Chapter 28

The five cycles of discipline are found in Leviticus chapter twenty-six. The first cycle is given in verses 14-17, the second in verses 18-20, the third cycle in verses 21-22, the fourth in verses 23-26, and the fifth cycle in verses 27-46 plus Deuteronomy 28:49-67. The passages we are going to study are all built around the fourth and fifth cycles of discipline.

There were two administrations of the fifth cycle of discipline to Judah. The first was the Babylonian captivity, beginning with the fall of Jerusalem under the forces of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. The duration was seventy years. Under the decree of Cyrus some 50,000 Jews returned to the land under Zerubbabel in 536 BC but the termination point is 516 BC, the completion of the second temple.

The second administration of the fifth cycle of discipline to the southern kingdom of Judah began with the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The duration is the Church Age and the Tribulation; the termination point is the second advent of Jesus Christ.

The administration of the fifth cycle to Ephraim began in 721 BC and it goes all of the way to the second advent.

In Isaiah 28:1-8 we have a warning of judgment to the northern kingdom, and Isaiah is a prophet of the southern kingdom. He warns the northern kingdom of their impending doom and the warning was given some forty years before it actually occurred. The northern kingdom is about to go into captivity and so Isaiah is commissioned of the Lord to warn them. In 721 BC we have the fall of Samaria and the northern tribes go into captivity until the second advent. The southern kingdom will not go into captivity the first time until 586 BC and they will recover, but eventually in 70 AD they will go into the fifth cycle again and the second advent is the point at which the entire Jewish race will be regathered and restored, and the fifth cycle of discipline terminated.

Verses 1-8 — a fantastic passage when you remember that the southerners didn’t care for the northerners. This had been going on for a long time and when a man from the south warns the north of their impending doom this is grace all of the way through.

Verse 1 — “Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is on their head of the fat valley of them that are overcome with wine!” The translation of this, when corrected, is very clear. The passage actually starts out in the Hebrew by saying: “Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim.” The proud crown refers to a crown of flowers. People went to banquets and parties and when they came in the first thing that happened was a servant would put crowns of flowers on their heads. This was always a sign of going to a party. This mean that at the time that Isaiah wrote, the people of the northern kingdom had generally become alcoholics and this was the number one problem along with religion.

The words “glorious beauty” here set up the analogy. The glorious beauty refers to Samaria which was one of the most beautiful cities of the ancient world. The city was built on a three hundred-foot hill and all the way around was a great basin or valley called the plains of Sharon. On three sides are great mountain ranges and all very beautiful. Rising up out of this valley is this 300-foot hill and on top is this beautiful city which, as you see when you are approaching, looks like a crown on a head. It is a beautiful, glamorous city and therefore we have an analogy between the beautiful garland of flowers on the head of someone going to a party and the city of Samaria on the hill. And, of course, if one gets drunk at a party it is very hard to keep the flowers on the head. Pretty soon the flowers fall off and then they are trampled and, carrying out the analogy, the city of Samaria will be trampled just like the flowers off the drunkard’s head at the party. The “fading flower” is a warning of the fact that Samaria is going to be destroyed.

“which is on the head of the fat valley” — the word “fat” is “prosperous.” These were very beautiful, green, prosperous valleys; “of them that are overcome with wine” — a reference to the fact that drinking was a national problem as far as the northern kingdom was concerned.

Verse 2 — The coming of judgment. When a maximum number of people in a nation are alcoholics that nation cannot survive. It falls of its own weight just as the crown of flowers will fall off the head of the one who gets drunk at the party.

“Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and a strong one” — a reference to the Assyrian empire under Shalmaneser the fifth, the son of Tiglath-pileser the third, which is going to be used by God to discipline the northern kingdom permanently.

“which as a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall he cast down to the earth with the hand” — three analogies to the Assyrian conquest of Ephraim.

The first is a tempest of hail. Just as a hail storm destroys and devastates, so we have an emphasis on the artillery of the Assyrians. They had some of the greatest stone-slinging devices in the ancient world which could throw large and heavy stones. And one day the people are going to walk out of their homes and they are going to get stones rained upon them. The second analogy is to a destroying storm. This describes the sandstorms that would come across from the Arabian desert. The sand infiltrates everything and the point is that when the Assyrian infantry arrives they will infiltrate every area and no one is going to escape. The third analogy, the flood of mighty waters, is an analogy to a flood that describes the completeness of the Assyrian conquest — just as the flood goes everywhere until everything is submerged. When the conquest is over in 721 BC there will be absolutely nothing left of the northern kingdom. Some 29,000 out of the millions of people in the northern kingdom will survive, and they will all be taken into captivity.

“shall he cast down to the earth” is literally, “he shall cast down to the earth.” In other words, God is behind this great invasion as a part of the judgment. It is also a reference to the analogy, a crown of flowers falls to the floor when someone gets drunk at a party. And consequently the country will be trampled under the feet of the Assyrian infantry just as a drunkard’s crown of flowers is trampled at the party.

Historical facts

1. Shalmaneser the 5th succeeded Tiglath-pileser as ruler of Assyria, a father-son succession. All of this began when the son succeeded his father.

2. At the same time Hoshea, king of the northern kingdom, paid tribute to Shalmaneser as a vassal. But one day he decides that the payment is too much and so he enters into negotiations with Egypt in order to get the Egyptians to come up and help him so he can stop payment on the tribute — 2 Kings 17:4. This is Hoshea’s great mistake.

