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Agape Bible Study Isaiah 25 - 27
Chapter 25: The Faithful Remnant's Hymn of Thanksgiving and Praise
Just as a song of praise and thanksgiving followed the description of the fall of the world powers and the establishment of God's kingdom in chapters 10 and 11, so too, after the prophecy of God's great judgment in chapter 24, Isaiah has another vision of the faithful singing of songs of praise and thanksgiving.
Isaiah 25:1-5 ~ A Hymn of Thanksgiving
Question: Why do they sing a hymn of praise and thanksgiving?
Answer: The faithful remnant sings a hymn of praise and thanksgiving because God has triumphed over His enemies in His divine plan, and He now reigns eternally.
Isaiah 25:6-12 ~ The Divine Banquet
The "mountain" of the Lord is where divine revelation of God is given to His people. Isaiah receives a vision of the Messianic Banquet at the end of time "it is the hymn of praise St. John heard and the vision of the Wedding Supper of the Lamb that St. John saw in Revelation 19:1-10!
Question: In the reoccurring symbolic images of the Old Testament prophets, what does drinking fine wine at a banquet represent and what is this banquet?
| Drinking Wine | Covenant unity: Joy of drinking good wine | Rebellion: Becoming drunk | Judgment: Loss of wine; drinking the "cup of God's wrath" | Restoration: Rejoicing in the best "new wine" at the Master's table |
| Examples in Scripture | Isaiah25:6-8; 62:8-9; 65:13; Jeremiah 31:12; 40:12 | Isaiah 5:11-12; 28:1; Jeremiah 8:13; 48:26; 51:7; Joel 1:5 | Psalm 75:9; Isaiah 51:17-23; ; Joel 4:13; Jeremiah 13:12-14; 25:15-31; 49:12; 51:6-7; 48:26; Ezekiel 23:31-34; Habakkuk 2:16 | Promise: Zech.9:15-16 Filled: Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; Revelation 19:7-9 |
Answer: Drinking the best wine represents restoration in covenant unity with God. This vision is of the restoration of covenant unity at the Messianic banquet in the New Jerusalem at the end of time.
8 he has destroyed death for ever. Lord Yahweh has wiped away the tears from every cheek [face]; he has taken his people's shame away everywhere on earth, for Yahweh has spoken.
Question: According to Isaiah, God will comfort His people in what three ways?
Answer:
- He will destroy death, the agent of sorrow and grief, forever.
- He will comfort His people and wipe away their tears.
- He will take away His people's shame because they were right to believe in Him and follow Him no matter what the cost.
St. John will quote from Isaiah 24:8 from the Greek translation in Revelation 7:17 and 21:4 (underlining added):
- They will never hunger or thirst again; sun and scorching wind will never plague them, because the Lamb who is at the heart of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away all tears from their eyes (Rev 7:16-17).
- He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone (Rev 21:4).
Question: Until Christ's return, physical death is still part of the human condition, but for the righteous it is now a gateway to eternal life. However, in His Second Advent and the Last Judgment, what will happen to both death and Hades? See Rev 20:13-15; 21:4b.
Answer: Both death and Hades will be destroyed because there is no longer any need for them in God's plan for mankind's salvation.
The image in verse 11 is of a swimmer doing what we would call a breast stroke by pushing his hands through the water in front of him and then pushing the water by moving his arms out to his sides at the top of the water so his arms are opened wide and extend out from his shoulders. The "He" who is stretching out of His hands wide on the mountain is God and recalls the image of Jesus on the Cross, on the hill of Golgotha just below the summit of Mt. Moriah, with His arms outstretched as the victim of sacrifice upon the Cross, but also with arms stretched wide to embrace all of mankind with His gift of the forgiveness of sins that leads to eternal life. In accepting human flesh, God humbled Himself for our sake, and by accepting death on the Cross, He swallowed up death in victory to conquer the fearful and impregnable fortress of human death: He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel ... (2 Tim 1:9-10).
Isaiah 26:1-6 ~ A Hymn of Thanksgiving
Question: What day is "that day" in verse 1? See 25:6 and 9.
Answer: It is the day the Lord prepares His Divine Banquet on His holy mountain.
Question: What is the "fortress city" whose walls provides safety/salvation and welcomes every upright nation that keeps faith? See Is 25:6-8 and Rev 21:1-2.
Answer: The fortress city is the new Jerusalem, fortified by Yahweh and serving as a refuge for the just where God's divine banquet of the redeemed will take place (25:6-8).
The upright and just must trust in the Lord God because He is the Rock of eternity. He has made a covenant of peace with His faithful people. The peace He will keep for them is the peace of perfect covenant union that they will know when the day comes that He has completed His work of salvation and they can enter into His eternal peace in the heavenly Jerusalem (see 26:12).
Isaiah's vision shifts from the faithful remnants' praise to their petition in verses 7-21. The people's prayer of petition contains three elements:
- The contrast between the faithful righteous and the wicked (26:7-11).
- A description of God's past dealings with His covenant people (26:12-18).
- God's coming wrath and deliverance (26:19-21).
