The Book Of Isaiah. Day 105, Praise To The Lord For His Works

In Chapter 24 Isaiah shared with us his vision of the end times. He foresaw cataclysms upon the earth leading up to the final day of judgment. As Chapter 25 opens we find the prophet praising the Lord for all His works: His works of mercy upon those who seek Him, His works of judgment against sin. 

We should praise the Lord for His works of judgment as well as for His works of mercy. If He did not judge sin, He would not be righteous. How could we worship a God who turns a blind eye to sin? How could we exalt a God who does not avenge His children? The prophet praises the Lord for everything He does because everything He does is holy and perfect.

Isaiah begins: "Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You and praise Your name, for in perfect faithfulness You have done wonderful things, things planned long ago." (Isaiah 25:1) Before the Lord ever created the universe, before He created the earth and everything on it, before He created the first human beings, He knew everything He was ever going to do. He knew everything man was ever going to do. He made His plans long ago with the knowledge that the humans He created would transgress His holy laws, and in knowing this He made the plans for man's redemption.

It is up to us to accept or reject His offer of redemption. In this next segment we see the judgment that fell on sinful, idolatrous cities because the citizens rejected the Lord. "You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigner's stronghold a city no more; it will never be rebuilt." (Isaiah 25:2) Earlier in the book of Isaiah we found the prophet predicting the fall of nations that were the ancient enemies of the descendants of Jacob. Some, like Babylon, were predicted never to rise again. It did not matter how powerful the armies were or how thick the city walls were; the Lord brought down the nations that bowed to idols. The Lord brought down the nations that attacked and persecuted His people.

Because of the way the Lord avenges those who are His, many will develop a reverent fear of Him. "Therefore strong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere You." (Isaiah 25:3) This verse may or may not mean that any of these people will turn from idols and give their allegiance to the Lord. You will recall from our study of the days of Joshua that, when the children of Israel began moving in and taking over the land of Canaan as commanded by God, the nations that heard of them feared the Lord who gave the Israelites victory in battle. This doesn't mean those people turned from idols to the living God, although I am sure some did. (Rahab of Jericho is one example; she feared the God of Israel and hid the Israelite spies from her own people, which led to her and her family being saved from harm during the fall of Jericho, which led to her marrying a man of Israel and becoming an ancestor of Jesus Christ.) We do not know how many citizens of other nations may have come to a saving knowledge of the Lord in ancient times upon hearing of the power of the Lord, but it is certain that a large number of people from other nations believed He existed and that He worked on behalf of those who trusted in Him. 

This last segment we are going to study today involves the way the Lord works on behalf of those who call upon Him. "You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the strong of the ruthless is stilled." (Isaiah 25:4-5)

The verses above can be taken both literally and figuratively. The Lord does indeed provide for us, supplying our needs and sheltering us in a literal way. But the verses above also symbolize His protection against the enemy. The enemy is like a storm battering against us but He says to this storm, "Peace, be still!" 

You and I may not have human enemies, although it's doubtful any of us will go through life without encountering people who don't like us and who wish us ill. But we all have an enemy who would love to keep us from living productive lives for the Lord. We have an enemy who wants to discourage us. We have an enemy who wants to harm our testimony for the Lord by enticing us into sin. We have an enemy who wants us to live in a joyless, hopeless manner so that we cannot attract anyone to the Lord by the way we live. Oh, but mighty is our Defender against him! And greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world! 

God is our refuge. God is our shelter. God is the One who says to the storm that rages against us, whether that storm is a problem in our life or a feeling in our heart: "Peace, be still!" God, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, knew what it was like to live in this fallen world. He knew what it was like to have human enemies and to have a supernatural enemy. But He also knew that the child of God can have peace in the heart no matter which type of enemy comes against us, so He said: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

In Him we are overcomers. We can have peace in Him while living in a world that feels like it's falling down around us. We can have victory in Him against the schemes of Satan. We can have victory in Him against any humans who scheme against us. We can say along with Isaiah, "I will exalt You and praise Your name."