The Dead Shall Live!

Isaiah 26:13 - 27:1

13 O LORD our God, masters besides You
Have had dominion over us;
But by You only we make mention of Your name.

14 They are dead, they will not live;
They are deceased, they will not rise.
Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,
And made all their memory to perish.

15 You have increased the nation, O LORD,
You have increased the nation;
You are glorified;
You have expanded all the borders of the land.

16 LORD, in trouble they have visited You,
They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.
17 As a woman with child
Is in pain and cries out in her pangs,
When she draws near the time of her delivery,
So have we been in Your sight, O LORD.

18 We have been with child, we have been in pain;
We have, as it were, brought forth wind;
We have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth,
Nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

19 Your dead shall live;
Together with my dead body they shall arise.
Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust;
For your dew is like the dew of herbs,
And the earth shall cast out the dead.

20 Come, my people, enter your chambers,
And shut your doors behind you;
Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment,
Until the indignation is past.

21 For behold, the LORD comes out of His place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
The earth will also disclose her blood,
And will no more cover her slain.

7:1 In that day the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong,
Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
Leviathan that twisted serpent;
And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.

The messages here to Israel and to us all as God’s people is to take refuge from the coming judgment because the dead shall live.  They will arise from death and the dust of the earth as it gives up the dead, and we will awake and sing.  This is a clear picture of the resurrection to come which was veiled in a prophetic hope to Israel for deliverance from their enemies.  It is salvation from more than just the enemies of this life for it includes the enemy of death from our soul’s disease of sin which we are all born with.  That was why Israel tried and failed to follow God’s law over and over, for their nature prevented lasting righteousness as we all do in unregenerate form.  The passage here had begun with those who had subjected the people of the Lord while they still owed allegiance to their true Lord alone.  God therefore multiplied them among those nations to glorify Himself in that grace for their sakes even while they disobeyed and walked away time after time until the prophets called them to accountability and forgiveness before certain judgment came on them.  It became a fear driven warning message.  When the people were in trouble from the oppressors they prayed as they were disciplined for their sin.  Like a woman in childbirth they gave birth, but it was only emptiness instead of fruitfulness.  In all this they were not delivered by their labors nor did they defeat their enemies oppressing them.  The message of grace was their hope; they were told that their dead would live in a resurrection from the dust of death to sing thanksgiving and praise to their Lord who frees from the oppressor.  This picture of the final resurrection gives us hope that our adversary and death itself will be defeated by His labor on the cross as never was possible in our own efforts to attain righteousness.  He has provided atonement through certain justification of all who trust in His work alone and not their own (John 6:28-29), having entered His rest from their labors (Hebrews 4:3, 9-10, Revelation 14:13).  Yes, the people were told to take shelter until the LORD comes out of His place to do all these things to bring the punishment for sin and to enact judgment for it with severity of His wrath on it and them.  Like the twisted serpent of old (Revelation 12:9) who tries to flee, he also will be punished forever for all to see in that lake of fire (Revelation 20:2, 10).  For us this is great news and assurance that the dead will live again in and with Christ forever because we trusted His labor over ours and His righteousness instead of our own unobtainable righteousness outside of Him.  Praise Him as the earth casts us out of the dust of death into eternal life in His presence at last!  The dead shall truly live; that is our certain hope in the face of our deserved judgment and evidence of His merciful grace in Christ because He died and rose again as our forerunner (Hebrews 6:19-20).  Amen.