Waiting On The Trumpet

INTRO

Isaiah’s prophecies are simple but also complicated. Isaiah prophesied between 640-680 B.C. to four Israelite kings: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Isaiah prophesied primarily to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Judah had not yet gone into captivity in Babylon, but Isaiah regularly warned the people that they would join Israel in captivity.¹

Isaiah 24–27 contains prophecies against the entire world. This judgment comes with corresponding deliverance. Isaiah 25 begins with the song of the remnant that had been delivered from God’s judgment.

TEACHING

Isaiah 26: Wiersbe outlined chapter 26 in four parts: ²

1. The strong city (vv. 1-6)—Mt. Zion will be exalted: “On that day, a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the residents of Jerusalem, to wash away sin and impurity” (Zechariah 13:1).
2. The level path (vv. 7-11)—When the kingdom is established, God will make the road to the city level and straight.
3. The woman in travail (vv. 12-18)—we’ve gone into pain, like a pregnant woman, in the agony of the day of the Lord.
4. The life-giving dew (vv. 19-21)—Isaiah could be referring both to Israel’s establishment as a nation and to the idea of individual resurrection.

Constable noted, “Before the restoration of Israel, however, God’s people would experience hard times . . . Before God opened the gates of the new city to the redeemed, they would need to shut their doors against their foes.”³

Isaiah 27:1-6: Israel had many myths about sea monsters. Leviathan might have been a crocodile. Whatever Leviathan is, the image is that God would slay it.⁴ Constable noted that the Leviathan “was a symbol of the immense power arrayed against the Lord’s people.”⁵

The “desirable vineyard” (v. 2) was Israel. God watered and guarded Israel throughout their history. However, He reserved the right to “trample it, and burn it to the ground” if “it produces thorns and briers for Me” (v. 4). Eventually, “Israel will blossom and bloom and fill the whole world with fruit” (v. 6). This could be a partial fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12.

Isaiah 27:7-11: God will use suffering to purge His people and prepare them for the Kingdom. Personal suffering does not atone for sin, but “God uses suffering as a discipline to bring us to submission so that we will seek Him and His holiness.”⁶

Verses 10-11 contain a picture of what life will be like for the Israelites as they return from the Babylonian captivity. “The Babylonian Captivity cured the Jews of their idolatry once and for all” (v. 9).⁷ The Israelites lacked understanding and the Lord did something drastic to catch their attention.

Isaiah 27:12-13: Constable observed “the Lord would assemble the remnant of His people from the Promised Land as a farmer gathers up his crops. Not only will He destroy His enemies then, but He will also gather redeemed Israelites into His kingdom.”⁸ The Lord has already defeated His enemies, and now He is gathering His people “one by one” (v. 12).

Wiersbe noted the trumpet blew on the first day of the month of the Day of Atonement in Israel. This would have been a familiar sound to them. The Day of Atonement prepared the people for the Feast of Tabernacles, “which is a picture of the joy of the future kingdom,” in which God would repeat the miracle of the Exodus and deliver His people from bondage to Gentile nations.⁹

CLOSING

We ought to be awaiting the sound of the trumpet to announce the coming of the Lord for the church and those in Israel who have turned to Him. When the trumpet sounds, we get to be in His presence, prepare for the marriage supper of the Lamb and be with Him forever.