Isaiah 1:24-31

b. THE RESULTS OF JUDGMENT, A CLEANSED CITY

TEXT: Isaiah 1:24-31

24

Therefore saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies;

25

and I will turn my hand upon thee, and thoroughly purge away thy dross, and will take away all thy tin;

26

and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called The City of Righteousness, a faithful town.

27

Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness.

28

But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and they that forsake Jehovah shall be consumed.

29

For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.

30

For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

31

And the strong shall be as two, and his work as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

QUERIES

a.

When is this purging of the city to take place?

b.

Who are the converts of Zion?

c.

What are the oaks they desired?

PARAPHRASE

Therefore the Lord of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, says: I will pour out My anger on you, My enemies! I Myself will melt you in a smelting pot, and skim off your slag. And afterwards I will give you good judges and wise counsellors like those you used to have. Then your city shall again be called The City of Justice, and The Faithful Town. Those who return to the Lord, who are just and good, shall be redeemed. (But all sinners shall utterly perish, for they refuse to come to Me.) Shame will cover you, and you will blush to think of all those times you sacrificed to idols in your groves of sacred oaks. You will perish like a withered tree or a garden without water. The strongest among you will disappear like burning straw; your evil deeds are the spark that sets the straw on fire, and no one will be able to put it out.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 1:24-27 RESTORATION: The impenitent sinner is the enemy of Almighty God! The sinner is a burden to Godthe sinner's rebellion is unreasonable and unjust in the light of God's love. Therefore God is justified in avenging Himself of impenitent rebels. But in the process God's wrath also works chastening, repentance and purification of some. Smelting silver ore is a radical process; purifying sinners is a radical process demanding the death of self! But when the purification has been accomplished, the beauty and utility of the finished product is well worth enduring the crucible. The promises given in Isaiah 1:26-27 are not that of mere restoration of physical conditions, but the introduction of new conditions that never, in their fullest sense, prevailed before. There may be some temporary reference to the restoration of the Jewish commonwealth after the exile, but this restored commonwealth was only typical of the Messianic kingdom to come, so that the fundamental meaning of the prophecy is that there will come a time, typified by the former reign of David (righteousness and justice) in which true righteousness and justice will be found, namely, the Messianic Age (Cf. Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11:1-9 ff; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Ezekiel 34:23-24, etc). This purifying reign of justice and righteousness would be accomplished by the redemption wrought through Jesus Christ (Cf. Luke 1:67-79; Acts 13:34-40; Titus 2:11-14). The converts of Zion are Christians, both Jew and Gentile, of the N.T. Church.

Isaiah 1:28-31 REPROBATION: The doom of the apostates. They will reap what they have sownthey will be paid shameful, confounding, condemning wages for their shameful, confounding, condemning deeds (Cf. Romans 6:20-23; Galatians 6:7-9; Romans 1:18-32, etc.). Those who turn to dumb idols will one day be brought face to face with the brutal reality that their false gods are dumb, impotent and uselessand they will be ashamed. The oak groves where they set up idols to worship would incriminate them in their shameful apostacyplaces they would like to forget when God's judgment begins to fall. The nation would be seared and withered by the heat of God's wrath as well as by their own spiritual starvation. They would not be like a tree planted by the water (Psalms 1:1-6). They would be as the tow (the coarse and broken part of flax) used for burning. All of man's strengthwhether intellectual or physicalwill be consumed and disappear as rapidly as tow when God's judgment breaks out. This judgment is much more than the exile and captivity. The sin, spiritual in nature, if not forgiven, will be rewarded with spiritual punishmenteternal punishment in Hell.

QUIZ

1.

Why is God justified in condemning impenitent sinners?

2.

What does God's judgment work upon those who trust Him?

3.

What is the goal or fulfillment in the ultimate sense of the promises of Zion's redemption? Prove it!

4.

Who are Zion's converts?

5.

What is the destiny of the enemies of God?

6.

How helpful is the strength of man's intellectual abilities when the wrath of God begins to fall?