Isaiah Part XXXI – Michael Bunker Commentary

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CHAPTER 30:18-33

Verse 17 of Chapter 30 ended with a great promise for God’s very few elect who will survive and remain faithful through the several spiritual and physical destructions of Jerusalem.  They will be like a beacon on a mountain and ensigns on a hill – solitary signs of God’s goodness and a rallying point for the few who remain.

Verse 18 - And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him; There are two kinds of “waiting” going on in this beautiful verse.  The Lord is said to “wait”, that He may be gracious unto His elect.  Those who faithfully tarry in expectation for Him to do so are said to “wait” for Him.  The word translated as wait here has the meaning of “to adhere to, to tarry with expectation”.  Through all the many destructions and judgments of Jerusalem, God is waiting to bestow grace and mercy upon His elect.  This patience is designed so that He might be exalted in the preservation of His chosen people:

and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment; That God might accomplish two mighty tasks, He patiently waits.  He must be a perfect judge therefore He cannot clear the guilty (Exodus 34:7).  He cannot destroy those who He lovingly foreknew and for whom He decreed salvation, therefore He waits patiently that He might unveil the Messiah in due time.  Each of the elect will be saved by grace through faith, and so each will have the Messiah unveiled to them through the gifts of repentance, faith and belief in their appointed time.

When the multitudes of Judah saw judgment coming upon them, they could not leave off making deals with Egypt, in vain hoping for protection from the world.  When the elect saw judgment coming upon them, they turned to the Lord of judgment, and waited on Him that they might receive repentance unto salvation.  Only a few will survive these spiritual judgments that even now fall upon a rebellious and wicked Church.  Blessed are all they that wait for Him.

Verses 19-21 - For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left; The Lord is said to tarry and wait… for what?  What sign or signal does He hope to see or hear that will indicate it is time for Him to bestow grace and protection upon a people?

he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee; At the voice of they cry, He shall hear it and will answer you.  This is a very interesting and important lesson from the Lord.  The word translated “cry” here can be understood in several different ways.  It is a shriek or call whereby the people are assembled or gathered together to call unto the Lord:

1.     The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah was such that God’s hand of justice was called upon to destroy them (Gen. 18:20).

2.     The cry of the children of Egypt as they were in bondage under the wicked Pharaoh reached up to God who heard them.

3.     The children of Israel beg Samuel to cry unto the Lord for them that He will save them from the hand of the Philistines. (1 Sam 7:8).

To “cry” is to raise up the voice to God in prayer and supplication, from the integrity of the heart, that he might save thee and be merciful unto thee.  This is the cry that the Lord awaits, and the cry that the Lord will hear.  He has promised to answer you when you cry unto Him in this manner.  To those who cry to the Lord in this way, He has promised that the day will come when you will weep no more.  You will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem and He will be very gracious unto you.  Though the Lord has given you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, to test you and to prove you, He has done these things so that His manifold wisdom would be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places through the Church (Eph. 3:10).  The day has been promised to the elect when He will no longer feed you with the bread of adversity, but through the sacrament we receive the bread of His body – a mystery designed to show our unity with Him and with one another.  The day has been promised to the elect when He will no longer give you the water of affliction, but you will have access to His blood, which is the River of Life (Rev. 22:1) which runs with the Water of Life and all who will come to it may drink freely of it (Rev. 22:17).

And in that time will your eye see true teachers, and you will adhere to the Words of Life out of love for Christ.  Whereas once true teaching was hid from you, just as you would not hear true teaching even if it was made available to you; now, true teaching will be made available to you, and you will receive it joyfully.  John Gill said:

“but thine eyes shall see thy teachers; in their proper place, doing the work of their office: it denotes not a bare seeing them with their bodily eyes, but a seeing them with pleasure and delight, a wistfully looking at them, and a diligent and attentive observance of what they said” (John Gill Commentary).

When you are converted, you will hear the Words of Life made apparent to you by your teachers, and you will not only heed those words, but you will hear them with living and loving ears.  You will heed that which you hear, and obey that which is true.  Your teachers will no longer be hid from you, but will be going about the work of their office for your sake, on behalf of the Lord who sent them.

