Chapter 33

Verses 7-9, the condition of Judah prior to the Hezekiah revival.

Verse 7 — “Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without.” The valiant ones are the military heroes, the professional soldiers. Hezekiah had thrown his professional army into the fight with Sennacherib by sending them outside the city. They had inferior equipment, inferior training, were greatly outnumbered, and so they “cry without” which means they cry outside the city. This is the cry of disaster or distress. So the condition which preceded the revival was military failure.

“the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly” — Hezekiah’s ambassadors were unable to negotiate and their failure caused them to weep bitterly in their frustration. This was their first condition, failure to stop the enemy.

Verse 8 — “The high ways lie waste” — the travellers on the high ways had disappeared — “the wayfaring man ceaseth” — the business man, the man who is engaged in trade and commerce. Business broke down when the Assyrians controlled all the roads. Then we have the double-cross on the part of Sennacherib — “he”; “He hath broken the covenant [2 Kings 14:18]” — there had been a treaty and Sennacherib broke it.

Verse 9 — “The land mourneth and languisheth.” There is a great deal of misery in the land because of the Sennacherib invasion. The word “languisheth” means general apathy. Everyone has more or less given up, there is no fun any more in life is the attitude indicated. “Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down.” Lebanon is often used to refer to the land because it is the great forest area. A forest isn’t very beautiful with all of its trees cut down. So this is an analogy. Judah is like a great and beautiful forest with all the trees cut down. “Sharon is like a desert” — Sharon was lush pasture land and it is now like a desert; “and Bashan and Carmel shake off” simply means they are no longer mountains. Both were mountainous areas. In other words these are analogies to great sorrow in the land.

Verses 10-12, deliverance from Sennacherib.

As a result of the great revival under Hezekiah and Isaiah the people came back to the Lord. The point is that when a people have failed in every way the only thing that is going to help a country is revival. Revival delivered the country from Sennacherib. This deliverance is described in three ways, one in each verse — 10, 11, 12. In verse 19 we see the deliverance of 770 BC; in verse 11 the deliverance of 681 BC; in verse 12 we go back to the subject of verse 1, the deliverance of 612 BC.

Verse 10 — Three times we have the word “now", and “now” refers to 700 BC, the deliverance of the siege of Jerusalem. Sennacherib is besieging Jerusalem, the situation is hopeless and the Lord delivers. “Now will I arise, saith the Lord [Jesus Christ]” — the detailed description of this will be found in 2 Kings 19:35; Isaiah 37:36 — this means to rise up to smite — “now will I be exalted” — the Lord would be honoured by the event because the Lord did all of the work, the slaughter of 185,000 of the Assyrian army.

Principle: God does the work; God gets the glory. That is grace. Under grace God does all of the work and God gets all of the glory.

“now I will lift up myself” — this means “I will reveal myself as the One who is the object of all praise and glory and worship.” The Jews would know that they didn’t deliver themselves; it was a hopeless situation; they couldn’t do anything about it but God did.

Verse 11 — We have the second deliverance (681 BC, the year of the assassination of Sennacherib). “Ye shall conceive chaff.” The word to conceive is a reference to the birth of sons. It means that Sennacherib is going to sire chaff. “ye shall bring forth stubble” .Everything hinges around the two words, “chaff” and “stubble.” Chaff is a man by the name of Adrimelech; Stubble is Shareser. These are the two sons of Sennacherib that killed him.

Chaff is useless; it is the part of the wheat you can’t eat. The grain has to be separated from the chaff. Stubble is the same as chaff, it is the useless part of the wheat.

“your breath” [your very life] as fire shall devour you [Sennacherib]” — so his own flesh and blood turned against him. The details of this are found in 2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38. One reason why they killed him was because they were jealous of their younger brother, Esarhaddon. These were the two eldest. Esarhaddon had so much obvious genius that his father by-passed the two no-goods and made him the crown prince. The other two were so jealous of this that they killed their father.