3. As a result, Shalmaneser discovered this so he attacked Ephraim and besieged Samaria for three years. At the end of three years he dies and a new regime comes to Assyria, a new line, a new dynasty — Sargon the second who will conquer the city. The biblical account of all this is in 2 Kings 17.

4. Sargon II continues the attack until 721 BC when Samaria is finally taken. The Assyrians become drunk with the slaughter and they killed almost everything. Only 29,000 survived from the northern kingdom.

5. The survivors were deported and that began the fifth cycle of discipline for the northern kingdom.

Verse 3 — Sublimation [the heavy drinking] is removed by this judgment. “The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet.” The crown of pride is the garland of flowers; the analogy: trodden under feet. Literal translation: With their feet they tread down the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim.

Verse 4 — More detail of the fall of Samaria. “And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the prosperous valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; when he looketh upon it seeth it, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.” The Assyrians came, they saw, and they ate. The consumed it.

Verse 5 — The future restoration of these people. You have to remember that when Isaiah was saying all of these things Samaria was a prosperous city, the country of Ephraim was very prosperous, and it showed not the remote possibility that there would be any kind of an invasion. By the way, Isaiah was prophesying that they would become a nation of alcoholics which they were not at the time.

“In that day [second advent] shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory.” They lose their crown of flowers, it is trampled by the Assyrians, but in the future there were many people in the northern kingdom in the generations that followed, and even in that generation, who were born again individuals. And they will be regathered and, “in that day", instead of crown of flowers [flowers fade] there will be a beautiful crown, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The crown of glory is Jesus Christ at the second advent. “and he will be for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of the people.” The word “residue” is the word “remnant” and it refers to those who are born-again. The born-again Jews, even under the most severe disciplinary action, have an eternal future with God.

Note: Many of the Jews in the northern kingdom got out and came south before the fifth cycle hit — 2 Chronicles 30:11; 34:9 — where there was a better spiritual climate. All of the regenerate Jews of the northern kingdom will be regathered at the second advent.

Verse 6 — The future deliverance of the remnant amplified. “And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment.” The spirit of judgment refers to the fact that unbelieving Jews in that future day are going to be called out. This brings us to the baptism of fire. Now once Isaiah jumps over from the fall of Samaria in 721 BC, he makes a long jump all the way to the second advent, at which point we have the restoration of the regenerate Jews. When Christ comes back at the second advent He finds Jews in human bodies still alive. And He finds two kinds of Jews: unbelieving Jews and believing Jews. The Believing Jews will go into the Millennium; the unbelieving Jews will be cast off the earth and this is the operation of the baptism of fire. So in verse 5 we have the restoration of the regenerate and in verse 6 we have the judgment of the unregenerate who are alive at the second advent.

Doctrine of the baptism of fire

1. The actual statement of the baptism of fire is found in three passages of scripture — Matthew 3:11-12; Luke 3:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9.

2. We have an analogy to the baptism of fire found in Matthew 24:36-41. In this analogy we have something like this: the analogy goes back to the time of Noah. In the days of Noah judgment came in the form of a flood, and as a result of the judgment unbelievers were cast off the earth; believers remained on the earth. The earth was repopulated by believers only. And so the analogy is made to the second advent where you have believers going into the Millennium and the unbelievers cast off — “two shall be in the field, one shall be taken, one shall be left” .The one that is left on the earth is the believer; the one that is taken is the unbeliever cast off the earth. The message of Matthew 24 does not deal with the Rapture but with the second advent of Christ.

3. There are some parables for the baptism of fire. They have absolutely nothing to do with the Church Age. (There is only one parable of the Church Age in all of the Gospels — the merchant man and the pearl.) The parables of the baptism of fire are, firstly, the wheat and the tares — Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43. The wheat are the believers going into the Millennium and the tares are the unbelievers cast off the earth at the beginning of the Millennium. The second parable, the good and the bad fish — the good fish are believers going into the Millennium; the bad fish are unbelievers cast off — Matthew 13:47-50. Thirdly, the parable of the ten virgins — Matthew 25:1-13. The wise virgins are the believers who go into the Millennium; the foolish virgins are the unbelievers cast off.

4. Part of the baptism of fire is for the Gentiles at the second advent — Matthew 25:31-46 — “all nations", ta e)qnh means all Gentiles. It does not mean “nations” .This is a personal judgment, not a collective judgment. “and he shall separate them one from another” — “one from another” is a Greek phrase for persons being divided from persons, not nations from nations. One person shall be separated from another person as — analogy — “the Shepherd [Jesus Christ] divideth sheep from goats” .Sheep are going to be Gentile believers going into the Millennium, and the goats will be Gentile unbelievers. How do we know they are Gentiles? The word “nations” is the Greek word for Gentiles. “And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left” — an idiom for approval and disapproval.

“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand [Gentile believers], Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom [the Millennium and the eternal kingdom] prepared for you from the foundation of the earth” .He is talking to believers.

The next two verses could be a little confusing, so they merit a brief examination here.

Verse 35 — 36 “For I was hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came to me” .

Verse 37 — “Then shall the righteous [born-again believers] answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or athirst, and gave thee drink?

Verse 38 — “And when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

Verse 39 — “ And when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?”

