Isaiah, Chapter 26

Last week we looked at the first two chapters in general, and this week we'll look at the last two. The part we'll be looking at this morning is designed as part of a song. It's specifically called a song. And so we'll be rocking our way through Isaiah 26. Now I want to clarify some things here. When I say rocking our way, that's easy to get confused.

We're not talking about anything that has to do with Buddy Holly. And if you don't know who Buddy Holly is, that's just fine. Anyway, we're not talking about anything with rocking chairs or anything of that sort. That's not what we mean either. Okay? We're not talking about anybody getting stoned or, you know, stoned. Nothing of that sort.

And what Isaiah had in mind was a really big, solid, massive rock. That's what he was talking about. And that he used as a metaphor, as we'll see shortly. We'll be rocking our way through Isaiah 26, and the entire chapter tells about God's judgments that are to come upon the nations, starting with a song.

This description of the word nations is, as we pointed out in the past in the Greek version of the Old Testament, it's ethnos, from which we get our word ethnic. These judgments will be during the coming seven-year tribulation period, a period of judgment yet to come upon the earth. God gives, however, in the midst of this, a certain hope to Israel. By certain, I don't mean a particular hope, I mean a hope with assurance, a hope with absolute certainty, that kind of certain hope. Here are some of those specifics.

Isaiah 26.19 tells about the resurrection of the saved of Israel. Now, here is what it says, it says, your dead will live, their corpses will rise, you who lie in the dust awake and shout for joy, for your due is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits. Now, what's that talking about here? This is a hope of resurrection for the Jews.

Some people have noted that Passages in the Old Testament don't offer as specific a hope of resurrection as we do have in the New Testament for those who are in the church. However, there are passages that do that. This is a specific promise of resurrection, and notice in the very first part of the chapter, it's your dead that is being focused upon here.

There are, across from where the temple was, the Mount of Olives, a great number of Jewish graves. They were put there in anticipation of the Messiah coming, landing with his feet on the Mount of Olives at that point in time, the Jews resurrecting. And so the Jews, in anticipation of the Messiah coming and putting his feet upon the Mount of Olives, had their dead buried on the Mount of Olives. They say, what better place to be when the Messiah comes? This is an afterlife kind of hope that is specific to the Jews and they can count upon it and believe.

The dew of the dawn here, you might wonder, what's that all about? It was a Middle Eastern figure of speech pointing to a resurrection, resurrection power. That's what it's talking to. At times, dew was the only way to sustain life. And so that's why the picture of the dew is used here and was used as a figure of speech among the Hebrews and other people of the Middle East to point to the resurrection. So it's not just a random, stray, poetic line in there. It means something. This is the refreshing and life-supporting dew that it's referring to. So, we have this question that comes up.

By New Testament times, there were two leading groups in Israel, other groups to be sure, but two leading groups, and they had different views on a future resurrection. The Pharisees said, yes, thumbs up, we believe in the resurrection. Paul brought that up, Acts 23, when he stood before the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

The Sadducees said, absolutely not, no way, no how, not going to happen. They believed, believe it or not, they believed that when this life is over, even if you obey God and are faithful to the end, when this life is over, that's it. You're done. Okay? That was the Sadducees' belief. The skeptical Romans said, okay, they didn't care. Alright, now, the question is, is there a resurrection or not?

Jesus encountered the Pharisees and the Sadducees on this point, and as Jesus talked to the Sadducees, he proved, because the Sadducees only believed in the first five books, the ones you could count on five thumbs, he proved to them from Exodus that there was a resurrection. Absolutely silenced them, and the Pharisees took note of that.

You can see that account in Luke chapter 20. Here's another instance, Job 19, 25-27. This is amazing. The two verses right before this, he says, Oh, that my words were written. Guess what? They are. As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. Isn't that neat?

