The Great Reversal: Gospel Dominion
Introduction: The Un-Scattering of the Nations
We live in an age of frantic, godless globalization. The talking heads and the global elites speak of a "new world order," a unified humanity, a global village. But their vision is a tower of Babel, built with the bricks of human pride and the mortar of rebellion against the Most High. They want unity without the Trinity, peace without the Prince of Peace, and a kingdom without the King. It is a project doomed to confusion and scattering, as all such projects are.
But the Scriptures have a very different vision of globalization. It is not a horizontal, man-centered project, but a vertical, Christ-centered reality. It is not the gathering of rebels at Babel, but the gathering of the redeemed at Zion. The prophet Isaiah, standing in the midst of the turmoil of empires, Assyria and Babylon flexing their muscles, was given a glimpse of this true globalization. He saw past the immediate threat of exile and judgment to the glorious restoration of God's people. But this restoration was not to be a mere return to the status quo. It was to be an explosive, expansive, world-altering event.
The passage before us in Isaiah 14 is a hinge. It follows a blistering oracle against the pagan empire of Babylon, a symbol of all worldly pomp and arrogance. And it pivots to describe the glorious results of God's judgment: the salvation and exaltation of His people. But this is where we must be careful. Our modern sensibilities, soaked as they are in egalitarianism and a therapeutic view of justice, can recoil at what Isaiah says. We read of slaves and captives and dominion, and we get nervous. We are tempted to spiritualize it away into a sentimental mist or dismiss it as some unfortunate remnant of Old Testament tribalism.
But to do so is to miss the muscular, world-conquering nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This passage is not about ethnic Israel exacting carnal revenge on their old enemies. It is a prophecy of the Great Commission. It is a picture of the gospel age, where the true Israel, the Church of Jesus Christ, expands to inherit the nations. It describes a great reversal, where the world's systems of power are overturned by the foolishness of the cross. This is not a vision of retreat, but of glorious, Christ-exalting dominion.
The Text
When Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and put them in their own land, then sojourners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. And the peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of Yahweh for their male and female slaves; and they will take their captors captive and will have dominion over their taskmasters.
(Isaiah 14:1-2 LSB)
Sovereign Compassion and the Ingathering of the Gentiles (v. 1)
We begin with the foundation of it all: the free and sovereign grace of God.
"When Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and put them in their own land, then sojourners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob." (Isaiah 14:1)
Everything begins and ends with the mercy of God. "Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob." The restoration is not based on Israel's merit, for they had none. They were headed for a well-deserved exile. The restoration is grounded entirely in God's covenant faithfulness and His free, uncoerced compassion. He will "again choose Israel." This doesn't mean they were ever "un-chosen," but that God will act publicly and historically to vindicate His choice of them before the watching world.
Now, who is this "Jacob" and "Israel"? In the first instance, it is the physical descendants of the patriarch. There was a historical return from Babylon. But the prophets always saw further than the immediate horizon. The true and ultimate Israel is Jesus Christ Himself. And all who are united to Him by faith, Jew and Gentile, are the true "house of Jacob." As Paul says, "For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel" (Romans 9:6) and "if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise" (Galatians 3:29). The church is not a replacement for Israel; it is the fulfillment of Israel. It is Israel matured, expanded, and glorified in the Messiah.
And what is "their own land"? Again, there was a physical return to Palestine. But the New Testament takes the promise of the land and expands it to its ultimate telos. Abraham was promised the land, but Hebrews tells us he was looking for a heavenly city (Heb. 11:10). Jesus, in the Beatitudes, tells us that the meek will "inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). The land promise was a down payment, a type, a shadow of the glorious inheritance of the entire globe that belongs to King Jesus and His people.
And notice the immediate result of this restoration. "Then sojourners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob." This is remarkable. The restoration of Israel is not an exclusive, ethnic project. It is a magnetic one. The moment God acts in grace to restore His people, the Gentiles, the "sojourners," come streaming in. They are not forced; they "join" and "attach themselves." This is a picture of Gentile conversion. It is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. This is the story of the book of Acts. The gospel goes out from Jerusalem, and thousands upon thousands of Gentiles are grafted into the olive tree, attaching themselves to the true house of Jacob, the church.