Verse 40 — “Then the King [Jesus Christ] shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did unto one of these my brethren [the 144,000 saved Jewish evangelists of the Tribulation], even the least, ye did it unto me.” And the reason that these people accepted and fed the evangelists and went to visit them in prison and so on, and helped them when they were sick, is because they responded to their message and they helped them. And this also can be explained by the fact that during the Tribulation it is impossible to buy food unless you become a member of the ecumenical religious system and it is impossible to get shelter and clothing and other necessities. And these evangelists are ostracised by ecumenicity. Therefore the only way that they can receive food or clothing is from their converts.

Verse 41 — “Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me , ye cursed, into everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Verse 44 — “Then shall they also answer, saying, Lord, when saw we see you hungry, etc.”

Verse 45 — “Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto me.”

Verse 46 — “And these [the unbelievers] shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous [believers] into eternal life.” So this is a separating judgment. And the saved Gentiles will go into the Millennium and into the eternal kingdom, and the unsaved Gentiles into everlasting punishment.

5. The baptism of fire from the standpoint of the Jews. This is given in Ezekiel 20:32-38.

Isaiah 28:6 — “For a spirit of judgment for him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate” .The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who sits in judgment — John 5:22 — but for the believers, “strength to them [heroic strength in battle] to turn the battle to the gate [to drive back war at the gate, and it is a description of the believers who resist in Jerusalem at the end of the Tribulation in the Armageddon campaign]” — Zecharaiah 14:1-4 describes this. So we have judgment for the unbelievers, but to the believer there will be deliverance at that time. They will drive the battle back to the gate.

Verse 7 — Now he comes all of the way back to the people of the northern kingdom. What is it internally that led to their downfall — besides religion? The answer is the nation was neutralised through the alcoholic problem. “But they also have erred through wine.” We go from the believers in the Tribulation who resist right down to the point of the second advent, and there is a contrast between them and the Jews of the northern kingdom in the time of king Hoshea. He is the last king of the northern kingdom and he has a kingdom of drunkards.

“gone astray” is literally “out of the way” and it means to stagger about; “the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink” — those in the spiritual realm — “they are swallowed up of wine [they gulped down wine], they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in the execution of judgment” — an inebriated judge! Actually, the point is this: when you get alcoholics in places of leadership or the operation of justice, the nation breaks down. When there is breakdown in the judicial department the result is chaos. No nation can survive without good judicial procedures.

Verse 8 — “ For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.” This is the other side of the fence, the man of distinction with his head lying down in this stuff. Too much alcohol destroys everything in life; it distorts everything. And everything was destroyed for these people.

The northern kingdom actually destroyed itself for two reasons: A nation destroys itself by rejecting the Word and the principles which are found in the Word. This is the beginning of decadence, and it may take many turns. The alcoholic problem was merely the result of rejecting the Word, as was religion. What happens when a nation rejects the Word? It always goes socialistic. The Bible is opposed to socialism where the government does everything for you. The Bible is for charity, however, and for helping people who are less fortunate. Socialism destroys one’s motivations in life. So what is left? The bottle! And that is where thee people are. They have rejected the Word of God and when you reject the Word of God results crop up. First of all you have the encroachment of religion and legalism on the one hand, and you have on the other hand, the problem with alcohol. What happened to the people of the northern kingdom? When they rejected the Word they could not find a substitute. Never would they find anything to replace the doctrines of the Word of God, which falls into two categories here, doctrine pertaining to salvation which would give them regeneration, and doctrine pertaining to the great by-products of the joy and the peace and the happiness that belongs to the believer in time — but they didn’t have it. So all they did every day was keep looking at the bottom of bottles.

Deliverance through doctrine

Whenever divine discipline is pending it is possible for it to be totally removed or to be postponed. The principle of removal and/or postponement is based entirely upon doctrine. As in every other situation in life, in the content of doctrine there is a solution — doctrine representing the divine viewpoint expressed in scripture categorically.

In verses 9-10 we find the principle: doctrine as the strength of the nation. “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk drawn from the breasts.” If the nation is to be saved [but it will not be saved] it will be saved through doctrine. Among the people and the leaders of the northern kingdom the question is asked: Who is responsive to doctrine? And, of course, the answer is quite obvious from what we have seen in the first eight verses and from what we will see as we continue this passage: the answer is, very few. There are very few believers in the northern kingdom. There is a remnant and out of the few believers that exist there are some who understand doctrine. And the problem with the rest of them is that they have adopted a national principle of sublimation which is escapism through the alcohol route.

“Whom shall he teach?” The pronoun refers to God. Who is God going to teach through His prophets? The prophets of this day were great expository preachers, like Isaiah, and later on Jeremiah and Ezekiel. These prophets have the full realm of doctrine, all that is necessary for these nations to escape and, by the way, that is the last half of the book of Isaiah. The last half of Isaiah is the doctrine of Christology and soteriology so emphasised to indicate to us that all of the time we studied the first half — the historical part of the book — all of these things were actually being preached to the people of that time.

“knowledge” — What do we mean by knowledge? Then it is repeated an amplified. “Whom shall he make to understand doctrine?” Now doctrine here, generally, is divided into two principles because you have two kinds of people in the northern kingdom. First of all there is doctrine for the unbeliever, and this doctrine is the Gospel and only the Gospel. The Gospel is the only thing the unbeliever can take in and understand through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, there was doctrine for the believer. There are many doctrines developed categorically in the scripture for believers. In Isaiah’s day there was enough information available so that the northern kingdom did not have to enter the fifth cycle of discipline. Doctrine would have saved them — evangelising of the unbeliever and believers getting doctrine in the frontal lobe; “weaned from milk, from the breasts” is the rest of the sentence, literally. This simply describes the status of the individuals who live in the northern kingdom. There are a few who have been “weaned from milk", but very few and not enough to carry the situation. The only hope is that there would be a greater number who would be weaned from milk. The believers are not weaned and because they are not they are not spiritually self-sustaining, therefore they are not evangelising. Therefore, things are in pretty much of a muddle in the northern kingdom.

