"Your dead shall live; my deceased, they shall rise: Awake, and sing, you that dwell in the dust! For your dew is as the dew of the dawn; But the earth shall cast forth, as an abortion, the deceased tyrants. Come, O my people; retire into your secret apartments; And shut your door after you; Hide yourself for a little while, for a moment; Until the indignation shall have passed away. For behold, Jehovah issues forth from His place, To punish for his iniquity the inhabitant of the earth; And the earth shall disclose the blood that is upon her; And shall no longer cover her slain." (Isaiah 26:19-21,Lowth) "In that day shall Jehovah punish with His sword; His well-tempered, and great, and strong sword; Leviathan the rigid serpent, And Leviathan the winding serpent: And shall slay the monster, that is in the sea. In that day, To the beloved Vineyard, sing a responsive song. [J] It is I, Jehovah, that preserve her: I will water her every moment; I will take care of her by night; And by day I will keep guard over her. [V] I have no wall for my defense: O that I had a defense of the thorn and the briar! [J] Against them should I march in battle, I should burn them up together. Ah, let her rather take hold of my protection. [V] Let Him make peace with me! Peace let Him make with me! [J] They that come from the root of Jacob shall flourish, Israel shall bud forth; And they shall fill the face of the world with fruit." (Isaiah 27:1-6,Lowth)
The student will notice the initials "[J]" and "[V]" before a few of the verses in the beginning. These stand for Jehovah and Voice, respectively, indicating a colloquy between the Lord and His people, which the translator supposes to be transcribed in the first part of the chapter. They are no part of the text, but simply express the translator's idea of it. The student will compare this rendering with that in his Bible, and take the suggestion for what he considers it worth.
Promise of the Resurrection
"Your dead shall live; my deceased, they shall rise." (Isaiah 26:19,Lowth)
This is much plainer and more forcible than as it is rendered in our common version. There it is made to appear as though it were simply the prophet saying that his dead body shall arise; but the fact is that it is God who is speaking of His own dead,--of those who die in the Lord. Israel has been mourning, and God comforts her with the assurance that her dead shall live, for He claims her deceased ones as His own; and he that believes in God, "though he were dead, and yet shall he live." (John 11:25)
Joy in Dust
"Awake and sing, you that dwell in the dust!" (Isaiah 26:19)
Out of the dust the Lord God formed man in the beginning, and set him over the works of His hands. God took the dust to make a king, and a king that should bear rule over things in heaven as well as on earth. This is the assurance to us that: "He takes up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory." (1 Samuel 2:8)
A heart broken and crumbled into dust (contrite), the Lord does not despise, because He knows the possibilities in dust. Indeed, that is the only material out of which a perfect man can be made. Therefore when man has, in his pride and self-exaltation, departed out of the way, and has fallen, "God turns him again to dust, and says, Come again, you children of men." (Psalm 90:3)
Conversion is the pledge of the resurrection, for it is but the working of resurrection power. God's people can rejoice over the grave, for since they have been created from the dust, and made to sit with Christ in the heavenly places, they know that death cannot separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus their Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
The Dew of the Morning
There is not so much difference as there might seem at first glance between the rendering, "Your dew is as the dew of herbs," (Isaiah 26:19,KJV) and, "Your dew is as the dew of the dawn," (Isaiah 26:19,Lowth) which is also found in other versions besides that of Lowth [NASB, ISV]; for the dew of herbs is the dew that falls in the morning. The French of Segond has it, "a vivifying dew," which is very pertinent. The Hebrew expression is thus given in one lexicon, "a light-reflecting dew." How expressive this is of the joy and freshness of the resurrection, when God's people reflect the light of life.
But why is it that the dew of God's people is as the dew of the morning? The answer is found in Psalm 133. It is because they have brotherly kindness and unity, which is "As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." (Psalm 133:3)
The Enemies Cast Out
"And the earth shall cast out the dead." (Isaiah 26:19)
The reader will notice that instead of, "the earth shall cast out the dead," Lowth renders it, "the earth shall cast out, as an abortion, the deceased tyrants." (Isaiah 26:19)
If you examine the margin of the Revision, you will see that the word in the Hebrew is "Rephaim," which is the name of one of the wicked nations that the Lord promised to cast out of the land of Canaan, before the children of Abraham. (See Genesis 14:5; 15:20) So here we find an intimation of the fact that the resurrection is the time when the promise to Abraham shall be fulfilled.
The Avenger of Blood
"Behold, the Lord comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain." (Isaiah 26:21)
All the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from that of Abel, cries to God for vengeance. Ever since nations have legalised murder, if only committed by wholesale, it has been thought only a light thing to cause the death of men. Worldly men are so bent on carrying out their schemes, that they think nothing of it if a few just men are destroyed in the process. The slain sink out of sight, the earth covers them up, and drinks up their blood, and the oppressors think that the transaction is ended. Not so; soon will the earth give up her dead, and will no more be an unwilling accomplice in bloody deeds.
