Isaiah 32

CHAPTER 32THEME: The coming King, the coming Tribulation, and the coming SpiritThis chapter is a bright note between the fifth and sixth woes; it is a ray of light to God’s people in a dark place in that day. It has been some time since the person of the King has been before us, but we find Him introduced again at this point, for there can be no Millennium or blessing to this earth without Him.

Isaiah 32:1

THE KING WHO IS TO REIGNThis verse projects into the Kingdom Age. The King is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. The character of His reign is righteousness. The world has never had a kingdom like this so far.

Isaiah 32:2

The Lord is not only King, He is also a Savior-King. He bore the winds and tempest of the judgment of sin for us. He is a Rock for our protection. He was set before us in Isa_26:4 as “everlasting strength” or the Rock of Ages (in Hebrew YAH). This is another aspect of His ministry under the figure of the rock. He is a place of hiding for believers in our day also.

Isaiah 32:3

In other words, there will be spiritual understanding given to all of God’s people. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face …” (1Co_13:12). True spiritual values will then be ascertained and made obvious. And that which should have top priority will have top priority. In our day moral values are gone. One of the great problems in this country is that we have lost the sense of moral values. For many years now our schools have been teaching the evolutionary theory which makes man an animal.

Moral values are not taught. If you advocate law and order and a high state of morality, you are considered a square, a back number, and somehow not as smart as are the sophisticated and clever crooks. Therefore, the feeling is, “Let’s not listen to that old stuff.” Well, the “old stuff” is going to be the future stuff also, because the earth will have a King reigning in righteousness. Then the moral values will come back into place.

Isaiah 32:5

I love thisit is about as up to date as we can get. We have today what are known as the limousine liberals. The rich, for the most part, are liberal. Why? They already have their wealth which is not being taxed, but the middle man is being taxed unmercifully to pay for new projects that the rich are promoting. You can be sure of one thing: the rich man could afford to be liberal. Lazarus sat on the floor and caught the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. That rich man was liberalhe was very liberal with his crumbsbut that was all. In our day a “vile person” is called liberal. In that day a vile person will no longer be called liberal, because he will be seen for what he really is. He is a villain, and his heart will work iniquity. The human heart is desperately wicked. Everything in that future day will be seen in its true colors. There will be no false values. Every man will be seen for what he is. There will be no “putting on a front” or assuming what they are not. The mask of hypocrisy will be removed. This, of course, applies to everyonenot only to Christians. The biggest hypocrites are actually not in the church. They are all those who pretend to be something they are not. All of this will take place when the King comes who will reign in righteousness.

Isaiah 32:9

THE PRECEDING TIME OF TROUBLEBefore Christ, the King, comes to reign, there will be a time of trouble, which will be the Great Tribulation. Why does he say this? Because naturally women are more sensitive than men, and they sense danger before a man does. My friend, every man before he goes into business partnership or any kind of partnership should let his wife meet the person who is to be his partner. She is apt to give him a true evaluation of his nature and character. In my home I try to maintain my place as the head of the house, but I have discovered over a period of years that I am no judge of human character. Time after time my wife has said to me, “Well, you misjudged that person.” Either I put confidence in someone when I should not have, or I failed to recognize that certain people are really wonderful folk.

So I have learned that the best thing to do is to listen to her, especially in the evaluation of character. Now God says that in the days prior to the Tribulation period women will become so insensible that they will not recognize the danger that is coming. It is quite interesting that there will be women living in pleasure in that day to such extent that they will have no sense of coming judgment.

Isaiah 32:15

THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRITNow we come to the third division: the promise of the Spirit to be poured out in the last days. Here is a case where you need to pay attention to the development of prophecy in the Word of God. When will the Spirit be poured out? The Spirit will be poured out during the Millennium when Christ reigns. That is going to be the greatest time of spiritual blessing and turning to Christ, for at that time He will be reigning in person. That doesn’t mean that every knee is going to bow to Him at that time. Every knee will bow to Him eventually, but the Kingdom will be a time of testing.

Joel mentions it: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit” (Joe_2:28-29). This looks forward to the coming Kingdom. This prophecy was not fulfilled at Pentecost nor any time since then. In Act_2:15-21 Peter quotes from Joe_2:28-29 and explains the passage. Peter did not say that Pentecost was a fulfillment of the prophecy in Joel, but that Pentecost was similar to what Joel described. The people who were filled with the Holy Spirit in Peter’s day were ridiculed as being drunk early in the morning. Now that could happen in Los Angeles today, but people did not get drunk in the morning in Peter’s day. Peter was saying that what was happening at Pentecost was similar to what would take place during the millennial Kingdom. What Joel and Peter described will take place during the Kingdom Age when the Lord pours out His Spirit upon all flesh. On the Day of Pentecost it was poured out on only a few people, but it was similar to that which will occur during the Millennium. Joel’s prediction was of tremendous phenomena: “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come” (Joe_2:30-31). My friend, these tremendous signs have never yet taken place. Notice also that Joel predicted, “… and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams …” (Joe_2:28). Today our young people are not fulfilling this prophecy, and our old men are in a retirement place playing golf. These things did not happen on the Day of Pentecost, neither are they happening today. This prophecy looks forward to the coming Kingdom. There is always a danger of pulling out a few verses of Scripture and trying to build on them a system of prophecy. We are just to let the Word of God speak to usline upon line and precept upon preceptas He wants to do it. This is the way God gives it to us.