Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 27

Introduction

Chapter 27 The Ministry and Triumph of God.

In this chapter we will now learn of the defeat of all heavenly and earthly opponents, depicted in terms of the great monster Leviathan; followed by a description of God’s continued watch over His own true people; and a reference back to His purging of them through suffering. Following that there is a depiction of the world’s end in terms of the ruin of a once strong city; the one by one harvesting of His people, and the final gathering to God of His elect.

Verse 1

The Destruction of the Great Serpent Monsters (Isaiah 27:1 ).

In this one verse Yahweh declares the bringing about of His purpose of judgement on all who stand against Him, whether man or god, in fulfilment of Isaiah 26:20-21. Some see this as a description of three monsters needing to be slain (representing the Tigris, the Euphrates and the Nile), others see it as one monster in a poetic threefold description. Either is possible. In them is summed up all evil empires under their evil masters, both earthly and heavenly.

Analysis.

a In that day Yahweh with his sore and great and strong sword

b Will punish Leviathan the swift (or ‘fleeing’) serpent (nachash)

b And Leviathan the crooked (many-coiled) serpent (nachash)

a And he will slay the dragon (tannin) that is in the sea.

Isaiah 27:1

‘In that day Yahweh with his sore and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the swift (or ‘fleeing’) serpent (nachash), and Leviathan the crooked (many-coiled) serpent (nachash), and he will slay the monster (tannin) that is in the sea.’

‘In that day’ here has in mind any time when God acts to deliver His people, but specially to the final days of God’s indignation on the peoples, included in Isaiah 26:20, when all enemies must finally be dealt with, and when the powerful triune sword of Yahweh will slay all the enemies of God’s people, who are symbolised in the form of great serpent-like monsters. In mind surely must be the sinister being who lay behind the serpent (nachash) in Genesis 3:0. We can parallel the description here with Revelation 19:11-21 taken with Revelation 12:9-17; Revelation 13:1; Revelation 17:8-14.

The sword of Yahweh will be a regular feature in Isaiah’s prophecies (Isaiah 34:5-6; Isaiah 41:2; Isaiah 66:16). Here it is described in a threefold way as sore (fierce) and great and strong, bringing out again that Yahweh is the Mighty Irresistible God. Nothing can stand against Him. Not even Leviathan.

Leviathan is seen here as a great serpent-like monster, also described as a ‘tannin’ (sea monster), and it may be that only one monster is in mind. Many, however, argue that three monsters are in mind, an idea which might be seen as confirmed by the threefold prepositions before their descriptions, and the picture is then one of threefold power, and therefore of all empires. They are seen as swift and sinuous, ominously moving in swirling coils, and dwelling in the sea, indicating something greatly feared (Israel feared the sea), although not by God with His mighty sword. Compare the wild beasts that later arise from the sea in Daniel 7:3. Note that the threefold power of the sword parallels the threefold description of the monsters. None can stand against His mighty threefold sword (compare Revelation 19:15; Revelation 19:21). The descriptions are seen by many as associating the monsters with the great powers of both the north (Assyria and Babylon) and the south (Egypt), with the swiftness of the serpent symbolising the swiftly moving Tigris, the coiling of the serpent signifying the twisting Euphrates, and the tannin in the sea representing Egypt, with the ‘sea’ being the home of the crocodile of the Nile, which is earlier described as a sea (Isaiah 19:5).

A Leviathan was regularly seen as something dreadful, a creature of the night, better not awakened (Job 3:8). It was seen as a water beast in Job 41:1 where the beast in mind may have been a large crocodile such as inhabited the Nile. But though fearsome to Israel it is regularly stressed that it is a creature of God, often seen as a creature of the sea (Psalms 104:26), and described in Psalms 74:14, where it is multiple headed, when Yahweh breaks its heads in order to feed people living in the wilderness. Thus any large water creatures may be in mind, although partly interpreted and thought of in terms of mythology. The Canaanite myth of the seven-headed monster probably arose because many who went to sea and saw such creatures probably mistook them as having a number of heads, and then so described them, deceived by seeing only parts (or groups close together only partly seen) arising out of the water, and having in their minds the pictures from mythology. It may be that Psalms 74:14 is using it to describe the might of Egypt, for there reference is also made there to the dividing of the sea and the breaking of the heads of the ‘tannin’ in the waters in the same context as the feeding in the wilderness, but if so the thought is more universally expanded both there and here.

