Devotionals

The Blessing that Follows the Blasting

by Henry Jaegers
08/08/22
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Making Sense of the Book of Isaiah

By Henry Jaegers

Lesson 7

The Blessing that Follows the Blasting

Therefore, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies:  And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:  And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment and her converts with righteousness.  And the destruction of the transgressors and the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.  For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.  For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them. (Isaiah 1: 24-31)

I have chosen this title as a summarizing statement concerning the verses that are before us. There is one word that stands out to me concerning the content of this verse and it is the word, "justice". The justice of God should not be confused with the judgment of God. The judgment of God is part of his justice. Sometimes the word "Justice" is used in connection with "The Severity of God" but again, though that is sometimes true, it does not give us the complete meaning of the word. But we might get a picture that is more correct if we see it as a judge in a court of law. In seeking to reconcile the arguments of both the prosecuting and defense attorneys, to come to a fair conclusion. That one has considered all things in seeking to do what is right. Sometimes the judge must make a harsh decision, and other times he must make a good one based on the evidence that is presented.

And in this verse, I see God doing both. First, he begins by showing them the blessing that he has in mind after discipline is complete.

In the book of Jeremiah, God gave to him a summary of what his responsibilities were as God's profit. Here is what he has said:

"See, I have this day set thee over the nations and the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant."

Declaring the word of God is somewhat like going to war, where, before any significant building can be done, it is necessary to destroy structures, uproot the false teachings, to teach proper doctrine, leading to spiritual growth. And although that particular message is not given to Isaiah in the same way, it appears that God is using the same formula in Isaiah, and we get a glimpse of this in these final verses of chapter 1. And again, let's parse this section to get a better idea of how "God's justice" works.

Therefore, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies:

The first thing we must notice in this verse is that God must act in harmony with who he is. He is the mighty God who sits on the throne and his actions must be consistent with his person. In light of that, the problem of sin must be purged and cleansed because it cannot stand in the presence of a holy God. So this verse begins by showing us why he must do justice. The first thing he mentions in light of this is that He must deal with those who stand in opposition to him. That includes all who choose to do so. And included in this judgment, are those disobedient children of Israel, who refuse to be corrected. Once this is done, then we consider what he says next:

And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:  And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment and her converts with righteousness.

And here we get the whole picture of "the justice of God". God has good things in store for those who turn away from wickedness and embrace his righteousness. The good things that they once enjoyed before their backsliding, will be restored to them again. (Just as though backsliding never happened.)To get the full impact of all of this, read Psalm 103 and ask yourself, "what has God done with my sin?" He remembers them no more, he removes them as far as the east is from the west, and how much more comfort from these promises can there be than that?

 And the destruction of the transgressors and the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.  For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.  For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

For those who live their lives as though there were no consequences for their actions, the verse before confirms the fact, mentioned throughout all of Scripture. It is the fact that someday men will stand before God and the separation will occur. In Matthew chapter 25 Jesus tells us of the division that will take place between the sheep and the goats. And in the parable of the wheat and the tares, another separation is mentioned. And in Daniel chapter 12, there is this,  "and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.". (Daniel 12:2)

And they will see all the reasons for their contempt and will regret in their hearts that they have not found "the good way that God has promised". Also contained in this verse is a confirmation of that spoken in Psalm, chapter 1. It talks about the righteous and the unrighteous; that those who spend their lives meditating on the word of God are promised a life full of blessing and purpose. But those who refuse the word of God will be like the dried-up leaves that fall away with the wind. Compare that to the tree standing by the river of water that brings forth its fruit in season and the leaf never dries up. I always enjoy what Charles Spurgeon has to say about God's trees; they are ever-green. And on that day, they will look back with regrets over the foolish paths they had chosen to reject the Lord.

But once again, we must not lose sight of the whole picture. Although this judgment spoken of, is certain, just as certain is the mercy of God for those who turn back to him. In light of all of this, God gives us hope that when we choose righteousness, we are choosing the way of God. It is that righteousness coming from this loving God alone, that can produce the same righteousness in his servants. And I ask, why would anyone choose any other way? When God says, "Come, let us reason together", he is telling us that it doesn't make sense for us to choose evil because evil will have its rewards as well, and they are not good. In our next study, we will summarize the message of this First, chapter.