Isaiah 26:7-11 ~ The contrast between the Righteous and the Wicked
Question: What characterizes the "faithful righteous"?
Answer: The "upright" person is honest, he is obedient to God's commandments, he trusts God, desiring to please Him in all things even when he receives God's just judgments, and he longs for intimacy in his relationship with God.
Question: What does Psalm 1:1-2 teach concerning the faithful as opposed to the wicked?
Answer: The blessed are those who reject the advice of the wicked, does not adhere to the standards or practices of the wicked, does not keep company with them, but who delights in living in obedience to the commandments of God.
To turn away from the "assembly" and the Eucharist on the Lord's Day is to reject Jesus as Lord and Savior. To reject Jesus and the grace that is given through knowledge of the truth of Christ's sacrifice and the power of the Sacrament of the Eucharist would mean that there would be no opportunity for forgiveness of sins without the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus gave the Apostles as the representatives of His Church the power to forgive sins "the Old priesthood and animal sacrifice could not offer full and complete forgiveness, nor could it offer eternal salvation.
In Verse 29 the inspired writer identifies the sin for which forgiveness is no longer available so long as one remains separated from Christ as the sin of apostasy, for which judgment will be severe because such a person has rejected God's gift of salvation in the "covenant-blood" sacrifice of Jesus Christ and "insults the spirit of grace" (see Heb 10:29). The inspired writer has previously warned the faithful about the sin of apostasy in 3:12-15 and 6:4-8. Apostasy, as defined by CCC# 2089 is the total repudiation of the Christian faith. The Catholic Dictionary defines "apostasy" as The total rejection by a baptized person of the Christian faith he once professed. The term is also applied in a technical sense to "apostates from religious life," who without authorization leave a religious institute after perpetual vows with no intention of returning. [Etym. Latin "apostasia,' falling away or separation from God; from Greek apostasis,' revolt, literally, a standing-off]. One can also become an apostate from the Catholic faith but rejecting the fullness of faith in the Church founded by Jesus in favor of another church's doctrine.
Notice that Hebrews 10:27 contains a reference to Isaiah 26:11 from the Septuagint Greek translation: O Lord, thine arm is exalted, yet they knew it not: but when they know they shall be ashamed: jealousy shall seize upon an untaught nation, and now fire shall devour (consume) the adversaries (enemies); emphasis added. The inspired writer will refer to this passage from Isaiah concerning God's divine judgment again in Hebrews 10:37.
Hebrews 10:28: 28 Anyone who rejects the Law of Moses is put to death without pity on the testimony of two or three witnesses. The inspired writer is referring to the section of the Old Law that legislated the correct use of witnesses found in Deuteronomy 17:6: A death sentence may be passed only on the word of two witnesses or three; and no one must be put to death on the word of one witness alone.
Question: Was this article of the law applied in the case of Jesus' trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin?
Answer: Yes, two false witnesses testified against Him in Matthew 26:60.
Isaiah 26:12-18 ~ A description of God's past dealings with His covenant people and the Faithful ask for Peace, Lament the Power of Death, and the inability to bring Salvation to the Earth
In verses 12-13, Isaiah says that the faithful recall all God has done for them as a covenant people and although others have ruled over them, they remained loyal to God alone and worship God alone.
Question: What is their lament in verse 14?
Answer: They are full of grief because they believe that the dead are lost forever. They see death as a punishment.
Isaiah 26:19-21: Yahweh's Response to their Petition
Question: What is God's promise in verses 19-21?
Answer: He gives the promise of a bodily resurrection of the dead ("your corpses will rise again").
And, since God's judgments are just (verses 7-10), the people can be assured of the deliverance and glory that is to come if the persevere in prayer and faith. The present ordeals are a preparation for a rebirth (verses 16-19). The pains of childbirth become an image for the tribulation inevitably preceding the coming of the Messiah
Chapter 27: The Coming Salvation
Isaiah has described his visions of the earth's destruction (24:1-23), victory over God's enemies (25:1-12), and the faithful remnant of Judah's hymn of deliverance (26:1-21). Now he has a vision of the coming salvation of God's covenant people when God will destroy evil and will again have an intimate relationship with His covenant people, bringing them home to Him for all time.
Isaiah 27:1-6 ~ Yahweh's Vineyard
"Leviathan the coiling serpent" represents all that is evil in the world, and the sea is a symbol of the chaos that is a product of evil. In the new heaven and new earth, described in St. John's vision in the Book of Revelation, the sea is no more (21:1) and the "dragon" is destroyed (Rev 20:1-2; 21:1-2).(1)
As in Isaiah 5:1-7, Israel is depicted as Yahweh's vineyard, but the vineyard imagery in the two passages is employed in two contexts and the outcome is not the same.
Question: Chart the similarities and differences between the two vineyard passages.
