Isaiah 30 FSI - HEAR, O EARTH

> [!title|noicon] **Isaiah 30 Notes** > \[[Isaiah 29 FSI|<Prev\]]   \[[Isaiah 31 FSI|Next>\]] > [[Isaiah 30|Verse list view]] > [Isaiah 30:18](Isaiah%2030.md#^18) note > > "And therefore will the LORD wait," -- Why must the LORD wait? Because God has a very precise timetable. It's all laid out in the Bible for us to study and investigate what we can about that timetable. Christ was born as Messiah and went to the cross at a very specific time that God had ordained. And, by the same token, God has a very prescribed time for when the end of the church age would come and the final harvest in which He is saving a great multitude, and all the joy that goes with that. And this is what God is speaking about here. > > "...that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you:" -- This is what salvation is all about, that God might have mercy on us. > > "...for the LORD *is* a God of judgment:" -- The word *judgment* here would be better translated *Law*, God is a God of Law. For example, in Psalm 119 we read about God's commandments, statutes, testimonies, judgments and His Law. They are synonymous with His Word. And according to God's Law, reaching all the way back to the foundation of the world, God chose those He planned to save. Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world making payment for their sins ([Rev 13:8](Revelation%2013.md#^8)). So all over the world today there are countless numbers of people still living in sin and are not saved. Many of them haven't even heard of the Gospel yet. And yet, their sins have been paid for, so God cannot bring them into eternal death under His wrath. Why? Because God is a God of *Law*. > > "...blessed *are* all they that wait for him." -- All they that wait for Him are the ones He has chosen before the foundation of the world. They are elected by Him but haven't yet become saved. But they will absolutely experience salvation and be given a resurrected soul by God because Christ has paid for their sins long before they were even born. God *must* do this because He has decreed it and carried out His Word and His plan as he draws them to Himself, a great multitude that no man can number during this time of the end. So in a sense it's already a done deal. They are still living in the world, living in sin, but God is going to save them out from under His wrath according to His own timetable as He applies His Word to their hearts personally. And so He uses this phrase that they are waiting for Him, even though it is God Who is waiting to save them. ^isa30-18 > [Isaiah 30:19](Isaiah%2030.md#^19) note > > See [Jeremiah 31:12](Jeremiah%2031.md#^12), [13](Jeremiah%2031.md#^13). Once we have become saved we're in a condition where we rejoice in the Lord. We have a joy in our heart like we have never had. As we are seeking the Lord and trying to do His will and pleading for His mercy, we are sad so often as we slip into this sin and that sin. So we mourn for our sins and it's as sad as anything can be. But when we are saved we find that we have a joy in our heart and are happiest when we do His Will. That's where true happiness is. And during this time of the final harvest God will be very gracious to a multitude of souls, He will be gracious and will hear them when they cry to Him for mercy. ^isa30-19 > [Isaiah 30:20](Isaiah%2030.md#^20) note > > "And *though* the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction," -- When we are saved and filled with joy, does it mean now that the world easy to live in? The answer is no. We'll find adversity as we bring the Gospel and take positions that are contrary to those around us. We may be slandered and vilified, like Christ was reviled and intentionally misunderstood. As we bring the Word, so we'll experience affliction. > > "...yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:" -- *Teachers* here is actually a singular word, not plural. And this is important because the Teacher ultimately is Christ Himself. The Holy Spirit leads us into all Truth through His Word. And God is teaching us here that at this time we will see Him through His Word in a way like we've never seen Him before. He gives us spiritual eyes so that we see our sins and to understand more about Christ and His overall plan in the Bible like never before in history, particularly as we approach the end. > > Never again will Truth disappear or be hidden in a corner as it was for much of the church age, such as when someone put their Bible on a shelf and just trusted in what they were being taught by the preachers and Bible teachers -- or even back before there was a printing press so that only certain people could teach. And in many cases they could easily bring their own ideas and philosophies and gain a following if they had an aptitude to teach or a charismatic personality. This cannot happen now as God declares that it's between God and the individual alone. ^isa30-20 > [Isaiah 30:21](Isaiah%2030.md#^21) note > > A similar statement but couched in different language is found in [Hebrews 8:10](Hebrews%208.md#^10). God Himself applies the Word to our hearts so that it's like there's a Voice behind us that guides us into Truth. We don't hear a literal Voice, of course, it is through the Bible that gives us constant direction -- go this way to the left, go this way to the right and so on -- as we ponder God's Word in our lives whenever we face any kind of situation. We become identified more and more with the Word of God. ^isa30-21 > [Isaiah 30:22](Isaiah%2030.md#^22) note > > One of the characteristics of the true believer is to have an intense desire to be obedient to the Word of God. And so, those things of the world that we were attracted to in the past -- and perhaps those things our friends and loved ones still find attractive -- we're not interested in them anymore. We throw them away, we cast them behind us. We don't want those things anymore. We used to go to certain movies or attend certain kinds of parties, and now we find that we're not happy doing that anymore so we stop attending. And it gets to the point where it gets to be a little lonely because we won't engage in such things any longer. But, of course, we're not lonely because the Lord Jesus is as close to us as