Isaiah on Tuesday is BACK, Yo!

We return to "That Day" with Isaiah 27, what the NIV titles as "Deliverance of Israel", but I can't say I really like the NIV's section titles.

Isaiah starts this one off like an action thriller with the leviathan being slayed:

1 In that day,
the LORD will punish with his sword,
his fierce, great and powerful sword,
Leviathan the gliding serpent,
Leviathan the coiling serpent;
he will slay the monster of the sea.

But Isaiah continues with another "In that Day", saying that Israel will become like a fruitful vineyard, filling the world with fruit. It is a vineyard without briars or thorns - yet even if something came against it the LORD would rather it make peace than confront destruction.

Yet, the promise comes before the judgment in this passage. Israel WILL become fruitful, but the atonement must be made first and what is that atonement? Destruction of idols and the symbols and places of their worship. Turn back to me, God is saying, and you will become as a garden, tended, weeded and protected.

God desires undivided attention and the place of worship is a good place. When we go there we find it is a shelter and a refuge. A cool place from the heat of the desert, a fruitful place. The trumpet calls us there - are we willing to do what it takes to go?