The “general” consensus concerning Isaiah always mentions the fact that the Book divides itself into two main sections.

Chapters 1-39 … judgment and doom, mostly. Then abruptly, Chapters 40-66 … deliverance and hope and promise!

Much like the Bible consists of two Sections. Books 1-39 (the Old Testament, Genesis through Malachi) which generally speak of judgment and doom. Then Books 40-66 (the New Testament, Matthew through Revelation) which indeed speak of deliverance (salvation) and hope and promise!

But honestly, I have been amazed at the numerous brilliantly optimistic Passages I have found in Isaiah’s first 39 chapters. (And we are so far only through chapter 33! We have 6 more to investigate!)

I am ready to say with renewed vigor, “GOD IS GOOD, EVEN IN THE DARK TIMES!” Even when He disciplines … He does so in love! Or at least reluctantly! As in Isaiah 63:9 … “In all their (Israel’s) affliction He (the Lord) was afflicted.” And as in Job 5:17-18 … “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: for he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.” And if you’ll allow me a New Testament verse, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” Revelation 3:19

Wow!

So, again in the midst of Isaiah’s “Woe” chapters (six of them, Isaiah 29-35) … we find this little “Jewel,” today’s Text …

“Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.” Isaiah 33:20-22

The noun “solemnities” translates “moed,” the “feasts” of Israel. Enumerated most clearly in Leviticus 23. The last of which, Tabernacles, is most typical of the Millennium! A time of joy indeed!

Jerusalem is here (in our Text) said to one day become a “quiet(peaceful) habitation,” undisturbed by any enemy! And “habitation” translates “naveh,” a sheepfold literally! (With the Lord Jesus as the Shepherd!)

A “glorious” Lord Jesus!

To remove stakes and untie cords means to break camp, to dismantle one’s tent, indicating life as a “drifter”, a “nomad!” But all that is gone!No more “wandering Jews!”

And Jesus, like a River?

As in John 7:38 … “He that believeth on me (Jesus), as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”

But in Jerusalem during the Millennium there will be (heretofore not true) a real River flowing! We are indebted to Zechariah the Prophet for this information: “And it shall be in that day, that LIVING WATERS shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.” Zechariah 14:8-9, in that still future Millennial Day! Quite a River!

And no “crooked merchants” or “warring navies” or “even pirates” will sail that River! No “galleys with oars” nor “destroyers!” PEACE, PEACE, PEACE, BECAUSE THE PRINCE OF PEACE HAS COME!

Finally, watch this chain of words describing the Lord …

“For the LORD is our JUDGE, the LORD is our LAWGIVER, the LORD is our KING; he will SAVE us.” Isaiah 33:22

Righteous JUDGE!

Wise LAWGIVER!

Powerful KING!

And loving SAVIOUR!

Wow!

This little Piece of Victory, engulfed in the middle of Isaiah’s “Old Testament” Section!

What a God we serve!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Paul has a verse, 2 Timothy 3:7, that describes many in the last days, “perilous times!” You’ve read it before: “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” This is “always learning” in a bad sense.

But what I mean by today’s Lesson title … “Always Learning” … is framed in a “good sense.” The Bible is such a glorious Book, all 1189 chapters, that one soul will NEVER master it, not even in a lifetime! So each of us as Christian students will be “always learning,” but in our case as a result of having come to the Truth, to the personal knowledge of Jesus Christ our Saviour!

Honestly, I still experience a little “thrill” every time I see a new verse (as in “I’ve read this before, but never understood it like today”) of Scripture. Such an “a-ha” Moment occurred earlier this morning, in a motel room here in west Georgia. (A Holy Spirit induced “thrill,” I am pretty sure!)

Let me show you.

“Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; NOW WILL I LIFT UP MYSELF.” Isaiah 33:10

God “lifting up Himself,” new to me! “He Himself!”

I’m in favor of this, to be sure!

And I did remember that God already has “exalted/magnified His (Own) Word, even above His Name,” Psalm 138:2.

But God uplifting Himself, astounding!

In Hebrew our little “Gem” today is even more captivating. Watch the verbs the Holy Spirit uses: “Now will I rise (qum), saith the LORD; now will I be exalted (rum/ramam); now will I lift up (nasa) myself.” Three different action words, nearly exhausting the Hebrew language of its vocabulary in that area!

But the more I think about God’s “Movement” here, I feel a bit “convicted!” In this sense … “Do I lift Him up as I ought?”

Do I exalt His Name properly?

If He is ultimately going to do so (the ultimate fulfillment of this verse being yet future) should not I daily be involved in His noble Goal, Plan?

Mike Bagwell, this Thursday … obey Psalm 98:6 … and live this vital truth: “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring (nasa) an offering, and come into his courts.” Worshipping Him!

Or Psalm 118:28 … “Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt (rum/ramam) thee.”

Why can’t I pray this? “Arise (qum), O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.” Psalm 82:8

Knowing such Exaltation/Lifting up is God’s Plan anyway … might I not already be employed in so doing?

And can’t I also pray such? “Even so, come Lord Jesus … and hasten the great Day when God will “lift up” Himself!”

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

God exalting/lifting up Himself!

Then ironically, I’ve found this verse. Psalm 140:8 … “Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt (rum/ramam) themselves. Selah.”

Far, far better God be lifted up, than the wicked!

One more Verse today, the best yet I think! “Lift up (nasa) thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.” Psalm 94:2

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Really, none of these great Isaiah chapters can be covered intricately. God’s Word is, to quote Psalm 119:96, “exceeding broad!” That’s why the second (in some cases, the third) Lesson on each successive chapter is entitled “Things I didn’t say.” But even those Installments can be critically important, because they are still reporting on God’s “Holy Writ.” (One more respectful name the old-timers used for the Bible!)

