Isaiah Essay
A
modern essay on Isaiah dealing with critics claims of multiple authorship
By Glenn Davies.
This essay represents
the follow up or part 3 of “the Hand of God in the day of the Lord” articles
[part 1&2] included as an add-on due to its almost inseparable nature and
content.
Introduction:
We intend to demonstrate and
show in this essay that all of Isaiah was written by a single author
i.e. the one in the middle chapters that the secular scholars acknowledge fully
and call Deutero Isaiah. They were 100% correct because Isaiah delivered the
prophetic goods in each and every chapter of his work from start to finish.
This essay most likely will still be written
in the third person though because I’ve fallen into that habit of using the first
person and am mostly unable to write differently now after nearly five years as
Clay’s spiritual partner in research on prophecy. Since I was never a ”trained”
writer in the first place if I tried to revert to the third person now at best
our readers would probably get a crazy mixture of both first person and third
person with tenses “mixed” as well in addition to my usually poor punctuation.
So our readers will just have to bear with a first person narrative from a third
person perspective – if that indeed makes sense.
Strangely enough some
of the biblical authors and prophets write in the future tense as if things
such as prophetic events have already happened even though writing supposedly
about their immediate times and first person narrative at times too when
referring to themselves or what they present --- and Isaiah was no exception
--- but that could be just an ancient Hebrew form of expression and has been
acquired by this author through in depth study of God’s prophetic word and
association in that capacity. The
alternative being that some ‘higher’ authority was coaching them and indeed
giving them what to write through the Holy Spirit --- the most likely scenario. That, of course, scholars would be unable to
accept due to their seeming bias against the word of God.
Clay is a fully
accomplished biblical and secular scholar in his own right and has been
studying scripture for far more years than I have and has at least forty years
experience under his belt with a university education as a base and has served
God in ‘ministerial’ positions as an Evangelist.
I on the other hand can make no such claims
and am just an ordinary, rough around the edges Aussie and have only been
studying prophetic scripture for around the five years since Clay and I met on
the internet.
Before the undertaking of our joint intense
research into prophecy as a team --- I
did pretty much what everybody else does i.e. went along with and accepted
docilely whatever religious leaders said was the truth prophetically speaking
whether it was true or not because I simply didn’t know any better and naively
trusted them to know what they were talking about because they were presumably
men of God and I had no idea they were more often than not taking prophetic
scripture out of context to ‘prove’ their pet theories, which some have turned
into “in house” doctrines and claim they are God’s doctrines.
There is really no viable means for the
average person unschooled or unskilled in the word of God, to detect where
religious leaders go astray in their private interpretations of scriptures
because when those scriptures are checked up on and verification is made by the
average person such as myself --- those
scriptures do indeed seem to confirm a religious leader’s assessment of the
view he or she is presenting.
Even though we in our
research on prophecy, cross-check each other’s work often, it is still kept
within the confines of the biblical guide we follow, but everything changed for
the both of us as a result of our joint research and our understanding has
metamorphosed into or branched out into new and different directions neither of
us would have entered into or considered as individuals in the set paths we
were previously on in regard to our previous beliefs. So in no way could we be regarded as
“traditionalists” --- the majority of whom as even our Lord has said of those
in His day --- have taken His word and His Laws and turned them into
commandments and doctrines of men:
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men. KJV Mark 7:7
They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules
taught by men.' NIV Mark 7:7
A
great deal of Isaiah covers God’s intervention in our future
In one particular place in his prophetic work he prophesies of a “fall
of the towers” and because the timeline is completely backed up by Jesus’
prophecies in the book of Revelation we investigate the significance of this
and many other prophecies contained within Isaiah’s prophetic records in regard
to the possibility that Isaiah is actually referring to modern skyscrapers in
fact --- or ancient cities instead. Will it be a case of “move over
Nostradamus” --- a real biblical prophet has been at work --- showing greater and
more far reaching prophecies than any have ever imagined before?
Does
anyone in all honesty think we in our modern world in spite of all its
technology are any more enlightened or more righteous than people were in
Jesus’ day in spiritual matters?
If
any do think that --- then think again --- our God is going to “intervene” in
our modern world in a spectacular, dramatic and awesome way and He isn’t going
to do it because we’re doing well.
We’ve
screwed up just about everything God has given us including our bodies, our
minds and our incredibly beautiful planet’s flora and fauna with our natural
animal world suffering because of our insensitivity overall to proper planetary
husbandry.
We
live on what could be and has been called “spaceship earth” --- if we don’t
stop screwing over this essentially closed originally ecologically “balanced”
womb which nourishes us in a cocoon shielded from the harsher reality of the
outer and essentially empty “known” universe [at present] we won’t get another
home perfectly suited to human life.
It’s
pretty evident this is the only world we have --- it’s our “home-world” and the
average person of reasonable intelligence wouldn’t systematically destroy his
own home knowingly.
You
would think man, and especially highly intelligent and well educated scientists
would have more “horse sense” than the average person and by now would have
halted the degradation of our natural environment --- but commercial interests,
war mongering nations and even peace-loving nations are doing exactly that with
an abandon unequalled in ancient history.
The
so-called experts and scientists who study our environment can’t agree on
whether or not there is even a global climate change involved as a result of
our degradation of our natural environment.
We
are, whether we like it or not, responsible for our living conditions to a
great degree and we can either beautify our planet by working in harmony with
the Creator’s natural laws of conservation OR we can neglect our environment at
peril of destroying an essentially balanced ecosphere, by allowing
irreplaceable flora and fauna to perish either unwittingly, or uncaringly, in
our general ignorance of the finer points of God’s unmatched biological
engineering feat we call planet earth.
What is going to be pointed out for our
readers in this essay on Isaiah is something that the secular critics may be
totally unaware of and have definitely not taken into account in their
assessment of Isaiah’s prophetical work and that will be pointed out later
towards the close of this essay and it’s going to be very blunt, very direct,
as befits my Aussie nature and heritage.
The reason for that
blunt directness will become apparent as this essay proceeds to its conclusion,
for the choices for humanity are really only twofold --- we either live
together or we perish together. We
either live in harmony with our maker or we defy Him to our own inevitable
destruction in that second case.
Isaiah in conjunction with another contemporary
prophet shows some truly incredible outcomes that the critics are apparently
totally oblivious to in all its awesome aspects.
The
incredible prophetic truth unfolds through Isaiah’s writings
The
66 chapters of Isaiah are far too expansive to do a full analysis as we might
like to do in order to show the incredible insights that Isaiah was given in
his prophetic book.
The
middle chapters from 40-45 are among those chapters that are disputed by
critics as having not been written by Isaiah.
We only recently became aware of the critics totally negative approach
to our God’s word.
What
we present is totally unique because we are non- denominational Christians with
absolutely no religious axe to grind other than showing the truth of prophecy
which we have ‘specialized’ in, for the five or so years now, of our
acquaintance since meeting on the internet.
Jesus
had recorded for posterity in the book of Revelation that “the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy” and we follow that testimony to its inevitable
conclusions in all our work.
What
we intend to do for our readers in this particular case however, is an analysis
of the secular critic’s view of Isaiah with an overview of Isaiah included and
exactly why the critics [secular, or religious scholar’s, if they hold the same
views in actuality] are totally and completely and unmistakably
wrong.
We
deem the overview of Isaiah in conjunction with another contemporary prophet to
Isaiah as critical to all our understanding of nearly all prophecy when seen
from the perspective of the book of Revelation in the New Testament and the
historical background of the Old Testament.
So that will basically be presented first, with the assessment
of the secular critics accusations coming last, as essentially unimportant, but
necessary to be addressed here and there, throughout the article, in
order to validate what God says he is going to do to and for all
our nations and other nations in general in the modern era and beyond.
There is simply no other way to put it. The time
for plain speaking where it comes to prophecy has arrived, or rather should
have arrived in our world long before this current article and indeed all our
other articles that tell it like it is in no uncertain terms.
It might seem like we are unduly criticizing others
ourselves in presenting what we have with all our articles.
The truth is you really can’t make an omelet
without breaking eggs and what we present is intended for what it’s worth to
help others understand the word of God in a practical, down to earth, everyday
way.
If it
becomes necessary to metaphorically or rhetorically kick a few arses OR as our
North American friends might express it --- “kick a few butts” to make people
sit up and take notice --- then so be it.
Some of Jesus’ disciples were rough fishermen after all and were
probably no strangers to criticism of either their words or their conduct in
their own times.
In our
view it’s very important for people everywhere of whatever national, ethnic or
religious or even non religious persuasion, to understand things very clearly
or as clear as we can show them to be in reality --- for the impact prophecy will have on all our
lives
and we are fully aware of the gravity of what we are writing about and it
really is that serious, though many take scripture of any sort lightly
and view the essentially Hebrew bible with disdain, or sometimes outright
contempt as being just myth.
Prophetic
scripture is no laughing or scoffing matter if it is indeed backed up by an all
powerful, dynamic and living God who can also bring what He declares in
prophecy into our reality and into complete fulfillment as He claims in Isaiah
and elsewhere, in what is called the ‘word’ of God.
Should
we continue to ignore the Word and/or the Son of God who claims He now has the
keys of death and the grave?
I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and
ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
NIV Revelation 1:18
Jesus reveals death and the grave are going to be
abolished by God the Father from the point in time that God the Father Himself
comes to live with His children. [Revelation 21: 4, 7-8]
In the
meantime Jesus has the keys to life and death in our time and will continue to
do so during the millennium also because God the Father has essentially given
all authority and power to the living Jesus to perform the Father’s will as
outlined in all prophecy --- i.e. new and old covenant prophecy together, as
they are to all intents and purposes, inseparable.
By that coming time in our future after the
millennium of 1100 or so years into our future, the old order of things --- our
current daily lives in this technologically based society --- everything we
know and understand today will well and truly have passed into the realms of
ancient history and be things of the past.
It is indeed difficult to perceive of our present society as one day
being past history, but it will most certainly one day be exactly that, because
time and generations move forward and the new inevitably replaces the old ---
and that, is just a simple fact of life.
The
reality is we never really think in terms of our own demise until we reach old
age, but --- at any time --- no matter how rich or poor or famous or obscure
and how old or how young you are, has nothing to do with the fact that all of
us are mere mortals. Death is
the great ‘equalizer’ in that respect and any one of us could literally become
“past history” at any time. The profound
wisdom incorporated into the American constitution that ‘all men are created
equal’ certainly holds true at the end of life when wealth and fame are no
longer a consideration when one comes before one’s maker to give an account of
one’s life.
Fortunately
for all of us death is not the end of life as many who don’t know their creator
think it is, because just as God offered an ancient slave race who grew up
within the confines of another nation, namely ancient Egypt, --- two choices
--- those same two choices are before all of us as individuals in any era, as
God has never changed his purposes for human life on this planet:
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you
that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose
life, so that you and your children may live. NIV Deuteronomy 30:19
Just
as there are blessings for obeying God, there are also penalties for defying
Him and we see constantly in our everyday lives, the results of defiance of His
laws that were designed and given to bring maximum happiness to mankind.
The
defiance of which brings all the unhappiness, sickness and disease, suffering
and death that we basically blame God for when things don’t go well for us, but
the good news is that God mitigated our propensity for nearly always choosing
the wrong ways and paths that lead to death:
12 There is a way that seems right to a
man, but in the end it leads to death.
13 Even in laughter
the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief.
14 The faithless will be fully repaid for
their ways, and the good man rewarded for his.
NIV Proverbs 14:12-14
We
will reap and have been reaping what we sow in life and the record of man on
this planet is not a good one. The
nations that sow evil will reap destruction as all prophecy shows. On an individual basis the same is true. Evil
--- especially where harming others is concerned --- will be repaid as verse 14
above indicates but any who do good will find that God is indeed very gracious
and merciful to those who would love their fellowman and look to God for
guidance in their lives.
The
book of Isaiah shows, as few other prophetic books do, that because of promises
that God has sworn to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, king David and His other
servants and prophets --- those curses pronounced in ancient past history in
Deuteronomy 28 will be and are indeed no longer applicable to His chosen
nations due to His grace and mercy towards all men.
Though
man’s present and past history has not been good --- the future beyond our
present time looks good for those that choose to love God but absolutely
appalling for those who won’t acknowledge God.
This is what Isaiah brings out fully and not just specifically for the
descendants of ancient Israel but for all human beings on this earth.
Isaiah
is much more expansive in both past history and future history than many
including the secular scholars, apparently, might think.
The book of Revelation reveals that eternal life is
now freely open to all who will choose it wisely through the abundant mercy of
God:
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that
heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the
water of life freely. KJV Revelation 22:17
Speaking
of past history, we open this essay with Isaiah’s 66th chapter
showing just as all the other prophets do “spiritual themes” of a “physical
reality” that will come to pass in our future and what a great deal of Isaiah’s
work deals with from start to finish with overall no inconsistency
whatsoever that you would normally expect of multiple author’s as the
secular critics claim. There is
absolutely no evidence for the multiple authorship claims of the critics but
much on the other hand to support a single authorship and this we intend to
prove.
This
statement will be proven one way or another --- here now in a limited way in
this article and fully at Christ’s return when Isaiah himself along with all
the other saints, patriarchs and
prophets, stands on the Mount of Olives with his God and his Saviour.
There
are unmistakable patterns that emerge when studying prophetic scripture that
few might actually grasp because we tend to think in a “linear” way when dealing
with everyday life on a regular day to day practical basis.
There is another way of thinking that few of us
indulge in simply because we don’t get the opportunity under normal circumstances
with all the pressures of modern technological and consumer based society
keeping this other side of us from being expressed. It is indeed suppressed --- perhaps not
intentionally in freedom loving countries that promote the democratic way of
life, but certainly in countries that don’t tolerate religious freedom. That too we’ll cover at the end of this
essay.
The
ending of Isaiah reflects much of the body of Isaiah’s work dealing with the
“days of the Lord” with which he was apparently intimately familiar due to
visions he’d received at various times and so this essay is suitably attached
to the previous parts one and two of our article, to show emphatically that
Isaiah’s “day of the Lord” themes, that occupy a substantial amount of Isaiah’s
prophecies are placed here as a sort of exclamation point to parts one and two
of “the hand of God in the day of the Lord”.
Isaiah prophesies of a “New
Way” never before seen on earth or done by God in the past with ancient
Israel’s peoples and/or modern Israeli’s, Judah and Jerusalem’s descendants ---
as yet, in today’s world.
After
these quotes from the 66th chapter, fully supported by other
prophets in the body of the first and second parts of the Day of the Lord
articles above, we’ll give an overview of Isaiah’s work putting it into a
completely new perspective for many. It
indeed fits into an interesting pattern as actually being “the leading”
prophetical work among the prophets for showing what God is doing and going to
do in our future.
Isaiah’s
66th chapter:
Intro:
We’ve
quoted from the 66th chapter before and in the body of various
articles including the parts one and two in the preceding articles at our
website. In one of those articles we
refer to or named the middle chapters “The Isaiah promises” and have an article
by that name at our website as already mentioned but we also added the Jeremiah
promises a little bit later to that basic article with those additional back-up
prophetic scriptures from Jeremiah that affirms those promises, i.e. those
chapters of Isaiah that begin at about chapter 40 and go through to chapter 45.
This is one of the sections that is in dispute as being written by a different
Isaiah [according to secular scholars --- a Deutero-Isaiah] than the “original”
one in the first 39 chapters and the chapters beyond that of 55 that secular
scholars argue are by a different Isaiah again, or supposedly written by
Isaiah’s disciples.
This essay then represents a comprehensive rebuttal
of those secular notions.
Isaiah’s
66th chapter is not only consistent with the opening 1st
and 2nd chapter’s and continuing themes of the first 39 chapters but
is actually a summary of the middle Isaiah promises as well when considered in
conjunction with the last 6 or 7 chapters as we’ll show in due course and what
is revealed in the latter half of the 59th chapter right through to
the 65th chapter is a real eye opener and nothing short of
astonishing for what it portends or foretells for all modern nations of this
present day earth.
What
the secular critics fail to understand consistently is that scripture was not
originally organized by chapter and verse but by subject content [themes] and
in the case of prophecy, “prophetic themes” that run throughout each prophetic
book.
Apparently
some monk or scribe long ago divided the scripture [bible] into chapter and
verse for easier reference --- an arbitrary division not based on prophetic
revelation and clearly that monk or scribe had little understanding of where a
prophecy or prophetic theme began or ended. The result is quite a few
prophecies not beginning or ending where they should according to prophetic
themes and sometimes even spiritual themes suffer loss of understanding and
being broken up this way, the meaning is “scrambled” to a degree --- sometimes
quite significantly.
It’s
clear that Isaiah did have disciples that assisted him with his work but there
are really only a couple of places that can be attributed to their actually
helpful additions.
They
only really added what Isaiah was incapable of adding himself after his death
and this is actually the practice throughout many prophetic books. A practice
that is seemingly approved by God or otherwise those prophetic books would have
not made it into the bible itself as a “legitimate” part of God’s word via his
servants.
A couple of
working examples:
Moses
was obviously unable to record the ending of the book of Deuteronomy where he
climbs the mountain to view the holy land from afar and dies there on that
maintain top.
