Isaiah 30:13, commentary and pictures

Rejecting God's word, His law and plain correction while resting in oppression and perverseness becomes like a bulging breach in a high wall that is ready to fall. It pictures a rebellious and lying people who will not hear the law of the Lord, who bid the seers not to see and the prophets not to speak right things but smooth things and deceits, wanting the Holy One of Israel put out of the way. That wall breaks suddenly in an instant without warning at the execution of judgment, written in a table and noted in a book for the time to come to be fulfilled and made sure, so unless wrongdoers turn back while probation remains their wrongs will end in judgment too late to be set right. The warning reaches those who disdain Spirit-led testimony and refuse correction, who hate the message and its messengers and demand what suits them, and who put trust in men and make flesh their arm instead of hearing and obeying His voice. It judges holding truth in unrighteousness, indulging fleshly appetite and clinging to impurity after great light, with punishment proportionate to the dishonor brought on God, and overcoming requires repenting and forsaking all uncleanness and striving to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony.

Metaphor and Context

Rejecting God's word and despising it, refusing to hear His law and rejecting His plain correction, while relying on and resting in oppression and perverseness, turns this iniquity into guilt like a breach swelling outward in a high wall that is ready to fall. That swelling crack in the tall wall bulges outward until it collapses, and its breaking is imminent and comes suddenly at an instant without warning. Rebellion against the Lord and refusal of His warnings bring this sudden ruin upon those who trust disobedient people and turn from prophetic reproof, preferring reassuring falsehoods.

The guilt belongs to a rebellious and lying people who will not hear the law of the Lord. They tell the seers not to see and the prophets not to prophesy right things but to speak smooth things and deceits, and they want the Holy One of Israel to cease from before them and be put out of the way. They put trust in men and make flesh their arm, despise reproof, and follow voices that turn things upside down. The choice set before them is between walking in the way the Lord has shown and walking in finite, erring human counsel and practicing principles He has warned against.

In its wider setting of Isaiah 30:1-15, the rebuke falls on men who claim to be teachers and counsellors at the heart of the work while unconverted in heart and soul. They take up truth without practicing it, retain old hereditary and cultivated character, mingle their own spirit with their counsel, pervert principle, and confederate to do what God expressly forbids. Under such a course justice and mercy and love for God and man fall in the streets and equity cannot enter. The word will be fulfilled to all such teachers who act out these principles, with eyes greatly blinded so they do not see, weakening the Lord's work and dishonoring truth of heavenly origin.

Sudden Judgment Foretold

The breach in the high wall does not slowly crumble but breaks suddenly at an instant, impending and without warning at the execution of judgment. Rejecting plain correction and asking for smooth, deceptive words while trusting in oppression and perverseness makes iniquity like that bulging breach ready to fall, with collapse impending and sure to come suddenly. Those who reject warning and reproof, hate the message and its messengers, and refuse to repent are warned that unless they turn back while probation remains, their wrongs will end in judgment too late to be set right. Persistent dishonesty, perversity, and refusal to hear God's justice make that destruction imminent, like an unstable wall swelling outward until it collapses without warning.

Written in a table and noted in a book for the time to come for ever and ever, the word will be fulfilled and its evidence made sure. Its fulfillment includes destruction gone forth upon cities, with buildings consumed and falling in a very few minutes amid screeching and mournful groans. The day of the Lord is right upon the world, and the destruction of cities and the nearness of that day make the warning urgent.

The iniquity so judged includes holding truth in unrighteousness, indulging fleshly appetites and harmful food including meat eating, and clinging to Sodomitish impurity after receiving great light. Not one particle of that impurity will escape the wrath of God at the execution of judgment. Those who do not repent of and forsake all uncleanness will fall suddenly with the wicked as a breaking wall, standing in a worse position than those with fewer advantages. Punishment in every case is proportionate to the dishonor brought on God and to putting Christ to open shame.

Present-Day Applications

The warning falls on those who disdain plain testimony and demand messages that suit them instead of right things. It is for those who reject God's word and plain correction, who refuse warning and reproof, who hate the message and its messengers, and who refuse to repent. Such persons despise Spirit-led testimony, ask for smooth and deceptive words rather than truth, prefer reassuring falsehoods, and rest in trust in oppression and perverseness. Their iniquity becomes like a high wall bulging outward and ready to collapse, with ruin impending and coming suddenly without warning unless they turn back while probation remains, lest their wrongs end in judgment too late to be set right.

The same word is written for the last days, when haters of pure testimony prefer smooth, deceitful messages. Then it exposes those who reject God's law and pure prophetic testimony while trusting in oppression and perversity, bringing sudden destruction like a bulging breach in a high wall that collapses without warning. In that time the opposition is directed against those who uphold God's commandments and the gift of prophecy.

It applies to those who put trust in men and make flesh their arm, who trust disobedient people and follow voices that turn things upside down. It reproves exalting another to do a work God has not assigned, especially medical workers not under heavenly control, who make of none effect God's messages of reproof and warning. Those addressed brace themselves against His will and His way and will neither hear nor obey His voice, as a rebellious and lying people who will not hear the law of the Lord, who tell seers not to see and prophets not to speak right things but smooth things and deceits, and who want the Holy One of Israel put out of the way and caused to cease from before them. The choice set before them is between walking in the way the Lord has shown and walking in finite, erring human counsel and practicing principles He has warned against, and those who follow such voices will themselves be turned where they cannot see but will be as blind men.

Escape requires repenting and forsaking all uncleanness, with fasting and prayer and earnest striving to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony. This is urged upon those who hold truth in unrighteousness, indulge fleshly appetites and harmful food including meat eating, and cling to Sodomitish impurity after receiving great light. Not one particle of that impurity will escape God's wrath at the execution of judgment, and those who do not repent and forsake it will fall suddenly with the wicked as a breaking wall. They will stand in a worse position than those with fewer advantages, with punishment in every case proportionate to the dishonor brought on God and to putting Christ to open shame. Only those who become saints and not sinners, members of the royal family, will enter God's kingdom in the earth made new.