Title Discipline and Mercy/Isaiah 27:7-13
If the Lord struck the people, would it be like the ones who struck them? If the people were slain, would it be like the one who killed the people was put to death? The day when the east wind blew when the Lord rebuked the people appropriately and drove them out. For this is the result of Jacob's unrighteousness being pardoned, and his guilt purged, in that he makes every stone on the altar like a stone that has been broken, and that Asherah and the image of the sun should not rise again. It is desolate, and the dwelling place is desolate, and it is like a deserted wilderness, where calves will eat and lie down there, and will devour the branches of its trees to nothing. On that day a great trumpet will be sounded, and those who are perishing in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out into the land of Egypt will return and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
All people in the world are to be disciplined by God, but depending on who is being disciplined, the nature of the discipline is different, the degree and purpose of the discipline are different. The message of this text is that the rod that God beats His children, the Israelites, and the rod that beats Babylon, the oppressor of the Israelites, are completely different things.
1. God's people's rods are not the same as those of the perishing people.
God's people gain mercy even in times of chastisement. But for the people who oppressed God's people, the day of chastisement will soon be destroyed. In this way, God's rods on God's people and those who torment them are completely different in nature.
(1) different degrees
God's judgment begins with Israel. The Gentile nations, where God's judgment has made it difficult for God's people, will become irreversible rods, but for God's people it will become a medicine and a great grace.
God beats His people, but He beats them very moderately. God properly rebuked Israel, so he expelled them to Babylon. A saint without punishment is like an illegitimate child. Through temporary punishment, the saints repent and wait in hope for the Lord's salvation (Hebrews 12:5-13).
God does good to those who wait for God's grace and power when they are beaten. Originally, God wants to please us, but because of our sins, God appears in His wrath for a while and takes the rod. But the day Babylon will be beaten is the day it will be destroyed. In this way, God's judgment on His people is different from that of the Gentiles.
(2) different intentions
God gives the saints a rod to convince them of their sins and forsake their evil habits, and also to give them refinement to make them strong, to avoid destruction, and above all, to let them look only at God.
Because God disciplined Israel, Israel repented, but the Gentiles became more stubborn. This is because the intentions of the rod that God gives to God's people and to the Gentiles are different.
(3) results are different
The day of restoration will come for Israel, but the nation that oppressed God's people was completely destroyed. The city of those who resisted God was fortified, but after being beaten by God, it was desolate. It has become a desolate and deserted wilderness. It is also said that the beasts will eat and lie down and have no branches, so this means that it will be devastated so that it cannot be rebuilt.
Eventually, the end of the city will be burned and perish forever (Hebrews 6:8). God gave restoration to Israel who had returned to God after burning their idols, and the nations of the Gentiles were burned and destroyed forever.
2. Unbelievers will perish after discipline
People who live without God have no knowledge of God, so they turn their backs on God and are ignorant of God's power and judgment (Psalm 14:1; Deuteronomy 32:28).
“He who formed them will not have pity, nor will he who formed them show mercy” (verse 11).
Those who do not receive God's mercy do not know human weakness, do not know that human beings are unreliable, and do not even know what idols are. Because God is not gracious to them, they do evil without knowing it or understanding it. This is the image of those who have left the grace of God.
3. Gather the people of salvation after discipline
“In that day, you children of Israel, the LORD will gather you one by one, like the trembling of fruit from the creek to the brook of Egypt” (verse 12).
God promotes national repentance, but the Bible proclaims personal salvation. After discipline, God gathers the people of salvation one by one. And he saves God's people scattered from the river, the river, the Euphrates to the Nile, and leads them with love.
“On that day a great trumpet will be sounded, and those who are perishing in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out into the land of Egypt will return and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” (verse 13). The sound of the trumpet here may be the sound of the victory trumpets of the people of Israel returning from captivity in Babylon, but it also means the victory of God's people, that is, the church. The victorious people of God will worship God at the Holy Mount in Jerusalem.
It is the day when those who were driven out of Egypt and those who perish from Assyria will return. Eventually, they will gather before God. This is the great event that will happen in the day of the Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Worshiping God is our greatest mission. For this, God is showing mercy and mercy to His people in the midst of wrath. In the name of the Lord, I earnestly wish that you and I will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem forever.