Charles Dickens begins his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, writing, “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” Interestingly, that title and those opening words would be fitting for our text this morning. For what you have in Isaiah 24-27 is a vision of two cities. And for one it is indeed the best of times, and for the other it is the worst of times. One of the cities is being constructed, a glorious city with a grand mountain in its midst, with many inhabitants flowing to it. The other city is a city that is now being destroyed, its inhabitants judged and fleeing from it. In sum, you have simultaneously in this text building up and destruction, a glorious picture and one of ruin, a city of honor and a city of dishonor.

We see this throughout the text. Concerning this city that is being destroyed Isaiah makes several references. As a sampling, we read the following: “The wasted city is broken down; every house is shut up so that none can enter” (24:10), “For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the foreigner’s palace is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt” (25:2), “For [the LORD God] has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust” (26:5), and “For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness” (27:10). At the same time, however, these chapters are filled with visions of this glorious city, Jerusalem, where stands the glorious Mount Zion. And these are in contrast to this first city. Whereas the first city will be destroyed and forsaken, this city will have the Lord as its King and many flocking to it. It will be a place of blessing. Of this, Isaiah writes: “Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders” (24:23), “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined” (25:6-7), “For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain” (25:10), “And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem” (27:13). Therefore, we see this contrasting pictures of each city.

But what does this mean? Why is Isaiah giving this picture? Why are these drastic pictures given side-by-side? There are really two things we need to understand. The first of these things is the nature of salvation. The fact that such a picture is rare or odd to us is probably because we have not rightly understood how salvation is pictured in the Scripture. Throughout the Bible, salvation is pictured as an act of war. It is pictured as the conquering of an enemy and the deliverance of God’s people. Therefore, in Genesis 3:15 (the first pronouncement of the gospel) what we actually have is a threat to the serpent. Also, as we look at the exodus (this example and picture of redemption throughout Scripture) we see these two elements of God’s people being delivered and God’s enemies being crushed. This is then ultimately seen in the cross and the return of Christ. At the cross, Jesus crushes the head of the serpent and ultimately death itself will be defeated for good as Jesus returns and his people are raised from the dead. Therefore, the fact that this text has both good for one people while another is being crushed should not appear odd to us but rather affirm that this is a picture of coming salvation.

The second thing that will help us understand this picture which Isaiah gives us is an understanding that judgment typically precedes salvation in the Scripture. Thus, it is not uncommon to see that judgment has fallen and now God is bringing about the salvation of his people through that judgment. We see this even with Israel. Often in the Scripture judgment falls on the land and even God’s people are scattered, like sheep run when there is no shepherd. However, this imagery is then taken up as God pronounces that he will come as a good shepherd and gather his scattered people. Therefore, very similar to what we have said before, Scripture will often picture salvation coming in the very midst of judgment, as God’s people are saved from the present judgment, which again is seen in the exodus as God’s people in the midst of falling judgment and are delivered from it.

When we come to these chapters in Isaiah, then, we should easily understand that his pictures of coming salvation will be amidst pictures of judgment and destruction as well, that there will be conquering of God’s enemies alongside the deliverance of God’s people, and that the salvation is pictured in quite violent terms. That indeed is what we see in this chapter: judgment is falling on a city and destroying it (a city that was against God and his people), and simultaneously God is constructing a city in the midst of that judgment so that his people might dwell secure.

But what exact elements does Isaiah give us in this picture of coming judgment and salvation? First, we see some elements from these chapters that I want to point out generally. Then, however, I want to come back to these points and show what Christ has done in order to bring about (or begin) their fulfillment so that then we might see how these things apply to us. Thus, we see the following elements in Isaiah’s continuing vision of this coming work of deliverance.

First, we see that all of God’s enemies will be judged by the Lord even though now everything might appear fine for them (24:1-12, 16b-20; 27:1)

In the first twelve verses of chapter twenty-four, we see a picture of judgment for the whole earth, this city which is broken down. In 24:1-3 Isaiah declares that the Lord will “empty the earth,” scattering its inhabitants (24:1) and that it shall be “utterly empty and utterly plundered” (24:3). Why? The answer is that judgment comes because of the sin of mankind, sin which has caused the entire earth to be under a curse. Man has broken all of God’s laws, statutes, and covenants, and therefore judgment is sure. Isaiah declares: “The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left” (24:5-6).