Verse 12 — the third deliverance. The nation that invaded, Assyria, was destroyed, 612 BC. “And the peoples [the Assyrians] shall be as the burning of lime” — a reference to total destruction — “as thorns cut up, shall they be burned in the fire.”

Verse 13 — the application of this deliverance. “Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done.” Note: Every great empire known to history first of all disintegrated within, except one — Assyria. There was no internal failure on the part of the Assyrians. This means something to us right here: “Look what I have done” .In other words, the judgment of God was so complete that the Assyrians were struck down in their prime. They had not gone soft, they had not become a weak nation. “and those of you who are near” — the ones far off are the Gentiles. This tells us that God judges nations and that the fall of Assyria was a warning to the nations of the world — “I am in the business of judging nations. So those of you who are far off look at Assyria and see what I can do.” And those who are near are the Jews — “and you that are near, acknowledge my power” .He says to the Gentiles, “You look at what I have done", but He says to the Jews who had doctrine and who had the Word, “Acknowledge my strength” or “Give me what belongs to me, your worship” .The word “acknowledge” really means to know, to know from study, from being exposed to doctrine.

So what is the application? “You Jews can know me.” Why? Because they had doctrine, they had the Word. The Gentiles could only hear — a superficial perception. But the Jews were to know from the Word of God something about Him. To acknowledge means to know from a norm or a standard and the principle is: You cannot know God except through His Word. This is the only way you can know God.

God says to the Jews: “Acknowledge .I have revealed myself to you through the Word” .How were they to acknowledge? What are the mechanics? If they were unsaved they were to believe in Jesus Christ. To those who are born-again it means, Trust me, use the faith-rest technique, claim the promises, apply the doctrine.

So the application of the judgment of Assyria is, Wake up. Accept Christ and then as a believer learn doctrine so that you can know Him, and then as a result of knowing Him the next glorious step will be to create within yourself that environment which will not only give you permanent and wonderful happiness but will glorify the Lord on this earth.

This particular section of Isaiah is one of the most interesting and important as far as historical and prophetical repercussions are concerned. There are many subjects which run through the section beginning with Isaiah 28 and going through chapter 35. In addition to the subject of national suffering and national discipline there are many other facets in this particular section. We have seen in the first 12 verses of this chapter the attack of Assyria, the Sennacherib invasion of Judah, and the siege of Jerusalem and the deliverance.

One of the most overrated of all the kings in the history of Judah was Hezekiah. It is very obvious that when an evil king is an evil king it is so declared. Hezekiah was a man who started out as a great king and wound up as a very poor king, so much so that Hezekiah is one of the few kings of Judah who as a believer in Jesus Christ was put under the sin under death. He recovered by the use of rebound and was taken out from under it and he sired the worst king in the history of the southern kingdom — Manasseh. Manasseh more than any other man is responsible for the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline to the southern kingdom in the 70 years of the Babylonian captivity. The Bible has some very nice things to say about Hezekiah and it has some very derogatory things to say. It is a perfect illustration of how a believer can be very unstable. Hezekiah was sincere but his sincerity was very superficial. He got rid of all of the idols and all of the overt factors of idolatry but there was no change in the frontal lobes of the individuals, and had it not been for Isaiah the day in which Hezekiah lived would have been a very dark day. But Isaiah came along with evangelism and with very fine Bible doctrine and this turned the tide. However, the Bible doctrine didn’t seep through the frontal lobe of Hezekiah. He was the emotional, sincere type and apparently didn’t think too much of Bible doctrine. As a result he failed in so many ways — the problem of leaning upon Egypt, the problem of depending upon Marodach-Baladan, and many other things of this sort. So that Hezekiah was a case of a believer who meant well but who lived on his emotion and his sincerity and more or less rejected Bible doctrine till he got into a jamb. Then, of course, he finally got with it. By then he had caused so may problems in his own country that had it not been for Isaiah the situation would have fallen apart completely.

