THE FUTURE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL - PART 3 - SCRIPTURES IN ISAIAH
We are studying the passages of scripture that feature the Restoration of Israel after the Tribulation when the Lord comes at the Second Coming and restores the nation. They pass through a terrible time but the Lord delivers them and dwells among His people. It will be a joyous time for Israel and then for the world. Israel has a glorious future and many promises and prophecies were penned by the Prophets.
Part 3 further looks into scripture from the prophet Isaiah. Let us continue.
{{Isaiah 26:1-4 “IN THAT DAY this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city. He sets up walls and ramparts for security. Isa 26:2 Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the one that remains faithful. Isa 26:3 The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You. Isa 26:4 Trust in the LORD forever, for in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock,”}}
Again there is the tell-tale “In that day” to begin the section. It places it in those early days of the Millennium. Restored Israel will sing of the glory of their Jerusalem. Then the command is given to open the gates that the righteous nation may enter (Israel), and the beautiful thing is that from then onwards the restored ones will ever remain faithful, the very matter none of their fathers could do for 3 400 years. Verse 3 is probably known best in the KJV – {{“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”}} This is the national “constitution” of restored Israel, because all their minds will be steadfast towards God. The grand thoughts of what is to come causes Isaiah to exclaim to all generations, {{“Trust in the LORD forever, for in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.”}}
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{{Isaiah 27:1-6 In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent with His fierce and great and mighty sword, even Leviathan the twisted serpent and He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea. Isa 27:2 In that day, “A vineyard of wine”, sing of it! Isa 27:3 “I, the LORD, am its keeper. I water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I guard it night and day. Isa 27:4 I have no wrath. Should someone give Me briars and thorns in battle, then I would step on them. I would burn them completely. Isa 27:5 “Or let him rely on My protection. Let him make peace with Me, let him make peace with Me.” Isa 27:6 In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, and they will fill the whole world with fruit.”}}
At first glance this may not look like a restoration passage. What happens here is that God is placing before us His revealing strategy for Israel, then what ends with the maturation of that. The key phrase is used to open verse 1. There is little doubt that the full description in verse 1 is the reference to Satan, this twisted serpent, and Satan’s defeat. {{Revelation 20:2 and Revelation 12:9 confirm this - “and He laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years” AND “The great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”}} Satan’s ultimate demise is in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10). In verse 1 it is said Satan (dragon) lives in the sea. One well known group tries using this term “leviathan” as proof that we have dinosaurs on earth but they are wrong! In prophecy the word “sea” often refers to Gentile nations and Satan holds sway over the earth, (Gentile nations) without doubt. See Revelation 13 where the coming world leader/Antichrist, arises from the sea, that is, from among the Gentiles, whereas the False Prophet arises from the land, probably suggesting he will be Jewish.
Verses 2-5 are almost like the Lord is singing of the care for His people Israel. The vineyard (v2) is Israel. The Lord sings for His people. Verse 3 is stating the Lord is the Keeper of His people; the keeper of His vineyard, which would take us back to the illustration in Isaiah 5, while verses 4 and 5 are His protection for the Jewish saints and will even continue after the Tribulation. In verse 6 we come upon the results of the Lord’s leading, and protection and care for His chosen nation. That results in the blessing being taken to the whole world in fruitfulness.
Going back to chapter 5 we have this – {{Isaiah 5:3-7 “Now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between Me and My vineyard. Isa 5:4 What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes, did it produce worthless ones? Isa 5:5 Now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard. I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed. I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground, Isa 5:6 and I will lay it waste. It will not be pruned or hoed but briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.” Isa 5:7 The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
There is pictured the fruitlessness of the sin of the nation. God cared for them and did all for them but they threw it all in His face. Israel went into desolation. However that delightful vine will produce and overflow to the earth. All those wasted years; all those centuries of shame and nothingness will become this – {{Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, and they will fill the whole world with fruit.}}
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{{Isaiah 27:12 “It will come about IN THAT DAY that the LORD will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. Isa 27:13 It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.”}}
Threshing is associated with harvest and the Lord’s harvest at the Second Coming will be His own people who will be gathered from all over the world, one aspect of the fruit of His sacrificial work on the cross. The cross work of Christ was efficacious for both the Church and for Restored Israel. Only one aspect is detailed here that embraces the region from Egypt to the Euphrates, but it starts there and must spread worldwide. Can’t you see the tender care in the expression “one by one”, each redeemed son of Abraham individually gathered. We have a great God – the God of the singular person! It says the start of this calling (threshing) is the flowing stream of the Euphrates, and that was the same region where God did His first calling. He called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees and brought him to the promised land. So too, the Lord will begin His calling there when he calls and brings the redeemed to the promised land.
