A Magnificent Vision of the King in His Glorious Triumph

He speaks that word of woe on the treacherous destroyer (in this case, Assyria; v. 1). Basically he says, “What goes around comes around.” God decrees that when the destroyer has stopped destroying, he will be destroyed; when he has stopped betraying, he will be betrayed. So Sennacherib was treacherously betrayed and murdered by his own sons (see Isa 37:38), and Assyria was treacherously destroyed by her former vassals Elam and Babylon (Pfeiffer, Old Testament History, 341–42).

Verses 2-6 display the newfound faith and trust of the people of God in this terrifying situation. God has blocked them in, and they must at last turn in faith to him. They cry to him for grace, knowing they don’t deserve his deliverance. The fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure; and fearing him, they need fear nothing else.

Isaiah 33:7-16

As we’ve seen, verses 7-9 reflect the terror caused by the news that Sennacherib will act treacherously and come to destroy Jerusalem. In verses 10-12 God rises up in power to exalt himself by destroying the treacherous and turning their wicked schemes back on them. The report of God’s awesome power will reach the ends of the earth (v. 13).

But such a vision of God’s holy power causes the people of God on earth (Zion) to tremble with terror. The “sinners in Zion” (v. 14) realize that they have no more right to stand before such a holy God than do the Assyrians. In December 1740 Jonathan Edwards preached a powerful sermon based on Isaiah 33:14 entitled “Sinners in Zion Tenderly Warned.” In it he asked the question of that verse: “Who among us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with ever-burning flames?” The “consuming fire” is the holiness of God, and we sinners are like combustible chaff. The surface of the sun is said to be more than 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and the closest a NASA probe could be able to get to it is four million miles away. At that staggering distance, the temperature is an astonishing 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit (Butler, “Solar Probe Plus”)! Just as the sun exists in unapproachable heat, so God dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim 6:16). God’s holiness is like the raging inferno of the sun, and none of us sinners can survive it. The prophetic Word calls all the people of Zion to look inward, see the corruption of our sins, and flee to Christ. For all who humbly repent, the perfect righteousness of Christ will be imputed to them by faith alone, for Christ alone has perfectly lived out the righteousness of verses 15-16. Then, by his Spirit working in us, such a pattern of life can be increasingly ours by faith.

Isaiah 33:17-24

The magnificent vision from the top of this “Lookout Mountain” of prophecy ends with a cascade of promises to the true people of God. First, their own eyes will see the King of Zion in his beauty. The greatest beauty our eyes will ever see is the radiant Christ, seated on his throne in the new Jerusalem; and that vision will complete our salvation (1 John 3:2). We will also see a “vast land,” the perfect new heaven and new earth. However, we will not see the wicked people who made life such a horror on earth (Isa 33:18-19). The days of their terrorizing will be over forever. Instead, we will see Zion now consummated in eternal glory. It will be a rich land, flowing with rivers; it will be a secure city, not a movable tent. It will be a place of perfect government, where Jesus Christ will reign. Verse 22 amazingly traces out the branches of human government: the judicial, the legislative, and the executive. In the United States Constitution these three branches are separated from each other in a system of checks and balances because “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Dalberg-Acton, “Letter”). But Jesus Christ is the perfect King, and he cannot be corrupted by anything. He is our Judge, he is our Lawgiver, he is our King. The government will be perfect in his hands. Praise God the fourth title is added: Savior! If all Jesus was for us was Judge, Lawgiver, and King, we would all be justly condemned. But by his atoning work, his fourth title of Savior makes the other three titles something we will yearn to see in eternity. By God’s grace, the final promise of this amazing chapter is of full forgiveness of sins (v. 24).

The best application of this visionary chapter is to stand on it as “Lookout Mountain” and turn slowly, gazing at each theme in turn.