Isaiah Warns: Bed Too Short, Blanket Too Narrow

The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you. Isaiah 28:20.

The occasion of these words of prophecy involved the literal condition of the Jews, in the mind of the prophet, when God’s judgment would come upon Judah through the Assyrians.The vision of Isaiah, therefore, was that the Jews would find themselves in terrible circumstances with no God to help them. They would be forced to depend upon other nations and look to false gods for help. They would have no foundation for hope and no covering against their fate. Jerusalem, with her defensive walls, would be like a bed too short to stretch out on, an insufficient defense in itself. With no God to cover with His righteousness and protection, they would be without wisdom and strength; they would be like a person in bed on a cold night with his blanket too narrow.

The spiritual application of this picture is interesting for it is descriptive of an insufficient faith that has no foundation to build upon, no divine character to clothe itself with for eternity.

The only faith, which ever offered a sufficient basis and a sufficient covering, is Christianity. Christ is the only Rock of salvation for He alone can be just to sin and yet, justify the ungodly. He alone can pay sin’s debt and impute righteousness, save the soul from death, and cover moral guilt. He alone died for our transgression, and rose for our justification; and when the Christian appears at the judgment, we will stand upon the Rock of Ages for salvation, and be clothed in the righteous robe of Christ’s merit, the only “wedding garment” in which we can appear at the “great supper of the Lamb.” We are saved by grace, justified by faith; and our entrance into life and glory will be based solely upon and characterized by the record and dignity of Christ, our great and eternal Substitute.

The Christian’s own character and righteousness are the evidence and outcome of salvation by grace and justification by faith here on earth. Our character and righteousness will be our joy and reward in heaven, but the grace of God alone can, through Jesus Christ, regenerate and justify us, save and sanctify us, crown and glorify us. Christ is our “all in all,” “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” 1 Corinthians 1:30. He is the “Author and Finisher of our faith;” and He is the only bed upon which we lie, the only blanket in which we wrap ourselves for salvation and sanctification. Paul said, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11. Peter said, “…there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12. The atonement, which Jesus made for our sins under God’s grace, is our all-sufficient foundation; and the righteousness of Christ worked out in His perfect life, and imputed to us by faith, is our all-sufficient covering.

In Christ alone, as in no other conceivable way, can we be made alive from the dead, and considered innocent. Made alive by His word, justified by His blood through the operation of His life-giving and blood-cleansing Spirit, we are saved and sanctified. When we stand at last before God, body and soul, we shall be absolutely perfect through the redemptive scheme, conceived, executed, and applied through the blood, the word, and the work of Christ. We shall completely escape death and hell; and in the consummation of our resurrection from the dead, we shall appear in glory without a stain upon our character and without a defect in our nature, all through the perfection of Jesus Christ. It will take perfection to stand before perfection, both legal and moral. There is no other way, philosophical or theological, to attain this end except by the cross of Calvary.

A person must be made alive from the dead, both morally and physically, and he must be presented before a perfect God without spot, wrinkle or blemish, to inherit eternal life. How can this be done except through the crucified, risen, and glorified Redeemer as revealed in the Bible? No one who understands the depth and character of sin fails to see and believe this truth. We must be perfect to live with God; and perfection has no foundation except in the redemptive atonement and the covering character of Jesus Christ. Nor can man achieve this perfection except through the pardoning and justifying blood and the regenerating and sanctifying Spirit of Jesus. To those out of Christ, in the very nature of things, God must be a consuming and eternal fire. “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” Psalm 32:2.

The Jews tried idolatry. They made associations with surrounding nations and worshiped their gods, seeking help against internal division and foreign oppression. They forgot Jehovah, abandoned the blood of the typical covenant, and the consequences was that they became a prey to their own internal dissensions and corruptions and fell under the appalling domination of foreign tyranny and superstition. Not all the gods and armies of Egypt, Assyria, and Moab could help them. Restricted and stricken by famine and siege, desolate, distracted, and divided amongst themselves, without the help and hope of Israel’s God, they discovered heathenism and idolatry a bed too short to stretch upon and a blanket to narrow to wrap themselves in. They only survived and lived when they cried and returned to God and to the Ark of the Covenant.

Unfortunately, when the Jews turned from idolatry and heathenism, they then fell into Phariasaism and formalism, another bed too short and another blanket too narrow. In the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, when the nation was slaughtered within the walls of the golden city, we have a perfect picture of what Isaiah saw as he beheld a people lying down upon a false and hollow bed of religion, and seeking to cover themselves with their own sufficiency and righteousness.

So it is with every other nation worshiping other gods. They have perished or are perishing. Babylon, Nineveh, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, with all the glory of their empires and their civilization, have passed away upon the foundation and under the blanket of an insufficient faith. According to President Obama, we Americans “do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, but rather, a nation of citizens who are, bound by a set of values.” Shall we too soon pass away? Are we too, as a nation, lying down upon false and hollow beds of faith, and seeking to cover ourselves with our own sufficiency and righteousness?

What is true of a nation is true of all individuals.

If we look at those who depend upon their own self-righteousness or wisdom for salvation, we will see, his or her bed is too short and blanket too narrow. Intellectual self-conceit or moral righteousness is the foundation upon which they lay. There is no need for Jesus or He is only a convenience, not a necessity. Christ, they claim, may have been a good man, a perfect teacher, a model exemplar in life and sacrifice; but He is not a Redeemer, a Savior. He may be a great helper, but His blood does not cleanse nor does His Spirit make alive. Christ and Him crucified is a stumbling block to self-righteousness and foolishness to self-wisdom. They are their own way, truth and life.

It is sad really, because the self-righteous bed is simply too short and their covering is too narrow. It is not broad or long enough to reach eternity. Their covering is like Adam and Eve’s fig leaf and their foundation is like their hiding place. The leaves had to be removed and the skins from the slain animal, the type of Christ crucified and of His righteous put on. The offering of blood by Abel was acceptable, because it pointed to “the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world.” Without Christ and His righteousness, unbelievers will never see God. To all my brothers and sisters out of Christ, let me repeat, God is a consuming fire.

In all the affairs and relationships of life, men must have a foundation to build upon and a character with which to cover. The foundations of government, business, society, family, and individual integrity depend upon this idea of life.

Christ Jesus is the Christian’s foundation. Any other foundation or character is an insufficient foundation and an insufficient covering. The bed is shorter than a person can stretch out upon and the covering is narrower than a person can wrap himself in for eternity. Life, temporal or eternal, must have true principle upon which to build and to rest, a true character with which to clothe and to cover.

Is Your Bed Too Short and Your Blanket Too Narrow?