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You Keep Him in Perfect Peace
26 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city;
he sets up salvation
as walls and bulwarks.
Open the gates,
that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.
For he has humbled
the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city.
He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,
casts it to the dust.
The foot tramples it,
the feet of the poor,
the steps of the needy.”
The path of the righteous is level;
you make level the way of the righteous.
In the path of your judgments,
O LORD, we wait for you;
your name and remembrance
are the desire of our soul.
My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
If favor is shown to the wicked,
he does not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly
and does not see the majesty of the LORD.
O LORD, your hand is lifted up,
but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
O LORD, you will ordain peace for us,
for you have indeed done for us all our works.
O LORD our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but your name alone we bring to remembrance.
They are dead, they will not live;
they are shades, they will not arise;
to that end you have visited them with destruction
and wiped out all remembrance of them.
But you have increased the nation, O LORD,
you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
you have enlarged all the borders of the land.
O LORD, in distress they sought you;
they poured out a whispered prayer
when your discipline was upon them.
Like a pregnant woman
who writhes and cries out in her pangs
when she is near to giving birth,
so were we because of you, O LORD;
we were pregnant, we writhed,
but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,
and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a dew of light,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.
Come, my people, enter your chambers,
and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until the fury has passed by.
For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,
and will no more cover its slain.
(ESV)
Isaiah 26 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
Disease. Affliction. Poverty. The kingdom of man wrestles with the birth pains of this world. The city of God, however, is strong and unwavering.
“Go into your houses, my people, and shut the door behind you. Hide yourselves for a little while until God’s anger is over.”
Isaiah 26:20 GNB
This is a continual theme in Scripture. Though sorrow may last for a time, there is joy peeking over the horizon. There are many promises of God that are yet to be fulfilled. One day evil and suffering will vanish and every tear will be wiped from the eyes of the hurting. Jesus’ return will invoke fear in those who denied Him and joy in those who waited and trusted Him with faithful obedience.
The immediate context of this passage is most likely speaking to the surging Assyrian Empire. God’s people were suffering. They were desperate to hear from Him. But God had allowed this to happen because of their disobedience.
However, it also speaks to the end of the age when God will destroy evil for eternity and rescue His children from His divine justice. God’s people will be hidden away and saved. Just like at Passover, death will pass by those who are covered by the blood of Jesus. Isaiah is not speaking to anyone in this passage. He is speaking to those who love God and have repented of their sins.
They can be confident that by retreating to their homes because their Salvation is secure. They will escape the wrath of God by His grace. The same is true for us. When pain, suffering, and death come to steal our joy, we can rest on the assurance of God’s promise to save those who trust Him. That faith only comes to those who have experienced the grace of Jesus. It is only by His love that we are made whole.