The Great Reversal: When God Makes the Forest Sing Text: Isaiah 29:17-24
Introduction: The Gospel According to Isaiah
The prophet Isaiah is often called the fifth evangelist, and for good reason. More than any other Old Testament prophet, he sees the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of His kingdom with breathtaking clarity. He speaks of the virgin birth, the suffering servant, and the glorious reign of Christ over the nations. But Isaiah does not present this good news in a vacuum. The gospel he preaches is always set against the backdrop of judgment. Light is most brilliant when it shatters a profound darkness. Hope is most potent when it is announced to the hopeless.
And that is precisely what we have in this chapter. The preceding verses have been a blistering denunciation of the spiritual hypocrisy of Jerusalem. They are a people who draw near to God with their mouths, whose lips honor Him, but whose hearts are far from Him. Their worship is a rote performance, a set of man-made rules. They are spiritually drunk, blind, and deaf, even though they have the very oracles of God in their hands. They are like a man given a sealed book; he cannot read it. God has poured out a spirit of deep sleep upon them. And into this bleak diagnosis, this spiritual stupor, God speaks a promise of a great and total reversal. He is about to do something so astonishing that the wisdom of their wise men will perish.
What we are about to read is a postmillennial vision in miniature. It is a promise that God is not going to abandon His creation to the entropy of sin. He is not going to cede the ground to the scoffers and the ruthless. He is in the business of turning things upside down, or rather, right side up. He turns barren forests into fruitful fields and fruitful fields into glorious forests. He makes the deaf hear and the blind see. He gives joy to the afflicted and shame to the proud. This is not just a far-off, ethereal promise about what happens when you die and go to heaven. This is a promise about what God does in history, on the ground, through the power of the gospel of His Son.
This passage is a portrait of covenant renewal. It describes the radical transformation that occurs when God decides to act, to visit His people, to open their ears, and to give them a heart of flesh. It is a picture of the gospel age, the age in which we are now living. And it is a promise that the work God began at Pentecost will not be thwarted, but will grow and swell until the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.
The Text
Is it not yet just a little while Before Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful orchard, And the fruitful orchard will be counted as a forest? On that day the deaf will hear words of a book, And out of darkness and thick darkness the eyes of the blind will see. The afflicted also will increase their gladness in Yahweh, And the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the ruthless will come to an end and the scoffer will be finished, Indeed all who are watching out to do evil will be cut off; Who cause a person to sin by a word, And ensnare him who reproves at the gate, And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments. Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, and now his face shall not turn pale; But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, They will sanctify My name; Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob And will stand trembling before the God of Israel. Those who err in spirit will know discernment, And those who criticize will gain learning.
(Isaiah 29:17-24 LSB)
Creation Renewed (v. 17)
The prophecy begins with a promise of radical, physical, and spiritual transformation. It is a creation-reversing, or rather, creation-fulfilling promise.
"Is it not yet just a little while Before Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful orchard, And the fruitful orchard will be counted as a forest?" (Isaiah 29:17)
Lebanon was famous for its magnificent, towering cedars. It was a symbol of natural glory, Gentile power, and untamed wildness. A "fruitful orchard," or Carmel in the Hebrew, was a symbol of cultivated blessing, divine favor, and covenant faithfulness. So the first part of the promise is that the Gentile world, symbolized by Lebanon, will be brought into the covenant. It will be cultivated, tamed, and made to bear fruit for God. This is a direct prophecy of the Great Commission, when the gospel would break out of the confines of Israel and go to all nations. The wild forest of the Gentiles will become a garden for God.
But the reversal doesn't stop there. "And the fruitful orchard will be counted as a forest." This means that what was formerly considered the height of blessing, the fruitful orchard of Israel, will seem like a wild forest in comparison to the massive, worldwide harvest that God is going to bring in from the nations. The glory of the New Covenant church will be so immense that it will eclipse the glory of Old Covenant Israel. This isn't to say Israel is cast off, but rather that the vineyard is being expanded to a global scale. The Apostle Paul argues the same thing; the inclusion of the Gentiles is what will ultimately provoke Israel to jealousy and bring about their salvation. The final forest will be a global one, with Jews and Gentiles grafted into the same olive tree.
Spiritual Senses Restored (v. 18)
This transformation of the landscape is a picture of a deeper, spiritual transformation in the hearts of men.
"On that day the deaf will hear words of a book, And out of darkness and thick darkness the eyes of the blind will see." (Isaiah 29:18 LSB)
Remember the context. The leaders of Jerusalem were spiritually deaf and blind. The book of God's law was sealed to them. But "on that day," the great day of gospel visitation, God will perform spiritual surgery. The deaf will hear. What will they hear? "Words of a book." This is the Word of God, the Scriptures, which were previously unintelligible. When the Holy Spirit is poured out, the Bible comes alive. Men who once saw it as a collection of tedious rules or irrelevant stories suddenly hear the voice of their Father in its pages. This is what happened on the road to Emmaus, when Jesus opened the Scriptures to His disciples and their hearts burned within them.
And the blind will see. Their eyes will be opened "out of darkness and thick darkness." This is the darkness of sin, ignorance, and rebellion. The gospel is the light that shines in this darkness. Paul tells us that the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4). Salvation is when God says, "Let there be light" in the human heart. It is a sovereign act of re-creation. Jesus spent a great deal of His earthly ministry physically opening the eyes of the blind, and He did this as a signpost, pointing to His ultimate work of opening our spiritual eyes to see Him as Lord and Savior.
