CHAPTER 32

This chapter is an interesting prophecy, properly placed at the close of a long dissertation concerning the fate of the professing Church in the last days.  This chapter has been interpreted rather widely by various commentators.  If the student is not careful, he can easily brush past this chapter, concluding that it is merely a collection of truthful but disconnected proverbs.

Let us recall that we have just passed through a rather lengthy discussion of the plight of the Church (both the true and the false Church) in the end of times.  Now we begin to read a rather beautiful chapter concerning a time of great spiritual blessing, where the people will be ruled by a righteous king and honest and good princes.  This will be a time of great spiritual awakening and of uncommon righteousness and growth among the people.  Some have interpreted this to be speaking of the messianic time of Jesus Christ’s first advent, while other good commentators have rejected that prophetic view and have limited the interpretation to the time of Hezekiah, after the destruction of the Assyrian army.  The adherents of the messianic view, accept that Hezekiah was a “type” of Christ, and believe that the period here described by Isaiah was only a shadow in Hezekiah’s time, to be realized by the coming of Jesus Christ (the righteous King) and His disciples (the princes).  Those who hold to the view that this is purely a prophecy of the times of Hezekiah following the defeat of Sennacherib, generally reject the messianic view for some very good reasons:

1.)     The prophecy does not very closely fit the actuality of Christ’s first advent.  During Christ’s ministry, very few came to a knowledge of the truth, and the villain and the churl seemed to prosper.

2.)     Jesus Christ rejected a temporal kingdom at the time, and His disciples are never once called “princes” in all of scripture.

3.)     The prophecy seems to have been written at the same time, and therefore seems to immediately follow that which was written concerning the invasion of Judah and siege of Jerusalem.

Yet, using the same arguments, we can point out that neither does this prophecy closely match the times of Hezekiah other than in type.  There surely was a time of temporal prosperity following the destruction of the Assyrian army – but Isaiah prophecies of a general apostasy and a growing ignorance and wickedness leading up to the Babylonian invasion and captivity, rather than a time of growing and increasing spirituality and righteousness.  We must, then, conclude that there is something more to be gleaned from these chapters, and while both of these prominent interpretations have some merit, the spiritual nature of the prophecy must have its fulfillment sometime much later, following the three spiritual invasions of the professing Church, and following the destruction of the corporate Church by the siege of Roman teachings and doctrines.

So let us recap the several invasions and sieges of the professing Church during the Church age, as they relate to the invasions and sieges of Jerusalem that have been discussed by Isaiah:

1.     The Assyrian invasion – relates to Gnosticism, Mysticism and Eastern philosophy.  This invasion began even during the time of the Apostles, was confronted by Paul, John and Peter, and was quite widespread before John wrote the Apocalypse.

2.     The Babylonian invasion – relates to the advent of the Papal system and the rise of Antichrist.  The subsequent captivity of the Church, followed by the Reformation and the glorious and miraculous deliverance of the true Church from captivity.  The Antichrist receives a deadly wound.

3.     The Roman invasion and siege – currently underway and drawing to a close.  Professing Jerusalem is surrounded by enemies.  The destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple is near at hand.  God has commanded His people to come out of her, to flee to the wilderness and to be separate.  All the world is wondering after the beast whose deadly wound is being healed.

Now, Isaiah places this vision of this time of peace and spiritual prosperity AFTER a long, multi-chapter discussion on the several invasions of Judah.  In the final chapter of that dissertation, he does mention the destruction of the Assyrian, but, as we discussed in that chapter, he does so for two reasons:

1.)     Because the actual Assyrian invasion is the first that is going to occur to those to whom he is speaking, and thus is a right way for the prophet to conclude a larger discussion which includes all three of the invasions which were to occur to Judah and Jerusalem.

2.)     The Assyrian invasion, being the most immediate, would be the only one that the reader at the time would see.  The other invasions are only understood in hindsight.

