Isaiah 33:10

The Bible says in Isaiah 33:10-17, “Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. 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? 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; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” This passage of scripture starts with the word “now.” Of course, “now” is a word that designates time. When will God move, when will He fulfill His promises, and when will He bring His judgment? These things will happen when God says that “now” is the time. That is exactly what happened when Christ came to the earth the first time. It says in Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

Once God decides to bring His judgment, the results are not good for those who are the objects of His judgment. They “conceive chaff” and “bring forth stubble.” Fire and burnings are mentioned. That is what happens to chaff and to stubble. It is gathered up and burned. Therefore, it is symbolic of the most serious of all judgments: eternal damnation. That is why Isaiah spoke of “everlasting burnings” in Isaiah 33:14.

Even when judgment comes, there is always the possibility for individuals to turn to the Lord and serve Him and to receive all the blessings that will follow in serving Him. Isaiah spoke of “He that walketh righteously” in Isaiah 33:15. And then Isaiah gave several important details about the person who “walketh righteously.” This is a verse that teaches that a believer should make an effort to speak no evil, hear no evil, and see no evil. The person that walks righteously “speaketh uprightly.” He also “stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood,” and “shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.” The truth is that the Lord wants His servants to strive to be holy in every aspect of life. That is why it says in First Corinthians 3:16-17, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” The part that says “shutteth his eyes from seeing evil” is important to remember in the age in which we live because of the tremendous amount of immorality and nudity that can be seen with just a click of the mouse on the internet. A believer must remember that he that walketh righteously “shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.” You are not walking righteously unless you are making a genuine effort to shut your eyes from seeing evil. It is important to remember that what we say, what we hear, and what we see all have a lot to do with whether we are living a righteous life or not.

There is one other truth given in Isaiah 33:15 that describes someone who lives a righteous life. It says that he that walketh righteously “despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes.” There is a right way to gain material possessions, and there is a wrong way. God’s way is to work for them. It says in Proverbs 24:30-34, “I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.” And in the New Testament it says in Second Thessalonians 3:10-12, “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 33:18, “Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?” The Apostle Paul asked some very similar questions and expanded upon them when he wrote in First Corinthians 1:19-23, “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness.” For many people in this world, there is nothing more important than human wisdom. But there is a big difference between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world. Both Isaiah and Paul asked the question, “Where is the scribe?” And they asked other questions to make the point that those who learn and study in this world without also learning about God, have missed the most important truth of all, and they fall short of the greatest wisdom. Jesus Christ is wisdom and truth. Jesus Himself said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Be careful what direction you go in life. Make decisions that take you on a path that leads further into the wisdom of God, instead of further into the wisdom of the world.

Isaiah 33:19-24, “Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us. Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” In this passage the Bible returns to the theme of the wonderful future that the Lord has for His people. When the book of Isaiah was written Jerusalem was soon to be attacked and overrun by foreign armies. But the Lord gives a promise in Isaiah 33:19 that the believers do not have to fear such foreign armies. God’s promises are always forward-looking. There may be dark days today, but there are bright days ahead. There are wonderful days ahead in which the “fierce people” will be non-existent. They will not even be present in this future that God has planned for His children. Jerusalem will not be attacked by enemies like it was during the time of Isaiah. Jerusalem will be a “quiet habitation.”

The true worship of God has always been about God Himself: not rituals, not rules, not dogma, and not ceremony. The true believer who is engaged in true worship will be centered on God and who God is. Several important truths are said about the Lord in this passage. Verse 22 of Isaiah 33 is the key verse. It says, “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.” The Lord is our judge. That can be troubling, but it can also be comforting. It can be troubling because He knows everything about us; and we are not perfect. We make mistakes, and He is the judge of those things. It can be comforting because He is the judge of others also; and He has His ways of making sure that things come out right. He definitely will make sure that things come out right because He is the Judge. If you are going to live by faith, then you must believe that. The Bible says in Romans 12:9, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

According to Isaiah 33:22, God is our judge, and He is also our “lawgiver.” The word that is translated “lawgiver” comes from a word that means literally “to engrave” or “to inscribe.” In other words it refers to writing something down. Therefore, it is not only talking about the “law.” It is talking about all of the precepts that God has given to the human race. That is the important point: the fact that God has given to people His will and His way, and God has ordained that these things be written down for us. We call these writings the Bible. No one should be without understanding. No one should be in the dark. God has given to us the information that He wants us to know. Of course, when He does judge us, it will be according to His standards. Therefore, it is in our interest to know what He has caused to be written down.

God is our judge, He is our lawgiver, and He is our “king.” Of course, if He is our king, then that means that we are His servants. Everyone serves someone or something. Jesus said in Luke 16:13, “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Jesus is called the King of kings. Since He is our King, then that means that He has power over all. He has the authority to back up what He says to us. What He says will happen, will happen. That is one of the reasons that we should pay attention to Him as lawgiver. The things that He caused to be written down for us must be given attention to. His Word will not pass away. It will be fulfilled because He is King. Jesus said in Luke 21:33, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”

Isaiah 33:22 tells us three things about Jesus: He is our judge, our lawgiver, and our king; and it also tells us what He will do for us. It says, “he will save us.” Of course, that implies that we need to be saved. We need to be saved because we have enemies, and we need to be saved from those who attack us. The Israelites were being attacked, and God wanted them to remember that He was there for them. They did not have to fear. They only needed to trust in Him. There is a spiritual lesson to learn from this incident in the Old Testament. The enemies that we have are spiritual enemies. We have battles to fight: spiritual battles. Our battles are not with people: not really. The situation that we face is explained for us very clearly in Ephesians 6:10-18. It says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”

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