Certainly the tannin is elsewhere used to describe Egypt and Pharaoh (Ezekiel 29:3-5) where again the crocodile is in mind.

But the fearsomeness of Leviathan was extended even more by the part that it played in the mythology of Canaan where it was Lotan (cognate with Leviathan) ‘the swift (or ‘fleeing’) serpent, the crooked serpent, the foul-fanged (or ‘accursed’) with the seven heads’ which was slain by Baal (the lord).

So here the descriptions of the Leviathans deliberately parallel those in the Baal epic and may be seen as suggesting huge serpent-like creatures that glide swiftly, possibly through the air (Job 26:13), coils ominously like a serpent, and are connected in thought with the tannin, the monster in the sea. Thus the thought here is of the destruction of beasts that represent all that is at enmity with God’s faithful people, of great and awesome creature or creatures, with influence in both heaven and earth and sea, which are the enemy of God and His people, and have been so from the beginning when one first brought about man’s fall. They symbolise within themselves all the enmity within creation, both natural and supernatural (Isaiah 24:21), against God’s people, while probably having specifically in mind both the great Enemy himself, and the reality of the great nations who constantly threatened the people of God, influenced by the sinister forces of evil (Daniel 10:0). But here these great monsters are depicted as a defeated foe, to be smitten by the mighty sword of Yahweh.

Verses 2-6

God’s Fierce Protection of His People Seen As A Vineyard (Isaiah 27:2-6 ).

In contrast to that mighty Serpent are the afflicted people of God, and with such an Enemy they certainly need special protection. God’s people have previously been seen as a vineyard, but one that was rejected because it only produced useless grapes (Isaiah 5:1-7). Now, however, God’s renewed people, His remnant, are seen as ‘a vineyard of wine’ (or ‘of delight’ in some MS), no longer fruitless but fruitful, a vineyard that He will fiercely protect.

Before considering it further we should note a translation problem. In the first phrase, regularly translated as, ‘In that day, a vineyard of wine, sing to it’, the verb translated ‘sing’ usually means ‘to afflict, to humble, oneself’. Thus it should more literally be translated, “In that day, as a vineyard of wine, afflict it (or ‘humble it’)”, or, “in that day afflict for her the vineyard of wine.” In view of what follows (which is the cause of the alternative translation) we may see it as signifying the difference between Yahweh smiting the Monster to its death, while only afflicting the vineyard of His people for their good, and at the same time watching over it.

Analysis.

a In that day, a vineyard of wine, sing to it. “I Yahweh do keep it, I will water it every moment, lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day” (Isaiah 27:2-3)

b Fury is not in me. Would that the briars and thorns were against me in battle, I would march on them, I would burn them up together (Isaiah 27:4).

b Or let him take hold of my protection (strength, stronghold), that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me (Isaiah 27:5).

a In days to come will Jacob take root, Israel will blossom and bud, and they will fill the face of the world with fruit (Isaiah 27:6).

In ‘a’ Yahweh’s vineyard is kept and watered and watched over so that it might be fruitful, and in the parallel the way that Jacob/Israel will become fruitful is described. In ‘b’ He is ready to protect His vine from any enemies, and in the parallel He calls on the enemies to seek His protection and make peace with Him.

Isaiah 27:2-5

‘In that day, a vineyard of wine, sing to it.

I Yahweh do keep it,

I will water it every moment,

Lest any hurt it,

I will keep it night and day.

Fury is not in me,

Would that the briars and thorns were against me in battle,

I would march on them,

I would burn them up together,

Or let him take hold of my protection (strength, stronghold),

That he may make peace with me.

Let him make peace with me.’

