We continue the section of Messianic promises. However, it should be obvious we can't use that to dismiss the more immediate meaning these things had for what survived of Israel as a nation. As with the Apostle Paul, we realize the entire saga of Israel is a picture of the individual spiritual journey. Not every detail matches every man's experience in Christ, but we can recognize parts of our lives in the underlying structure of things.
In a broad general sense, we are called under God's Laws, but we cannot obey them. We suffer losses, but we continue waxing and waning to varying degrees until we simply cannot keep it up any longer. Then God separates us entirely from our old existence. If we embrace Christ, we return and rebuild something far better than we ever knew.
This promise remained in effect in Isaiah's prophecy here. If Israel will on the national level embrace the call to Return and be what they were called to be, they could find a life far more blessed than when David reigned. So we find Isaiah opening this chapter with a bold promise which did apply on that level, even as it points to the spiritual blessings of following Jesus.
Where does either kingdom or Kingdom come from? It was founded in the call of Abraham. They who were his literal heirs, as we his spiritual heirs, should cling to his faith. Only in his faith can we find what God promised from the very beginning. By choosing loyalty to God, we can lay claim to the legacy of Eden reborn, whether in some fashion on earth, or more surely in the Spirit. Yet surely, in the long run, all Creation as we know it will wear out, and only what God plants in Eternity really matters. People whose hearts are reborn can stand with all the assurance of the Creator Himself over His Creation, and all His enemies can do nothing to us. We can with full confidence call on His redemption, His vengeance and wrath against sin cannot harm us.
Isaiah calls his nation to look back at the Exodus, to recall the very powerful destruction visited upon "Rahab" -- Egypt. Those who could approach Zion's hill with a true sense of joy and relief would eventually find the Eternal Zion in Heaven. The One who made all things is hardly intimidated by the mightiest oppressor among men. If they would truly return to the Lord in their hearts, all sorrow will be forgotten in the joy of serving Him again.
But as they are now, Judah and her capital city lie in a drunken stupor under the intoxicating influence of sin. But this is no giddy tipsy experience, but a great sorrow of sin causing them to stumble about senselessly. There will be no one to support or comfort Jerusalem when the siege comes. The army of Judah will be decimated in the streets.
Yet the Lord has already removed the cup of sorrow from their hands, if they can believe it. In His promise they have yet to claim, He stands ready to deliver. Even that conquest from Babylon would be brief and they could recover quickly to return upon her the abuse she will surely offer during the Exile. The Lord speaks of things to come as something established as past even before Him in Heaven. Will they accept His promise and obey?
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By Ed Hurst
25 June 2009
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