Isaiah 28:11

The Bible says in Isaiah 28:11-13, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.” Isaiah 28:11 is a prophetic reference to what happened on the day of Pentecost when people in Jerusalem heard the gospel of Christ pronounced in their native languages instead of the Jewish language. The implication is that the Jewish people would become so evil that God would not speak to them in their own language the first time they heard the gospel after the resurrection of Christ. This shows us that God is very displeased with sin, and that God will wait hundreds of years to bring a consequence to sin in just the right way and at just the right time in order to satisfy His righteous justice. The Bible says in Acts 2:4-6, “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.”

Notice carefully what happens to those who do not take in the Word of God and who do not study it in the way that it has been prescribed: “precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line.” It says in Isaiah 28:13 that they will “fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.” Spiritually speaking, everyone is moving in one direction or the other. You are either growing and moving forward, or you are moving backwards. You are either walking with the Lord and getting closer to Him, or you are walking away from Him and getting further away from Him. If you stay in the Word of God, it will keep you straight. The Word of God is spiritual food. If you do not stay in the Word of God and study it properly, then you will be “broken, and snared, and taken.” Many are weak and sickly spiritually speaking, and many have died before their time because they did not heed this warning. Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 28:14-16, “Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” God has a plan. Nothing and no one will keep the Almighty from fulfilling that plan. God made a promise to Abraham about the nation of Israel, and God will keep that promise. At this point in the book of Isaiah we see that absolutely no human being was capable of taking part in God’s plan. But that is okay, because God is quite capable of raising someone else up even when it appears that nothing good could possibly take place. That is one reason why there is a Messiah. No one else is qualified to do what needs to be done. The New Testament says in Ephesians 2:20, “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.”

Notice the difference between these men in Jerusalem and the Lord Jesus Christ. The men in Jerusalem during the time of Isaiah were “scornful men.” They had “made a covenant with death,” and they were known for their “falsehood.” Instead of being scornful, Jesus is loving and forgiving. Instead of being known for falsehood, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Instead of making a covenant with death, Jesus will make a covenant with you of life: eternal life.

God said in Isaiah 28:16, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.” In difficult times, you need a solid foundation. Jesus can be that foundation for you. Notice what the Old Testament says in Isaiah 28:16 on how Jesus becomes your own personal foundation. It says, “he that believeth.” That is the same requirement and the same message that the New Testament gives: to believe. It says in Acts 16:31, “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” And it says in Romans 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 28:17-29, “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth. Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground? When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and rie in their place? For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” This passage of scripture tells us several things about God’s judgment. First it tells us that judgment will come. It might seem to delay, but it will come. The second truth that this passage tells us is that God’s judgment will be painful in some way. God can bring a judgment that will destroy, or He can bring a judgment that will cause much discomfort. It just depends upon what He chooses to do and why. People will be “trodden down” by God’s judgment. People will be in “vexation” because of His judgment against sin. To be in vexation means to be troubled and distressed.

God knows how to get our attention, and He will get our attention. That is one of the reasons for His judgments. He is trying to teach us something. There is something for us to learn, and this is God’s way of teaching us. The day will come when He will get the attention of the whole world. That is why Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 28:22, “I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.” God has a plan for the entire earth. God has “determined” to do something. The word “consumption” means an end. The Lord Jesus has determined to bring an end to all things as we know them on this earth, and He is going to do it by means of judgment. The judgment is coming. You can read about it in the book of Revelation.

The Bible says in Isaiah 29:1-2, “Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.” The word “Ariel” means literally “lion of God.” It is, of course, a name that God gave to Jerusalem. Jerusalem should have been the city of God on earth, and the greatest of all cities. It was the city “where David dwelt.” And it will be the city where Christ will dwell when He returns to the earth. It should have been a city of strong men and of great men. Instead it had become a city of weak men, and deceitful men, and evil men. Notice that it says about the people of Jerusalem, “let them kill sacrifices.” In other words they were still involved in religious ceremony and religious services, but they did not serve God in their mind, or in their heart. That is the problem that the Pharisees had in the days of Jesus, and it is a problem that many people today have: religious form without the Spirit. Jesus said in Matthew 23:25-28, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 29:3-13, “And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee. And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly. Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion. Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”

As God continues to talk about the judgments that will come upon the people of Israel, it is important to notice that one of the judgments has to do with God taking away the ability of the people to understand truth. It says in Isaiah 29:10-11, “the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed.” Unless God opens our eyes we cannot perceive the truth, and we cannot grasp the fact that Jesus loves us and died for our sins. You cannot read and understand the Bible unless God opens your eyes. It is a spiritual book and can only be understood by the grace of God. Blessed are those who read and understand the words of this book. Cursed are those who do not. The Apostle John wrote in Revelation 1:3, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”

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