‘In that day’ here again looks from Isaiah’s viewpoint to the future when God intervenes in world affairs, but not necessarily the end future. As we have seen earlier the prophets looked ahead to the future seeing it as one whole. They saw what God was going to do, but they were not informed of the time scale. Indeed had they been their message would have lost something of its imminence as a message for their day. So ‘in that day’ refers to a future ‘day’ when God acts. But the phrase has a much wider meaning from our viewpoint, for looking back in history we see that God has intervened and acted over what seems to us, with our limited conceptions, a long period, beginning when Jesus Christ came and proclaimed that the Kingly Rule of God had arrived, (seen by the Apostles as ‘the last times’ or equivalent - 1 Peter 1:20; 1 Corinthians 10:11; Hebrews 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20; 1Pe 4:7 ; 2 Peter 3:3; 2 Peter 1:0 John 1:18), and continuing through until His purposes are complete. All is part of ‘that day’. Indeed its length of time puzzled Peter until he recognised that with God a day was as a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8).

‘A vineyard of wine!’ It is the time when God’s vineyard begins to produce good wine, watched over and tended by Yahweh. No longer a vineyard producing wizened grapes (compare Isaiah 5:1-7) but one producing good fruit. This producing of good fruit was what would be urged by John the Baptiser (Matthew 3:8; Matthew 3:10), followed by Jesus Himself (Matthew 7:16-20; Matthew 13:0; Luke 6:43-44). The time of fruitfulness had arrived. It points to the new fruitful Israel which would result from the presence of the King, Immanuel.

‘I, Yahweh, do keep it, I will water it every moment, lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.’ God’s continual and constant, yes, even daily, care over His true people is here declared. He will tend them, and keep them, and water them, and watch over them night and day. They will be totally safe and well cared for in His hands. It is a picture of constant watch and tending that should be a comfort to each one of us, parallel to Jesus description of Himself as the good shepherd watching over His sheep. Jesus almost certainly had this passage in mind when He expanded on the idea in John 15:1-6 where He spoke of Himself as the true vine with His people as the branches, and His Father as the Carer, tending, watching, caring, pruning, so as to produce fruitful branches (while casting the unfruitful into the fire).

‘Fury is not in me. Would that the briars and thorns were against me in battle, I would march on them, I would burn them up together.’ God assures His people that then He will no longer be angry towards them. That anger would have been assuaged. This assumes some kind of propitiation, and we discover later that it was provided by Him Who was the propitiation for our sins (Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:10; Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10; compare Isaiah 1:18). That in the end is why His anger was turned way from His true people.

Indeed God’s love for His true people is now such that He longs to fight the briars and thorns on their behalf, for, He assures Isaiah that were the briars and thorns to seek to do battle with the vines He would march on them and burn them up. The briars and thorns represent the world peoples, with their pressures producing the cares of this world; with their enticements producing, the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things; and with their persecution causing suffering and affliction.

‘Or let him take hold of my protection (strength, stronghold), that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me.’ But the offer is still open to individual ‘briars’ in that world to make their peace with God. As with Moab in Isaiah 16:4-5 they may come to Him and become one with His people. Then He would be their stronghold too, and instead of battling with them, would offer them peace. In the last two phrases the emphasis in the first phrase is on ‘with me’, the emphasis in the second is on ‘peace’. There is peace for all if only they will come.

Isaiah 27:6

‘In days to come will Jacob take root,

Israel will blossom and bud,

And they will fill the face of the world with fruit.’

This is the fulfilment of the parable. God’s whole purpose for His people is that they might, like a vine, take root, blossom and fill the whole world with fruit. They were to be a blessing to the world as God had promised Abraham (Genesis 12:3). Note the need to take root so that we may blossom and bud. The Christian who fails in establishing his roots through seeking God in His word and by prayer, will not be fruitful. Fulfilment of this began in a small way when the Jews were scattered among the nations, and in a bigger way when the (Jewish) Apostles and their helpers went from Jerusalem, through Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth, taking the word of God (Acts 1:8), as Isaiah had earlier prophesied in Isaiah 2:3, allowing it to take root and grow, until the word of God was established throughout the world.

