Jack Hibbs - The Promise Keeper (01/23/2026)
Introduction to Isaiah 27
Church, grab your Bibles tonight and turn to the book of Isaiah, chapter 27. Tonight: Isaiah 27. And note-taking—if you’re doing that, I hope you are. But chapters 25, 26, and 27—we mentioned when we broke open chapter 25 that those two preceding chapters and this one now—these three chapters make up a familiar prophetic word from the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah has 66 chapters; it’s kind of like a mini-Bible. There are 66 books in the Bible; the book of Isaiah is like a mini-Bible, and it’s quite amazing how it is laid out that way. But in these 66 chapters, many of the chapters are dedicated to what we have been looking at: the millennial reign of Christ, the Thousand-Year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isaiah’s Detailed Prophecies of the Millennium
Isaiah probably gives us more details about the political reign of Jesus when He returns to earth than any other book of the Bible, and it’s all remarkably graphic. We have to remember that Isaiah, when we look at a chapter—don’t you approach a chapter—it’s different than a New Testament book of the Bible in most cases.
When you look at a chapter of Isaiah, for example, or Ezekiel, or Jeremiah, or Zechariah, you don’t think that chapter was given by the Holy Spirit to the prophet in a matter of moments, and it was all very neat and tidy, very clinical and sterile, and boom, there it is. Isaiah might not be able to say, «Oh, you know what? God just gave me the 27th chapter of my book I’m going to write someday.» But that’s not how it works.
How Chapters Were Formed
The chapter divisions were given to us by Bible translators long ago. They gave us these chapters so it would be easier for us to reference the Bible. Isaiah and the early Jews never knew of Isaiah chapter 27 as being Isaiah chapter 27. They knew the word like this: «the word of the prophet Isaiah, ” where the Scripture saith. For example, you’d read in the opening throes of the New Testament where much of Matthew is quoting the Old Testament—there are no chapter references.
So as we look at chapter 27, it was the Bible makers—originally scholars—that divided it up and made this chapter. Just remember: chapters 25, 26, and 27 are one flowing topic of the Millennium. But when he delivers the prophecies, there are paragraphs that deal with certain areas or events of time.
Shifts in Focus
You could read this, and we’ll read it tonight, and you go, „Whoa, wait a minute—I was tracking, and now I’m off base.“ That’s because there is a point shift or a focus shift, and we’ll do our best tonight to point those out. You’re going to have a lot of tips tonight, though, because you’re going to see—look at chapter 27, look at verse 1, and I’ll just tip you off to it before we get into this.
Now it says, „In that day…“ Remember that if you’ve been with us since the opening of this book, that’s key language. „In that day”—Bible students, if you remember, whenever you see in the Bible „in that day, ” it is an announcement. It is verbiage used to tell you at the time of the end, when it’s all about to wrap up. It’s an end-times event.
Reading Isaiah 27:1-13
The Jews would call it the „end of days“ type statement. We would call it the New Testament era: the last days or the end-times announcement—“in that day.» So follow with me if you would: chapter 27, verse 1.
«In that day the Lord—Yahweh, that’s the name of God—Yahweh with His severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent, and He will slay the reptile”—or some of your Bibles accurately have the word „dragon”—“that is in the sea.“
Verse 2: „In that day sing to her: ‘A vineyard of red wine! I, the Lord, keep it; I water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I keep it night and day. Fury is not in Me. Who would set briers and thorns against Me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.’“
Verse 6: Now there’s a shift. „Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. Has He struck Israel as He struck those who struck him? Or has He been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by him? In measure, by sending it away, You contended with it. He removes it by His rough wind in the day of the east wind.“
Verse 9: A shift. „Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altar like chalkstones that are beaten to dust, wooden images and incense altars shall not stand.“
Yet the fortified city will be desolate, the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness; there the calf will feed, and there it will lie down and consume its branches. When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off; the women come and set them on fire. For it is a people of no understanding; therefore He who made them will not have mercy on them, and He who formed them will show them no favor.
