He Will Gather Up the Scattered

Isaiah 27:12-13

The year 2024 has dawned. God has blessed us with a new year.

On this New Year’s Day, I want to preach from God’s Word in Isaiah 27:12-13. The passage starts with this declaration in verse 12:

“In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered up one by one.”(Isaiah 27:12)

Here “The flowing Euphrates” in Hebrew is“מִשִּׁבֹּ֥לֶתהַנָּהָ֖ר,” which means a flowing stream. So it can either be translated “a flowing stream” or “the Euphrates;”the Revised New Korean Standard Versionand many English Bibles adopt the latter translation. The Euphrates River flowed through ancient Babylon and Assyria. Accordingly, “the flowing Euphrates” in the verse refers to Babylon or Assyria, the greatest empires in Mesopotamia at the time. “The Wadi of Egypt” of course symbolizes Egypt.

In other words, today’s Scripture is God’s proclamation that He will gather the people of Israel one by one from Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt. Since the period of Israel’s slavery in Egypt differs from that of its captivity in Babylon and Assyria, this verse is God’s message that transcends time.

What does it mean that God will gather His people like this?

Today’s passage is the conclusion of Isaiah 24-27, sometimes called “The Little Apocalypse of Isaiah.” This Little Apocalypse records the great epic of God scattering the Israelites and then gathering them again to make the story complete. It tells the story of God’s great plan to judge, restore, and to ultimately save.

It starts with a message of judgement by God scattering His people in 24:1:

“See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants–” (Isaiah 24:1)

Scattering the people was certainly God’s judgement. The reason for His judgement is obvious. His people broke their covenant with Him. But God did not end things at mere judgement and punishment. God punishes his people but never deserts them—because He is a faithful God who keeps His promise.

In today’s passage God gathers His people again after scattering them. He is telling us through today’s text that He will gather those He has scattered. Therefore, His time of gathering is a time of grace and restoration.

1. He will gather up the scattered: God’s willful proclamation that He will give grace

The first significance of God’s message of gathering the scattered is that it is a proclamation of His will that He will now give His people grace, not punishment or judgement. This is not because the Israelites did something good. Neither is it because their attitude changed. It is God’s grace, His gift.

God declares that the time of judgement and punishment has passed, and the time of grace has come. God has already decided to gather His people. And He proclaims this.

I pray that all of us will experience His restoring grace in 2024. I hope that we will have His endless grace this year.

1. He will gather up the scattered: God’s willful proclamation that His people will return to the Promised Land

The second significance of God’s proclamation that He will gather up the scattered is this: His people will return to the Promised Land. God is proclaiming that the Promised Land will be returned to His people, who had received it as a covenant but failed to enterit and wandered and who have yet to settle in the Land and eat its produce.

Yesterday, the last day of 2023, I preached about the meaning of land. The Israelites were to say these words to God every time they came to God at harvest:

“Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: ‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor.Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression.So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders.He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey;’” (Deuteronomy 26:5-9)

God is saying that He will let His people return to this very land. What is this land? It is the land where God’s eternal promise rests. God’s people are getting that very land as a gift. They are being given the chance to work that land. God, in other words, opens up a way for us to live. May this be your blessing this year.

III. God will gather the scattered: God’s invitation to His feast

The third significance of gathering up the scattered has to do with what He will do after He has gathered His people. His plans are revealed in verses 25:6 and after:

“On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine– the best of meats and the finest of wines.On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 25:6-8)

By proclaiming that He will gather His people God is saying He will now have compassion on them. He will now feed them with the richest foods, take away their pain, wipe their tears, even destroy death, and remove their disgrace.

The above verses seem to foreshadow the ministry of Jesus Christ that was accomplished by His Incarnation, death, and resurrection. They well describe how God prepares a feast and waits for us.

God who gathers the scattered does not gather His people for no reason, but does so to give them the land as a gift and prepares a feast for them. He gives them the finest wines, destroys the shrouds, and wipes their tears. This feast is not just any feast held for just eating and drinking; at it, there will be healing, and death will be destroyed. Disgrace will be removed, and shrouds will be lifted.

This passage reveals God’s plan and desire to prepare such a feast for His people.

1. God will gather up the scattered: God’s call for worshipers

Why then does God want to gather His people to the holy mountain? Today’s text tells us the reason:

“And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.”(Isaiah 27:13)

Then do God’s people automatically become worshipers once they have returned to the holy mountain?

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.’” (Jeremiah 29:11-14)

No. They must first seek Him and find Him. Then they will become worshipers. Then they will be brought back from captivity and become worshipers.

God seeks worshipers. He seeks those who seek Him. Centuries later, Jesus talked about seeking worshipers too.

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)

As we mediate on God who gathers up the scattered, I hope that we will all be invited to God’s feast in 2024. I also hope that true, holy worship will be restored. When true worship is restored, we will experience God’s grace, that is, the grace of receiving and entering the Promised Land.