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Isa 1:27-31 Zion Shall Be Redeemed With Judgment

Isa 1:27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
Isa 1:28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
Isa 1:29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
Isa 1:30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
Isa 1:31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

Introduction

When we read the scriptures regarding the Lord's judgments we just naturally tend to think in terms of the wicked people, the goats being placed on the Lord's left hand, versus the righteous people, the sheep, being placed on the Lord's right hand. After all, here it is saying just that:

Mat 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

We just naturally think of this event taking place and we place ourselves on one side of the other, depending on whether we consider ourselves to be serving God or not. However, in time we must come to understand the meaning and the truth of these two verses of scripture:

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

The word 'man' is translated from the Greek word 'anthropos' and it means 'mankind'. It means all mankind, just as it means all mankind in this verse of scripture:

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

That 'a' I have emboldened and underlined is not in the Greek texts. Here is a much more accurate translation of this verse:

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has a mind calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is the number of mankind, and its number is six hundred sixty-six. (CVL)

Which means that the Truth of God's Word is:

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

This is telling us that Christ's 'Zion' is redeemed through the judgment of her hypocrites. This principle is revealed elsewhere in the words of this same prophet:

Isa 33:14 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?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

There is not a person among us who has not first served his flesh before being humbled and then being crushed to powder by the Lord Himself through His fiery judgments. So these verses we are examining today are not speaking to someone else. Rather they are addressed first and foremost to you and me as these verses demonstrate:

Psa 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

Psa 69:19 Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.

Psa 73:22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

That is why the apostle Peter tells us:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [judgment] first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Exactly what is this thing we call 'judgment'? What does 'judgment' do? What does 'judgment' accomplish? This is what the scriptures teach is judgment:

1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

What a simple, straight forward statement of Truth, which is affirmed by many other verses of scripture. God's judgments are "chasten[ing] of the Lord", with a very good purpose in view. What a wonderful and loving concept. And also what a revolutionary concept in the light of the false doctrine of eternal torment for many who will one day face their own judgment day, either in this age or "when the thousand years are expired".

Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. [the eons of the eons]
Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

"When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord", but what, then, is the purpose and function of God's chastening judgments? If "judgment... first begin[s] at us" what will that 'judgment' produce 'first' within us? Here is what God's judgments, first or last, will always produce. This is what His judgments produce, whether it "begins [now upon] the house of God" or if it is at the "great white throne... judgement", which follows the "little season" of rebellion which will come over this earth "when the thousand years are expired"; this is what God's judgments produce. This revelation of what is the product of all of God's judgments is, once again, to be found right here in this prophecy of Isaiah:

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

And that is what the first verse of our study today tells us:

Isa 1:27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.

It is only through God's fiery judgments that any of us live righteous lives to any degree. "When your judgments are in the earth [including our present lives in these earthen vessels with our rebellious carnal minds] the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness". Paul tells us the very same things put in another way:

1Co 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day [of judgment] shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

And again in these words:

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching [Greek: paideuo, chastening, as in "when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord", 1Co 11:32] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

So what Paul is telling Titus is that God's grace is what judges us. 'Judging us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world'.

The fact is that Peter tells us the same thing just five verses before telling us "the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God":

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

When we apply the principle of 'Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Mat 4:4) we come to realize that "every man... suffer[s the] loss of all things" for Christ's sake, "each in his own order".

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

There it is - "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall [the same] all be made alive". But it is done only through judgment. It is done only through suffering loss, "yet so as by fire", the "fiery trials" which are the "judgment [which] must... begin at the house of God". Again it is not just someone else who is judged. It is "every" man who "suffer[s] loss". It is not someone else whose "wood, hay, and stubble" are all burned up, rather it is through judgment that the 'wood, hay, and stubble of "every man" is burned up (1Co 3:13-15).

God's judgment is ultimately the death of the flesh of our "old man". Contrary to what many teach, the death of our old man is a given:

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

The life of "the new man" within all of us comes to us only "through death", through the death of our "old man".

Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

The unlearned will argue those verses refer only to Christ, and I must agree, they refer only to Christ, but I will agree with that statement only when we know who is "Jesus of Nazareth", and who Christ is as revealed in this verse, among many others:

Act 22:7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

Just as Christ's life came "through death" so too will all who are given eonian life. So we are told:

Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

1Co 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

For those who in our midst have been teaching that flesh, in and of itself, is not sin and corruption read 1Co 15:50 again really slowly, and let it sink in: "...flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption" and consider this truth:

Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Understanding that life comes only through death is basic to the very sayings and the doctrine of our Lord:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

That is the meaning of our next verse:

Isa 1:28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

"Transgressors... sinners... and they that forsake the Lord" are all "the body of sin" into which we are all 'shapen and conceived' of by the great Potter Himself:

Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Who shaped us in iniquity and who conceived us all "in sin"? Here He is:

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

So much for those who are still insisting that there in no such thing as a "body of sin", which is these "marred... vessels of clay [as they come from] the Potter's hand".

So we are plainly told that the life of our "new man" comes only through the death of "the body of sin" which is our physical, "natural... old man":

Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Why is our old man crucified with Christ? It is "that the body of sin might be destroyed". It is not just the carnal mind; it is also flesh and blood which cannot inherit the kingdom of God because corruption, "the body of sin", cannot inherit incorruption.

Which is just another way of repeating the words of Christ:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Just as we do not naturally give up these 'bodies of sin', neither do we just naturally come out of Babylon with all of her traditions and celebrations of so many "days, months, times and years" (Gal 4:10), which is what Isaiah means by these words:

Isa 1:29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.

