Isaiah 27:1-13

One of my favorite words in all of Scripture is the word “but.”  The classic example is found in Ephesians 2 where Paul says that we were dead in our trespasses and sin … “and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others BUT God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”  This chapter of Isaiah gives us another demonstration of God’s love and mercy to bring back to spiritual life the nation of Israel who has suffered under the wrath of God due to sin for so many generations.  They may be disobedient, displaced, deceived and destroyed BUT God’s love for them remains steadfast and He plans to redeem them unto Himself and restore them to spiritual greatness.

GOD WILL RESTORE ISRAEL AND REDEEM THE NATIONS THROUGH HER: Satan has had his way in deceiving Israel and leading her in the path of destruction.  The nation that God separated in order to bless all the nations of the world has been scattered to all the nations of the world in judgment because of their idolatry and rebellion.  BUT this is only a temporary condition.  God is working through the events of history and has a wonderful plan by which Israel will turn to God in true repentance.  God will forgive their sin and restore them to His favor and He will plant them in their land like a need in a carefully prepared garden that will sprout and spread out and produce fruit on all of it branches.  The picture is one of Israel being used of God just as He had planned from the beginning to call all of the nations to repentance and redeem for Himself worshipers from every tribe, every tongue and every nation. 


GOD WILL RESTORE ISRAEL AND RECEIVE WORSHIP FROM HER: God has used the nations of the world to judge Israel.  She has been dislocated from the land that was promised to her and scattered throughout the whole world.  What was meant to be a theocracy and an example of God’s holiness to the world has become a disgraceful display of idolatry and rebellion.  BUT this is not the end of the story.  God still has a plan to restore His people and return them to the land that was promised to them and establish a nation in which He alone is worshiped.  God will judge the nations that He used to judge Israel and in so doing He will set His children free and gather them together where they will rejoice in their relationship with God and worship Him with pure and undivided hearts.  This has always been God’s purpose in redemption whether it be the nation of Israel or in our own individual lives.  We were captivated by sin and under the judgment of God, BUT He has set us free from sin through the blood of Jesus so that we might spread the Gospel to all the nations and rejoice in our worship of God every day of our lives.

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