Isaiah describes Israel’s future in this passage. He is inviting Judah (and us) to imagine a future that looks very different from their present circumstances. But to press in to that, we have to look back to understand their circumstances then. This vision is given as a promise to a people who have asked for help and asked for hope. Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 33: 17-24 are a response to the specific, historic, time-bound situation of Isaiah 33:1-16.
The promises in these verses are a response to that situation, but go far beyond that in presenting a vision of future hope. The promises tell us what sort of king Christ Jesus is, what His rule meant for the defeated people of Judah, and what it means for us today.
(A) The King in His Kingdom: the total end of terror
To understand today’s passage, it is important for us to understand the context. At this point, God’s people had been defeated and betrayed by Assyria. The Assyrian threat is a time in Judah’s history attested to by Scripture and by historical artifacts. Judah under the reign of King Hezekiah had lost all of its fortified cities to Assyria (1 Kings 18:13). Assyria had reached Lachish (2 Chr 32:9) or was nearing Jerusalem. Judah asked Assyria for mercy and Assyria was agreeable if they provided silver and gold.
So Judah took 300 talents of silver from the temple and the treasury (1 Kings 18:15), and 30 talents of gold stripped from the temple doors and doorposts (1 Kings 18:16) and fulfilled Assyria’s terms. Except that there was no happy ending. Isaiah 33:8 wrote of how “covenants are broken” (Isa 33:8) as Sennacherib continued the attack and marched on Jerusalem anyway to demand its surrender (Isa 36).
The tragedy of the temple being stripped may be lost on modern believers like us who have never had a temple to treasure. Instead, imagine someone entering your church, getting the grandmas and grandpas to line up, and clipping the crosses off their necks to melt them down. Going into their homes, taking the crosses that had been handed down for generations, breaking off steeples from a church, knocking out the stained glass windows. Something sacred, something precious, had been violated for this treaty to be made. And after Judah had broken their hearts for the hope of peace, their diplomats go to Assyria, hand over the heart-breaking price of peace, and get laughed at.
This explains the wailing and weeping of Isaiah 33:7-8. But in the midst of this complete crisis for Judah, God through Isaiah promises to judge wrongdoers and to dwell with His people, which is a cause for celebration.
Yet as God drew near, His own people felt a strange anxiety. They experienced fear, and trembling. Friends, that’s where Isaiah 33:16 left us: God’s people realise that they are themselves counted among the wrongdoers for they do not have clean hands or clean hearts. This realisation comes out from them like a cry: Who can possibly dwell with the One who is a consuming fire? (Not me). Who can dwell with the everlasting burnings? (Not me) But He is coming. What now?
Isaiah 33:16 leaves us on that haunting question of how can they dwell in God’s presence, and it is now time to hear the rest of Isaiah’s prophecy in this chapter.
What scene is being set for us in Isaiah 33:17? We have a personal and vivid vision of the king in His kingdom (Zion). Two things can be seen in Isaiah 33:17 — the king (in his beauty) and the kingdom – a land that stretches afar, what the CSB translates as a “vast land”.
This section is full of personal and vivid promises, for e.g., “your eyes will see”, “your heart will muse”, “you will see no more”, “your eyes will see”. A promise is being made by God, through Isaiah, of a personal and vivid future experience. Notice also the use of the word “your”. We will look at these actions words in detail, but notice how Isaiah is speaking to his defeated & weary countrymen — your eyes, your heart, your eyes. In using such vivid words, Isaiah is really stirring their hearts up — see, not see, muse — almost inviting them to taste the vision of future hope.
This promise corresponds to their plight: If you recall our history recap earlier, Assyria had attacked and attacked and Judah was cooped up and crammed into Jerusalem to hide, but now they would see a land that stretches afar. They had seen King Hezekiah in grieving clothes as Assyria knocked on their door (2 Kings 19) — now they would see the king in his beauty. The vision is a complete reversal of their current crisis. And at the center of the vision is the king, and all around him, further than the eye can see, is the broad place where he reigns – the kingdom.
Zion is also the place of restoration and promise and meeting with God. “Behold Zion” — the vast land that stretches afar has a name. It is Zion! Zion is an important place to the Jewish audience. In Psalm 2:6, we learn that this is where the king is installed, crowned, placed, set, established, on Zion. It is the place of royal joy because it is the place where their promised king will be. It is the city of their ‘appointed feasts’ - meaning it is where their key religious occasions or festivals like Passover, Day of Atonement take place. This is a sacred place.
But more than that, Leviticus 23 also tells u how the feasts involved presenting offerings to God, and often meant the people stopping work and eating with each other. Effectively, it meant that they were to behold Zion, the city of our scheduled times or meals with God and each other. Zion was a sacred place for meeting with God, and where their royal hopes were housed.