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left; As a teacher will stand behind a student and guide them, admonishing them when they turn aside out of the true way, the elect of God will guided by the voice of the scriptures, of true teachers and the by the voice of conscience, whereby God can and will direct them in the paths of righteousness, and turn them from danger to keep them on the narrow path.

Verse 22 - Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence; The idols and images of our rebellion will be defiled and cast away.  Where God’s elect once loved them, protected them and sought after them, suddenly they will become in their eyes as a menstruous cloth which must be cast aside and forgotten.  This is the way of God’s wondrous workings on behalf of His elect, and hereby you will know you are fully converted.  When you hate what you once loved, and when you cannot put away your idols far enough or quick enough to get them away from you for your hatred of them – then you may rightly surmise that God is doing a mighty work in you.  Those who will be saved in Jerusalem are those who are found casting their idols away – both the idols of the mind and those of the hand.  Your heart cannot but say to them, “Get thee hence”.  When you find yourself listening to God’s teachers, heeding their words, seeking after the paths of righteousness, putting away the idols of the old carnal man, THEN you can know that God’s work of salvation is being wrought in you.

Verses 23-35 - 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: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall; In that day of God’s great salvation, he will send rain on the seed that is sown in and by thee.  He will provide you with bread of the increase of the earth, and the earth shall produce plenteously to you.  All your cattle shall feed in large pastures, and even your laboring animals will eat grain as it is normally prepared for man.  Such will be the abundance of that time that even asses and oxen will eat winnowed grain.  This time of plenty is promised to the elect of God, when they will spiritually and physically be blessed with plenty.  But how are we to interpret this?  When will this time be?  In the physical, this was speaking of a time after Babylon fell, when the few who were saved through that captivity returned to the land that God had given them.  And this time speaks of the time still to come, when God will destroy all of His enemies and His elect will have great blessings and bounty from the hand of God.  But specifically, the antitype of this prophecy is a spiritual one.  This is the time of salvation and through the time of our conversion, when the seed that has been planted in you is greatly watered, and when the increase is so great that there is spiritual wisdom left over for the beasts of the earth.  Great streams of water, streaming from the One who is the Water and River of Life, will flow for and through you in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall.  This speaks of the time when your rebellion is overthrown, when your disobedience falls like a defensive tower that crumbles under siege.  The towers of Babylon fell to the invader; as did the towers of Jerusalem when God sent the Roman army to lay siege to it and destroy it.  When the great slaughter is over, and when the towers fall – you will be blessed beyond measure if you are one of God’s elect children.

Verse 26 - Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound; There will be a great increase of light for God’s elect, so that it would seem the moon had become like the sun, and the sun had increased its light sevenfold.  The light of seven days will be all in one day, when God binds up the breach and heals the wound of His elect people.  He will come, as has been said before, and provide great light to His people in teaching and preaching of the great truths and mysteries of God.  He will guide them with a great light, and will increase wisdom and true knowledge in them, so that the breach and separation that was once between God and His elect is now bound up; and the wound that He gave them with the Sword of Truth, will be bound up by the healing balm of Gilead.  Christ will bind up the breach, and will heal the wounds of His people.  Christ will give them light and direct them in their paths.

Verses 27-28 - Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire: And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err; The NAME (signifying the power, authority and might of the Lord) cometh from far, even from heaven.  He comes to bring vengeance and justice to His enemies.  His anger is kindled, as if to say that the cup of wrath is overflowing, such that the commands of His mouth, and the word of His tongue will be in commanding the overthrow and destruction of the enemies of God.  Particularly, in type, He will speak forth the command for the destruction of the Assyrian, and then the Babylonian and Roman in their own times.  Just as the invasion of the enemy in Isaiah 8:8 is prophesied to overflow the land, “even to the neck”, which means that the torrent of the enemy will be like unto an overflowing river washing over the land.  In like manner, the anger and vengeance of the Lord will overflow the land to destroy those who aimed to destroy His people.

