Whatever Things are True: Isaiah, Part 3
God’s promises to Israel to save His people and fulfill the curses on those who oppose Israel
Remember Genesis 12:1-3: ”Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
This curse is an unending curse on all nations who defy or come against Israel.
Isaiah was called as a prophet of God to the nation of Israel during the reign of four kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Through his lifetime, he had the difficult assignment of convincing the people of Judah (Israel) to repent of their idolatry (harlotry), and for turning away from the God who led them out of 400 years of bondage in Egypt. Can you imagine being a young man and having God talk to you and give you such an intense, seemingly impossible assignment? But Isaiah was faithful to his calling throughout his life. ”And now the Lord says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength— he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”“ Isaiah 49:5-6 NIV Isaiah and his writings were also aimed at those of us who were and are Gentiles, not of Jewish descent. Reading through Isaiah this time has really shown me more of how he has been a light to those of us who were not born into the Jewish family, helping us understand the events of the New Testament writings.
I will let Isaiah speak the most here. There is nothing I could add, except to say that what was then still is and will not change until Jesus returns. Our current world condition, and specifically the godless condition of America just reminds me that there is nothing new under the sun.
The message to the Jewish people was always the same: repent and you will be blessed; continue in idolatry and disobedience and your lives will be difficult. So many times the Jewish (Hebrew) people repented, but then they would, again, after a few years forget God and return to the pagan ways of those who lived around them. Israel was drawn into the pagan culture over and over again. And again and again they were overtaken and captured by nations and kingdoms of God’s choosing. Again and again, as they cried to God when their bondage became too unbearable, God would raise up a leader to bring them back to their homeland. Their captors would in the end be dealt with for their mistreatment of God’s chosen people.
“Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives be rescued from the fierce? But this is what the Lord says: “Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save. I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”“ Isaiah 49:24-26 NIV
Isaiah continues to reveal God’s plans for the future for all those who follow and obey His commands. He also continues to make clear that those people who come against the children of God, Jew and saved Gentile alike, will be punished.
”Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished. “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, You people in whose heart is My law: Do not fear the reproach of men, Nor be afraid of their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, And the worm will eat them like wool; But My righteousness will be forever, And My salvation from generation to generation.”“ Isaiah 51:6-8 NKJV
”And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, That I may plant the heavens, Lay the foundations of the earth, And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”“ Isaiah 51:16 NKJV
”Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord. Isaiah 54:15, 17 NKJV
”Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. “For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.“ Isaiah 55:7-12 NKJV
”So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. “The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” Says the Lord. “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”“Isaiah 59:19-21 , NKJV
”For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, And those nations shall be utterly ruined.“ Isaiah 60:12 NKJV
”“The sun shall no longer be your light by day, Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, And your God your glory. Your sun shall no longer go down, Nor shall your moon withdraw itself; For the Lord will be your everlasting light, And the days of your mourning shall be ended. Also your people shall all be righteous; They shall inherit the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, And a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”“Isaiah 60:19-22 NKJV
”Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence— As fire burns brushwood, As fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!“ Isaiah 64:1-2 NKJV
”You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned— In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved.” Isaiah 64:5 NKJV
”“For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, “So shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord. “And they shall go forth and look Upon the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, And their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”“ Isaiah 66:22-24 NKJV
And so the book ends, with the final promise and curse for God’s people, Israel, and those who support Israel, and those who war against it. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15