The Righteous King and Outpoured Spirit Transform the World

Isaiah 32

The result of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever. (Isa 32:17)

Main Idea: God reveals his vision for a new society in which kings and rulers, transformed by the Spirit, reign under Christ.

1. God’s Purpose: Noble Rulers Instead of Wicked Ones (32:1-8)
   1. A righteous king, godly rulers (32:1)
   2. A vision for a new society (32:2-5,8)
   3. The old society exposed (32:5-7)
2. God’s Purging: Judgment Clearing the Building Site (32:9-14)
   1. Dire warnings of judgment
   2. Complacent women shuddering at judgments
   3. The rich fields and crowded cities cursed
3. God’s Power: The Outpoured Spirit Producing a Harvest of Righteousness (32:15-20)
   1. “Until the Spirit from on high is poured out on us” (32:15)
   2. The effects of the Spirit: transformed hearts and transformed society (32:16-17)
   3. Peace and prosperity (32:18-20)

God’s Purpose: Noble Rulers Instead of Wicked Ones

Isaiah 32:1-8

Two major themes in Isaiah 32 resonate with our current world situation. First, we see the corruption of rulers who use their positions of leadership in government for selfish purposes. Forms of corruption vary but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. Corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking. All over the world and throughout history, there are many examples of governmental corruption:

• Nigeria: More than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria’s leaders between 1960 and 1999.
• Haiti: After the tragic earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, endemic corruption siphoned off billions of dollars of aid that was sent for the suffering victims.
• Prohibition-era Chicago: Gangster Al Capone ran the town; many of the police leadership and the politicians were involved in some way with Capone; Mayor Big Bill Thompson was on Capone’s payroll and was called “the best mayor money could buy.”

The second major theme is how the power of the Holy Spirit can change everything, making leaders godly and making society richly blessed. However, this is not a utopian vision for what can happen in this world; it is a foretaste of the new heaven and new earth. It is also a call for Christian leaders to use their positions of power to bless their people in the pattern of Christ.

Proverbs 29:2 unites these themes: “When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, people groan.” As the old saying goes, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Dalberg-Acton, “Letter”). Yet theologically, this isn’t quite right. The human heart was already corrupt, but power gives an opportunity to draw out and increase the corruption as leaders glut their flesh on the “good stuff” of the world: food, gold, beautiful houses overlooking spectacular scenic vistas, luxurious possessions, soft clothes, fine furniture, etc. Almighty God has absolute power and is never corrupted by it! What is the only remedy to the corruption of human government? It is the kingdom of God displayed in the incorruptible Son of God and empowered by the Spirit of God.

The chapter begins with some difficulty of interpretation: Who is the “king” who will reign righteously, and who are the rulers who will rule justly? I think it is best to see this chapter as God’s ideal society after judgment has cleared away the wickedness. The pattern for the righteous king is ultimately Jesus, called the “King of kings” (Rev 19:16), who rules over human rulers who seek to please him with how they rule. Isaiah 32:2 speaks of how these rulers use their positions to shelter the needy from the storms and heat, how they are like streams of water in the desert. Clearly, these rulers are not ruling in a perfect world (like the millennium or the new heaven and new earth) because their protection and provision are so sorely needed by the people they are governing. So we can see here the effects of the reign of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit on human rulers who seek to glorify God in their governance.

In that beautiful new society “those who see” (prophets) will see true visions clearly, and the teachers of the Word of God will speak clearly and faithfully his truths to the people. The minds of those who listen to their words will grasp their truths and take them to heart (vv. 3-4). The people will recognize the difference between a godly leader and a scoundrel (v. 5). The wicked leaders of the past were ungodly fools whose corrupt minds resulted in corrupt plans and corrupt words (vv. 6-7). By stark contrast, the noble leaders of the new society yearn to use their positions for good, to bless those entrusted to their care. They make noble plans and carry them out (v. 8).

God’s Purging: Judgment Clearing the Building Site

Isaiah 32:9-14

In order to make room for this new society, God must clear away the old corruption. Verses 9-14 focus on “complacent women” who end up beating their breasts because of the devastation that is coming on their delightful fields and crowded cities. These lovers of luxury are overconfident in their wealth, unconcerned for the poor and needy, and certain that their present lifestyle will continue indefinitely. But their judgment rushes on them “in a little more than a year” (v. 10). The judgment is devastating: the delightful fields and fruitful vines will produce thorns and briers (v. 13; see Gen 3:18); the palace and crowded city will be left desolate, a place for flocks to graze (v. 14). The now humbled women will beat their breasts, stripping off their rich clothes and donning sackcloth instead (vv. 11-12).

God’s Power: The Outpoured Spirit Producing a Harvest of Righteousness

Isaiah 32:15-20

The new society described in this chapter can only come about by the Holy Spirit’s transforming power. Verse 15 shows this plainly: the desolation of the city and the thorns and briers in the fields will continue until the Spirit is poured out from heaven. The leveling of a formerly bad society does not necessarily give way to a godly one in its place. The piles of rubble in bombed-out Europe after World War II were grounds for all kinds of anarchistic acts: vigilante squads wreaked vengeance on Nazi collaborators in France; 20,000 people were summarily executed by their countrymen in northern Italy in the final weeks of the war; in eastern Poland and western Ukraine rival nationalist groups carried out an undeclared war of terrifying brutality resulting in the deaths of thousands more (Lowe, Savage Continent, xiii–xiv, 75ff). Only if the Spirit is poured out from on high will anything good rise up on the rubble of the past government.

In the Bible the Spirit is often likened to water, and the verb frequently used for the giving of the Spirit is “pour” (Isa 44:3; Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:33; 10:45; Rom 5:5). The Spirit is “poured out” like water or “placed” on the hearts of the people, transforming them and moving them to obey God’s laws (Ezek 36:27); and that is the key to the changes in society predicted in this chapter. Why does God use the verb “pour” when speaking of the gift and influence of the Holy Spirit? Perhaps it has to do with an ongoing influence as time progresses, as life unfolds, so the Spirit’s activity is more like a river continuously flowing from heaven to earth rather than a lightning strike that makes a single, instantaneous impact. The Spirit flows into a ruler’s heart, and he continuously seeks to render judgments and provide for and protect the poor and needy as the holy King Jesus would have him do.

So, as the “Spirit from on high is poured out on us,” the desert will be transformed into an orchard that seems like a forest. Righteousness will be the direct result of the Spirit’s influence, and that righteousness will produce “quiet confidence forever” (Isa 32:16-17) and prosperity (v. 20). This vision for a new society starts with transformed leaders, imitating the king who reigns righteously (v. 1).

Applications

Jesus is the embodiment of the righteous king of verse 1. Under his perfect rule, other kings and lords do their ruling in imitation of him. Jesus is the perfect shelter from the storm, the only refuge from the coming wrath of God. He also is the final provision for our souls, the river of the water of life and the bread from heaven that supplies our deepest needs. In imitation of him, Christian rulers—whether kings or prime ministers or governors or town council members—can use their positions of power not to line their pockets by corruption but to provide for and protect the poor and needy and to render right judgments. The final images of rich harvest and peaceful security can be realized on earth to the degree that leaders as well as citizens are filled with Christ’s Spirit. They will find final consummation in the new heaven and new earth.

Reflect and Discuss

1. How does this tendency toward selfishness in government officials reveal the nature of the human heart? How is it only by the power of the Holy Spirit of God that such corruption can ever be finally remedied?
2. How is this chapter a display of the maxim, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”? Why isn’t that maxim true about Christ and about Spirit-filled rulers?
3. Who is the “king” of verse 1? What evidence is there that this verse is talking about a human king like Hezekiah and not the coming King, Messiah? Who are the “rulers” or “princes” of verse 1?
4. How do verses 1-8 give a vision for a new kind of society?
5. How does verse 2 give a picture of what a ruler should be for the people he governs?
6. How does the wicked ruler misuse his position in verses 6-7? How does the godly man desire to use his position in verse 8?
7. How do verses 9-14 speak of the coming desolation of the land? Why is that desolation necessary to prepare the land for the coming righteous society?
8. What vast changes do you see in verses 15-20?
9. What is the role of the Holy Spirit in producing those changes (Ezek 36:25-30)?
10. How do verses 15-20 describe a beautiful and righteous society? How is verse 17 a great picture of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:21-22)?