week7 | cosmic judgment {and salvation}

image by vgm8383
Isaiah ch. 24-27

Up to this point we have moved from a focus on Jerusalem & Judah, continuing outward to the surrounding nations. This week we will be looking even further beyond, to the God’s righteous judgment of evil within the world system and the promise of renewal for the remnant of Israel. Isaiah pushes the rhetoric to new heights with extremely imaginative language, that could be described as ‘apocalyptic’.

It is understood by scholars that this section is one of the later pieces of Isaiah’s writings. This text would have been written with the central focus not on the judgment of the world, though that be true, but on the hope of God to save his people. The Jews in exile would readily cling to the hope of this text, that one day things would be different—that one day things would be good again. While reading this, we should try to see that hope.

Isaiah is described as the fifth gospel. That is because much of his writing is focused on the ‘good news’, pointing towards the Messiah. The question to answer as you read: what good news can I find in this text.

O Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.
{Isaiah 25:1}