Isaiah 33:1-24--O LORD, Be Gracious to Us

Isaiah 33
English Standard Version

O LORD, Be Gracious to Us
33 Ah, you destroyer,
    who yourself have not been destroyed,
you traitor,
    whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy,
    you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
    they will betray you.

2 O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
    Be our arm every morning,
    our salvation in the time of trouble.
3 At the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
    when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
4 and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
    as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.

5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
    he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
6 and he will be the stability of your times,
    abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
    the fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure.

7 Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
    the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways lie waste;
    the traveler ceases.
Covenants are broken;
    cities are despised;
    there is no regard for man.
9 The land mourns and languishes;
    Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
    and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

10 “Now I will arise,” says the LORD,
    “now I will lift myself up;
    now I will be exalted.
11 You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
    your breath is a fire that will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
    like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”

13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
    and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
    trembling has seized the godless:
“Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?
    Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
    who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
    who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
    and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
16 he will dwell on the heights;
    his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
    his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.

17 Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
    they will see a land that stretches afar.
18 Your heart will muse on the terror:
    “Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute?
    Where is he who counted the towers?”
19 You will see no more the insolent people,
    the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
    stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
20 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
    Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
    an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
    nor will any of its cords be broken.
21 But there the LORD in majesty will be for us
    a place of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars can go,
    nor majestic ship can pass.
22 For the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver;
    the LORD is our king; he will save us.

23 Your cords hang loose;
    they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
    or keep the sail spread out.
Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
    even the lame will take the prey.
24 And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;
    the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.

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I believe the first "verse" here is directed towards Death that one day itself will die and be destroyed.  At this point, it is the one who is victorious over all men (only Christ has truly defeated death, but that had not yet happened chronologically at this time).  Even death will cease to exist and will be thrown into the Lake of Fire in the final judgment.

Isaiah then prays what the people should be praying but are not.  He prays that the LORD would be their source of unshakable strength for each and every day, and that He would save them anew each and every day from the troubles of that day.  Specifically, he asks for salvation each and every day from the surrounding nations that seek to conquer and destroy the Jewish people so that they might have the Promised Land for themselves (or so they assume).  Isaiah says that when the LORD shows up to fight for His people, all the other peoples that gather to make war against them scatter, for none of them can stand up to the LORD.

All of the once strong and proud nations around them have been brought law and their land has become part of the Land given to Israel.  They thought they could fight against the LORD, but they are no more.  The LORD will come in judgment and will burn away the chaff and wood, and hay, and stubble, and bramble with an all-consuming fire.  The people of God who remain will be purified.  Only what is pleasing and acceptable to the LORD will last.  Like the furnace the burns off the dross from the precious metal, so it is with this fire that cleanses and consumes all impurities.

​The wicked of Israel fear this fire because they know it will consume them.  They will be like the chaff that are burnt up.  They will not be the precious metal that is purified.  Their ancestry tying them back to be "Children of Abraham" and "Children of Israel" would not save them, because this is the LORD's salvation for His people.  They are the wicked that He is saving His people from.

The LORD then tells Isaiah that there is a kind of person who will survive the fire that is holy and blameless.  They hate evil and they refuse to take bribes, will not listen to the schemes of men to take the life of other or take blood money.  They refuse to look on evil things.  Those people will be protected by the LORD and He will give them their food and their water in this time of trouble.  He will be their Rock, Fortress, Deliverer, Bread of Life, and Water of Life.

Then the eyes of these who were holy and blameless in His sight will see the King of Glory.  We will see Him in all of his glory and majesty, the beauty of His holiness.  The wicked who could not stand in the time of judgment and did not survive the fire will be mocked.  Where are those who boasted and were arrogant because they believed they had the superior numbers and strength of armies and fortifications?  They are gone--never to molest or speak their insolence again.

The final place He prepares for His people is the place of blessing He has been promising for His people--of perfect peace and rest and free from all trouble.  Better yet, it is the place where He dwells with his people forever and ever.  His people welcome Him as their Judge, their King, and their Salvation, and beckon HIs coming and ask Him to come quickly.  "Save us again!" is their cry until the day of their ultimate salvation.

There will be so much spoil that will be divided among the LORD's people that it will make us sick.  We will not be able to handle all the goodness and blessing that He will lavish on us.  The best part though is that we will be a people not just forgiven of our trespasses (our accidental sins) but our iniquities (our high-handed sins of rebellion that were deserving of death and permanent separation from God and His people).  Jesus paid the debt, including the death penalty that we deserved for our iniquities.  Now we will experience the blessings that only He deserves, but He freely shares with us as coheirs of His inheritance.