Isaiah 27

God’s purpose in punishing Israel was to purify the remnant that remained. In verse 9, Isaiah says that by this (warfare and exile) Israel’s guilt will be atoned for¹²⁴—that is, the surviving Israelites will repent, turn back to God, and receive forgiveness. The full fruitage (the evidence) of this repentance will show itself in the destruction of all pagan altars and idols in the land (verse 9). God had originally commanded the Israelites to destroy everything connected with pagan worship when they entered the promised land; but they failed to do so. Now, when they return from exile, they will carry out God’s command!

In verses 10–11, Isaiah describes the devastation of Israel that will take place during the Exile. The fortified city (all of Israel’s cities) will stand desolate and forsaken . . . For this is a people without understanding; so their Maker has no compassion on them. God did not show compassion to those Israelites who persisted in their idolatry and disobedience; He did, however, show compassion to those who repented.

12–13 In these verses, Isaiah again looks far ahead to the day of God’s final judgment. Isaiah pictures the entire promised land—from the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt (a dry river channel in northeastern Sinai)—as a giant “threshing floor,” on which God will thresh (judge) the nations that live there. The chaff will be swept away, but the pure grains will be gathered up; not one of God’s faithful ones will be missed. In this way, Israel will be purified, redeemed, restored.

Even God’s people living beyond the promised land in Assyria and Egypt (representing the far-off nations of the world) will be called back to worship on the Lord’s holy mountain in Jerusalem. At that time the Gentiles also will come to worship the one true God (see Isaiah 2:2–4). This vision of Isaiah is still being fulfilled in our day, and it will be completed when Jesus returns again to establish His kingdom.

As we look back on this chapter and the three that precede it, we may think that these great prophetic visions Isaiah has described have little to do with us. But yet they do. Today we as a church are being “threshed” and purified. We too, like ancient Israel, fail to bear sufficient fruit; we too suffer like a woman in labor but fail to bring forth new life (Isaiah 26:16–18). And yet all is not lost; God is working out His purpose in the world. And even if we do not see its fulfillment in our lifetime, we shall see it one day when our bodies rise from the dead (Isaiah 26:19). Therefore, let us persevere in hope, knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).