Here's a guy, Job, he's going through lots of distress, but he says, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, he will take his stand upon the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, mine already is, yet from my flesh I shall see God. Even after my skin is gone, I shall see God, whom I myself shall behold, whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart fades within me." He says, I can't wait for the time.

It grabs me. I'm looking forward to it. Isn't that something? Job lived about 4,000 years ago. This is phenomenal insight into what's going to happen. This stand, take a stand, means to act as judge. That's Ezekiel 44, 24. You've got that on your hand out there. And you can also look at other passages that we've got noted here in Daniel 12 and others that make reference to the phrase, or similar ones, gathered to his people or to your people, which implies you're gathered to somebody, not just ended. That phrase shows up repeatedly, guess where?

In the books that were the only books that Sadducees believed in. Okay. Have you ever heard this question? What would you do if you knew you only had blank left to live? Ever heard that? Probably shows up in one of those little games that you play and you get a little draw a card, you know, and you're supposed to answer that.

Different circumstances. But the idea with that is that perhaps, given some shortened period of time and knowing when your life is over, that you'd live somehow differently. And so the question is usually posed to see how would you live out that limited, known last period of time.

What Scripture asks us to do is like this question with a real twist. What would you do knowing that you will be with Christ and in Christ for eternity? What will you do differently knowing that? That's what scripture asks. Now, let's finish rocking our way through chapter 26. God also gives the people of Israel a certain hope.

We went through Isaiah 26.19 about the resurrection. Now verses 20 and 21 give the people of Israel a key to surviving this coming tribulation period. Interesting. Notice that Israel is given, not only in this passage, but others, pieces of insight and guidance. Here's how you survive the tribulation period. Israel is given that information. We are not. Israel has been given the details. Here's how you do it. So that's what verses 20 and 21 address for Israel.

The church is told they will not go through the tribulation period. Instead, We are not addressed in terms of, here's how you get through the tribulation, but here's how you are to live through the tribulations. Different subject altogether. And multiple times the Church is told, here is how you go through tribulations.

Here's God's intent. You see, the difference is all in how one is blessed. That's the difference. The Gentiles are blessed by blessing Israel. That's pulled all the way back in Genesis. Israel is blessed by obeying God, and that blessing, in both the case of the Gentiles and the Jews, is this, favorable outward circumstances. Favorable outward circumstances.

Multiple places, we'll give you some passages there, you can check that out. Remember, always check me out. Don't believe anything I tell you, right? You have to spend at least 80 hours a week cross-checking me on all this stuff. The church is already blessed, both heavenly and unconditionally.

Ephesians 1.3. Blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Already done deal. Completely. The greater heavenly glory comes from, guess what?

Unfavorable earthly circumstances. So you get your choice, sort of. You either are a Jew or a Gentile, you are blessed conditionally if, based on what you do, based on your faith and trust in the Lord, you are blessed conditionally in good earthly circumstances. In the church, you already are given your blessings. It's a done deal. And, not only are blessings assured, but unfavorable earthly circumstances are assured."

Isn't that great? Alright, let's take a look at that one. Here's Isaiah 26, 3 and 4, "...but the steadfast of mind you will keep in perfect peace, because He trusts in you." Let's get into our passage here. It's a question when you look at these verses, which eyes do we have? Godly Jewish readers in Isaiah's day and during the coming end times, both of those, will read this passage differently than biblically minded Christians. They'll see the same passage and see different things in it.

It's because of how each one is blessed. What do I mean by that? Godly Jews view themselves as in the land of Israel. I'm going to be blessed, the godly Jew would say. I'm going to be blessed in the land of Israel, protected by God, because I trust Him and obey Him. That's how the godly Jews are going to view it.

The church believers, however, will see this as a state of mind and heart that means trusting in God right through the midst of the trial. Not preserved from any trouble, but preserved in the midst of the trouble. Not just preserved in spite of the trouble, but right through it, right in the midst of it. Israel was told, Deuteronomy 28, and this goes through the first 14 verses, but we've quoted here just the first three. Notice the first line. If. If. And then, all these blessings will come upon you. If. That's Israel's blessings. If. 2 Chronicles 7, 13, and 14.