We know that the Spirit through Isaiah has a bigger picture in view, because Isaiah does indeed speak of all of the invasions, and of the coming of the Messiah, and of the rejection, persecution and murder of Him.  Isaiah specifically speaks of the Church age in the end times, and very accurately defines the several spiritual invasions of the Church leading up to the virtual annihilation of spiritual Jerusalem prior to the glorious return of the Lord in glory.  Isaiah concluding the 4 chapter mini-book prophecy about the last days Church by speaking of the Assyrian defeat, should not limit our understanding of the prophecy in this chapter, nor should it cause us to reject or forget all of the other things Isaiah had to say to us concerning the condition of the professing Church in the last days.  In this chapter, Isaiah speaks of a time of spiritual blessing that will widely affect the world.  This prophecy cannot be said to perfectly fit the gap period between the actual Assyrian and Babylonian invasions, nor does it perfectly fit the time of Christ’s earthly ministry.  I conclude, then, that this prophecy properly fits after the close of the 3 spiritual invasions, and it is a promise of spiritual blessing upon the true, elect Church of God that perseveres and overcomes the invasions of the professing Church.  This interpretation fits the prophecies the most accurately and most comfortably accepts and blends the temporal and spiritual truths of the prophecies into a coherent whole.  This chapter, when rightly understood, then naturally leads to the prophecy of the return of Christ in judgment upon the wicked world that we find in the next chapter.

Verses 1-2 - Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; Christ indeed shall reign in righteousness, and His princes (His true Church) shall rule in judgment.  This interpretation most closely fits all the prophetic information:

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6).

And again:

“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us” (2 Tim 2:12).

Matthew 2:6 promises that a Governor will come out of Bethlehem, and the same book, in chapter 20 verse 25, exhorts the followers of Christ (as princes) not to follow the example of the princes of the world, but to rule in righteousness and not to exercise dominion over the Lord’s people.  Now, Christ refused the temporal, earthly Kingdom offered to Him, and claimed that His Kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36) but was a Kingdom of the Spirit, and that it would one day include the physical world, when the kingdoms of the world were to become His footstool (Matthew 22:44).  The promise to the true Christian is that they will rule with Him in the Kingdom which is here (in the Spirit) and is to come on the earth; so we should understand that these verses are speaking of the Kingdom of God, that only the truly spiritually regenerate inhabit, and which is growing, and which will one day be on earth as it is in heaven.  The promises, then, in this chapter – apply to truly regenerated and converted Christians who have overcome the evil one, and who abide in Christ having escaped this evil world through separation from it.

“That Man”, the righteous King Jesus Christ who reigns in His Kingdom, is made to us a shelter from storms and winds, and the breathings of the enemy, and He is made to us to be a river in a dry place and our every provision.

Verses 3-5 - And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful; Speaking of the Kingdom, those who are found therein will not have eyes that are dim, or ears that do not hear.  Those who were once rash will understand knowledge, and the tongue of those who once were unable to speak spiritual truth clearly, will be made ready to speak plainly.  In the Kingdom, things and people will be rightly identified, as opposed to the kingdom of this world, which calls things the opposite of what they truly are.  Those who are vile will no longer be called “liberal”, which means “generous” in giving good things.  The “churl” which means the miser or the greedy, will not be called bountiful.  In this earthly world, millionaire robber-barons are called “Philanthropists” which means “lover of mankind”, because they give money to institutions and/or movements that ultimately kill and or harm man.  Wicked men are now called generous, even though they serve themselves and the prince of this world.  In the Kingdom, things are seen as they are, and no wicked, rich, robber-baron will be called generous.  And so here we have the beginning of a distinction being drawn between the Kingdom of Righteousness, and the kingdom of this world.

Verses 6-7 - For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right; To those who are in the world, the villainous go to great lengths to appear charitable.  But to those separated into God’s Kingdom, the vile person speaks only villainy.  Truly regenerated and converted Christians can see hypocrisy and understand when error is uttered against the Lord in order that the hungry are consumed and the thirsty are drunk up.  The remnant know in a spiritual way that the villain is greedily consuming those around him and the greedy churl is speaking hypocrisy.   In reality, the vile person speaks villainy, and the churl destroys the poor with lying words.

