Isaiah 32:1

Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. (Isaiah 32:1-4)

When the King comes to reign in righteousness, He will be our shelter, our shade, and our living water—but first He calls a complacent people to repent.

A King Who Reigns in Righteousness

"Behold," Isaiah says, "a king shall reign in righteousness." As always, commentators debate who the prophet has in mind. Some see King Hezekiah; others see his great-grandson Josiah. But when I read of a king who reigns in righteousness, my mind goes immediately to the ultimate fulfillment—to Jesus. He is truly the King who would come and reign in righteousness. This was written some 700 years before Jesus came in His first coming, but it also looks forward to His second coming, when He returns as King to establish His kingdom.

We have already seen this idea elsewhere in Isaiah. Isaiah 9:6-7 declares that a child is born and a son is given, with the government upon His shoulder, and "of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end... to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice." When Jesus comes, He will rule and reign with righteousness and judgment.

Isaiah 11:3-5 adds that God will make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and "he shall not judge after the sight of the eyes, neither after the hearing of the ears, but with righteousness shall he judge the poor." He will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth—something we recognize has not yet come to pass. One day He will come to establish His reign of righteousness.

A Just King and Righteous Princes

King David recognized the importance of a righteous ruler. In 2 Samuel 23:3 he wrote, "He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God." And Abraham, before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, asked in Genesis 18, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

Verse 1 also says His princes shall rule in judgment. The word "princes" could be translated rulers, generals, or governors—not the king's offspring, but his administration. Even the greatest earthly kings have had wicked governors beneath them, but not so with the King of kings. Those who rule and reign with Him will reign in righteousness right alongside Him. There will be no ragtag band of wicked governors executing vigilante justice as we so often see in our own day.

I'm looking forward to that day, because there has never been such a reign upon the earth. Men have tried to rule well, but always there is some discrepancy in their character, because man at heart is wicked. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart of man is desperately wicked. Who can know it?"

Ambassadors Called to Walk Justly

We who follow Jesus belong to another kingdom; our citizenship is in heaven. As Paul says, we are ambassadors of Christ here and now, representatives of the King and His kingdom. Therefore we ought to live in line with His reign. Since He will rule in righteousness, you and I ought to live justly now.

Peter calls us "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood," God's peculiar people (1 Peter 2:9)—and if you doubt you are peculiar, just look in the mirror. We are called to "show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light." Micah 6:8 says, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good... but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." People often soften it to "love justice," and while that is true, even more we are to do justly—to walk in the right way.

We cannot do this in our own strength. Have you ever tried to fulfill God's will on your own? It is exhausting. But God gives us a new heart. Ezekiel speaks of a heart of flesh replacing our heart of stone—that born-again experience. When we are born again, we have a desire to obey God, and we fulfill it as He works in us to will and to do His good pleasure, being sanctified more and more into His image.

A Shelter, a Shade, and a River

When the Lord establishes His kingdom, He will be "a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest." The Lord is our refuge, the one we run to for shelter. Isaiah has already shown this. In Isaiah 8:14, the Messiah is "for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and... a rock of offence" to those who rebel. To the rebellious, God was a stumbling stone; to the remnant who drew near, He was their sanctuary.

Isaiah 17:10 rebukes Israel for forgetting "the God of thy salvation," "the rock of thy strength." Isaiah 26:4 says, "Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength." And Isaiah 28:16 declares, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone... a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." Those who put their confidence in the Lord will not be ashamed.

It is believed that Psalm 46 was written in this very period: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." What an important reminder that God is the one in whom we seek refuge.

He is also our shade. Verse 2 calls Him "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." When Israel wandered forty years in the wilderness, God led them with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day, and that cloud was a shade in the desert.

And He is our refreshing river—"as rivers of water in a dry place." At the Feast of Tabernacles, for seven days the priests carried water from the Pool of Siloam up to the Temple Mount and poured it out while the people rejoiced. But on the great last day, they went down silently and brought the pitchers back empty, turning them over so no water came out—a sign that God had provided water from the rock in the wilderness, but it ceased in the Promised Land. It also pointed forward to Jesus. In John 7:37, on that great solemn day, when no water poured out, a rabbi from Galilee stood and cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink... out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Jesus is our shelter from the storm, our shade from the sun, and our refreshing river.

Opened Eyes and Exposed Hypocrisy

When this King comes, "the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge." Remember Isaiah's commission in Isaiah 6:9-10: his message would harden hearts, close ears, and shut eyes, preparing Israel for judgment. Isaiah's ministry ultimately prepared them for the One who was to come.

