Isaiah 28-29

What’s Happening?

God intended to build Israel into a great kingdom that brought blessing and life to the world. However, Israel has divided itself by civil war. Northern Israel is now under attack from Assyria, and Judah’s king in the South is busily forming treaties with Egypt to shore up their defenses. In three laments, Isaiah mourns the political cynicism and evil among Israel’s leaders. However, Isaiah interrupts each lament with a promise of hope. God has laid a foundation among his people that cannot be destroyed. Soon, God will replace Israel’s corrupt leaders, transform the hearts of God’s people, and personally establish an eternal Kingdom for his people.

In his first lament, Isaiah mourns that it’s as if Northern Israel and Southern Judah have become kingdoms ruled by proud drunks (Isaiah 28:1). They are too blinded by their drink to see the gathering storm God is forming against their evil (Isaiah 28:2). Likewise, the priests and prophets of do not call Israel to repent and trust God, but slur words and babble nonsense about precepts and rules (Isaiah 28:7-10). For their incoherent faithlessness, God says he will send a foreign army. Just as they babble nonsense to Israel, the foreign language of Assyria will babble in their ears (Isaiah 28:11-13). Soon, Northern Israel will be trampled and destroyed like a flower on the road (Isaiah 28:3-4). Isaiah then pivots and laments that the rulers of Southern Judah are just as drunk and blind as their kinsmen to the North. Judah has chosen lies over truth. They falsely believe treaties with Egypt will save them from Assyria. The truth is that only God can save them, which means they have essentially made a treaty with Death (Isaiah 28:14-15). Assyria is coming. Their false confidence in Egypt will be exposed. Cynical politicking will only hasten Judah’s death, and the only hope for their kingdom is to trust God (Isaiah 28:17-22).

Isaiah’s second and third laments concern Jerusalem and its leaders. Jerusalem is well known for its religious festivals, but they have become shams. Instead of worshipping God, these feasts are occasions for powerful men to impose their agendas (Isaiah 29:1, 11-14). For this hypocrisy, God will send the great Assyrian army to besiege Jerusalem. Instead of noisy celebration, Jerusalem will be filled with the ghostly wails of the dead (Isaiah 29:1-4). Judah’s leaders are convinced God is powerless to save them, and so they conspire with foreign dignitaries to secure their kingdom (Isaiah 29:15). But this is precisely backward; the nations are the powerless ones, and God is their Maker and King (Isaiah 29:16). Judah’s leaders should trust God to save their kingdom, rather than the promises of men. 

These three laments describe a tragic state of affairs, but Isaiah interrupts each with a promise of hope. God will not abandon Northern Israel after Assyria’s invasion. Instead, he will replace its wicked leaders, and he will personally rule his people with perfect justice (Isaiah 28:5-6). Judah’s blind leaders and corrupt judges will be humiliated, while those they oppress will experience God’s salvation (Isaiah 29:17-19). Political cynicism will be transformed to trust and corruption to holiness (Isaiah 29:20-24).  One day soon, God will destroy all Judah’s enemies, and Jerusalem will be at peace (Isaiah 29:5-10). Despite his people’s faithlessness, God is laying a foundation in Israel for an eternal Kingdom. God’s people should forsake foreign treaties and trust that God’s Kingdom will soon come (Isaiah 28:16).

Where is the Gospel?

God laid a foundation among his people that could never be destroyed. He intended to build Israel into a great Kingdom that brought blessing and life to the world. Isaiah prophesied that God would be faithful to those promises despite Israel’s unfaithfulness. He would replace Israel’s corrupt leaders, transform the hearts of his people, and establish his eternal Kingdom. These promises began to come true when God came to rule his people in Jesus. 

One of the New Testament’s favorite ways to talk about Jesus is as a foundation or cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 3:11; 1 Peter 2:4-8). In Jesus, we see a perfect demonstration of God’s faithfulness to his people. Jesus came to destroy evil, heal the blind and deaf, and establish God’s Kingdom on the earth (Luke 4:19; Matthew 11:2-6). Like Isaiah, Jesus prophesied that he would remove the corrupt from Jerusalem by burning Jerusalem to the ground, exiling its corrupt leaders, and starting again (Matthew 13:1-2, 24:1-14). For these declarations, Jesus was killed by the evil priests of his day. However, not even their faithlessness and evil could prevent God from being faithful to the he made. God raised Jesus from his grave, and now, Jesus sits in heaven and is building his eternal Kingdom on the earth. Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s people, and by trusting him, we join his Kingdom. And while our hearts are often just as cynical and corrupt as the leaders of ancient Israel, Jesus promises that will not prevent him from being faithful to us. Just as he promised Isaiah, he will faithfully transform our cynicism into trust and our corruption into holiness. God’s faithfulness to us has been demonstrated in Jesus. He is our foundation, and we can stand on him and trust in him.

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see the God who is faithful. And may you see Jesus as the foundation of God’s Kingdom on the earth.