In verse 13, the “holy mountain” again is “Kingdom”. They will be included in the Millennial Kingdom, these who struggled under the evil of the Tribulation persecution against God’s own holy people, but they will respond to the trumpet summoning them to the nation’s restoration and will come to the Kingdom’s capital of Jerusalem.
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{{Isaiah 28:5-6 “IN THAT DAY the LORD of hosts will become a beautiful crown and a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people, Isa 28:6 a spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment, a strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.”}}
The remnant are those brought through tribulation and suffering as the redeemed saints, and for them, the Lord of Hosts is glorious – the crown and diadem suggesting they will honour Him as the King of the Jews. Verse 26 highlights justice and a strength given to those who are opposing what I think may be the rush of evil. It is a bit uncertain.
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{{Isaiah 30:23-26 “Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous. ON THAT DAY your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. Isa 30:24 The oxen and the donkeys also which work the ground will eat salted fodder which has been winnowed with shovel and fork, Isa 30:25 and on every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter when the towers fall. Isa 30:26 The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter like the light of seven days, ON THE DAY the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise HE HAS INFLICTED.”}}
Verses 23-24. Israel’s blessing are ALWAYS in the land as God’s earthly people. It was spelled out in Moses’ time that the land would be blessed when the nation followed the Lord, but the land would be cursed when they entered idolatry. That principle was raised over and over in the Prophets. Rain would fall as the early and latter rains (Spring and Autumn), crops would be abundant, and the people would rejoice. When the nation is restored at the Second Coming, the land will produce as it has never done before. It is the exact sense that is here – {{Amos 9:13 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; when the mountains will drip sweet wine, and all the hills will be dissolved.”}} The livestock will have roomy pasture. There is one mystery in our minds I can not understand. The cattle graze in roomy pasture; the remnant from all over the earth return to Israel; so much will be happening in Jerusalem . . . where is all that going to fit? As I said, “in our minds”. God’s wisdom and plans are way beyond ours.
Verses 25-26. The verses spell out changes in the natural world and this will be in the Millennium. Zechariah deals with this also in chapter 14. It is impossible for us to try to understand the earthly and cosmic changes, but the key here is {{“on the day the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.”}} The binding up of fractured Israel is their restoration at the Second Coming. Do not miss the “He has inflicted”. All Israel's troubles have come from the Lord (His directive will) or been allowed by the Lord (His permissive will). The Lord inflicted their wounds, but now that there is national repentance, then the Lord will bind up the wounds, heal them, bless them and make rejoicing their portion for all eternity.
Look at that special description about the sun in verse 26. The moon will be very bright and the sun will be seven times brighter. I am not sure if this is brighter by 7 or a reference to the perfect number 7, meaning “much brighter”. In any case there will be a great change to the atmospheric conditions in the Millennium and to the stellar conditions. This here is a parallel verse – {{Zechariah 14:6-7 “And it will come about in that day that there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. Zech 14:7 For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.”}}
I do not know how all this fits together but it is at least 7 years away and the Lord has it in His hand. The Millennium begins 7 years after the Rapture of the Church which could happen any time. We believe it is close. Rapture followed by 7 years Tribulation, followed by 1000 years for the Millennium Kingdom.
It is interesting the expression is used “seven times brighter” and not “seven times hotter.” The sun will be hotter one day near the end of the Tribulation as we have described here – {{Revelation 16:8-9 “The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun and it was given to it to scorch men with fire, Rev 16:9 and men were scorched with fierce heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues and they did not repent, so as to give Him glory.”}}
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
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