Isaiah 28:17, commentary and pictures

God will measure every teaching and work by the exact standard of his own justice and righteousness, and with overwhelming certainty like hail and flood he will sweep away every false shelter so that only what agrees with that standard can stand. The danger is that of rulers who claim safety by a false agreement with death itself, which will be annulled when judgment passes through and those trusting it are trodden down. That judgment is by God's law and righteousness, not by human principles or counsel, bringing every work with every secret thing to light and answering everyone according to what was done. The refuges to be destroyed are trust in human wisdom and strength, pride and self-righteousness and lies used to cover sin, and in the last crisis spiritualism and Satan's claim that humanity will not die. Beside this warning God has laid a sure foundation in Zion, which is Christ crucified as the atoning sacrifice, and safety is only in building on him and hiding behind him until the desolation is overpast.

Language and Setting

Judgment laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet means measurement by exact justice and righteousness, as accurate as a builder's line and plumb. The near day is in view when every hidden thing is revealed, for fearing God and keeping His commandments is the whole duty of man because God brings every work with every secret thing into judgment whether good or evil. Building language joined with weather language shows God testing what stands, with only what accords with His righteous standard able to stand.

Hail sweeping away the refuge of lies and waters overflowing the hiding place picture the certainty and thoroughness with which that judgment sweeps, exposing what people have hidden behind lies. Every false refuge and secret hiding place will be exposed and destroyed.

The setting is rulers claiming safety by a false covenant with death and agreement with hell. When the overflowing scourge passes through, that covenant is disannulled and the agreement does not stand, and those trusting them are trodden down. Lies relied on for security are swept away, and hiding places cannot protect, for trust in human wisdom or strength cannot shield anyone from divine judgment.

This warning of judgment by justice and righteousness, bringing down false refuges and hiding places, stands beside the promise of a sure foundation laid in Zion. That sure foundation stone in Zion is Christ, crucified as the atoning sacrifice, the true, stable and immovable foundation of the church on which believers are gathered and built up in faith.

Standard of Judgment

God judges by His own just standard of righteousness, not by principles devised by men. No human counsel can safely replace His principles, and dependence on human counsel instead of God cannot provide safety. Judgment laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet is the measure applied to all teaching, counsel, principles, decisions and works. Men who make finite man their dependence, remove God's principles and set up their own, and make lies their refuge and falsehood their hiding place, will have that refuge swept away and that hiding place overflowed. Depending on the wisdom of men who do not love, fear and obey God, who are connected with the enemy of God, dishonors God, forsakes the Fountain of wisdom, and inquires of strange gods upon a strange altar, while perfect trust belongs to God as Counsellor and Leader, with Christ as the true altar and the Holy Spirit as the true fire and safe guide.

The verse points to the near day when every hidden thing will be revealed. Fearing God and keeping His commandments is the whole duty of man because God will bring every work with every secret thing into judgment, whether good or evil. Laying judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet means judgment by exact and righteous measure, answering everyone according to works, and the sweeping hail and overflowing waters mean every false refuge, false trust and secret hiding place will be exposed and destroyed. That judgment falls on present conditions where people rely on lies and reject the truth. God judges by a true standard of justice and righteousness, brings hidden wrongdoing to light, and sweeps away false claims of safety and what people have tried to hide and conceal.

Those in authority who oppress others or act selfishly will answer to God, and no one is exempt from His just standard. The law of God is the standard by which people will be judged in the last day. Lies and false excuses will be swept away and cannot provide lasting refuge when judgment comes. People who reject God's law as the standard of righteousness and build their eternal hopes on unstable beliefs and false hopes and teachings will have their refuge swept away by the storm of trial; their structure will fall, and they will be lost.

False Refuge Swept Away

False refuges and hiding places cannot stand, but will be swept away by hail and overwhelmed by waters, while only what accords with the righteous standard can stand. Judgment is laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet, so that God measures by justice and righteousness and exposes what people have tried to hide. Confidence in human wisdom or strength cannot provide safety from that judgment. In present conditions this judgment falls on those who rely on lies and reject the truth.

That false refuge is trust in human wisdom and strength and making finite man the dependence. Every decision and work is measured by an exact standard, and everyone is answered according to works. To depend on the wisdom of men who do not love, fear, and obey God, who are connected with the enemy of God, dishonors God, forsakes the Fountain of wisdom, and inquires of strange gods upon a strange altar. Perfect trust belongs to God as Counsellor and Leader, with Christ as the true altar and the Holy Spirit as the true fire and safe guide. The warning belongs to rulers who claim safety through a false covenant, and stands beside the promise of a sure foundation in Zion.