And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord—that’s His name again, Yahweh—will thresh from the channel of the river to the Brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.
Listen to verse 13: „So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet will be blown; they will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcast in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.“
The Difficulty and Blessing of Prophecy
Difficult prophecy. Don’t panic—we’ll break it up into chunks; it will make some sense to you. Amazing—you think it’s tough studying this and hearing it tonight? Can you imagine Isaiah seeing this stuff? The Bible tells us that the prophets of old saw things that they didn’t understand, but they were told to record it down.
The Bible tells us in the New Testament that their prophecies that they saw, they longed to know what they meant; they longed to find out what it was all about. We are so blessed—you know, we live on this side of Christ’s coming. We live on this side; we are so close to „in that day“ events coming that we can see even the formation of things.
Why the Church Cares About Israel
Several weeks ago someone stopped me in the foyer, and they said—and I remember it pretty much verbatim—they said, „Why do you—why does this church care about the land of Israel and the Jewish people? What’s with that?“
Well, first of all, God cares about the Jewish people and the land of Israel; He says so in the Bible. The second thing is, according to God in the Bible, Israel is God’s earthly home. Clearly from the Bible, if God was ever going to leave heaven and come down—which He has—He says in the Bible that He would go to the land of Israel where He placed His name. He says, „I put My name in the mountains of Israel.“ That’s interesting.
Thirdly, Israel—the name of Israel—appears some 2,600 times in the Bible. Is that interesting? Fourthly, Israel has to be in existence before Jesus Christ can return in His second coming, according to the Bible. Jesus cannot return unless there’s a real, viable Israel.
The Significance of 1948
Did you know that? You say, „I hope the Lord comes back.“ Well, I hope He comes back tonight—you call that the Rapture; that’s what the Bible teaches. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the second coming of Christ—His physical, bodily return to Israel, to Jerusalem.
There’s got to be a Jerusalem under the control of the Jews, and there’s got to be a nation called Israel before He can return in the second coming. I’ve got to tell you: the Rapture could have happened any time since the ascension of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. He could have come back; there’s no prerequisite for that theologically.
But the second coming—guess what? This is kind of cool to announce—it’s theologically absolutely perfect. Did you know technically that Jesus Christ in the second coming to establish His kingdom couldn’t have happened prior to May 14, 1948? That ought to put chills up your back.
There had to be Jews in the land called Israel—in their ancient land—and there had to be a Jerusalem under their care, and that wasn’t so until May 14, 1948. You’re living now—look at you. I don’t care how old or young you are—if you’re alive right now, you’re living in Bible times, man. Israel’s back in the land.
Real Places, Real Promises
And you say, „Well, why do you guys talk about Israel so much?“ Because, you know what, it’s like a barometer that’s telling you which way the wind’s blowing. It’s amazing. Notice with me—before we get going in verse 13, let’s just sneak ahead for a second. Look at verse 13: „So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet will be blown; they will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcast in the land of Egypt…“
Has anyone ever heard of a country called Egypt? Raise your hand if you’ve heard of a country called Egypt. How do you know you’ve heard of this country called Egypt? It’s on the map; there’s archaeological evidence. You’d be crazy if you denied the existence of Egypt.
Well, what about the region or the lands of Assyria? That’s a little harder to answer if you don’t know ancient history, but the ancient Assyrian Empire is Syria today, Iraq, portions of Iran, probably even encompassing parts of northern Jordan. The Assyrian Empire—it’s an actual fact. The Assyrians were a ruling people, archenemies of Israel in ancient times. Those are facts—those are real peoples.
Israel Means „Prevails with God“
And it’s interesting because in verse 13 it also mentions Jerusalem—that also is a fact. If tonight you’re here and you’re saying, „Well, I don’t—I want to agree with that person, Jack, that said, ‘Why care? ’”—well, you’ve got to understand something: Egypt is real, the Assyrian Empire is real, and Israel is real.