Verse 10 — How should it be done? Here is a perfect description of a preacher in any dispensation or age or time. This is the way in which communication should be carried out in principle. The basic principle of teaching is verse by verse analysis of the scripture or, in some cases, categorical analysis. “Precept upon precept” — means doctrine presented categorically. But that is only a part of it. Now “precept upon precept” is repeated. Why? All doctrine which is presented categorically must be repeated time after time after time. Furthermore, in the Hebrew a repetition of a word or a repetition of a phrase means that this is a “perfect” whatever it happens to be. For example, in Isaiah 26, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace” is literally shalom, shalom — thou wilt keep him in peace, peace. The repetition of the word “peace” means perfect peace.

Here we have a case of where this is the perfect way of communicating, not only to give it categorically, but to repeat it. You cannot have perception without repetition. All successful teaching involves a fantastic amount of teaching because successful teaching is where you nail something down in the mind so that it cannot be forgotten.

“line upon line” — is exegetical analysis of scripture. It means one verse, and then the next verse, and then the next verse.

“here a little, there a little” — one portion of the Word and another portion of the Word. Different portions are pertinent to different situations. This is the principle. The only way that the Word of God should be presented is under these principles: doctrine presented categorically, verse by verse analysis of the scripture. This is the only way that the northern kingdom, the ten tribes, could have been delivered. There was Isaiah in the south but in the north there was no known prophet at this time who was doing this.

This method is where the entire realm of doctrine is taught to the believer and he is then in a position to become spiritually self-sustaining and to make proper application of divine viewpoint to his own life at all times. This is the way it should be done and, in a sense, Isaiah writing this verse is criticising the spiritual leadership, if any, in the northern kingdom.

Verses 11-12 — Now if the northern kingdom had been receiving doctrine they would know from the ministry of the prophets that they were on the verge of the fifth cycle of discipline. At this time Isaiah was spending much time warning about the fifth cycle as it will come to the Jews of the southern kingdom, his own area of ministry. His concern isn’t so much for the immediate fifth cycle of discipline which will come some two hundred years later to his own people, but his great concern — and this he mentions occasionally in his book — is the second administration of the fifth cycle which will be disastrous for the Jewish people.

Isaiah’s great concern when 70 AD comes and the fifth cycle of discipline is administered again is that it will go on, as with the northern kingdom, until the second advent of Christ. The concern of Isaiah is that the Jews of 70 AD are going to be caught unawares. In fact well over a million Jews will be caught. In ninety days 1.2-million of them will die horrible deaths and 97-thousand of them will go into slavery. And yet they will have more warning, starting with Isaiah’s warning over 700 years before, Jeremiah’s warning 500 years before, the warnings which came from the Lord Jesus Christ, the warnings which came from the apostles, the warnings which came finally from the writer to the Hebrews. Isaiah had a part in this great picture. He is going to warn these people because some terrible things are going to happen. His warning is given in verses 11 and 12, one of three signs of the second [not the first] administration of the fifth cycle of discipline from 70 AD to the second advent.

The word “sign” was a miracle, a supernatural manifestation of some sort, a warning couched in supernatural phenomena. There were three such signs to the Jews to warn them to be saved before the fifth cycle took place. The first one, Isaiah 7:14 — the virgin birth was a warning to the Jews of the second administration of the 5th cycle of discipline. Secondly, there is Isaiah 53:9, the second miracle or sign occurred in 32 AD when Jesus Christ was crucified. Although millions of people were crucified by the Romans only one person ever died twice. That is supernatural phenomena. “He [Christ] was identified was identified with the rich men in his deaths [pl].” He died the first time spiritually when He bore our sins and He then died physically when he died on the cross. Thirdly, we have the sign of Isaiah 28:11. This was a warning which began on the Day of Pentecost in 32 AD and was concluded very close to 70 AD to warn the Jews that the fifth cycle of discipline was here or about to be administered.

Verse 11 — “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people: [Israel]” There is no clue right here to us, looking at this retrospectively, to say this is the gift of tongues. But in the Hebrew it is very clear. Note 1 Corinthians 14:21 — “In the law it is written, By men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people …” Verse 22 — “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.” What is the documentation? Isaiah 28:11. 1 Corinthians 14:21 simply quotes Isaiah 28:11! What point is he making? “Wherefore tongues [the gift of tongues, a person speaking in a foreign language he did not previously known] are for a sign [the Jews seek a sign].” What is a sign. A sign is God warning of impending judgment through supernatural or extralateral phenomena. The phenomenon in this case is speaking in tongues. Tongues is not gibberish, it is the Gospel presented in a foreign language not previously known. And the supernatural part is the fact that God the Holy Spirit takes over the speech so that a foreign language is declared that the person himself doesn’t even know. “Tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.” And who is it that believes not and to whom this sign was directed? Jewish people between 32 and 70 AD. This was the last great warning of the fifth cycle of discipline. And the content of tongues is always the Gospel. Only through responding to the Gospel does a Jew get out from under the double curse — the penalty of sin and the fifth cycle of discipline.