So
clearly the last few chapters were written by someone else --- in this case
probably his successor Joshua --- although that can’t be proved it’s a
reasonable guess [i.e. speculation] that somebody other than Moses wrote
chapters 34 and 35 of Deuteronomy.
It
goes almost without saying that that particular somebody would have been
spiritually minded and disposed favourably toward God and with the right
attitude to be able to complete so important a work as “finishing off” the
‘greatest’ of prophet’s works to date covering the first five books
[Pentateuch] of the Hebrew and English bibles, being near enough to the first,
of the fledgling ancient Israel’s nation of mighty prophets of old, i.e. Moses’
prophetic account.
The
prophet Samuel dies in 1 Samuel 25 and it therefore is also a reasonable guess
that someone other than Samuel wrote the last 8 chapters of 1 Samuel and
subsequently all of 2 Samuel.
Again
it follows reasonably that his successor [possibly the prophet Nathan] wrote
what Samuel obviously couldn’t have done so himself and there’s nothing at all
wrong with that practice if approved by God.
So
there’s nothing unusual or nefarious about other servants of God, be they
disciples or fully fledged prophets who have the spirit of God and with God’s
approval, completing, collating or even editing God’s word a little, because
clearly if they didn’t have the spirit of God they would not have been allowed
such liberty with God’s word otherwise.
Jeremiah had Baruch, his scribe or secretary to perform similar functions
and no doubt there’s something of Baruch’s hand in even Jeremiah’s work --- but
Baruch was a servant of God as well and clearly had God’s approval as such.
The 66th
chapter of Isaiah however seems to be pure Isaiah in that it is completely
consistent with the beginning, the middle and the end of Isaiah’s work and in
itself very nearly summarizes the whole 66 chapters in conjunction with those
last 5 preceding chapters [60-65] in laying out God’s purposes, one of which is
‘settling once and for all’ where God is going to dwell with his children
forever and how He is going to go about achieving His goal of completing His
spiritual creation with the “astronomical” intervention of the last and final day
of the Lord --- which is in essence the whole theme of Isaiah from
start to finish i.e. the completion of God’s spiritual creation of a “spiritual
nation” from its earliest “physical beginnings” as a nation within the
framework of the ancient Israelite’s establishment as His called and chosen
servant[s].
All
prophecy reveals that the ancient Israelites were always intended to be a
“spiritual” nation that would be a “light” or example to the rest of the
world’s nations but of course biblical and secular history shows them to have failed
in that God given purpose.
What Isaiah shows in very clear terms
is that though the Israelites failed Him He will not fail them in still making
them over into the spiritual nation that He promised them to be. If there’s one thing we’ve learnt from our
intensive study of prophecy over the last 5 years it is that God always
keeps His promises --- without fail.
There are sub-themes throughout Isaiah
however as well that blend into the whole prophetic work which include the
prophesied punishments for disobedience for the totally evil practices that the
children of both houses of Israel lapsed into in Isaiah’s times. Which, in
turn, necessitated the wrath of God for correction of His chosen peoples
towards that ultimate end of spiritual salvation and the last five chapters
show such a punishment in conjunction with Zechariah as well for those of the
house of Jacob’s modern descendants [Israelis] who still refuse to acknowledge
their true Messiah and Saviour in our modern world’s future ahead.
Isaiah’s work is a highly prized one as
far as we are concerned or rather should be if it’s not regarded as such by
those who should know better [secular scholars and others denigrating or
downplaying the word of God] but obviously don’t --- because of the fact that
it is the pre-cursor to Daniel’s very important prophecies.
Daniel mostly writes from the Jewish or
“house of Jacob” point of view to a large degree --- but, Isaiah, also covering
things concerning the Jews and prophecies concerning them is much more expansive
and in many ways almost too numerous to mention --- but we’ll give it our best
shot --- because Isaiah’s prophetic work is far too outstanding and too all
encompassing to ignore or downplay as secular scholars are evidently attempting
to do for their own unknowable purposes.
If secular scholars want to make
themselves enemies of the living God that’s no skin off our noses as they’re
the ones who will have to answer to the living Jesus Christ when He returns in
their lifetimes in the full power and might of God Almighty --- during this
century --- and it will be their knees that will undoubtedly tremble and go
literally to water when they piss themselves in the presence of the living God
of Abraham Isaac and Jacob --- Son of God the Father and previous heir [when
human] and now full inheritor of all things
as the divine God that he once was in shared ruler-ship of all that is or will
be created.
Isaiah 66 actually opens with what
Isaiah already saw in vision was the answer to the question posed in the first
verse of chapter 66 at the end of Isaiah’s work and records in chapter 2 very
early on in his prophetic work and both have already been quoted in part 2 of
“the Hand of God in the day of the Lord” articles earlier:
This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and
the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will
my resting place be? NIV Isaiah
66:1
Answer? It’s very clear that Isaiah already knew the
answer to the question posed at the end of his work in the 66th
chapter at the very start of His work and this in a nutshell is the constant
overall main theme running throughout Isaiah’s prophetic book, i.e. the last
and final day of the Lord and the establishment of God’s/Jesus’ future throne
and permanent home for all eternity:
1 This is what Isaiah
son of Amoz saw concerning
2 In the last days
the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the
mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will
stream to it.
3 Many peoples will
come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the
God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his
paths." The law will go out from
4 He will judge
between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat
their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will
not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. NIV Isaiah 2:1-4
Confirmed
by both Micah [Micah 4:3] and Ezekiel’s last eight chapters --- Isaiah,
immediately after his introductory first chapter is already talking about the
raising of mountains [one in particular] and the establishment of the Lord’s
house/temple that will be a feature on the top of the newly elevated Mount of
Olives to the east of modern day Jerusalem.
All
of prophecy points to Ezekiel’s third temple as perhaps beginning to be
constructed at around the time of Jesus’ so called second coming or shortly
thereafter, of Jesus’ return to rule this earth as the rightful, legal and
spiritual heir to David’s throne as a royal descendant of David’s line.
The
Jews were apparently expecting a totally physical messiah but got a totally
spiritual and far more royal and majestic Messiah instead --- which from
ritualistic or possibly orthodox Judaism’s point of view may still be
unacceptable --- however they’ll just have to adjust to the truth that prophecy
reveals --- OR perish --- for continued obstinacy and denial of their true
Saviour. That’s their choice fortunately
or unfortunately as the case may be, as indeed Zechariah foretells and we’re
glad that we’ve already made ours and are not faced with what will certainly
‘try’ or test their modern nation of Israeli’s to it’s limits.
The
last 6 chapters of Isaiah completely confirm Ezekiel’s third temple quite
incredibly --- in no uncertain terms as we’ll also show.
The mount of Olives is the logical choice for
such a ‘mountain raising’ undertaking that many prophets besides Isaiah show,
because the raising of the current temple mount within the confines of
Jerusalem itself would destroy much of current day Jerusalem otherwise -- as it
stands --- by what is shown in prophetic scripture --- a tenth of Jerusalem
will collapse by the raising of the mount of Olives to new heights anyway.
[Revelation 11:13]
Try
splitting the temple mount on which the dome of the Rock sits into two halves,
create a valley in between by moving those two halves to the north and south
and then see how much of
However
if they are not forewarned as we hope to do also in this article --- they could
die as a result of ignorance of the scriptures when they might otherwise have
survived by knowing what was coming and taking it seriously in keeping biblical
prophecy in mind.
New
Testament and Old Testament show Jesus, descending to His holy Mount of Olives
not
Zechariah 14:4 & Acts 1:11-12
The
Mount of Olives, according to the New Testament accounts, seems to have been a
constant “hanging-out” place for both Jesus and His disciples whenever they were
in or near Jerusalem --- whenever Jesus desired solitude from the masses He
went there to pray, did so on the eve of His crucifixion and ascended from
there back to where He originally came from (as He taught often) to the right
hand of His Father’s side and currently shares that throne until He returns to
establish His own during the millennium, at the end of which, He will deliver
up all again to His Father as the book of Revelation and other scriptures show
clearly.
God
certainly doesn’t prophesy a future destruction of a major portion of Jerusalem
by earthquake as would be the case if the epicenter were the dome of the Rock
location of Mount Moriah. The Mount of
Olives is just far enough away to minimize the amount of local destruction that
will inevitably be incurred [as a result of its monumental remodeling] and
afford a reasonable amount of safety and preservation of the bulk of
In
relative terms --- ten percent of Jerusalem being destroyed by God is better
than all of it being destroyed by the 200 million man army [Revelation 9:16]
that will have already killed millions of Jews and who knows who else in their
campaign to destroy the Jews and is about to take the remaining third and the
half that remain in Judah and Jerusalem, respectively, --- into abject slavery
and possible death in captivity, i.e. another ‘holocaust’ [as happened in WW2]
--- if not for the spectacular intervention by the God of all the earth.
We
intend to show that in some parts of Isaiah the secular scholars are claiming
were written by Isaiah’s disciples (which would make those disciples equals to
Isaiah for their ability to predict our future) this is not the case, because
in some of those particular parts the scholars failed to notice where those
prophecies actually began or ended in reality --- precisely because of the
arbitrary chapter division of scripture we’ve already covered before in our
articles.
In
the New Testament Jesus said in fact that ‘a disciple’ was not ‘above’ his
master in ability:
The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant
above his lord. It is enough for the
disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. KJV Matthew 10:24-25
Although
Jesus was using this in another connection entirely, showing that if He, the
master, is called crazy and demon possessed then His disciples could expect no
less --- the assertion by Jesus, in principle, applies to Isaiah’s disciples as
well.
As
we’ll show in this essay, in order for Isaiah’s disciples to be credited with
the sections of Isaiah’s prophecies that the secular critics claim --- Isaiah’s
disciples would have had to have been his equal or better to predict those
things that are included in those sections of Isaiah’s prophetic work they
claim are not his work.
According
to Isaiah, really monumental things are in store for humanity that he predicted
nearly 2500 years into his future, showing God is, however, going to raise a mountain
to overshadow all the surrounding hills [mountains] from which His word and
laws will go to the entire world’s nation’s i.e. it will be raised above the hills … and
when that is fulfilled completely, all nations will be “forced”[ i.e.
ruler-ship by the ‘rod’ of iron, psalm2:9, Revelation 2:27] to turn their
weapons of war into peaceful uses whether they want to or not from that point
on during the millennium of Christ’s reign.
God
explains through His servant Isaiah in the 66th chapter that it
takes time to build a “spiritual” nation --- and that’s not only conceivable
but completely and understandably true, considering the “poor material” in a
disbelieving, contrary and disobedient people that God has to work with in
creating that special spiritual nation:
7 "Before she
goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers
a son.
8 Who has ever heard
of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day
or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is
9 Do I bring to the
moment of birth and not give delivery?" says the LORD. "Do I close up
the womb when I bring to delivery?" says your God.
10 "Rejoice with
From
the very first chapter of Isaiah to the last God, through Isaiah, laments the
poor quality of material that He has had to work with in creating a spiritual
nation that will still be the showpiece and crowning glory of all ages in our
future:
2 Hear, O heavens!
Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought
them up, but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows his
master, the donkey his owner's manger, but
4 Ah, sinful nation, a
people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of
5 Why should you be
beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
6 From the sole of
your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness-- only wounds and welts
and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil.
7 Your country is
desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by
foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
8 The Daughter of
9 Unless the LORD
Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like
These
verses [which incidentally are quite poetic in nature and expression] may show
that Isaiah lived almost long enough to see most of the overthrow of the ten
tribed house of Israel and Judea prior to Ezekiel’s time who saw the siege of
Jerusalem from the outside looking in and Jeremiah who was trapped within
Jerusalem during the siege of the “first Diaspora’s” Babylonian captivity and
saw the siege from the inside looking out. [See the book Lamentations for
Jeremiah’s firsthand, inside but rather grisly view of the siege of
In
any case Isaiah certainly didn’t mince his words in being blunt and straight
forward in referring to the behaviour of the whole house of Israel and in other
parts of Isaiah the distinction between the two houses is made often and both
were tarred with the one brush as to their general corruption in worshipping
other gods and disobedience toward their true God.
However,
Isaiah singles out
The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah
son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings
of
10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of
Just
as Jesus condemned the religious leaders of His day and foretold in Matthew 23
that all the events of Matthew 24 [2nd Diaspora] would come upon
their generation and confirmed it not once but twice [Matthew 23:36 & Matthew
24:34] so too does God through Isaiah foretell the 1st Diaspora
prophesied to come upon the Jews and Jerusalem would be incurred and fulfilled
for almost
exactly for the same reasons:
11 "The multitude
of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have
more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I
have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to
appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing
meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths
and convocations-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
14 Your New Moon
festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to
me; I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out
your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many
prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood;
16 wash and make
yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong,
17 learn to do right!
Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.
18 "Come now, let us reason
together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like
wool.
19 If you are willing and
obedient, you will eat the best from the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be
devoured by the sword." For the
mouth of the LORD has spoken. [an unfailing promise of destruction by warfare for
resistance to God]
21 See how the
faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness
used to dwell in her-- but now murderers!
22 Your silver has
become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are
rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They
do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come
before them.
24 Therefore the Lord,
the LORD Almighty, the Mighty One of
25 I will turn my hand
against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your
impurities. NIV Isaiah 1:11-26
Although
we’ve quoted the second half of Matthew 23 often enough we’ve haven’t quoted
the entirety of Matthew 23 before partly
because of its length but now in this overview analysis and essay of Isaiah it
becomes absolutely essential to compare Jesus’ Matthew 23 condemnation of the
religious leaders of His day --- showing without doubt that both Diaspora’s [1st
and 2nd] were visited upon the people of Jacob i.e. Judah and
Jerusalem because of the blood on their hands of God’s prophets and peoples of
the past and also the blood of the prophets God/Jesus would continue to send
right up until the second Diaspora after the “end of the Old Covenant age” in
67-70 AD.
And
exactly why is it essential to show this comparison?
Because
in spite of what Christianity teaches about Jesus’ return to earth being a
result of their preaching the gospel to the whole world with the end of our age
supposedly coming thereafter --- which is the traditional Christian view ---
what all of Matthew 23 in full context shows is the return of Christ rests not
with Christianity at all --- but entirely with the Jews acceptance of
their saviour and subsequent forgiveness for their bloodguilt [Joel 3:21] and
that Jesus
will simply not return until that has been accomplished and only
then Isaiah’s prophecies for our future will be completely fulfilled.
Jesus’
Matthew 23 condemnation of the forefathers’ comparison to Isaiah’s condemnation
of the forefathers:
1 Then Jesus said to
the crowds and to his disciples:
2 "The teachers
of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
3 So you must obey
them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they
preach.
4 They tie up heavy
loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to
lift a finger to move them.
5 "Everything
they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;
6 they love the place
of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;
7 they love to be
greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them `Rabbi.'
8 "But you are not to be called
`Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.
9 And do not call anyone on
earth `father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
10 Nor are you to be
called `teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.
11 The greatest among you
will be your servant.
12 For whoever exalts
himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13 "Woe to you,
teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's
faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying
to.
14 "Woe to you,
teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a
single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of
hell as you are.
15 "Woe to you, blind guides! You say,
`If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the
gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.'
16 You blind fools! Which is
greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
17 You also say, `If
anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift
on it, he is bound by his oath.'
18 You blind men! Which is
greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
19 Therefore, he who
swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
20 And he who swears
by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
21 And he who swears
by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.
22 "Woe to you,
teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint,
dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice,
mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without
neglecting the former.
23 You blind guides!
You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
24 "Woe to you,
teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and
dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
25 Blind Pharisee! First clean
the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
26 "Woe to you,
teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which
look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones
and everything unclean.
27 In the same way, on
the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of
hypocrisy and wickedness.
28 "Woe to you,
teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and
decorate the graves of the righteous.
29 And you say, `If we
had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with
them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
30 So you testify
against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the
prophets.
31 Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of
your forefathers!
32 "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will
you escape being condemned to hell?
33 Therefore I am sending you prophets and
wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will
flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
34 And so upon you
will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood
of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered
between the temple and the altar.
35 I tell you the
truth, all this will come upon this generation.
36 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who
kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather
your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
37 Look, your house is
left to you desolate.
38 For I tell you, you will
not see me again until you say, `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' " NIV Matthew 23:1-38
Ironically
we have two major religions on earth today that are still currently doing
exactly what Jesus said not to do and have underlined and emphasized those
passages in Matthew for that purpose. [Refer again to verses 8, 9&10]
The
number of times the word hypocrites and other derogatory epithets are used by
Jesus speaks for itself --- as to modern man’s ideas of a “gentle Jesus
meek and mild” nursery rhyme style image that so many portray the Saviour to be
other than the dynamic and forceful personality that the scriptures really
portray the coming King of kings as He was then and is going to be when He
returns to be God of all the earth.