In fact, Israel is real—I-S-R-A-E-L. Israel is real. Okay, if you make that bumper sticker, I get 10%. The name Israel means „he who prevails with God“ or „he who contends with God.“ It’s Jacob’s name. Jacob wrestled with an angel in the book of Genesis; it turns out he was wrestling with the Angel of the Lord, which is known as a theophany—it’s when Christ appears in the Old Testament before Bethlehem. He’s throughout Scripture; He does that.
The Promise Keeper: God Keeps His Word
So as we look at this tonight, I want you to keep in mind that we’re looking at a message tonight entitled „The Promise Keeper, ” and that’s God. This is what we’re going to extract out of tonight’s study: that God keeps His promises.
And listen—the reason why we want to talk about Israel all the time is because, listen, everybody: if God blows it with Israel, then God has no commitment to you. If God fails to keep His promise to Israel, He doesn’t have to keep His promise to you. If God doesn’t come through biblically as He has written to the promises of Israel, then God owes you no promises.
Do you understand that? If God fails with all of His promises to Israel and His covenants to them, then He is under no obligation to even see to it that you make it to heaven. If He fails in one area, ladies and gentlemen, He’s untrustworthy if God fails somewhere.
God Will Fulfill His Promises to Israel
So all the things that He has said to Israel—will He fulfill them? Oh yes, He will. And you can be happy about that because it guarantees His promises will be fulfilled in your life.
Remember—listen, I don’t mean you tonight; I mean any other church or Christian that might be viewing this this evening. I don’t mean you because you’re a bunch of sweethearts. If you ever meet a Christian who is arrogant and looks down his nose at the Jewish people as though they’re some sort of subhuman or sub-faith people—granted, they’re blind; you understand that they’re blind.
I’ve had people boast to me about how stupid and blind the Jews are and how ignorant, and „You shouldn’t promote them at all because they’re evil; they don’t believe.“ And let me tell you, I am exercising such a high level of Christian control at that moment, because there was an earlier day in my life where the guy would have woken up in the ICU.
God, Not Satan, Blinded Israel
Why? The Bible tells us that Satan has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe. Did you know that? That’s what I’m talking about. „Jews are evil; they don’t believe in Jesus.“ Calm down. The Bible does say that Satan has blinded those who do not believe—except one people group. Satan never blinded the Jews.
Do you know who blinded the Jews? Good answer—God did. God blinded them; it’s part of their punishment for disobedience to Him. So listen—chew on that for a while. If you want to condescend on a Jew, remember: we are the believers who have been grafted in. Romans chapters 9–11 warn us that we better not boast against the root—the branch. We’re just twigs on that tree; they’re the tree. The root is Christ. Are you with me?
Remember that there’s going to be a day when He lifts His covering from their eyes—not Satan. God has blinded the Jew. Remember that. Pray for them; witness to them—we are commanded to do that. Pretty amazing.
Promise #1: God Will Defend the Jewish People
So as we look at this tonight, I want you to be thinking about promises. Promise number one—as we look at verse 1—the Promise Keeper is that He’s promised to defend the Jewish people „in that day.“ Looking to the future—even from tonight in the 21st century, we’re looking ahead: „In that day the Lord with His severe sword”—that’s His word, by the way; the Lord’s severe sword is His word—“great and strong will“ number one „punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent, ” and He number two „will slay the reptile”—or the dragon—“that is in the sea.“
Listen—this is an amazing portion of Scripture, and one word makes it so: Leviathan. Leviathan—it’s ancient Assyrian language that is used here, and it means a monster of the sea or a monster of the land. It’s something that devours; it’s something that destroys.
Leviathan as Satan
Here’s where it gets really interesting: in the original meaning of the word—used from ancient paganism—Isaiah is lifting this word up to us. It is a mythological thing; it is something radically bizarre—nothing you’re going to see at the zoo. Whatever it is, again in a mythological sense, it consumes the world above and the world beneath.
