Season 6, Podcast 79, Isaiah 26:1-21, “Resurrection.”

Season 6, Podcast 79, Isaiah 26:1-21, “Resurrection.”In Chapter 25, Isaiah speaks of the resurrection.Isaiah 25:8He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. Chapter 26 continues the theme of the resurrection. All the children of God who are descendants of Adam and Eve who became subject to the fall will be resurrected. The resurrection is a free gift of God. However, all resurrections are not the same. John speaks of a first and a second resurrection.Revelation 20:4-6And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. As with John, Isaiah defines those who come forth in the first resurrection. The first criterion that Isaiah teaches is that we must be righteous.Isaiah 26:1-2In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.Only those who ‘keep the truth” are righteous because truth, as contained in the Holy Scriptures, is the standard of judgment by which we will be judged.Revelation 20:12-13And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.The next criterion that Isaiah teaches is to trust in the Lord.Isaiah 26:3-4Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength:In Proverbs we read.Proverbs 3:5-6Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.‘Trust in the Lord’ has been a running theme in Isaiah from the beginning. Both the Northen Kingdoms and the Southern Kingdoms fell because they trusted in the arms of flesh and not in the Lord. It was their lack of humility.Isaiah 26:5-6For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.But those who trust in the Lord shall prosper. Those who seek truth shall learn righteousness.