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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