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Articles 2014-2017
God anointed Isaiah to prophesy amazing truth concerning His Servant, Israel’s Messiah. This coming King would act wisely, prosper, and become highly exalted (Isaiah 52:13).
But just as Israel had been invaded and shattered through enemy armies because of her many sins, so her Champion, though not through any sin of His own would also be marred – more than any man, even beyond human semblance (Isaiah 52:14).
As a result, just as Moses sprinkled blood on the tabernacle and the people in order to effect their ceremonial cleansing (Hebrews 9:19 - 22), so the Messiah would sprinkle His blood on many nations releasing among them Heaven’s cleansing power. Political leaders would be so stunned at what was happening that they would be speechless. Truths they had never heard before or even considered would dawn in their hearts. In fact, nations that had no history of prophets, written scripture, or miraculous interventions from Heaven would experience the supernatural invasion of eternal truth (Isaiah 52:15).
These people both great and small among the nations would look around and ask who else was experiencing what they were. They would sometimes contemplate their circles of acquaintances and wonder if God had revealed His mighty arm of salvation to certain ones (Isaiah 53:1). Indeed, it would take discernment to recognize the messianic kingdom of God’s Servant; no one would even be able to see it if they were not born again (John 3:3).
The main reason God’s kingdom would break into human history so inconspicuously was because that was the way the King himself would come. He would grow up before the One who had sent Him. In other words, He would not seek to posture himself in any way before those to whom He had been sent. His life would not be about fitting into their conclusions from their study of scripture concerning the Messiah. He would simply walk under the penetrating gaze of His Father.
And He would come into view from places no one was expecting – like a tender plant growing from dry ground. Nazareth? Are you sure (John 1:46)?
And I wonder how many had walked right by without even bothering to look into the barn that wonderful day in Bethlehem when the newborn King of the universe was lying in an animal’s feeding trough. Then when He did step into national view, He did not look particularly majestic; He wore no robes of royalty; He had no halo (Isaiah 53:2). And unlike King Saul, He probably was not head and shoulders above others.
This amazing One would become a man of sorrows,[42] despised and rejected by many – one from whom they would rather turn away their faces than to look upon. They would fail to evaluate Him or His actions properly (Isaiah 53:3).
And many would conclude from His disfiguring, pain, and humiliation that God was judging Him. But the reality would be that His suffering and death were due to our iniquities and transgressions and for our salvation. The root cause of humanity’s twisted condition, the desire to decide for itself what is good or evil (Genesis 2:17) would be laid upon Him. And He would go through His ordeal without complaint.
Yet Heaven’s promise was clear. Though He would die, cut off from the land of the living, He would see His offspring (those born of His life – i.e., born again) and He would prolong His days – He would be raised from the dead. Not only that, the will and pleasure of the Father would prosper in His hand (Isaiah 53:4 - 10).
Today, seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, our King bears all authority in heaven and on earth. And what God purposed from the foundation of the world to do among the nations He is accomplishing in and through His Son. Can we look around us in our generation with all its violence, religious extremism, and philosophical darkness and yet proclaim that God’s eternal purpose is prospering as a reflection of Christ’s jurisdiction? We must. And we must proclaim with a firm faith in our hearts that He is not only presently succeeding but that He will in the years ahead victoriously bring His eternal project to completion.
Because He would succeed in redeeming many, He would be able to look and be satisfied as His work among men came to full stature (Isaiah 53:11).
He would divide His portion, His inheritance with those He redeemed and then specifically divide with the strong the spoil of victory in the war He would be leading against darkness. According to the New Testament, the strong would be those who recognized their absolute weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7 - 10), their barrenness apart from Him. And the spoil in the war would surely be the multitudes of new souls added to the kingdom through the prayers and labors of the redeemed. But undergirding Heaven’s whole approach in the war of the ages would be that the King himself would lead the way in making intercession for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12).
So even from the cross, Jesus called for His Father’s forgiveness for the very ones who were crucifying Him (Luke 23:34). And after He ascended to heaven He continued making intercession for all who would draw near to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25).
What we must see is that priestly intercession is Heaven’s strategy in the present great spiritual war we find ourselves in today.
In light of the amazing truth revealed in Isaiah Chapter 53, the prophet began prophesying to the nations of the earth that great rejoicing was now in order.
”Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord.
