Isaiah 26:20-21-27:1 Chapter 27 does not begin a new idea so much as it completes the hope that closes the previous chapter. Those verses help us recognize that Israel has lived under oppression, discipline, and waiting for deliverance. Rulers rise and fall. False messiah’s promise peace but cannot deliver it. Yet Isaiah ends with the promised resurrection hope. “Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise” (26:19). Chapter 26 closes with a call to trust and wait as the Lord completes His work of judgment on the rebellious and deliverance of His remnant.
Isaiah 27 answers the question that is unresolved at the end of chapter 26: What follows resurrection once judgment has been completed? The answer is revival and renewal. The scattered, broken, and disciplined are restored. The people of God, the remnant of Israel who were judged experience renewal, revival and abundant life. The same still applies today. God has not changed His way of dealing with mankind, follows the same pattern today.
The Lord who protected His remnant calling them to enter their rooms and close their doors in 26:20 now steps forward in Isaiah 27 as both a Warrior and Gardener. He defeats Leviathan, the symbol of chaotic evil and oppressive powers, and He tends His vineyard as Isaiah first described in Isa. 5. Israel is no longer an unfruitful vine, but a vineyard guarded day and night by the Lord Himself. Judgment has not destroyed God’s covenant people. It has purified them. The scattered are gathered. Exiles return. Worship is restored. The chapter moves Israel from the hope of resurrection to the national restoration of Israel, from waiting in tears and trials to rejoicing on God’s holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Together, Isaiah 26 and 27 teach us that God’s judgment is never the final word. Resurrection leads to restoration. Discipline leads to fruitfulness. The other side of trials leads to genuine worship and thanksgiving. The same Lord who calls His people to trust Him in the dark is faithful to bring them into the light of His redeemed kingdom.
This is not only Israel’s story. It is the pattern of redemption itself, fulfilled in Jesus and still unfolding as God prepares His people for the day when death is swallowed up and His vineyard fills the earth with the fruit of God’s Spirit.
Isaiah 27 describes God’s victory over chaos, His preservation of Israel, and His will that His first-born sons (Ex 4:22) live in surrendered dependence on Him. This chapter moves from judgment to restoration, and calls God’s people to abide in Him through the work of His Spirit.
27:1 – Begins with the defeat of the serpent. Leviathan represents chaos, evil, and forces opposed to God’s rule. Rabbinic sources such as Rashi understand Leviathan symbolically as the enemies of Israel and the embodiment of disorder that God alone can subdue.
At various times in their history, God’s people have been preserved from judgment. Noah and his family were shut up in the ark (Gen 7:16) Israel was spared at the Passover (Ex 12:13). Even Rahab and her family were saved because of her willingness to aid the spies (Jos 2:12-20). This will be true during the tribulation described in Revelation. God’s protection of His people demonstrates His commitment to accomplish His purposes and bring His people faithfully through to the end.
Theologically this is called the perseverance of the saints. This is a doctrine that teaches that those whom God has saved will be kept by His power and will endure in faith to the end. Salvation is not maintained by human effort but by God’s faithfulness (Eph. 2:8-9). Genuine believers may struggle, stumble, and even fall into serious sin, but they will not finally or fully fall away from faith. God preserves them, and that divine preservation shows itself in a life that continues in repentance, faith, and obedience over time. There are consequences for our sin and rebellion and that is God’s discipline, for nothing is hidden from the Lord. But that discipline is to lead us back to Him.
Leviathan is consistently associated with chaos and the sea (Job 26:13; 41:1; Ps 74:13-15; 104:26). Other Ancient Near East societies such as the Babylonians have stories of similar creatures associated with chaos and death.
In slaying Leviathan, the Lord defeats the symbol of chaos and warfare against God and His will for creation. Though the powers of this world may appear to be prevailing, they will be crushed in the end. Those who trust in God and His Messiah will be preserved. Those who continue in their sin will be judged eternally.
The adversary, (Heb. ha-satan) continues his work of rebellion today in his attacks against God’s children sowing death, confusion and chaos. Isaiah assures us that no power whether spiritual or political can stand against the Lord and His Spirit. This points forward to the victory of the Messiah over Satan, sin, and death. What Isaiah announces prophetically, the New Covenant reveals personally. Yeshua does not merely restrain evil He destroys its dominion. Whatever feels disordered or threatening in our lives is not final. The Lord reigns, and His will for our lives will be accomplished. Our role is to abide in Him.
V 2-6 In contrast to Isaiah 5 where Israel was a failed vineyard under judgment, Isaiah 27 presents a restored vineyard lovingly cared for by God Himself. I, the LORD, am its keeper; I water it every moment.
God is no longer threatening to tear down the vineyard but guarding it continually. We see here God’s loving care. He does not abandon His people but remains involved in their growth as Israel’s covenant keeping God. That covenant was established with Abraham and his seed in Gen. 15 when God alone passed between the pieces while Abraham slept. In much the same way we were asleep (dead) in our sins: Col. 2:13 … you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
This passage harmonizes with Yeshua’s teaching about abiding in the vine. Fruitfulness flows not from our striving but from remaining connected to the source of life. Fruitfulness is the result of surrender. God does not ask us to produce life but to remain in Him, who is the way, the truth and the life.
V 7-11 Isaiah makes clear that Israel’s discipline is not the same as the destruction of her enemies. The rhetorical question “Like the striking of Him (The Lord) who has struck them, has He struck them?” When the nations attacked Israel, they did not realize that they were attacking God. Israel does not deserve God’s love any more than we do, but as Zechariah 2:8 tells us “For thus says the LORD of hosts, “After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.
The suffering Israel experienced was corrective not punitive. God’s purpose is purification, not rejection. Idolatry is removed so that true worship may be restored. Proverbs 3:12 and Heb. 12:6 tell us whom the Lord loves He disciplines. The Lord’s chastisement flows from His covenant love. The Spirit convicts not to condemn but to heal. Walking in the Spirit requires humility and repentance, allowing God to remove anything that competes with devotion to Him. Surrender always precedes renewal. God removes idols so His presence may dwell fully in and through His people.
V 12-13 The chapter ends with a vision of restoration and worship. The shofar points to the regathering of Israel from exile. Just as it speaks of our regathering when the trump of God blows as Jesus describes in Matt 24:31 And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. This anticipates the gathering of the remnant of believers as described in 1 Thess 4:15-17.
Isaiah 27 is not only prophetic it’s personal. God is still seeking a fruitful vineyard. He still opposes the serpent. He still disciplines in love. And He still invites His people to live under His care. 26:17 reminds God’s children to hide themselves in Messiah in anticipation of His judgment that is coming.
This chapter is a call to us to lay down control. To turn from idols both visible and hidden. And to abide in the Lord who watches over us moment by moment. As Isaiah reminds us, the vineyard flourishes not because of its strength but because of its Keeper.