This prophecy is explaining that the Kingdom of God is not just some mystical time period, far in the future, where Christ will have eradicated all of his enemies and will reign on earth with His Church.  Though that time will surely come to pass, the Bible teaches that the Kingdom of God is upon us.  Those who are in the Kingdom, separated from the world, can see the actions of wordlings for what they are.

Verse 8 - But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand; Those who are truly God’s children, are generous in spiritual things, and by that generosity they are established as true princes of the King.  Those who are truly generous are generous in ways that benefit mankind in a spiritual way, and give as they are led by the Spirit therefore they are established in the Kingdom by pure motivations and not by greed or villainy.

Verses 9-14 - Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; This long section of verses are taken together, because they comprise an aside given by the prophet to the women of his own age, and should be understood prophetically to be a further warning to the careless churches of our own age (we know that women in prophetic scripture are interpreted as churches), that they should enter into the true Kingdom of Heaven, and not languish as wicked, lying servants in the kingdom of this world.

Isaiah identifies the women to whom he speaks as “women who are at ease”.  John Gill interprets these women as women who reclined,

“On beds of down, unconcerned about the present or future state of the nation; who had their share of guilt in the nation's sins, particularly pride, luxury, superstition, rejection of the Messiah, and contempt of his Gospel, and so should have their part in its punishment. Some think that the men of the nation are so called, because of their effeminacy.” (John Gill Commentary).

In the type, the women of Judah had grown lazy, comfortable and at ease.  Rather than stand as a rebuke to their nations sins, the women of Judah were partners in the sins of their country.  Mr. Gill identifes the sins of the women of Judah are here listed:

1.     Pride

2.     Luxury

3.     Superstition

4.     Rejection of the Messiah

5.     Contempt of His Gospel

So we can see that these “women” prefigured the modern “churches” in their pride and luzury, their man-made institutions and superstitions, their rejection of the true Jesus Christ of the Bible, and their contempt for the Gospel of Sovereign Grace.  Like the villain and the churl, the modernist “church” has spoken only in hypocrisy while consuming the poor and needy.  The “church” of today has rejected the true Gospel and followed after man-made religious holy days.  The “church” has embraced a false Jesus who is an icon brought forth on film by the machinations of Rome.  The false Gospel of God’s enemies (the Church of Rome) has become the Gospel of the modernist “church”, and as the buildings grow and the people become ever more deceived and at ease, they are blinded to the state of their wicked nation and of the loss of their freedom.  Where the Church should “tremble”, “be troubled”, strip herself and make herself bare and even “lament” for the lost spiritual blessings that once were showered down around her for the righteousness that rang from her pulpits, the modernist Church clothes herself in iniquity, wealth, psychology, and a Romanist false gospel; idolizes images of a Papist Messiah; embraces promises of prosperity and comfort and an imminent escape from any future pain or troubles.  The land, therefore, shall be stripped bare of all spiritual blessings.

Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;

Here is a prophecy concerning what is to become of a once Christian civilization when God forsakes it.  Listen closely because this is a prophecy that aligns perfectly with what we believe and have taught about Biblical Agrarianism and the evil nature of urban living.  In the context of this prophecy which is spiritually to be applied to the latter days, we see that, concurrent with God’s rejection of the false, lying, comfortable and corporate “church”, God will forsake the cities for ever.  God’s plan for his people to live rurally in an agrarian culture will be made known because we will see that he has utterly forsaken the cities.  In “type”, the cities surrounding Jerusalem were forsaken and destroyed as the Assyrians (and later the Babylonians and Romans) surrounded Jerusalem.  Spiritually, as the enemy has surrounded the professing “church” and as God has abandoned the false churches and the worldly churches for their spiritual adultery, the cities have become an emblem of God’s judgment upon the civilization.  In prophetic literature we see that the “tares are gathered and burned in the fire” (Matthew 13:40).  Wherever God’s judgment has fallen upon a people (Sodom, Nineveh, even Jerusalem), God has gathered the wicked together into the urban areas for their judgment.  This is not to say that those who are wicked in rural areas will escape – the prophecies of Isaiah cover the plight of the rural wicked as well – but that throughout the scriptures we see that God will (and we believe He has) ultimately forsaken the cities and prepared them for destruction, even as they are currently being destroyed for their own abandonment of Godly principles of Biblical Agrarianism.  In every prophetic type, God calls His elect (be it Abraham, Lot, the children of Israel, the Christians of Jerusalem) out of the urban settings and separates them unto Himself outside the camp.  This is in keeping and perfectly aligns with our understanding of God’s ultimate purpose for His people as a people who tend the garden, work the soil and bring forth fruit unto God.  The scripture promises that the “multitude of the city shall be left”.  The term “left” here means that it will be relinquished, abandoned, and destitute of help.  In these verses, the term “city” is being contrasted with that which is to follow, namely “the wilderness”.