This is one that is frequently quoted for Christians. And this is one you've probably seen. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, if I command the locusts to devour our land, if I send pestilence among my people, you probably haven't heard that one, but this one you almost certainly have. Verse 14, and my people, frequently quoted, if my people, who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear them from heaven, forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Do you want to claim that? It's not for you.

This verse was spoken by God to Solomon, who was king of Israel at the time, and the first verse that we quote there, verse 13, is about the last half of Deuteronomy, verses 15 through 68, the curses, and draws as a summary from the curses. Verse 14, the one that frequently is quoted among Christians, is the conditional blessings. If you respond, if you have faith in me, then this will happen. This is about Israel.

It's not a promise to the church. You'll find lots of things, even in Christian bookstores and online, things of that sort, that are sold to Christians and given to Christians with the idea that we're somehow supposed to claim this. It's not given to Christians. We are not conditionally blessed We are not cursed as Israel for failing. We're entirely under grace. We are blessed already. Here is an example. The Sermon on the Mount is Jewish. Here's a good for instance. Matthew 6, 14 and 15.

For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. You forgive first. then your Heavenly Father will forgive you. But what if you don't? But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your trespasses.

Ever seen that? This is the Sermon on the Mount. It was presented to Jews. Why is it given this way? That is exactly the way the blessings are given to Israel. If you obey, if you trust, if you forgive, then you get the blessings. Here is the traditional location of the Sermon on the Mount, shown in the larger photo there. But the Church isn't blessed conditionally, as Israel was, or will be.

Ephesians 4.32, Be kind to one another, written to the Church at Ephesus, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

He already has forgiven you, it's a done deal, and you forgive in response to the way you've been forgiven, not if. It's not, has the Father forgiven you? Well, have you forgiven somebody else? No. It's, you forgive because the Lord has already forgiven you. That's not the way the Jews got it.

Ephesians 1.3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has, past tense, blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Okay, here's the passage here.

The steadfast of mind and because he trusts in you. Being steadfast of mind is not just being bull-headed and stubborn, okay? It's not just having a one-track mind. The idea is steadfastly trusting in the Lord. That's what he's laying on there. Steadfastly trusting the Lord. Continuing to trust the Lord. That's what the perfect peace is all about that he's talking about here. It's not what he means by steadfast here. Not steadfastly stuck.

Now, I have to ask the question, are you seeing double? You see double? That's good actually. Just want to make sure, just want to check here because it's important that I know whether you see double. And the reason is this, steadfast of mind you will keep in perfect peace. We look at that and that is the English is perfect peace.

The Hebrew, however, has something surprisingly different. It's shalom, shalom. It's double peace. And it's because of the Hebrew way of saying things. Remember when we studied Isaiah chapter 6, speaking of the Lord's character, what was said? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Duplicating the name, it puts emphasis on it.

That's what's happening here. He's saying, not just peace, but boy, peace, peace. Real peace. Shalom, shalom. That's what he's laying out here. So you've got that on your handout. Remember, the Hebrew goes from right to left. Peace, peace. That's what he means when he says, perfect peace, it's peace, peace. Peace that is genuine. Peace that's double peace. Not perfect peace. Okay, now.

So we have a big question that runs through Isaiah chapter 7, and actually I'm sneaking this up on you, I have to apologize. I've waited all this time to tell you, and now I've got to get it out to you, okay? From chapter 7 to chapter 39, that whole length, the question before the people of Judah is, will Judah trust the Lord? That's the question. That's what I've been keeping from you. I'm sorry. Will Judah trust the Lord? That's the question.

