THE FUTURE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL - PART 4 - SCRIPTURES IN ISAIAH
Part 4 continues to look at Isaiah scriptures about the Restoration of Israel. Some people might say, “But some of that could apply to me,” and that might be so. The application may be partial to you, but not the fulfillment. In all these passages the fulfillment is to Israel and the Jewish people. Let us begin Part 4.
{{Isaiah 32:13-18 for the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up; yea, for all the joyful houses, and for the jubilant city. Isa 32:14 Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken. Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever, a delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks Isa 32:15 UNTIL the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fertile field and the fertile field is considered as a forest. Isa 32:16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness will abide in the fertile field. Isa 32:17 THE WORK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL BE PEACE, and THE SERVICE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, QUIETNESS AND CONFIDENCE forever. Isa 32:18 Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation and in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places.”}}
This section is contained within a passage dealing with distress on the land because of sin. As I said earlier, Israel’s blessings are in the land, and departure from God, results in a scourge on the land. I have left two verses at the beginning that is part of this cursing of the land because of sin. Then in verse 15, there is the full reverse. Note the “UNTIL”. Remember, that in prophetic writings the timeframe can bounce all over the place – now, future, now, past, future . . .
CHAPTER 32 VERSES 13-14. These are the two verses of judgement on the land through sin. Thorns and briars, forsaken, the palace and city forsaken, and wild donkeys – all signs of God’s disfavour. This was not only the situation in the past but in essence it has been that way for over 2000 years with some slight change in our times. In spiritual terms, Israel is still a barren desert with donkeys of unbelief roaming there.
ISAIAH 32 VERSE 15. This is the pivot, the dramatic change leading to everlasting blessing, and it is signified by the word, “UNTIL.” Once God’s Holy Spirit is poured out on the nation as part of their restoration, from that point onwards, things change. In this verse the expansion is covered - wilderness to a fertile field, and the fertile field to a forest. This is what happens under Messiah’s rule and several Old Testament passages parallel this. Nothing happens in blessings until the Spirit is poured out on them, then blessings flow from above. A fuller treatment is done on this when we do Joel. Joel confirms the redeemed must be in the land, settled, and THEN the Spirit is poured out on them.
CHAPTER 32 VERSES 16-17. Now the prophet writes of the blessings that flow from the giving of the Spirit when the Lord returns to His people after the Second Coming. The first ones are justice and righteousness. Israel has always struggled with these two qualities but after this time, no longer. Justice and righteousness will be the attributes in His Kingdom, but those two will spill out wider as we have in 17 - The work of righteousness will be peace, and the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. Verse 18 is the habitation of restoration in the Lord’s Kingdom. It will all be marvellous. The conversion work of God turns a wicked soul into a saved soul. He changes our unrighteousness into His righteousness and that brings peace to the soul. Righteousness brings peace. Then as saved people we serve in righteousness because the foundations have been secured in faith. Serving works in quietness and confidence.
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{{Isaiah 34:16-17 “Seek from the book of the LORD and read: Not one of these will be missing; none will lack its mate for His mouth has commanded, and His Spirit has gathered them. Isa 34:17 He has cast the lot for them and His hand has divided it to them by line. They shall possess it forever, from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”}}
Chapter 34 is all about judgement and the destructive conditions on the land, and then immediately in the common prophetic timeframe, we move over about 2600 years and into verse 16.
ISAIAH VERSES 14-15. The previous verses (7-9) were speaking of all the creatures in the land – {{Isaiah 34:14-15 “The desert creatures shall meet with the wolves; the hairy goat also shall cry to its kind. Yes, the night monster shall settle there and shall find herself a resting place. Isa 34:15 The tree snake shall make its nest and lay eggs there and it will hatch and gather them under its protection. Yes, the hawks shall be gathered there, every one with its kind.”}} Then in the next two verses, God moves from the creatures to His own people. Of course in the Millennium, these conditions apply also to all creatures, because all creation groans for its redemption (Rom 8). None of His Jewish redeemed will be missing for the Spirit has gathered them and they will be restored to their land and blessed forever. Praise God!
ISAIAH VERSES 34:16-17 {{“Seek from the book of the LORD and read: Not one of these will be missing; none will lack its mate for His mouth has commanded, and His Spirit has gathered them.