Joy for the Humble, Judgment for the Proud (v. 19-21)
This great reversal has two sides. For the humble and afflicted, it is a day of unimaginable joy. For the proud and ruthless, it is a day of final reckoning.
"The afflicted also will increase their gladness in Yahweh, And the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the ruthless will come to an end and the scoffer will be finished, Indeed all who are watching out to do evil will be cut off;" (Isaiah 29:19-20 LSB)
The gospel is good news to the poor. The afflicted, the humble, the needy, those who know they have nothing to offer God, these are the ones who receive the kingdom. Their gladness will increase. Christian joy is not a fragile, circumstantial happiness. It is a deep, abiding gladness in Yahweh Himself, a joy that grows even in the midst of trial because it is rooted in the finished work of Christ. They rejoice in the "Holy One of Israel," a title for God that emphasizes both His transcendence and His covenant commitment to His people.
But the flip side of this joy is judgment. The coming of the kingdom means the end of the wicked. The "ruthless," the "scoffer," and those who are "watching out to do evil" will be cut off. God's world is a moral world, and He will not tolerate evil indefinitely. The gospel is a declaration of war against all forms of tyranny, mockery, and injustice. The cross is both the ultimate act of mercy and the ultimate act of judgment. In the cross, God's love and His justice meet. For those who bow to the crucified King, it is life. For those who scoff at Him, it is the guarantee of their destruction.
Isaiah then gives three specific examples of the kind of evil that will be judged:
"Who cause a person to sin by a word, And ensnare him who reproves at the gate, And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments." (Isaiah 29:21 LSB)
First, they use words to make people sin. This is the work of the tempter, the slanderer, the flatterer. They twist words to lead others into traps. Second, they target those who stand for righteousness. The "gate" was the place of public judgment and business. The one who "reproves at the gate" is the prophet, the elder, the righteous man who speaks truth to power. The wicked set traps for such men, seeking to discredit them and silence their testimony. Third, they use clever but empty arguments to cheat the righteous out of justice. The Hebrew is literally "turn aside the righteous with tohu," with emptiness. This is the work of corrupt lawyers, postmodern academics, and lying politicians who use sophisticated sophistry to deny objective truth and rob people of their rights. God sees all of it, and He promises that in the day of His kingdom's advance, their game will be up.
A People Sanctified (v. 22-24)
The prophecy concludes with a glorious promise to the house of Jacob, grounded in God's covenant faithfulness to Abraham.
"Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: 'Jacob shall not now be ashamed, and now his face shall not turn pale; But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, They will sanctify My name; Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob And will stand trembling before the God of Israel.'" (Isaiah 29:22-23 LSB)
God's promises are anchored in His past actions. The one "who redeemed Abraham," calling him out of paganism, is the same God who will redeem his descendants. The result of this redemption is the removal of shame. Jacob, representing the people of God, will no longer be ashamed or pale with fear. Why? Because he will see his children, "the work of My hands," in his midst. This is a beautiful picture of the fruitfulness of the covenant. God promises to save our children. They are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. When a father sees his children walking in the truth, it is a profound confirmation of God's covenant faithfulness.
And what is the result of this multi-generational faithfulness? True worship. "They will sanctify My name." To sanctify God's name means to treat it as holy, to set it apart, to honor and revere it above all else. This is the chief end of man: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. This sanctifying of God's name is accompanied by a holy fear: they will "stand trembling before the God of Israel." This is not the cowering fear of a slave before a tyrant, but the awe-filled reverence of a child before a glorious and holy Father. True worship always contains this element of awe.
Finally, the internal transformation is made complete:
"Those who err in spirit will know discernment, And those who criticize will gain learning." (Isaiah 29:24 LSB)
This is the reversal of the spiritual stupor from the beginning of the chapter. Those whose spirits were wandering and confused will be given discernment. They will be able to distinguish truth from error. And those who were murmurers and critics, always complaining against God and His servants, will accept instruction. They will gain learning. This is the fruit of regeneration. The Holy Spirit gives us a new heart and a new mind, a mind that loves the truth and is eager to submit to God's Word. The spiritually dull become sharp, and the rebellious become teachable. This is the educational program of the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion: The Great Reversal is Now
This entire passage is a prophecy of the age of the Holy Spirit, the era inaugurated by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The "little while" Isaiah spoke of has now come. The great reversal has begun. The forest of the Gentile world is being cultivated into a fruitful field for God. The deaf are hearing the words of the book every time the gospel is preached and a heart is opened. The blind are seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The afflicted are finding their deepest joy not in their circumstances, but in their Savior. And the scoffers and the ruthless are being exposed and finished, as the kingdom of God advances like a mustard seed, growing into a great tree. The Lord is building His church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.
This means that we are not to be a people of shame or fear. Jacob's face is not to be pale. We are to be confident, because we see the evidence of God's faithfulness all around us, especially in the salvation of our children. Our task is to live in light of this reality. We are to sanctify His name in our homes, in our work, and in our worship. We are to tremble before Him in joyful awe. We are to grow in discernment and learning, eagerly submitting ourselves to His Word.
The world around us may seem like a dark and chaotic place. The scoffers may appear to be winning. But we have read the end of the book. We have a sure and certain promise from the God who redeemed Abraham. The orchard is becoming a forest. The darkness is giving way to light. The afflicted will rejoice. And the Holy One of Israel will be glorified. Therefore, let us live as children of the day, with our faces set, full of joy and holy fear, knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.