This passage was fulfilled for the first time on the Day of Pentecost in 32 AD and tongues was used for the last time just before the fall of Jerusalem. The gift of tongues then ceased to exist. There is no gift of tongues today, only a Satanic counterfeit.

During the course of the fifth cycle of discipline, as we have it now in the Church Age, the Jew is under a curse. And his cursing is turned to blessing only by faith in Jesus Christ. And Isaiah gives this as an illustration that doctrine, and only doctrine, can save a nation.

Who is Peter talking to in 1 Peter 1:1? — “strangers” !That is, dispersed Jews. And what does Peter have to say to dispersed Jews that are born again? Well, these dispersed Jews haven’t discovered yet that they are no longer Jews and they are no longer under the curse of the fifth cycle of discipline. So he goes on to explain what they really are, they are a kingdom of priests, a royal priesthood. That shocked them. The Jews are accustomed to a specialised priesthood — family of Aaron, tribe of Levi, but specialised. And now there is no specialised priesthood, they are not Jews, they are in union with Christ. A royal priesthood? Why, Aaron wasn’t royal. He was priest but never royal. Royalty was tribe of Judah, family of David; priesthood was tribe of Levi, family of Aaron. Put them together — where? Church, body of Christ!

Isaiah is illustrating a big point — doctrine can save a nation, can save a person. And what is the best illustration? The thousands upon thousands of Jews who responded to the gift of tongues type preaching and were saved between 32 and 70 AD.

“stammering lips.” What is the word “stammering” ?A stammering lip means something like this. I am going to give you something in a language which may sound like stammering to you but it makes sense to someone who knows the language. The point is this: the Gentile languages sounded like stuttering to the Jews. Many of the Gentile languages were guttural languages; the Hebrew language is a very musical language. “Stammering” was a way of describing a Gentile language. Speaking in tongues was speaking in another language — “with stuttering lips and another tongue [language]” .The Jews are going to be evangelised in Gentile languages.

Here is a perfect illustration of the punishment fitting the crime. In the dispensation of Israel the Jews were responsible for the dissemination of the Gospel. They were supposed to take the Gospel to the entire world in their age. Jewish failure culminates in the fifth cycle of discipline. What greater punishment than for these Jews who failed to get the Gospel in Gentile languages?

The fulfilment of this verse

1. The fulfilment interpretation — 1 Cor. 14:21,22.

2. The fulfilment historically — Acts 2:1-11. This is the first recorded historic fulfilment.

3. Tongues was discontinued after the fall of Jerusalem — 1 Cor. 13:8,10.

4. Tongues continues as a Satanic operation — 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12.

5. The mechanics of tongues as a Satanic operation — Isaiah 8:18-19; 29:4; Revelation 16:13,14.

6. The danger of pseudo-tongues as an emotional ecstatic experience — 2 Cor. 6:11-12; Romans 16:17,18.

V17 — “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions, and offences contrary to sound doctrine which ye have learned: avoid them” — present active imperative, this is an order.

V18 — “For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own emotional pattern” — the word “serve” means they are slaves to their emotional pattern — “and by good words and fair speeches they deceive the minds of the simple.”

Fate of Ephraim and warning to Judah

In Isaiah 28:11 we have one of the great signs of the coming of the fifth cycle of discipline for the last time to Israel. We have seen from 1 Corinthians 14:21-22 where this verse is quoted, indicating its connection with tongues. In fact it is impossible to understand this verse or this section apart from this quotation. The time of the fulfilment of this verse was 32 AD to 70 AD. From that point on the Jew is under a double curse, the penalty of sin which is common to all of the human race and the fifth cycle of discipline.

In order to keep the Jews from being involved in the terrible cataclysm which would occur in 70 AD with the fall of Jerusalem, they have 38 years of warning under the principle of grace before judgment. This was the purpose of the gift of tongues.

In verse 12 we have the purpose of the gift of tongues. Remember that tongues was a sign to the Jew and only to the Jew. “To whom” refers to Israel — “he said, This is rest [salvation. The content of the gift of tongues was “rest” and/or salvation. Same concept as Matthew 11:28] you may cause the weary to rest [literally: his rest to the weary ones]; and this is refreshing” .The word “refreshing” is a technical term and is a reference to the only way in which the Jews can be blessed during the time of the fifth cycle of discipline. How can a Jew have refreshing during the time of the 5th cycle, the time of Jewish dispersion? They are not only dispersed but are constantly under various kinds of pressure. They are persecuted more than any other group of people in history. “Refreshing” is the Jew under a double curse coming under double blessing through believing in Christ. There is also an application for us today: no nation can be refreshed except through regeneration of its citizens.

The hope of any nation is an individual and a personal solution, and that is regeneration. God’s solutions to man’s problems are always personal and individual, there is no such thing as a mass solution to man’s problems. It is Satan who deals with mass solutions — the greatest good for the greatest number. Many of his solutions are religious, socialistic and international in character but they are anti-Christian to the core and they solve nothing.