Isaiah later on came to the king and announced to him that he was under the sin unto death. And then, as Isaiah is walking through the courtyard of the palace he passes the sundial of Ahaz, which is a great monument with an obelisk on the top of it, God spoke to him and told him that Hezekiah had rebounded and to go back and tell him he has fifteen more years. Up to this time Hezekiah had been ruling for fourteen years. The first thing Hezekiah does is ask for a sign, typical of an emotional, confused, mixed-up, sincere but ignorant type of individual. In grace he was given a sign. He was even given an alternate and all he had to do was tell the Lord which way he wanted the sundial to go. The shadow would go down ten degrees or up, he had the choice. Then Hezekiah wrote a beautiful tract on his recovery. But no sooner had he recovered than he made the greatest error — which believers often do —, he failed to remember that he must study doctrine. So, what did he do? He allowed one of the biggest troublemakers in the ancient world, Marodach-Baladan the king of Babylon, to send an embassy and this was the beginning of the end so far as the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline was concerned. He could have been one of the greatest kings, next to David himself, were it not for the fact that apparently he could never get consistently with Bible doctrine. Lack of doctrine in his frontal lobe was his great problem. His reign was a great reign because of the Isaiah revival, because the people came to the Lord and the people accepted doctrine.

In the first part of this chapter we have the deliverance from the Sennacherib invasion and in the last part of the chapter we have the deliverance of the second advent of Jesus Christ. Verse 10 — the deliverance of 700 BC. Sennacherib’s army was destroyed and he went rushing back to Nineveh — Isaiah 37:36;31:8; 2 Kings 19:35.

In verse 11 the second instalment of the deliverance was the assassination of Sennacherib — 681 BC.

In verse 12 we have the third instalment of the deliverance — 612 BC — the total destruction of the Assyrian empire at the height of its power.

Verses 14-24, the deliverance of Jerusalem in the days of the close of the Tribulation. Here we deal with the king of the north besieging Jerusalem and again there is deliverance, and again it is because Jesus Christ personally intervenes by returning to the earth — Zecharaiah 14:1-9.

Verse 14 — “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

The “sinners in Zion” refers to the unbelievers in the Tribulation. These unbelievers are Jews and they are involved in this famous siege of Jerusalem which will occur at the end of the Tribulation, when the king of the north comes against Jerusalem in all of his wrath and fury. The phrase makes it very clear that the sinners in Zion are afraid, they are frightened by these events, they have a right to be, they are going to be caught up in them, they will die by violence and after their death they will spend the rest of eternity in fire. Notice that people who do not have the Lord and people who do not have doctrine when there is a crisis, are frightened — “the sinners in Zion are afraid.” Fear is the perfectly normal reaction and it is a part of the suffering of those who do not have the solid rock, Christ Jesus. The sinners in Zion are unbelievers, and they surrender — Zecharaiah 14:2a. And who doesn’t surrender? — verse 2b, “and the remnant of the people [the born-again Jews of the Tribulation] shall not be cut off from the city.” Why? Because they resist.

Zecharaiah 14:3 — “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.” There are two kinds of people in Jerusalem, unbelievers and believers. The unbelievers surrender and so the king of the north takes over. But the believers hold out. And they resist, just as in the days of Hezekiah and the days of Isaiah and the people involved in his revival. In the days when Sennacherib came up to Jerusalem they resisted and now the believers in Jerusalem are going to claim some promises from the Word. As a result, second advent and they are delivered. The most dramatic deliverance of a people in the history of the human race will occur at the second advent of Jesus Christ.

But there are some people who are not involved in this deliverance and so the purpose of Isaiah 33:14 and 15 is to trace through the unbelievers involved. And they are called in verse 14 “the sinners of Zion.” Immediately we know they are not going to be delivered because they are frightened. When you are frightened you can do nothing, you cannot think. They greatest way in the world to conquer someone is for them to be frightened.

“fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites” — the hypocrites are the religious leaders, the “disarm and welcome our brothers from across the waters” types, the people who preach disarmament and the surrendering of our power to the United Nations, etc. Hypocrites are always caught by surprise. [By the way, the word “hypocrite” in the Bible s a technical word for a religious person] The hypocrites are the religious Jews of the Tribulation who have accepted the deception of the great religious leader of that day — 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12. “Who among us shall dwell with devouring fire?” Answer: Unbelieving Jews at the end of the Tribulation. “Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Answer: Unbelieving Jews at the end of the Tribulation. This is a reference to the doctrine of the baptism of fire.

The Baptism of fire

1. The biblical event of the baptism of fire is declared in three passages — Matthew 3:11,12; Luke 3:16,17; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9.

2. The analogy is given in Matthew 24:36-41 — “Two shall be in the field; one is taken, and

one is left.” This is usually taken to be the Rapture, but this is not so. Matthew chapter 24 is an

analogy to the days of Noah. In the days of Noah the judgment came suddenly when people were so

busy living that they didn’t bother with eternity. And so the unbelievers in the days of Noah were taken

off the earth in judgment. And in the days of Noah the believers continued on the earth, all eight of

them! There is one other occasion in history which is parallel to this, a direct analogy, and that is at the

end of the Tribulation — the second advent of Jesus Christ. In that day the believers will remain on the

earth and the unbelievers will be taken off the earth. This is the exact antithesis of the Rapture. The

Rapture is not taught in the book of Matthew anywhere; the Church is not taught in the book of

Matthew anywhere, it is only mentioned once in Matthew 16 and then it is a future event — “on the

rock I shall build my Church” — future tense of o)ikodomh . The book of John makes reference to the

Church but the book of Matthew does not.

3. We have parables to the baptism of fire: the wheat and the tares, the good and the bad fish,

the ten virgins. E.g. The “wheat” are the believers who go into the Millennium with Christ; the “tares”

are the unbelievers who are cast off the earth for burning.

4. The baptism of fire for the Gentiles is found in Matthew 25:31-46.

5. The baptism of fire for Jewish unbelievers is found in Ezekiel 20:32-38.

Verse 15 — believers in contrast. Verse 15 is set up in our passage for one reason: the

characteristic of unbelievers in this time of crisis is that they are frightened; the characteristic of

believers in this time of pressure — “He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly” — in time of

pressure they do not fall apart — “he that despiseth the gain of oppressions” — they refuse to succumb

to the pork-barrel system — “that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes” — he refuses bribes [in

times of pressure, one of the first things that occur are people starting to bribe] — “he that stoppeth his

ears from the hearing of blood” — this is a very simple idiom which means nothing more or less that

we will continue to fight [instead of saying, Don’t fight, we’ll all be killed!].

Verse 16 — protection for these believers. “He [the believer] shall dwell on high; his place of

defense shall be the munitions of rocks: his bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.” The

background to this verse: The Church has gone [Rapture]. Jews are saved by the thousands. The Jews

that are saved fall into two categories: in the first half of the Tribulation the Jews who are saved are

commanded by Matthew 24 to flee to the mountains; the Jews of the second half of the Tribulation are

given a different set of instructions, they are told to stay and fight.

“he shall dwell on high” is literally, he will inhabit the mountains, the high places. Because

these people in the first part of the Tribulation inhabited the high places they were delivered. Cf Daniel

11:41; Isaiah16:1-5; 63:1-6.

“his place of defense shall be the munitions of the rocks” — literally, the fortifications of the

rocks. This refers to the mountains of Moab, Edom and Ammon. These mountainous areas are natural

fortifications. But, up there how are they going to live? — “his bread [food] shall be given him; and

waters shall be sure.”

The word “sure” in the Hebrew is “inexhaustible.” Those believers up there will have everything

provided; they will live there as a testimony to the word “patience” which is the perpetuation of the

faith-rest technique. The faith-rest technique glorifies God.