When Jesus came the first time, He fulfilled Isaiah 61, opening blind eyes and setting captives free. He literally healed blind men. In John 9 He opened the eyes of a man born blind, yet the spiritual eyes of the Pharisees were revealed to be blind. Israel has remained blinded for some 2,000 years, and their eyes will not be opened until Jesus returns. Zechariah 14 says they will "look on him whom they have pierced," see His wounds, and their eyes will be opened—much as Saul of Tarsus had scales fall from his eyes and could see Jesus as the Messiah. Today a small remnant of messianic believers see Him, but the nation remains blinded until the Lord returns.

Verse 5 says, "The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful." When the King reigns, the wicked will be seen for what they are. The "churl" is the self-serving scoundrel who uses his position for personal profit. In Isaiah's day, just as in ours, the common people admired the rich and famous—celebrities who deserved no respect except their wealth and influence, with no good character, no righteousness, no justice. In the coming kingdom, the wealthy will no longer be called generous and noble. Everyone will recognize an evil man when they see him. Hypocrites will not be able to hide behind their hypocrisy any longer. There will be no hidden motives—all will be exposed when the King of kings reigns in righteousness.

A Word to the Women at Ease

Verses 7-8 expose the schemes of the self-serving who destroy the poor with lying words. Then verse 9 turns to the complacent: "Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters." These women were introduced back in Isaiah 3:16-26, where the daughters of Zion "walk... with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes," adorned with pendants, bracelets, scarves, headdresses, and sashes, focused entirely on enticing men. God promised to replace their finery with sackcloth, their sashes with rope, their sweet perfume with a stench. They were not focused on the Lord, nor on the inward beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, but only on their looks.

A modern example is the entertainment our nation calls The Real Housewives of fill-in-the-blank—New York, New Jersey, Orange County. They are the epitome of the women at ease in Isaiah's day, and God speaks against them: judgment is coming. The land would be forsaken, the pleasant fields and fruitful vines would languish, because these people set themselves in ease and arrogance against the Lord.

A Year and Some Days

The better translation of verse 10 is "in a year and some days ye shall be troubled." This prophecy was likely spoken just a year before the Assyrian judgment of 701 B.C. Hezekiah was king, and the Assyrians under Sennacherib had already destroyed the northern ten tribes and were preparing to come down into Judah. They came not merely because Sennacherib wanted land, but because God had set out to judge Judah and Jerusalem, using an earthly army to do it—as we saw in Isaiah 10, where Assyria is "the rod of mine anger."

So what does the Lord call them to do? Verse 11: "Tremble, ye women that are at ease... strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins." In a word, repent. Sackcloth was worn in grief and in repentance. Remember Jonah, that unwilling prophet, finally sent to Nineveh—capital of the Assyrians—with a short message: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." The whole city repented, from the king down to the livestock, wearing sackcloth, and the Lord relented for a time. Their repentance was visible. So here God says to the women at ease: turn back to the Lord, and surely He would protect you.

James says the same to the rich: "Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep... Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up" (James 4:9-10), and "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you" (James 5:1).

Judgment for a Nation at Ease

I think the correlation to our own nation is clear. We are a people at ease, entertained by the women at ease, with a false sense of security—and in a moment the Lord could judge us as He judged Jerusalem 2,700 years ago. That is not a popular message; it wasn't when Isaiah spoke it either. They rebuked, mocked, and dismissed him, yet the judgment came.

As we look at America, we are already beginning to experience the removal of God's protection and blessing. Yes, there is still blessing here and there, and I believe that has to do with the remnant of God's people who remain. But as Billy Graham said years ago, if God does not judge the United States of America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet 2 Chronicles 7:14 promises: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven... and will heal their land."

Until the Spirit Is Poured Out

Verse 13 describes a forsaken land filled with thorns and briars, but verse 15 marks the turning point: "until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field." Until the Lord intervenes by His Spirit, there would be barrenness and judgment; then it would be turned to abundant fruitfulness, and "judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field."

This has a physical aspect—Judah carried off by Babylon, the land lying overgrown and destroyed for some 1,900 years after A.D. 70 and 120, until Israel returned in the last century to a land now flourishing. But ultimately it speaks of a spiritual restoration, because verse 16 names judgment and righteousness filling the land. Today Israel is physically fruitful, but not in righteousness and judgment. The Lord will one day establish His kingdom with justice—the very thing He sought and did not find. In Isaiah 5:7 He "looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry." Isaiah 1:21 mourns, "How is the faithful city become an harlot!" Yet "Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness."

The Peace of the Prince of Peace

Verse 17 says, "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." Interestingly, the Hebrew word for "quietness" is the same as for the women "at ease." They had a false peace established in the flesh, but it would be undone by judgment. True peace is found only in the Prince of Peace.