That's the question back when Isaiah was talking face to face with Ahaz. When Isaiah was talking to him and Ahaz wouldn't believe, that's when he gave the promise, Behold, a virgin shall bear a son. The question was still, will you trust in the Lord? The question now is, will you trust in the Lord? The question as we proceed all the way through chapter 39 is, will you trust in the Lord? Major overriding question. The Lord had told the Jews, that if, remember here's the if, if they would trust and obey he would totally protect them physically.

Have you got ominous enemies around you? Have you got scary guys around you? Have they got massive overwhelming armies that any sane person should be afraid of? Not a problem if you just trust me. So here is Israel They had a conditional blessing. If you will trust me, I will keep you absolutely safe and the biggest, monstrous, scariest enemy will not touch you. You won't be bothered, they'll be afraid of you. They would dwell in security and prosper in the land. Multiple promises of how that would happen. If, if, if they would trust the Lord.

Is the enemy really, really strong? Doesn't matter. Do they have scary armaments? Not a big deal. Not a problem. So why would a Jew have inexplicable confidence in the Lord? Not a problem. Line up as many and as big an enemy as you want. Because He trusts in you. That's it. It doesn't matter how many German shepherds are lined up, okay?

Because He trusts in you. Notice that this perfect peace, the peace peace, the double peace, is not because the one doing the trusting is really strong. It's not because He says, I've got a trick up my sleeve that they don't know about. It's simply and purely because He trusts in the Lord. And it's for that and that only. The Lord is one who keeps His promises. The Lord says, don't worry about them. If you will trust and obey me, these guys won't be a problem. Now, let's look at the last part of verse 3 and into verse 4 here.

This is kind of a summary observation we need to make. It is ultimately important to keep on target. People in this world will search for peace in any form. Have you noticed that? They will try all kinds of things to bring peace. They will ingest things. They will inject things. They will inject themselves into situations. They will eject themselves out of situations. They will do all kinds of things to search for peace, to find peace.

But notice that what this says is, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you. The focus is not the peace. The trust is not in the peace. The trust is in the Lord. The peace is a by-product. The focus is always on the person, not the peace. Trusting God is not like taking peace pills, okay? You can't just take some all-trust-God pills and make it work. Trust in the Lord? How long? How long do I trust in the Lord?

Ever had anybody that said, oh, I tried that Christianity stuff, it doesn't work. My guess is they didn't try it. What they did is they took it like the peace pills. They said, no, it doesn't work. Well, you don't trust in the Lord as a, this is something I'll try because I want peace and ultimately that's what counts. No. It's trust in the Lord because He is trustworthy, because of who He is, because of your relationship with Him. That's why. How long do you trust in the Lord? Isaiah here says, trust him forever. Why?

Time is no limitation upon God. God's not saying, oh my heavens, how am I going to help Vernon time? God's not saying, oh my lands, I forgot. Ever been in a time crunch? God's not driving down the freeway at 120 miles an hour trying to catch up with a commitment that he made. The Lord will do it. He's not constrained by time.

Here's Psalm 90 verse 2. Before the mountains were born, or you gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Before any of that stuff ever came about, from eternity past into eternity future, you're God. That's the kind of God we're talking about. Psalm 103, 17, but the loving kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him and his righteousness to children's children. It's not just that the Lord existed before the physical world, but his existence from eternity past to eternity future has to do with relationship, personal relationship.

God created the heavens and the earth, but he sent his son not to die for a rock out there. but for you and me." Jesus was speaking to the Jews who were opposing Him, and He said to them, truly, truly, I think He meant truly, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.

I am the self-existing one. I am the one who dwells in the eternal present. That time before the earth was created, that's right now to me, He says. Before Abraham was born, that's right now. Right now is right now. And that time when I am with the church and I've brought them home face to face to be with me, that's right now too. Before Abraham was born, it's right now.

There is nothing that is either outside or inside of time that would change who God is and what He will do. There isn't something that's going to happen as the sands of time go through the hourglass that's going to make God say, whoop, I just forgot something. Or, you know, after having that for breakfast, I think I'll change my mind and do this differently.

