July 6, 2025 - Isaiah 28-30

We just wrapped up a long section in Isaiah in which the prophet announced God’s judgments against the enemies of Israel.  Now, he turns his attention back to Israel and Judah.  The prophet speaks of a coming, terrible judgment against the people.  But he also declares, “In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,       and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate” (28:5-6).  The Lord will not be a tormentor, rather, a crown of glory to the remnant, that is, his true people who boast in him.  The unfaithful, however, wrongly conclude, “When the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us” (28:15).  How foolish they are!  Unlike these foolish authorities who scurry here and there to secure their deliverance, the one who will be saved is the one who looks to God’s provision and patiently awaits his deliverance:  “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:  ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste’” (28:16).

Christ is our cornerstone;

On him alone we build;

With his true saints above

The courts of Heav’n are filled:

On His great love

Our hopes we place

Of present grace

And joys above.   --John Chandler (1837)