prayer and through His Word. ^isa30-22 > [Isaiah 30:23](Isaiah%2030.md#^23) note > > "Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous:" -- The word *fat* here indicates that which is *lush* and super healthy. There's plenty of grain and good food. It points to how the Lord Jesus gives us more than we need of the graciousness and blessing of God, it just flows out of His Word. > > "in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures." -- Again, there's more than enough in these large pastures for the cattle, which point to the believers. ^isa30-23 > [Isaiah 30:24](Isaiah%2030.md#^24) note > > "The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender," -- God is still speaking of the true believers through these animals, as with the cattle in [v23](Isaiah%2030.md#^23) (also with the animals that were in the ark with Noah, and how Christ is the Shepherd of His sheep), and they shall have clean provender -- that is, their grain and the hay that they eat is the *very best*. And this points, of course, to the Gospel that we eat as believers, as with the cattle feeding in large pastures in verse 23. Clean provender points to the Gospel without any uncleanness or error mixed in with it. > > "...which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan." -- There is no chaff, it's as wholesome as it possibly can be. ^isa30-24 > [Isaiah 30:25](Isaiah%2030.md#^25) note > > "And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers *and* streams of waters" -- The high mountains and the high hills point to the kingdom of God. It is high up above the earth. The rivers and streams of waters represents the Gospel flowing out from Christ, from the kingdom of God, with a great harvest of souls. > > "...in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall." -- This is very unique language. If we didn't understand in these last days, right at the time of the end when God's judgment has fallen upon the visible churches and the world, that God has a great, final harvest of a great multitude of believers during the latter rain period, we wouldn't know what to do with this. It sounds like a contradiction. How can there be rivers and streams of waters on the high mountains and hills, and plenteous food for the animals (vv23-24), in the day of great slaughter when the towers fall? Verses 18 to the beginning of this verse are clearly speaking of great salvation from God, then suddenly there is this turn. > > This is seen again in verses 28 to the end, where God speaks about His wrath and then, at the same time, His salvation, before closing again with His wrath in verse 33. And it is because of the fact that right near the very end, as judgment has already begun with the house of God (the visible churches) and the world, God nevertheless has a plan to save a great many people from many nations just as Christ is about to return, and as He returns. And that is the day in which we are currently living. > > So this is two sides of the same coin, in other words. While wonderfully, on the one hand, there are a great number of people being prepared for salvation and eternal life, God is also bringing His judgment upon all the unsaved of the world, preparing them for slaughter. And all of the high towers, those that have been lifted up on high in the churches and in this present world, will be cast down and destroyed. All of the kingdom of Satan will come under destruction. ^isa30-25 > [Isaiah 30:26](Isaiah%2030.md#^26) note > > We don't find language quite like this in any other place in the Bible. And interestingly, the word translated *sun* in this verse is only used a few times in the Bible and refers to the great *heat* of the sun, or the intense brightness of it. It's a much bigger word than is normally used for sun. Likewise, the word translated *moon* is also different from the usual Hebrew term that is used, and here it emphasizes an especially bright moon, like a very full moon. You've likely seen very clear evenings where the moon shines so brightly that it's almost like it's daylight. > > And remember that the sun represents Christ, Who Is the Light of the world ([Mal 4:2](Malachi%204.md#^2); [Mt 17:1](Matthew%2017.md#^1), [2](Matthew%2017.md#^2); [Rev 1:16](Revelation%201.md#^16); [Jn 8:12](John%208.md#^12), [9:5](John%209.md#^5)), and the moon represents the Law of God. So this is the time in which the *Gospel*, the Word of God (remember Christ is also the Word: [Jn 1:14](John%201.md#^14)) shines brighter than ever. > > These 2 words translated *moon* and *sun* here are also found in [Isaiah 24:21](Isaiah%2024.md#^21), [22](Isaiah%2024.md#^22), [23](Isaiah%2024.md#^23). And there, God is speaking about the *very end* of time (as can be seen in [vv19](Isaiah%2024.md#^19), [20](Isaiah%2024.md#^20) of that chapter). It is Judgment Day itself when God is through with this earth and there is no more salvation. There's no more brightness as the moon is confounded and the sun is ashamed. > > So here in Isaiah 30:26 it is speaking of the time just ahead of this, as God is *preparing* the world for judgment and yet saving a great multitude through His Word outside of the visible churches and congregations. The brightness *and heat* of the sun as well as the bright moon are upon the earth as God is bringing both salvation and judgment through the Gospel. > > "...in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound." -- The word translated *breach* here is the same word translated *destruction* in [Jeremiah 4:6](Jeremiah%204.md#^6), [20](Jeremiah%204.md#^20). That is, it is upon the *destruction* of the visible churches, the local congregations, that God brings in the multitude of His people into the *eternal* kingdom of God during the final harvest. That is when the sun and the moon will shine brightly as we read in this verse. > > "...and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days," -- This points to the fact that there are about 7,000 years from the flood of Noah's day in 4990 BC to the present day, as God informs us there would be 7 days (or 7,000 years) until the destruction of the earth by flood and later by fire (cp [Gen 7:4](Genesis%207.md#^4) with [2 Pe 3:3-8](2%20Peter%203.md)). ^isa30-26 Tags: #Old_Testament #Isaiah #Gods_judgment_on_His_people