Answer:
| Isaiah 5:1-7 | Isaiah 27:1-6 |
| Vineyard owner: God | Vineyard owner: God |
| Location: Fertile hillside | Location: Unnamed |
| Owner's care: He tilled the soil, cleared out stones, planted choice vines, built a watchtower, and cut out a winepress. | Owner's care: He is its guardian. He waters it and protects it day and night. There is no wall, but He eliminates brambles and thorn-bushes while chastising the vineyard when necessary. |
| Vineyard's yield: It is not fruitful; it yields wild grapes. | Vineyard's yield: It is abundantly fruitful "its "fruit" fills whole earth. |
| God's response: Calls for Judah to judge between God and His vineyard. It is His judgment that He will tear down His vineyard, expose it to briars and thrones, and withholds rain. | God's response: He takes pleasure in His vineyard and calls for all to make peace with Him. |
In the chapter 5 passage, despite Yahweh's care of His "vineyard" that was Israel it proved to be unfruitful and was exposed to God's judgment. In the second "vineyard" description in chapter 27, the vineyard received God's protection and was chastised when necessary. The result is that the vineyard responded to God's invitation to make peace with Him, and the promise is that Judah, God's "vineyard" will be fruitful and will produce a harvest that will cover the entire world.
Question: How does Jesus use harvest imagery in Matthew 13:23, in 24-30 and 41-43?
Answer: An abundant "harvest" of good works is the result of those who hear the word of the Lord and understand it. The "harvest" is also used symbolically for the Last Judgment and the gathering of wicked for eternal punishment and the gathering of all righteous souls into God's storehouse that is Heaven.
Isaiah 27:7-11 ~ Punishment before Pardon
Isaiah returns to the judgment that is facing the people of his time: why did his people face exile and the suffering of war?
Question: He answers that question by two rhetorical questions in verse 7 which ask: has God struck Judah as God has struck Judah's enemies "in other words does God treat Judah like an enemy?
Answer: God never struck Judah in the same way that He has brought judgment against foreign nations that oppressed them. His relationship with Judah is different than with other nations.
This does not mean that God will not exact just punishment against Judah, but all judgment is meant to be redemptive (27:9a). War and the people's exile will bring about what they failed to do "destroy the altars of false gods (27:9b), and Jerusalem will be abandoned (27:10). The exile would serve as atonement for the people's sins, but since the people still failed to understand, the judgment was still going to take place.
Isaiah 27:12-13 ~ The Promised Return of the Faithful Remnant of Judah
"That day" refers to the day of pardon when the people have atoned for their sins. The extent of the territory from which God will gather the faithful remnant will be from the Euphrates River to the boundary with Egypt and from Assyria to Egypt. The first two groups of exiles from the Northern Kingdom of Israel were taken by the Assyrians into Assyrians to the east in the 8th century BC (2 Kng 15:29; 17:5-6). In the 6th century BC, people from the Southern Kingdom were taken in three groups into lands in Babylon and those who were left behind immigrated to Egypt after the murder of the governor the Babylonians left in charge of the territory ( 2 Kng 24:10-15; 25:21, 25-26; Jer 52:28-30). After the return of the faithful remnant of Judah from Babylon in the late 6th century BC, the Jerusalem Temple was rebuilt (2 Chr 36:22-23; Ezra 3:1-66:15-16). Isaiah concludes his vision of the end of days and the Last Judgment on this positive note.
CHALLENGE: “The pope’s title Vicarius Filii Dei (‘Vicar of the Son of God’) adds up to 666, identifying him as the beast of Revelation.”
DEFENSE:Vicarius Filii Dei is not one of the pope’s titles (see Day 175), and a careful study of Revelation shows that the number likely refers to a Roman emperor.
Revelation 13:18 says 666 is the “number of a man” (literal translation). Revelation gives several clues about who this was.
He likely was alive in John’s day. Revelation 1:1 and 22:6 say the vision John sees “must soon take place.”
The beast has seven heads that represent seven hills (Rev. 17:9), suggesting the city of Rome. The heads also represent seven kings, “five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes he must remain only a little while” (Rev. 17:10). This suggests the line of first-century Roman emperors.
The beast is associated with the whore of Babylon, who John sees “drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Rev. 17:6). This suggest the beast persecuted Christians, which the Roman Empire did.
We are told people worshipped the Beast, which had great military might (Rev. 13:4). The Roman Empire was the dominant military power of the day, and people worshipped the emperor by the Roman imperial cult.
It is thus natural to identify the beast with the line of Roman emperors, and, in a special way, with Nero. In Hebrew and Aramaic, the name “Nero Caesar” (NRWN QSR) adds up to 666 (N+R+W+N+Q+S+R = 50+200+6+50+100+60+200 = 666). A variant spelling (NRW QSR) adds up to 616, and this number is found in some ancient manuscripts of Revelation.
Nero was famous for persecuting Christians, again strengthening his identification with the beast (see the Roman historians Tacitus, Annals 15:44, and Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars, “Nero” 16).
In A.D. 68, Nero was declared an enemy of the state by the Roman senate and committed suicide. He was likely one of the five fallen kings of Revelation 17:10. Two of Nero’s successors in A.D. 69—Otho and Vitellius—emulated and honored Nero (see Suetonius, “Otho” 7, “Vitellius” 11), making them possible fulfillments of the prophecy of the beast’s return after being struck down (Rev. 13:3, 17:8–11).
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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