READ: Is. 26:1–27:1: … We have a strong city … Trust in the LORD forever, for in Yah, the LORD, is everlasting strength …
First, in verses 1-6, we hear a song about the future: after all hostilities, there will be a strong city of perfect peace: The New Jerusalem, which descends from above, where only the righteous, the true believers who trust solely in the LORD, may enter. The adversaries will then undergo God’s judgment.
From that perspective, the call in verse 7 urges the listener to walk the path of the righteous. This is the path of faith, upon which the LORD protects them from stumbling, allowing them to reach the goal of eternal life.
When God brings His judgments, which also affect believers, they will seek Him even more and put their hope in Him (vs. 8,9). They may experience sleepless nights, but during these, they seek the LORD with all their soul. They realize who God is, remember His great deeds, and long for Him. God’s judgments are meant to call everyone to repentance.
Most unbelieving adversaries of the church do not recognize this. Even unbelievers in the church, who are allowed to experience God’s goodness, do not always repent through God’s testing (vs. 10). While they hear and witness God’s goodness, they continue sinning and despising God. They fail to acknowledge God’s mighty deeds and make life difficult for the church.
Isaiah then calls out, asking whether the fire of God’s zeal will consume His adversaries (vs. 11). This refers to the eternal judgment over these opponents. Isaiah’s cry is reminiscent of the souls’ cry under the altar in Rev.6:10: “How long, O LORD, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Finally, in verses 15 and following, Isaiah prays for the temporal deliverance of the believers, leading to their complete deliverance with true peace and the resurrection of the body (vs. 19!) and, alongside it, God’s judgment that extends to His eternal final judgment.
Do we live in the same tension as Isaiah indicates?
Sing: Ps. 76:1,3