Isaiah 26:1-27:1 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 26:1-27:1. Let’s go!
Isaiah 26:1-15 (NIV)
1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.
2 Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.
3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.
5 He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.
6 Feet trample it down– the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.
7 The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth.
8 Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
10 Though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and regard not the majesty of the LORD.
11 O LORD, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.
12 LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.
13 O LORD, our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor.
14 They are now dead, they live no more; those departed spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.
15 You have enlarged the nation, O LORD; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land.
On verses 1-15: Isaiah 26 continues Isaiah’s message about the end times. Isaiah 26 shares the same tone and cadence as some of the most beautiful Psalms. Yet Isaiah 26 is also like many of the chapters in the book of Proverbs in that every line is packed with powerful truth and could be a sermon on its own. Isaiah 26 continues some of the most beautiful phrases in all of Isaiah. My personal favourites include verses 3, 4, 8 and 12.
As mentioned, virtually every line in the above verses could be a sermon on its own, but if you want to tie them all together with one theme, that theme could be: what happens when God’s kingdom expands. Here Isaiah pictures God having “enlarged his nation” (v15) and expanded his kingdom in the last days. The results are that:
– Those who live in God’s kingdom are in the strongest, most secure city (v1);
– Perfect peace is the portion of those who trust steadfastly in the Lord (v3);
– The prideful city of man (“the lofty city” – v5) which we discussed in Isaiah 25 is brought low;
– The poor and the oppressed are vindicated (v6);
– God makes level paths for His people’s feet (v7);
– More and more God’s people walk in God’s ways and desire His fame and renown more than their own (v8);
– God’s presence is the chief desire of the people’s hearts (v9a);
– Through God’s judgments God’s people learn to appreciate what righteousness is all about (v9b);
– God’s people recognize that all of their accomplishments are ultimately God’s grace and God’s hand at work through them (v12);
– God’s name is the one His people live to honour (v13);
– Meanwhile, God’s prideful enemies are disenfranchised and wiped out (v14).
While Isaiah is picturing what will happen in the last days when God’s kingdom comes in its fullness, it’s also true that the above results happen even today when God’s kingdom grows and expands in your life. There is an increase in peace, power, wisdom, righteousness, passion for God, an appreciation for God’s righteousness, humility, victory and worship, when God’s kingdom is happening in your life.
Isaiah 26:16-21 (NIV)
16 LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.
17 As a woman with child and about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, O LORD.
18 We were with child, we writhed in pain, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth; we have not given birth to people of the world.
19 But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.
21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer.
On verses 16-21: After acknowledging some ways that God’s people had failed (v16-18), Isaiah still points to how there is resurrection power for God’s people (v19). Because God is just, God will certainly punish all sin (v21). But praise God that when you have the Lord in your life, you are able to hide from God’s wrath as verse 20 describes. That’s because Jesus’ blood is our protection against God’s wrath (v20).
Isaiah 27:1 (NIV)
1 In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.
On verse 1: Isaiah pictures God in the last days putting an end to His enemy, Satan, who is represented here by a monstrous sea serpent called Leviathan. It is not a coincidence that in Revelation, Satan’s Anti-Christ is also pictured as a beast from the sea (see Revelation 13).
In short, Isaiah 26:1-27:1 pictures the day when God’s kingdom takes over. Praise God that that is how our story ends. Praise God also that those of us who have Christ today get to experience tastes of that kingdom on a daily basis until that final day comes.
Father, in every way – in quality, in quantity, in peace, in power, in victory, in glory, in diversity, in creativity, in value – Your kingdom is truly the greatest kingdom, and the only one that will last forever. Thank You that through Jesus Christ we get to be a part of that kingdom not just for eternity, but for now too. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