Ironically,
and extremely sadly the price for continued disobedience to what God requires
of us in worship of Him is a high price to pay in terms of physical lives lost
--- that the Jews are apparently going
to have to pay as Zechariah and parts of Isaiah show in prophecy for their
continual denial of the living God of all the earth whom both Isaiah and Moses
and even king David knew as Jehovah, YHVH, [KJV Isaiah 12:2&26:4 &KJV
Exodus 6:3 and KJV Psalm 83:18] or as we know Him today --- Jesus, of the New
Testament.
According
to Zechariah the price for the current day Jews continued misunderstanding and
obstinate refusal to accept their saviour and the observance of the true
religion that He requires --- will be in round figures somewhere between 3.5 to
nearly 4 million Israeli lives lost when invaded by a modern day “world army”
in excess of 200 million combatants [Revelation 9:16] --- i.e. 2/3rds of their current day
population will be lost in that conflagration. [Zechariah 13:8-9]
Also
ironically, Christianity as a whole has no idea that Matthew 24&25 are a single
prophecy and only the subdivision into two chapters arbitrarily has
resulted in a complete misunderstanding of the eschatology of the biblical era.
Matthew
24 is the answer to the disciples first question about the destruction of the
temple and Jerusalem of those times in 67-70 AD and Matthew 25 gives the signs
of what the kingdom of God will be like at Jesus second coming and the
condition primarily of Christianity at that time ahead of us at His return in
this century, in terms of their corruption of His original religion and
teachings throughout all the scriptures of both Old and New testaments.
The
proof of that statement that these two chapters are a single prophecy lies in
the opening of Matthew 26 --- also arbitrarily separated by chapter and verse
by someone [a middle ages monk perhaps] who didn’t know prophecy and where it
began and ended:
1. When Jesus had
finished saying all these things, NIV Matthew 26:1 [first part]
So
what is commonly called by scholars --- The “Olivet discourse” in Matthew’s gospel
account [the one most often used to supposedly show the great tribulation in
our time and the End of the age in our time ahead] doesn’t actually end until
the end of Matthew 25 in which Jesus gives the full answers to both questions
posed in Matthew 24 but also His assessment of what the future holds for both
Jews and all of Christianity in general at His return in our future:
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came
unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall
be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? KJV Matthew 24:3
Matthew
25 actually holds the same keys that Isaiah shows as to how God wants to be
worshipped and as to how his servants of any era should treat others and these
are among the main sub themes that run throughout Isaiah also in that God has
always desired right and just treatment of others more than any formalized
ritual or stylized priestly observances or animal sacrifices --- and the middle
chapters of Isaiah [40-45] announced as no other prophet did --- a completely
“new thing” or new change of the old order of worship approximately 770
years or thereabouts in advance of the coming of the “New Covenant.”
The
“plight” or “condition” of modern day Christianity and the rewards for full
obedience for the honest and just treatment of other human beings without
regard to their status in life:
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his
glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly
glory. [as
all prophecy shows clearly ----- on the earth]
32 All the nations
will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will put the
sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on his
right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the
kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
35 For I was hungry
and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to
drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes
and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you
came to visit me.'
37 "Then the
righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or
thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 When did we see you
a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we see you
sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40 "The King will
reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41 "Then he will
say to those on his left, `Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry
and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
43 I was a stranger
and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was
sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44 "They also
will answer, `Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45 "He will
reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these,
you did not do for me.'
46 "Then they
will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
NIV Matthew 25:31-46
So if
the scholars [both religious and secular] can be wrong about the Olivet
discourse then chances are their perceptions of Isaiah may be as well.
A
comparison of Matthew 25 to Isaiah’s first chapter with different segments
highlighted this time shows that God has never changed His basic teachings of
the real love toward one another that should be displayed among His Children
and servants for all times and all eras and what Isaiah says His God told him
to write is seemingly completely at odds with the animal sacrifices that Moses
instituted and seems a completely incongruent announcement by God in terms of
what orthodox Judaism in those times was all about:
11 "The multitude of your sacrifices--
what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt
offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls
and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to
appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I
cannot bear your evil assemblies.
14 Your New Moon festivals and your
appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of
bearing them.
15 When you spread out
your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many
prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood;
16 wash and make
yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong,
17 learn to do right! Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of
the widow.
18 "Come now, let
us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they
shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing
and obedient, you will eat the best from the land;
20 but if you resist
and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
21 See how the faithful city has become a
harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her-- but now
murderers!
22 Your silver has become dross, your
choice wine is diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are rebels,
companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts.
They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
the widow's case does not come before them.
24 Therefore the Lord,
the LORD Almighty, the Mighty One of
25 I will turn my hand
against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your
impurities. NIV Isaiah 1:11-26
In the New testament one of Jesus’
disciples defined what both Isaiah and Jesus were trying to show as to what
God’s true religion was, in essence:
25 But whoso
looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a
forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his
deed.
26 If any man
among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his
own heart, this man's religion is vain.
27 Pure
religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and
widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. KJV James 1:25-27
Jesus’
brother James [also a disciple or follower of Jesus] should have had a fair
idea of what Jesus really taught and theoretically should know what he recorded
in this verse 27 is what was at the heart of Jesus’ teachings.
Jesus spoke constantly of spiritual themes
--- So too did Isaiah!
There are a
number of very important “spiritual” things we need to understand in order to
understand the prophecies of all the prophets and not just Isaiah’s because
strange as it might seem after this seemingly ambiguous statement in Isaiah of
God actually hating animal sacrifices and seemingly all that goes with strict
priestly or orthodox Judaism including their religious festivals and practices
--- Both Ezekiel and Isaiah reveal that God is going to restore some animal sacrifices
when Jesus returns and this is indeed a strange turn of events in view of what
all Christianity teaches in regard to repentance and salvation and there being
no need of animal sacrifices anymore since Jesus paid the full penalty for sin
and was the penultimate sacrificial Passover lamb.
So one
of the “spiritual considerations” or questions that arise is why this seemingly
ambiguous and quite railing negative statement by God through Isaiah’s writings
against what God Himself introduced in the first place by way of His holy days
and animal sacrifices etc?
Neither
Isaiah nor the last eight chapters of Ezekiel can be understood with all the
implications and their true significance realized unless we understand why
animal sacrifices were instituted by Moses in the first place and why they are
seemingly going to be “re-introduced” in our future.
Nobody in Christianity understands
that there may be a distinct possibility that animal sacrifices may be
re-introduced when Jesus returns --- if it is written and recorded there in
Ezekiel’s prophecies --- a man of God and a prophet, then we simply can’t
ignore what’s written and shrug it off as either not understandable or
impossibly inexplicable because of what Christianity currently believes.
The
evidence is all there and Revelation and all the rest of the prophetic
scriptures in the bible are literal and only the allegorical, symbolic and
parable style language used makes it seem otherwise at times because symbolic
language does indeed mask, almost like a code --- but not quite --- real events
that will unfold in the prophetic future.
Jesus
did indeed tell His disciples that he deliberately spoke in parables to mask
things from the public --- in fact so well does parable and symbolic language
mask things, even His disciples didn't get what He was telling them and had to
ask Him many times what He was talking about.
The
best example of that perhaps would be when many of His followers [disciples]
began to fall away and depart from Him after his teaching about eating His body
and drinking His blood [symbolically] when only the original 12 remained
faithful after that teaching it would seem:
52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life
in you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth
in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the
Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as
your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall
live for ever.
59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in
60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this,
said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at
it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he
was before?
63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth
nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
KJV John 6:52-63
These
scriptures are actually quite revealing showing how easily Jesus was able to couch
His meaning in symbolic language --- because He knew the Jews took all
scripture literally and He knew they would take these scriptures the wrong way
as ‘cannibalistic’ in nature if understood literally.
Even
His true disciples didn't understand this saying of Jesus' until much later
when He instituted the new Passover ceremony that was to symbolize His death
and remind them annually of His sacrifice for them on the cross in this new
type of communion --- different to the Old Testament or Old Covenant Passover
of the past.
Completely
new symbolism to an old Holy Day --- but He never changed the day itself from
any other that was always observed.
It's fairly clear that the way Jesus put this
teaching to His disciples He knew it would be controversial and cause many to
stumble and so it seems to be a test of some kind towards confirming the
loyalty of the original 12 perhaps, as these scriptures seem to indicate:
64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew
from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were
given unto him of my Father.
66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked
no more with him.
67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we
go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God.
70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one
of you is a devil?
71 He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was
that should betray him, being one of the twelve. KJV John 6:64-71
During
the actual last supper introduction and institution of the new communion rites
or ceremony a revealing statement by Jesus seems to indicate that Satan had
been pestering Jesus and had tried and was still trying to subvert other
disciples of Jesus' away from Him other than just Judas:
28 Ye are they which have continued with me in my
temptations.
29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath
appointed unto me;
30 That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and
sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of
31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and
when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee,
both into prison, and to death.
34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow
this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. KJV Luke 22:28-34
Peter's
cock crowing incident was his particular Nemesis and a test of loyalty also but
of all the disciples Peter was the only one who followed events to the end and
stayed to the end even though chickening out at the last moment when threatened
with suffering the same fate as His Lord if admitting his association with his
master. All the others didn't even get that far and apparently deserted Jesus
earlier than even Peter:
26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it,
and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my
body.
27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them,
saying, Drink ye all of it;
28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed
for many for the remission of sins.
29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this
fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's
kingdom.
30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the
mount of Olives.
31 Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended
because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and
the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
KJV Matthew 26:26-31
Clearly
the wine in the New Testament cup wasn't actually Jesus' blood but symbolic of
His shed blood. Symbolic language
however represents real events nevertheless.
It
wasn't seemingly unusual for Jesus up until that point to almost good naturedly
test His disciples from time to time in other ways about their understanding of
things in chiding them about seeing his miracles but not really understanding
them for what they were:
14 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had
they in the ship with them more than one loaf.
15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because
we have no bread.
17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye,
because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye
your heart yet hardened?
18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not?
and do ye not remember?
19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many
baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.
20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets
full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.
21 And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not
understand? KJV Mark 8:14-21
But just as clearly, Jesus did have
things he wanted kept secret from the public also:
18 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his
disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I
am?
19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say,
Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again.
20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter
answering said, The Christ of God.
21 And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing;
KJV Luke 9:17-21
So symbolic language masks what Jesus did not want the
public to know:
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know
the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall
have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even
that he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing
see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By
hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and
shall not perceive:
15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are
dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should
be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears,
for they hear.
17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see
those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things
which ye hear, and have not heard them KJV Matthew 13:10-17
It doesn't
seem to have been necessary beyond a little allegory, symbolic language and/or
parables to either reveal or conceal things from the people of those days and
the same seems to be true of our times because confusion of teachings reigns
supreme among even the Sabbath keeping churches who claim their prophetic
understanding is better than others when clearly it is not.
Biblical
history is not really regarded by secular historians as valid or even relevant
to the way our world has developed because there doesn’t seem to be a direct
link to biblical history and secular history for the most part or at least a
proven link that secular scholars would accept if they were capable of
understanding spiritual things, themes, concepts etc --- which apparently they
are not.
However
what biblical and secular history shows is that there was a major historical
disruption of some kind [reflected in Josephus’ historical accounts] to the
continuity and flow of history of either type after the 67-70AD great
tribulation of the Jews.
Clearly
the apostolic teachings of true Christianity have seemingly been altered or
extremely corrupted from that which was originally delivered to the saints in
Jesus’ day.
A
great many of the disciples warned of this beginning to occur in their day and
this is entirely in keeping with what John records in the 12th
chapter of Revelation and especially verse 17 showing Satan would pursue God’s
people in a relentless war which the gospels show to be the first phase of the
ride of the four horsemen of Revelation 6 i.e. that namely, of the first horse
of “false religion” entering into history, from that point and escalating
things to a final culmination sometime into our future, or as Jesus expressed
it clearly enough “the beginning of sorrows” or “birth pains” for our future
world in regard to the new covenant and the kingdom of God from that point on:
4 And Jesus answered
and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying,
I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of
wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things
must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines,
and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. KJV Matthew
24:4-8
Biblical history shows that the
And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed
unto me;
30 That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit
on thrones judging the twelve tribes of
29 And I confer on you
a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me,
30 so that you may eat
and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of
What
this actually shows in fact is exactly what Isaiah spoke of throughout his
prophetic work from start to finish and in the very first chapter of Isaiah we
find the very first future prophecy of the establishment of the spiritual phase
of the kingdom of God taken to the point in time in our world’s timeline of
“the physical reality” of the kingdom of God at Jesus’ return in our future:
26 I will restore your judges
as in days of old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward
you will be called the City of
27
28 But rebels and
sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the LORD will perish. NIV
Isaiah 1:26-28
A
little further reading in Luke 22 shows the “physical Kingdom” of God however
was not to become an actual physical reality until Jesus’ return in our
time:
14 When the hour came,
Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table.
15 And he said to
them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I
suffer.
16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds
fulfillment in the
17 After taking the
cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you.
18 For I tell you I will not drink again of
the fruit of the vine until the
According
to the first chapter of Isaiah those Jews who accept and finally acknowledge
Jesus in true repentance and have their bloodguilt finally forgiven [Joel 3:21]
in fact may be getting much, much more, than they ever dreamed of or imagined
at the return of Jesus their Messiah and King and not just David as their
“prince” that Ezekiel’s last 8 chapters possibly hints at --- it would seem
they’ll be getting every single patriarch and prophet that has ever lived,
Abraham ,Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Daniel, Isaiah himself et al --- in short “the
works” --- if we take Isaiah 1:26 literally --- and that’s without even
mentioning Paul and the other 12 apostles.
God
can literally and actually restore all the “original” counselors of old
including the righteous kings and even the “judges” of Israel --- that
really would be something quite spectacular in the way of future government of
the world --- let alone the Kingdom of God. With all those illustrious and notable
characters present it would be no wonder that Jerusalem will be called the city
of righteousness ‘afterwards’ from that point on. With all those righteous patriarchs and
prophets teaching and ruling in the kingdom of God, Zion indeed will be
redeemed with justice and her penitent ones with righteousness. [Isaiah 1:27]
There
is really only one way to show the “continuity” of spiritual themes, day of the
Lord themes, and promises of the saviour/Messiah and “ruler to come” themes,
kingdom of God themes, et al, contained within Isaiah and that is to --- list
each and every one from the pages of Isaiah ---
placing them one after another and listing what chapters they appear in
according to the secular scholar’s “spurious” classifications, i.e. chapters
1-39,40-55, 56-66, as the supposed three divisions of Isaiah into supposed
separate authors as the excerpt that we’ve placed under our heading “secular scholars opinions” from
Wikipedia below asserts.
We’ll also examine these chapters called into question,
i.e. 13-14, 24-27 and 34-35 in the first 39 chapters as being written by the
disciples or near contemporaries of Isaiah but what our readers will
undoubtedly find is that what the secular scholars present here is akin to
absolute bullshit and in fact, without any evidence at all but puffed up and
self-opinionated hearsay based on nothing but their inflated opinions of
themselves and their dubious abilities to judge the word of God.
In chapters 40-45 God himself challenges the skeptics and
doubters to produce their proofs of their own self importance as judges of His
word and He promises to show them up for what they really are when
he unfolds and fulfills all prophecy [just as he already has
done in the past –-- without fail] before their very eyes in our time and our
future ahead.
We may not in fact
have a great deal of time to wait in order to see whose word stands the test of
time --- God’s word or the critical and just plain stupid secular scholar’s
opinions who frankly “don’t know their arses from their elbows” [Old Aussie
saying] where it comes to spiritual matters.
Educated by modern secular standards they may be --- they most certainly are without doubt
spiritually ignorant, which is too mild a description of the secular scholars
opinions and even ignorant doesn’t even “cut the mustard” where they are concerned
because this author knows what it is like to be a “master of ignorance” and for
most of life except for the past 5 years “excelled” in that field --- so
practical experience rather than theory does indeed count in unusual ways at
times and the secular scholars clearly only have “theory” and completely
unproven at that.
How anyone can declare theory and opinion as fact is
totally beyond this author because anyone doing so, which by the way is
“completely unscientific” methodology --- practically proves ignorance is
involved somewhere along the line in some of man’s reasoning’s. It stands to
reason a theory must be tested thoroughly before it can be proven --- enough
said.
The secular scholar’s opinions:[from Wikipedia]
Through chapter 39 most of the material is Isaiah's and
is an accurate account of the situation in eighth-century Judah, even if
chapters 13-14, 24-27, and 34-35 could be the work of his disciples and near
contemporaries.
Supporters of the three authors proposal see a further
division at the end of chapter 55, and propose to divide the Book of Isaiah as
follows:
Author’s note:
Supporters of the three Isaiah
‘farcical’ and ‘fanciful’ notions should hang their heads in shame. [Author’s
opinion only]
Just a
point of interest that makes no sense to this author --- if the scholars are so
sure the middle and second half of Isaiah were not his work how can they adamantly
state the first 39 chapters are Isaiah’s work and even an accurate account of
the situation in 8th century
Proof oh “theoretically noble” but
not so wise gentlemen? Where is it?
Prove that even one section is not Isaiah’s!
Assertion, assumption or opinion is simply not good enough if there is
absolutely nothing to back it up.