For example, today’s compact four-verse Text presents us another of Isaiah’s (what I’m going to start calling) “Millennial Moments!”

And you will be able to easily discern that immediately upon reading Isaiah 32:15-18. Here it is, King James Version: “Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places”

Wow!

This is a “reversal” of God’s previous judgment upon the Land, Judah. Remember yesterday? (All the prior Lessons are archived here for easy reference, for further study.) “Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea … the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks.” Isaiah 32:13-14

Now, in today’s Lesson … the Spirit of God is “poured” upon Israel! But that verb is quite interesting. In Hebrew “arah” normally (when passive, as here) means “to be uncovered, to be exposed.” Then it came to mean “emptied!” Graphic word pictures of the Effluence of God the Holy Spirit, in His inexhaustible Abundance. (Once they were “blind,” but when verse 15 here becomes reality, they can “see!” The Spirit of God, gloriously revealed!)

And the result of the Holy Spirit’s so “flooding” the Land? Results (plural) I should have said.

The “wilderness” (the noun “midbar” which means “desert” 13 times in the Old Testament) will become fruitful! Agricultural expansion and profusion, “the fruitful field shall be counted a forest!” Stalks of wheat tall as cedar trees!

And then next … both “judgment” (right court decisions) and “righteousness” will be universally available. No more cheating and lying and killing!

Isaiah himself says it best: “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.” Verse 17, beautiful! “Peace, quiet, assurance!” (Apparently, no more agnostics!)

Then God speaks: “And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” Amazing! “No more war,” to paraphrase many a hopeful Bible Prophet. They by then shall have beaten their “swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks.” Quoting Isaiah 2:2, earlier in the Book.

Yes, a short Paragraph today. But clearly Millennial in nature! And I believe these things literally await Israel in her (dark at first, but then very bright) God ordained future!

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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This Prophet has already delivered one blistering Sermon regarding the women of Judah! You can review that Text by glancing back at Isaiah 3:16-26. Here’s an Excerpt: “The LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion.” Pretty plain!

But again in Isaiah 32 he repeats his warning … to the ladies! (As go the women of any nation, spiritually speaking, so goes the whole land!)

“Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks.” Isaiah 32:9-14

They are “at ease,” also “careless,” and face a bleak future … due to (in this Paragraph anyway) “lethargy, luxury,” just as well say “practical atheism.” No thought of God, none whatsoever!

The Text advises these women of soon-coming national disaster! And “mourning” rather than “revelry” is more in order! They dressed (back to Isaiah 3) expensively, lavishly, ostentatiously … so God admonishes them to take off those fancy garments! “Strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.” And instead put on rough, uncomfortable “sackcloth,” historically a sign of sadness, calamity.

Why?

Unconfessed sin!

Which displeases God to the Utmost! Angers Him, truth be told.

Therefore, here’s God’s depiction of (promised) coming judgment, because Judah has refused to repent of her sins. “Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks.” Desolation! (From the Royal Palace to the most remote farmland … but particularly targeting Jerusalem, “The City!”)

If the men will not listen … maybe the mothers/wives will take heed! But the sermon was “to no avail!”

The City did fall. In fact, all these prophecies were locally fulfilled. That’s a matter of historical record.

But (I fear) it’s all going to happen again, during the great Tribulation! Zechariah 14:2 is specific: “For I (the Lord) will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the WOMEN ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”

Israel’s anguish will continue … until that great “Golden Daybreak” when Jesus will come again to earth … and Romans 11:26-27 will become Reality: “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”

Praise the Lord!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Let’s analyze today’s Text, as students do when following a skilled instructor. Here learning from Isaiah the Prophet …

“Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited. And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.” Isaiah 31:6-9, the last paragraph of the chapter.

And, is this repentance?

Absolutely!

“Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted,” Isaiah preaches, pleads … “Come Home, Israel!” Yes, the prodigal nation will “come to her senses” and (the Hebrew verb is “shub,” the classic Old Testament word for “repentance”) do an “about face!” Running toward the great God from Whom she had been fleeing!

But, what is the result of such true repentance?

“For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.” Forsaking one’s “idols!” (The noun derives from a Hebrew word meaning “worthless!”) The verb “cast away” … “reject, despise, refuse, abhor!” National Salvation! Paul was right … “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Romans 11:26

But there’s more to our Text, exceeding abundantly more! (As in Ephesians 3:20.) Israel’s arch-enemy is defeated! (This may be a foreshadowing of Armageddon! With “Assyria” a type of all the wicked (Jew hating) Nations of the world.

“Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited. And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD.” A God orchestrated downfall! Using His Mighty Sword, not the swords of any human army! Anti-Semitism … subjugated!  Notice how God can send “fear” to whomsoever He will! Our Lord is the Author of Peace as well!

Then the last Line of our Passage this morning. “Saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.” In country vernacular … “WARNING: DON’T MESS WITH JERUSALEM!” Do not touch the “Apple of God’s Eye!” If you do, you will get “burned!”

Here is fire to protect Israel from the enemy. And fire to purify the Jews as well. But also (the context of today’s Meditation) fire to scorch anyone encroaching upon that Sacred City, the Place of God’s Residence! In the Millennium, I mean.

Wow!

What a Sermon!

I suspect the believing Remnant will read it and take courage in the last days of the Tribulation! As Jesus taught in Luke 21:28 … “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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