The future vision in these verses is of a king, in their sacred and special place Zion. King and kingdom. The one who reigns and the place in which he reigns. The next question on their minds, and the question that we might have is, what is life like in this king’s kingdom? By now they had memories of king David, experience with King Ahaz and Hezekiah, so, what is this promised kingdom like?
In Isaiah 33:18, Isaiah mentions a terror. Isaiah acknowledges their collective memories of past terror where they counted and weighed the tribute (c.f. 2 Kings 18). They also “counted the towers”, in reference to when Hezekiah raised towers as part of the defence against Sennacherib, other translations have “spied out defenses”, i.e. Assyrian scouts reporting the strength of Judah.
The people were also described as insolent and of obscure speech (Isa 33:19). This was similar to what was mentioned in Isaiah 28 – since they would not listen to God’s plain words and instead mocked them (28:10), He would get their attention with a foreign tongue (28:11).
But what is completely surprising is that the terror belongs entirely to the past. How do we know? There is a triple repetition in Isaiah 33:18 of “Where is he”! This indicates that there is a complete vanishing of the terror, in the very place (Zion) where the terror had seized them, that they’re almost in disbelief.
In Isaiah 33:18, we are also told that they will “muse” and other translations have ponder, think on, meditate, go over. What does that describe? A dwelling on, an ability to remember without trauma and without fear. They’re thinking and remembering and they can’t believe it.
Most of us here tonight have not directly experienced war with its fear and terror. We don’t have to – we may have painful experiences from our past, or ongoing ones, that are difficult to dwell on. It still hurts enough that when your mind goes there, it begins to repeat and play out your worst fears. You have to stop thinking before it freezes you up with fear.
For Judah too, that traumatic event seemed like a wound that would never close. Now it is completely closed. You can see the scar – it happened – but the fear that once cruelly gripped them is completely gone. Consider the sort of hope that this picture gave them. In this future, with this king, the terror is gone, belonging only to the realm of memory - it is not forgotten, but it will never frighten you anymore. The terror is removed, and so is the trauma. It is one thing to end a war and retake a territory. It is quite another to fix the mind and deal with the scars of war. You can rescue a hostage, but how do you repair the ways that war can break a person? Here, there is a deep putting to right what has gone wrong.
What would it do for us if we dwelt on God’s ability to mend things? What would it help us pursue or not pursue? What might we be able to slowly let go of? What would it let us forgive that right now seems unforgivable?
Isaiah paints for us a picture of the king’s kingdom that is good. The kingdom of God is not general or abstract or an idea, but precise, active, dynamic. The removal of both the emotion of fear and the experience of terror are part of the king’s work — part of his rule and reign. Old terrors will one day be completely silenced by Him and the future is secured by Him because His reign is active and ongoing.
We have discussed the total end of past terror. But what about the future? Do new terrors await? What can people of this kingdom expect? Isaiah uses two pictures, and the first is that of the immovable tent (Isa 33:20b), which is a surprising choice for stability and security, an end to wilderness wandering.
Now, a tent is not exactly the most assuring dwelling. Most of us might feel vulnerable in a tent, open to animals and enemies. We would certainly prefer the security that “fortresses of rocks” afford in Isaiah 33:16. Tent with it’s design of stakes and cords are usually kept light and mobile. The kind of people who use tents are wilderness people, always on the go. The fact that they use tents usually signals that they are not home yet. Yet this tent is immovable. Its stakes will never be plucked up. The connecting cords will never be snapped or cut. There shall be no more “taking away” to an enemy’s land.
In the Old Testament, the tent was also a place where God would meet with the Jewish people, a heaven-meets-earth place. Judah would have recognized this. In this immovable tent, they do have the LORD dwelling (Isa 33:21a), but unlike Exodus, Deut, Leviticus, Numbers, this tent stays put.
This immovable tent is also described as an “untroubled habitation'“, or as the CSB translates it, a “peaceful pasture”. This flimsy-sounding ‘tent’ will actually be more full of peace than the biggest, tallest, mightiest fortresses that they’ve ever built. The people in this tent, in this Jerusalem, need not fear, because not just past terrors, but future threats have completely ceased.
What this means is that God’s people receive all of the joy of YHWH dwelling but minus the transience, minus the relocation, the wilderness wandering, the uprooting and re-rooting. Their pilgrimage is done. They’re home. Judah then, and us today – we are not home yet. In this promised future, we will finally be fully home.
The second image is that of the safe stream, symbolising abundance without apprehension (Isa 33:21). This is both a picture of abundance, but traditionally also a cause for worry. Big cities have big rivers. Babylon was on the Euphrates, Nineveh on the Tigris, Egypt had the Nile. Jerusalem had nothing and earlier in Isaiah, water scarcity and security was a fear. However, in this picture, they were promised broad rivers and streams. There was an abundance of water, which symbolised more life!
