Will you tell me what is the meaning of the ninth to eleventh verses of the 26th chapter of Isaiah?
Let us read the words first from the Revised Version: "With my soul have I desired You in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek You early; for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal wrongfully, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, your hand is lifted up, yet they see not; but they shall see your zeal for the people, and be ashamed; yea, fire shall devour your adversaries." (Isaiah 26:9-11,RV)
The judgments of God are a means of instruction to those who will learn. In them we see His ways, and by watching them in the light of His Word we may understand God's thoughts. God's judgments do not consist only of plagues and famines and sudden destruction. "All His works are truth, and His ways judgment." (Daniel 4:37)
We may see His judgments in everything that He does, and learn righteousness from them. The wicked do not recognize God's judgments unless they come in afflictions and punishments. They have no desire to learn His gentler lessons, and do not heed them. Hence God has to speak to them in some way that will arrest their attention. We read of the wicked: "All his thoughts are, There is no God. His ways are grievous at all times; your judgments are far above out of his sight." (Psalm 10:4-5)
It is not so with the righteous. "I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His judgments were before me." (Psalm 18:21-22)
So the one who speaks in Isaiah 26, says: "Yea, in the way of your judgments, O Lord, have we waited for You." (Isaiah 26:8)
He had observed the judgments of God, found His way, and waited for God in that way, with the result that: "The way of the just is uprightness: You that are upright directs the path of the just." (Isaiah 26:7)
It is not so with the wicked. He is not teachable, and he is not seeking instruction. Favor is thrown away on him, and simply confirms him in his wrong-doing. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is emboldened to do evil." (Ecclesiastes 8:11)
Even if a wicked man were admitted to heaven, he would still sin. The beauty of character there would not affect him. He would still do wrongfully, and not regard the excellence of Jehovah. That this is so, was seen from Christ's experience. He was on earth what God is in heaven, but those who loved wickedness saw no beauty that they should desire Him. (Isaiah 53:2) They hated Him without a cause. (John 15:25, Psalm 69:4) "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." (Romans 1:18)
But the wicked see not that God's hand is lifted up. Yet they will see God's zeal for His people, and if they still remain untouched and impenitent, they will at last see the judgment of God in the fire which devours them.--Present Truth, September 17, 1903.