Read Isaiah 32:1-8

The King Who Will Reign In Righteousness

Who is the King who “will reign in righteousness” (Isaiah 32:1)? While a case could be made for Hezekiah or Josiah, especially relative to the other kings who reigned in Judah, there can be no denying the fact that the Messiah is the one who completely fulfills the words of Isaiah the prophet. And if Jesus is the King, are not Christians the “princes” who “will rule with justice” of the same verse? After all, Peter called the elect to whom he wrote “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9).

Isaiah speaks of a man who would serve as “a hiding place from the wind, and a cover from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (Isaiah 32:2). In the New Testament, Jesus offers rest to “all you who labor and are heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28). We are reminded of the refuge He offers also in the old African American spiritual chorus: “Jesus is a rock in a weary land, a shelter in the time of storm.”

Isaiah continues, “The eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen. Also the heart of the rash will understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly” (Isaiah 32:3-4).

During the days of the Old Law, God’s plan was not yet fully revealed. There was still an air of mystery shrouding what was to come. But now, under the new covenant established by Jesus, the truth will no longer be hidden from those who seek it; there will be no more spiritual blindness or deafness.

Paul told the brethren in Ephesus that “by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets” (Ephesians 3:3-5). The mystery has been revealed, and we can understand it when we read the inspired Word of God!