I read Isaiah 26 this morning (part of an ongoing study). Chapters 25 and 26 comes after a series of oracles (statements about the future) concerning the nations surrounding Israel and Israel itself, which culminate in a terrifying statement of God’s judgment of all the Earth:
See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth
and devastate it;
he will ruin its face
and scatter its inhabitants–
It will be the same
for priest as for people,
for master as for servant,
for mistress as for maid,
for seller as for buyer,
for borrower as for lender,
for debtor as for creditor.
The earth will be completely laid waste
and totally plundered.
Consistent with Isaiah’s pattern, Chapters 25 and 26 proclaim hope for the faithful remnant of God’s people despite, and in some ways because of, this terrible judgment. The thought is not merely one of endurance, but of waiting in confident hope for the time when things will be made right. Verse 8 of Chapter 26 struck me today:
Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.
For God’s people, now is a time of waiting, of desire unfulfilled. As we walk in the way of God’s laws, we see clearly how His laws are ignored and His rule rejected by men, and we ache because we know His laws are perfect, His ways are peaceable, His rule is good. The “desire of our hearts” — the driving force at the center of our being — is that God’s name and renown would be exalted and His peaceable Kingdom would come. As we make Him known in our songs, our celebrations, our mourning, our proclamations of His Word, our study of His Truth, our service and love, we participate in that Kingdom and glimpse what it one day in fullness will be. And we are reminded of the promise, response, and hope that closes the book of Revelation (Rev. 22:20-21):
He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.