Isaiah speaks of talking to these people by stammering lip and another tongue. What's that about? There are a couple of things it could be. It could be that God here is speaking of coming judgment through other nations with foreign tongues, that He would teach them through all the problems that they would have to go through with foreign

God deals here with two classes of people within Israel. He is dealing with all of them together, but in different ways. All of them together profess the name Israel. All of them together claim to be the people of God. But God knows the heart even better than they themselves do. He is dealing with hypocrites and with the

In the first couple of verses, we see that God kindly, graciously promises Israel grace and protection when Assyria comes running in. When the time is needed, He will give them wisdom for judgment, as we see there in verse 6. We also see that God gives them courage for the battle. This implies that there will be times when

God has given Israel some wonderful blessings. In verses 1 and 4 he mentions the glorious beauty of the rich valleys. But they took the good gifts of God and used them for sin. They've taken the wine, the good gift of God, and abused it. They're characterized as drunkards in the very first verse. These false people of God

In these last four verses there are some great promises. The nations seem clever, rich, and powerful to all who oppose them. But their great power is shattered. Their great numbers are no more. Why would this time of judgment come to the nations? It's because of sin. And what is that sin? It is their proud elevation of themselves.

We've been looking at glorious promises for the people of God. But the fact remains That, although the true Israel of God had and still has these promises, a time of threshing and winnowing had to come first. Even in the time of Isaiah there was to be terrible warfare. But even beyond that, there would be exile and the

You see here in verses 2 and 3 a different picture. The church is God's vineyard, and He cares for it. God makes his people to be fruitful. Just as a vineyard doesn't happen to be there by accident, the Church of God is created by God's loving and gracious will. But God doesn't start it out and then just

We see the judgment of the church's enemy particularly in verses 1 and 4. This is talking about the fact that Jehovah does indeed judge the wicked, and He takes them out of the earth. No matter how clever they might be, no matter how strong they may be, no matter how many their friends, no matter how many their

In verses 20 and 21, we have notice to the people of God that, though this deliverance is coming, there is trouble intervening. The Assyrian, at the time this was written, had not come in yet, and it would be 150 years or more before the Babylonians would come and exile the people, destroying the temple and Israel's full independence.

In verse 16, who is 'they'? Well, we must look back a verse or two. It is the nation for whom God established peace, the nation that has been increased, or at least has the promise of increase, the nation through whom God is and will be glorified. But the people of God had not gotten to that point yet.