Isaiah 27:13
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
The great trumpet is the literal trumpet of God sounded when Christ descends from heaven to gather His scattered and perishing people to worship Him in the holy mount, the New Jerusalem. It will come to pass at the coming of the Son of man in the clouds with power and great glory, when He sends His angels to gather His elect from the four winds and raises the righteous dead and changes the righteous living to immortality to meet the Lord. Those gathered are Abraham's true children by faith in Christ, gathered one by one from among the heathen on every side, with Gentiles as fellow-heirs and partakers of the same promises, so that it is the gathering of all Israel together and not a national, political, or fleshly restoration. This final gathering assures God's persecuted people in the last days that the faithful who endure will be taken home with Him, and needy perishing peoples who confess their deep lack, even in distant heathen lands, are among those He will bring to worship Him.
Historical Setting and Terms
Isaiah 27:13 stands in the first part of Isaiah, chapters 1 to 39, given during Isaiah's active public work as God's messenger to the rulers and people of the nation. It was uttered as one single distinct prophecy published at its own time and occasion and afterward gathered into a collection. It is distinct from chapters 40 to 66, written in his later years and wholly about the future, the deliverance from Babylonian captivity by the named monarch and the deliverance from sin and error through the Messiah and the glory of God's spiritual kingdom and its exalted Founder.
Isaiah's ministry began about 760 B.C. and took place during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Like his other prophecies it spoke to conditions in his own time that resemble those of the last days, so its warnings remain relevant. The chapter belongs to a group of prophecies concerning the earth's destruction and desolation because of sin, and the deliverance of God's children.
The great trumpet blown in that day is the literal trumpet of God sounded when Christ descends from heaven, not the symbolic trumpet of the seventh angel. Its blowing gathers those ready to perish and the outcasts, who come to worship the Lord at Jerusalem. At its sound the righteous dead are raised and the righteous are changed to immortality. The withering and breaking off in the preceding verse is the cutting off of Israel for lack of understanding.
Those ready to perish are those exposed to persecution and deep need. Assyria represents the oppressor and persecutor, and the gathering describes God's persecuted people being brought to worship Him when Christ appears and the faithful who have endured persecution are taken home with Him. The outcasts are those who have made a covenant of peace with Him through a living sacrifice of faith, whom He will gather when He comes with the sound of the trumpet. Distant heathen peoples such as those of China, Sinim, are among those ready to perish, whose fearful cries and crude rites confess deep lack and heart longing and appeal for protection against the evil day that shall try men's souls, a needy, perishing people before whom Christ must be exalted under God's blessing that they may come and worship the Lord.
Worshipping the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem is being brought into the land of Israel, the New Jerusalem.
Final Gathering at Christ's Coming
The verse foretells the future final gathering of Israel at the coming of the Saviour, not a past return from captivity, and this is the only gathering of Israel that remains to fulfill prophecy. It takes place when Christ comes, and includes the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the gathering of the living with them as the gathering of God's elect. The dispersed and those ready to perish are then gathered to worship the Lord at Jerusalem.
The time and manner is the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, when the great trumpet sounds and Christ sends His angels to gather His elect. That trumpet gathers from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, and from every direction throughout earth and heaven. The great trumpet announces it, the dead are raised, and God's scattered people are gathered to worship Him, the same gathering of the elect described in the New Testament.
Those gathered one by one are Abraham's true children by faith in Christ, now scattered as strangers in the enemy's land, gathered as the elect from among the heathen on every side. They include those ready to perish in Assyria and the outcasts in Egypt, with the scattered and endangered. The gathering belongs to Israel, Moab, Ammon and all others in the same sense and at the same time, in which Gentiles are fellow-heirs and partakers of the same promises with Israel under the new covenant. It is the gathering of all Israel together, not a national, political or fleshly restoration promised to natural descent, nor a separate return of the Jews.
The gathering includes the opening of the graves of the whole house of Israel in the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the catching up of the living. At Christ's descent from heaven the dead in Christ rise, God's elect are gathered, and the living are caught up together with them to meet the Lord. At the sound of the literal trumpet of God the righteous dead are raised and the righteous living are changed to immortality. Worshipping the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem is being brought into the land of Israel, the New Jerusalem.
Encouragement and Mission Today
The verse is a promise to God's persecuted people in the last days that at Christ's appearing the faithful who have endured persecution will be gathered to worship Him and taken home with Him. Those ready to perish are those exposed to persecution, and Assyria stands for the oppressor and persecutor from whom they are delivered. The great trumpet is Christ's appearing, and its sounding marks their deliverance and home-going. Therefore the prospect held out is courage to proclaim the final warning message even under a world-wide despotic religious system and its persecutions.
The same readiness to perish includes needy, perishing peoples who confess deep lack and heart longing for protection against the evil day that shall try men's souls. The people of China, the land of Sinim, are such a people, whose fearful cries and crude rites express that lack and longing and appeal for shelter in the coming trial. Before them Christ must be exalted under God's blessing, that they may come and worship the Lord.