THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Isaiah: Jahweh Is Salvation

Part XLI: Learning From God's Great Tribulation Refinement Of Israel And Judah

(Isaiah 27:1-13)

I. Introduction

A. God will refine the nation Israel from the dross of her sin in the Great Tribulation like Isaiah 27:1-13 predicts.

B. We study this passage for our insight and edification (as follows):

II. Learning From God's Great Tribulation Refinement Of Israel And Judah, Isaiah 27:1-13.

A. Isaiah 27:1-13 can be broken into three major segments, each marked by the introductory prepositional phrase of "in that day" in Isaiah 27:1, Isaiah 27:2 and Isaiah 27:12; Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1075.

B. We view these three major segments (as follows):

1. In the "in that day" of the Second Coming of Christ, He will destroy the troublesome wicked, Isaiah 27:1:

a. Isaiah's reference to Leviathan, the "gliding" and "coiling serpent" (Isaiah 27:1 NIV) alludes to an "ancient" pagan "myth" about "an enemy of order in Creation" that had to be slain by hero deities to produce the ordered creation, Ibid., p. 1075-1076; Bruce K. Waltke, Creation and Chaos, 1974, p. 12.

b. Isaiah's allusion to this mythical creature figuratively recalls the wicked men on the earth who will have wrought the chaotic state of the world, and God will slay them at Christ's Second Coming much as a hero deity is said to slay the mythical Leviathan monster with a great strong sword, Ibid., p. 1075-1076.

2. In the "in that day" of the start of the Messianic Kingdom, a song will be sung of God's blessing of a repentant Israel (Isaiah 27:2-6) after her pruning judgment by the Lord in the Tribulation (Isaiah 27:7-11):

a. Back in Isaiah 5:1-7, God presented Israel as a vine that produced the wild grapes of unrighteousness, but here in Isaiah 27:2-6, she is presented as a choice vine that produces desired fruit due to the Lord's "constant protection and care," Isaiah 27:2-3.

b. Were the vine to produce sin that displeased God, He would judge it (Isaiah 27:4), but He rather hopes Israel will repent and look to Him as her Refuge from trouble (Isaiah 27:5 NIV), Ibid., p. 1076.

c. In the end, when the Messianic Kingdom arrives, Israel will be spiritually productive, a nation through whom God will bless the entire world, Isaiah 27:6.

d. Nevertheless, Israel will have to be pruned in divine judgment before that spiritual productivity arrives, and Isaiah 27:7-11 describes this pruning judgment of the Tribulation: (1) By means of wicked Gentile foes that strike, kill and exile Israel's people, God will have disciplined her for her violations of the Mosaic Covenant, Isa. 27:7-8; Ibid. (2) The atonement of Israel's sin we know from Scripture occurs at the cross of Jesus Christ (Isa. 53:4-6). (3) The evidence of this atonement applied to create a new heart will be Israel's "pulverizing her altar stones dedicated to idolatrous gods, and removing the Asherah poles, wooden symbols of the Canaanite pagan goddess of fertility," Ibid.; Isa. 27:7-9. (4) Due to Israel's sin the city would have been destroyed, its people removed, the place left desolate as God will have temporarily withdrawn His compassion and blessing from her, Isaiah 27:10-11.

3. Yet, in the "in that day" after the Tribulation, God will regather Israel for the Kingdom, Isaiah 27:12-13:

a. After the Great Tribulation, God will "thresh" in judgment a wide area from the Euphrates River down to the Wadi of Egypt, a stream marking the southwestern border of Canaan, and the Lord will regather His people from Assyria (by the Euphrates) to Egypt southwest of Israel, Isaiah 27:12.

b. A great trumpet will sound, typifying the trumpets of the nation Israel in her wilderness wanderings that signaled the time for the whole nation to move geographically, Numbers 10:1-2. Accordingly, those Jews who had been perishing in Assyria in the Great Tribulation and those who had been exiled in Egypt will then come and worship the Lord on His holy mountain at the temple site in Jerusalem, Isaiah 27:13.

Lesson: Though Israel will enter the Great Tribulation period with much sin, the intense trials she will face especially under persecuting, wicked people will be used of God to refine her of her sinful dross so that when Christ returns, destroying her wicked persecutors, Israel will also be purified and prepared to be richly blessed and be a great blessing in the earth for the world.

Application: (1) If we face unusual trials, may we see what purifying lessons God has for us in them and heed His directives. (2) If we face dreadfully, chaos-producing, wicked foes, know that God will fully deal with them in the end, and use the pain experienced upon facing such foes as an opportunity to grow in the Lord's grace.