The refuge of lies is pride, self-sufficiency, untruth, and self-righteousness used to cover sin, conceal wrong, deceive others, and take advantage of others. No one can escape wrath by hiding behind a lie or covering up sin, for the shelter made through lies will not protect from punishment. The refuge of lies must be torn away now so that people do not remain deceived until their ruin. Proud people who refuse to confess sin lose a clear sense of justice and righteousness and lose spiritual life. In the time of test divine judgment measures with perfect justice and sees every discrepancy and falsehood, and the false refuge will not shield from searching eyes, leaving them ashamed, naked, and condemned.

Spiritualism is such a refuge of lies in the final crisis. Those not kept by God's power through faith in His Word will be swept into it. It lulls into false security through the deception built on Satan's claim that humanity will not die, but those so lulled will be awakened by God's wrath and their covenant with death will fail. When God's wrath is poured out it will fail, its deceptions will be finally exposed and destroyed, and the agreement with hell will not stand when the overflowing scourge comes. At His appointed time God easily overthrows the stronghold of superstition and sweeps away the refuge of lies, as He did in His dealings with the Philistines when His judgments followed the ark among them.

Christ the True Foundation

The stone promised as a sure foundation laid in Zion is Christ, the true, stable and immovable foundation of the church on which believers are gathered and built up in faith. He is that foundation as the crucified one, the atoning sacrifice. Safety lies only in marking well one's spiritual standing and building upon the sure foundation God has laid. Making finite man the dependence, removing God's principles and setting up one's own, and taking human counsel instead of God's just standard cannot give safety, for judgment by that standard exposes and sweeps away false refuges and hiding places.

The only safe hiding place is behind Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, since no soul can hide from divine wrath behind a lie. Only those sanctified through the truth in the love of God will stand, hidden with Christ in God until the desolation is overpast. The refuge of lies is swept away by exalting Jesus higher and yet higher, leading people to look upon the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That beholding traces the effects of manifold divine wisdom in the development of individual character until human wisdom bows to divine truth and those who thought themselves wise become fools that they may be wise.

Applied to character, God's testing by judgment and righteousness shows what people build their lives upon, and a structure founded on human ideas, invented religious forms, false hopes and unsound doctrines, or works done apart from Christ's grace, cannot withstand temptation and the storm of trial. Those who reject God's law as the standard of righteousness and build eternal hopes on unstable beliefs will have their refuge swept away. Their structure falls ruined, leaving a life in ruins and those who rely on such building lost.

Last-Day Warnings and Applications

The overflowing scourge is a time of severe judgment and destruction to come upon all dwellers on earth in the perils of the last days. As God purges His floor He helps His people, and the faith of the pure and holy remains undaunted. The scourge will not pass by unconverted professed believers whose religion is worthless and whose lives show no genuine conversion or love of Christ. Those who come to the house of God yet are not spiritually minded, who indulge perverted appetite, criticize God's ambassadors and the words spoken by them, spread evil and doubt, sow seeds of evil, confuse hearers and confuse their senses, have made a refuge of lies and a hiding place that hail and waters will sweep away. Though their souls are loved, their failure to be converted in tongue and appetite and to live in an atmosphere of faith and love leaves them with no escape when the scourge overflows.

The same measuring by judgment and righteousness applies to the purging and cleansing of churches. The proud and those secure in their own condition, the carnally secure, must be brought out of deception and see their true unworthiness before God. Fleshly lusts, appetites, passions and self-righteousness must be cut away by the Lord's sword, blind eyes opened, and the deceptive shelter used to deceive God's people swept away. God will strike a blow to deliver His oppressed people and will raise up humble men to do His will. He who rules among the nations calls those at the heart of the work to be still and know that He is God.

Men will soon find they cannot trample on God's holy precepts without incurring punishment. The Lord will not be slow to punish those who have had great light and yet have betrayed Him, especially those who received great light but act unjustly. His eye has read the hidden transactions carried on by unconsecrated elements in councils and board meetings, and His judgment reaches those hidden dealings. No soul can hide behind a lie, for the refuge of lies will be stripped from the soul and false refuges will fail when judgment comes. The bolts and storm of wrath are soon to fall, and when punishment of transgressors begins there will be no period of respite until the end.

The only safe hiding place is behind Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and only those sanctified through the truth in the love of God will stand, hid with Christ in God until the desolation is overpast, when God comes forth to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity. The coming overflowing scourge is destruction that will sweep away earthly possessions and take away the goods of those attached to the world. Very soon it will pass over and sweep all possessions away from those who profess present truth yet hold on to property and withhold the means needed to carry forward God's work, to speed messengers on their way and feed hungry sheep dying for want of saving present truth. Those who cling to possessions, who are unwilling to cut loose and distribute them and who are sorrowful when the cause calls for their property, will lose them in that sweeping.

Then it will be too late, and forever too late, to sacrifice earthly goods for God's work and lay up treasure in heaven. Before the scourge comes, all who serve God as Israelites indeed are called to gather their children into their own houses away from classes that voice Satan's words and disobey God's commandments. They are to get out of the cities as soon as possible, to establish church schools, and to give their children the Word of God as the foundation of all education.