Even now men cry "peace, peace" where there is no peace. In high school I watched the 1993 accords with Rabin and Arafat—did it last? No. Go back to the Camp David Accords under Carter—did they last? Clearly not. There is a push today by the United Nations and our own president for peace in the Middle East. They may sign papers, but it will not last until the Prince of Peace comes and establishes peace forever.

Woe to the Oppressor

Chapter 33 opens, "Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee!" This is the judgment upon the oppressor—the Assyrians. As with Habakkuk, who protested that the Babylonians were more wicked than Judah, God answers: once I am done judging you by them, I will judge them too. So God used Assyria to judge Judah, then judged Assyria. As Galatians 6:7 says, "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

Then God is gracious to His people: "O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble" (33:2). In the midst of judgment He was still gracious, because His punishment was for purification, not destruction. Had He wanted to wipe them out, He would have done to them what He did to Sodom and Gomorrah. They had backslidden, hardened their hearts, stiffened their necks; so He disciplined them, but graciously. As Isaiah 30:18 says, "The LORD will wait, that he may be gracious unto you... blessed are all they that wait for him."

The Assyrian Onslaught and the Last Stronghold

Verses 7-9 describe valiant ones crying, ambassadors of peace weeping bitterly, highways lying waste, and the land mourning—Lebanon ashamed, Sharon a wilderness, Bashan and Carmel shaking off their fruits. Through the reigns of four Assyrian kings—Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon, and Sennacherib among them—they rampaged through the known world, finally coming down into Judah and nearly destroying it.

We read of this in the Taylor Prism, now in the British Museum, where Sennacherib's annals record: "Because Hezekiah king of Judah would not submit to my yoke, I came up against him, and by force of arms and by the might of my power I took 46 of his strong fenced cities... and carried away 200,156 persons, old and young, male and female, together with their horses, donkeys, camels, oxen and sheep, a countless multitude." Forty-six walled cities fell; only one stronghold remained—Jerusalem.

Imagine living in Jerusalem then. It looked grim. Hezekiah had turned to Egypt for help, but God had warned him not to (Isaiah 30-31), and Egypt was destroyed. So Hezekiah sent gold and silver from his palace and the temple to Sennacherib, hoping to stop the attack. Second Kings 18:13-16 records that he stripped even the gold from the temple doors and paid 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. But verse 17 says the king of Assyria took the payment—and still sent a great army against Jerusalem.

Now Will I Rise, Says the Lord

So Isaiah 33 prophesies it beforehand: the mighty men cry, the ambassadors weep, the highways lie waste, the whole land mourns. Then in verse 10 God declares, "Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself." The Assyrians would be cut down, burned like thorns, destroyed—and through it, God would be glorified. "Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might."

Had Egypt rescued them, men would have praised Hezekiah's wise alliance. Had Sennacherib taken the silver and gone home, men would have trusted in their money. But God would not allow them to trust in the horses and chariots of Egypt, nor in their gold. He let their alliances fail and their bribe buy them nothing, so that He alone would be glorified and feared.

Who Shall Dwell with the Devouring Fire?

Verse 14: "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?" When God destroys the 185,000-strong Assyrian army by His devouring fire, the wicked of Jerusalem tremble: if He can do that, how can we stand? As Hebrews says, "Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense... It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

God answers their question in verses 15-16: "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes... he shall dwell on high." This echoes Psalm 15—"LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?... He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart"—and Psalm 24: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD?... He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart."

Make Him Your King

God allowed His people to be judged by Assyria. Outwardly it looked terrible—how could God do this? But it was for their good, His discipline for purification, and ultimately for His glory. Verse 17 promises, "Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty." The Assyrian terror would be like a dream in the night: "Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?" That fierce people of a deeper, stammering speech they would not see. Instead they would look upon Zion, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down.

Verse 22 is the heart of it: "For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us." Notice the progression: in 32:1 God is a king; in 33:17 He is the king; in 33:22 He is our King. In our lives God must move from being a king to being the King—we must make Him our King—or else we will suffer the same fate as the Assyrian army. He is a King. He is the King. But is He your King? If He is, then you have this awesome promise: "He will save us."

Closing Prayer

God, we thank You that You are our Judge, our Lawgiver, our King. We thank You for the salvation we have in You. Thank You that You have called us and set us apart to be Your people—those who were not a people are now the people of God; those who had not obtained mercy have now received it. And Lord, having received mercy, I pray that by Your Spirit You would stir us and enable us to speak boldly the truth of Your Word. Though people may mock the message, even mock us the messenger, and dismiss our words, help us to be bold and never back down. As You did with Jeremiah, put Your words into our mouths, for You are the one who can save, but also the one who will judge—and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Help us to run to You and find a refuge, our shelter from the storm, our shade from the sun, our refreshing river of living water. Thank You that You have given us shelter, refuge, and living water. We praise You in Jesus' name. Amen.