Verses 7-9

Yahweh Has Had Compassion On His People, For Even In The Past He Has Not Treated Israel As Badly As They Deserved (Isaiah 27:7-9 ).

Yahweh has not smitten His people as severely as He has smitten others, nor has He slaughtered them with the same severity. In His treatment of her (as with a wife, compare Isaiah 50:1) He will contend with her in measured fashion, by removing her (bringing about a separation with her) through one who comes from the East (Assyria) like a strong wind. And by means of this the iniquity of Jacob (Israel) will be purged. This is how He will take away his (Jacob’s) sin. This last will take place when Jacob finally gets rid of all idolatry.

Analysis.

a Has He smitten him as He smote those who smote him? Or is he slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by him? (Isaiah 27:7).

b When you send her away you contend with her in measure, He has removed her with His rough blast in the day of the east wind (Isaiah 27:8).

b Therefore by this will the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit of the taking away of his sin (Isaiah 27:9 a).

a When he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones, crushed to pieces, so that the Asherah images and the sun-images will rise no more (Isaiah 27:9 b).

In ‘a’ Yahweh has smitten His people in a measured way, and in the parallel the result must be that they in turn are to crush in pieces their idols so that they have nothing more to do with them. In ‘b’ He ‘causes a separation’ with His people and in the parallel the purpose is that through exile their sin will be purged.

Isaiah 27:7

‘Has he smitten him as he smote those who smote him?

Or is he slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by him?’

Isaiah now points out that although Yahweh has smitten Israel, and has caused men to be slain in her, yet He has not done so to the extent that He has with her enemies. His hand has been more heavy on her enemies, smiting them severely and slaying them in large numbers (see Isaiah 37:36). But with Israel He has been much less severe. Justice has been tempered with mercy. For the identity of who did the smiting on God’s behalf see Isaiah 10:20. It was the Assyrian.

Isaiah 27:8

‘When you send her away you contend with her in measure.

He has removed her with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.’

God’s treatment of Israel has always been measured. The change to the feminine pronoun indicates that He is seeing her as similar to a wife. When He has ‘sent her away’ (brought about a separation from her - compare Isaiah 50:1), that is, has had her taken away captive it has always been in reasonable proportions. Her removal has always been with the rough, but short, blast of the desert wind, so that she could soon be restored, rather than with the more constant continuing winds from other directions which would have ensured her permanent downfall. Or the ‘rough blast in the day of the east wind’ might be the Assyrians coming from the east. Either way His purpose is always finally to restore her

Isaiah 27:9

‘Therefore by this will the iniquity of Jacob be purged,

And this is all the fruit of the taking away of his sin,

When he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones, crushed to pieces,

So that the Asherah images and the sun-images will rise no more.’

Thus would occur the purging of the iniquity, the inner sinfulness, of Jacob (compare Isaiah 6:7). It would be fulfilled in this measured but violent way, which would accomplish what was necessary. It would be so that she would receive the full fruit in order that her sin might be dealt with. And it would result in the taking away of Jacob/Israel’s outwardly expressed sins. It would result in the crushing to pieces of the altar stones of their false gods as though they were chalkstones, removing the false altars used for the worship of the Asherah images and the sun-images, so that these false divinities would rise no more, that is, would no more be worshipped or taken heed of.

God’s purpose always in allowing His people to be distressed was so that they might turn from sin and be freed from idolatry, and that is depicted as fully accomplished here. For one day Israel would be set free from the idolatry to which she was prone. Note the fact that it is ‘Jacob’ not Judah that is described here. Isaiah still has in mind the whole nation.

Verses 10-11

The Fate of The Defenced City (Isaiah 27:10-11 ).

They must not put their trust in their defenced cities, for those will fail them. For, because of their lack of understanding, their defenced city will become a solitary and desolate place where animals feed. This may be seen as spoken to the world which could certainly be pictured as such a city, with every nation trusting in its own strong walls and defences. But it may be that Samaria was especially in mind.