Verses 15-18 - Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; Now, it is important that you pay close attention.  If our interpretation is right in this chapter, and we can expect that God has spiritually forsaken the cities and the false professing “church” round about – then we can expect that he will have a special promise of blessing for His elect who He has, in a sovereign way, rescued from the clutches of the false “church” and from urbanism.  Here, in these verses, we find this promise.  When these things begin to come about, the Spirit will be poured out upon God’s elect from on high, and the wilderness (those areas not urbanized) will be fruitful for God’s elect, and the blessings of God will be multiplied upon His separated people.  Through the several sieges and destructions of Jerusalem, God foreshadowed the sieges and ultimate destruction of the corporate “professing” Protestant Church, and His intention to save an elect remnant out of that false city.  We see here a promise of protection and spiritual blessing for God’s separated remnant, so that we can see that God’s people are promised peace, quietness, assurance for ever.  God’s people shall not be found in the iniquitous cities, or as members or participants with the slothful, lying women of Jerusalem, but they will “dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places”.  It is evident that there is a contrast made here between the peacable habitations, sure, quiet dwellings of the elect, and the destruction promised to the “forsaken palaces”, forts and towers of those who are gathered into the cities and false churches.

Verses 19-20 - When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass; Here I must depart from many other wise and Godly commentators, because it seems that they cannot let the flow of this prophecy define itself from its own context.  The destruction that is promised will come upon all those to whom it has been promised:

a.)  The enemies (Assyrian, Babylonian, Roman) who besiege and attack Jerusalem.

b.) The wicked, slothful, and comfortable in Jerusalem and Judah.

c.)  The cities.

Here that destruction is indicated by the term “hail” which is representative of all the judgments of God that are promised.  When the hail shall begin to come down upon the “forest”, the elect of God will be blessed to escape it.  Earlier in Isaiah, we identified the forest in this context as the armies of the Assyrians who were coming to surround Jerusalem.  So here “forest” represents the enemies of God who He has brought as a judgment against Judah and Jerusalem.  So we can see that God will bring his prescribed judgment against His enemies.  The next phrase, “and the city shall be low in a low place” is said by different commentators to refer to Jerusalem, Babylon, or Nineveh.  I cannot see how it can refer to anything other than the city mentioned in the earlier verses of this chapter, which is being contrasted with the wilderness and the rural, agrarian areas where the ox and ass are sent forth.  So we can read these verses with a proper understanding if we have identified the individual representations in it.  When the judgment of God falls upon the enemies of God and upon the “city”, the blessing of God will be upon those who farm (sow) in the rural areas; that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.

This prophecy is really the culmination of the prophecy concerning the latter days that has gone before in the previous chapters, and it is separate (both in time and topic) from that which follows.  It is a promise of God towards those who heed His call of separation in the latter days, and a promise that those who are His true remnant Church will be given to see the wickedness of the last day’s urban lie, and will return to the agrarian ways command of us in scripture.  God is faithful to bless those of His children who sow beside all waters, and that reject urbanism and comfortable corporate religion in favor of rural living and communion with His true Church.  May the Good Shepherd continue to lead us thither that we might obey Him in Spirit and in truth.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

 
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