Whatever it is, it’s mysterious, and it consumes; it is known as a monster; it devastates. Okay—God is going to destroy or punish it, I should say, with His severe sword or word. Some of you getting this? God’s going to speak a word, and a great Leviathan is going to be punished.
When God speaks a word—if you know the book of Revelation, your ears are perking up already—and He will slay the reptile that is in the sea, meaning as some of your Bible translations have the word „dragon.“ You say, „Okay, Jack—look, unless you’re watching Harry Potter, I’m not aware of any dragons.“ I understand that. He’s not talking about Harry Potter either.
He’s talking about something that’s caused the biblically astute person to realize, „Wait a minute—in antiquity, Leviathan is bad news.“ Number two: you don’t kill Leviathans with a word. So something bigger than a sword and Sir Lancelot and a castle is going on here. Something’s up.
The Lord is going to speak a word and is going to punish this dragon thing that devours both above the sea and below the sea. And if you’re Jewish tonight, you know that the sea is always, in Jewish writing, dangerous and bad and foreboding—no way. Ugly, bad, mean things come up out of the sea in the book of Daniel and in the book of Revelation. The Antichrist and his global empire rises up out of the sea and has multiple heads—the depiction of this dragon.
Revelation Connection
In fact, the book of Revelation 12:9 says, „So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.“ That’s a perfect thing to write down in your margins here in verse 1—it’s Revelation 12:9. Expositional constancy in Bible interpretation.
Dragon—who’s the dragon? Find out about the dragon. By the way, the word also implies that Leviathan is against creation. I find that interesting. The word Leviathan implies one who destroys creation, one who destroys order. The Leviathan is committed to chaos.
And today I was just meditating on that, thinking: think about that. God is the God of order; God is the God of creation. According to the definition of Leviathan, he is for chaos and he is for destruction of creation. I find that fascinating because anything that destroys creation is not of God.
Promise #2: God Will Love Israel Forever
Second thing we see: the Promise Keeper—God will keep His promise to defend the Jewish people. The second thing is that He’s promised to love Israel forever. „In that day sing to her…“ This is God singing to her: „A vineyard of red wine! It’s a good thing.“ To the Lord it’s beautiful—the family’s gathered together.
Even in Israel today—I don’t know what they do; I don’t know—they don’t have the alcohol hang-ups that our country has or the alcoholism. I don’t know, and is it intoxicating wine? I’m not going to get into that. It just says „a vineyard of red wine.“ The family’s gathered around; it’s a joyful moment.
He announces, „I, the Lord, keep it”—what? Israel; the context is Israel—“I water it every moment.“ This is a comfort to me. If God has promised to water Israel every moment, how much more for you and me when the Bible tells us that we have been brought in now to the commonwealth of Israel, that the promises given to Israel are also ours as we’ve been grafted in?
We get to have that—the church gets to enjoy the benefits of what God first spoke to Israel. We’ve been grafted in. Don’t you, as a believer, attest to the fact that God seems to water your life every moment? I don’t understand everything that happens in my life—sometimes it’s like, „This doesn’t feel like water every moment”—but He’s in control. And I know this is spiritually speaking, but there are actual realities to this.
God Waters and Protects Israel
He says He waters it „lest any hurt it; I keep it night and day.“ The Bible tells us in another place that He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. How’s that for an alarm system—the Almighty God? Wow. „Fury is not in Me.“ I like that. „Fury is not in Me, ” God says. „I don’t want to be upset; that’s not in My heart.“
„Who would set briers and thorns against Me in battle?“ That’s like a joke—are you kidding? Who could do that? „I would go through them; I would burn them together. Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.“
He has promised to love Israel forever. God sings them a song. The covenants in the Old Testament—those are unbreakable covenants. God says, „I’m going to keep them.“ And when we study the book of Isaiah tonight here in the 21st century, we’re looking ahead to events that are yet forthcoming.
Promise #3: God Will Bless the Earth Through Israel
Thirdly, the Promise Keeper—the Lord—He promised to bless the earth by or through Israel, verses 6–13. God has promised to bless the world through Israel. Isn’t that funny? Isn’t that ironic? The world right now—if the world could vote, they would vote Israel off the island. If the world could tonight, they would cut Israel out of the map. We all know this—anti-Semitism is growing radically; it’s bizarre.
