Isaiah 30:18 - Meaning and Application

The closing words of the previous paragraph, “You shall be left as a beacon on a mountain,” are understood by some as a promise. They think God meant that a remnant, a small surviving group, would be preserved as signs of his mercy. Others take the opening words here in contrast: “Yet the Lord will wait to be gracious.” Either way, the point is clear. Isaiah has shown that those who trusted Egypt would be shamed, but those who quietly trusted God alone would find comfort in him.

This is a comfort to God’s people when life is very dark. Things may go badly for the wicked, yet it will still go well for those who fear God. The first great truth is this, God will be gracious and have mercy on them. That is the root of every blessing. If God shows us favor, then we can have comfort even after long trouble.

The mercy promised here is described in a very moving way. The Lord “will wait to be gracious” (Isaiah 30:18). He waits until people turn back to him and seek his face, and then he is ready to meet them with mercy. He also waits for the right time, the time that best shows his glory and brings the most joyful surprise to his people. He keeps following them with his favor and does not miss any opportunity to do them good.

He will also stir himself to save them and rise up to help them (Zechariah 2:13). That means he will show himself in a more than ordinary way, with clear power and goodness. In doing this, he will be exalted, meaning he will make his own name known and honored. That is one of his aims in showing mercy to his people.

He will be very gracious, and he answers prayer, which makes his kindness even sweeter (Isaiah 30:19). “He will be gracious to you at the sound of your cry,” whether it is the cry of urgent need or the cry of earnest prayer. When he hears, there is no delay. He answers at once and says, “Here I am.” That is true grace.

In practical terms, those who were troubled in the possession of their land will enjoy it again in peace. Once the danger is past, the people will live in Zion, that is, Jerusalem, as they used to. They will dwell safely and no longer live in fear. Those who had been weeping will have reason to rejoice, and the tears of God’s people in the holy city will be wiped away.

This promise rests on two great truths. First, the Lord is a God of judgment, meaning he is wise, just, and careful in all he does. He keeps his word and is tender toward his people. When he corrects his children, he does so with judgment, with moderation and wisdom, considering what they can bear (Jeremiah 10:24). If we can safely trust our affairs to a man of good judgment, how much more should we commit our way to the God of perfect judgment?

Second, all who wait for him are blessed. These are people who wait on him in prayer and also wait for him in hope. They do not take crooked paths to escape trouble, and they do not rush ahead of God’s timing. Instead, they patiently expect God to act in his own way and at his own time. Because God is completely wise, those who hand their case over to him are truly happy.

They will also no longer lack the means of grace, that is, the help God gives through his word and teachers (Isaiah 30:20, Isaiah 30:21). It is true that they may still face hardship after this deliverance. Though God has promised that they will weep no more and that he will be gracious to them (Isaiah 30:19), he may still give them the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. That is poor, rough food, like a prisoner’s ration (1 Kings 22:27). So one trouble may end, and another may follow soon after.

We should not judge God’s love or anger only by what is happening in front of us. A person may truly belong to God, enjoy his favor, and have enough comfort to keep from weeping, yet still be given hardship to bear. For that reason, outward trouble alone does not tell us whether God loves or hates someone.

Still, God promises that “your eyes will see your teachers.” That means they will have faithful teachers among them, and they will have hearts to value them instead of treating them lightly as before. Then they will be better able to bear the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. Old Puritan writers used to say, “Brown bread and the gospel are good fare.” A lack of food is a serious trouble, but a famine of God’s word is even worse (Amos 8:11, Amos 8:12).

It seems their teachers had been pushed into hiding, likely because of danger in the days of Ahaz, king of Judah. But that will not continue. Truth does not seek corners to hide in, though its teachers may sometimes be forced into corners for safety. It is a sad thing for the church when prophets must hide, like the woman forced into the wilderness (Revelation 12:6), or when fifty prophets are hidden in a cave (1 Kings 18:4). But God will bring his teachers out again and restore them to their public work. Then the people will see their own teachers in the assembly, as the eyes of the synagogue were fixed on Jesus when he read (Luke 4:20). That return will be especially sweet after their long restraint, like light after darkness and life after death.

For all who love God and care for their souls, this recovery of faithful teachers is one of the best parts of deliverance. The promise that they will not be driven into corners again adds much comfort, enough to make even the bread of adversity and the water of affliction easier to bear. But this is still not the whole blessing.

God also promises private guidance and personal warning (Isaiah 30:21). “Your ears shall hear a word behind you,” like someone calling after a traveler who is about to leave the road. This word comes from behind, from one you do not see, but who sees you. Your eyes may see your teachers, but this is a hidden teacher, your own conscience, awakened by God’s grace to do its work.

The message will be simple: “This is the way, walk in it.” When you are unsure, conscience will point you toward your duty. When you are careless or half-hearted, conscience will stir you up to keep walking in that way. God has not left himself without witness, and he has not left us without guides to show us the right path.

This warning will come at the right time, when you turn aside to the right or to the left. We are very likely to lose our way. There are turns on both sides, and some paths look so well marked and straight that they can easily be mistaken for the right road.

There are errors on both sides, and temptation works hard to pull us off the right path. It is a blessing when the private guidance of a faithful minister or friend, the warnings of conscience, or the work of God’s Spirit puts us back on course and keeps us from going astray.

