Isaiah 27: Deliverance by Discipline of Israel

Context:

• 1.3 God’s Outworking of the End Judgment Ch.24-27
  • Ch.24 – The Lord’s devastation of the earth
  • Ch.25 – Subsequent Praise to the Lord
  • Ch.26 – An extension of the song of praise
  • Ch.27 – Deliverance by Discipline of Israel

Chapter 27:

• v.1 Destruction of Satan
• v.2-5 The Lord’s Vineyard
• v.6-9 Although strongly disciplined in the present she has a long-term future
• v.10-13 When disciplined she looked terrible

[Introductory Comment: ‘In that day’ signifies a continuation of the previous prophecies and songs that started in chapter

v.1 Destruction of Satan

v.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.

[Notes: Continuing that end time – destruction of the serpent – see Rev 20:2,10].

v.2-5 The Lord’s Vineyard

v.2 In that day –

‘Sing about a fruitful vineyard:

v.3  I, the Lord, watch over it;
    I water it continually.
I guard it day and night
    so that no one may harm it.

v.4  I am not angry.
If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!
    I would march against them in battle;
    I would set them all on fire.

v.5 Or else let them come to me for refuge;
    let them make peace with me,
    yes, let them make peace with me.’

[Notes: The vineyard is usually Israel who the Lord watched over and blessed but He would destroy wrong growth in the land and yet He would be open for them to turn back to Him.]

v.6-9 Although strongly disciplined in the present she has a long-term future

v.6 In days to come Jacob will take root,
    Israel will bud and blossom
    and fill all the world with fruit.

v.7 Has the Lord struck her
    as he struck down those who struck her?
Has she been killed
    as those were killed who killed her?

v.8 By warfare and exile you contend with her –
    with his fierce blast he drives her out,
    as on a day the east wind blows.

v.9 By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for,
    and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:
when he makes all the altar stones
    to be like limestone crushed to pieces,
no Asherah poles or incense altars
    will be left standing.

[Notes: Israel will yet ‘feed’ the world. Has judgment ended here? No [implied]. Using war and exile he disciplines her and this will change her and remove her sin.]

v.10-13 When disciplined she looked terrible

v.10 The fortified city stands desolate,
    an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness;
there the calves graze,
    there they lie down;
    they strip its branches bare.

v.11 When its twigs are dry, they are broken off
    and women come and make fires with them.
For this is a people without understanding;
    so their Maker has no compassion on them,
    and their Creator shows them no favor.

v.12 In that day the Lord will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, Israel, will be gathered up one by one.

v.13 And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

[Notes: Jerusalem and its surroundings have known desolation. Nothing much is left of this people with little knowledge of God. The Lord will deal with the whole area and the result will be all come to worship in Jerusalem.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: