I suppose that is an unusual title for any Bible Study Lesson! But I grew up in a home where Isaiah 26:3 was carefully displayed on the wall of my bedroom, right at the foot of my little twin bed! (My Wife has the verse on the wall of our bedroom, even as I write these words.)

“In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.” Isaiah 26:1-4, with that third verse italicized for emphasis.

What elsewhere has been called a “bloody city” and a “city not desired” and a “besieged city” and a “sinful city” … is now called a “STRONG CITY!” Jerusalem, I mean.

No longer a grieving city either, but now a joyful (“singing”) City!

WHY?

All this change?

Because of something God has done!

“Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.” The Saviour has come! Tribulation is over. The Kingdom Rule of Jesus has begun!

What an invitation … “Open the gates!” In our vernacular, “Come in!” Paul the Apostle probably would have added, “Whosoever will!”

Faith and trust in the Lord now prevail, now pervade in Israel. She has been born-again!

It is under those ideal circumstances that Isaiah 26:3 is set … “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

Addressed to God, obviously, these word nearly constitute a prayer! Both a statement and a longing!

If I do something (“keep my mind on the Lord”) … He will do something (“keep me in perfect peace”). It is often called a “cause-and-effect” Statement.

Incidentally, in Hebrew the phrase “perfect peace” is translated “Shalom, Shalom!”  Peace in amplitude! Waves of peace after waves of peace!

The verb “will keep” means “to guard!”

And the noun “mind” (only translated this way once in all the Bible) elsewhere means “imagination” (5 times in the King James Version). All our thoughts! All our ponderings, meditations, even “daydreams” I think.

Then the verb “stayed” translates “samak,” meaning “to lean” upon the Lord! Once, “lieth hard!” He, the Lord, being my Mainstay!

Yet there is a “because” in our verse, too. “BECAUSE he trusteth in thee,” the very foundation of this peace that “passeth all understanding!” (Alluding to Paul in Philippians 4:7.) By the way, “trusteth” here means “to believe someone so much that you do not have a worry in the world that they would ever let you down!”

Wow!

What a verse!

Memorize it today, including its reference please.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Yes, it (verse 3 and its promise) will “work” during the Millennium, but also today in your life. Ideal circumstances or not!

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I originally intended to write sort of a summary Lesson for each of Isaiah’s 66 chapters … about 2 1/2 months of studies here on the Website. But soon I realized that could not be done … and still come anywhere near helping us better understand this great Bible Prophet.

That’s when I came up with the idea of writing a subsequent Lesson (“Things I didn’t say”) for each chapter! And as you know by now, even that two-lesson Plan has not worked on a few chapters of Isaiah.

This Book of Scripture is that vast! As says Psalm 119:96 … “I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment (God’s Word) is exceeding broad.”  Literally, “very wide!” The Psalmist here praying/communing with God!

And, in keeping with that program, Isaiah 25 certainly demands more attention. Particularly verses 7-9 … “And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.  

God is the Subject of the first verse, removing some sort of veil! “And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.” Interpretive ideas about this Line are varied.

Some believe this “vail” can be blindness to spiritual truth, because of sin. As in 2 Corinthians 3:14 … “But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.” Paul talking about his own people, Israel.

Others, equally as fundamental, believe the vail is the death shroud, a cloth covering often placed over the head of a dead corpse, preparing it for burial. A practice followed years later, when Lazarus died. John 11:44 … “And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.” “Napkin” here just meaning “cloth, handkerchief.”

Both these ideas excite me!

God removed a vail the day I was saved! “Once I was blind, now I can see!” 2 Corinthians 4:4 states/teaches … “The god of this world (Satan, the devil) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Now, because of Calvary, my “blindfold” (“vail”) is gone!

But equally so, because of the Shed Blood of Jesus (when applied to our hearts by faith), I no longer am a “dead man.” (No longer wearing putrid grave clothes!) I have been born-again. Jesus’ Resurrection became my resurrection! The death clothes have been “destroyed,” to use the word God did … in our Text today. Death died the day Jesus died on the Cross! A death that demanded subsequent (3 days later) Resurrection!

Praise the Lord!

But Isaiah 25 gets even more specific. “He (still our Lord) will swallow up death in victory.” The verb “swallow up” (in Hebrew “bala”) means “to devour!” (“To eat alive!”) To bring to an end!

Paul later (in the New Testament), quoting this Isaiah Passage and Hosea 13:14 (“I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction”) applies this whole transaction to Jesus’ Death, Burial and Resurrection!

1 Corinthians 15:54-57 … “Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Wow!

And in a world with (potentially) “no more death” … it can be accurately said that “the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.” Isaiah 25:8

Tears of sorrow, clearly because of death! All wiped away, because of the saving Grace of God! A glorious idea repeated in Revelation 21:4 … “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death.”

Some day, saved ISRAEL (born again via the Blood of Jesus) will say … “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isaiah 25:9

Death destroyed!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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I am amazed … at the book of Isaiah. Every morning as I write these Lessons, new (and exciting) glimmers (no, flashes) of truth flood my soul! And today is no exception. In fact, today is exhilarating! (That’s why I have titled today’s Study “Isaiah 25, what a JEWEL!”

First I must “survey” the chapter, present it in “outline” form anyway. I want you to see its “beauty!” (It is about the Millennium, no doubt. My favorite study Bible (the King James Version with notes by Dr. Cyrus I. Scofield) labels the chapter “Triumphs of the Kingdom Age.”

Here’s is one of Isaiah’s “Masterpieces” in microcosm …

Isaiah 25:1 … praise to God for His Wise Master Plan, and for His Power to execute that Plan! Read this … “O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.” (Both what God has done … and what God has said!) A pretty good start to any chapter anywhere, exalting our Lord! Note the personal attribution: “My God,” with converted Israel speaking.

Wow!

Then Isaiah 25:2-5, praise to God for subduing the earth’s violent, rebellious heathen Nations! Again, read it. Do not skip it! “For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.”  In other words … the “strong people,” then the “terrible nations” … all tamed, conquered! And the “poor” and “needy” (the persecuted Jews) … now safe and secure! What a “reversal!” The Old Testament Prophets love this writing scheme, evil overcome by good!

Wow!

Next Isaiah 25:6-9, almost too THRILLING to group with these other verses! God defeating Death! “And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” We may revisit this Text tomorrow. There’s a lot that needs to be said here! Especially where God “swallows up death!”

Then Isaiah 25:10-12 (yes a short chapter, only a dozen verses) says: “For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands. And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.” Recalcitrant, irrevocably stubborn Nations decimated! Yes, any rebellion during the Millennium will be immediately squelched! Even an example is given … the “Moabites.” The kind of people called later by Paul the Apostle “reprobates.”

Wow!

What a chapter of victory!

And the Lord willing, more about it tomorrow.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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That last verse, Isaiah 24:23!

“Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.”

It certainly refers to that future Time when the “Lord of Hosts” (one of Isaiah’s several Names for Jesus) “reigns” (as in the Kingdom, as in the Millennium) on this earth! Look … “in Jerusalem!”

(Jesus has not yet done that, literally … not yet sat on a Davidic Throne and reigned in that great City!)

“Mount Zion” can even be a reference tot he Temple area, the “Temple Mount!”

And apparently many “ancients” (very old people, likely including resurrected Old Testament saints) will be present in that future Administration!

Then too notice the adverb (in English) … “gloriously!” In Hebrew, the word is “kabod,” in “great honor!” The most effective Leadership this world has ever known!

But look, there’s something here about the “moon” and the “sun” also. Two parallel verbs, “confounded” and “ashamed” apply to those heavenly bodies. Each word has the idea of something becoming “ineffective,” or placed under “reproach,” or even (when its perceived “root” word is studied) “being sought,” as if the moon and sun had disappeared!

I think I know what Isaiah means! His thought is duplicated elsewhere in the Millennial Passages of the Bible. THE GLORY OF JESUS, RADIANCE OF HIS PRESENCE WILL BE SO BRIGHT … THE SUN AND MOON WILL NO LONGER BE VISIBLE, OR EVEN USEFUL! They will “dim” in comparison to His Aura!

Now watch. Revelation 22:5 … “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” Probably even describing the “eternal state,” forevermore!

Better yet … Revelation 21:23 … “And the city (New Jerusalem) had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”

But then Isaiah himself will amplify his God-given thought, later in his Book. Isaiah 60:19-20 … “The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.”

Wow!

Next time you see a sunrise or sunset … or a full moon … get a good view! The Day will come when they will be considered “obsolete!”

I am thinking of the Transfiguration of Jesus now! Matthew 17:2 … “And (Jesus) was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.”

Or Mark 9:3, the same historical Event … “And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.”

Wow!

Jesus really IS the Light of the World!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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The next three chapters of Isaiah (from 24 to 27) are called (at least by the older Bible preachers/teachers) “Isaiah’s Apocalypse!”

Pure (and precise) Bible Prophecy!

Not cryptic symbolism, mind you … but (more along the line of Jesus’ “Olivet Discourse” of Matthew 24) amazing descriptions of the “last days,” not yet fulfilled for that matter!

More about that later.

Specifically for today’s lesson … Isaiah 24 is built around an “inclusio.” The Holy Spirit has “marked” (as do “bookends” or “parentheses” or “frames”) both the start and the end of His major thrust …labeling them with identical (at least matching) literary terms.

Let me show you.

Isaiah 24:1 … “Behold, the LORD maketh the EARTH empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.”

Then, near the end of the chapter but certainly the end of its foremost paragraph, Isaiah 24:19-20 … “The EARTH is utterly broken down, the EARTH is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The EARTH shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.”

Notice that in both Isaiah 24’s beginning and ending … the “earth” is falling apart!

In verse 1 … “empty, waste, upside down,” and “scattered!”

In verses 19-20 … “utterly broken down, clean dissolved, moved exceedingly, reeling to and fro,” and “fallen, not to rise again!”

Wow!

I am wondering something already. If Isaiah chapters 12-23 show God’s Power over the Nations … does perhaps Isaiah chapters 24-27 show God’s Power over all creation? At least over all of planet earth, with the whole world implied?

And “between” Isaiah 24’s verse 1 and verses 19-20 … is described a time of great tribulation (maybe better spelled Tribulation) on our globe!

God sent Tribulation!

As examples …

Verse 3 … “The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.”

Verse 4 … even the “people” now … “The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the HAUGHTY PEOPLE of the earth do languish.”

Verse 5 … chaos, rebellion, disobedience … “Isaiah 24:5 … “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.”

Verse 6, sounding much like Revelation 8:7, the Tribulation … “Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.”

There’s even more (within this dramatic “inclusio”), life becoming a drudgery … Verses 7-12 … “The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.” What “city?” Any city of earth, a generic term here.

Then, suddenly, is this an earthquake? Verse 13 … “When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.” Or just more severe judgment?

And yet, in keeping with Isaiah’s writing style (unexpectedly inserting harbingers of “Kingdom Blessing” into passages of horrible “tribulation gloom”), Verses 14-16a … “They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea. From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous.”

Wow!

Then immediately, back to all the suffering … as a result of sin. Isaiah 24:16b-17 … “My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously. Fear, and the pit and the snare, are upon thee. O inhabitant of the earth.”

And things are not going to improve for a while. “And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare.” Verse 18, sounding much like Amos 5:20 now!

Then finally … still from verse 18 … “For the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.”

Here, not windows open to pour out blessings, as in Malachi 3:10 … but to pour out God’s wrath on a reprobate world!

What a chapter!

Isaiah 24, as astounding as anything John wrote from the Isle of Patmos. But of course, there is a Common Author behind both men’s hands!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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