Those born of the Holy Spirit from the nations would outnumber those born in Israel. Throughout the Old Testament, God had likened His relationship with His people to that of a marriage – He considered idolatry to be spiritual adultery. And over the centuries many Jews had been faithful and believed in the Lord like their father Abraham had (Hebrews 11:12 - 13). But through the Messiah’s suffering and death, multitudes would now come to spiritual birth from nations that had never known such a relationship with God. Though these lands had been spiritually barren, the numbers turning to Him from their midst would now be massive.
And over the last two thousand years, many millions of people have come into intimate relationship with the God of Israel.
The Book of Acts reveals for us the beginnings of our Lord’s worldwide project. Starting from Jerusalem (Luke 24:46 - 47), Christ’s rule among men began to spread among the nations. Significantly, when the apostle Paul wrote to some of these new Gentile believers, he specifically made reference to Isaiah’s prophecy about the barren bearing many children (Galatians 4:21 - 27). What was starting to occur would become massively expansionist.
Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
Indeed, the children of Abraham, the father of all who believe (Galatians 3:7, 29), would greatly multiply.
For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.
One point of controversy in Christian eschatology is whether Christ must physically return in order for the above verse to be fulfilled. I certainly do not want to stoke any flames of division. But may I suggest that whichever way we go in answering that question, I believe we can all agree that from the context of Isaiah Chapters 53 - 54, His success among the nations will be rooted in His death, His resurrection, and His intercession for the transgressors.
And if He is already functioning in His role as Great High Priest, should we not then believe for some measure of fulfillment in this age? To me, the only real question is not whether but how much of the Father’s pleasure prospering in the hands of Christ will the nations be able to see and celebrate within the bounds of Church history. They will certainly see something. Remember our Great High Priest’s prayer while He was still on earth.
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Clearly, God has been at work among His children over many centuries in order to get the attention of the world.
At the same time, Satan has sought to surround and destroy God’s work. In fact, we can look all the way back to Israel’s enslavement in Egypt. Time and again we read in the Scriptures of regional “world empires” who sought to surround and destroy His chosen ones. And as long as His people were a specific nation with recognized borders, it was possible for an identifiable nation or empire to encircle His people.
However, when the Messiah died for the sins of the world and rose again, something changed. God’s people would now be an international reality among the nations. In order for Satan to proceed with his agenda to surround and destroy the work of God, he would have to establish a one-world system of governance. And over the last two thousand years he has sought to do so. But our God has restrained and thwarted his attempts. As a result, believers have been able to flee during times of persecution to certain places where religious freedom existed. Here in some measure has been God’s calling on America.
And Satan keeps trying. Today we see forces at work to diminish the effectiveness of national borders so as to realize a global city of man. But borders were God’s idea. He established the nations, their boundaries, and each one’s period of existence.
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
(Acts 17:26 NIV)
In our recent presidential election, one party supported (among other things) a policy of more open borders while the other sought stronger border security. A fight for clearer border distinction was also recently fought politically in Great Britain over how separate their nation should be from the European Union. How significant in the overall outworking of God’s purpose on earth were these two events?
And of course, do not forget the nation of Israel. The issue of her border clarity, her national identity in the Middle East is always front-and-center on the world stage.
So what is happening? Is it possible that God could give us some insight from the Book of Revelation? I know that there are many different approaches to interpreting this apostolic/prophetic book and that many godly teachers have come to various and differing conclusions. So just take these few thoughts as simply one more contribution to be prayerfully considered.
The apostle John made reference to a seven-headed wild animal or beast (Greek, THERION). The seven heads were seven kings or governmental systems. Five of them had already fallen when John was writing this and the sixth now ruled in the first century, while the seventh was yet to come (Revelation 17:9 - 10). If we consider the first “king”, the first regional “world empire” to be Egypt, the second to be Assyria, the third to be Babylon, the fourth to be Medo-Persia, and the fifth to be Greece under Alexander the Great, then the sixth head would be the Roman Empire ruling with great authority at that time. And from the days of John’s writing until now, Satan has been trying to bring forth the seventh head, a one-world system of governance.
And time and again over the last two thousand years, Jesus has put up His hand and said “no”. I believe that to some degree, He just did so again. But Satan will keep trying, until he can gather the world as one against Israel and the Church. This is not to say that there are not good people with upright motives who are working to help nations cooperate with each other, to be at peace, and to have sound trade agreements. Those involved in assisting international relations are certainly not necessarily either anti-Semitic or antichristian.
