Jehovah, thou art my God I will exalt thee; I will celebrate thy name, for thou hast done wonderful things; counsels of old [which are] faithfulness [and] truth.
This verse opens a song sung in the middle of ruin. The chapters just before it are full of broken cities and a shaken earth, which raises a question: why should a wrecked world produce praise?
Isaiah 25 does not begin a new subject. It answers the judgments before it with a song.
Isaiah 25 and 26 take the form of a song, which celebrates the effect of God's intervention. Let us look at its main subjects. God is faithful. He accomplishes His purposes. He has brought the city of human pride to nothing through His power. All the strong organisation of man's pride is destroyed.
The praise rises out of what the wreckage reveals.
How good it is to watch the mighty arm of God coming down in stroke after stroke — the judgment laid on Babylon, on Moab, on Tyre, on all the great and mighty nations of earth, on His chosen and beloved Israel, on the whole world. It is good to know that this is meant to build up and establish His glory for ever, in a way that can never be shaken… In view of all the desolation he lifts his voice in praise. When man is humbled, when his greatness is brought into the dust, God alone is glorified, His name is magnified.
The song thanks God for specific acts, not for a general idea of goodness.
Here Israel are pictured as taken up with the wonderful things God has done to deliver their nation. God will have stepped in. He will have used His power to rescue His ancient people by judging their mightiest enemies. They speak of the ruin God has inflicted on all around them.
The same writer asks who is singing, and what the wonderful things are not:
It is now the prophet who speaks for Israel. He breaks into praise, and makes it personal for the people in verse 1. What are the wonderful things? The death and resurrection of Christ? Not a word about either. These are the themes we should speak about. So on the Lord's-day morning, when we come together, what fills our hearts is the theme of His praise. We have the still more wonderful works of God in Christ and the new creation.
The ESV calls these plans "formed of old, faithful and sure." Older translations say "counsels of old are faithfulness and truth." Either way, nothing God does here is improvised.
Isaiah praises the counsels of the Lord (Isa. 25:1), which he describes as being of old, and as "faithfulness and truth." God has no need to make plans to meet current events in the world. He foreknew all that takes place, and He deals with everything by His wisdom. At His will He makes the city a heap and the fortified city a ruin. He is a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. So He shows His faithfulness and truth to all who trust Him.
These words run right through Isaiah's book. One writer collects the examples:
"Counsel" and "purpose" are common words with Isaiah too. He writes: "I have purposed"; "The Lord of Hosts has purposed"; "My purpose shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure"; "The counsel of the Lord"; "Which is wonderful in counsel"; "Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth."
The singer calls God by the covenant name of Israel, which older translations spell Jehovah. One writer takes that name as a clue to who is singing.
They do not address God as Father in the Spirit of adoption, for they are not Christians. They will be believers, but believing Jews… Jehovah is the name of God seen as a ruler who maintains His kingdom. Father is the name that first came out in connection with His beloved Son. Now, because of redemption, that name is true of us who believe in Him.
Yet the song is not locked away in the future. One writer draws out what it means for believers now:
When these things come to pass it will be easy to sing the note of praise, but it is our privilege as Christians to praise before they have come to pass.
What will it be when the storms of life are over and past, and we review all the way that God has led us, and how He has sustained us and brought us through when our way seemed completely closed… But we can sing it now, for we know that all things work together for good, to them that love God and are the called according to His purpose.
- Counsel. The plans behind this verse are old, not reactive; God never has to redesign His purpose to keep up with events.
- Crash. Those old plans first show up in ruin: the proud city levelled, human greatness put in the dust. That is where the song starts.
- Care. The same hand that flattens the fortress is a refuge for the poor and needy; the judgment and the shelter are one purpose.
- Certainty. The counsel is "faithfulness and truth," so the outcome is already fixed. Praise rests on God's character, not on the state of the world.
- Chorus. The song belongs to a day still coming, but we can sing its words today. Praise before fulfilment is the believer's privilege.
For thou hast made of the city a heap, of the fortified town a ruin, the palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built up.
This verse sits inside a song, sung after the judgments of the earlier chapters have fallen. It calls a city that once looked unshakeable a heap of rubble — so which city is meant, and why sing over a ruin?
The ruin is announced in worship, not in a news report:
Here we have the prophet speaking for the people as they lift their hearts to the LORD in praise. They are celebrating God for His wonderful doings. They acknowledge that His counsels of old are faithfulness and truth… He carries out His judgement on the strong and on their city. The inhabited earth comes under the LORD's hand, just as certainly as the end of the previous chapter showed Him dealing with the heavens and the earth.
Another writer explains why wreckage can be a reason for praise:
Notice how the inspired prophet views all this desolation that God brings… Seeing all the desolation, he lifts his voice in praise. When man is humbled and his greatness goes down into the dust, God alone is glorified and His name magnified.
