“Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead”. Isaiah 26:19
Have you ever looked out on a cool summer morning, when the grass is glistening with dew, and wondered where it came from? Dew is a natural form of water caused by condensation. It normally occurs when days are warm and nights are cool. It forms when water vapour in the atmosphere condenses onto cool surfaces just like your bathroom mirror steams up when the warm air from the shower meets the cool surface of the mirror. Unlike rain, it appears in silence, without any disruption, often going unnoticed by those rushing about their daily lives. But dew is critical for sustaining life, particularly in hot, dry and dusty environments.
The first time dew is mentioned in the Bible is Genesis 27:28, “May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth—an abundance of grain and new wine”. Dew in this context was seen primarily as divine blessing. This is reinforced in Psalm 133, where David describes unity being “like the dew of Hermon, that falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.” In Hosea 14:5, the Lord likens Himself to dew, “I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon”, note the lily blossoming and the trees taking root is all because of the heavenly dew. In our verse today, Isaiah prophesies life, resurrection, awakening, joy and new birth, all because of the dew, the dew of light. Jesus, the light of the world, (John 8:12), the resurrection and the life, (John 11:25), our heavenly dew, is the only one who can make the dead live. Although the verse can be applied to the physical resurrection of the church, the spiritual application to our lives as believers should not be understated. Let's look at just a couple of New Testament verses which bring Isaiah 26:19 to life.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”, (Ephesians 2:4-6).
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11).
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3).
So today, we who were dead in sin are now alive in Christ, raised up to sit with Him in heavenly places, our bodies made alive with the same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, we have been born anew and given a new life. So if you feel like you’re dwelling in the dust, dirty and contaminated by your surroundings, look up and see Jesus, our Heavenly Dew, receive His resurrection life today, and sing for joy!
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Who Do You Say I Am Series – Exchange Church Belfast 2020