But in the shadows, the enemy of all mankind continues to lurk and plot his way forward. And in a time when he draws the nations to unify in war against Israel, God will pour out on the Jewish people the Spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look on the One they pierced, and they will mourn as they suddenly realize the identity of their Messiah (Zechariah 12). Their “seeing” will not occur because of Christ’s physical return but because of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In that day Israel will stand on her feet an exceedingly great army (Ezekiel 37:10). That tells me that the great spiritual war we are in will still have time to run.
At the same time, God’s strategy has been to bring to fullness His work among the nations in order to make Israel jealous (Romans 11:11). Today when Israel looks at Christianity, she is not jealous. Indeed, God’s intention for the redeemed is not that we be a group of institutions and organizations, but a family, a body, a people permeated with the presence and the truth of the Almighty. Simply put, Israel must have her eyes opened to see her God both through an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and simultaneously revealed in a corporate and mature expression of His life in a people among the nations.
Even as Jews from around the world began journeying to physical Zion in the Middle East over the last century, so also movement has been gradually taking place in Christianity.[43] This pilgrimage from institution to family, from organization to “bodyness” will increase in the years ahead. And when we experience the fullness of God’s “Gentile agenda” coming in among us from Heaven, Israel will be saved. In that day, God’s army on earth will be more complete than ever in history.
Peter called Israel to repent so that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. After that He would then send Jesus, Heaven’s appointed Messiah (Acts 3:19 - 20). In other words, Christ will not return until those seasons break forth. And they will not occur until Israel repents.
It seems clear to me that seasons of great spiritual refreshing are still in our future.
But in the Book of Revelation, John put it another way. The great harlot, the city of man sitting upon many waters – the peoples, nations, tongues, and multitudes of the whole earth (Revelation 17:1, 15), would become more connected to the beast. She would seat herself on the seven-headed wild animal, and the world would experience for the first time a single world system expressly devoted to the destruction of God’s people. But in those days something will happen where the beast suddenly ceases to exist. And the whole earth will recognize that this evil entity was and is not. Yes, its eighth head will come back for a short season in order to go to destruction (I call that Satan’s last stand). But there is yet ahead of us a period of time when this evil entity that has existed in some form since the days of Israel’s enslavement in Egypt will be totally neutralized. Earlier, John had spoken of this event as one of the beast’s heads receiving a fatal wound and then being healed (Revelation 13:3). In other words, the eighth head is really just the seventh revived. Satan will have run out of new ideas.
It seems likely that the seasons of refreshing following Israel’s salvation will coincide with the time period when the beast “is not,” when it is neutralized. In those days God’s inconspicuous kingdom will emerge in such clarity that the nations will be confronted with Christ, revealed in a corporate body coordinated from Heaven just like Israel experienced the man Christ Jesus two thousand years ago.
Jesus called that dawning era the days of the Son of Man (Luke 17:20 - 30).[44] Peter called those days seasons of refreshing (Acts 3:19 - 21). Paul likened them to spiritual life from the dead (Romans 11:15, cf. Romans 6:13, John 5:25). He also informed the Roman believers that however great was God’s release of spiritual wealth into the world when Israel fell, even more would be realized at her return to Him (Romans 11:12).
Is it possible that Isaiah Chapter 54 verse 3 refers to those days? However God has chosen to fulfill His promise that the meek would inherit the earth, we can look toward the future with confidence that His plans for His people will succeed, that He will not simply leave us to our own devices.
Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
We were clearly a mess when we first came to the Lord. However, He has done such a powerful and effective work of cleansing us, that it almost seems like our past sins were those of someone else. Indeed, we have forgotten the shame of our youth. But when were we a widow? Our Husband is eternal. Yet when you consider our history, there was a time when it seemed as though God had died. Bibles were chained to the pulpits; the people were kept in ignorance; and so-called Christian leaders persecuted and tortured both Jews and true believers in Christ. What a time of reproach for Christianity.
But the future for God’s house looks bright. The One who has promised to build it is in covenant with us; the Gates of hell will not prevail against it; and the name of our Redeemer shall be known throughout the whole earth.
For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.
Our God is Lord of the whole earth. From that position of authority and power over all, no one can stop Him from making His Church a holy bride through whom He will reveal what it means to know and abide in Him. As we join with Him in His intercessory ministry, He will touch the world in amazing ways.
In closing, just read through the rest of Chapter 54 and let faith arise in your heart that there simply will be no stopping God’s eternal plan to bring forth His people in His likeness. Indeed, no weapon formed against us will have a chance of succeeding.
”For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer. “This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”
Donald Rumble – January 2017
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