He shall “sift the nations with the sieve of vanity”, which means that they will be winnowed or sifted by the tool of their own vanity and pride.  The wicked of the nations are left in their own natural, fallen state – and this state is used by God to bring about his decreed will on the earth, as is shown by the next phrase:

there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err; Now, a bridle is a tool for controlling a horse or a working animal; the one who holds the reins, controls where the animal goes, regardless of the “free will” of the animal.  The bridle here is the pride and the vanity of the people, inherent in their fallen nature, and the product of the corruption of their hearts.  Those who reject the sovereignty of God because they believe it violates the freedom of the creature, have no idea what they are talking about.  God’s workings are wonderful and mysterious, whereby He utilizes the natural corrupt nature of man to bring about His decreed will.  Here is the statement of doctrine concerning the Decree of God from the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689:

“God hath Decreed in himself from all Eternity, by the most wise and holy Councel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things whatsoever comes to passe; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin, nor hath fellowship with any therein, nor is violence offered to the will of the Creature, nor yet is the liberty, or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established, in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power, and faithfulness in accomplishing his Decree” (LBCF, Chapter 3, paragraph 1).

No violence being done to the will of the creature, yet God has decreed that He will rightly and justly bridle their own sinful natures for the purpose of bringing forth their errors.

Verses 29-30 - Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel. And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones; In prophesying as to the nature of events occurring during this time, Isaiah gives us a picture of both the protected and joyous condition of the Elect, and the frightful condition of the reprobate.  The Elect will have a song, as in the night when a holy feast or festival is kept to the Lord of Hosts.  The Elect will be mindful in their minds and hearts of their position in and for God.  And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, making his will known through the actions that are coming to pass on the earth.  His justice is seen through the punishment and destruction of His enemies.  His grace and mercy is seen through his protection and guidance over His children.  His anger and indignation are likened to a horrible storm with flames, tempest and hailstones falling upon and destroying those who would try to destroy the true Church.

Verses 31-33 – For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it; The Assyrian, yet the first and representative party of those who God has “bridled” to bring against His nation, will be beaten down through the “voice” or command of the Lord.  This typology shows us the manner in which God brings his rage and wrath to bear.  He commands the Assyrian to be destroyed and smitten, and indeed it did come to pass in that manner.  Though the Assyrian was ordained and upheld of God for the purpose of chastising and destruction, the same rod of authority will now come upon the Assyrian himself.  In all those places where this rod of correction has passed, those who survived will be rejoicing with instruments of music, to see the tyrant brought to justice by God.  The enemy will be bashed apart as the chaff is cast into the wind, and all for the glory of God’s will to be made known.

For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; Tophet was a place of burning in the valley of Hinnom, where is derived the name “Gehenna” which is representative of the eternal fires of hell.  This was the place where the fires of Molech consumed the children of the wicked as sacrifices to that false god.  Later, Tophet, which was considered a heinous and disgusting place, was used as a burning pit where the refuse and waste of Jerusalem was taken to be destroyed.  It was a place of perpetual burning, so that the smells of rot and filth would not pervade the air.  Constant fires were burned in that place, which is why it is a type of the eternal burning of Hell.  So here we see that the Assyrian was ORDAINED for Hell, and it is this thought which most troubles and perplexes those who hate the Sovereignty and Providence of God.  Tophet is of old prepared for the Devil, the Antichrist and His minions – just as these same beasts were of old ordained for Tophet.

The last half of this chapter is rich in proof of the Doctrines of Predestination, Election, and Reprobation.  We would do well to study this chapter with just these doctrines in mind, so that we can clearly understand the way God brings about His decreed will.  It is peaceful for God’s children to rest in His sovereignty, just as it is torture and torment for God’s enemies to even consider it.  They cannot love Predestination for the same reason that they cannot love God.  It is above them, and they are not made to understand it.  Like brute beasts they must twist God’s truths to soften the blows it naturally brings against them.  Like the Assyrian, they are ordained to this condemnation, yet it is their own pride and vanity that God bridles to direct them to the place of burning.  We should always handle these awesome doctrines with prudence and respect for the majesty and glory of God, but we must also study these deeper things of God in order to have the song of God in our mouths continuously.  We are now halfway through this “mini-book” of prophecy concerning God’s dealing with the Church in the last days.  We have seen much of what God has planned for the apostate Church that bears His name, and for those enemies who have invaded that Church in order to destroy it.  We have also seen some of the promises that God has for His people in our day, and for these things we should be glad.  In the next chapter we will see more of the Messianic promise, and we will see why we should do everything we can, and pray to God that He would separate us from Egypt before it is too late.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

 
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