Leviathan, the twisted serpent meets the sword of God’s wrath
Who or what is Leviathan? In the last days, God will use his sword of wrath to judge the red dragon. Isaiah calls him Leviathan.
Isaiah’s ‘Leviathan’ is also called the piercing or the twisted serpent. It will be a disguise worn by Satan. It’s the fallen angelic being who organized a rebellion against God over six thousand years ago. This leviathan creature, for lack of a better phrase, will be crushed in defeat in the last days. The Lord’s ‘glittering sword’ will be raised against him.
This article, featuring the mysterious Leviathan, is another in an eventual sixty-six-plus series of articles covering the entire book of Isaiah. I’ll continue all the way to the end of the Prophet’s book. He spoke and wrote to the people of Israel, but as was usual back then, they didn’t listen very well to the prophet’s words.
Let’s learn from their bad example.
Isaiah 27:1 Leviathan, the piercing serpent
“In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.”
“In that day.” This is the day of God’s vengeance when all his enemies will be defeated. The time of Jacob’s trouble. The Old Testament prophets wrote about often ‘that day.’ That will last roughly three and a half years and then the end will come to Satan’s revolt against God. The serpent, Satan, has not been defeated, though some preachers say he is. He is still free to influence the world. A quick peek at the headlines in the news every day will make that very obvious.
The word “Leviathan,” in Job 3:8, is where the word first occurs in the Bible. The dragon is a symbol of Satan. (Psalm 91:13; Isaiah 51:9; Revelation 12:7, 9), The prince of darkness. God’s sword of vengeance is used to punish Leviathan. These verses in Revelation show the Lord defeating the dragon in the final battle of Armageddon. (Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10) The sword of the Lord is first seen in the Book of Deuteronomy, where it is called a glittering sword. (Deuteronomy 32:41) We also see the Bible described as the sword of the Spirit, and the Word of God described as quick and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword, Ephesians 6:17
Isaiah 27:2 Time to sing
“In that day, sing you unto her, a vineyard of red wine.”
Isaiah transitions quickly to great news. When Leviathan, that devil incarnated in a dragon of some sort rises up out of the sea, it will be a time of great rejoicing. The vineyard of the Lord was rejected by God over two-thousand years ago. (See here.) The fruit was bad. The Lord Jesus with his strong sword will destroy Satan who brought death and sin into the world. The devil is that old serpent, who met Eve in the Garden of Eden. The world today is a fruitless, worthless wilderness now but when Jesus returns he will restore it to a place of beauty.
Isaiah 27:3 The Lord keeps his vineyard
“I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.”
The Lord promises to care for the vineyard once the enemy is defeated. Isaiah 26:3, Isaiah 42:6, Isaiah 49:8, Psalm 121:5). Vineyards need considerable care and a watchful gardener to ensure it continues to produce good fruit. (Song of Solomon 2:15). Towers were often built to enable the caretaker to watch for danger. (Isaiah 5:2; Matthew 21:33). The Lord will attend to it every moment Isaiah 5:6,
Isaiah 27:4 The Lord is eager for the final battle
“Fury is not in me. Who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.”
God’s fury against his people will finish. They were scattered to the four winds and to many nations. Currently, they are back in the land of promise but they are not living in obedience. He will restore the nation and begin to rebuild. Even if God’s enemies were to set brush and thorns on fire to prevent the Lord’s rescue, it would be to no avail. He will march through any obstacle to rescue his people.
Isaiah 27:5 Repentance is the best choice
“Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.”
This is a great picture of God’s grace. In the prior verse, he says he will march through barriers of burning thorns to rescue his Chosen Ones. No mercy will be shown to those who resist him, but–this verse also shows the merciful heart of God. We can resist him or grab ahold of him and find salvation. It’s not a hard choice when we consider the long-term consequences. Unfortunately, it’s the short-term effects that keep people from choosing God. “What will people think of me?” “Will others think I’m foolish?”
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The door is still open
If the “thorns and the briers” don’t want to fight against God, they can choose a different path. They can “lay hold of God’s strength,” placing themselves under his protection, in order to “make their peace with him.” Repent! God still pleads with his enemies to stop striving against him. The door of repentance is still open.
Isaiah 27:6 Israel shall blossom
“He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit..”
With Leviathan defeated, that old serpent, the Chosen People of God can blossom. There won’t be a continual assault on God’s people. This is the beginning of the Millennial age. I have a lot to share about this phase in God’s plan, but I’ll save that for another time. It will be beyond fabulous. The Israel of God, his vineyard will grow and produce fruit that will bless the entire world. The fruit is much more than grapes and olives. The fruit of Godly lives, good living, and loving one’s neighbor will become the new normal. Their restoration and re-birth will become what the Bible calls, “the riches of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:12; Hosea 14:6)
Isaiah 27:7 Does God punish for revenge?