Safety for God's People
It will be a terrible time when God comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth shall be "utterly broken down, [and] clean dissolved." (Isaiah 24:19)
The prophet Habakkuk had a vision of that day, when God "drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow. ... Before Him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at His feet. ... The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; at the light of your arrows they went, and at the shining of your glittering spear. You did march through the land in indignation, You did thresh the heathen in anger." (Habakkuk 3:6,5,11-12)
When the prophet saw the "great and terrible day of the Lord," (Joel 2:31) "my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble." (Habakkuk 3:16)
So God has promised that in the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, His people shall be delivered. "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book." (Daniel 12:1)
He says, "Come, my people, enter into your chambers, and shut your doors about you; hide yourself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast." (Isaiah 26:20)
The 91st Psalm tells where they will hide. "He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust." (Psalm 91:1-2)
There they will be during the thousand years that intervene between the first and second resurrections, (Revelation 20) and during the time when the fire of God's wrath consumes the wicked; but they will be no more safe then than during the seven last plagues, when they are here on the earth, in the midst of the destruction. All the time, "the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel." (Joel 3:16)
God's Vineyard
"A vineyard of red wine." (Isaiah 27:2)
Let it not be forgotten that: "The new wine is found in the cluster, [and that] a blessing is in it." (Isaiah 65:8)
The best wine is that which is procured by pressing the grape direct into the cup. "And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand." (Genesis 40:10-11)
Such wine it was that the Saviour furnished by a miracle for the wedding guests at Cana, which the governor of the feast pronounced the best. But the vineyard of the Lord is His people. "Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant: and He looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry." (Isaiah 5:1-7)
The miracle at Cana shows how the Lord's servants are to bear fruit to His glory. The servants obeyed the words of the Lord to the letter. They are nameless, and very little thought is given to them; yet they acted a most important part in the miracle. It was done by them. The vessels stood empty, and Jesus said, "Fill the waterpots with water." (John 2:7)
This the servants did without any objection, although it must have seemed to them an unnecessary act. Then said Jesus, "Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast." (John 2:8)
This was seemingly a more foolish command than the other, and one likely to cost the servants their position; for they might have reasoned, "It is not water, but wine, that is wanted; if we carry this water to the governor of the feast, he will think that we are insulting him, and we shall not only make ourselves the laughing-stock of the guests, but shall be discharged for unseemly action."
Let it be remembered that it was water that was in the pots, and that it was water that the Lord told the servants to draw out and carry to the governor. They did as they were commanded, and some time in the process, we do not know at what point, the water became wine. Through the servants as agents of the Lord, the transformation was effected.
Thus would the Lord show us how we are to be branches of the true Vine. It is the branches that bear the fruit, yet they do not bear it of themselves. They are simply the channels for transmitting the water from the root to the clusters. They do not make the wine, but are servants used in the performance of the miracle.
Those servants in Cana acted the part of branches in a vineyard. The Lord did by them what He ordinarily does by the branches of the grape vine. If we, like them, do whatever He says to us, we shall also be fruit bearing branches of the living Vine.
God's Care for His Vineyard
"I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." (Isaiah 27:3)
This agrees with what we have just learned. If we abide in His Word, He will water us continually, so that we may be fruitful. "Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper." (Psalm 1:1-3)
A vineyard that is gently watered night and day, cannot but be a flourishing one. And not a moment does God forget His charge. "He that keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade upon your right hand. The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night." (Psalm 121:3-6)
This is a most pertinent and cheering promise; for in the day when the Lord "with His great and strong sword shall punish that crooked serpent," (Isaiah 27:1) which is the dragon and Satan, (Revelation 12:9; 20:2) the sun will have power to scorch men with fire. "And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which has power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory." (Revelation 16:8-9) "O Lord, to You will I cry: for the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field cry also unto You: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness." (Joel 1:19-20)
But during all the time when the fire of God's rejected grace shall be consuming the wicked, "There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain." (Isaiah 4:6)
Yet the safety of the people of God in that day will be by nothing else than by the very same loving protection that is given them now day by day.
The Consummation
"Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit." (Isaiah 27:6)
This will be the completion of the work of the Gospel, the last proclamation of which is, "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Revelation 14:7)
It is by our bearing fruit, that God is glorified. "Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples." (John 15:8)
When Israel fills the face of the world with fruit, then will the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. And this will be accomplished by recognizing and honoring God as the Creator, the One by whose direct care and attention all the processes of nature are effected: "For as the earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." (Isaiah 61:11)--Present Truth, April 27, 1899--Isaiah 26:19-21; 27:1-6.