The third section of Isaiah (24-35) has taken a broad perspective on the end of the days. In particular, this last time – the consummation of the ages – carries both judgment and salvation as God completes his plan to form a new heavens and earth through the Messiah to build a people who will truly worship Him. God’s glory will be recognized in the end on heaven and on earth. This plan of redemption begins with a reminder that God is the judge of all and will judge all. His hand is raised to judge the sin of man, the sin that has affected the land He created. The question for the reader is whether that hand is raised in discipline for a son or as punishment for one who is not a son. In other words, God starts with the bad news of where we are to begin the good news of what is coming.
The common hope for Israel and the nations has been the promise to David’s throne – the promise also received by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God communicates this hope through His word. It is by God word, especially His word through Moses, that God sent Isaiah to Israel. He delivered a message that they would not hear, even though they heard it. Israel’s half-hearted response to the word, however, will not undermine God’s divine plan. No, God’s judgment for their rejection is a sealing of the word until the proper time as we noticed in last week’s post. The author is not through with this notion and its role in God’s grand design.
Is 30:8 (ESV) And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.
This very word becomes a witness against the people it was designed to help. These rebellious sons (30:9) will not listen to God and will instruct the prophets to speak to them only nice things (30:10, 11). God, however, has a plan for such a wanton rejection of Him: a renewal of the offer of mercy after the judgment.
While you and I would expect the context to direct us to an unending judgment, God turns to hope by urging those who have rejected Him, to seek Him now:
Is 30:15a (ESV) For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
Is 30:18 (ESV) Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
For those who repent and rest in God, His grace awaits. For those who recognize God’s majesty, and submit to Him, He will show them compassion.
The Lord calls out to Zion for repentance (30:19) and explains that God will continue to renew His message to them and that they will hear it one day. Their suffering (30:20) will be countered by change of heart so that they may hear (30:21) their Teacher, even claiming that they will hear God’s guidance. At that time, they will vanquish their idols (30:22) and He will bind up and heal His people (30:26).
As the nations have tempted Israel to worship idols, so He will come against the present Zion to wage war (31:4b). God will bring woe to those in Israel and to the nations so that they may call upon Him for life:
Is 31:6, 7 (ESV) Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel. For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.
What will prompt man to put away his idols? The vision of the king will be seen, heard, and understood.
Is 32: 1 (ESV) Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice.
Is 32:3, 4 (ESV) Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention. The heart of the hasty will understand and know, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
The author returns to this vision of the king in chapter 33. After having described judgment in the first half of the chapter, the author turns to address the reader again in 33:13. Both readers near (those in Israel) and those readers far (in the nations) should heed the promise of God’s coming judgment.
Is 33:13 (ESV) Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
In response to the knowledge of God’s plan of judgment the sinners in Zion tremble (33:14). Can anyone stand before God’s judgment? Only the one who walks righteously can stand in the judgment (33:15, 16). And who might he be? The author answer that question by returning to the vision of the king:
Is 33:17 (NASB) Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will behold a far-distant land.
The vision of the King – the same king we learned about throughout this section, the second section and even in chapters 7, 8, and 9 – will be seen by your eyes. Your eyes will see the king and your eyes will behold a far-distant land. In this brief line of the poem an important comparison is being made. This king is being compared to this land. As the author linked man’s sin to his land earlier in the book, this good and righteous king is linked to a good land. But, what is this land in view that your eyes will see?
Now, I think there are two options here and both ultimately point away from the physical location of Jerusalem. Please recognize that this far-distant land involves a Hebrew word (“marchoqim”) that is intentionally similar to the word for the far-away gentiles in 33:13a (those far away “rechoqim” 33:13a). As such, the first option is that this line could be linking this King to the return from the exile. That as the people will return from the lands of the nations to worship, so too will this king come from the lands of the nations to worship. It’s a good reading, especially when you consider 35:10.
