The Future Restoration Of Israel - Part 7 - Scriptures In Isaiah Series

THE FUTURE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL - PART 7 - SCRIPTURES IN ISAIAH

The series of restoration passages in the Prophet Isaiah continues. We now continue on from Part 6.

{{Isaiah 54:4-8 “Fear not, for YOU will not be put to shame, neither feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced, but you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. Isa 54:5 YOUR HUSBAND IS YOUR MAKER, WHOSE NAME IS THE LORD OF HOSTS and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel who is called the God of all the earth. Isa 54:6 The LORD has called you, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” says your God. Isa 54:7 For a brief moment I forsook you but with great compassion I will gather you. Isa 54:8 In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment but with everlasting loving kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.”}}

Verse 4. I will ask a question for verse 4. “Who is the “you” mentioned 4 to 5 times in the verse?” There are those who want to incorporate this either into the church or try to “Christianise” it. Truly it can’t be done. It can only fit Israel so the “you” is speaking to Israel.

These 5 verses are tender, loving, and show the Lord of compassion, love and mercy. It is the God of forgiveness who will turn again to Israel. It is a wonderful God who wipes away the past and restores a glorious future. All Israel’s spiritual adultery that has caused shame and disgrace will never be remembered again. This is a magnificent restoration for the Jews. The Second Coming will be disaster on the world (especially the nations gathered against Jerusalem on the eve of Armageddon) but a glorious manifestation for Israel. A similar thought rests here for us. When a Christian sins, he is in shame and disgrace but the God of love restores that one and God will never recall the sins of a backsliding Christian who repents. (1John 1:9-10)

Verse 5. It is Israel who is spoken to. Israel is the wife of Jehovah, and it is He who made the nation from Abraham. Jesus is never called “Husband” for the Church, and the husband-wife relationship was often used in the Old Testament for Jehovah and Israel. The Church has Bride and Bridegroom, an altogether different relationship. For His nation, He has a special name – The LORD of Hosts - Messiah is the LORD of hosts = YHWH saboath [Jehovah of Hosts] = Commander of the angelic armies of heaven.” The Lord redeems His people with great power. Names are packed into this verse also including Maker, Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, and God of all the earth.

Verse 6. How lovely is verse 6. In the eyes of a judgemental world, Israel was like a sinful wife that any husband would reject. She was forsaken and rejected, but what was the good news? Well, her “husband” of love, Messiah Himself, became despised and rejected before a judgemental world, and died for the spiritual restoration of the nation He loved. Jesus takes up this despised wife and He will restore her to a greater position than at the first. She will be the chief nation of the earth in the time to come. This is the same territory that is covered in the book of Hosea in the first three chapters. The cross work of Christ was firstly for His chosen nation as “wife”, and also for the chosen world as “Bride”. Isaiah had revealed that sacrifice of the despised and rejected One, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, in the previous two chapters.

Verse 7. “FOR A BRIEF MOMENT I FORSOOK YOU”. How long was that brief moment and what is it being compared with? What an amazing thought. For 2000 years the Jews have been rejected by Jehovah (nationally), and in a sense, it has been maybe 2500 years. God terms that time as “a brief moment”. How do we understand that? He who is the First and the Last from eternity to eternity, will hold Restored Israel in a close covenant relationship for all eternity. 2000 years is but a brief moment in that context. It was in that time of forsaking, the Lord was forming His Church and that is almost complete so it will be very soon, the Lord again turns to his beloved nation. Take note how the Lord will gather His redeemed; He does it with “great compassion,” and that shows the closeness of the Lord with Israel.

Verse 8. “IN AN OUTBURST OF ANGER I HID MY FACE FROM YOU FOR A MOMENT BUT WITH EVERLASTING LOVING KINDNESS I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON YOU,” says the LORD your Redeemer. This is another amazing verse. The Lord says, “an outburst of anger” but this had continued all through Israel's history. The people were wayward all the time and idolatrous for most of their existence. God says He hid His face from them, and still does, and for how long has He hidden His face”? The two outbursts of anger I think are the outstanding ones, are the two destructions - Nebuchadnezzar and Titus. Prophetically, Isaiah was looking at Nebuchadnezzar, about 200 years off. He says, “for a moment,” and what is said in verse 7 above, applies here. That is not the end. God will have everlasting kindness and compassion on them as He reminds them He is their Redeemer. What a glorious future! What love!