But history teaches us that abundance attracts those who want to possess that life. With abundance comes danger as with broad or big bodies of water comes the possibility of big warships or galleys invading. Australian scholar Barry Webb explained, “the rivers that adorned and enriched the life of such great cities as Nineveh and Babylon also gave access to their enemies”
Isaiah is alive to and perhaps has lived through that fear because it is immediately addressed in Isaiah 33:21b. The moment he mentions big water, he instantly tells you: but not the dangerous sort. Why? Read. Why can’t the war ship pass? Not because of a lack of space, but because the very possibility of war and the weapons of war will be extinguished. These are waters which no hostile ships can use.
If you know the geography and landscape of Israel, you might wonder how a city with no river get a river. Just like Isaiah 18-19, just like the immovable tent, all these promises are future ones. It recalls the description in Genesis 2:10, where a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. It points forward to Revelation 22:1 where John writes, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.” The source of the river is the king’s throne, and you will find no enemies, no war, it simply gives life, and it gives life, and it gives life.
Therefore, if we combine these two pictures together, we see that the immovable tent is an end to wilderness wandering and the safe stream marks abundance without attacks. When you add that together with Isaiah 33:18-19, past terror loses its power and future threats are silenced. Complete security is possible because they dwell with YHWH, as we read about in Isaiah 33:21 — “But there the LORD in majesty will be for us”. God on the throne looks like life for His people.
Why are they so certain and safe? Isaiah 33:22 explains it. The big idea is clear: the LORD holds every office of power in the kingdom — judge, lawgiver and king. He will save! All authority on heaven and on earth is His. This echoes Isaiah 33:6, which doesn’t say that He will bring the stability of your times, but He will be the stability of your times. Not just He will find for you abundance, but He will be your abundance. That’s why a tent can be the safest place. That’s why this place has lost the sting of past terror and is secure from any future threat. Because YHWH, in majesty, is there for us.
As we wrap up this section, these verses give us a picture of what complete security looks like. When the King is in His Kingdom, it brings about the total end of terror and every taste and trace of terror. God’s kingdom is not some place where He defends us against each wave of attacks and heals us when we experience pain. Invasion itself will cease. Pain itself will cease.
What does this mean for us today? We are not in the midst of war like Judah was. But just like Judah, we are called to live lives now in light of and in pursuit of a sure future. If this is what the future will look like – how is my life now, my desires, my actions, bending towards that true future?
If God’s kingdom is the total end of the terrors that I now experience, then when the world crowds in on you now saying: these are the rules, this is how to get ahead at work, manipulation, being harsh, get them before they get you, show you can’t be messed with — you can tell them no sir. I’m headed to a different city, a new land.
This king’s land is a place where all weapons are laid down. That’s always a wonderful thought when applied outwards to those who wish us harm. But it also means preparing, right now, to be the sort of people who will resist every easy temptation to take up arms and thrive through personal might. It is a picture of a people who are not a threat, who when reviled do not revile in return, when made to suffer do not threaten, but continue entrusting themselves to Him who judges justly, to the king in his kingdom.
Preparing to live in that kingdom looks like practicing to become peacemakers. That looks like giving up any desire for revenge, for payback, to let it go. and that can be a hard thing. But there is no room in God’s kingdom for those who insist on living by oppression and the use of power. No room for violence, for vessels or weapons of war.
Since we are headed for that land, to see that beautiful king, it must mean right now letting his promises teach us over and over to let go of any attempt to secure gain by means of personal power. We do it imperfectly. What we can do right now is tiny. But it’s part of something true. It’s part of what the future will look like, without a doubt.
(B) The people of the King: those who are saved into safety
Isaiah 33:23 speaks of cords, mast and sail, and to understand this verse, we need to reach back to Isaiah 33:14-15 to show the gap between the trembling there and the calm of Isaiah 33:17. In Isaiah 33:14, the sinners in God’s city tremble in fear because they do not see how they can dwell with a consuming fire and not be consumed. To do so, they must be the person of Isaiah 33:15-16 — someone perfectly righteous in their steps, their speech, and all they set their heart on. Notice the absolute lack of comparison in the verse. Not he who walks more righteously and speaks more uprightly and who most of the time despises the gain of oppressions. This is not a standard set by comparison with other people. Or to put it in a familiar term, this is not a bell curve. The trembling of Isaiah 33:14 is the trembling of the creature set against the surpassing and perfect holiness of the Creator.
How can the people of Isaiah 33:14 experience the joy of Isaiah 33:17 when the gap between who they are and who they must be is so vast? Something has to happen between Isaiah 33:14-15 and Isaiah 33:17 for Isaiah 33:17 to be true and not just fantasy or wishful thinking. The situation actually sounds worse than before in Isaiah 33:23, where the people are not just far off but are also incapable of taking a single step.