Is. 34:17 He has cast the lot for them and His hand has divided it to them by line. They shall possess it forever, from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”}} The inference is that the creatures are known to God and He looks after their needs, but when the redeemed come back home to Israel, they will never depart. They have been gathered by the Holy Spirit and they possess the land forever, from generation to generation. Not one will be missing. Later on in Isaiah we see how all the nations of the world will help the Jewish Tribulation saints get home. It is testimony to the Lord’s special keeping power. The creatures are also looking forward to their redemption. Here it is –
{{Romans 8:20-22 “for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it - in hope Rom 8:21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption, into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Rom 8:22 We know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now”}}
The creatures did not decide to turn feral and become violent. Man’s sin caused all nature to be corrupted and that is why there is so much misery in the animal kingdom. It was not their fault. Verse 21 says this slavery to sin will be banished and the creatures set free. Today all nature groans for its redemption and liberation from terror and hardship. When the Millennium comes the natural world will be just wonderful when the child shall play with the snake and the lion and the ox shall feed together.
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{{Isaiah 35:1-10 “The wilderness and the desert will be glad and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus Isa 35:2 it will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. Isa 35:3 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Isa 35:4 Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, YOUR GOD WILL COME WITH VENGEANCE. The recompense of God will come, but He will save you.”
Isaiah 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Isa 35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy for waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah. Isa 35:7 The scorched land will become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water. In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, grass becomes reeds and rushes. Isa 35:8 A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called THE HIGHWAY OF HOLINESS. The unclean will not travel on it but it will be for him who walks that way, and fools will not wander on it. Isa 35:9 No lion will be there nor will any vicious beast go up on it. These will not be found there but the redeemed will walk there, Isa 35:10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”}}
We have already looked at the highway that will go from Egypt to Assyria but here we have the Highway of Holiness that could be the same one. Verse 9 proves there were lions there in Isaiah’s time (and bears too) but there are none now. It just means there will be nothing there to hurt or rob or hijack or any other bad thing. How can it be anything but peace when the Lord rules!
ISAIAH CHAPTER 35 VERSES 1-10. This spectacular passage shares with us what are some conditions in the Millennium. All this follows on from Israel's restoration and their settlement in the land forever, as the righteous redeemed of the Messiah. I will not write at length on it, but only select a number of points.
The wilderness and the whole of Israel in fact will become luxurious with flowers and forests, such as Lebanon was in the prophet’s time. Other passages in Isaiah speak of these tremendous blessings on the land in the Millennial reign of Christ. The Minor Prophets take that up too. Verses 3 and 4 take a look just before the return of the Lord for those who are struggling. God’s vengeance in verse 4 is Armageddon. The Lord’s coming will mend physical imperfections (5 and 6). There could be some application here to spiritual blemishes also. Remember Israel was under siege from the armies of the Antichrist, and Gog and Magog, and the kings of the east, so the land was a mess and ravished. Many people could wear the marks of warfare. The Lord will miraculously fix all that. The land will NEVER again be scorched.
VERSE 10 {{Isaiah 35:10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”}} This is such a beautiful verse of restoration. These are the redeemed Jews, the Jewish Tribulation saints journeying from all over the world, the remnant who survived the terrible time of Tribulation terror. They will go along with shouting because of their joy, and that joy will be everlasting. Never more will they know sorrow; never more will be uttered a sign of despair or disbelief or doubt. These are the redeemed children of Abraham entering into the blessing promised so long ago. There is song sung in Christian circles based on this verse but it does not apply to Christians, so I don’t think it should be sung because nearly all those singing it have no idea of the context, which is the Jewish redeemed of the Tribulation returning home to Israel.
We will not do this at this juncture, but will when we come to it, but note these similar verses to what we just looked at – {{Isaiah 51:10-11 “Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a pathway for the redeemed to cross over? Isa 51:11 so, the ransomed of the LORD will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”}}
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{{Isaiah 40:1-5 “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. Isa 40:2 Speak kindly to Jerusalem and call out to her that HER WARFARE HAS ENDED, THAT HER INIQUITY HAS BEEN REMOVED, that she has received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” Isa 40:3 A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Isa 40:4 Let every valley be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low, and let the rough ground become a plain and the rugged terrain a broad valley. Isa 40:5 Then THE GLORY OF THE LORD WILL BE REVEALED, and all flesh will see it together for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”}}
{{Isaiah 40:9-11 “Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news. Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news. Lift it up; do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” Isa 40:10 Behold, THE LORD GOD WILL COME WITH MIGHT, WITH HIS ARM RULING FOR HIM. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. Isa 40:11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock. IN HIS ARM HE WILL GATHER THE LAMBS and carry them in His bosom. He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”}}
We move now to a whole new section of Isaiah as the Holy Spirit focuses his writing on the coming of Messiah, and more intently on the restoration of Israel, and this occupies the remainder of the prophecy. People will want to say this is all about the first coming but that is not true. It covers both.
Let us look at what was not covered at the first coming. Because it was not covered at the first coming, it will happen at the Second Coming.