Therefore, verses 7-12 paint a picture of a city that has been joyous, drinking and being merry, now finding themselves in a city that is broken down, with every house shut up (24:10), a city where there is no wine and only darkness (24:11), a city where everything has become utterly desolate (24:12). And finally, in verses 16b-20, we have further description of this judged city, the judged earth, as Isaiah ends writing, “The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again” (24:20).

Clearly, as we saw last week, there is coming a day, Isaiah tells his hearers when the Lord is coming to judge his enemies. All who have stood against him will know their judgment, for his wrath will be relentless.

But mankind in their unrepentant sin are not the only enemy mentioned who will be judged in this text. Isaiah mentions another, an enemy with which we should be very familiar by this point in the Scripture. Isaiah writes in 27:1, “In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.”

In God’s coming judgment, his enemies who will be judged also include the serpent, whom we see in the garden, the one who is called the god of this age, the one who is called the prince of the power of the air. He will be judged.

Thus, the coming picture of salvation will include a judgment of God’s enemies, including the serpent whose head was to be crushed.

Second, we see that though judgment will come, God will fulfill his purposes as he will fill the earth with fruit and will gather for himself a people from all over the face of the earth (24:13-16a; 27:2-13)

After this judgment of the serpent in Isaiah 27:1, we immediately get a picture of salvation. Isaiah writes in 27:2-3, “In that day, a pleasant vineyard, sing of it! I, the LORD, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day; I have no wrath.” Then in verse 6 he writes, “In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.” So what is this imagery of fruit have to do with salvation or God’s purpose and plan?

The answer to this question goes all the way back to the beginning, for it is a reference to the reversal of the fall and the fulfillment of God’s purposes for creation. The command that Adam and Eve received in the garden was, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). They were to expand the garden over the whole earth as a beautiful fruitful world, and yet they sinned and failed so that even the earth itself was cursed. Then, after the judgment of the flood, God’s first command to Noah in Genesis 9:1 was, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” And yet Noah as well shows his shortcoming in bringing forth God’s plan as he is soon drunk. Then, God selects a people from the earth, Israel, who is his chosen vine. They too are to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and yet they too fail. We can read of Israel as a vine failing to produce fruit in Ezekiel 19, but we have also read of it recently even from Isaiah 5. Israel has failed in this command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. As Isaiah sees things, the earth is not filled with fruit but cursed and dry and dead. But God’s purposes are not cast aside. Isaiah points out in 27:7-9 that God has not completely judged his people as he has others and that he will atone for their sins. He has purposes to fulfill through his people.

Therefore, he can say that there is a day coming when Jacob will take fruit and fill the earth with fruit. But how will this happen? Isaiah doesn’t make this exactly clear, and it remains a mystery until we turn to the New Testament, which we will look at shortly.

But, let it suffice to say that God’s purpose in Eden of filling the earth with fruit will be fulfilled, the curse will be reversed and the earth and its inhabitants who belong to the Lord will be made glorious. Therefore, as Isaiah declares this picture of the reversal of the curse and filling of the earth with fruit, he also pictures the Lord gathering for himself a people from all over the earth. Thus, we read in 27:13, “And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.” Also, we read in 24:13-16a, “For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done. They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west. Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One.”

Therefore, amidst this scene of judgment, God is filling the earth with fruit and gathering for himself his people from all over the face of the earth.

We then also see that God will come and reign as King over all the earth (24:21-23; 26:7-21)

In 24:21-23, Isaiah speaks of the Lord coming and punishing the kings of the earth and the host of heaven, and he concludes with verse 23 writing, “Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.”

In addition, Isaiah writes in 26:7-21 of God’s people waiting for him, crying out for his deliverance and justice, waiting for him to give life to their dead bodies, and God coming. He writes in 26:20-21, “Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.”

God is coming to judge, but he will hide his people so that then he might gather them to himself in this new city and reign with them as their King.

Finally, reigning as King, our Lord will satisfy those who have waited for salvation from him (25:1-12; 26:1-6)

Isaiah gives us a glorious picture of God’s people with their reigning King as he writes in 25:6-9, “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

And there is another glorious picture of this strong city in 26:1-6 as we read, “In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy."