The Great Reversal (v. 2)
Verse 2 is where the rubber meets the road, and where our modern assumptions are challenged most directly.
"And the peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of Yahweh for their male and female slaves; and they will take their captors captive and will have dominion over their taskmasters." (Isaiah 14:2 LSB)
First, we see the nations actively helping to build the church. "The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place." This is a picture of the nations facilitating the growth of God's kingdom. Think of King Cyrus of Persia, a pagan king, who not only released the Jews but funded their return and the rebuilding of the temple. This is a principle: when the gospel advances, God can and does use pagan systems and rulers, often unwittingly, to serve His purposes and help build His church.
But then comes the startling language. The house of Israel "will possess them as an inheritance... for their male and female slaves." And they "will take their captors captive and will have dominion over their taskmasters." What on earth are we to make of this? Is this a promise of literal, chattel slavery? Is the kingdom of Christ to be built on the forced servitude of conquered nations? Not at all. To read it that way is to be deaf to the way the New Testament fulfills such prophecies.
This is the language of spiritual conquest. It is a glorious, radical reversal of the world's power structures. The "captors" and "taskmasters" are not primarily the Babylonians, but the spiritual forces that held the nations in bondage: sin, Satan, and death. The "dominion" is not political coercion, but the liberating rule of King Jesus. When the gospel comes to a pagan people, they are taken captive. But they are not taken captive by force of arms. They are taken captive by the love of God. Their wills are conquered, their hearts are subdued, and they joyfully become "slaves of Christ."
Paul uses this very language. He speaks of "taking every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). He calls himself a "bondservant of Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:1). To be a slave of Christ is the only true freedom. To be possessed by Him as His "inheritance" is the greatest honor. The Gentiles who come into the church are not being oppressed; they are being liberated from the cruelest taskmasters. They joyfully surrender their autonomy and enlist in the service of the King. This is the great paradox of the gospel: in surrender, we find dominion. In slavery to Christ, we become kings.
And so the church, the true Israel, takes its former captors captive. The philosophies of Greece, which held men in intellectual bondage, were taken captive by the apostles and made to serve Christ. The military might of Rome, which crucified our Lord, was itself captured by the faith it sought to destroy, and the cross was eventually placed on its banners. This is the pattern of the kingdom. The gospel does not destroy cultures; it captures and redeems them. It asserts its dominion over every area of life, over art, science, politics, and law. The taskmasters of paganism are overthrown, and the lordship of Jesus Christ is established in their place.
Conclusion: The Victorious Church
This passage from Isaiah is a potent antidote to the defeatist, pessimistic eschatology that has infected so much of the modern church. We have been taught to think of the church as a beleaguered minority, holding on for dear life until the secret rapture whisks us away from a world gone to pot. But that is not the vision of the prophet Isaiah, and it is not the vision of the New Testament.
The vision is one of victory. It is a vision of inexorable, worldwide growth. It is a vision of the nations flowing into the City of God, of kings bringing their glory into it. It is a vision of the meek inheriting the earth. The Great Commission given by our Lord Jesus was not a suggestion or a forlorn hope. It was a command based on a statement of fact: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matthew 28:18). Because He has all authority, we are to go and make disciples of the nations.
The process Isaiah describes is happening now. By the preaching of the gospel, the true Israel is possessing the nations. Former slaves to sin are becoming willing bondservants of the King. The taskmasters of secularism, materialism, and paganism are being exposed and overthrown in the hearts of men and women. We are taking our captors captive. This is a slow, generational work. It is often a work of plowing and planting in tears. But the harvest is certain, because Yahweh has purposed it. He will have compassion on His people. He will vindicate His choice. And He will give the nations to His Son as an inheritance.
Therefore, we should not be discouraged by the morning headlines. The empires of men are temporary scaffolding. Babylon will always fall. But the house of Jacob, the church of the living God, will inherit the earth. Our task is to be faithful in our place, proclaiming the crown rights of King Jesus, and joyfully participating in this great, glorious, and final reversal.