Verses 13-14 — the warning to the southern kingdom. (The first twelve verses were a warning to the northern kingdom, Ephraim, given in 725 BC)

Verse 13 — “Therefore the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.” The fall of the northern kingdom should be a warning to the southern kingdom. Why did the northern kingdom fail? “The word of the Lord was unto them” — in other words, the northern kingdom had the Word; it was declared unto them. Notice how it was declared. First of all we have the concept of precept. Precept is simply a category of doctrine. “Precept upon precept” repeated simply means taking a category and developing it and then doing it again. Repetition means teaching and you cannot teach without repetition. It indicates here that in the northern kingdom the Word was taught categorically.

“line upon line” is expository teaching. So first of all you have categorical teaching and secondly you have expository teaching which is the exegesis of the Word verse by verse. So the northern kingdom had no excuse because they were given it straight — categorically and exegetically.

And there was a purpose in giving them the Word. In the case of the northern kingdom it was so they could reject the Word and be legitimately judged; “that they might go” into captivity, fifth cycle of discipline — “that they might fall backward” — this means conquest, wounded in battle — “and be broken” — the fall of Samaria in 721 BC — “snared, and taken” — the mechanics of the fifth cycle of discipline, captured and taken into slavery.

Verse 14 — What about my own kingdom, the south? he says. Application of the fall of the northern kingdom to the southern kingdom. “Wherefore, hear the word of the Lord.” In other words, you still have a chance. Listen to the Word of the Lord. The Word of God makes the difference between survival and disaster, and not only on a national scale but on a personal scale. Whether you survive or succumb to the pressures of life depends upon your intake of the Word of God.

“ye scornful men” — these are the rulers in the southern kingdom who up to now have rejected the Word of God. There will be a break in this because Isaiah finally gets a breakthrough with Hezekiah who will listen to the Word of God.

“that rule these people which is in Jerusalem” — they were scornful rejecters of the Word.

Verses 15 and 16 — the two foundations. Verse 15 — the false foundation, which the rulers of the country are on. “Because ye [these rulers] have said, We have made a covenant with death.” The covenant with death was the northern kingdom making an alliance with Egypt. They are saying in the northern kingdom, “we have made a covenant.” They don’t say “with death", Isaiah says that. They claim that the Assyrians up in the north will never bother them because they were now allied with Egypt. And that isn’t all. Down in the south we have the same problem, the scornful rulers in Jerusalem have done the same thing. They have made an alliance with Egypt and say the Assyrians will never bother them. Isaiah calls it a covenant with death. Isaiah is warning against the Egyptian alliance but the rulers believe it their only hope. The word “death” here isn’t death. The Hebrew word is sheol and it means the grave — an alliance with the grave. And actually, it isn’t the death of the individual, although that is included, it is the death of the nation. The northern kingdom died and the last straw was the alliance with Egypt. The southern kingdom has made the same alliance and they are now in danger of going into the grave — 5th cycle of discipline.

“and with hell are we at agreement.” The word “hell” — sheol — is a reference to the grave.

“when the overflowing scourge [the invasion of Assyria] shall pass through” — the words “pass through” means this: the northern kingdom will be invaded by Assyria and it will not only come to Samaria and destroy it but it will pass through and come south. Just as the Assyrians will flood the northern kingdom, so they will flood into the southern kingdom. And were it not for the fact that Hezekiah and the people turned to the Lord under the Isaiah revival the same thing would have happened to the southern kingdom. The only thing that saved them was the turning to the Lord on the part of the people and on the part of king Hezekiah. In other words, revival saved the nation. When the people listened to the Word of God they were delivered. The Word of God was the source of their deliverance.

“it shall not come unto us” — is what the rulers are saying. The people in the southern kingdom are saying, We are safe because Egypt will protect us. That is the concept.

“for we have made lies our refuge” — lies is a reference to this alliance with Egypt. They are depending upon Egypt but this is making “lie” a refuge.

“and under falsehood we have hid ourselves” — dependence upon man rather than upon the Lord. Dependence upon man is a false foundation. So in verse 15 we have the false foundation, the Egyptian alliance.

Verse 16 — the true foundation. Here is the only security for a nation and here is the only basis for salvation for the individual. “Therefore, thus saith the Lord God.” The Lord will do something about it, even though they didn’t deserve it. That is grace. “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”

“I lay in Zion.” Zion is a technical word for the southern kingdom, because Zion was the western escarpment of the city of Jerusalem. Eventually it came to mean the entire city and then the entire southern kingdom; “a foundation rock” — Jesus Christ. In other words they are going to hear the message of Christ, He is the true foundation. Isaiah’s message is going to reach out and save a king — Hezekiah — and it is going to reach out and save a maximum number of people among the city of Jerusalem. And the results are going to be absolutely fantastic.

“a tried stone” — the word “tried” is tested and the tested stone is Christ who was tested and found perfect, a reference to the first advent where Jesus Christ came into the world without sin, and because He was without sin He bore our sins. That is the tested stone — One who was qualified to be our saviour. The word “precious” means valuable, the greatest value.

“corner stone” — a stone which is placed in the corner to join two walls. One of these walls is Israel; the other is the Church. Christ is the ruler of Israel as the Son of David; Christ is the head of the Church. And this is always the meaning of the word “cornerstone” .What do future Israel [born-again] and the Church have in common? They are separated forever: Israel will live in the new earth; the Church will live in the new heavens. But they have in common, Christ. Christ has two kingdoms of regenerate in eternity — Israel and the Church.

“a foundation rock” — salvation, work of Christ; “a tested stone” — person of Christ. Nothing in life is meaningful until you have Christ. And once you have Christ whether you are a have or a have-not in this life means nothing. You have something that is permanent and eternal. The point is, you must have a solid foundation on which to erect values for time and that solid foundation is Christ. So, He is called “precious” and that means the most valuable.

