Let’s review context. Isaiah is singing again about “THAT Day.” In Chapter 25 he exulted in the victory of Yahweh over death.
In Chapter 26 the celebration continues. It feels like it could’ve come right out the book of Psalms. It is highly poetic and bursting with imagery. The first 5 verses are, in fact, a song, and it is “ a tale of two cities.”
First we have the city of Salvation:
“In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”
Isaiah 26:1-4 ESV
Then we have the city of Pride:
“For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.””
Isaiah 26:5-6 ESV
The imagery of these two cities maps well to the New Jerusalem and Babylon in the book of Revelation. They are the two worldviews, the two ways:
- God hath said. (Built on the Rock)
- Hath God said? (Built on sand)
Every religion, philosophy, and worldview on earth fits into one of those two camps.
I know which city I prefer to live in.
By the way – this is a good verse to memorize (and teach to your children if you have kids):
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Isaiah 26:3 ESV
And here’s a perfect NT pairing:
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:8-9 ESV
🙄 So you’re “pairing” OT and NT texts now? What are you, a Bible sommelier? 🍷🧀
Hmm… Bible sommelier… I kinda like that.
🙄 Well don’t. It’s too bougie and La-dee-Dah.
You’re no fun.
😌 I’m here to keep you grounded.
It’s working.
Moving on…
This verse practically jumped off the page:
“If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord.”
Isaiah 26:10 ESV
We have SO much favor being shown to the wicked these days. SO much. And this verse is 1000% true. They have not learned a lick of righteousness from it. The wicked simply take advantage of the favors and continue in their crookedness. K, I’m getting off this stump before I get riled up about political corruption, but not before hinting that you might consider praying verse 11 over said corruption.
Let’s talk about other gods. Again.
“O Lord our God, other Lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to remembrance. They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them.”
Isaiah 26:13-14 ESV
These “other lords” that have “ruled over” the people are “shades.”
🤔 Shades? As in lamp shades? 💡Window shades? 🪟My future’s so bright I gotta wear shades? 😎
No. None of those. In Hebrew it is a word you may recognize:
Remember that we read Hebrew right to left. There is a Mem at the end. It’s that little box shape I underlined in red. Here are the equivalent English letters: RPHAIM.
Ringing any bells yet?
Here is is from Blue Letter Bible:
It’s Strong’s Concordance entry number is 7496. An identical word with a separate entry is 7497:
Here’s the full Strong’s entry for that:
It’s the same word. Both entries, 7496 and 7497 come from Rapha (heal, healer) – 7495:
Here is Gesenius’ lexicon entry for this word Rapha and it’s meanings:
There may be a dual inference here.
- The foreign kings who have oppressed Israel are all either dead or soon will be.
- the “lords” who have ruled over them are none other than the spirits of the dead Rephaim giants; the Nephilim.
This 6-minute video from The Bible Project illustrates this dual idea perfectly.
“They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them.”
These ruling lords that Isaiah is talking about are in the realm of the dead and they aren’t getting out. Ever. Not only are they dead, they are destined to be destroyed. Makes me think of “Death and Hell cast into the Lake of Fire.”
Now compare:
“Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!….”
Isaiah 26:19 ESV
This group of dead aren’t stuck forever in the Underworld/Sheol/the Grave/the Realm of the Dead. They are going to rise again. The doctrine of the resurrection did not originate in the NT. Isaiah is prophesying a bodily resurrection of the dead in the OLD Testament!
Now, THIS is an intriguing passage:
“Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.”
Isaiah 26:20-21 ESV
The context is the Day of the Lord. We’ve just read about a resurrection. And now we have a call to God’s people to be hidden away for a little while God “comes out from His place” to pour out His furious wrath on the earth.
And of course, this would have an immediate application to those in Isaiah’s day facing a Babylonian siege. Maybe they could go live in their doomsday bunker. But might it point to something in the future? Where or how might God’s people hide in a chamber as God’s wrath is poured out? I’ll leave it to you to ponder.
The reference to an inner chamber makes me think of this:
“But whenever you pray, enter into your inner room and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Matthew 6:6 LEB
The safest place on earth is to be in the will of God.
CHAPTER 27
We’re still “on THAT day…” and here’s yet another thing scheduled to happen then:
“In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.”
Isaiah 27:1 ESV
Leviathan was a figure in the ancient world in many different cultures by various names that represented Chaos. It is thought by some to represent the formless emptiness mentioned in Genesis 1:2. And it is Yahweh Who brings order to the chaos. The sea 🌊 is another metaphor for upheaval and the unknown.
I was in vacation in Florida not too long ago and one night I was looking out over the ocean and thinking about how much courage it would’ve taken in the days before GPS and Satellite phones to get aboard a wooden ship and sail away from land; and to be out there in the pitch dark of night.
The sea is still very unknown. Google says that humans have only studied about 5% of the ocean in detail. And about 80% of it still unmapped and unexplored. “Over 90% of the ocean is deep ocean, and less than 0.001% of this vast area has been visually seen by explorers.” We know more about the surface of the Moon 🌖 than we do about the depths of the ocean! 🪼🦑
And metaphorically swimming around in the mysterious “unknown” is this character that represents chaos. 🌊🐉 The world was thrown back into a level of chaos at the Fall; thorns and thistles, pain in childbirth, contrary desires that push and pull humanity like waves beyond our control.
The Babylonians called the primordial chaos dragon 🐉 Tiamat [teeah-maht]. And in their texts, their god Marduk slays her. The world was fashioned from her corpse with Babylon as the center. 🐉🗡️
😒 Eww. That’s disgusting.
But the prophets push back against the “fake news” of the Babylonians. Isaiah says that Yahweh (not Marduk) is the dragon-slayer. So does Asaph:
“Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.”
Psalm 74:12-14 ESV
Leviathan has heads– plural. Sounds an awful lot like the 7-headed dragon of Revelation 12. Where does the 7-headed Beast of Revelation 13 come from? The SEA. But Leviathan is destined to become animal fodder.
And Isaiah says that this final destruction will happen “in THAT day.” So, we might expect to find something about the end of chaos along with Yahweh “swallowing up death” in the Revelation. And, oh look… we do.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””
Revelation 21:1-4 ESV
The old Dragon, Satan, is cast into the Lake of Fire and so is the 7-headed “Beast.” Everything about this current earth and its skies were gone. “And the sea was no more.” This is possibly a hint that the mysterious dwelling place of the chaos dragon – his habitat – is gone too. At the very least we can see that all the effects of the Fall and chaos are overturned. Death and sorrow, sin and pain are all “passed away.” Leviathan is dead. And it was not Marduk that killed it. It was Yahweh.
And of course we cant’t have a bunch of end-of-the-world prophecy without at least one Trumpet…. 🎺
“And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.”
Isaiah 27:13 ESV
This sounds a lot like what Jesus said:
“Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Matthew 24:30-31 ESV
If you aren’t ready for this day, get ready. Come to Jesus. Repent. Believe the Gospel. Trust the Lord. Stay humble and stay close to Jesus and everything will be alright. He knows what He’s doing.
I for one, am excited to watch this all unfold- whether here on earth or from heaven. It sure beats anything on tv. 📺
To The Reader 