The heap is more than fallen stone. This city stands for human pride as a whole system, and its fall goes with what God becomes for people who have nothing:
God is faithful. He accomplishes His purposes. He has brought the city of human pride to nothing through His power. All the strong organisation of man's pride is destroyed. God has been the strength of the poor among His people in the day of their distress, and the power of the enemy has been brought low.
Commentators differ on how far the ruin has already happened. One writer treats the fall of Babylon as only a first instalment:
This may have had its first fulfilment in the fall of Babylon, but it is the setting aside of human power in favour of the needy. God will then take away the darkness of this world, the resurrection will take place, and the rebuke of His people will be removed.
Another places the song at the close of the age, with Israel looking back on enemies God has just judged:
Here Israel is pictured as taken up with the wonderful things God has done to deliver their nation. For God will have stepped in and used His power to deliver His ancient people by judging their mightiest enemies. They speak of the ruin God has inflicted on all around them.
The verse before this one praises God's counsels of old, and this ruin carries them out. God is not reacting to events:
Isaiah praises the counsels of the LORD (Isaiah 25:1). He speaks of them as being from of old, and as "faithfulness and truth." God has no need to make plans to meet current events in the world. He foreknew all that takes place, and He deals with everything according to His wisdom. At His will He makes "the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin." He is "a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat." So He shows His faithfulness and truth to all who trust Him.
God has already announced the end of the fortified city. That verdict shapes where a believer settles today:
If we judge by the events in front of us, as unbelief does, we shall hold on to things that are about to pass away, right up to the last moment. If I draw my conclusions from experience, I try to make the best of the things around me instead of holding to the word of God. It is a principle of the greatest importance. Faith separates from evil because it is evil. It is quite a different thing to separate from something because God is going to judge it.
- Counsel — the heap comes from plans God formed long ago. He does not improvise when world events change.
- City — what falls is the city of human pride, the whole strong structure men build to keep themselves safe.
- Never — "it will never be rebuilt." God sets human power aside in favour of the needy, and that verdict is final. The fall of Babylon was only a first instalment.
- Song — the ruin is set to music. When man's greatness goes down into the dust, God alone is glorified.
- Now — the verdict is already public. Faith moves away from what God has marked for judgment instead of making the best of it.
Therefore shall the mighty people glorify thee, the city of terrible nations shall fear thee.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For thou hast been a fortress to the poor, a fortress for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat for the blast of the terrible ones [has been] as the storm [against] a wall.
Verse 4 speaks in the past tense. It is a look back. A people who came through the storm tell God what He was to them while it raged. Two questions shape it. Who are "the poor" and "the needy"? And what storm did God shelter them from?
Commentators place the verse inside a song. The singers are the remnant — the few God keeps and delivers. They have nothing left to lean on but God.
Isaiah 25 gives us the song of the remnant. See how it shows that they have let go of every earthly confidence. See the simplicity of their faith in God's protection, and the strength of their hope for the glory to come… This is what they acknowledge the LORD to have been. From this they look forward to their own deliverance by His power, and to the universal blessing that will follow.
The two words are read as a portrait of the people God rescues, set against the proud city He has just levelled.
In chapter 24 we find the remnant again (vv. 13, 14, 16); God acknowledges the righteous. Judgment then comes in to establish the glory and blessing. But in it (chapter 25:4) we see plainly the character of the delivered remnant. The LORD has been a strength to the poor and needy.
The song praises God for two things at once. He acts against the strong, and He is the fortress of the weak.
Here the prophet speaks for the people, raising their hearts to the LORD in praise. They celebrate God for His wonderful doings, and acknowledge that His counsels of old are faithfulness and truth… The carrying out of His judgment falls on the strong and their city. It is the inhabited earth that comes under the LORD's hand.
Alongside the storm stands the heat. "Shadow" is a picture Isaiah uses more than once, and the same Person stands behind each version of it.
In one passage, it is the shadow of a cloud in the sky screening from the scorching heat (Isaiah 25:5). In another, it is the shadow of a great rock for the weary traveller in a dry land (Isaiah 32:2). In yet another, it is the welcome shadow of a beautiful apple tree with its green leaves and its rich fruit (Song of Solomon 2:3). But the One pictured in all of them is the same. His shadow is an unfailing and heavenly delight.
The shelter belongs to a coming day. In a later chapter Isaiah says the same two things of a Man.
When the glad day of Christ's reign dawns, it will mean the overthrow of man's strong cities and of the terrible nations that built them. It will also mean the shelter and lifting up of the godly remnant, as indicated in verse 4. The LORD will prove Himself to be for them "a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat." We turn to Isaiah 32:2 and find the same two things in a Man. That is an extraordinary statement. An ordinary man in a tornado is only the plaything of the elements and no refuge at all. In fact, the MAN of chapter 32 is no ordinary man. He is the LORD of our chapter Himself. We know Him as the Lord Jesus Christ.
