27:1 In that day will the Lord, with his great and powerful sword, punish severely Leviathan, the evasive maritime serpent, Leviathan, that devious sea monster, when he slays the dragons of the Sea. Of course we have our modern Leviathans. That's what submarines are called; they're named leviathans. And that could be a modern application of this very prophecy. In mythology it was a power of chaos, and the dragons of the sea. The sea is also a power of chaos in the book of Isaiah-- so that all powers of chaos really are destroyed at that time. The king of Assyria causes destruction on land and on sea, over the whole world. And then, he, himself who is a power of chaos, is destroyed. The whole, wicked world goes into chaos, in that manner. And so, he could be the sword that is destroying the maritime powers, or it could be the Lord's sword that is then destroying the king of Assyria, either way. Because it's kind of that two-edged sword, that double dimension to Isaiah's prophecies. At any rate, all powers of chaos will then be destroyed, and the Lord will have the upper hand. 27:2–3 In that day, sing of the earth as of a delightful vineyard of which I, the Lord, am keeper. I water it constantly, watch over it night and day, lest anything be amiss. This is another song of salvation, by the survivors of the destruction. The earth now becomes a delightful vineyard. In chapter five we had an allegory of the vineyard which was more like a local vineyard—the Lord's people in a particular place. But, in the Millennium, the whole earth becomes his vineyard," of which I the Lord am keeper. I water it constantly and watch over it, night and day lest anything be a miss." 27:4 I have no more anger toward her. Should briars and thorns come up, I will ruthlessly attack them and altogether set them ablaze. 27:5 But should they take hold of me for a refuge and make peace with me, they shall be reconciled to me. So, there's two ways people can go: become briars and thorns—or wicked. If so, they'll be destroyed in the blaze, in the fiery destruction of the end time. Or they can take hold of the Lord, and make peace with him—that is, to enter into covenant with him, to an agreement to keep his law, and his word—then he will become a refuge to them, as we saw, earlier, and a shelter to them. And thus, he will preserve them. And that way they will be reconciled to him. 27:6 For in days to come, when Jacob takes root and Israel bursts into blossom, the face of the earth shall fill with fruit. And here, then, the vineyard bears fruit. The vineyard is the whole face of the earth which bears good fruit. In chapter five we saw it brought forth the bad fruit. "Jacob takes root and Israel bursts into blossom," showing the transition from the Jacob state to an Israel state. The Lord confirmed the covenant upon Jacob and gave him a new name, at that time, the name of Israel. And so this also implies that progression, with the Lord's people who then take root; they are reconciled to the Lord by entering into a covenant with him. That way, they take root. If they do that, they will also bear good fruit. Israel will burst into blossom. In fact, it implies, here, that the whole earth will be filled with Israel, or become Israel, or, become the covenant people of God. 27:7 Was he smitten as were his smiters? Or was he slain as were they who slew him? Those who slew Jacob, or the Lord's people, who smote him, were the Assyrians. But a righteous remnant of Jacob, or Israel, of the Lord's people survived. But, were his smiters slain the same way? No, they were totally wiped out. The Lord was much more harsh upon them, because they had no covenant with God. 27:8 Thou hast dealt with them by utterly banishing them, O Lord. By his fierce blasts they were flung away in the day of the burning east wind. Again, storm imagery, day of judgment; what they did to others is now done to them. They destroyed, or tried to destroy and annihilate God's people, and they themselves were actually annihilated. Also, by fierce blasts, by the same kind of conflagration, fiery destruction that they heaped upon others, they, themselves, were destroyed. 