The Restoration of Isra’el
26:20 to 27:13
In Chapter 24, Isaiah dealt with the Great Tribulation as it affected mankind in general. In Chapters 25 and 26 there are two songs regarding God’s feelings. In this section, Isaiah alternates between the glorious hope of Isra’el’s far eschatological future during the Messianic Kingdom and the grim reality of her near historical destruction by the Babylonians. This movement from the future to present to future has the function of assuring the reader that (future) promises are not merely rosy daydreams which ignore the contradictory present (of the Assyrian threat). The book of Revelation served a similar purpose in B’rit Chadashah times. It assured the people that God was aware of the present but was not defeated by it, and it called them to continued steadfast trust (Isaiah 7:4, 10:24, 37:6, 40:9, 41:14, 43:5, 44:2 and 8, 54:4; Revelation 2:10-11). We are called to the same kind of confidence today. We do not deny the present, nor do we know of any power to help ourselves. But we know a God whose strength is as limitless as His love and whose purposes remain steadfast: to bless all those who will commit themselves to Him.92
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