It is the Christian’s privilege to know beforehand the things that are coming on the earth, although they do not immediately concern him, because his hopes are heavenly, where judgment—judgments which happen before the establishment of the millennial kingdom—cannot come.
In Isaiah 18 we have in seven verses, a complete history of the events which take place at the time the Jews return to their land in a condition of apostasy. The Lord does not interfere, but allows things to go on apparently prospering. Israel has even the appearance of fruit-bearing in the land of the fathers. However, those nations who had favored their return recommence the old hostility to the Jews, who then become their prey. The Lord then interferes with His might, bringing a remnant of them as a present to Himself—to the place of His name, Mount Zion, which He loves.
13. The prophet pronounces woe upon some great, unnamed nation which lies outside the Euphrates and Nile rivers—the two great boundaries of the land of Israel. This nation, evidently a great maritime power, had engaged in favoring and helping the return of the people of Israel. He then calls all the inhabitants of the world—dwellers upon the earth—to see and hear.
4. The Lord tells the prophet that He will take His rest, not interfering with all that goes on. Man is allowed to run on to the height of his folly, that God may show to him his powerlessness.
5-6. “Afore the harvest” is a figure of separating and gathering the vintage of judgment when the returned Jews seem to be spreading out as a vine in the land, and even appearing to bear fruit—“the sour grape is ripening in the flower.” The vine is an old figure of the nation (Isa. 5; Psa. 80:8-168Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. 9Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. 10The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. 11She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. 12Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? 13The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. 14Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; 15And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. 16It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. (Psalm 80:8‑16)).
Then the old hatred of the nations is turned against Israel and all is destroyed. The emissaries of Satan shall summer upon them, and the nations shall winter upon them. All that appeared so promising is dashed to the ground. This is the time of “Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:77Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:7)).
7. In that time (in this state of things) then “shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts.” This speaks of a remnant of Israel—“scattered and peeled . . . from a people terrible [wonderful] from their beginning hitherto.” The Lord Himself brings to Himself of the residue a present, the spared remnant of His people, to Mount Zion—the place of His rest forever (Psa. 132:13-1413For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. 14This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. (Psalm 132:13‑14)). The nation, having refused nationally the gospel of God’s grace, is saved through the judgments of the Lord, which introduce the kingdom.
The Christian’s hope is but one—the coming of the Lord Jesus to take His people out of the world before these judgments take place. He has promised this, saying, “Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev. 3:1010Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)).
This hour of temptation is detailed in Isaiah 24. It takes place before the Lord of hosts reigns in Mount Zion. Then in Isaiah 25 the remnant of the Jews are delivered, saying, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” Isaiah 26 gives us the song of the delivered remnant, while Isaiah 27 gives us the completing of the work and the gathering of the ten tribes to worship, with their brethren of Judah, the Lord of hosts at Jerusalem in the glory of the millennium.
The Lord’s coming is the hope of the church; His appearing in glory with her after the tribulation, which happens between these events, is the deliverance of the Jews and the introduction of the kingdom.
F. G. Patterson