A Song of Salvation for the Peace of the Oppressed

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A Song of Salvation for the Peace of the Oppressed

Isaiah 26

You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you. Trust in the Lord forever, because in the Lord, the Lord himself, is an everlasting rock! (Isa 26:3-4)

Main Idea: God speaks a promise of perfect peace in the midst of great suffering for the people of God.

  1. A Song of Trust in God (26:1-6)
    1. A song to be sung by the suffering
    2. A tale of two cities consummated
    3. The perfect peace of the City of God
    4. The total destruction of the City of Man
  2. A Lament While Waiting for Salvation (26:7-18)
    1. Walking in righteousness, waiting on the Lord
    2. The purpose of God’s judgments: an education in righteousness
    3. God glorified in crushing tyrants and enlarging the nation
    4. Lamenting the weakness of the people
  3. The Joyful End: Resurrection and Deliverance (26:19-21)
    1. The magnificent promise of the resurrection
    2. Hiding in the meantime

A Song of Trust in God

Isaiah 26:1-6

In Isaiah 24–27 the suffering people of God who are going through the fires of oppression at the hands of vicious tyrants are given two great encouragements: (1) God is actively ruling right now, measuring out the victories of the wicked and limiting the damage they can do to his beloved people; (2) God will someday crush all the oppressors and set up an eternal kingdom in which he will reign gloriously over all his people.

As we’ve seen, Isaiah 24–25 gives triumphant prophecies of final victory by the Lord over all tyrants who oppress God’s people in this world. But Isaiah 26 teaches God’s oppressed people how to celebrate right now, before the final victory has come, when the oppressors are still trampling the poor with bloody, hobnailed boots. Isaiah is dealing realistically with the “right now” for the people of his day and beyond; they are dominated by earthly oppressors, carried off into exile by either Assyria or Babylon. These massive, city-based empires seem unconquerable; the future for Israel and Judah looks very bleak indeed. How then can God’s people sing a song of celebration when it seems like the tyrants are winning all the battles? Isaiah 26 is a song of realistic praise for God’s present protection and future deliverance for his suffering people.

It begins with a faith-filled look ahead to “that day,” when God will at last throw down the “City of Man” and all its oppression, as described in Isaiah 24–25. “On that day” the people of God will be singing the celebration song, a song of triumph for the mighty “City of God,” a strong and glorious city with walls and ramparts, with mighty gates standing open, so only the righteous nation that has remained faithful to God can enter (Isa 26:1-2). This city is the eternal city described so vividly in Revelation, the “new Jerusalem” whose gates of pearl always stand open to allow the righteous from all the nations on earth to enter (21:25).

Because of this secure future, God is able to keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, who are continually trusting in God (Isa 26:3). Here we Christians are exhorted to trust continually in the Lord Jesus Christ in all circumstances.

A Lament While Waiting for Salvation

Isaiah 26:7-18

There is a toilsome journey for the righteous to travel in this sin-cursed world before we come into our inheritance, and verses 7-9 give a beautiful recipe for the righteous while we travel. God makes the path of the righteous level by his commands and his judgments; the smoothest path through this world is obedience to the laws of God. Verse 8 teaches that God’s name and fame should be the top desires of our hearts. But while we seek to live obedient lives and spread the name of the Lord Jesus to the ends of the earth, we are still waiting on the Lord, yearning for him to reveal himself to us and to the wicked. So we trust in God’s sovereign rule over the wicked of the earth. The purpose of God’s judgments is to teach the world his righteousness. But the wicked constantly misinterpret the lessons, blind to the implications of God’s wrath poured out on other wicked people (vv. 9-11).

Meanwhile, God’s people continue to seek God’s glory and to do good works in the world. But as we do, we come to understand the profound truth of verse 12: all of our good works were done only by the power of God in us (John 3:21). The saddest part of our journey in the world is acknowledging our idolatries, when other lords have ruled our affections (Isa 26:13); but God works genuine repentance in us to restore us to him alone. Ultimately, God’s judgments crush all tyrants, but God continues to sustain and enlarge his people (vv. 14-15). The nation of Israel was restored to the promised land after the exile, but this is merely a picture of God’s ultimate saving work in his people throughout redemptive history. Not by our own strength has the nation of the elect survived and increased in this dangerous world, for the people of God who suffer under his discipline can barely whisper a prayer; they do not bring salvation to the earth (v. 18). This is a powerful picture of the weakness of Israel in the Old Testament and the church in the new. God alone can finish his saving work in the world.

The Joyful End: Resurrection and Deliverance

Isaiah 26:19-21

Isaiah 26:19 is one of the clearest prophecies of the bodily resurrection of the dead in the Old Testament. Though God’s people die in the judgment of Adam, though our bodies sink back into the dust from which we came (Gen 3:19), yet “the earth will bring out the departed spirits.” Taken together with Isaiah 26:18, it is clear that God alone can save sinners from the penalty of their sins. We have no plan, no strategy, no power to raise our own bodies from the grave. But Jesus Christ has made a promise to sinners that should melt our hearts and fill our mouths with exuberant praise: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26). Someday the dead will rise in radiant glory to give eternal praise to Jesus who gave them life; they will “awake and sing”!

In the meantime, God’s people must hide for a little while until the storm of God’s judgments on the wicked of the earth has passed by (Isa 26:20-21). The wicked will continue to shed the blood of the righteous, as Cain did to Abel. But someday the earth will disclose that blood, and the unrepentant wicked will be brought to judgment for their crimes. Isaiah 26 is a magnificent chapter for the redeemed to cling to while riding out the convulsive storm of redemptive history.

Application

Isaiah 26:3 is one of the great verses in the Bible on an abiding peace in the midst of afflictions. The doctrine of our salvation is a secure foundation for our peace. We have an objective status of peace with God through our justification by faith in Christ (Rom 5:1), and we can never lose that. Beyond that objective peace, however, there is a subjective sense of peacefulness that we should have by keeping our minds fixed on Christ. If our minds continually depend on Christ, we will have a continual experience of peace in him; if trials and anxieties divert our minds from Christ, we can temporarily lose our peacefulness. Philippians 4:6-7 teaches the same thing:

Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

If we cast our burdens on God through prayer, we will find the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, just as Isaiah 26 pictures salvation like a walled fortress, with high gates and ramparts.

Reflect and Discuss

  1. How does this chapter fit into the flow of Isaiah 24–27?
  2. How does it give a realistic and yet encouraging outlook on the suffering and the sustaining grace God’s people will experience in this world?
  3. What does verse 3 promise to the people of God in this world?
  4. What is “perfect peace”? How does God promise to keep his people at peace in this world?
  5. How does verse 3 relate to Philippians 4:6-7?
  6. What practical advice does Isaiah 26:7-8 give to help God’s people in their toilsome journey through a world of spiritual enemies?
  7. Why are the wicked unable to see the mighty hand of God lifted threateningly against them (v. 10)?
  8. How should we learn to give God full glory for all of our good works (v. 12; John 3:21; 15:5)?
  9. How is Isaiah 26:19 a clear prediction of the general resurrection of bodies from the earth?
  10. What practical advice do verses 20-21 give to the persecuted church in the world?