A COMPLETE REVERSAL.
Isaiah 29:17-24.
ISAIAH 29:17 a). The “little while” gives us the divine perspective of history (cf. Isaiah 26:20). The Apostle Peter instructs us to remember ‘that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day’ (cf. 2 Peter 3:8). What we see here is that it is the LORD who is always in control in the unfolding of events.
ISAIAH 29:17 b). In his mind’s eye Isaiah could see Lebanon as stripped of its cedar trees by the Assyrian invader (cf. Isaiah 10:34), but here he foresees its restoration (ISAIAH 29:17). This stood as a metaphor for the ultimate deliverance of Israel (cf. Isaiah 32:15).
Lebanon also stands here as a picture of the whole Gentile world: ‘without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world’ (cf. Ephesians 2:12). But there was a complete reversal coming: “Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest” (ISAIAH 29:17). This second metaphor began to be worked out when the Jewish leaders rejected their Messiah, and the ‘kingdom of God’ was given (by Jesus) to a people ‘bringing forth the fruits thereof’ (cf. Matthew 21:43).
ISAIAH 29:18. “In that day” = after the ‘little while.’ When the gospel would be preached to the Gentiles, the hitherto spiritually deaf would hear the words that were sealed to the unbelieving Jews (cf. Isaiah 29:11). And the hitherto spiritually “blind” would see things which Israel could not, and WOULD ‘see, hear, understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed’ (cf. Isaiah 6:10).
ISAIAH 29:19. The gospel is not for the haughty, the high and mighty, but for “the meek” (cf. Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 61:1; Matthew 5:5), and “the poor” (cf. Matthew 11:5-6). The “joy” which they enjoy is described here as “joy in the LORD.” It is a ‘fruit of the Spirit’ (cf. Galatians 5:22-23). It is the ‘joy unspeakable and full of glory’ experienced by believers in our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Peter 1:8).
ISAIAH 29:20. “The terrible one (singular)” may equate with ‘that Wicked’ in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 - i.e. ‘the man of sin’ (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:3). Isaiah 29:5 speaks of ‘the terrible ones (plural), being ‘as chaff that passes away.’ “The scorner” equates with the rulers in Jerusalem (cf. Isaiah 28:14). All are brought to nought, consumed and cut off!
ISAIAH 29:21. These men made themselves enemies to Isaiah, ‘watching for iniquity’ in his “word,” making incoherent (“a thing of nought”) accusations against him. In like manner dealt the Pharisees with Jesus, seeking to ‘entangle Him in His talk’ (cf. Matthew 22:15)!
ISAIAH 29:22 a). Thus says the LORD “who redeemed Abraham” (cf. Joshua 24:2-3). Abraham is ‘the father of the faithful’ (cf. Romans 4:11; Romans 4:16).
ISAIAH 29:22 b). There is a prophecy here that “Jacob shall not now be ashamed.” Jacob is here personified as watching over the fortunes of his descendants, much as is Rachel in Jeremiah 31:15. The patriarch has had reason enough to blush at the behaviour of the Jews in Isaiah’s day, and will in Jesus’ day, but that situation was being reversed.
To be fair, there have been times during the church era when Jacob may well have been deeply ashamed of how his spiritual descendants have behaved – especially towards his physical descendants. Read Romans 11:17-21.
ISAIAH 29:23 a). Jacob “seeth” his children, “the work of (God’s) hands” in the midst of him. Paul says of Christians that we are ‘His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works’ (cf. Ephesians 2:10). We are grafted into Israel, but Paul also envisages the possibility of the ingrafting anew of Jewish believers (cf. Romans 11:23).
ISAIAH 29:23 b). “They shall sanctify my name: they shall even sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.” Such promises belong to the end times in which we are living (cf. Hosea 3:5).
ISAIAH 29:24. “They also that erred in spirit” (cf. Isaiah 29:10) shall come to a true spiritual “understanding” in the things of God. They that “murmured” against Him “shall learn doctrine:” i.e. the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us continue to pray for the salvation of Israel (cf. Romans 10:1).