No
proof, not even a shred of evidence = ‘false’ opinion.
The
truth of what Isaiah really reveals as a “single author” follows --- but before
that we need to understand is why the possibility exists that God would restore
a physical temple and ‘temple sacrifice’ involving animals again as He clearly
did have in place in the past under the Old Covenant. This is clearly a thorn
of contention that exists or will exist between Christians and Jews to some
extent --- but it could also go a long way to explaining why Isaiah makes a
seemingly enigmatic statement in a modern day prophecy for the times in which
the first, preliminary battle, that precedes the final day of the Lord battle
occurs:
Ephraim's jealousy will vanish, and Judah's enemies will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim. NIV Isaiah 11:13
Zechariah makes a similarly enigmatic
statement along similar lines for which we have no current answer:
The Lord also shall save the tents of
KJV Zechariah 12:7
What Moses’ prophetical and early Israelite biblical
historical records reveals about the Laws of God and interactions between the
tribes if Israel
Biblical
history reveals that there were indeed clashes between the largely Samaritan
tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh against the tribes of Judah in ancient times at
various stages but apparently there was also an ideological split or religious
split as well which may have been the cause of hostilities between those tribes
of old in the first place. And, since
that particular prophecy in Isaiah 11:13 is for our future we need to
understand why the English speaking peoples might be jealous of the Jews in our
future and this too is relevant to Isaiah’s enigmatic prophetical statements
about spiritual things in that God doesn’t desire animal sacrifices --- and yet
according to Ezekiel is going to re- introduce them after the third temple is
built and symbolically purified by similar animal sacrifices that were extant
during and under the old covenant.
In at
least two instances in the book of Chronicles, two different Jewish Kings tried
to bring the other Israelite tribes back into the ‘fold’ and true worship of
God --- one king was Asa and the other was Hezekiah of Isaiah’s time. Both
these incidences show the “separateness” of the two houses of Israel very
clearly and are germane to our understanding of the possibility of a future
sanctuary or temple such as Ezekiel describes being established or built in our
future during Jesus’ reign and rule on earth.
The
Ephraim and Manasseh tribes apparently occupied those northern lands known as
Samaria [that Assyria later displaced with foreigners imported from other
Gentile nations who became the “hated” Samaritans by the Jews of Jesus’ times]
However, Isaiah’s enigmatic statement seems
clearly out of place and makes no sense in the ‘physical’ sense in a modern day
setting where the modern tribes of Israel’s Ephraim and Manasseh descendants
have grown into fully fledged independent nations [America and British
Commonwealth] in our day and are clearly allied to modern day descendants of the
Israelite Jews [Judah/Israeli’s] in the physical sense as ‘brothers in arms’ so
to speak.
We
find oddly enough in modern times that there is still an ideological split
between the modern descendants of the tribes of Israel i.e. The Jews/Israeli’s
have Judaism in various forms whereas their English and American brothers
foster Christianity in its various forms and the two religious ideologies are
completely incompatible to say the least.
Isaiah’s
prophetic statement amid a modern future prophetic fulfillment makes a lot of
sense however if Jesus were to re-introduce elements of His original religion
that is closer to Judaism than Christianity and although later Christianity did
a good job of distancing itself from the fact that Jesus was a Jew and taught
basically a New Covenant version of the Old Covenant religion with New Covenant
ordinances --- Christianity has still lost sight of the fact that the original
Christianity was born of a sect of the Jews with basically the only things
changing being the announcement of a new spiritual Israel [Zion] called “the
Kingdom of God” and the remission of sins through faith in the “spiritual”
Messiah and King rather than a physical one the Jews expected to come to
“restore the kingdom to Israel” in their past.
Even
after 3 ˝ years teaching including the Olivet discourse and the answers Jesus
gave them concerning the “end of the age” and His kingdom’s much later physical
phase and appearance as opposed to the immediate spiritual establishment of the
kingdom of God in their day the disciples still asked what was clearly still on
all their minds and this even after his resurrection:
6 So when they met
together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to
7 He said to them: "It
is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own
authority.
8 But you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
NIV Acts 1:6-8
Oddly
the very last chapter of Acts features the Apostle Paul quoting the very same
texts of Isaiah that Jesus referenced [Mark 7:6]but the apostle Paul also
showing that the apostle’s teachings were indeed derived from a Jewish sect
that taught pretty much exactly what the prophets of old proclaimed in their
prophecies:
16 When we got to
17 Three days later he
called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, Paul said to
them: "My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or
against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in
18 They examined me
and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving
death.
19 But when the Jews
objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar--not that I had any charge to
bring against my own people.
20 For this reason I
have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of
21 They replied,
"We have not received any letters from
22 But we want to hear what your views are,
for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect."
23 They arranged to
meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where
he was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the
24 Some were convinced
by what he said, but others would not believe.
25 They disagreed among
themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to
your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet:
26 "`Go to this people
and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be
ever seeing but never perceiving."
27 For this people's heart
has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed
their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'
28 "Therefore I want
you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will
listen!"
30 For two whole years
Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him.
31 Boldly and without hindrance he preached
the
What is very clear however is that the apostles very definitely taught
from Moses and the prophets in New Testament apostolic times but shows that the
religious leaders of Jesus’ day had perverted Moses’ teachings from its
original intent as even the gospel writer Mark shows:
5 So the Pharisees and
teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according
to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with `unclean'
hands?"
6 He replied, "Isaiah was right when he
prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "`These people honor me
with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in
vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'
8 You have let go of the commands of God
and are holding on to the traditions of men."
9 And he said to them:
"You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to
observe your own traditions!
10 For Moses said,
`Honor your father and your mother,'
and, `Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'
11 But you say that if
a man says to his father or mother: `Whatever help you might otherwise have
received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God),
12 then you no longer
let him do anything for his father or mother.
13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your
tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that." NIV Mark 7:5-13
What
all of Christianity needs to understand about Moses’ sacrificial laws, Isaiah,
the apostle Paul, Judaism, Christianity and the spiritual Law and the
Even
as late as the writing of the book of Acts seems to be and that was seemingly
well after the gospel accounts may have been set down by each of the Gospel
writers the apostle Paul was still teaching and persuading the Gentiles to
follow Christ entirely from the Old Testament and the prophets
and just as clearly one of the foremost of the prophets to be precise was
Isaiah as the above quote clearly shows Paul’s familiarity with Isaiah’s
writings in quoting this part in indicting those he was trying to teach.
The
book of Revelation clearly did not exist at the time of Paul’s teachings and by
what Luke writes of Paul [If Luke was indeed the narrator for most of the book
of Acts] then the gospel accounts and even Paul’s letters or the many other New
Testament books may not have even been collected and collated into the New
Testament at that time of Paul’s writings also.
It
follows then logically that in that case all of the gospel writers and
disciples later made into apostles were also teaching entirely from the Old
Testament and the prophets but including their new understanding of Jesus’
teachings into the Old Testament mix of the prophetic word of God.
Clearly
then the “original” Christianity was an outgrowth from a sect of Judaism still
basically within the confines of Judaism and as Paul himself testifies he spoke
nothing against his people or in fact any of the teachings of the customs of
Judaism of those days by all accounts:
"My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs
of our ancestors, I was arrested in
What Moses and
the first five books [Pentateuch] reveal is that God’s great spiritual and
moral law “ The Ten Commandments” was complete in and of itself and that
originally animal sacrifices weren’t required of the Israelite’s forefathers:
Moses’ preface to Deuteronomy 5 shows all the Israelites tribes were
given the “Ten” commandments as a part of the “Old Covenant” as complete in
themselves because after Moses lists the Ten Commandments he adds that they
were complete and constituted all of God’s immutable spiritual law that needed
to be observed.
KJV Deuteronomy 5:1-5
1 And Moses called all
2 The Lord our God
made a covenant with us in Horeb.
3 The Lord made not
this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here
alive this day.
4 The Lord talked with
you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
5 (I stood between the
Lord and you at that time, to shew you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid
by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
In between these verses are the “whole law of God” that was given to the
Israelites --- no mention whatsoever of animal sacrifices.
These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the
mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness,
with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of
stone, and delivered them unto me. KJV
Deuteronomy 5:22
Even
at the close of these important passages God shows clearly that He didn’t think
the Israelites would be able to keep their half of the “covenant” agreement
between Him and them in spite of their assurances in verse 27:
Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say:
and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it. KJV
Deuteronomy 5:27
A
short 2 verses later God already laments their inability to keep the Ten
Commandments.
29 O that there were such
an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments
always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! Deuteronomy 5:29
God
did however instruct Moses to institute other animal sacrifices but strangely
enough the way the wording used in the Old Testament passages is given ---
suggests that these other animal sacrifices were seemingly given to protect
those who through simple mindedness or ignorance would inevitably transgress
God’s great spiritual laws unknowingly and seems to be a means of granting
forgiveness to those who inadvertently sin against His great spiritual “ten
commandment” laws.
There
can be no forgiveness of sin without genuine repentance.
God
outlined the ‘penalty’ for sin of any kind in breaking those spiritual laws was
certain physical death --- no exceptions.
These
Israelites agreed to keep God’s “spiritual laws” in a “binding covenant” or agreement knowing full well that breaking
one of them would result in their deaths --- and yet they agreed to those terms
willingly.
For
the most part Leviticus chapters 1 through 4 reveal that the sacrifices that
were introduced were mostly voluntary and only required when an individual or
even the entire nation sinned against God through ignorance
and later became aware of their sins --- otherwise the death penalty
would be carried out for deliberate disobedience ---
but the animal sacrifices seem to have been introduced to protect the
innocent from inadvertently having broken God’s laws from incurring the
mandatory death penalty.
Apparently
forgiveness was imputed to them by obedience to the requirements of offering
animals in place of themselves to be killed which sufficed instead --- thus
fulfilling the letter of the law and full pardon granted or satisfied after a
priest performed the ritual necessary to ask forgiveness or atonement for those
sins committed in ignorance. [not too good for the animals concerned --- but a
great mercy to people who would have to pay the death penalty themselves that
they agreed to in a binding covenant otherwise --- the animals were
butchered in a humane way and were not wasted in any way but used for ritual
cleansings and were a means of supplying the priesthood with a share of the
daily, weekly and annual festival/holy day offerings.]
All
these sin offerings, peace offerings etc were literally and actually the
priests bread and butter --- if the people never sinned [although God obviously
knew they would] then in all likelihood the priests would have literally
starved to death because they had no income and no inheritance among the tribes
of Israel other than what was given to them in tithes and offerings of which
the animals were a part:
For national sins --- a young
bullock
13 And if the whole
congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of
the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of
the Lord concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;
14 When the sin, which
they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a
young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the
congregation.
KJV Leviticus 4:13-14
And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock
for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. KJV Leviticus 4:20
The
rulers [kings] and the common people were given different sets of animal
offerings according to their ability to purchase sacrificial offerings for
personal sin and even a substitute to animal sacrifice was allowed in the case
of those too poor to buy even the minimal offering of doves as these following
passages show respectively in turn:
King’s offering --- a male goat [kid] without blemish:
22 When a ruler
hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any
of the commandments of the Lord his God concerning things which should not be
done, and is guilty;
23 Or if his sin,
wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a
kid of the goats, a male without blemish:
KJV Leviticus 4:22-23
Commoners offering --- a young female goat without blemish
27 And if any one
of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against
any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be
done, and be guilty;
28 Or if his sin,
which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering,
a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.
KJV Leviticus 4:27-28
For the poor --- Flour as a substitute for animal sacrifices
But if he be not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young
pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an
Ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall put no oil upon it, neither
shall he put any frankincense thereon: for it is a sin offering.
KJV Leviticus 5:11
What
is abundantly clear however amid these ritual offerings for sin is that it
wasn’t the animal sacrifices themselves that atoned for sin --- but the actions
of the priests offering these animals and even flour on behalf of sinners that
allowed God to forgive those ‘innocents’ that inadvertently disobeyed His laws
through ignorance.
What
is also abundantly clear is that it is attitude towards God that ultimately
results in Atonement which means “At-one-ment” or total agreement with God.
It
is clearly impossible to repent of sin unless it is acknowledged and clearly
God will not forgive sin unless it is both acknowledged and repented of --- but
animal sacrifices are clearly not in themselves what atoned for sin but as Leviticus
7 reveals --- as long as there was a “physical” priesthood of Aaron’s line ---
Atonement for sin through that priesthood would be accompanied by animal
sacrifice as a “perpetual” ordinance among the Israelites:
35 This is the portion
of the anointing of Aaron, and of the anointing of his sons, out of the
offerings of the Lord made by fire, in the day when he presented them to
minister unto the Lord in the priest's office;
36 Which the Lord
commanded to be given them of the children of
37 This is the law
of the burnt offering, of the meat offering, and of the sin offering, and of
the trespass offering, and of the consecrations, and of the sacrifice of the
peace offerings;
38 Which the Lord commanded Moses in mount
Sinai, in the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their
oblations unto the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai. KJV Leviticus 7:35-38
Notice
very carefully not a single mention in all these animal sacrifices of the
Passover. That needs to be kept in mind later for what Isaiah reveals in back
up to Ezekiel’s writings about the third temple being built in our future.
Clearly
Jesus halted that sacrificial animal system when He replaced Aaron’s priesthood
by His own sacrifice as the ultimate sacrificial lamb and replaced the High
priests with His own High priesthood to this present day and age and our modern
times.
What
Ezekiel reveals in the last eight chapters of his prophetic book is distinctly
different because while some of the animal sacrifices will be the same as those
of old --- the manner of the new “physical” priesthood Jesus is apparently
going to install in addition to the spiritual rule of the saints and prophets
for the millennium to come after his return will be decidedly different to the
past. Those differences will be covered later at the end of this essay as this
is essentially a side issue --- but an important one that needs to be taken
into account nevertheless and that also will be shown in order to understand
why Ezekiel insists animal sacrifices will be re-introduced when the “third
temple” is built.
Prophecy reveals Isaiah and the apostle Paul on the
same wavelength and Jeremiah and Hosea supply vital clues as to why the Jews
conversion may need to be different to that of the “original” Christianity’s.
There
is absolutely no doubt that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob instituted the
animal sacrifices and incorporated them into the Old Covenant as part of Moses’
ministry as a prophet of God and as Exodus 12 Shows the very first animal
sacrifice was the Passover and the New testament scriptures show that the New
Testament [i.e. new covenant] Passover was to be kept in a new way with new
ordinances and a greater depth of spiritual meaning but still on the same days
annually.
And,
as the rest of these chapters show the Passover and some of God’s other annual
Holy days and festivals and the seventh day Sabbath were actually instituted before
the Old Covenant was officially made with the Israelites and before the other
animal sacrifices were incorporated into the Old Covenant and were to be kept
by all Israel not Just Judah.
We intend to show
in this essay what secular scholars have overlooked or ignored through what can
only be described as sheer ignorance --- no matter how great their ‘secular’
educational qualifications.
A significant
chunk of secular and even religious history has been misrepresented, lost or
distorted from the time of the events of the great tribulation of 67-70 AD
and/or from the time of the apostles of Christ till now:
Even
before the “middle ages” often referred to as “the dark ages” --- a darker
age seems to have overshadowed our world history from 67-70 AD to about the
time the Roman Catholic church began to emerge and to restore teachings about
Christ around about 200 AD
approximately.
The
Jews of Jesus’ day and subsequently Paul’s days objected to the new sect
because it clearly didn’t match up with their own religious ideology and
teachings of the past because it introduced “new elements” they considered
anathema to their “traditional” doctrines obviously. The orthodox Jews clearly handed Paul over to
the Romans because of their religious teachings not matching Paul’s but mainly
over the issue of Jesus’ claim to be God.
What
we find today however is a Christianity whose teachings do not match up with
what was taught in the New Testament in many ways and the diversity of
teachings is but one example of what clearly signifies a loss of truth of both
the prophetic and biblically historical kind overall from the second Diaspora
to the emergence of a changed Christianity that only resembles the original
teachings of the apostles in overall outlook and teachings but not in actual
practice.
We
personally are not pointing the finger or blaming anybody for this loss of both
understanding and/or historical circumstances that have left our world poorer
in its comprehension of spiritual matters --- because to do so you would have
to be God or at the very least a prophet of God’s but we do however believe we
as servants of God are honour bound to seek out the truth in all honesty and at
a bare minimum publish what we find and in that we are doing nothing more or
less than anyone else who call themselves Christians are “supposedly” doing
also.
We are
simply pointing out that something drastic occurred of which we ourselves have
little understanding from our basically Christian point of view looking back to
those times and as we’ve said often enough the atmosphere of those times must
be taken into account for full understanding --- but we are doing our best to
currently investigate and subsequently publish our findings for our readers.
It’s
not like the fate of the world depends on our findings or hangs in the balance
if we were to get things wrong --- many have indeed gotten things wrong but the
world still rolls along on its prophesied course to its final conclusions and
that is simply what we are endeavouring to determine for ourselves as much as
anyone else’s benefit who might like to follow along with what we’ve discovered
in prophecy.