Israel was warned against this very thing:

Deu 16:21 Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.
Deu 16:22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.

These "groves" are mentioned throughout the Old Testament as one of the greatest snares to Israel, which always longed to 'be like the nations around them'. The groves were temples of the pagan worship of the earth, the creature, the beast, which we all just naturally tend to want to place ahead of the Creator:

Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

It is natural for men to worship themselves, "the creature", and God's creation, this earth with all its vicious beasts, more than they worship God. That is what we all just naturally do, simply because it is the most commonly accepted thing to do among the nations, the people who are all around us, and that is exactly what Israel did from the moment they were brought out of Egypt:

Hos 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2 As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

Within 50 days of leaving Egypt, where they had learned to worship idols, Israel had returned to doing so:

Exo 32:3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Exo 32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Hundreds of years later, Israel is still serving the idols of Egypt:

Eze 20:7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Physical idols, like that golden calf, typify false doctrine, which Ezekiel calls "idols of the heart".

Eze 14:1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

This is what we are told of the 'idols' of the Old Testament:

Hab 2:18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

Our 'idols' that separate us from our Lord today are all the false doctrines in which we believe. We are "estranged from [Christ] through [our] idols".

The Egyptians, and all the pagans, celebrated the winter and the spring solstices, and most who claim to be Christians are doing the very same thing to this day, calling the observation of the winter solstice, Christmas, and retaining the pagan name of Easter for the spring solstice, even as they claim this pagan holiday is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. In any case, the churches of the apostate wife of Christ claim to be worshiping God while observing these pagan practices.

How does God feel about us adapting pagan practices and saying we are keeping those practices in worship of Him? This is what He has to say about doing such an insulting thing:

Deu 12:28 Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.
Deu 12:29 When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

While it is true that Christ Himself gave the carnal nation of ancient Israel three seasons with seven festivals, foreshadowing His plan for mankind, Christ Himself has come and has in Himself fulfilled the 1) the passover, 2) the days of unleavened bread, 3) the day of Pentecost, 4) the feast of trumpets, 5), the day of atonement, 6) the feast of tabernacles and 7) the last great day. While these three seasons and their seven festivals are now fulfilled in Christ, they still to this day serve as types and shadows of all that Christ has done and is doing:

Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

"The very image" is, of course Christ, and those who accept Him no longer observe any "days, months, times or years", and are thereby hated of all men.

Col 1:15 Who [Christ] is the [very] image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

But everyone kept the pagan festivals, and Israel wanted to fit in with the nations around them, and their greatest stumbling block was their desire to return to the groves which were such an integral part of the nature worship of the nations around them. So Isaiah tells us this about ourselves, which is who ancient Israel typifies:

Isa 1:29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
Isa 1:30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

We of the nations who claim to know Christ have been sticking our figurative fingers in the eye of our Creator for thousands of years now. Nevertheless there is coming a day when "the kingdoms of this world [will] become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ (Rev 11:15), and He and His Christ will have no part of such rebellious and insulting actions, and they will no longer be tolerated. Christmas and Easter will not be observed during the millennium, and for those who are given to be part of the kingdom of God "within you " in this age, this is what is even now being done both within and without in our lives:

Isa 1:31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

Here is the LIV version of this verse:

Isa 1:31 The strongest among you will disappear like burning straw; your evil deeds are the spark that sets the straw on fire, and no one will be able to put it out. (LIV)

Remember this phrase, 'the strong shall be as burning straw which is ignited by your evil deeds' is all said in the context of being given over to "the oaks... and... gardens you have chosen". Those 'oaks and gardens' are the houses of pagan idols, and 'idols' in scripture are types and shadows of false, heretical doctrines, the number of which is symbolized as 200 million.

Rev 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
Rev 9:17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
Rev 9:18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
Rev 9:19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

The power of these "locusts... like unto horses... is in their mouth[s]... out of their mouth issued fire... and in their tails; for their tails were like unto serpents..." What does the "power... in their mouth[s] and in their tails... tails like serpents" mean? We need not guess. The prophet Isaiah tells us what all of this mean:

Isa 9:14 Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
Isa 9:15 The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
Isa 9:16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

"The prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail [and] the leaders of this people cause them to err.." and for that reason:

Hos 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

Joh 8:44 Ye ["prophets that teach lies"] are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

It is Satan and his messengers whose mouths also issue the 'fire' of his lies. This entire study today is applicable to the very lies we have been dealing with.

Isa 1:29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
Isa 1:30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
Isa 1:31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

We have all been deliberately and blatantly lied to, and we have all fallen for those lies at our own appointed time. We are all commanded to "know them which labor among you", and those of you who do know those who labor among you, know that your elders and leaders are men of honesty and integrity who, with the Lord's strength within us, never ever lie to you. That simply cannot be said of our detractors who will say one thing and then do the exact opposite. As your leaders we seek only to "look well to [ourselves] and to the flock over which the Lord has made [us] overseers. Our refuge is in the Lord, and in His words and in the love and nourishment of His body, as was also true of the much maligned apostle Paul, who tells us the same thing was going on in his day:

2Ti 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
2Ti 4:15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.
2Ti 4:16 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
2Ti 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
2Ti 4:18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

You and I are living in outwardly perilous times, but all the battles taking place in this outward world are just a shadow of what is taking place in the realm of the heavens, where a life and death battle is being fought at this very moment.

But we have been given the outcome of that battle, and we pray to be granted to be on the winning side because we are assured:

Psa 68:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm or Song of David. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.
Psa 68:2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
Psa 68:3 But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.

Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.