We have seen Isaiah depressed by the painful realities of the present and the exultant at the glorious prospect of the future. But between these extremes lies the settled disposition of patient trustful waiting to which the people of God must return again and again. It is to be their hallmark as they live out their lives in the world as it is. This note was struck in 25:9, is now developed at some length in a song which captures beautifully the tension between the promise of the “then” and the pain of the “now”. It begins with anticipatory celebration (vv. 1-6), turns back to reflect on the pain of waiting (vv. 7-19), and concludes with an oracle which confirms the final victory (vv. 26:20-27:1).

The formula “in that day” runs like a refrain through these chapters, and it is full of the certainty born of faith. No matter how perplexing or painful the present might be, Isaiah was confident that the whole of human history was converging on a single point which had been determined by God in advance. And then God’s people would have much to celebrate. The first stanza (26:1-6) is about two cities. The strong city of verse 1 is the new Zion, the city of God of the future that will rise above the ruins of the lofty city (v. 5), the human city which God will have destroyed by His judgment. He will destroy the false only to raise up the true. While this city is in the land of Judah, it should not be understood in narrowly nationalistic terms, for its gates are open (v. 2), and the one qualification for entrance is a steadfast trust in the Lord (vv. 3-4). This truth is gloriously filled out for us in the New Testament. We, as the people of the new covenant, have already become citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem which will one day become an earthly reality. The righteous nation of verse 2 is in fact a new people of God drawn from all over the earth. They are the oppressed and the poor whose righteousness consists simply in this: they have cast themselves wholly upon the Lord for their salvation.

The keynote for reflection which follows the song is struck in verse 8: Lord…we wait for you. While they wait for the final day to dawn, the righteous are perplexed by the perversity and blindness of the wicked who surround them on every hand (vv. 10-11). Such people do not understand kindness; the longer the Lord delays the worse they get, hence the longing for Him to act decisively to establish righteousness (vv. 9, 11b).

More perplexing, however, is the apparent harshness with which the Lord treats the very ones who are looking to Him to save them. He chastises them so severely that they twist and turn likes a woman in labor (vv. 16-17). Their commitment to the Lord brings them nothing but frustration and a sense of complete failure (18b). There is surely an acute crisis of faith here which must issue in either despair or a breakthrough to a new understanding of God’s ways. It is a testimony to the resilience of Old Testament faith that such crises always do, in fact, turn out to be occasions for fresh light to breakthrough, and that is certainly the case here.

The Lord has come to the rescue of His people time and again in the past (vv. 13-14) and He will certainly do so again (v. 15). But there is one further perplexity to be faced before the breakthrough can come, and it is implicit in verse 19. What about those who die in the time of waiting, who have put their trust in the Lord but experienced no fulfillment? Will they suffer the same fate as the wicked, described in verse 14, and miss out on the triumph to come? Verse 19 issues a resounding “No!” Their waiting will not be in vain. They will be raised from death to share in the final victory. Here again is that victory over death already glimpsed in 25:8. The short oracle of 26:20-27:1 adds the capstone to the theme of waiting in language that recalls the experience of the Israelites in Egypt.

Isaiah’s contemporaries could not put the world right any more than their ancestors could, nor were they expected to do so. All the Lord required was trustful waiting. To them the wait seemed long; to Him it was only a little while (v. 20). So too for us. The truths which break through the clouds in this chapter are trumpeted from the housetops in the New Testament. There the certainty of our own resurrection is signed and sealed by the resurrection of Jesus, and we are encouraged to count the troubles of the waiting time as nothing compared with the glory that awaits us.

Isaiah 26:1-27:1 Reflection Questions:

What is your patience (waiting) level? When you finally gave in and patiently waited for God what was the result or blessing you received? What can you learn from that?

What can help you deal with the “In between time”?

Do you have a steadfast trust in the Lord?

Have you cast yourself wholly upon the Lord Jesus for your salvation?

What is the main message you gain from this study?