You Keep Him in Perfect Peace
Isa 26:1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.
Isa 26:2 Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.
Isa 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
Isa 26:4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.
Isa 26:5 He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.
Isa 26:6 Feet trample it down— the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.
Isa 26:7 The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.
Isa 26:8 Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.
Isa 26:9 My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
Isa 26:10 But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD.
Isa 26:11 LORD, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.
Isa 26:12 LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.
Isa 26:13 LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor.
Isa 26:14 They are now dead, they live no more; their spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.
Isa 26:15 You have enlarged the nation, LORD; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land.
Isa 26:16 LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.
Isa 26:17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, LORD.
Isa 26:18 We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.
Isa 26:19 But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise— let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy— your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
Isa 26:20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.
Isa 26:21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.
1 A song inciting to confidence in God, 5 for his judgments, 12 and for his favour to his people. 20 An exhortation to wait on God.
You Keep Him in Perfect Peace
Isa 26:1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts
In that day. That is, the great day of the Lord pictured in chs. 24 and 25. This will be a day of distress and destruction for the wicked, but a day of salvation and rejoicing for the people of God. This chapter consists of a song of hope and trust that will be in the hearts of God’s people when troubles overwhelm the earth as Christ is about to return to reign.
We have a strong city. In Isaiah’s day this was literal Jerusalem and Mt. Zion (ch. 24:23). Sennacherib brought the might of Assyria against Jerusalem but did not take it (see on chs. 36; 37). What the power of man could not do for the city, God’s power did for it. He made Jerusalem a city of salvation and strength, whose walls were impregnable.
Isa 26:2 Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.
The righteous nation. Jerusalem will be called “The city of righteousness, the faithful city” (ch. 1:26), because its inhabitants will all be holy and righteous. Only those who are loyal to God and who serve Him with faithfulness can expect to “enter in through the gates into the city” (Rev. 22:14; see on Matt. 7:21–27).
Keeps the truth. Literally, “keeps faithfulness,” that is, “remains faithful.”
Isa 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
Perfect peace will be the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of God and it may be the happy experience of God’s children here. Perfect submission to the will of God brings the blessing of perfect serenity. The mature Christian is at peace with God, with himself, and with the world about him.
Compare the experience of Paul (2 Cor. 11:23–28; cf. ch. 4:8–10), his philosophy of suffering (2 Cor. 4:17, 18), and his confident assurance to us (Phil. 4:7). Trouble and turmoil may surround us, yet we enjoy a calmness and peace of mind of which the world knows nothing.
This inward peace is reflected in a cheerful countenance, an unruffled temper, and a vigorous, glowing experience that stimulates all with whom we come in contact. The peace of the Christian depends not upon peaceful conditions in the world about him but upon the indwelling of the Spirit of God in his heart (see on Matt. 11:28–30; John 14:27).
Isa 26:4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.
Rock eternal. Literally, “an everlasting rock.” Christ is the “Rock of Ages” to all who learn to place their trust in Him (Isa. 17:10; see on Deut. 32:4; Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 10:4).
Isa 26:5 He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.
The lofty city low. Babylon (see on ch. 25:2), the city whose king vaunted himself above the stars of God (see on ch. 14:4, 13). Mystical Babylon and Jerusalem have ever been arch foes in the great conflict of the ages (see on Isa. 14:4; Rev. 17:5; 18:24). For a graphic description of the fall of literal Babylon, see Isa. 13:19–22. For a description of the fall of mystical Babylon, as presented by John, see Rev. 16:19; 17:16; 18:2, 6, 8, 20–23; 19:2.
Isa 26:6 Feet trample it down— the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.
The feet of the oppressed. That is, of God’s oppressed people (see on Matt. 5:3). In ancient times conquerors were represented on their victory monuments as placing their feet upon the necks of conquered foes. The meek and lowly of God are here said to place their feet upon proud Babylon as she lies prostrate before them.
The faithful people of God had long endured the cruel oppression of Babylon, but now the tables are to be reversed. Babylon is to be humiliated in the dust, and God’s people are to triumph over her. Compare Isa. 14:2, where Israel is to “take them captives, whose captives they were” and “rule over their oppressors.” The same will be true of mystical Babylon.
Isa 26:7 The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.
God is just in His dealings with both righteous and wicked. He opens the pathway for those who serve Him, guiding them in ways of righteousness and directing them ever onward and upward toward the gates of the eternal city.
Isa 26:8 Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.
The righteous long to be like God and desire to be with Him.