Analysis.

a For the defenced city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken like the wilderness (Isaiah 27:10 a).

b There will the calf feed, and there will he lie down and consume its branches (Isaiah 27:10 b).

b When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off, the women will come and set them on fire (Isaiah 27:11 a).

a For it is a people of no understanding. Therefore He Who made them will not have compassion on them, and He Who formed them will show them no favour (Isaiah 27:11 b).

In ‘a’ their defenced city is deserted, solitary and forsaken, and in the parallel Yahweh will not have compassion on them and will show them no favour. In ‘b’ it is the grazing place for cattle who will eat from its bushes, and in the parallel women will collect the boughs of what grows there for firewood.

Isaiah 27:10-11

‘For the defenced city is solitary,

A habitation deserted and forsaken like the wilderness.

There will the calf feed,

And there will he lie down and consume its branches.

When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off.

The women will come and set them on fire.

For it is a people of no understanding.

Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them,

And he who formed them will show them no favour.’

The ‘defenced city’ (compare Isaiah 25:2), which represents the world as relying on itself, shutting out God and always at war (compare Isaiah 24:10; Isaiah 25:2; Isaiah 26:5), especially as seen in the great cities of the Ancient Near East, and in this case possibly Samaria, will be left in its aloneness, deserted, forsaken, empty like the wilderness, a ruin. Its defences will have failed. The calf will feed and lie down there, and strip its branches. Its boughs will wither and women will come and break them off and use them as firewood.

For this is what those who ignore Yahweh can expect from the future, desolation and emptiness, with all glory gone. Their defenced city will become like an empty, deserted city in which cattle roam, and feed on the trees which break through the rubble, stripping the branches bare, which in the end have no future except as a source of firewood.

‘For it is a people of no understanding.’ And all this will be the result of its failure to know and understand God, its failure to receive the truth, its blankness of mind towards the things of God. It is because it has ‘the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart’ (Ephesians 4:18). It is because ‘the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who believe not, lest the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, shine through to them’ (2 Corinthians 4:4). It may be significant that the world that turned away from Christ to Islam is indeed suffering and in darkness like this at this time.

The word for ‘understanding’ is a plural of intensity, indicating total barrenness of thought. The world was possibly wise in its own eyes, but it was totally blank in its knowledge and discernment of God.

‘Therefore He who made them will not have compassion on them, and He who formed them will show them no favour.’ This is the saddest picture of all. The God Who made them will no longer have compassion on them, for by their unwillingness to respond to Him they have rendered His help unavailing. The One Who so carefully fashioned them, will show no favour towards them, for He knew that they would spurn that favour and throw it back in His face, as they had done for so long. Their hearts would be too hardened to receive His mercy. Such becomes the state of those who constantly refuse to listen to God. It is not that God has become unmerciful, but that man has become totally unreceptive.

Verses 12-13

God’s Harvesting Of His Own (Isaiah 27:12-13 ).

In the day when Yahweh acts He will ‘beat out’ (a harvesting term) His people from the flood of the Euphrates down to the Wadi of Egypt, gathering them one by one. A great trumpet will blow and those who were perishing in Assyria, or who were outcasts (refugees) in Egypt will come back to their land and worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Analysis.

· And it will come about in that day that Yahweh will beat out (‘his herbs’ or ‘his corn’ or ‘his olives’ should be understood) from the flood of the River to the Wadi of Egypt (Isaiah 27:12 a).

· And you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel (Isaiah 27:12 b).

· And it will come about in that day that a great trumpet will be blown (Isaiah 27:13 a).

· And they will come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem (Isaiah 27:13 b).

Isaiah 27:12

‘And it will come about in that day that Yahweh will beat out (‘his herbs’ or ‘his corn’ or ‘his olives’ should be understood) from the flood of the River to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.’

In the day of God’s working, which began at the first coming of the King and will continue through to His second coming, God’s work of harvesting will go on. His people will be gathered and harvested, and it will be accomplished one by one. As Jesus Himself declared in His day, the fields were white already for harvest (John 4:35). The harvest-time had begun (compare Matthew 9:37-38; Luke 10:2; Matthew 13:3-50).

