God’s Word. “Has God said,” he told Eve…

·    But ultimately it will be the Word of God that will triumph over Satan. We see it here, we saw it foreshadowed at the cross as John 1 tells us that Jesus was and is the “logos,” the Word, and we will see it again. Revelation Chapter 13 says the world will worship the Dragon and then in Revelation 20:2 we read, “He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.” Finally, being cast into the Lake of Fire according to Revelation 20:10. So is this the same Leviathan mentioned by Job and even the Psalmist? I would say definitely. And who is this serpent of the seas? Satan himself…

·    Notice, don’t miss this, how is he defeated or better yet, what puts him to flight? The severe, great and strong Word of God. Never fails. Never falls. Never forfeits. It is by learning and applying the Word of God, trusting the Lord, that we resist, over-power and over-whelm the Devil. James 4:7, “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Again, how? Learn and apply the Word of God which is simply stated to trust in the Lord or submit to God!

Isaiah Chapter 27 Verses 2 – 6

·    I love these statements! Notice, what God is permitted to plant in my life, vineyard, notice He will tend to it. Every moment! What a promise! God doesn’t get tired, frustrated, impatient, none of that with me. Whatever I allow Him to plant, to establish, to install into my heart, mind or life, He has promised that He will keep it night and day.

·    AND…, let difficulty come, because it will. And yet as I follow the Lord, remain firmly planted in Him…, like a 100,000-degree flame, He simply passes right through the products of the fall! That’s what briers and thorns are! Offshoots, products of sin in this world. God says, “I will deal with them, just follow Me!”

·    How? Where does this all start and restart and start again! This is so good! Verse 5. It all starts with what God describes as “My strength.” One could say, His Right Hand. And who is that? Who is at the right hand of the Father? Jesus! Colossians 3:1! How is it that I make peace with God and follow Him? Through the finished work of the cross and the gift of the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus Himself.

·    And so, I come. Not as a Jew and never becoming a Jew but being welcomed into the family of God as an adopted Son and taking my place in the people governed by God which is the literal translation of the proper name Israel. And one day, when Jesus rules and reigns from Jerusalem, the entire world will be filled with the fruit of the Spirit!

Isaiah Chapter 27 Verses 7 – 9

·    As you survey the past and the story of Israel as a people and as a nation, it’s a story filled with hardship, difficulty and even tragedy. And, it’s a story marked by rebellion against God. But, according to Isaiah, their hardship is somehow associated with their healing as well. That all that they have been made to endure over the millennia’s, will, in the end, bring them to humility, through repentance and ultimate final realization of God as their God.

·    I love that Isaiah talks here about the stones of the altar. Who places those stones there but the people? Their works, their labors, their actions, all that they have done to seek the Lord in and out of their personal patterns of apostasy. God finally strikes all of that and reveals those stones are powerless, without strength or true meaning, not stones that are solid but rather chalk…and even with the touch they begin to wear away.

·    Wooden images and incense altars shall not stand and that was always their purpose just like for you and for me. That our efforts, plans, good works, deep-seeded heart desire to be something for God…, because God is all that He is, nothing I can do enters into the realm of worthy or strong for Him. And yet an altar does stand. The one not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, the altar of incense, the altar of sacrifice, given for me and for you has taken the place of all others and fulfilled completely what countless others together could not…

·    And so, how will Israel be saved? By turning to Jesus Christ. Zechariah 13:6 says, “And (in that day) one will say to Him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms? Then He will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends.” And as that chapter ends in verse 9 we read, “I will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people; and each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

·    Someone once said to me, “Never waste a good crisis.” What God is allowing or bringing you through or in truth, bringing upon you, let it turn you to Him and teach you of His goodness and strength, lest you just rebuild altars of chalk over and over again…

Isaiah Chapter 27 Verses 10 - 13

·    Entirely in alignment with the eschatological visions of Paul and Revelation of John. That there is a time coming where the people of Israel will be threshed as it were. Several wars remain ahead and the siege of the Anti-Christ is yet ahead during a time where mercy is restrained until all is accomplished at the end of the seven year Great Tribulation.

·    When the trumpet will be blown, that final trumpet of God, and as we read in Revelation 11:15, “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there was loud voices in heaven saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”