“Has he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?”
The structure of these two sentences is a little challenging. The original language isn’t much better but we can take a stab at the meaning. The Lord smote Israel. He judged them. Was he being too harsh? When he let other nations judge them was that too much? Also, this verse could be asking if God has punished His people as severely as He has punished the enemies whom He used to chastise Israel. The answer to that is no.
Israel will be restored after their final trials. Many, such as Babylon and Leviathan will never see restoration.
Isaiah 27:8 God brought a strong wind
“In measure, when it shoots forth, you will debate with it; he stays his rough wind in the day of the east wind.”
Often, just using another translation can provide an easier understanding of a challenging verse. But on the other hand, we still need to be careful that those “easier” translations don’t lose some of the original meaning.
English Standard Version
Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them; he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind. We might say that the Lord, bit by bit added punishment to the nation of Israel. He judged them with a strong wind.
Isaiah 27:9 The sins of Jacob purged
“By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk-stones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.”
That bit-by-bit chastisement from the Lord over the years will accomplish its intended purpose. The “iniquity of Jacob” will be purged. But we should be clear in understanding the meaning here. Only the blood of Christ can purge a person’s sins. The long years of chastising for the Nation of Israel only leads them to the point to which they will be ready. When the Lord Jesus arrives as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Jewish people will finally recognize him as their awaited Messiah. I mentioned the Millennial age earlier. This recognition of their Messiah will result in them finally fulfilling their God-given role during that time of peace when Christ reigns.
Isaiah 27:10 The strong cities will be destroyed
“Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation is forsaken and left like a wilderness; there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.”
An important key to helping us understand this verse is found in Isaiah 25:2, The same phrase occurs. The “defenced city” or cities are those which belong to strangers or the enemies of God’s people. We see the contrast between the strong cities that will become forsaken and Jerusalem which will be lifted up and glorified with God’s presence. The picture of calves feeding in the middle of the forsaken cities presents a picture of animals feeding in areas that once bustled with human activity. It’s not a total ruin but normal human activity is greatly diminished. Isaiah 13:21-22.
Isaiah 27:11 Dead branches will be discarded
“When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off; the women come and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding; therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor.”
The Lord’s swift sword of judgment will break Leviathan, the twisted serpent. The huge task of clean-up will begin. This clean-up can and will include the cities of the strangers from the previous verse. Some cities will become desolate, while others will be salvageable. Also, the country of Israel, occupied and trodden under foot by the armies of the Antichrist, will need a fresh ‘make-over’ as well.
“In Isaiah 10:33-34, God goes into battle against the great trees, lopping the boughs from them with his ax. Here the undergrowth feels the shriveling heat of his anger.” Grogan
Isaiah 27:12 The people of Israel will be revived
“In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel.”
The Lord defeats Leviathan, the piercing serpent. The devil receives a set of unbreakable chains. Those chains bind him in hell for a thousand years. The Hebrew nation can finally live in peace with the other nations of the world. Judah and all of Israel will finally reach their full potential. They will claim their ideal boundaries once promised to Abraham.
Isaiah 27:13 The great trumpet will sound
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.”
Leviathan goes down and the great trumpet sounds. This verse is very interesting. Very interesting.
What is this great trumpet?
Some thoughts on the great trumpet.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
The symbolism had a probable origin in the silver trumpets which were used in the journeys of the Israelites “for the calling of the assembly and for the journeying of the camps” (Numbers 10:1-10), and which were solemnly blown in the year of Jubilee on the eve of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 25:9). It re-appears in the Apocalyptic eschatology of Matthew 24:31; 1Corinthians 15:52; 1Thessalonians 4:16, standing there, as here, for any great event that heralds the fulfillment of a Divine purpose. That purpose, in this instance, is the proclamation of the Year of Redemption, the restoration of the dispersed of Israel from the countries of their exile, of which, as in Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 19:23, Assyria and Egypt are the two chief representatives. (Comp. Zephaniah 3:10.)
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 13. – The great trumpet shall be blown; rather, a great trumpet (comp. Matthew 24:31; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). This imagery, and the return of the Israelites from Egypt and Assyria point rather to the final gathering of Israel into the Church triumphant than to the return from the Babylonian captivity. Egypt and Assyria were certainly not the countries from which they came chiefly at that time. But they are the countries from which they will chiefly come when Jehovah “sets his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people” (Isaiah 11:11). The outcasts (comp. Isaiah 11:12).
What is the answer to this challenging question? Is it the seventh trumpet of those found in the Book of Revelation? Is it the pre-tribulation rapture? What about a pre-wrath rapture trumpet sounding?
A lively debate could stir but I’ll leave that for another article.
Let me know what you think.