‘Thresh/beat out -’. No object is found in the Hebrew. Thus the verb refers to harvesting, but we are not told of what. See for its use in Isaiah 28:27 - of herbs; in Deuteronomy 24:20 - of olives; in Judges 6:11; Ruth 2:17 - of grain. Compare Isaiah 17:6; Isaiah 24:13, where, however, a different verb is used. Cha^bat is the word commonly applied to the knocking out of fruits with husks, which were too tender and valuable to be threshed. Such fruits, as the prophet himself affirms in Isaiah 28:7, were knocked out carefully with a stick, and would have been injured by the violence of ordinary threshing. Thus God will deal gently with them.

‘From the flood of the River to the Wadi of Egypt.’ This is often the ideal description of the extent of the promised land (Genesis 15:18; Exodus 23:31), thus indicating all His true people. So God will search the land for His people, and ‘beat them out’, removing the husks and making them ready for use, preparatory to summoning those in exile in Egypt and Assyria. Although the thought may be that these boundaries are intended to signify Assyria and Egypt as the place where His people are, and may simply mean ‘from north and south’. This gathering of the harvest began in the ministry of Jesus and the Apostles, whose ministry reached out over these areas. And both Assyria and Egypt were among the first to become aware of the presence of the King, and to have the opportunity to respond to His call. And from there He gathered His true people one by one, preparing them to be a holy people and a kingdom of priests to the world (Exodus 19:6). As the Apostles declared, it was the ministry of ‘the last days, the end of the ages’

(Note: We must stress again that the fact that ‘that day’ and ‘the end of the ages’ began at the resurrection is vital and is clearly stated in Scripture. ‘He was revealed at the end of the times for your sake’, says Peter (1 Peter 1:20), so that he can then warn his readers ‘ the end of all things is at hand’ (1 Peter 4:7). So to Peter the first coming of Christ began the end times spoken of by the prophets. In the same way Paul says to his contemporaries ‘for our admonition, on whom the end of the ages has come’ (1 Corinthians 10:11), and declares ‘the day is at hand’ so that we are to walk ‘as in the day’ (Romans 13:11-13). What could be clearer? The first coming of Christ was the end of the ages promised by the prophets, not the beginning of a new age. The writer to the Hebrews also tells us ‘He has in these last days spoken to us by His Son’ (Hebrews 1:1-2), and adds ‘once in the end of the ages has He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself’ (Hebrews 9:26-28). So all those early writers saw their days as ‘the last days’, for they knew that they had ushered in the final activity of God before the end. End of note).

Isaiah 27:13

‘And it will come about in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and they will come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.’

This second illustration, following on the first, likens the gathering of God’s people from abroad to the blowing of a great trumpet rallying the people (compare Numbers 10:1-10). Note their condition, ready to perish, outcasts. They are those who recognise their true condition and are seen by the world as nothings. But God will call them from both north and south and they will come to ‘the holy mountain at Jerusalem’ to worship. They are His chosen ones, His elect.

We note that Babylon is not in mind. Assyria was still the powerful nation to the north, and was the place to which exiles have been taken, and, as ever, Egypt was the nation of the south, containing refugees.

But the overall idea is that God’s people will gather from wherever they are. This occurred literally once Cyrus declared that people could go back to their homelands, and continued figuratively in the proclamation of the Gospel by Paul and others in Jewish synagogues around the world, as God’s people were gathered back to their true source. The ‘holy mountain at Jerusalem’ is Mount Zion, symbolic of God’s heavenly dwelling-place, and ever the focal point of the worship of His people both physically and spiritually (Galatians 4:26).

Some refer the ‘great trumpet’ to the trumpet of Jubile in Leviticus 25:9, the introduction of the great year of deliverance. And that is possible. But that was not said to be a ‘great trumpet’, and the likelihood here therefore is that the emphasis is more on the heavenly and unique nature of the trumpet. In the end therefore this represents God’s summons, the final trumpet, the ‘last trump’, which will gather all His people to the heavenly Jerusalem (which was what the holy mountain at Jerusalem represented) and the everlasting kingdom (Matthew 24:31; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16) pictured in terms of the thought forms of Isaiah’s day.