1. Verse 2. When Jesus came there was NO warfare in the land. In fact I have read there was peace in the whole Roman Empire. When Jesus returns at the Second Coming, He comes as the LORD in judgement in Revelation 19 with the two edged sword and the armies of heaven. Jerusalem is surrounded, in fact entered by the Gog forces, and all the nations of the world have sent their armies to crush Israel and obliterate her name. That is when Jesus comes for the Battle of Armageddon and ONLY THEN will “her warfare be ended”. When Jesus came the first time no warfare was ended and He did not end war. AD 70 was soon to happen. The statement “HER WARFARE HAS ENDED” can only be true at the Second Coming when all enemies are defeated.
2. Verse 2. When Jesus came, He was rejected by the nation and crucified. Their iniquity remained and was as bad as ever. They were sinful when He came and were just as sinful when He departed. HOWEVER verse 2 says clearly “THAT HER INIQUITY HAS BEEN REMOVED”. Please note!! “HAS BEEN.” When Jesus ascended to heaven Israel’s iniquity remained and had not been removed. It is still there. That can not happen until His Second Coming when He returns and gathers all the Jews redeemed from around the world, and they are in the land. THEN all iniquity is removed and the Spirit is poured out on Israel!
3.Then, and only then can it be said that true and proper comfort will come to Israel. That did not happen when the nation was under occupation at the First Coming, but it will be enormous at the second Coming when Messiah comes and is the Shepherd of Israel. He truly will comfort all those Tribulation saints who have suffered over those years and He will speak kindly to them. Verse 40 did not happen at the time Jesus came but will happen at His next coming. The members of the true Church can live in comfort but verse 40 has nothing to do with the Church and can not be part of a replaces theology. This is Israel.
4. Verse 1. John the Baptist came but he did not claim to be Elijah – he could have been if the nation repented which did not happen. However Elijah will come as the Messiah’s forerunner before the Second Coming, three and a half years before the Lord returns in Revelation 19. Elijah is one of the two witnesses in Revelation 11.
5. Isaiah 40:10 – the Lord God will come with might, great might in fact. You can read about that in Revelation 19 and Ezekiel 38 and 39. This great might is the Battle of Armageddon when all the world’s armies are to be put down by the strength of The Lord of Lords and The King of Kings. Once He has done that His arm will rule. He becomes not only the King of Israel but King over the whole earth. This is the Lord ruling. Do not fall for the trap of allegorising this passage and distorting it to make it mean the church. It does not work. The Lord literally rules from Israel, from Jerusalem.
6. Isaiah 40:11 - IN HIS ARM HE WILL GATHER THE LAMBS. This is the Shepherd of Israel gathering the lambs from all over the world and bringing them home where He will be the True Shepherd of His sheep. There are a lot of parallel passages that teach the same thing from the Prophets.
I have added a bit extra that may include a little repetition. Many wonderful thoughts will come our way. We begin.
Verses 1-2. “Comfort, O comfort My people,” cries the prophet as God speaks through him. What a deeply affectionate way to begin this section. These verses overflow with love, grace and forgiveness as God moves to comfort the redeemed of Israel, that blessed remnant now entering the Lord’s restoration. Jerusalem’s warfare has ended; the terror of the Tribulation is no more, placing this at the start of the Millennium. Also all her sins will be removed, and not only removed, but God will restore to the Jews double what her sins had done (the sins took away). This has grace written all over it. God speaks kindly to that nation that He loves and embraces now in eternal fellowship. So compassionate is God that He wants to heal them, and us also, and makes all giants in the faith. These people of the Millennium will be so blessed in their land.
Verses 3-5. These words are attributed to John the Baptist but I do wonder if it also goes beyond him to the message preached in the Tribulation that could be part of the Gospel of the Kingdom preached by the 144 000. Then again, these words were used of John the Baptist, so I wonder if they might also connect with Elijah and Enoch, forerunners also of the Messiah’s Coming. The preparation for the Messiah at the Second Coming is like levelling the whole area for Him to come in smoothly. It is not literal but preparation for the glorious Coming with no obstacle blocking the way. Verse 5 is most interesting. It says “all flesh will see it together,” speaking of the glory of the Lord revealed at His coming. Every eye will see Him, and they see it together! Why will it happen this way? It is because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. These words were penned about 2700 years ago but the happenings are just around the corner! In the Rapture, only the saved Christians will see the Lord, but at His Second Coming, the whole earth will see it, softened up already by the cosmic signs of His coming as in Joel and Matthew 24.
Verses 9-11. What an intimate and loving passage this is! The description is of Him who is the Great Shepherd of the Sheep of Israel. The parable of the lost sheep showed the tender shepherd’s care, and the lost sheep this time is Israel. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” Messiah is their God in their midst, a loving example of deity. God has protected the nation, redeemed it, led it, forgiven it, comforts it, extends to it His grace and comfort. How wonderful is our God!
PART 5 WILL FOLLOW
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
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