“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees,” Isaiah 35:1-3.
I read these verses with the mindset that ‘The Lord says what He means and means what He says!’
I consider these words to be a literal setting forth of what the Lord purposes to do one day for Israel and in the midst of mankind. I recall my brother in law, the late Dr John. Douglas, responding to a Christian who held to an ‘A-millennial’ view of prophecy, that if he is wrong in taking God to mean what it says, then he will explain to the Lord on that great day of standing before Him to give an account of our ways and doings, ‘Lord I simply believed what you said, rather than trusting in any notion of man as to what you meant!’
It came home to that A-millennialist, that there was simple and honest logic behind Dr Douglas’s understanding of Scripture!
Metaphorical
A-millennialism is essentially a dismissing of a considering of the wording of prophecy as being literal but rather it is to be understood as figurative and metaphorical.
Such a notion gives licence to man’s fertile imagination and produces the most ludicrous notions as to what God’s Word means! The ‘prophetic’ exegesis of those who hold to this notion, demonstrates a likeness to the famous Heinz ’57 varieties’ advertising slogan of some years ago! It is a case of making God’s Word to say whatever you would like it to say!
When we stay with a literal understanding of God’s Word, except where He makes it clear that He is using parabolic language, then that is wise, irrespective of the empty scoffing of foolish men!
What is stated in this chapter is entirely in keeping with other portions of God’s Word.
Isaiah 11 is just such a chapter as is 2:1-4; 9:6-7; 60:1-22; 65:17-25; Micah 4:1-8; Zechariah 14, and I must, of course, add Revelation 20:1-10.
We are told very specifically by Peter that: “Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed,” Acts 3:24-25.
To return to Isaiah 35, one of the chapters I read today (3rd June), what wonders are here outlined as being what the Lord plans to do on the earth and amongst mankind.
IN THIS CHAPTER IS EMPHASISED GOD’S PLAN FOR HIS ANCIENT PEOPLE ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD IN GENERAL
1. It is very wrong to believe that the Lord has abandoned and is finished with the nation of Israel! Paul makes that clear in his writing to the church at Rome. “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew,” Romans 11:1-2.
He then goes on, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to detail God’s future purpose for that ancient people.
“I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen,” Romans 11:11-36.
Here is detail of Israel’s “fall”, which resulted in God’s turning in grace to the Gentile world. “Through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.”
Paul reasons, “Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?” His question speaks of a future “fulness”. It refers to a day when Israel will be restored by grace to a full knowledge of the Lord. Paul asks a rhetorical question with a very obvious answer. “For God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?”
There is then a glorious future planned for the redeemed remnant of Israel.
2. The purpose of God regarding Israel will take place at the return of the Saviour. “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins,” Romans 11:26-27.
These words denote, without a shadow of doubt, the spiritual regeneration of the Israelite remnant preserved from the ravages of Antichrist and the ‘the great tribulation’ which he will initiate in the last three and half years of this age.(Matthew 24:15-21).
Paul says “out of Sion the Deliverer” shall come to “turn away ungodliness from Jacob” and to accomplish His Covenant made with them of old, “when I shall take away their sins.”
Jeremiah explains the matter well.
“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more,” Jeremiah 31:31-34.
Agreement
To this agrees what Zechariah tells us. “Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south . . . And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.” Zechariah 14:3-4, 12:9-13:9.
These words agree with verse 4 of Isaiah 35. “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.”
What a day that will be for presently poor, benighted Israel!
3. But it will not be just the people of Israel that will experience the merciful blessing of the Lord that day.
No, the physical earth will be wonderfully blessed.
“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God,” Isaiah 35:1-2.
“For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody,” Isaiah 51:3.
The death groans of the earth, presently sensed with alarm, but without understanding, by ‘environmentalist’ such as Sir David Attenborough, will cease and the present limitations upon physical life, brought about by sin, will be largely lifted.
“Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now,” Romans 8:21-22.
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den,” Isaiah 11:6-8.
“The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD,” Isaiah 65:25.
4. The whole earth will profit from the mercy of God in the day of the Lord. Many verses specifically refer to the land of Israel being rejuvenated but it is the whole earth that will also experience this physical renewing. That is made clear in the words of many verses. There is a time of mercy and blessing extended to all nations during the earthly reign of Christ. The blessings that fell on Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and then extended progressively to all nations, was a foreshadowing of that which will take place to a greater fulness during the millennial era.
“Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God,” Isaiah 52:9-10.
Israel will be the ‘messenger’ of God’s mercy to all nations at that time. “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit,” Isaiah 27:6.
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you,” Zechariah 8:20-23.
“But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations,” Isaiah 61:6-11.
Jerusalem shall be the centre of worship on the earth for it is from there that the Saviour will reign.
“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts,” Zechariah 14:16-21.
That which causes the ungodly to perceive as the approach of the destruction of the earth and mankind is, for the Christian, the signs of that which will bring about the intervention of Christ to deliver Israel and glorify His saints and in a wonderful way restore the earth to a measure of its glory before the fall of Adam into sin and its resultant curse!
These glorious truths the devil would rob the people of God of, even as for a long time in the dark ages he robbed the world of the blessed doctrines of the Gospel of Free Grace, and replaced them by the “doctrines of devils” promulgated still by the priests of Rome and the other heathen follies which are abounding again in this era of apostasy within the ranks of Christendom!
Christian, give yourself to Bible study and copy the Bereans who “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so,” Acts 17:11.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
4th June 2028