TODAY'S TECHNOLOGY IN BIBLE PROPHECY
Lesson 22: Isaiah's guidelines on the steps God's people should
take to survive AWWI.
I The prophecy opens with a song of praise the Jews will sing
in the land of Judah during Christ's reign of peace.
1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and
ramparts (Isa. 26:1, NIV).
A The phrase "in that day this song will be sung in the
land of Judah" identifies the first thing to look for in
the prophecy's fulfillment--the return of the Jews to
their ancient dwelling place "in the land of Judah."
B The statement "God makes salvation its walls and
ramparts" means that God would direct the Jews return
and be the protector of His people in the place of walls
and fortifications.
C The complete fulfillment of the prophecy will occur when
Christ removes the need to defend the restored Jewish
State, the day He establishes His earthly reign of peace.
D The prophecy continues to list the praises that will be
sung upon Christ's return to Jerusalem.
12 LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have
accomplished you have done for us.
13 O LORD, our God, other lords besides you have ruled over
us, but your name alone do we honor.
14 They are now dead, they live no more; those departed
spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to
ruin; you wiped out all memory of them (Isa. 26:12-14, NIV).
A "In that day" of peace and safety the Jewish people will
praise God for all that He has done for them.
B They will give special thanks to God for His judgment of
all those who oppressed them in former times.
C They will not have to honor or even remember the evil
rulers who enjoyed injuring them in the past.
II Isaiah predicted that the restored nation's borders would
be extended.
15 You have enlarged the nation, O LORD; you have enlarged
the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have
extended all the borders of the land (Isa. 26:15, NIV).
A The borders of the restored Jewish nation are foretold
to be extended a considerable distance beyond the
boundaries of the original kingdom.
B Modern Israel has expanded its borders on more than one
occasion--1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982.
III Isaiah then reviewed the dark centuries of the Jews'
dispersion.
16 LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you
disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer
(Isa. 26:16, NIV).
17 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time
of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs;
so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.
18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have
as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any
deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of
the world fallen (Isa. 26:17-18).
A Here the song of praise shifts to the desperate condition
of the Jewish people during the days of the Babylonian
captivity and the succeeding centuries before they were
once again established as a nation in 1948.
1 During those centuries of calamity the people could
barely call to God for help.
2 The depth of their suffering is compared to that of a
woman crying out in pain as the time of her delivery
draws near.
B The Jews initial efforts, from time to time, to
re-establish their nation is further compared to a woman
who is too weak to deliver her child--"we have as it
were brought forth wind."
1 The Jews did not have the power to deliver their land
from the various pagan nations which ruled Palestine
after the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem.
2 Thus, the foreign inhabitants of the world did not
fall, but remained in control of the ancient land of
Israel until 1948.
IV The miraculous restoration of the Jewish nation foretold.
19 Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. O dwellers
in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For thy dew is a dew
of light, and on the land of the shades thou wilt let it
fall (Isa. 26:19, RSV).
A The statement, "thy dead shall live," continues the
allegorical description of the prostrate Jewish nation
under the imagery of dead men.
1 The introduction of this new imagery conveys the final
disposition of the vanquished Jews' efforts to give
birth to a restored Jewish state--their efforts
eventually died.
2 As the Jewish people moved from nation to nation, and
over time to the far corners of the world, active
movements to re-establish the nation of Israel died
out.
3 The Jews did not have a king, a government, or even a
homeland to return to for hundreds of years.
4 For all practical purposes they were a nation of dead
men.
B The purpose of the prophetic statement in the words "thy
dead shall live, their bodies shall rise," is to draw
attention to the striking future restoration of the
Jewish people to their original homeland.
C The twentieth century awakening of large numbers of Jews
from the dust and ashes of oppression in foreign nations
to return to the land of their forefathers, and their
subsequent successful bid to once again become a bonafide
nation among the nations, is certainly a remarkable
fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.
D As the dew that falls from heaven revives withered
plants in parched earth, so would the Spirit of God be
instrumental in bringing light to the land of the
shades, or shadows, the deceased nation of Israel.
E The prophecy, therefore, promises God's hand in restoring
to life and health the destroyed and dead nation of
Israel.
V Isaiah followed his review of the miraculous restoration
of the nation of Israel with an urgent message to the
people who will be living during the days when the
reinstated nation has "extended all the borders of the
land" (Isa. 26:15, NIV).
20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors
behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the
wrath is past (Isa. 26:20, RSV).
A The prophecy's abrupt opening: "Come, my people, enter
your chambers, and shut your doors behind you" awakens
God's people to the alarming speed with which an
overwhelming calamity is already approaching them.
B (Even though the prophecy was recorded over 27 centuries
ago, the day the nuclear generation awakens to its
meaning the danger will already be closing fast upon
them.)
C Note here that "enter your chambers" and "shut your doors
behind you" names the listener as the responsible party
for carrying out this directive.
D "Hide yourselves" also directs the listener to
personally implement these orders.
E The sum of this personalized possessive language
eliminates the possibility that this prophecy is a
reference to the supernatural rapture of the Church.
F The tone of the initial compelling call to attention,
therefore, clearly urges the audience to literally "hide
yourselves for a little while."
G The closing comment, "until the wrath is past," advises
the listener to stay hidden until the danger has passed
completely from the vicinity.
H How does closer inspection of the text reveal what the
alarming approaching danger might be?
1 The imagery of the prophecy is taken from the need to
quickly seek shelter from the face of a raging storm,
until its fury is spent.
2 Indignation is sometimes substituted for wrath here
which is a word that can mean fury, while the word
"past" in Hebrew literally means "passes over."
3 Thus, the general message of the text advises God's
people to quickly seek shelter in the face of a
future violent storm and to stay put until the full
fury of that storm literally "passes over" them.
4 The next verse identifies the nature of the coming
storm.
21 For behold, the LORD is coming forth out of his place to
punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and
the earth will disclose the blood shed upon her, and will
no more cover her slain (Isa. 26:21, RSV).
A "The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her, and
will no more cover her slain" is equivalent to Jeremiah's
graphic description of the vast numbers of dead left on
the ground after a global nuclear exchange:
33 "And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from
one end of the earth even unto the other end of the
earth: They shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor
buried; they shall be dung upon the ground" (Jer. 25:33).
B Thus, the future storm God's people are exhorted to seek
shelter from will be a global atomic firestorm.
C The statement "the LORD is coming forth out of his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their
iniquity" identifies the heavens (the dwelling-place of
God) to be the direction from whence the atomic attack
will come.
D It does not mean that God himself will rain atomic fire
on the Earth's inhabitants.
VI What are the three main points of the Isaiah 26 prophecy?
A Even as the prophecy unexpectedly shifts to the command:
"Come, my people, enter your chambers," so will AWWI
arrive unexpectedly on the world scene.
B The day the nuclear generation awakens to the prophecy's
meaning, AWWI will already be closing fast upon them.
C The prophecy teaches that Christians should prepare for
AWWI in every way they can.