Isaiah 27:1

MORE ON THE FINAL JUDGMENT

As Jamieson noted, "This chapter is a continuation of Isaiah 24; Isaiah 25; and Isaiah 26,"[1] and therefore a conclusion of Division III, all four of these chapters dealing with the eternal judgment.

The outstanding and most challenging thing in the chapter is the very first verse where it is revealed that "in that day" Almighty God will take his terrible sword and slay the principal three enemies of God. The day when that will occur is the final judgment. The scholars like to talk about mythical creatures called Leviathan; and it seems to be certain enough that the three terrible dragons suggested by this passage constituted a part of the mythology of the ancient world; "But it is equally clear that Isaiah is here using these names metaphorically, to describe historical enemies of God."[2]

We are able absolutely to identify these three terrible enemies because of the Revelation to the Apostle John, the last half of which (with the exception of the last two chapters) introduces those three terrible enemies one at a time, and then, in the reverse order, describes the final and total overthrow of each one of them. Thus (1) The great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns was the first introduced and the last to be destroyed.

Revelation 12:9 identifies that "Great Red Dragon" as "The old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world."

(2) The second of God's three greatest enemies was the sea-monster, the terrible enemy of God appearing here (Revelation 13) in the very image of the Devil himself, having "seven heads and ten horns." This creature came up out of the sea and in Revelation is called "the beast," that is the "sea beast" who worshipped the Devil; and the Devil gave his power, his throne, and his authority to the sea beast (Revelation 13:2-8).

(3) The third great enemy of God and of all mankind who was introduced in the Apocalypse of John was also a beast, "coming up out of the earth" (Revelation 13:11); but his horns like a lamb, along with his lying miracles, identify him as a religious beast, referred to subsequently in the Apocalypse as "the false prophet." As someone said, "He was the land-beast, the dirty one!" His utility, however, was exactly that of the sea-beast; he caused all men to worship the sea-beast, and both of them were effective allies of the Devil.

Now it is not difficult to see the correspondence between these three enemies and the three terrible creatures appearing here in Isaiah 27:1. Oddly enough, these three great enemies appear here in the same order that their destruction is prophesied in Revelation. The use of the name "serpent" for the first two (the swift serpent and the crooked serpent) refers to the "beast" and the "false prophet" in Revelation; and the use of "dragon" (KJV), one of the specific names of the Devil himself (Revelation 12:9), refers to Satan.

One of the most exciting and interesting things in all the Bible is the apocalyptic account of the destruction of these same three enemies, in the reverse order of their introduction. Thus (1) the false prophet (false religion) was destroyed in Revelation 17-18; (2) the sea-beast (apostate government hostile to God) was destroyed in Isaiah 19; and (3) the Devil himself was destroyed in Isaiah 20. How were they all destroyed? By being cast into the lake of fire. They were not destroyed separately but all alike simultaneously were cast into hell. The horrible meaning of this is that hostile human government, apostate religion, and the operations of Satan shall continue until the end of time. Anyone who may be interested in the pursuit of this subject will find several hundred pages on the subject in Volume 12 of my New Testament Series of Commentaries (Revelation 12-20).

Isaiah 27:1

Thus we find right here in Isaiah 27:1 what might serve as the topic sentence of the last half of the Book of Revelation!. It is not necessary to suppose that Isaiah himself had any inkling of the full meaning of what God revealed in this verse through Isaiah.

"In that day Jehovah with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the swift serpent, and Leviathan the crooked serpent; and he will slay the monster that is in the sea."

Note that there are three descriptions of God's sword: hard and great and strong. Of course, men know almost nothing about the "sword" of God; but one does not proceed very far in the Bible until it is encountered. Cheyne identified it with the "turning sword by the cherubim,"[3] which God placed eastward in the Garden of Eden "to keep the way of the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24). It is of interest that sea-monster in our version is rendered "dragon" in the KJV and that this is one of the names of Satan (Revelation 12:9).

The mythological background of these great enemies points to the sea, or the Nile river (the same being called the `sea' frequently in scripture) and to two other great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. Dummelow pointed out that:

"The powers hostile to God's people are here symbolically represented as monsters. Leviathan the swift serpent perhaps stands for Assyria, watered by the rapid Tigris, and Leviathan the crooked serpent stands for Babylon, whose river was the winding Euphrates. The dragon (sea-monster) or crocodile stands for Egypt as in Isaiah 51:9."[4]

Cheyne agreed with this, stating that, "Most critics believe that three separate kingdoms are referred to under these symbols, Assyria, Babylon and Egypt."[5] It is significant that none of the critics have ever supposed for a moment that Isaiah gave any credence whatever to any of the myths. Their terminology indeed appears here and there in the Bible, but always in a symbolical or metaphorical sense.

Any argument from passages like this to the effect that Satan is a myth must rank as the height of absurdity. Christ taught his disciples to pray, "Deliver us from the evil one!" (Matthew 6:13).

Kidner believed that the graphic description of the destruction of God's triple enemies on earth, Satan, False Religion, and God-hating Government, as depicted in this verse, "Is the same all-embracing judgment as in Isaiah 24:21, where `the host of heaven' corresponds to `Leviathan' here, as indicated by, `The Devil and his angels' (Revelation 12:7ff)."[6]