Isa 26:9 My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
My soul. Isaiah’s soul yearning for God is like the experience of the psalmist (Ps. 42:1, 2; 62:1, 5; 63:1, 5, 6). Whether men realize it or not, the inner cravings of their hearts can be supplied only by a knowledge of, and communion with, God. Without God, there is always something lacking in the heart and life that nothing in this world can fully supply.
Your judgments. The judgments of God impress all but the most hardened sinners, and by them many are turned away from paths of evil into ways of righteousness. There are those who become so engrossed with the things of this world that nothing, but the judgments of Heaven will arouse them to their peril.
Isa 26:10 But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD.
Grace. The exact opposite of “judgments” (v. 9). Prosperity cannot accomplish what adversity does. Some men neither appreciate kindness nor learn anything from it. Though surrounded by an atmosphere of kindness and justice, they will not reciprocate, but continue to deal out injustice to others. They do not realize that God knows and cares.
Isa 26:11 LORD, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.
They do not see. When God lifts His hand in kindness, for the guidance and protection of His people, the wicked do not see. They see not because they are willingly blind to spiritual things. But the time will come when they will be forced to see. Then, and not until then, they will be ashamed of the course they have taken.
Isa 26:12 LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.
God is constantly at work for His people, never against them. The trials and disappointments they experience are for their good.
Isa 26:13 LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor.
Other lords. For the time being Israel was forced to submit to their control, but acknowledged only one Master, God. To “make mention” of God’s name is to give praise, honor, and allegiance to Him.
Isa 26:14 They are now dead, they live no more; their spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.
That is, the enemies of Israel that had sought to crush them. This was true of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea and the Assyrians under Sennacherib.
Isa 26:15 You have enlarged the nation, LORD; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land.
That is, Judah. In contrast, Judah’s enemies had all perished (v. 14). The scene of victory here depicted will be fully realized only when Christ makes all His enemies His footstool (Ps. 110:1; Matt. 22:44), and when “the kingdoms of this world” are subjected to His wise and just rule (see Dan. 2:44; Rev. 11:15). God will accomplish in the world made new what He would have wrought for Israel had that nation been faithful to Him (see pp. 27–30).
According to God’s original plan, the borders of Israel would gradually have been extended until they embraced the whole world. When Israel rejected Christ and was, in turn, rejected, the Christian church inherited the promise of worldwide expansion, to be finally and completely realized in the new earth).
Isa 26:16 LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.
They sought God because of His chastening. Trouble brought earnest searching of heart and anxious prayers for deliverance.
Isa 26:17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, LORD.
The comparison expresses the bitter anguish and consternation of God’s people in their hour of trial (Jer. 4:31; 6:23, 24; 30:6; see on Isa. 13:8). Their painful ordeal will be followed by an eternity of joy (see John 16:20, 21).
Isa 26:18 We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.
Centuries of effort appeared to have brought forth no worth-while results. Israel felt that they had served God in vain. The glorious promises had not been realized.
Isa 26:19 But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise— let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy— your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
Your dead. From the unsatisfactory experiences of the present the prophet’s attention is again directed to the glorious joys of the future, when “the dead in Christ shall rise” to be forever with their Lord (1 Thess. 4:16, 17).
Ezekiel likened the restoration of the Jews after the Babylonian captivity to resurrection from the dead (Eze. 37:1–14). Deliverance from the power of the enemy then was a type of the greater deliverance from the power of Satan and the grave. The return of the Jews from literal Babylon prefigured the deliverance of all God’s people from mystical Babylon (see on Rev. 18:2, 4).
Dwell in the dust. That is, in the grave (Gen. 3:19; Eccl. 12:7).
Isa 26:20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.
Wrath. That is, of God against His enemies. God’s final “indignation” takes the form of what is known as the seven last plagues (Rev. 14:10; 15:1; cf. Isa. 34:2; Nahum 1:6). At the time of the slaying of the first-born in Egypt, God’s people were to remain within their homes (Ex. 12:22, 23).
During the seven last plagues God invites His people to make Him their hiding place, that He may be to them a “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1). Thus protected, His people need not fear though “the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Ps. 46:2; cf. Ps. 25:5; 91:1–10).
God’s anger lasts but “for a moment” (Isa. 54:8; cf. Ps. 30:5). The work of judgment is, for the Lord, a “strange work” (Isa. 28:21). But the hour of divine indignation against the wicked is also the hour of deliverance and triumph for the people of God.
Isa 26:21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.
This earth has been polluted by many a crime and by much innocent blood that cries, like the blood of Abel, for vengeance (Gen. 4:10; Rev. 6:10; 18:20, 24; 19:2). For other references on the vengeance of the Lord upon the wicked, see Micah 1:3–9; Jude 14, 15; Rev. 19:11–21.