Isaiah 29:1-24

The Lord works in mysterious ways.  We have a hard time understanding how God is working through the events of this world because we have such a limited view.  Our view is limited to our earthly perspective and limited to our generation.  God’s perspective is celestial and eternal.  What seems to us illogical makes perfect sense from God’s perspective.  In our minds sin and judgment are always and only bad, but God has an unfathomable way of, in all His wisdom, taking our sin and His judgment and turning it for His glory and our good.  All of us have personal experiences of which we are ashamed.  In many ways we wish that we could erase those things from history or go back and live those moments again in a much different way.  However, when we look at those things in retrospect we can see how God used them to bring us closer to Himself.  God works in these wonderful ways in each of our lives and He is working in this way in the history of Israel.  Isaiah predicts God’s judgment on the nation because of their rebellion and disobedience, but then He turns right around and foretells of Israel’s restoration.  It is a wonderful comfort to know that our very darkest hour may just be the path through which God is bringing us into sweet fellowship with Him.

GOD REJECTS THE UNRIGHTEOUS: Isaiah warns the city of Jerusalem that she is doomed to experience the wrath of God and be trampled into the dust by her enemies.  The nation will cry out for help but the sound coming out of her moth will be like a whisper in a dust storm.  The invading nations will filter into the city like fine dust and the chaff of grain in harvest finds its way into every part of every home.  Israel will overrun by the nations because of her sin and rebellion.  This is not to condone the actions of these nations for they too will fall prey to God’s judgment.  God judges those who live in unrighteousness and He will even use unrighteous nations as His instruments of judgment but then He will also righteously judge those nations too.  All who live in rebellion against God and disobey His Word will be rejected by God and experience His wrath.  It does not matter how hard we try to hide our sins from God or how much we claim to be ignorant of God’s will; we cannot hide from God and He will judge.  Men in sin will live under the delusion that all is well, only to wake up in a state of hopelessness.  All men and all nations who give themselves over to sin and turn their backs on God will fall under His righteous judgment.

GOD REDEEMS THE UNWORTHY: God’s grace and mercy far exceeds our ability to comprehend.  Isaiah speaks of the nation of Israel experiencing a liberating rebirth from this sin and judgment.  That which was once a trampled field will become a blossoming forest.  The barren lands will begin to bear fruit.  Those who were deaf to the Word of God will begin to hear it.  Those who were blind to the ways of God will begin to walk in it.  Those who were dead will awaken to new spiritual life.  The humble and poor will rejoice in the Lord and worship Him out of a genuine heart.  None of us are worthy of this gracious new life that God grants through His forgiveness and love.  God is at work in this world to redeem a people for Himself and in so doing He will bring those who persist in rebellion to eternal judgment and will free His children from the presence of sin.  Their lives will be eternally transformed and the desires of their hearts will be for God and God alone.  God is going to bring the nation of Israel to a point where they will no longer complain to the Lord about what they think the need.  Instead, the nation will live in fear of the Lord and seek to know and obey His will.  This will be their reality and the reality of all those who find forgiveness through the Lord Jesus.