God does not change. Trust in the Lord forever because neither His mind nor His character will ever change. We can count upon Him to be who He is and to say what he is going to do, and to do it. Malachi 3, 6, For I, the Lord, do not change. Or James 1, 17, Every good thing given, and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. He does not change. We can count on him. No Lucy and Charlie incidents with the football. God doesn't go, and now the ball is up in the air.

Hebrews 1, and I know we've got a couple of Bible studies that have recently gone through this. 10 through 12, I'll just focus on a couple of verses there. Verse 11, they will perish, all the works of your hands, but you remain. You're still there. This earth will have a time when it's done. God won't. Verse 12 in the middle, it says, and they will be changed, but you are the same.

Trust in the Lord because trusting in anyone or anything else above Him is always just nuts. Crazy. Anything else is spiritual insanity. When you have a Lord who has made a promise to you that He intends to keep forever on things that He has accomplished in eternity past and set in place to be true into eternity future, a God who does not change, who knows absolutely everything, a God who is not surprised, trusting in anything or anyone else above our trust in Him. Just as crazy, isn't it? In the end, what do we see? For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting rock. This call to trust is specifically in the Lord Himself.

Nothing and no one else. It's not conceptual. It's not intellectual. It's not academic. It's real life. Real world. It's personal. It's Him. We don't just trust in the church. We don't trust in the stuff I do. We don't trust in the stuff I fail to do. We trust in Him. Pure, plain, and simple.

This metaphor that calls God the rock is one that we see throughout the Bible. What he has in mind there is a massive, solid rock. Unchanging. Unmoving. Solid. Deuteronomy 32 puts this, where I proclaim the name of our Lord, ascribe greatness to our God, the rock. His work is perfect, solid, unchanging, massive. Isaiah 44, 8, which we'll get to in some weeks. Do not tremble and do not be afraid. Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me or is there any other rock? I know of none. solid. But Holly Hills, we have a problem. Okay. So the question is, what's the problem? This promise of physical protection that Israel had from its enemies and to make the people prosperous, because that's the other part of Deuteronomy 28, verse 14 verses. This was a promise of blessing to Israel. It was given specifically to Israel.

It might seem really nice for us to be able to make a promise from God that, oh, you will always be healthy. The Lord will heal all your diseases. It might be nice to be able to promise that, but guess what? We don't get that. Israel gets it as a conditional blessing. Israel gets that, but they're blessed if we are blessed absolutely, not if, but we don't get this promise. We have other promises.

The Gentiles are blessed by blessing Israel. We brought that up before. Israel is blessed by obeying God with that blessing seen as a favorable earthly circumstance. But the church is already blessed, both heavenly and unconditionally. Done deal. The greater heavenly glory, as we pointed out, comes from the unfavorable circumstance. A radical difference. A radical expectation. Many people run into huge problems because they expect that it's God's job to protect them and keep them from having hassles in life. That that's God's job. For the church, that's not God's job. The truth is, if that's God's job, how would you vote that He's doing? Anybody had a hassle-free life so far? No problems at all? You've all had your diseases all taken care of just fine, right? The Lord took care of them? Not even any doctors or hospital visits?

Funny how that doesn't work out, right? No. It's because the Lord intends for greater heavenly glory from those unfavorable circumstances, as opposed to, with Israel, having a promise, they obeyed and trusted Him, not to have these unfavorable circumstances. So the question is, what does God want? Alright, if the Lord is going to put me through these unfavorable circumstances, what does He have in mind? Well, when, and not if, we come across the various unfavorable circumstances that God has told us about, James 1, 2 would be a good one, He wants us to, and I want you to get this, He wants us to, get this, trust Him.

Wait a minute. If Israel trusts that everything's great, their circumstances are wonderful. How come I don't get that? I'm trusting the Lord. How come things went south on me? Lord, I prayed for hours last night. I read the Bible I got this morning and now I have four flat tires. Man, what's going on? I got on the freeway and it was just a mess. But Lord, I prayed.