“a sure foundation” — and the word “sure” means security; it should be translated “secure” .

“he that believeth” — salvation [how you get this secure foundation] — “shall not make haste” — literally, “will not go away” [fifth cycle].

Isaiah has just told his people that they are going to see the northern kingdom swept away by the Assyrians and that if they believe in Christ they will not go the way the northern kingdom did. And the result was that the people did believe. The result was a great revival and the southern kingdom lasted for another 135 years and did not go into the fifth cycle until 586 BC. Revival means survival!

The doctrine of Christ the Rock

1. Christ is the Rock of salvation — Isaiah 28:16; Exodus 17:1-7; 1 Corinthians 3:11.

2. Christ is the Rock of judgment for the unbeliever — Isaiah 8:14; 1 Peter 2:8.

3. Christ is the Rock of provision for the believer — Isaiah 26:3,4 [Hebrew — a Rock of ages, i.e. a Rock of provision.] Christ always provides, the Rock never changes.

4. Christ is the perfect Rock, therefore God — Zecharaiah 3:9.

5. Christ is the foundation Rock for Israel — Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 28:16.

6. Christ is the foundation Rock for the Church — Matthew 16:16; Ephesians 2:20-22.

7. Christ is the destroying Rock at the second advent — Daniel 2:35.

Principles

1. God protects the believer in time from national disaster.

2. No believer can be removed from this life until God permits it, regardless of catastrophe.

3. God can move through catastrophe and prosperity of history — God’s plan moves on.

4. The believer’s orientation to the plan of God is imperative so that he can face the disasters and prosperity in history, whichever way it happens to go.

The 5th cycle judgment to Ephraim

Verse 17 — Judgment destroys the false foundation. Remember the northern kingdom’s foreign policy is depending upon Egypt. “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness the plummet.” The Hebrew says, “But I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness will be the level.” The source of the fifth cycle of discipline: justice and righteousness. This is the basis for all judgment. All judgment comes from God and the essence box is applied. Discipline comes from the justice of God and it is based upon the righteousness of God.

“and hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies.” The refuge of lies is depending upon Egypt to protect the northern kingdom from the Assyrians. Hail is the divine idiom for judgment and judgment will fall upon the refuge of lies and sweep it away.

“and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.” The hiding place is the principle of human security. There is no security for the Jews under the fifth cycle of discipline except in the Lord and in His provision. And since His provision has been rejected there is no security. Principle: In time of catastrophe — the divine judgment falling upon a nation — there is no human security factor of any consequence. Protection is for those who are born-again and their protection is in the utilisation of divine provision.

Verse 18 — “And your covenant with death [the grave]” — a reference to the alliance with the Egyptians — “shall be disannulled, and your agreement with the grave shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge [Assyria] shall pass through, then shall ye be trodden down by it” — a reference to the Assyrian army, first under Shalmaneser V and then under Sargon II.

In verses 19-20, before they are destroyed and taken into captivity they are going to have a period of four years before this is completed. It took Shalmaneser four years to conquer and for the Jews this period was characterised by worry and anxiety. So they were punished many times before they died.

Verse 19 — “From the time that it [the Assyrian army] goeth forth, it shall take you” — it will eventually gobble up the entire nation — “morning by morning it shall pass over [invade], by day and by night: and it shall be a terror only to understand the report [just to hear about the disaster of the previous town].”

Verse 20 — How do the Jews take the news? “For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it,” an idiom for worry. Worry causes insomnia; “and the covering is narrower than he can wrap himself in it.” They worry themselves to death. The principle is: catastrophe always worries the unbeliever, but the one who is born-again does not have to fall apart and move into panic palace because of the catastrophe — Psalm 56:3. A believer has no right to be in a state of anxiety or fear or worry about anything at any time at all. If Jesus Christ did the most for us when we were His enemies and when we were sinners, what shall He do for us now that we are His children? The answer is found in Romans 5 — He can only do much more than the most, and we are now, as believers, under the much more care of God.

Verse 21 — The certainty of this judgment. “For the Lord shall rise up as.” “As"sets up an analogy and there are two analogies in this passage. The first analogy is a reference to Mount Perazim and the second is to Gibeon. Mount Perazim is described in 2 Samuel 5:20-21 and it was God’s wrath expressed against idolatry of the Philistines. Gibeon refers to Joshua chapter 10 in which the Amorites were annihilated. In both of these analogies we have a reference to complete annihilation — the first one, Perazim, emphasises religion; Gibeon emphasises that the fifth cycle of discipline is the complete destruction of a nation.

“that” introduces a purpose clause — “he may do his work.” God’s work here is judgment. These things are ghastly but God is fair and righteous. Often we feel sorry for people because they are going through such terrible things but you must always remember that when it is divine judgment, if anything it is overdue. God never judges a nation or a person without first of all giving ample opportunity for salvation — grace before judgment. This is one of the beautiful patterns in the book of Revelation. The Tribulation is a time of terrible judgment but in the midst of this terrible judgment there is grace, grace, grace, and the world is evangelised four times during that awful period so that people can avoid an even worse judgment to come — the baptism of fire which occurs after the second advent.