We are
most definitely not trying to convert anybody to anything --- just simply
pointing out the truth as we see it revealed in prophecy and we are doing it at
our own cost without asking for anything in return because what we have been
given freely we see no need to charge for and delight in presenting what we
have discovered to be the truth as we see it.
We are
confident that God will provide all our needs anyway as He has promised those
that love Him:
31 Therefore
take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or,
Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after
all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that
ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye
first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you. KJV Matthew 6:31-33
In the
long and even short term it is entirely up to God to save those whom He calls
His saints and His elect in the scriptures from whatever walk of life or
religious beliefs they are currently in --- but few of the Jewish religious
leaders evidently took Jesus seriously when He made the rather outstanding
statements that publicans and sinners would enter the Kingdom of God before any
of the Jewish religious leaders in not just one but a number of instances
and the same could well apply to the
condition of Christian religious leaders today also:
10 While Jesus was
having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners"
came and ate with him and his disciples.
11 When the Pharisees
saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax
collectors and `sinners'?"
12 On hearing this,
Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
13 But go and learn what this means: `I desire
mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not
come to call the righteous, but sinners." NIV Matthew 9:10-13
19 The Son of man came
eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a
friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
20 Then began he to
upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:
21 Woe unto thee,
Chorazin! woe unto thee,
28 But what think ye?
A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to
day in my vineyard.
29 He answered and
said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.
30 And he came to the
second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
31 Whether of them
twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith
unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into
the
32 For John came unto you in the way of
righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when
ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.
KJV Matthew 21:28-33
Prophetic
evidence points to a different Christianity having either evolved or been
replaced/displaced in our modern times than was taught by the apostles but is
generally recognized as a legitimate Christianity --- just as the orthodox Jews
of those early Christian times recognized that Paul and the other apostles were
preaching a different form of Judaism than was accepted in times past but still
regarded the teachings of the apostles as a sect of Judaism nevertheless but
with a leader called Chrestus of the tribe of Judah instead of the high
priesthood of the Levitical tribe’s usual [traditional] priesthood of Aaron’s
line of ancestry.
The
quote from the book of Acts earlier above of Paul’s teachings reveals there are
two aspects of preaching the gospel i.e. the expounding things concerning the
coming of the kingdom of God which involves prophecy to a great extent and also
the teachings about Christ which still involves prophecy but to a lesser extent
but certainly not insignificantly by any means.
Any
preacher could in fact teach almost entirely about Jesus Christ and almost
ignore the prophecies of the Old Testament to a great degree and also ignore
the observance of God’s holy days [Annual or weekly] and this seems to be the
way the majority of mainstream modern Christianity has largely chosen to
conduct its teachings and we understand that Jesus’ prophesied this would be
the case from 67-70 AD right down to our day:
4 And Jesus
answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many
shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
KJV Matthew 24:4-5
Notwithstanding
there are groups in the minority of Christianity that endeavour to keep the
weekly seventh day Sabbath and God’s other holy days i.e. the SDA churches and
the “Sabbath keeping churches of God” derived from the WWCG of last century
being the most well known and sometimes controversial of these groups that are
apparently opposed to mainstream Christianity’s lack of observance of these
holy days of God.
Isaiah
shows that observance of what many currently think are Jewish customs
associated with Judaism are going to play a major part in future observance of
God’s true religion when Jesus returns in our time.
What
may or may not be widely known is that there were and possibly still are also
opposing groups or factions within Judaism that are also at odds with each
other’s beliefs and this was outlined for Jeremiah by God Himself which we’ll
also show in due course, presently.
Prophecy however
plays a much more significant role than any might think in ascertaining the
full truth of the word of God and this is what we hope to show fully in this essay
on Isaiah and prophecy itself will serve to rebut the secular critic’s undue
classifications of Isaiah’s prophetic work.
There
are mostly unknown factors at work in prophecy that few modern Christian’s and
even fewer modern Jews/Israeli’s have taken into account in their belief
structures --- and the secular scholars --- not at all --- in their downplaying
of the word of God.
One of
those factors shows the Jewish Kings Asa in his day and also Hezekiah trying to
restore the errant Israelites and in this case the Ephraimites or Samaritan
tribes of Israel to their God both before and during Isaiah’s day and the
contents of and introduction to Hosea’s prophecies shows him to be a full
contemporary of Isaiah but dealing largely with Ephraim’s descendant’s
fates at the same time as Isaiah was largely dealing with Judah’s fates as
prophesied by God through both these contemporary prophets with a mixture of a
little of both in their prophetic works.
Both
these contemporary prophets, i.e. Isaiah and Hosea, considered together show
the Israelite tribes now grown into a multitude of nations would be re-united
in our future and it’s very important we understand exactly who these tribes
are and the identity of their descendants
in modern times because a great deal of the prophecies of both these prophets
relates to these peoples and tribes of Israel’s future in our day and the
future immediately ahead of our modern world.
These
two prophets were clearly contemporaries and whether or not they knew of each
other is largely irrelevant but what is extremely relevant is that God
reveals the future of our world and our age through these two
servants of His and this is what the secular scholars apparently have no
knowledge or understanding of whatsoever.
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem
in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
KJV Isaiah 1:1
The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of
Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of
Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. KJV Hosea 1:1
The
Prophet Hosea adds as almost an afterthought in his introduction a reference to
the days of Jeroboam but clearly he lived in the times of Isaiah under the same
kings as Isaiah and his prophecies came to him during the same times
approximately as Isaiah’s apparently and the reference to Jeroboam may actually
be a backward reference to a former time as verse 4 of Hosea 3 seems indicate:
4 For the children of
Hosea actually adds a quite revealing mini- prophecy
concerning the “latter days” and it’s important we understand this because
Hosea’s prophecies deal with the leading Israelite tribes of the
ancient past [other than Judah/Jews] and those tribes he deals with are Britain
[UK] and America’s ancestors [ Ephraim and Manasseh] and that mini prophecy and
many others in Hosea and Isaiah are for our modern peoples today and regard our
fates and our future alongside that of the Jews/modern Israeli’s.
It follows then that
since Isaiah and Hosea are dealing with and covering both the ancient events
concerning their immediate future[s] of their day and also the distant future
of OUR times that these two prophets need to be considered together to get the
full or BIG picture of exactly what is going to transpire in OUR days and OUR
future and a great deal of what is going to occur and transpire in our days is
revealed by these two prophets in their “latter day” prophecies clearly enough.
5 Afterward shall the
children of
We don’t believe
that it is sheer coincidence therefore that the three “primary” or leading
tribes of Israel, the birthright and scepter holders of the ancient times of the
prophets i.e. Ephraim [UK] Manasseh [America] --- who held the ancient
Israelite territories of Samaria --- and Judah [modern Israeli’s] are currently
holding a great deal of the holy land and are leading and influential nations
and have quite prominent importance in world affairs in our day and age ---
because all prophecy indicates they would indeed have such prominence today ---
and we also find it not the least bit odd that they should also be “brothers in
arms” and allied to each other in our day as a result of those same revelations
of prophecy.
A
little pre-prophet [Isaiah] history from Chronicles sets the stage for Isaiah’s
prophecies in the context of the times in which he lived:
1 And the Spirit of
God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:
2 And he went out to
meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; the
Lord is with you, while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of
you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you.
3 Now for a long season
4 But when they in their
trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found of
them.
5 And in those times
there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great
vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.
6 And nation was
destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.
7 Be ye strong
therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.
8 And when Asa heard these words, and the
prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable
idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he
had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord, that
was before the porch of the Lord.
9 And he gathered all
Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim
and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in
abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. KJV 2 Chronicles 15:1-10
These
prophetic scriptures alone -- although there are many others that show the same
thing and are proof positive in themselves --- that the modern day Israeli’s
claim that they are all of Israel is indeed a false and unfounded belief
and the rest of the world is still largely unaware that Britain and America are
the modern descendants of the birthright tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh ---
partly due to the modern Israeli’s “misleading” claim. However the Israeli’s --- as prophecy
clearly shows - are “unaware” that their claim is false. [Matthew 13:14]
These informative passages of scripture from Ezekiel show the
Jews of the past also claimed they were all of
15 "Son
of man, your brothers--your brothers who are your blood relatives and the whole house of
16
"Therefore say: `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I
sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries,
yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where
they have gone.'
17
"Therefore say: `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will
gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you
have been scattered, and I will give you back the
Nothing
has changed much then has it? The Jews
are still claiming all of Israel’s holy land as theirs indeed, even today.
Clearly
then after
countless centuries of study of “the Law and the prophets” the Jews/Israelis
are no closer to the prophetic truth than they ever were and this fact almost
on its own may be why God is reserving their salvation till the
last possible moment i.e. “the latter days” of our “last days” to finally
forgive
their bloodguilt [Joel 3:21] by incorporating them into the new
covenant or “grafting” them back in again as the Apostle Paul puts it:
23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in,
for God is able to graft them in again.
24 After all,
if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to
nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will
these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! NIV Romans 11:23-24
As
Isaiah, through Jesus’ and the apostle Paul’s quoting Isaiah in acts 28:25-27
reveals --- in no uncertain terms --- their hearts in general are still far
from their true God and Messiah:
13 Therefore speak I
to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not,
neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of
Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and
seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people's
heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed; lest at any time they should see
with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and
should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are
your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
17 For verily I say
unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things
which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear,
and have not heard them. KJV Matthew 13:13-17
God
however says in verse 16 of Matthew 13 above that His servants would understand
the truth that even many prophets could not [verse 17] --- with the possible
exception of Isaiah perhaps as we are about to show shortly because Isaiah was
more “savvy” than many might think --- knowing full well the difference between
God the Father and Jesus whom he designated as recorded in the KJV “Jehovah”
and claimed YHVH for his Lord therefore.
The
truth that is abundantly clear here in all that we’ve presented in prophecy is
that God has deliberately delayed the Jews salvation and conversion for His own
purposes to the very last moment in time --- a mere 3 ˝ days before steps into
our world and supernaturally intervenes in a monumental battle and struggle that
will finally put down all of mans thoughts of “world government” in the hands
of man for all time.
Isaiah
had greater understanding of these things than the secular scholars give him
credit --- for the secular scholars give him none at all for the full insights
and revelations that God transmitted to us of our time today of the fates of
His peoples through Isaiah. [And indeed Hosea]
Good and bad Jews, Good and bad Christians --- the
significance to Isaiah’s prophecies:
The God
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob reveals through the prophet Jeremiah that there
were indeed factions among his Jewish peoples that were preventing them from
understanding prophetic truth and from obedience to God overall:
1 After
Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of
Judah and the officials, the craftsmen and the artisans of Judah were carried
into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the
LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD.
2 One basket had very
good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very poor figs, so
bad they could not be eaten.
3 Then the LORD asked
me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?"
"Figs," I answered. "The good ones are very good, but the
poor ones are so bad they cannot be eaten."
4 Then the word of the
LORD came to me:
5 "This is what
the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `Like these good figs, I regard as good
the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the
Babylonians.
6 My eyes will
watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I
will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot
them.
7 I will give them a heart to know me,
that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they
will return to me with all their heart.
8 "`But like the
poor figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,' says the LORD, `so will I
deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from
Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt.
9 I will make them abhorrent and an
offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, an object of
ridicule and cursing, wherever I banish them.
10 I will send the
sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I
gave to them and their fathers.'"
NIV Jeremiah 24:1-10
It
is clearly evident verse 9 of this prophecy certainly came to pass as anti-
Semitism has reared its ugly head time and time again throughout history from
the time this pronouncement in prophecy was made. Unfortunately modern racism tars all Jews
with the same brush when God in fact reveals otherwise.
There’s
an element of “timelessness” to verse 7 because a “remnant” of the [good] Jews
did indeed return to
A
number of prophecies considered together reveal that at least a third of the modern
day Jews [good figs] will again turn to God with all their heart after the
purging of the dross [bad figs] from their midst as Zechariah shows clearly
[Zechariah 13:8-9]
This
of course only apparently applies, logically, to the Jews currently occupying
the holy land --- the percentage among the scattered remnant of the Diaspora
Jews located in other countries is an unknown factor.
A
similar scenario oddly enough also applies to good and bad Christians and
similar but not exactly the same symbolic or allegoric language is used in the
case of Christianity.
It shouldn’t really
surprise us all that much that nearly every single allegory, parable and many
prophetic symbolic references in the bible are related to the “natural world”
because God created our natural environment and Jesus throughout the Old and
New Testaments uses illustrations based on more often than not the flora and
our natural surroundings to explain many spiritual things about His coming
Kingdom.
The
appellation “Mother nature” is actually quite a good one in some respects
although not coined by God, specifically, because God also uses female
designations for cities, towns and nations quite often and even for His church
at times.
We
find Christians also likened to “plants” in many places throughout the bible but
instead of figs as used in Jeremiah to represent the Jews we find the analogy
of “wheat” and “weeds” to describe good and bad Christians respectively:
24 Jesus told them another parable: "The
kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy
came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads,
then the weeds also appeared.
27 "The owner's servants came to him and
said, `Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds
come from?'
28 "`An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, `Do you want
us to go and pull them up?'
29 "`No,' he answered, `because while you
are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At
that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in
bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"
NIV Matthew
13:24-31
There
are a great many people
who regard all Jews as bad and not surprisingly a great many of
those people are Christians that hold that view --- But God says otherwise.
Orthodox
Jews might regard all Christians as bad as evidenced by the way the “Jews for
Jesus” movement is regarded poorly by Orthodox Judaism --- but again God says
otherwise.
This
little digression from the main Isaiah theme is a necessary one to illustrate a
point or two that is relevant to Isaiah’s prophecies.
There
is not a single Christian anywhere that would indeed regard themselves as
totally bad and the same applies to the Jews --- although the Jews are keenly
aware of the world view that is held by far too many people that they are
intrinsically bad or “no hopers” as we would say in Australia --- primarily
because of the two main reasons that some of their ancestors murdered Jesus and
they don’t as a rule accept Christianity as valid. Of course except perhaps,
for a very small minority of Jews who may in fact be beginning to see the light
--- so to speak.
The
two illustrations above of Jeremiah’s, good and bad figs and Jesus’ Matthew
13:24-31 parable of basically showing there are good and bad Christians, shows
that the enemy [Satan] has been at work disrupting God’s work for quite some
time in both the earlier antiquity of the prophet’s times, the antiquity of
Jesus’ and the and apostles times and judging by the vast amount of
disinformation among Christians --- the enemy is still at work in our day and
times of “the last days.”
Isaiah
in all his work was simply pointing out that the bad elements of Jewish society
[bad figs of Jeremiah] had the greater control of the Jewish society of his day
and because of their predominance and influence God was going to have to
destroy their nation to curtail that evil influence once and for all for those
times.
The
biblical record shows that after that was done God took the Good figs
[elect]after seventy years of the Babylonian captivity and basically “kick
started” the Jewish society again from scratch using the “good figs” with the
very able leadership of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego at the first and
then later Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah and the other governors of Judah,
Zerubbabel et al.
However,
again, by the time of Jesus’ first advent approximately 500 years later the bad
‘figs” again held sway and influence over Jewish society once again in a
‘corrupt’ priestly system .
It
may be that the bad figs once again hold sway in our times nearly 2000 years
after Jesus put an “end” to the bad figs’ influence in the second Diaspora of
the “great tribulation” of 67-70 AD.
What
all prophecy shows however is that God intends to remove the bad figs and their influence among the Jews permanently
and thereby reverse the situation in our times as Zechariah, Isaiah and other
prophets clearly show in their prophecies.
A Huge
difference
between our “last days” and those of former times
Another
point or two for us to make clear regarding prophecy before completely
dispelling the myth about Isaiah concerning the posited “multiple” authorship
created by “spiritually ignorant” secular scholars is simply this:
The
apostle Peter shows the “last days” of the apostolic age began at the first
Pentecost [Acts 2:17-21] and a study of those times shows their last days ended
in the final end of their age in 67-70 AD.
A
number of Prophecies, one of which is Isaiah’s shows us that we are living in
our “last days” also. [Isaiah 2:1-4 and Micah 4:1-3]
Further study shows here is a huge
difference between our last days and that which occurred in the
Jews Diaspora of 67-70 AD however.
Jesus
tells us through His prophet Daniel in the “seventy weeks” prophecy [Daniel
9:24] everlasting righteousness was to be brought in from that time forward.
Further
prophetic study shows us that our “last days” doesn’t mean the end of the New
Testament age which is revealed to be permanent in fact and was according to
Daniel to be ushered in by the growth of the fifth Kingdom of Daniel’s
prophecies [i.e. the “stone” kingdom, ] through the intervention of the Messiah
[67-70 AD] and it which would smash all the remnants of the Four [Gentile]
world ruling empires that have ever existed on earth in our last days through another “intervention” in our times
and does so at that time it finally manifests itself as the New kingdom of God
via the return of its King to rule this earth permanently:
40 Finally,
there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron--for iron breaks and smashes
everything--and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all
the others.
41 Just as you
saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so
this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron
in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay.
42 As the toes
were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and
partly brittle.
43 And just as
you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and
will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
44 "In the time of those
kings, the God of heaven will set up a [fifth] kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left
to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end,
but it will itself endure forever.