Isaiah 33:23 presents the image of a ship in shambles that cannot sail! The mast is a big wooden pole, that steadies the sails so that they can catch wind. The sail catches the wind and the more spread out the more wind it catches! The cords must be taut and tightly tied to hold the mast firm so it can steady the sail so the sail can catch the wind which moves the ship.
Commentators suggest that the first half of Isaiah 33:23 is a picture of Isaiah’s contemporaries stuck in sin. If Isaiah 33:14-15 illustrate the gap — their distance from where they should be, Isaiah 33:23 illustrates their inability to close that distance or bridge the gap. Barry Webb explains that they are like a stricken ship, totally at the mercy of forces beyond their control. Alec Motyer says, “As a ‘ship’ Zion is crippled”.
No wonder they tremble. Not only are they far away, but when they examine themselves, they can find no means, no resource to get to where they need to be. They are shipwrecked. They hear of that beautiful kingdom we just studied, but cannot move themselves a single step towards it. Yet they are promised that they will find themselves in Zion, not consumed, but looking around in wonder at the king and his kingdom. If they cannot move, how can they get in?
The bridge for that gap comes from outside of them. Advent is the time of year when we wait and remember that the answer for our surpassing need lies in the surpassing gift of God in Christ. The movement from the helplessness of sin into the joy and wonder of salvation is not effected by human might, human ability, human potential, but by a sovereign who saves.
The answer in our text lies in that last clause of Isaiah 33:22 that we did not read earlier. We saw earlier that Isaiah 33:22 provides the reason for the complete security of the king’s people: He holds all power. But His power is not just wielded to secure us, but actually first to save. He will save us. He comes and He gets sinners into the kingdom because He saves. This is the story from the Old Testament to the New Testament.
Deuteronomy 5:15 was a call for Israel to remember that they were once slaves in Egypt, and have been brought out by God “with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm”. In Colossians 1:13, Paul writes that Christians have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son. From Exodus to the New Testament, those who are with the King, in the kingdom, are those who are brought. Don’t miss out the similarities in the language used in both the Old and the New Testaments: brought, delivered, transferred, by another.
How does He do this? How does he save? In Isaiah 33:24 we see that the people who dwell there are those who have been forgiven their iniquity. All who dwell are forgiven without exception.
Along the way we also want to grow and someday say with joy that we are more Christlike, that we serve the King, but first and foremost: If you’re in, you were forgiven. All who belong to this King are marked wholly by His grace.
When we re-read Isaiah 33:22 in this light, we notice the completeness of forgiveness: The One who rules with all power — judge, lawgiver, king — is the One who will save His people. Which means that when forgiveness is offered to sinners in Isaiah 33:24, whoever the sinner might be, forgiveness is full and final. There is no separation of powers — all authority on heaven and on earth is His. So when He tells you that sin is forgiven, there is no review court, no possibility of appeal or override. There’s simply no one higher. It is finished.
This is how the gap is bridged. This is how the King has a people. Finding none who were worthy, He makes them worthy. Their security at the end and the salvation that gets them to the end, across the gap, from death into life, are all of Him. This is Advent — the time when we celebrate how He who is mighty has done a Great Thing.
Do we grasp the wonderful thing that has happened to us? That places us here in this room? Isaiah 33:23-24 describes us. The best of our wisdom, morals and might add up to a sick ship that cannot sail.
We behold the king in his beauty each time we see this anew. It is not that shipwrecks spot their Savior, but that the Savior sees and saves ship wrecks. We are not saved because we sailed better than our family or friends or colleagues. Perish the thought. A temptation is that as Christians, we get along, and get better, by God’s grace, and we forget. We forget the sort of people we were. But Isaiah calls us to remember: we are in the kingdom only because we worship a savior who seeks and saves shipwrecks.
Is there anything more beautiful that such a mighty king should be so mighty in His mercy?
We close with Isaiah 33:23b, where we read that the lame take the prey! Three final thoughts as we close this study. Notice the word “then” at the beginning of the sentence that connects it with the previous thought. At the moment of complete shipwrecked weakness, complete goodness will come their way. This reminds them of their essential and thorough weakness at the time of deliverance.
Next, that image of the “lame taking the prey” might surprise us and defy logic. Shouldn’t it be the lame who are preyed on? This illustrates how upside-down deliverance will feel! Once again, Barry Webb has a great explanation : Any share that we may finally have in the promised blessings will be due to His action, His grace alone.
Lastly, the verse also mentions spoils. Spoils are the fruits of a conquest already past. This indicates that the victory is won, and we have a share by the King’s grace.
And that’s how the passage ends, in Isaiah 33:24. To both of our fallen conditions, God the King brings light and life – light to see our sin and need, and life to our sickness and death.
As you read this very long study, which of God’s promises about His future kingdom stood out to you from this text? How can you begin to participate in God’s promised future now? What is Christ the King inviting you to behold about Him this Advent?