God's wrath comes against sin. In the previous chapter it ended with the worldly soul destroyed. Should the Lord find something He desires in the wreckage, it will be salvaged, remade, and turned into beauty. The same destroying army of Babylon pretty much removed Edom from history, but in a sense it rescued Judah, by preserving the best of society. They would eventually return.
The literal return of Judah to the Land was loaded with promise. In the most concrete sense, we see the Returnees determined to recover, and for a brief time they adhered to the Law with a renewed fervor. Under Ezra and Nehemiah, great things were established. However, they had begun already the steady drift from the ancient Hebrew ways. In just another generation or two, they had lost their way, adhering only to an external form of holiness, holding things together until Jesus could come. The Restoration was purely going through the motions, because the reforms did not touch their hearts. They did not love the God of the Covenant, but loved only the trappings of the Covenant.
Thus, the image presented here is a spiritual return, a parable of recovery after the Lord judges sin in our lives. That judgment took place on the cross. For a time, things were fallow and quiet -- in literal terms, three days. Then the birth of the New Kingdom.
So Isaiah opens this chapter with rejoicing. The land is so very glad to see holy feet returning to tread its ground. Creation itself rejoices when a soul embraces the Lord. What was once dead and dry comes to life. Images of the most beautiful places to visit in Canaan point to such glory and beauty spreading across the whole region. Those lacking the power to make the journey into this new and glorious Kingdom are encouraged to keep plugging away. Whatever we suffer in spiritual renovation is well worth it for the sake of what comes after.
Those who walked in spiritual blindness shall see, and those who could not listen the Spirit would hear. Broken hearts would be mended, and mouths which previously had no reason to sing would rejoice aloud. Isaiah pictures spiritual growth as a change in climate, where dry and semi-arid Israel becomes like Eden, which had a high water table. This could hardly be literally fulfilled, which helps us see why it must be taken as a parable.
This new way of life is compared to a path on which the most clueless can find their way. As long as you keep moving, you will reach the glorious end. Nothing can offer any significant threat, because God is our Guide. We see the picture of New Jerusalem, the place you cannot see without singing and rejoicing on the road which takes you there. In contrast to the very real sorrow the Returnees experienced when they saw the puny Second Temple, those who enter into the eternal joy of the Lord will find no disappointment.
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By Ed Hurst
25 February 2009
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior -- "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23)