God Is So Holy, Who Can Know Him? (Isaiah 33:13-16).
What Yahweh has done in defeating Assyria and delivering Jerusalem leads on to His depiction of His holiness and power. He is above all and will bring about His will and none but those whom He has chosen and made fit may dwell with Him in His glory, amid the everlasting burnings.
Analysis.
a Hear, you who are far off, what I have done, and you who are near acknowledge my might (Isaiah 33:13).
b The sinners in Zion are afraid, trembling has surprised the godless ones, “Who among us will dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us will dwell with the everlasting burnings?” (Isaiah 33:14).
b He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly. He who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hand from the holding of bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking on evil (Isaiah 33:15).
a He will dwell on high. His place of defence will be the strong places of the cliffs. His bread will be given to him. His waters will be sure (Isaiah 33:16).
In ‘a' the call is by Yahweh to all who are for off or near, to consider what He has done and acknowledge His might, and in the parallel the one who responds rightly will dwell on high and be placed in a fully defensible position, protected from all enemies. In ‘b' the question is put as to who can dwell with the awesome holiness of God, and in the parallel the reply is that it is the one whose life is pure, who walks righteously, speaks uprightly, despises dishonest gain, rejects bribes, shuns violence and closes his eye to evil.
‘Hear, you who are far off, what I have done.
And you who are near acknowledge my might.
The sinners in Zion are afraid.
Trembling has surprised the godless ones.
Who among us will dwell with the devouring fire?
Who among us will dwell with the everlasting burnings?'
The effect of His destruction of the army of Assyria now causes God to challenge the nations. Let all both far and near consider what He has done and acknowledge His power. For what He has done has even awakened the sinners and the godless in Zion to consider their position. It has made them aware of His holiness and power, and of what He essentially is, so that they cry out and ask who can possibly hope to dwell with One Who is so holy that He is like a devouring fire, One Who is like an everlastingly burning flame (compare Deuteronomy 4:11-12; Deuteronomy 4:33; Deuteronomy 4:36; Deuteronomy 5:24-25).
The word for dwell means ‘to dwell as an outsider, an alien'. They have therefore rightfully recognised that those who are strangers to Yahweh and what He is cannot hope to reside in His presence. And they compare themselves with those strangers. For they know that He is a consuming fire of holiness, that He is glorious in holiness, that He is the Holy One of Israel, and can only be truly known by those who have been made holy (compare Isaiah 4:3-4).
The experience described here is similar to that of Isaiah in chapter 6. There Isaiah himself had drawn back in shame and anguish in His awareness of the glory of God, and now the sinners in Zion and the godless ones, which in this context signifies God's people as they are made aware of their extreme sinfulness, do the same.
But the reply comes that there are those who can survive and enjoy His presence, and live with His holiness, and of those we now learn. Compare for this Psalms 15.
‘He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly.
He who despises the gain of oppressions,
Who shakes his hand from the holding of bribes,
Who stops his ears from hearing of blood,
And shuts his eyes from looking on evil.
He will dwell on high.
His place of defence will be the strong places of the cliffs.
His bread will be given to him. His waters will be sure.'
This is the description of the one who can dwell with God's holiness. It is the one who has responded to God and to His covenant, who walks in accordance with God's requirements, and whose word is totally true, honest and reliable. He does not seek to obtain gain by the wrong use of power or influence. When any seek to bribe him, pushing something quietly into his hand, he shakes his hand free. If there is talk of injuring others he stops up his ears from involvement. He closes his eyes against all evil sights and refuses even to look at them.
Such a man can dwell on high spiritually with God (compare Isaiah 57:15), where he will be situated far out of reach of men in a place where he cannot be harmed. He will receive from God all the sustenance he needs, both spiritual bread and water. He will eat of the bread of life, and drink of the water of life (compare Psalms 1). The thought is of him being safe in an impregnable fortress, fully provisioned in every way with a totally safe water supply. He need fear nothing. Here we have the Old Testament equivalent of Paul's ‘heavenly places', the spiritual realm in which His people can live in close contact with Him (see Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 2:6).