May 25: Isaiah 26

Numbers 34; Psalm 78:40–72; Isaiah 26; 1 John 4

Photo by Avi Theret on Unsplash

In “that day” - chapter 25, when God brings judgment and welcomes in His people - there will be rejoicing, as His redeemed people come in from the nations. It is as if these voices speak back to us from the future: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock” (3-4). Your waiting will be worth it, they say. Fix your mind on Him.

They praise God because His grace and mercy has done it all (12). Israel did not accomplish God’s purpose for them (18). So God does it Himself, even raising from the dead those who have died before - they too will awake in joy. Here is the resurrection promised, that the Sadducees refused to see (Luke 20:27).

Into this hope God’s people are saved (Rom. 8:24). And thus it is in believing this hope - hoping in this hope - that we gain the power to wait for its arrival. We must often wait with a holy dissatisfaction in the status quo (9a); with a longing for His righteousness to actually reign on the earth (9b); enduring favor being shown to the wicked (10). Yet by this hope we may wait in holiness (7) and in “perfect peace” (3). For our Lord is risen (1 Cor. 15:23), and so will we. He is coming, and he rides in justice (Revelation 19:11-16).