45 This is the
meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human
hands--a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the
gold to pieces. "The great God has
shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the
interpretation is trustworthy." NIV Daniel 2:40-45
The
KJV renders the ‘fifth’ kingdom [of God] as a “stone” kingdom:
45. Forasmuch
as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands … KJV Daniel 2:45 [first part.]
Hence
the name “Stone kingdom” that we use throughout our articles --- but
since we were not the first with this understanding and in effect “borrowed” it
from a unique Australian Pentecostal church i.e. The Revival Churches
international [RCI] we here acknowledge that they were probably the first to
use this designation for the kingdom of God.
The
thing to note however “the Stone kingdom” is/ was to be established in the days
of the kings of the fourth [Gentile] world ruling kingdom which was of course
the Roman Empire.
That
Stone kingdom will morph into the full fledged
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles,
which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. KJV
Revelation 16:14
This
particular final day of the Lord of our New Covenant age is mistakenly
called “the Battle of Armageddon” by most religious and secular scholars.
Further study in Revelation reveals that
“Armageddon” is the place where the [Gentile] armies of the world are
indeed gathered but not where the final battle takes place:
And he gathered them together into a place called
in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. KJV
Revelation 16:16
The
prophet Joel reveals the final battle to be fought in fact in a valley and not
the “hill” of
2 I will also
gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat,
and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom
they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. KJV Joel 3:2-3
In
point of fact, the majority of Jews and all the other ten tribes are indeed
still scattered among all the nations of the earth today with at least 9 modern
nations of the 12 tribes of
A Part
of the tribe of Ephraim is currently dwelling with the tribe of Manasseh in the
North American continent i.e. Canada and the USA. But though separated by their
joint border and more or less sharing a southern border with other nations of
the South American continent of predominantly Spanish origin --- of which
Mexico is the nearest holding a common border with the USA.
The remainder of the birthright holding nations of ancient
Israel’s descendants resides in islands of which the biggest is termed a
continent in its own right for sheer size i.e. Australia. The UK and New
Zealand being like Australia isolated from the rest of the worlds [Gentile]
nations but still scattered roughly among them ‘technically’.
It is interesting to note in the words of the prophet Joel giving
these words to us from the ancient past as a messenger coming from God that God
is going to plead His case with other nations that are not His “heritage”
Israel. That pretty much leaves the
nations that He is going to “plead” with by default as being the Gentile
nations of the earth that are not Israelites.
So the all nations in this case is seen to be the gentile nations of
the modern world.
What
kind of pleading might God enter into with the world’s gentile nations?
Well,
by all accounts in all prophecies dealing with “the day of the Lord” very
dramatic, very scary, very monumental, running into the category of EXTREMELY AWESOME
--- not to mention spectacular. But we
are going to mention the last category in the rest of this essay --- in no
uncertain terms
The Rebuttal of the secular scholar’s “myth” of multiple
authorship of Isaiah:
We’ll
try to be as gentle as possible with the secular scholars because no doubt they
were just doing their best to understand the writings of Isaiah with the
“limited” information available to them.
But then ignorance is no excuse really for stating fiction as fact under
any circumstances.
We
need only look at initially those chapters that the secular scholars have
thoughtfully singled out for us as possibly having been written by Isaiah’s
disciples to ascertain that the were not written by them due to the
content.
If it can be shown that some of these singled out chapters
i.e. chapters 13-14, 24-27, and 34-35 could be the work of
his disciples and near contemporaries.
As the secular scholars claim --- it would place those disciples on
the same level of competency as the prophet that Isaiah himself was --- if the
content indeed is revealing far distant future events in our day and
beyond.
If
this can be proven to be the case with back-up from other prophet’s testimony
of parallel prophecies --- then second or middle or Deutero and third or Trito
Isaiah speaking of far distant future events as those passages do [which will
also be proven shortly] would be entirely consistent with both the middle and
latter chapters therefore and indicative of a single uniformly cognizant author
who understood all the related prophecies of many of the other earlier prophets
that foresaw the same things and what his contemporary Hosea also revealed in
his prophecies.
Chapters
13-14 examined and explained as follows:
Chapter
13 was actually covered in part one of “the Day of the Lord” article in this
series as just one of the many “days of the Lord’s” that wasn’t for our future
but for Babylon of the ancient past.
It’s clear that Isaiah didn’t live to see the overthrow and destruction of
While
this prophecy is indeed “a day of the Lord” that is closer to the ancient times
than ours --- logic alone tells us that any disciples Isaiah had couldn’t have
lived to see the destruction of Babylon either.
Even
if Isaiah’s disciples were in their teens when this prophecy was written
There’s the fact that Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s generation fell in between
Isaiah’s time and Daniels generation --- and the 70 years of Jewish captivity
has to be taken into consideration besides because Babylon was still in
existence in Daniel’s, Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s days and it wasn’t even overthrown
or destroyed when Darius the Mede came to power. They would have had to live
beyond Haggai and Zechariah’s times and it is therefore unlikely to practically
impossible that this prophecy was written “after the fact” in this case and if
Isaiah’s disciples didn’t live to see Zechariah’s time then if these prophecies
were supposedly their prophecies they too could be considered on
a par with Isaiah as far as prophetical insights go because these verses do
indeed predict not only the coming of the Medes to replace the Babylonian
Empire but eventual total overthrow of Babylon itself and a detailed ongoing
prophetic pronouncement of never being re-built and inhabited that Isaiah’s
disciples very obviously lacked the wherewithal to make come to pass:
17 Behold, I
will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for
gold, they shall not delight in it.
18 Their bows
also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the
fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
19 And
20 It shall
never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation:
neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make
their fold there.
21 But wild
beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful
creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and Satyrs shall dance there. KJV Isaiah
13:17-21
Jeremiah not only
confirms Isaiah’s prophecies of the coming of the Medes and the destruction of
Babylon but goes few steps considerably further than that in also pronouncing
in detail the demise of a great many other nations and ancient societies in
addition to the Jews --- all of which have come to pass and have been
fulfilled in biblical history and confirmed in secular history --- without
fail:
9 Behold, I
will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar
the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and
against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and
will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and
perpetual desolations.
10 Moreover I
will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of
the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and
the light of the candle.
11 And this
whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall
serve the king of
12 And it
shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the
king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the
land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
13 And I will
bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all
that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the
nations.
14 For many
nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will
recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their
own hands.
15 For thus
saith the Lord God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my
hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
16 And they
shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send
among them.
17 Then took I
the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the
Lord had sent me:
18 To wit,
Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes
thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse;
as it is this day;
19 Pharaoh
king of
20 And all the
mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the
land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of
Ashdod,
21
22 And all the
kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which
are beyond the sea,
23 Dedan, and
Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,
24 And all the
kings of
25 And all the
kings of Zimri, and all the kings of
26 And all the
kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the
world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall
drink after them.
27 Therefore
thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel;
Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the
sword which I will send among you.
28 And it
shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt
thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
29 For, lo, I
begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be
utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword
upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts. KJV Jeremiah
25:9-29
So
what’s the conclusion that can be drawn about Isaiah’s 13th
chapter? In view of this not so little
back-up from Jeremiah’s prophecies --- the odds are heavily in favour of
Isaiah’s 13th chapter most likely being Isaiah’s.
What about the 14th Chapter? Isaiah’s or
his disciples work?
We
could opt to ‘pass’ on this one because this is truly an “odd” chapter for a
number of reasons although it does seem to carry on from 13 proper and seems to
be an adjunct to it --- but it is no longer describing just the demise of
Babylon but something much more profound.
We have some understanding of the verses beyond the third verse so we
can still analyze those passages to a degree and reach a conclusion on those
however.
Would
Isaiah’s disciples have gone beyond their master in understanding? Seems
unlikely --- but anything’s possible.
We
know from our prophetic studies that that the Lord did indeed have mercy on a remnant
of Israel i.e. Jacob [the Jews] in returning them from the 70 years Babylonian
captivity and that this took place under Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and
Zechariah so verses 1-3 could be a reference to that time with verse 2’s
reference to a people taking the Jews to their place possibly being the
Babylonian escorts and the nature of unusual authority given to Ezra:
1 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet
choose
2 And the
people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of
Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids:
and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall
rule over their oppressors.
3 And it shall
come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and
from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, KJV Isaiah 14:1-3
From our study of the four prophetic books
that are contemporary with Daniel, i.e. Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah we know also that the until Ezra
was granted the favours extended to him from King Artaxerxes that the Jewish
remnant that was to ‘kick start’ the Jewish society that was to be present in
Jesus’ day didn’t begin to return until Ezra started the ball rolling by
seeking his God and was determined to teach the law of God again from the
copies of Gods word [Law and the prophets]that he apparently had access to as a
scribe.
It is
a little hard to understand the reference to the Jews ‘taking them captive
whose captives they were’ in verse 2 and ‘ruling over their oppressors’ without
the understanding that Ezra supplies of those times. But, not many people have
in fact studied Ezra and Nehemiah all that seriously, perhaps because they
weren’t prophets.
The
authority extended to Ezra by Artaxerxes was nothing short of phenomenal and
without going systematically through the first seven chapters of Ezra to show
this [our readers can read those first 7 chapters themselves to ascertain the
background].
We can
show by the ‘decree’ issued by Artaxerxes that the remnant that returned to
Judah and Jerusalem may indeed have ruled over their former oppressors when
under Ezra for the entire trans Jordan region and that in fact they were given
what amounted to “a carte blanch authority” to restore the Temple of Solomon at
of all things the specific request of Artaxerxes by royal command and decree as
follows:
Authors note: It is not
even necessary to quote the entire decree --- just the last part and Ezra’s
comments to prove the point.
25 And you,
Ezra, in accordance with the wisdom of your God, which you possess, appoint magistrates and judges
to administer justice to all the people of Trans-Euphrates--all who know the
laws of your God. And you are to teach any who do not know them.
26 Whoever does not obey the law of
your God and the law of the king must surely be punished by death, banishment,
confiscation of property, or imprisonment.
27 Praise be
to the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put it into the king's heart to
bring honor to the house of the LORD in
28 and who has
extended his good favor to me before the king and his advisers and all the
king's powerful officials. Because the hand of the LORD my God was on me, I
took courage and gathered leading men from
Our readers can follow through with the rest of Ezra to see the
unprecedented authority he and those with him really did have under the
auspices of Artaxerxes but as for the rest of Isaiah 14 beyond verse 3 a
different explanation is needed of what exactly these enigmatic verses are
referring to --- which may indeed be why the secular scholars assigned this
chapter along with the 13th to Isaiah’s disciples --- because of
it’s seemingly obscure nature.
However
it is not really that obscure at all as we’ll show our readers but it does
require an understanding that angels and a devil exists because without that
understanding --- much of prophecy simply cannot be understood at all.
The
Sabbath churches of God [originally the worldwide church of God or WWCG under Herbert
W Armstrong but is now designated, WCG under a different leader] had a teaching
that they call “types and antitypes” and these verses beyond the first three do
indeed seem to fit that template quite well because although these verses carry
on from Chapter 13 and further describe the demise and fate of Babylon and its
“physical” king [the ‘type’] it also alludes to the fate of the ‘antitype’ ---
in this case Satan the devil --- whose fate is also detailed in Revelation
20:1-10.
Whether
or not a type and antitype format can really be applied is a moot point but in
terms of describing a spiritual leader [angelic being] being behind a physical
leader or human king and influencing that king and that king’s kingdom a type
and antitype description describes this situation fairly well. As the scriptures indicate elsewhere Adam
was a “type” of Christ, symbolically speaking:
45 And so it
is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a
quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit
that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward
that which is spiritual.
47 The first
man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the
earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are
they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we
have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the
heavenly.
50 Now this I
say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
A little and unnecessary digression perhaps but an interesting
one in terms of spirit beings eating and drinking in the kingdom of God ---
Jesus doesn’t need to eat or drink but he promised his disciples he would do so
with them in the kingdom of God and that they would eat at his table --- for
pleasure? [Luke 22:14-18]
In
some way not completely understood by us at present Satan is a type of the
beast of the beast kingdom that will play a role in our future.
A
number of other prophetical scriptures can be brought to bear to assist us in
our understanding here in chapter 14 that we need to know because Satan plays
quite a dominant role as the ‘adversary’ to God and features throughout a great
deal of prophecy and this needs to be understood clearly because as we’ve
discovered from our ongoing prophetic study a great many ‘other spiritual
forces’ both good and bad have in addition to God the Father and Jesus, played
a significant role in what seems to us just a ‘natural’ world from our
human perspective.
We
can assure our readers that the supernatural forces at ‘play’ in our world for
want of a better description are very real and have been very influential in
the past and may be also in our future to an alarming degree before the return
of Jesus.
Among other
things what these passages in Isaiah show us is just exactly how influential
Satan has been in our world in the past and that he was the real power behind
the Babylonian Empire and the then kings of Babylon.
What these
passages further show is that this fallen angelic being was and will be
responsible for a great deal of the destruction of the world’s cities and
societies, past and present. [Isaiah 14:17]
***
The book of Revelation is rife with multiple references to Satan’s influence
and his role in the first and second battles of Zechariah 12&14,
corresponding to Revelation 9 and the final battle of Armageddon in Revelation
16:13-16 and the destruction of his last bastion and seat of power located in
the general region at or near Rome sometime in our future which in part
apparently comprises Revelation 13’s “image” of the first beast that ruled in
Roman times. Satan’s role is very clear in our prophetic future:
13 And I saw
three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out
of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
14 For they
are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of
the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great
day of God Almighty. KJV Revelation
16:13-14
Verses
4-11 in Isaiah 14 are mostly talking about the ruler of Babylon at the time of
its demise most likely but then the ‘type’ or physical king lifts up to become or
is transposed in allegory into the ‘antitype’ i.e. the real spiritual power
behind the Babylonian king i.e. Satan --- and from about verse 12 through to 17
are clearly referring to the devil who was originally named Lucifer before his
fall from grace and his place in heaven:
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of
the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the
nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend
into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also
upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I
will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the
sides of the pit.
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee,
and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that
did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed
the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? KJV Isaiah
14:12-17
The
remainder of the chapter from that point is taken up with some quite detailed
prophecies that re-enforce the previous chapter 13 and state categorically that
in addition to the king even all the descendants of the Babylonians would be
cut off never to rise or populate the earth with their peoples or cities ever
again.
Quite
profound, quite specific prophecies, giving details, worthy of a prophet’s
pronouncements rather than his apprentices and in verses 25 covering the
Assyrian’s removal of their burdensome yoke or rule over the captive Israelites
already being overrun during Isaiah’s day.
Verses 24,
26&27 are not only consistent with the middle chapters from 40-45 but
almost forerunners to the challenges that God lays out for the skeptics there
in those sweeping chapters announcing that the proof of the word of God lies
squarely in the arena of fulfilled prophecy that time after time comes to pass
without fail and stands as more than just mute testimony to power and might of
a dynamic God whose prophecies and word will stand the tests of time and be
proven not only valid but entirely immutable:
The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I
have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it
stand:
26 This is the
purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is
stretched out upon all the nations. [i.e. ‘the hand of God’]
27 For the Lord of hosts hath
purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who
shall turn it back? KJV Isaiah 14:24 & 26-27
This
overriding theme is enlarged and expanded throughout those middle chapters from
40-45 showing that God is fully in charge of the ultimate fates of nations.
God
serves notice on mankind, through Isaiah, in these very important chapters
that, when God foretells, i.e. prophesies about nations, they need to take
notice --- because not a single one of His prophecies has ever failed ---
throughout man’s long history. [Long to us, but a mere eye-blink to God.]
These
words and many more of this type of declaration by God, and challenge to the
skeptics, are found in “middle” Isaiah in profusion and this small sample
compares well with those verses just quoted above from the 14th
chapter:
11 I, even I,
am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.
12 I have
revealed and saved and proclaimed-- I, and not some foreign god among you. You
are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "that I am God.
13 Yes, and
from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse
it?" NIV Isaiah
43:11-13
On
balance, therefore, because of lack of inconsistency, showing uniformity
instead regarding spiritual themes, some of which are confirmed in Revelation, if
it were put to a vote --- our vote would unanimously be that chapters 13&14
are Isaiah’s and not his disciple’s work.
Chapters 24-27
examined more closely:
While
it’s just a tad difficult to see why the secular scholars chose chapters
13&14 as being Isaiah’s disciples work it is however very clear why they
chose the 24th chapter as a springboard for claiming the two
following chapters as well as “possibly” being Isaiah’s disciples work.
Clearly
as we also understand it --- Isaiah did not ‘physically’ live to ‘see’ with his
own human eyes, the destruction of
Obviously
in order to be able to make sweeping pronouncements in prophecy that are
accurate you would of necessity actually need to see all those events happening
in some way other than with human eyes as was the case in the book of
Revelation with the prophet John --- in this case a “pictorial” form comprising
snatches of the scenes that Jesus wanted to show John in regard to both his and
our future and everything in between in an ‘overview’ form. That’s why a great many God’s prophets are
called “seers” in fact, in scripture, whether they have to enter a trance-like
state or are given visions in prophetic dreams.