I trusted You. Our inclination is often to think that our blessings should be like Israel's. No. Not at all. God asked Israel to trust Him, and then He would bless them. Good earthly circumstances. With us, we've already been blessed in the heavenly. It's a guaranteed, done deal. And He asks us to trust Him while going through the bad circumstances. Oh, and the good ones too.

2 Corinthians 1, 8, and 9, Paul's writing to the church at Corinth, and what does he say? We do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.

Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. Trust in who? Trust in ourselves, not but in God who raises the dead. Trust in the Lord. 2 Thessalonians, similar message. By the way, this is a very young church. This is a church who is getting this letter not too long after the church had been founded. I'll start in verse 4.

Therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. Faith. Perseverance. In the midst of the afflictions. Not faith that you won't have any. Faith in the midst of. So, what about the peace? Man, if I get all these hassles, where's the peace going to come from?

If the people of Israel would trust God, then they would have peace because the Lord would give them good circumstances, and plus the Lord was trustworthy and faithful. They could put confidence in Him. They would have favorable outward circumstances. God promised it. For the believer, we can count upon unfavorable outward circumstances here on earth. Isn't that wonderful? In which, by the Lord's doing, we can have peace that this world doesn't even begin to understand.

Israel's ultimate hope for peace, we looked at here in Isaiah 9, 6, and 7, the Prince of Peace will come, the Messiah, the Jews' Messiah, He will come. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace. When I talked to my My Jewish rabbi friend, Rabbi Yossi, he said that they expect for this Prince of Peace to come. He will be the son of David. He's not sure it's the second coming. But he's looking forward to that peace from the Messiah reigning.

The Christian believer's peace, here we see in Colossians 3.15, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. That word means like an umpire. Call the shots. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called into one body, and be thankful."

Wait, in the middle of the trial? In the midst of the trial and the hassle? Yeah, that. Here's Philippians 4, 6, and 7, which we studied a few years ago. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything... Wait, wait, wait. Everything? Here's some of that stuff. That's going to be awful tough. Yeah, everything.

Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. We have living examples of this right now. For example, we have, which passes all comprehension.

That's precisely what Hal gets to demonstrate. Again, starting tomorrow. The people there who are on staff and supposed to comfort people have just no idea how it is that Hal could be peaceful in the midst of this. How he could be rejoicing in the midst of this trial. It is absolutely baffling. That's exactly what Paul's talking about.

I believe I've told you once where I was taking a flight between San Francisco and Palm Springs one time. It was a smaller prop plane like this. And it was an extremely stormy ride. I would have to say almost everybody in the plane was screaming. It was that wild ride. The gal to my right turned to me and said, why aren't you screaming? And it is that inexplicable peace. It's a peace that this world has no comprehension of. That's what he's talking about.

So, what have you got that can be entrusted into the Lord's hands? Is your life right now a real balancing act? Have you got a lot going on? Is that a lot to be entrusted into the Lord's hand? Have you got maybe some studies or some work that has really got you occupied and challenged? Perhaps you can't get the kids to keep their hands off of things. Maybe that's your challenge, okay? Perhaps it's the finances. Perhaps it's the job that provides the finances or perhaps not having the job that doesn't provide the finances.

Whatever it is, those are all the sorts of things that the Lord is saying, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you. Let's pray. Lord, this is double peace. This is peace, peace. This is a peace this world doesn't comprehend. This is a peace that is not based on this world circumstances.

And in fact, we as believers have come to realize that it is not our expectation that God will keep us from all hassles. In fact, quite the contrary, but he'll keep us in the midst of every hassle. And Lord, we thank you that you are indeed faithful and that we can trust you. We can have that peace, peace because we trust in you. even when this world has not the slightest idea why we've got it. Thank you for that marvelous peace, because of your amazing grace. In Jesus' name, Amen.