the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 3 of 5
Isaiah 26:1-13; ; Isaiah 27:1-5
Ch. 1-12 had as their subject the judgment of Israel and ended with a magnificent vision of the thousand years reign. This second section (Isaiah 13:1-22; Isaiah 14:1-32; Isaiah 15:1-9; Isaiah 16:1-14; Isaiah 17:1-14; Isaiah 18:1-7; Isaiah 19:1-25; Isaiah 20:1-6; Isaiah 21:1-17; Isaiah 22:1-25; Isaiah 23:1-18; Isaiah 24:1-23; Isaiah 25:1-12; Isaiah 26:1-21; Isaiah 27:1-13) dealing with the punishment of the nations concludes in the same way. A hymn is sung, several verses of which are particularly worthy of being underlined in our Bible: vv. 3, 4 of ch. 26, which have sustained many generations of God’s children (cf. Psalms 16:1); vv. 8, 9 which give expression to the deeply felt sighs of the faithful follower; v. 13, which recalls the fetters of slavery endured in the past. Yes, we know these other "lords" only too well: Satan, the world, our covetous desires. They have ruled over us until we were set free by the Lord to whom we henceforth belong (2 Chronicles 12:8)!
In ch. 27, the leviathan, a type of the devil (the old serpent) is made totally incapable of doing harm (Psalms 74:14; Revelation 20:1-3). Then Israel is compared to a new vine (cf. Isaiah 5:1-30). This time it produces not wild grapes but the pure wine of unmixed joy and fills the earth with fruit for the glory of God, because wicked husbandmen are no longer in charge of it. The LORD Himself cares for it night and day.
