October 4, Isaiah 27
I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would march against them, I would burn them up together. Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me."
- Isaiah 27:4-5
Decisions, decisions. Some decisions are hard to make. We're just not sure which of two alternatives before us would be best. That's why I like to order last when I go out to eat with a group. It gives me more time to study the menu, and it lets me hear what others have chosen. On a more serious level, it's not always easy to know which job to take, which house to buy, or which retirement plan is best.
Chapter 27 is the last of four chapters in this section of Isaiah about the coming judgment. The recurring phrase "in that day" looks ahead to the final judgment at the end of the world. It is sometimes illustrated by judgments that take place in time as God disciplines or destroys people and nations who have rebelled against him.
This chapter presents a choice or alternative that should not be difficult. But many people do struggle with it and even make a foolish choice that leads to tragic ruin. The choice is this: Would you prefer to be an object of God's wrath and be destroyed, or a beneficiary of his tender love, protection and provision?
God has a sword in his almighty hand. He described that sword as hard and great and strong. It's the sword he will use against Satan and his servants when they suffer eternal punishment. I doubt that Isaiah could have known that his description of those enemies of God would appear again centuries later. But Isaiah's Leviathan, the fleeing and twisting serpent, and the dragon are descriptive images of Satan and his servants in the last book of the New Testament, when John described their defeat and punishment in Revelation. Isaiah immediately contrasted the sword- wielding wrath of God with the pleasant vineyard that the Lord watered and kept, protecting it from all threats. God is both a wall and a well to his vineyard, meeting their needs and putting a wall around them to protect them from predators.
When God's people stray from him, he may use severe discipline to get their attention and call them back to him. But when they put away their idols and make peace with him, they are again restored to his favor and nurtured in his vineyard.
It's interesting that God's promise to restore his people is described as gleaning them one by one. They would be restored as individuals who turned back in repentance to him, not as a corporate group of Abraham's descendants. God's enemies were people without discernment. The Lord would not have compassion on them or show them favor in the day of judgment. But he would lovingly receive and restore all those who heard the call and returned to him, forsaking their worthless idols and trusting in him.
So the choice is to be loyal and faithful worshipers of God among others redeemed by his mercy to enjoy his favor and blessings, or to be destroyed with Satan and his servants by God's wrath. That should not be such a difficult choice, should it? Not all confronted with that choice in Isaiah's day were discerning enough to choose the way of blessing and life. But surely you and I should see clearly that being blessed and favored is far better than suffering the wrath of God's mighty sword.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—October 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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