Therefore, Isaiah gives us this picture of the destruction and judgment of the earth, pictured in one city being crushed, and he gives us this other glorious picture of the world, pictured in another city, where the curse is reversed, the world is filled with fruit, God reigns as King, and he has gathered a people from all over the earth who are satisfied in him, knowing the fullness of their salvation.

But does this declaration of coming judgment and salvation simply impact in that we now have a vision of what’s coming, even if we can’t figure out just how? How does Isaiah’s teaching have any impact on us. Well, the answer to this is in seeing something that wasn’t clearly seen in Isaiah’s day and is more clearly seen in ours, namely, that God has already begun fulfilling these declarations from Isaiah’s mouth in and through his Son, Jesus Christ. The future has invaded the present, if you will. What will one day be has already begun as Jesus has come to the earth, lived, died, risen, and ascended back to be with his Father.

Let us then see how these things have already begun to take place.

First, the judgment of God’s enemies, especially the serpent of old has been dealt a fatal blow at the cross

Yes, Satan, sin, and death are still around, and we know their impact greatly, but they exist having already been dealt a fatal wound at the cross. In Hebrews 2:14-15 we read, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” God’s enemies’ judgment is not final, but it is sure because of what Jesus has done at the cross.

Second, from John 15 we see that Jesus is the true vine who is right now filling the earth with fruit so that he might gather a people for himself from all over the face of the earth

As Jesus came to the earth, he was to make certain that God’s purpose would not fail. God’s people would be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. How can he ensure this, however? He announces in John 15, “I am the true vine.” He, Jesus, will be the one to make sure that the earth is filled with fruit and that God has a people from all over the face of the earth. Where Adam, Noah, and Israel failed, Jesus will succeed. In fact, when Jesus prays in John 17, in essence, he is saying to his Father, “I have been fruitful and multiplied” and when he commands his disciples in Matthew 28:18-20 to make disciples of all the nations he is now issuing the command again to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with fruit. That is to say, enable men to be connected to the true vine, in whom they may have life and through whom they might evidence life in showing fruit.

In short, Jesus has made certain God’s redemptive plan, and we are the firstfruits of his work in reversing and curse and brining about a new creation, for we ourselves who are in Christ are new creations. And we are charged by the risen King to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth as we are charged to make disciples of all the nations.

Also, though we do not yet see the full effects of his reign, Christ is right now reigning as King

This is made clear after his resurrection. God has raised him and made him both Lord and Christ is Peter’s declaration. This is why Jesus can say in Matthew 28:18 that all authority had been given to him – God had vindicated him as the King of the earth. Right now, though he will come and reign in a much more obvious manner, Christ is reigning as King even as we go forth with commands from our King to assault death and hell and bring life to those held captive by sin and death.

And, right now, though not fully, we know the blessings of our salvation

Right now we can know what it is not to be dead in sin and held by Satan’s sway. We know what it is to worship our Lord and walk as his people. One day we will know this much more, but we know it now, for he is our king and we are his people.

When William and I traveled through Europe some years ago we spent some time in Rome. I got my wallet stolen, we ate at McDonald’s every day, and we had to fight off people at times pleading for money. Overall, it was a fine trip. One interesting aspect, however, was that you could see ancient Rome and modern Rome in the same place. As you walked over to the sidewalk, you could look down and see the ruins of a city that was (and still is) and yet a new city that is being built. That is much like this text. In Isaiah 24-27 we have a vision of two cities – one being destroyed and one established. It pictures, I think, what has begun in Christ. In the midst of this cursed creation, our Lord has begun a new creation, making all things new and cleansing them, filling the earth with fruit, much like the Garden of Eden. And, odd as it may seem, we are the firstfruits of this new creation, having already tasted our coming salvation and being called new creatures. Therefore, my charge to us this morning is twofold: 1) let us marvel at the redemptive work of God in Jesus Christ, and 2) let us be committed to fulfilling the task our risen King has given us – be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with his disciples that he might one day come and gather his people from all over the face of the earth that we might dwell with him forever. Amen.

DESTRUCTION, DELIVERANCE, AND TWO CITIES