This chapter speaks of God’s displeasure toward Jews who turned to Egypt for help during the Assyrian campaign. Isaiah called the people of Judah and Jerusalem to trust the Lord but rather than retain a confidence in the Lord and seek a covering under God’s spiritual protection they placed their hope in men and in the flesh. Instead of resting in God their Saviour they tried to forge alliances and buy deliverance using their worldly wealth. Help from an old enemy? The princes and leaders of Judah sent ambassadors to Zoan and Hanes, cities in Egypt, to solicit Pharaoh’s help. As Sennacherib advanced from the north the wealthy took their riches and fled south on donkeys and camels to hide in Egypt. Isaiah labels this…

Ariel is a symbolic name for Jerusalem and is drawn from a word meaning ‘lion of God’, either for strength or victory. Sometimes Ariel is applied more specifically to the altar in the temple at Jerusalem. Then the inference is that the nation’s strength flowed from the true worship of God because divine acceptance is received through blood sacrifice. These ideas combine in the Lord Jesus who is both the Lion of the tribe of Juda for strength and the altar and sacrifice who won victory for His people at the cross. The curse of hypocrisy In our verses Isaiah implies that sacrifices in Jerusalem had become mere rituals. Now they brought woe, not blessing, upon the nation because they were no longer offered to…

Today we have a passage announcing judgment on Israel and Judah and some beautiful pictures of the Lord Jesus to bless the hearts of believers then and now. The apostles drew on these verses to encourage their own generation and their testimony still stands sure and firm. Our God has laid in Zion a chief corner stone ‘and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded’. A crown of pride Drunkenness is frequently denounced in scripture as a source of shame and a cause for judgment, so, too, is man’s sinful pride. Isaiah declares that Ephraim, used for the ten tribes of Israel, is guilty of both drunkenness and pride; sensual indulgence and abusing God’s kindness. The Lord is about to use Assyria, a…

Undoubtedly there are historical elements to these symbol-filled prophecies such as the return of Jewish captives from exile and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. However, for us, Isaiah is continuing to extol the blessings of the gospel day in which we live. He speaks both of the judgment of Christ’s enemies and the blessing of the church which is pictured here as a fruitful, well-tended vineyard. Leviathan is sometimes likened to a whale or a monstrous sea-serpent and is a type of the Satanic evil that exists to deceive the nations. Symbols of judgment and blessing Spiritualising these verses we may say that Satan’s kingdom is diminished and the sea dragon humbled each time a sinner is converted and brought to faith. Yet, it is the…

Isaiah repeatedly returns to the prospect of the coming day of the Lord, a day that will reveal God’s glory and vindicate the patience and perseverance of the Lord’s people. The day in view is the gospel day, an extended age beginning with the first coming of the Lord Jesus and culminating in the return of Christ in power to judge the world and bring His church into heavenly joy and peace. Isaiah foresaw this day and wrote of it to encourage and comfort the remnant of every age amid the challenges they face. Gospel expansion The opening verses of this chapter speak of the Lord gathering His church by the gospel and bringing His people into Zion, the city of God. ‘Open ye the…

This is a delightful passage full of gospel truth and containing many insights concerning the saving and keeping work of Jesus Christ. How blessed the Lord’s remnant people have been to have received, read and recalled these promises in their periods of trouble and fear. Long before Babylon and Rome ever rose in power to afflict the Jews or worry the church their destruction had been foretold. However, with the eye of faith it is Christ’s own glory we see shining in the chapter. Mt Zion, the church The ‘Lord’s mountain’ is a type of the redeemed church of Christ. Sometimes Isaiah calls it Mt Zion or the mountain of the Lord’s house. Sometimes it is described as a high mountain for the lofty esteem…