This
‘seeing things’ in vision clearly laid out by Jesus in the ‘opening of the
seals’ of the prophetic book of Revelation where the prophetic book in the
Father’s hands is ‘seen’ to have writing on the back and front of the prophetic
scroll that is sealed by seven seals and only Jesus was found worthy to “open”
those seals. [Revelation chapter 5]
When
invited by one of the 4 truly awesome angelic beings that reside in the
heavenly throne room to “come and see” what was written --- in place of writing
--- the apostle John saw a series of “graphic images” of scenes of people and
places and events of both a near and a far distant future, unraveled one by one
[Revelation chapter 6] until eventually at the close of the book of Revelation
he was given some statements to record verifying that everything he “saw” was
true and correct and was certain to come to pass. [Revelation 22:6-7,
9-10] So the newly made prophet John did
as he was asked or commanded to do [Rev 1:19] and recorded everything
faithfully just as it was given to him, otherwise the Book of Revelation would
not be a part of our modern bibles. [Revelation22:8]
Armed
with this little background as to how ‘visions’ actually work in practicality
and the fact that John believed every one of the pictorial visions or images he
was seeing would come to pass can we say whether or not Isaiah actually saw
Jerusalem’s gates lying broken and in ruins in vision or that the words in
Isaiah 24:5-12 could have been inserted by his disciple “after the facts” or
events in question?
The
secular scholars have obviously picked up on this as being added by Isaiah’s
disciples because as mentioned clearly Isaiah didn’t live to see it personally
--- but what they seemed to have overlooked is the very next verse:
When thus it shall be in the midst of the land
among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the
gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. KJV Isaiah 24:13
Note
the qualifying words: “When thus it
shall be” possibly denoting that at the time these words were written these
things hadn’t happened yet.
And
what is the thus that shall be?
Clearly the preceding verse and probably everything from verse 5-12 as
well as these are inferred by the said secular scholars as clearly referring to
Clearly
the “unnamed” secular scholars portrayed in Wikipedia [if they actually do
exist and aren’t a figment of the
imagination of whoever wrote that article in Wikipedia that we’ve quoted from]
have indeed made the assumption that this chapter 24 could only have been
written by Isaiah’s disciples, who apparently did exist according to Isaiah himself.
Isaiah8:16
However
If we take a close look at Revelation we see that nearly everything written
there pertaining to our future is written as if it had already occurred and was
an established fact and this nearly 2000 years[in round figures] before any of
these events are actually slated to occur in our “actual” reality.
Is
there any reason that Isaiah would not believe every word and every vision that
God had given him as already as good as if it was an established fact and would
definitely occur as prophesied exactly the same as John obviously did? The answer to that would have to be in the
negative.
In
view of this the assumption possibly being made by scholars [we’re giving them
an out if they want to take it] that what is recorded in Isaiah must have been
written ‘after the fact’ does not necessarily hold any water i.e. is therefore
full of holes and cannot be proven.
Isaiah
could, as it does indeed seem here in verse 24:12 be writing of things he had
seen occurring in vision “ahead” of time.
However
putting that aside for the moment what we really do need to establish is how
much of these chapters or even verses within these chapters is indeed future
prophecy for our future and how much was for the past --- and this is
not an easy call by any means because even with modern translations the wording
still remains somewhat ambiguous and not all that much clearer as to the true
meaning.
The
opening verses of chapter 24 seem to be referring to the world or the
inhabitants of the earth in a “general” way so we’ll quote them here to raise a
point with our readers and so there’s no mistaking what is written we’ll repeat
it in the NIV as well:
1 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh
it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants
thereof.
2 And it shall
be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his
master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the
seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury,
so with the giver of usury to him.
3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly
spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.
4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world
languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants
thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken
the everlasting covenant. KJV Isaiah
24:1-5
6 Therefore
hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate:
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. KJV Isaiah
24:6
1 See, the
LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face
and scatter its inhabitants--
2 it will be
the same for priest as for people, for master as for servant, for mistress as
for maid, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as
for creditor.
3 The earth
will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word.
4 The earth
dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the
earth languish.
5 The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed
the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people
must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very
few are left. NIV Isaiah 24:1-6
Ok,
then, there are three possibilities here with theses verses and before any of
us jump to any hasty conclusions that these verses are talking about Jerusalem
of the past or our future we know that at least some of these verses --- most
likely verse 12 may be speaking about Jerusalem of Isaiah’s time [1st
possibility] and if so there’s a possibility that the opening verses may be
talking about the ancient world of Isaiah’s time and not ours. [2nd
possibility] and both of those may be applicable up to verse 16.
It’s
likely that verses 12-13 are indeed speaking of the Babylonian siege and
destruction of Jerusalem and its gates and 13 indicating there would be few
left after all that happened in those days and since Isaiah couldn’t have seen
that destruction in person his disciples might have inserted that observation
--- but they’d have to be mighty long lived disciples nevertheless.
However the third possibility and the
most striking is that the verses from 17 onwards are most definitely talking about
events that are to take place in the far distant future [ note the last
underlined verse, 23] and if chapter 25 carries on from this one, i.e. from 24
[which the scholars who singled out these chapters must have thought they did,
otherwise they wouldn’t have attributed these 4 chapters 24,25,26&27 to
Isaiah’s disciples work] then what is
also written in chapter 25 parallels perfectly what is written in verses in
Revelation that make these chapters for our future time almost a
certainty:
17 Fear, and
the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it
shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall
into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken
in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the
earth do shake.
19 The earth
is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved
exceedingly.
20 The earth
shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and
the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not
rise again.
21 And it
shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high
ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they
shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be
shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the
moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall
reign in
KJV Isaiah 24:17-23
Compare what is written in Isaiah chapter 25:8-9 to very similar
and almost identical wording in Revelation phrased only slightly differently:
Isaiah:
8 He will swallow up death in
victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces;
and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the
Lord hath spoken it.
9 And it
shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and
he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and
rejoice in his salvation. KJV Isaiah
25:8-9
Revelation:
3 And I heard
a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,
and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be
any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that
sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me,
Write: for these words are true and faithful. KJV Revelation 21:3-5
Chapter 26 is most revealing for insights of things worthy of a
‘master’ prophet and not learners or students.[disciples]
All
of chapter 26 with only a few reminiscences of things past is all ‘future’ prophecy
and not much immediate or local prophecy at that --- but far distant future
prophecy showing this is also the time of the first resurrection [verse 19] and
that Isaiah himself would be resurrected at that time.
Even
in the opening verses Isaiah sets the timeframe for the fulfillment of these
prophecies:
1 In that day
shall this song be sung in the
2 Open ye the gates,
that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. KJV Isaiah 26:1-2
Even
if verse 12 of Chapter 24 were an insertion by Isaiah’s students referencing
the desolation of Jerusalem and its destroyed gates --- there’s no mistaking
here that Isaiah is referring to a time when a ‘future city’ will once again
have gates and there are only three time periods that Jerusalem had gates after
they were destroyed in the Babylonian siege and captivity of the first
Diaspora, i.e. in Jesus’ day prior 67-70AD
when Jerusalem’s gates were restored in Ezra, Nehemiah’s,
Haggai’s
and Zechariah’s days --- or will have gates either when Ezekiel’s third temple
is built or when New Jerusalem descends from heaven and is overlaid over the
Mount of Olives --- when God the Father takes up residence on Earth. [Revelation
21:1-3]
The reference to “In that Day” then,
can only be a back reference to the last verse in chapter 24:
when the Lord of hosts shall reign in
OR at the time God the Father dwells
with mankind:
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him,
and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad
and rejoice in his salvation. KJV Isaiah
25:8-9
The
‘clincher’ as to the ‘future’ time that nearly all these chapters and verses
[up to, but ending at verse 20] are referring is enumerated by Isaiah fairly
clearly in this verse:
With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea,
with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in
the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn
righteousness. KJV Isaiah 26:9
These are quite a couple of insightful verses from the ‘master’ prophet
showing that Isaiah well knew our future and what it would be like at Jesus
return and that even after Jesus return i.e. Lord, when thy hand is lifted
up the wicked would not see the truth at first
but will later:
10 Let favour
be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of
uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
11 Lord, when
thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see,
and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies
shall devour them. KJV Isaiah 26:10-11
The
conclusion for this group of prophetic scriptures?
The
secular scholar’s have correctly lumped chapters 24,25 & 26 together as
single prophecy --- but not the 27th as we’ll now show below, but
none of these prophecies show inconsistency with any other prophecies
throughout the bible, i.e. that they might have been written by students
[disciples] or that they weren’t written by a master of prophets as they do
indeed appear to be in fact:
Although
verse 21 of chapter 26 [still future prophecy from Isaiah’s point of view]
shows the Lord/Jesus’ coming from the heavens very clearly it may have
application for both the past Babylonian captivity which chapter 27 reverts to describing
in places and/or the coming of Jesus in our future and the resurrection of the
saints [Including Isaiah] which is definitely for our future.
20 Come, my
people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide
thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
21 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to
punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall
disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
KJV Isaiah 26:20-21
As
shown in part one of “the Day of the Lord” article we shouldn’t jump to the
conclusion that Jesus ‘coming to the earth’ could only occur in our
future day of the Lord because He has in fact been here often in other
days of the Lord as we’ve show very clearly.
Note: The KJV was
specifically used in the above quotes in Isaiah because the NIV or indeed the
other translations didn’t bring out what is clearly being said in these verses
adequately enough.
Zechariah, actually, has similar wording
to verse 21 above:
Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord: for he is
raised up out of his holy habitation.
KJV Zechariah 2:13
Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has
roused himself from his holy dwelling."
NIV Zechariah 2:13
Chapter’s
1&2 of Zechariah show that this particular ‘rousing’ in Zechariah’s writing
to be benevolent to the Jews of Zechariah’s day and actually includes a promise
of Jesus’ first coming after the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple in
Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai’s and Zechariah’s days:
12 Then the
angel of the LORD said, "LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy
from
13 So the LORD
spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.
14 Then the
angel who was speaking to me said, "Proclaim this word: This is what the
LORD Almighty says: `I am very jealous for
15 but I am
very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but
they added to the calamity.'
16
"Therefore, this is what the LORD says: `I will return to
17
"Proclaim further: This is what the LORD Almighty says: `My towns
will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort
NIV Zechariah 1:12-17
6 "Come!
Come! Flee from the land of the north," declares the LORD, "for I
have scattered you to the four winds of heaven," declares the LORD.
7 "Come,
O
8 For this is
what the LORD Almighty says: "After he has honored me and has sent me
against the nations that have plundered you--for whoever touches you touches
the apple of his eye--
9 I will
surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has
sent me.
10 "Shout
and be glad, O Daughter of
11 "Many
nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I
will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to
you.
12 The LORD
will inherit
13 Be still
before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy
dwelling." NIV Zechariah 2:6-13
In Isaiah there’s this hint for example that chapter 26 may be
dealing with far future events because of Isaiah’s recognition that a general
resurrection of all the earth’s dead will definitely occur but this seems
directed at the Jews specifically for some reason in these passages.
But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You
who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of
the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. NIV Isaiah 26:19
Zephaniah
on the other hand seems to go pretty well will Isaiah 26:21’s pronouncement of
‘punishment’ to come as a result of the Lord’s coming out of his place to do so
and is in accord with parts of Chapter 27 of Isaiah therefore.[Isaiah 27:9-11]
7 Hold thy
peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for
the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.
8 And it shall
come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the
princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange
apparel.
9 In the same
day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their
masters' houses with violence and deceit.
10 And it
shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that there shall be the noise
of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great
crashing from the hills.
11 Howl, ye
inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that
bear silver are cut off.
12 And it
shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and
punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The
Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.
13 Therefore
their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall
also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but
not drink the wine thereof.
14 The great
day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the
day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
15 That day is
a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and
desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
darkness,
16 A day of
the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
17 And I will
bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have
sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their
flesh as the dung.
18 Neither
their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the
Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy:
for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
KJV Zephaniah 1:7-18
Chapter
27 of Isaiah is a slightly tough call to make with that enigmatic first verse
as to how much of it is future prophecy and how much referring to ‘the day of
the Lord’ of the Babylonian captivity of the first Diaspora because it seems to
mingle both together with a little of ‘post Babylonian captivity’ thrown in for
good measure which is still ‘future’ prophecy that Isaiah’s students/disciples
would be hard pressed to predict if they were unaided by the greater measure
of the holy spirit that Isaiah clearly had for the phenomenal insights
presented in his prophetic work overall.
The
last two verses of Isaiah 27 however seem to be in perfect accord to Zechariah
1:12-17 in particular just quoted above before Zephaniah’s immediately above
i.e. Zechariah showing a post Babylonian Captivity rescue of the Jews from
Babylonian Captivity exactly the same as Isaiah’s Chapter 27:13&14 verses.
There doesn’t however seem to be any far
distant prophecy for our future in verse 27 overall but only one tiny exception
which is germane to showing that Isaiah’s work is
indeed Isaiah’s in any case [all of it] --- which is the stated purpose of this
essay --- not only to show its consistency by a single author but to also bring
out the fact that Isaiah covers each and every main intervention of God, i.e.
the first Diaspora of the Jews, second Diaspora in 67-70 AD and also the first
[official/public] coming of Jesus and the return of Jesus in our future --- as
well as some of God’s other interventions among other[Gentile] nations of the
past which is essentially what the first chapters from 1-39 are indeed showing
in various detail as our secular scholars have noted.
Actually
it doesn’t take a scholar to see that much as it should be obvious to even a
casual bible student, but what the scholars haven’t apparently picked up is the
amount of future prophecy that is extant in the first 39 chapters that is
completely complimentary and fully consistent with the middle and last chapters
of Isaiah.
Since
the secular scholars who have little understanding of spiritual things, seemingly,
by their uninspired ‘dividing’ of God’s prophet Isaiah’s work and have made the
attempt to divide Isaiah’s work to seemingly show its lack of inspiration by
‘student’s --- writing after the events
of the Babylonian captivity supposedly [and we can’t see how they could have
possibly lived that long --- we also can make the attempt here to ‘rightly’
divide the word of God [2Timothy 2:15] to show its clearly divine
inspiration and guidance by the hand of God.
The tiny exception:
In days to come Jacob will take root,
This
tiny exception is not quite as tiny as it seems as it’s actually quite profound
because it shows something that Isaiah’s students could not possibly have known
that would occur beyond their lifespan and something about the rest of Israel
that they probably wouldn’t have even given much thought to since they were
most probably Jews and concerned about their society in general and not the
other ten tribes of Israel.
Even
the Jews of today have not ‘filled all the world with their fruit’ being only a
little over 7 million worldwide --- but the rest of the tribes of Israel have
fulfilled this tiny far reaching prophecy --- a single religious denomination
of the western world [Jehovah’s witnesses i.e. 7.1 million currently] has a
following alone that nearly equals the entire world’s population of the Jews in
Israel or those of the rest of 67-70 AD Diaspora combined that are still
scattered throughout the world today.
The
rest of that ‘one liner’ in verse 6 is also something beyond the lifespan of
Isaiah’s disciples and would require a true prophet of Isaiah’s standing as a
true ‘seer’ to foresee, i.e. In days to come Jacob will take root, ---
a reference to the 12th and 13th
verses of Isaiah 27 and what actually occurred in Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and
Zechariah’s days --- way beyond Isaiah’s disciples days in fact:
12 In that day
the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates
to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered up one by
one.
13 And in that
day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those
who were exiled in
Why doubt
Isaiah’s ability to have actually seen these things in the future
though, because Ezekiel also speaking of the siege of Jerusalem outlines in
Chapter 4 of Ezekiel a quite detailed picture of the siege of Jerusalem and
even giving the body count in verse 12 of Chapter 5 and also confirming there
would be few left in number when God had finished punishing the Jews with the
worst possible punishment that he ever inflicted on His chosen peoples --- and
ALL of Ezekiel’s prophecy was before the fact:
This entire
elaborate set of detailed instructions Ezekiel was to perform before the
event of the actual siege --- to portray what was to happen to them in advance
of the event --- so in view of this strange enactment of Ezekiel’s ahead of
time and the apostle John’s odd pictorial visions of a prophetic scroll that
only had writing on it until it was unsealed [Revelation 5:1] and thereafter
turning into pictorial visions of scenes of our future --- it doesn’t stretch
the imagination too far to concede that Isaiah probably did see the entire
siege of Jerusalem in vision also in advance of the event.
1 Thou also,
son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the
city, even
2 And lay
siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set
the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
3 Moreover
take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and
the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt
lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. KJV Ezekiel 4:1-3
6 And when
thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear
the iniquity of the house of
7 Therefore
thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of
16 Moreover he
said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in
17 That they
may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away
for their iniquity. KJV Ezekiel 4:16-17
1 And thou,
son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's rasor, and cause it
to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh,
and divide the hair.
2 Thou shalt
burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the
siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with
a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a
sword after them.
3 Thou shalt
also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
4 Then take of
them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the
fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of
5 Thus saith
the Lord God; This is
6 And she hath
changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes
more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my
judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.