“that he may do his work” — and a part of the work of God is judgment. This is an expression of His righteousness and of His justice; “his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act” — the word “strange” is used twice and it means strange in the sense of contrary to God’s desire. When God judges man it comes from His righteousness and His justice, it is not His desire ever. Judgment is the result of the rejection of His love. God’s love is expressed sovereignly through the cross and whether it is a nation or whether it is an individual it is rejection of the cross and ignoring the cross that results in judgment. In this case we have the fifth cycle of judgment to the northern kingdom, and the northern kingdom is completely denuded of regenerate individuals so that we have a nation made up of unbelievers, those who have rejected grace. Grace precedes judgment, and when God judges He must do so because it is being compatible with His own character. The love of God is at the cross and when the love of God is rejected then the alternative is righteousness and justice. This is compatible with His own character but not compatible with His desire.

Verses 22-23 — Deliverance through the Word. Always when you have these great judgments you follow it up with deliverance through the Word.

Verse 22 — “Now therefore be ye not mockers” — a warning against rejection of the Word of God. They mocked the Word and went to Egypt for help — “lest your bands be made strong” — bands simply refer to slavery. In other words if you reject the Word of God you will go into slavery — “for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consummation [end], even determined upon the whole land [Palestine, both the northern and the southern kingdoms].” He said: I have heard an end determined upon the entire land.” So that takes in the northern kingdom of Samaria or Ephraim, and they will go out of the picture in 721 BC into the fifth cycle. And then the southern kingdom, Judah, will go out in 586 BC. And the reason that we have 135 years difference between the fifth cycle in the southern kingdom and the northern kingdom is because of the ministry of Isaiah and the ministry of Jeremiah which postponed the judgment. So there is another principle: When you trust in the Word of God the nation survives.

Verse 23 — “Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken and hear my speech.” The only way to be prepared for disaster when it comes is threefold: a. Personally accept Jesus Christ as saviour — regeneration; b. Learn Bible doctrine and store it in the frontal lobe; c. Operation faith-rest technique, the means of applying doctrine in your frontal lobe to disaster. When you can apply doctrine to disaster the result is stability and orientation to the plan of God. Even when the plan of God for a nation is judgment, you r personal impact and testimony will have eternal results. So even when a nation is going down in time you can have a marvellous ministry which will last forever.

Isaiah now concludes this chapter with an agricultural illustration, which is what you would expect because all economies in the ancient world were built around agriculture. So we are going to have an agricultural illustration. In this illustration we have three things: first the ploughing, analogous to regeneration — verse 24; secondly, planting — verse 25-26; thirdly, harvest — verses 27-28.

Verse 24 — “Doth the ploughman plow all day to sow? and break the clods of his ground?” And, of course, the answer is, Yes. He ploughs until he breaks the ground completely until the seed can be sown. Ploughing is equivalent to regeneration, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Note: Every phase of agricultural activity demands knowledge to do it right. You must know when to plough, when to plant, how to plant, how to harvest, etc.

Verse 25 — the second step, which is planting. “When he hath made plain the face thereof.” In the Hebrew it says: “When he has levelled and broken the ground.” This second step, planting, is equivalent to learning basic doctrine; “doth he not cast abroad [sow] the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows and the appointed barley and the rye in their place?”

“fitches” — a poppy seed used for animal forage. The first food mentioned is food for animals because they depended upon animals in farming. Therefore, the one on whom you depend gets the first crack at it.

“Cummin” is given second because it was not their staple food. It was an aromatic seed and used for medicine for taking care of the weak.

“wheat and barley” — basic staple food for man.

Verse 26 — “For his God doth instruct him to orientation [to farming]” .Farmers originally got all their information about farming from God. When Adam had to earn his living by the sweat of his brow, by the cultivation of fields, then he received information from God which has been passed down in the human race. “and doth teach him” — this is the principle, this is the purpose for the illustration, you have to be taught.

Verses 27-28, the harvest — production.

Verse 27 — “For the fitches [animal food] are not threshed with a threshing instrument.” This is a takeoff from the previous verse — what do you learn? A threshing instrument is literally a threshing sledge. They had in the ancient world a cart pulled by animals which was a kind of antique harvester. The wheels of the threshing instrument actually chopped a collected a little bit and so on, and the point is: if you tried to harvest fitches with a threshing sledge you would destroy them. So when it comes to fitches you can’t use a threshing sledge ; “neither a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin.” You can’t harvest medicine-type things with a cart. A cart had wide wheels and crushed. So how do you harvest the fitches and the cummin? “but the fitches are beaten out with a staff [thin stick], and the cummin with a rod [strong stick]” — this way the harvest isn’t bruised. In both cases you beat the growth to get the seed out of it.

Verse 28 — There is a way to do everything. And just as there is a way to do everything in farming there is a way to do everything in the spiritual life and you must know God’s way. God’s way is doctrine. “Bread corn [wheat] is bruised; he will not ever thresh it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with horsemen.” So wheat has to be handled in a certain way because the horses can trample it and ruin it and so on. Breadcorn [wheat] is threshed. Notice that you don’t use a stick on wheat.

Verse 29 — “This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.” Just as God has conveyed in centuries past information whereby man can live on the face of the earth and derive a living from the earth, so God has provided in great detail how and why a believer should operate to the glory of the Lord — and this is doctrine. The emphasis then is, you must know doctrine, what the Word teaches. This is what Isaiah would say to the northern kingdom: You get into the Word and there will be no discipline. But they failed to do so and in 721 BC Isaiah’s message to them was fulfilled.