Isaiah 33:13-16 are designed to help us be sure that we are the kinds of people who will be able to withstand the scrutiny of a holy God.  Allow the question and answer format to flesh out meaning.  Verse 15 describes the kind of person that is created by saving faith.  V. 16 begins to show the quality of life the righteous-by-faith enjoy.  Isaiah’s purpose continues: God will destroy all who rebel against Him and will deliver all who trust Him; all who trust Him, however, must look like Him.  V. 14 describes our Lord’s terrifying holiness in action.  Faith in Christ leads to a Spirit-empowered righteousness.  It’s true of every true Believer.

In the middle of an address to Israel’s enemy, we read Isaiah wording a prayer for us (Isaiah 33:1-6).  It’s a prayer that Believers pray when they are in the middle of difficult circumstances.  Like many Psalms, Isaiah’s prayer is designed to teach us how to pray.  Following the grammatical and syntactical rules reveals that the largest section (vv. 3-6) explains a reason for praying and trusting God (“we wait for you” in v. 2).  One of my favorite phrases in all Scripture is found in v. 6, “and he will be the stability of your times.” If we believe who God is and what He has promised for us, then we will readily ask Him to “be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.”

Isaiah 30:18-26 records an encouraging report about our Lord waiting to give us His best gifts.  It proved to be very applicable for a Christmas Day message.  The preaching portion included not only what God will do, but also how His people will respond.  It is this future look that contains information on how genuine Christians respond to God now.  In Isaiah, this type of response guarantees that God’s people will escape destruction and be completely delivered in the Day of the Lord.  Verses 20-21, for instance, describe a new capacity to see and hear.  Spirit-controlled Christians have this capacity now.  That leads to an inevitable change of lifestyle (v. 22) as genuine Christians do away with their idolatry.  Contrast this response of the godly with Revelation 9:20-21 where we read of those who “did not…give up worshiping…idols…”  The ethical sections of prophetic material instruct the Church by showing how genuine Believers live life now while they wait for their Lord’s return.

Isaiah 28 closes with a parable.  Like New Testament parables, one key to interpreting them is to note repetition (in this case the idea of being taught by God in vv. 26 and 29).  The successful farmers believe in God’s ways and farm their land accordingly, unlike God’s people.  Isaiah was addressing God’s people, many of whom, were not trusting and obeying God.  That’s the point of this section: God’s people are encouraged to believe and obey God’s word like the farmers in the parable do.  Verse 29’s description of our Lord is designed to drive us to depend on Him for guidance and direction through life.  Remember that Isaiah is continuing to urge God’s people to stop the trend of looking more and more like society and less and less like their Savior.  Meaning for parables are often disclosed through the law of end stress (what comes last is important).  This certainly is true in 28:29.  We shouldn’t forget at Christmas time that this description of God first occurred back in Isaiah 9:6 where it points to our Savior, the Son given to us.