The song belongs to a nation rescued out of a coming tribulation. The rule it states, though, is not tied to that day alone.
There comes a day of tribulation such as never was, a day of doom for the rebellious. The rescued nation will sing of the LORD as their hiding place. Whatever the day of need may be, there is one way of blessing only — One only in whom refuge is ever found.
And the past tense of the verse — "you have been" — becomes a song we will one day sing over our own history.
We may say that continually; it is surely our daily experience. But what will it be when the storms of life are over and past? Then we will look back over the whole way God has led us. We will see how He sustained us and brought us through when our way seemed completely closed. Then we shall sing out His praise without a falter, for He has done wonderful things, and His counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. But we can sing it now.
- Poor. God names the people He shelters by their weakness, not their strength. "Poor" and "needy" describe the character of those He delivers.
- Fortress. God's judgment falls on the strong and their city. He Himself becomes the fortress of people who had none.
- Shelter. The verse names two dangers. God is refuge from the violent trouble of the storm, and shade from the heat that wears you down.
- Man. Isaiah says the same two things of a Man in chapter 32; commentators identify Him with the LORD of this chapter, the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Song. The rescued sing the line looking back, and we can sing it now. The same refuge holds in any day of need.
Thou hast subdued the tumult of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; [as] the heat, by the shadow of a cloud, [so] the song of the terrible ones is brought low.
This verse sits inside a song of praise. God's people thank Him for shutting down the noise of their enemies, and two questions follow: whose hand does the silencing, and when does it happen?
One writer sets the whole chapter as praise sung after God has acted. He places verse 5 at the end of that opening burst, and quotes it in an older wording.
Here we have the prophet speaking for the people as they lift their hearts to Jehovah in praise. They celebrate God for His wonderful doings, and own that His counsels of old are faithfulness and truth… "You have subdued the tumult of strangers, as the heat in a dry place…" (vv. 1-5). His judgement takes effect on the strong and their city. It is the inhabited earth that comes under Jehovah's hand. That is as sure as the end of the previous chapter, which was His dealing with the heavens and the earth.
So the judgment is not local.
The picture runs both ways. God is shade for His people, and that same shade smothers the oppressor's noise. One writer gathers the Bible's pictures of shade and finds one Person behind them all.
In one passage it is the shadow of a cloud in the heavens screening from the scorching heat (Isa. 25:5, 6); in another, the shadow of a great rock to the weary traveller in a thirsty land (Isa. 32:2); and in yet another, the welcome shadow of a beautiful apple-tree with its green leaves and its rich fruit (Song 2:3). But the One pictured in all these passages is the same. He is the One loved and adored by all saved men. His shadow is an unfailing and heavenly delight.
The same writer explains why a patch of shade is such a strong picture of rescue.
Think of the weary traveller in Bible lands struggling across the desert sands under the glare of a burning, cloudless sky — his hands limp, his feet like lead, his strength draining away. And think what the sight of a patch of shadow means to him! It seems like life itself. In the cool shade, the man who was ready to die can rest and get his strength back.
One song is brought low in this verse; another goes up. Another writer puts the rising song on the lips of a remnant — the faithful few left — while the trouble is still on them.
Isaiah 25 gives us the song of the remnant. See how it shows them weaned from every earthly confidence. It shows the simplicity of their faith in God's protection, and the strength of their hopes for the glory to come. … Such is their confidence, and such are their hopes, while they are passing through the depths of their distress.
Verse 5 clears the ground; it is not the end point. And the clearing is God's work, not man's. One writer traces the line the chapter follows.
God is faithful. He accomplishes His purposes. He has brought the city of human pride to nothing through His power. All the strong organisation of man's pride is destroyed. God has been the strength of the poor among His people in the day of their distress, and the power of the enemy has been brought low. He will execute justice in Zion for all people. He will take away the veil that is upon their heart.
Has this already happened? One writer rules out two answers — eternity, and today — and points to Jerusalem itself.
The eternal state does not come into it. On the other hand there is no ground for making it bear on present circumstances. It is a new state of things that does not exist now. If there is one place on earth where the Lord least appears to be reigning, it is that very Jerusalem and Mount Zion.
- Tumult — God subdues the uproar of foreign oppressors. Their song dies like desert heat under the shadow of a passing cloud.
- Shelter — the shade that quenches the enemy's noise shelters God's people. The pictures of shade in Isaiah and Song of Solomon all point to one Person.
- Singers — the song belongs to a remnant weaned from every earthly confidence. They sing of rescue while still in the depths of distress.
- Sequel — silencing the proud only clears the ground. Human pride comes to nothing, then justice in Zion and the veil taken away.
- Schedule — commentators place this in a state of things that does not exist yet. Jerusalem is the evidence: it is where the Lord least appears to be reigning.