However, I think (and taught today in our limited time) that there is another word-play possibly at work. This King is clearly from the line of David as the rest of the book has expressed. As the book has spoken of an Israel (a people) unlike the Israel of that day and a Jerusalem (place) different from the Jerusalem of that day, it may be that this king is depicted as coming from a far-distant land that is heaven where the King’s rule is already visible (chapter 6). Now, before you shake your head, consider the Lord ’s Prayer. The prayer is that things will be in heaven as on earth. Indeed, the hope of our life is that the visible rule of the Lord Jesus Christ will be made manifest before the eyes of all in the earth in the end. In the end, both heaven and earth will worship Jesus – every knee will bow – so that we must ask why the far-distant land is mentioned. It is to set-up a contrast with the Jerusalem and Zion of that day, to the one that is coming in the new heavens and earth. It is to contrast the sons of David who rule with foolishness in that day with the wisdom and power of the Son of David who is coming. Moses designed the tabernacle based on the pattern in heaven. Isaiah behold the Lord in a temple that was in heaven. Thus, perhaps, this verse suggests that the King is coming from the distant heaven to establish the rule of God upon the earth and overturn the curse for the glory of God.
With either solution you have a Messiah-King coming who will rule and brings God’s kingdom and peace to rest upon Zion and the world. The main point is that the focus of hope and life is found in this king. He is the controlling image, He is the focus. Everything is changed by His presence. Evil will be overturned and the good restored because He is just. He will bring a people with Him and they will rule as princes with Him. Indeed God will move from a day of vengeance (34:8) to a day of rejoicing (35:10). The author of Isaiah encourages us to read this hope in the beginning pages of the Torah (Is 34:16, 17). God’s re-creation will be by His Spirit as the first creation was, each according to its kind. The wilderness will be changed and blossom (35:1, 2). The creation will be new and different. The author stands upon the edge of this vision and declares to us all that the words that Israel rejected would be the words of life for those who would become God’s sons.
Is 35:2b-6a (ESV) They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy
Those who have believed the word will return to Jerusalem, safe and secure. They will be different, changed by their king.
Is 35:10 (ESV) And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
The author finishes this section of the book with the real hope found in a Messiah for the blessing of His people. God’s plan of salvation, the path of judgment and salvation, points to the promises to David for all of the world. God promises that those who humble themselves and seek Him will find Him in a real joy that will never end. The question for us is whether we believe this promise. If we believe that He holds out real joy for us, can any of the problems of the world deter us? The evidence that we believe is that we do not allow the world to deter us from this hope. My prayer for you and for me is that we would not lose sight of His precious promises. Amen and amen.
3 Comments
April 28, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Pete – i have a question for you regarding Gen. 2:15 – when God put man in the garden and told him to “work” and “keep” it. Sailhammer translates those words as “worship/serve” and “obey.” (I think due to the way they are used in all other OT instances).
1. Is this a newer translation that only Sailhammer brings out? (haven’t seen that in other commentaries) Or is “work” and “keep” the more mainstream interpretation?
2. If woman is created as man’s helper (2:18) in
his task to “work”, then does this interpretation of work as “worship” change her role at all? (ie: complementarian arguments hinge on man as the predominant provider and woman as the helper in the home). Just wondering if this interpretation alters that perspective.
I’m writing a paper and trying not be ‘heretical’ or anything.
Thank you!
April 28, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Melissa, great question.
The reason why Sailhamer and many others prefer understanding the term as worship in Gen 2:15 is because there appears to be a connection between the garden and the tabernacle. More specifically, the tabernacle is a “new garden” with a “priest” who should do this same work as Adam. Compare Number 3:7, 8; 8:26, 18:7. In Gen 2:15 the man’s work is work as a “priest” also. In other words, his work is to worship God. The interpretive decision is less about the word, per se, but whether the tabernacle and the priesthood are being linked back to this text. Thus, I would say that the man’s work was to worship God and that the woman was his helper in this regard.
To worship is a broader understanding than just the work of gardening, but the principle is still the same. The key for me is the relationship in the roles. She is his helper in the work (Gen 2:18, 20). I think that our complementarian positions are still intact because the role of helper is being related to the work given to the man.
At any rate, I think that the question has more to do with translation rather than just meaning. The words in use have a wide semantic range so that the answer has to be provided by the context. In other words, the translation of this word is not a hill to die on, but a lot of the Torah makes sense if the connection between the tabernacle and the garden is happening.
It’s a great question … I hope that this helps.
April 29, 2009 at 8:44 pm
thanks pete – that is what I needed. It makes perfect sense when you think of the link between the garden as precursor to the tabernacle and then the NT fulfillment of the ‘people of God’ as a royal priesthood of living stones. Thanks for the clarification!
Comments are closed.