27:9 But by this shall Jacob's iniquity be expiated, as a result of this his sins removed: when he makes like crushed chalkstone all altar stones, leaving no idols of prosperity and shining images standing. So, what does repentance for the Lord's people involve? It involves removing all semblances of idols. Remember what happened to the Israelites when they made the golden calf, in the Sinai wilderness; what did Moses have them do? He had them grind it to powder. And so it is, here. And Jacob makes like crushed chalkstone all altar stones, leaving no idols of prosperity and shining images standing. They wipe out, totally, all signs of idolatry. And that's how they wipe out their sins. 27:10 Because of them the fortified cities lie forlorn, deserted habitations, forsaken like a wilderness; steers forage and recline there, stripping bare the young branches of trees. Because the people followed an idolatrous lifestyle, they suffered consequences, the curses of the covenant, where their cities were destroyed, and the animals took over. 27:11 A harvest of twigs dries, broken off by women who come to light their fires with them. They are not a discerning people. Therefore their Maker shows them no mercy; he who formed them favors them not. The women go out, and take off the dead branches, for the fire. But it doesn't occur to them that the branches of the trees have died, or the trees have died, because of the wickedness of the people. All they're interested in is the fire, and getting warm. And so, it's like the Israelites; they don't know that what's happened to them is a result of their own iniquity. They're not a discerning people. "No mercy," and "no favor" implies justice only. It implies that there is no mercy for those that don't repent. There's only mercy for those who repent. If you don't repent, then justice is the rule, the law in which God deals with you. Mercy and favor are offered them, remember? "Though favor be shown the righteous, they will not learn righteousness; in a land of uprightness they remain perverse and see not the glory of the Lord." Chapter 26:10. And so it is, here. That's not the point. They reject the Lord. They're too much into their idolatry. Their eyes are blinded. 27:12 In that day the Lord will thresh out his harvest from the torrent of the River to the streams of Egypt. But you shall be gleaned one by one, O children of Israel. The harvest, is again, judgment imagery: "In the day of judgment, in that day." The torrent of the river anciently referred to the Euphrates river in the north, and the streams of Egypt in the south. In other words, the whole of the ancient, known, world. It's a world-wide destruction. And, "that day" as it will be in the end of the world, a world-wide event. The torrent of the rivers are also metaphors alluding to the king of Assyria. He's the river, the flood, and the torrent of the river. And he's the one who destroys most of the wicked of the world. "But you shall be gleaned one by one, O children of Israel." And so, while the masses of people are being destroyed, one-by-one, individuals among the Lord's people—in other words those who repent—are gleaned out of the destruction. They're saved. 27:13 In that day a loud trumpet shall sound, and they who were lost in the land of Assyria and they who were outcasts in the land of Egypt shall come and bow down to the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem. The trumpet is what we saw before, alluding to the mission of the Lord's Servant. It says, "All you who live in the world, you inhabitants of the earth, look to the ensign when it is lifted up in the mountains; heed the trumpet when it is sounded!" (Chapter 18:3) When the mission of the Lord's Servant begins, or when the Servant begins his mission as preparer of the way for the coming of the Lord among the nations of the earth, then those who were lost in the land of Assyria—meaning the Ten lost tribes, whom the Assyrians took captive—and "they who were outcasts in the land of Egypt"—meaning those who were covenant-keepers and worshiped at the temple in Egypt, as it says in chapter nineteen who made covenants with the Lord and kept them, to whom the Lord sends a Savior and a Deliverer-- " they shall come and bow down to the Lord in the holy mountain in Jerusalem," implying that they will come back from exile, from being outcasts, from being the oppressed at that time. That day, that very day that the Lord threshes out his harvest all over the world and destroys the wicked, he will glean the righteous and bring them back to his holy mountain, holy nation, at Jerusalem, a sacred place, and also a sanctuary, place of protection for them. And they will come on the exodus from the four corners of the earth. As we read in chapter eleven, "I will raise the ensign to the nations and assemble the exiled of Israel. I will gather the scattered of Judah from the four directions of the earth. And there shall be a pathway out of Assyria for the remnant of his people who shall be left, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt," as it says in chapter eleven, verse twelve, verse sixteen, and other places. So, everybody will know about it. When the trumpet sounds it means that it will be a worldwide, or recognized event.