The success of this word is also worth noting. It will not only be spoken, but your ears will hear it. God once spoke, yes, twice, and you did not notice it (Job 33:14). Now you will listen carefully to these quiet warnings and obey them. If God gives us not only the word, but also an ear that hears, and not only the means of grace, but a heart that uses them well, we have reason to call him very gracious. We can also hope that more mercy still lies ahead for us.

They will also be cured of their idolatry, and they will turn against their idols and never make peace with them again (Isaiah 30:22). The deliverance God works for them will show them that it is both wise and right to serve him alone. They will admit that their trouble came because of their idols, and that the trouble was removed on the condition that they not return to them. This is another good result of hearing their teachers and listening to the word behind them, because it will show that they truly benefited from the means of grace they enjoyed. They will give up their favorite sin.

See how foolishly they once clung to their idols in the days when they turned away from God. Idolaters are said to be mad for their idols (Jeremiah 50:38), and that is how eager they were for them. They had carved silver images and cast gold images, and even though gold needs no paint, they still covered and decorated them. They spared no expense to honor their idols.

Now see how wisely “mad” they were against their idols in the day of repentance. They did more than take them down, they smashed them. They did more than smash them, they defiled them. They did more than ruin the shape of them, they threw away the gold and silver they were made of, even though it was valuable and could have been used well. They could not bear to make any useful object from it. The rich clothes their images wore they cast away like a filthy cloth, the kind that made anyone who touched it unclean until evening (Leviticus 15:23).

This is the mark of every true penitent. Sin becomes hateful to them. They hate it, and they hate themselves because of it. They throw it away like garbage, the proper place for it, and even to the cross, because they put the flesh to death. Their cry against it is, “Crucify it.” They say to it, “Go away.” They are resolved never to welcome it again. They put as far from themselves as they can every occasion for sin and every temptation to it, even when it is like a right eye or a right hand. They agree with Ephraim: “What have I to do anymore with idols?” (Hosea 14:8)

This was likely fulfilled in many individual people, who were convinced of the folly of their idolatry when Jerusalem was delivered from Sennacherib’s army and then abandoned it. It was fulfilled in the Jewish nation as a whole when they returned from Babylon, because after that they hated idols. It is also fulfilled every day when souls are converted by God’s power from spiritual idolatry to the fear and love of God. Those who join themselves to the Lord must leave every sin and say to it, “Go away.”

Then God will give them plenty of every good thing. When he gives them their teachers, and they give him their hearts, so that they begin to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all other things will be added to them (Matthew 6:33). When people are brought to praise God, the earth will yield its increase, and God, our own God, will bless us (Psalm 67:5-6). So it is here: “When you abandon your idols, God will give the rain for your seed” (Isaiah 30:23). When we return to God in the way of duty, he meets us with his kindness.

God will give rain for your seed, rain to water what you sow, right when it is needed, as much as it needs, and no more. Notice how human work and God’s blessing join together in the good things we enjoy in this life: you shall sow the ground, that is your part, and God will give the rain for your seed, that is his part. It is the same in spiritual fruit. We must take pains with our hearts, then wait on God for his grace.

The land’s increase will be rich and good, every crop will be of the best kind. It will be fat and full, very fat and very good, rich and plentiful. Their land will truly be like Canaan. This was strikingly true after Sennacherib was defeated, by God’s special blessing (Isaiah 37:30). In this way God would make up for the losses they suffered in that ruin.

Not only the fields, but also the pasturelands will be very fruitful. The cattle will feed in wide pastures, with plenty of room. The oxen and donkeys that stay at work and need stronger feed will eat clean food. They will not be given grain mixed with chaff, as people often did to stretch it out, but good clean grain fit for people, winnowed with a fan. Even the animals will share in the abundance, which is fitting, because they groan under the burden of the curse that man’s sin brought on the earth.

Even the tops of the mountains, which used to be barren, will be so well watered by heaven’s rain that rivers and streams will run there and flow down into the valleys (Isaiah 30:25). This will happen in the day of the great slaughter made by the angel in the camp of the Assyrians, when the towers and siege works they had built against Jerusalem will fall once their army is destroyed. It is likely that this was fulfilled literally, and that around the same time the land also received unusual rains as an act of mercy.

The result of all this will be great comfort and joy for God’s people (Isaiah 30:26). Light will increase, which means either that knowledge will increase, since the prophecies will then be fully understood, or, more likely, that joy will rise. The light of the joy that is stored up for the righteous will then shine out with great increase. The moon’s light will be as bright and strong as the sun, and the sun’s light will increase in the same way, becoming like the light of seven days. Everyone will be much more cheerful and will seem much more pleasant than usual.

There would be a great wave of joy in Judah and Jerusalem when the Assyrian army was destroyed. The Lord would bind up the break in his people, meaning he would not only keep them from being hurt again, but also heal the wounds this invasion had caused and restore what they had lost. Their deep trouble, their loss of hope for rescue, and the suddenness of their deliverance would make their joy even greater.

Many readers have reasonably applied this to the light the gospel brought into the world for those who sat in darkness. That light is far greater than the light of the Old Testament, just as the sun is brighter than the moon. It announces healing for the brokenhearted and the binding up of their wounds.