But He’s promised to bless the earth through Israel. Man, that doesn’t make any sense—I know, but watch God do it. Plus, Israel—you know, now we have to be careful—right now Israel is the size of New Jersey or Lake Michigan, I think. And the Israel of the Millennium is not that size, you guys. The Israel of the Millennium will be the Israel borders promised to Abraham.
Israel’s not going to go away. They’ve got Great Tribulation coming; they’ve got the Antichrist coming to ruin their lives terribly—yes, all that’s true. But here’s the deal: when Jesus returns, He’s going to establish the promised borders that He gave to Abraham.
Future Fruitfulness of Israel
Verse 6 says, „Those who come”—so you had to mark that—“those who come, He shall cause to take root in Jacob.“ Look at this: „Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.“
That’s yet coming—that’s going to be the future. The amazing thing is Israel today has come from nothing to one of the great fruit producers in the world today. Israel—it’s remarkable.
The Bible says they’re going to be so much a blessing they’re going to bless the entire earth with fruit. So you say, „I don’t believe that, but I’ll write it down and I’ll wait and see.“ And you keep your eye on Israel’s fruit production—even though they’ve got a lot of hardship coming and difficult days ahead of them—when Jesus returns, that country is going to produce fruit for the entire world.
Parenthetical: Israel’s Discipline
Here’s a parenthetical insert, by the way—something the Holy Spirit drops in right in the middle of the prophecy. He says, verse 7: „Has He struck Israel as He struck those who struck him?“ The answer is no. „Or has He been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by him?“ No.
In other words, God destroys His enemies, but Israel He spanks—He chastises, He disciplines. Verse 8: „In measure, by sending it away, You contended with it. He removes it by His rough wind in the day of the east wind.“
Verse 9: „Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered…“ Interesting—somehow Israel’s sins are going to be dealt with. „…and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altar like chalkstones that are beaten to dust, wooden images and incense altars shall not stand.“
In other words, there’s going to be a day coming when Israel will turn from its paganism and seek God.
Final Gathering and Trumpet
Verse 12: „And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will thresh from the channel of the river”—that’s the Euphrates—“to the Brook of Egypt…”—the millennial national limits of Israel—“…and you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.»
Verse 13: «So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet will be blown…» That’s a reference to Joel 2. A great trumpet will be blown to gather the nation of Israel together.
Prayer
Father, we come tonight, and Your Word is beyond us. We’re grateful for that, God. It’s as though, Lord, our shoes should be off tonight in this amazing chapter. And how awesome is it that we worship the God who knows no limits of time or space, who told this man Isaiah 3,000 years ago these prophecies, and here we are tonight in the 21st century—Israel’s on the map, the Jews have come back from all over the world, the land is prospering, the world is becoming unhinged. We see the signs of Your coming. Wow.
Thank You, God, for being so absolutely amazing. And Father, I pray that tonight—as messed up as this study has been for us to go through and disjointed—I pray that we’d leave tonight with a real reverence for the depth of Your Word, that there’s no greater commentary on the Bible than the Bible. May the truth that You keep Your promises warm our hearts tonight. Keep us safe in our souls and our minds. Those that are struggling tonight—hurting, pain, sorrow, illness, disease, broken hearts, wounded—Your promises come in like light coming through a window. You’re so good.
Thank You, God, for being so absolutely amazing. And Father, I pray that tonight—as messed up as this study has been for us to go through and disjointed—I pray that we’d leave tonight with a real reverence for the depth of Your Word, that there’s no greater commentary on the Bible than the Bible. May the truth that You keep Your promises warm our hearts tonight. Keep us safe in our souls and our minds. Those that are struggling tonight—hurting, pain, sorrow, illness, disease, broken hearts, wounded—Your promises come in like light coming through a window. You’re so good.