7 Therefore
thus saith the Lord God; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are
round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my
judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are
round about you;
8 Therefore
thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute
judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.
9 And I will
do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the
like, because of all thine abominations.
Jeremiah’s
lamentations confirms the eating of children in the siege of
10 With their
own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their
food when my people were destroyed. NIV
Lamentations 4:10-11
10 Therefore the fathers
shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers;
and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter
into all the winds.
11 Wherefore,
as I live, saith the Lord God; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary
with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will
I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any
pity.
The body count:
12 A third
part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be
consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round
about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw
out a sword after them. KJV Ezekiel 5:1-12
Isaiah
simply says by a rather poetic illustration that few would be left:
When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among
the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning
grapes when the vintage is done.
KJV Isaiah 24:13
Isaiah Chapters 34-35 examined:
After we’ve covered the last of the
chapters that the scholars have singled out as being supposedly Isaiah’s
disciple’s contribution to his work --- all that will be necessary to
completely refute that will be an outline using the so called first, middle and
third Isaiah without any quotes but simple references to the all the future
prophecies contained therein, and --- a
simple follow up with the last five chapters before the 66th Chapter
[already quoted profusely throughout this series] showing some startlingly
pertinent prophecies that should leave no doubts as to Isaiah’s authorship of
his entire prophetic book.
It’s
ludicrous in the extreme how any ‘thinking’ scholar could ever even entertain
the possibility that chapters 34&35 could be Isaiah’s disciple’s work at
all, especially when we have the book of Revelation confirming much of these
two chapters that parallel the book of Revelation or vice versa very closely
showing much of both these chapters to be far future prophecies nearly 2000
years into Isaiah’s future:
1 Come near,
you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and
all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it!
2 The LORD is
angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally
destroy them, he will give them over to
slaughter.
3 Their slain
will be thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will
be soaked with their blood.
4 All the
stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all
the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled
figs from the fig tree.
NIV Isaiah 34:1-4
All
of the Chapters from 1-39 show that God was indeed angry with the nations of
the past --- even His own chosen ones of Judah and Israel and punished them
accordingly but chapters 1-39 also show God will be/still is, angry with the
modern nations who are destroying the earth in our day: [one of the main
reasons for His return in this century in fact]
The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The
time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the
prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and
great-- and for destroying those who destroy the earth." NIV Revelation 11:18
Compare Isaiah 34:4 to Revelation 6:13-14 below:
13 and the stars in the sky fell to
earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when
shaken by a strong wind.
14 The sky receded like a scroll,
rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. NIV
Revelation 6:13-14
4 All the stars of the heavens
will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all
the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled
figs from the fig tree. NIV Isaiah 34:1-4
There
seems to be no rhyme or reason for selecting chapters 34&35 as the seculars
scholars supposedly have done in claiming these chapters as Isaiah’s disciple’s
work --- because although the prophecy clearly ends at 35 it actually begins as
far back as verse 4 of chapter 31 in actual fact. So from chapter 31:4
through
to the end of 35 is a whole “block” or “singular theme” of a prophecy far into
Isaiah’s future but very close to ours, and the scholars have completely missed
that altogether. So in actuality the
whole prophecy needs to be considered together from start to finish in order to
understand the full and complete picture of what Isaiah is presenting here.
In
the lead up chapters of 28,29,30 and even the beginning of 31, Isaiah had just
announced or pronounced a series of Woes to befall the two houses of Israel’s
ancient nations including Ephraim [chapter 28: 1-4]the modern English speaking
people’s ancestors, but concentrates mainly on the house of Jacob again in
places in chapter 28 by contrasting the drunkards of Ephraim to “the residue of
God’s people” [verse 5] clearly the Jews and their religious leaders
drunkenness also[verses 7-8,14-20] and even manages to throw in another
reference to Jesus’ first coming:
16 So this is
what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested
stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will
never be dismayed.
17 I will make
justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep
away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place. NIV
Isaiah 28:16-17
Jesus
quoted a very similar passage to Isaiah in the New Testament:
42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the
scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head
of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
43 Therefore say I unto you, The
However,
the apostle Peter also quoting Isaiah elaborated even further by quoting both
what Jesus quoted from David in the psalms from which Jesus took that quote
[Psalm 118:22-23] and linked it together with Isaiah 28:16-17 and explained
these spiritual revelations by Isaiah in even greater detail:
3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by
men but chosen by God and precious to him--
5 you also, like living stones, are being built into
a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone
in
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But
to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become
the capstone, "
8 and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a
rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the
message--which is also what they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him
who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the
people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received
mercy. NIV 1 Peter 2:3-11
It
stands to reason that Daniel’s fifth world ruling kingdom i.e. the “Stone”
Kingdom would have as its head the Chief capstone who will be its King and
ruler.
Continuing
in the lead up chapters to 34 &35 of Isaiah:
Isaiah delivers another woe in chapter 29
citing Ariel, The city of David and as we have already pointed out, previously,
parts of this chapter is also future prophecy concerning the Jews[Jacob] Isaiah
29:6-9,14,17-24 --- even though it starts out with Ephraim of the past’s poor
performance --- the author of Isaiah is clearly
building a contrast between ancient Israel’s two house’s past poor
record to what God is going to do for them in both the future immediately beyond
the Babylonian captivity of the Jews and their distant future beyond our time.
[Not duality, but ongoing prophecy that can be fulfilled over relatively short
or long stretches of time.
Chapter 29 is clearly a future prophecy from Isaiah’s point of
view in time concerning both the immediate future of the coming of the
Babylonian captivity for the Jews slightly ahead of Isaiah’s time[verses 1-4]
but encompasses a hint of future destruction for all the enemy nations
[Gentiles] that were brought against the Jews also.[verses 5-8]
We
quoted Chapter 29 in the NIV previously but that didn’t quite convey the
possible true meaning that the KJV possibly brings out more clearly:
10 For the
Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your
eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
11 And the
vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which
men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and
he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
12 And the
book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this,
I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
13 Wherefore
the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with
their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their
fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
KJV Isaiah 29:10-13
The
NIV implies the underlined phrases mean a person that cannot read but it could
also mean a person that was educated [i.e. a scholar, verse 11] or a person
that was uneducated [verse 12] because some uneducated today can still read but
not understand what they read.
In
the verses that follow immediately after, [verses 14-16] Isaiah is implying
that those above verses are a reference to the educated who in those days were
the rulers and religious leaders:
Therefore once more I will astound these people with
wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the
intelligent will vanish." NIV
Isaiah 29:14
The
only difference between the ‘educated” Jews of Isaiah’s time and our modern
“educated scholars” of today is that the Jews honoured God with their lips but
not their hearts whereas modern scholars do neither and have invented “a cock
and bull story” called evolution in an attempt to deny the existence of an
all-wise divine Creator and then have the gall to criticize the God of all the
earth’s prophets and servants by denigrating the word of God by claiming
multiple authorship --- what utter rubbish.
The
blame then, for the violence and ever increasing Godlessness in our modern
society rests securely on the shoulders of our modern educational system’s
promotion of a Godless theory which produces a Godless and violent society ---
we reap what we sow.
The
apostle Paul’s comments to Timothy at the close of that epistle are interesting
in that they could almost be referring to our day, but of course they’re not,
but showing that we are not that much different to the ancients even in modern
times, nevertheless:
20 O Timothy,
keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings,
and oppositions of science falsely so called:
21 Which some
professing have erred concerning the faith. KJV 1 Timothy 6:20-21
As
pointed out all the rest of chapter 29 is prophecy for our future. [Verses
17-24]
Again,
in Chapter 30 Isaiah’s author sets up the lead up to the prophecy of chapters
31-35 and points out this penchant or desire for not wanting to know God at all
and contrasts what He will do in their future to what he was then doing because
of the obstinate nature of His chosen peoples in those ancient times in wanting
to rely on ‘allies’ rather than God --- a little like our modern nations in
some respects. [Verses 1-7]
The
next verses are so revealing in their profound nature in giving a warning to
all future generations about their Godless attitudes that we are going to quote
them in full:
8 Go now,
write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may
be an everlasting witness.
9 These are
rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the
LORD's instruction.
10 They say to
the seers, "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us
no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this
way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of
12 Therefore,
this is what the Holy One of
13 this sin
will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses
suddenly, in an instant.
14 It will
break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces
not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water
out of a cistern."
15 This is
what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of
NIV Isaiah 30:8-15
One
cannot help but see there are echoes of familiarity in these words of Isaiah in
almost indicting our modern reliance on the deceit of evolution as opposed to
trust in God --- although these scriptures applied mainly to the Jews of the
past.
The
remainder of this chapter is a little tricky in determining what is past
prophecy concerning the Jews, other Gentile nations or modern Jews and which
parts of this prophecy will concern modern nations of today because of the mixing
and intermingling of all these things with no clearly discernible breaks
indicating which is past and which for our times ahead.
The
reason we are going to give this our best shot though is simply that the
scholars claim chapters 34&35 are possibly not written by Isaiah but the
one thing that is consistent throughout all of Isaiah is this tendency to mix
slightly future prophecy [local] concerning the Jews and their ‘enemy’ nations
of those ancient days in the first 39 chapters together with prophecies for the
far distant future of the Jews of times that are clearly for the so called
‘second coming’ and for the millennium of Jesus’ rule to follow that 1000 year
reign.
This
factor in itself is almost mute evidence that a master prophet is at work and not
disciples of the master as claimed.
In
addition there are a great many references to Jesus’ first coming covered in
Isaiah also and even a reference to God the Father’s coming to dwell with men
confirmed in Revelation [21:3-5] and although already mentioned, we repeat here
for added emphasis with different underlining and two extra verses.
[
i.e.7&10]:
7 And he will destroy in this
mountain the face of the covering cast over all people,
and the vail that is spread over all nations.
8 He will
swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all
faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the
earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.
9 And it shall
be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will
save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice
in his salvation.
10 For in this mountain shall the
hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as
straw is trodden down for the dunghill. KJV Isaiah 25:7-10
Verse
8 is confirmed in Joel 3:
20 But Judah
shall dwell for ever, and
21 For I will cleanse their blood
that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in
All
of these prophecies of the underlined verses of Isaiah will be completely
fulfilled as God’s servant King David said in his day of the far distant
future:
For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The Lord
said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy
footstool. KJV Mark 12:36
David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:
"`The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your
enemies under your feet." NIV Mark
12:36
Clearly
God has been dealing with His enemies [i.e. those enemies of His chosen
peoples] in both the past slightly future and local prophecies presented in
Isaiah and will do so again on a much larger scale in our future and this is at
the heart and core of all of Isaiah’s 66 chapters from start to finish --- the
majority of which will culminate at Jesus’ return as King of kings and Lord of
Lords to rule our earth:
14 These shall
make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of
kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen,
and faithful.
15 And he
saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are
peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. KJV Revelation 17:14-15
Speaking
of that future time when the Jews will indeed be forgiven their bloodguilt and
partake of the new covenant, Isaiah says the Lord was prepared to wait and wait
indeed He has --- over 2500 years and counting from the time these prophecies
were given to Isaiah:
18 And
therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore
will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of
judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
19 For the people shall dwell in
Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee
at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
20 And though
the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet
shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall
see thy teachers:
21 And thine ears shall hear a word
behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it,
when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. KJV Isaiah
30:18-21
25 And there shall be upon every
high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in
the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26 Moreover
the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the
sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord
bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the
name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden
thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a
devouring fire:
KJV Isaiah 30:25-27
What
streams of water? What Great slaughter? What falling towers? What period in the
time-flow of prophetic revelations?
Try
the book of Revelation for confirmation and a verse or two from Ezekiel:
The
streams of water:
Confirmation in Revelation:
And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear
as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of
the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and
yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
of the nations. KJV Revelation 22:1-2
Confirmation in Ezekiel:
1 Afterward he
brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out
from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house
stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side
of the house, at the south side of the altar.
2 Then brought
he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without
unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran
out waters on the right side. KJV Ezekiel 47:1-2
6 And he said
unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to
return to the brink of the river.
7 Now when I
had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one
side and on the other.
8 Then said he
unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the
desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters
shall be healed.
9 And it shall
come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall
come, shall live: and there shall be a very great
multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be
healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.
10 And it
shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto
Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be
according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
11 But the
miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be
given to salt.
12 And by the
river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all
trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be
consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their
waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for
meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
KJV Ezekiel 47:6-13
Confirmation in Zechariah:
8 And it shall
be in that day, that living waters shall go out from
9 And the Lord
shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his
name one. KJV Zechariah 14:8-10
Confirmation in Isaiah also of the watering of the lands in and
around the
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad
for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
6 Then shall
the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the
wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. [Healing of
cripples and others as a result of the healing trees of Revelation for
medicine?]
7 And the
parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in
the habitation of dragons,[crocodiles] where each lay, shall be
grass with reeds and rushes.
KJV Isaiah 35:1, 6-7
Confirmation in Joel
18 `In that
day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of
The
great slaughter:
There
can be no greater slaughter than that which accompanies “the Battle of that
great day of God almighty” [Revelation 16:14 &16] i.e. the future ‘day of
the Lord’ where a future 200 million man army along with a great many
other surrounding nation’s armies gather
to destroy Judah and Jerusalem for the third and definitely last time.
Confirmation in Revelation 9:14-17& 19:17-21 in detail:
NIV Revelation 9:14-16
14 It said to
the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are
bound at the great river
15 And the
four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and
year were released to kill a third of mankind.
16 The number
of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.
Revelation 19:17-21 as follows:
17 And I saw
an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the
fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto
the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may
eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men,
and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all
men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw
the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to
make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the
beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before
him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and
them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire
burning with brimstone.
21 And the
remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword
proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
KJV Revelation 19:17-21
Confirmation in Zechariah:
12 And this
shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have
fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon
their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue
shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it
shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be
among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and
his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
14 And
15 And so
shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass,
and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague. KJV
Zechariah 14:12-15
Confirmation in Zephaniah:
8 Therefore
wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for
my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to
pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth
shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
9 For then
will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name
of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. KJV Zephaniah 3:8-9
Confirmation in Haggai:
22 And I will
overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the
kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride
in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the
sword of his brother.
23 In that
day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the
son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen
thee, saith the Lord of hosts. KJV Haggai 2:22-23 [the mention of
the resurrected Zerubbabel confirms this occurs somewhere near the time of the
death of the two witnesses in Revelation 11]
Confirmation in Joel:
11 Come
quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there. Bring down your
warriors, O LORD!
12 `Let the
nations be roused; let them advance into the
13 Swing the
sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is
full and the vats overflow-- so great is their wickedness!`
14 Multitudes,
multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the
valley of decision.
15 The sun and
moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine.
16 The LORD
will roar from
17 `Then you
will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in
The
falling towers:
18 And there
were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not
since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. [At a guess, well off the Richter scale]
19 And the
great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell:
and great
20 And every
island fled away, and the mountains were not found. KJV Revelation 16:18-20
‘
Note:
We should be careful in ‘inferring’ something into the scriptures that may or
may not be referring to modern times such as nuclear war etc. It should be noted that cities of the past
had fortified towers as part of their wall defensive system and so generally in
most other prophecies ‘towers’ would be referring to this aspect of an ancient
city. However the fact that this is in the book of Revelation and is for a time
still ahead of us and cities no longer have walls or towers of that type ---
it’s reasonable and logical to conclude in this case the prophecy is
most likely referring to modern skyscrapers in this future setting therefore.
When
will all this happen?
What has all this to do with Chapters 34
& 35 of Isaiah? Wait and see.
And he gathered them together into a place called in
the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
KJV Revelation 16:16
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles,
which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. KJV
Revelation 16:14
25 And there
shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams
of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26 Moreover
the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the
sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth
up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the
name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden
thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a
devouring fire:
28 And his
breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift
the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws
of the people, causing them to err.
29 Ye shall
have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of
heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to
the mighty One of Israel.
30 And the
Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting
down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a
devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. KJV Isaiah 30:25-31
It’s
highly unlikely that anything like this description in Isaiah 30:26 has
occurred in the past because surely the moon shining as bright as the sun
[presumably at night] would have been recorded in somebody’s history of the
past. There are a number of other societies in the past such as the ancient
Chinese dynasties that would have noticed the sun shining seven times brighter
than normal as well.
26 Moreover
the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun,
and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as
the light of seven days in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of
his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound. Isaiah
30:26
There
is a reference in Revelation however showing just such a heating up of the sun
as part of the seven last plagues of the seventh trumpet:
10 The fifth
angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was
plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony
8 The fourth
angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch
people with fire.
9 They were
seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control
over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. NIV Revelation
16:8-10
Zechariah
confirms Isaiah’s future moon shining like the daytime sun at the time of the
second coming:
…and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints
with thee.
KJV Zechariah
14:5[last part]
6 And it shall
come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall
be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall
come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall
be in that day, that living waters shall go out from
Towards
the end of Chapter 30 Isaiah reverts to referring to the Lord’s intervention in
ancient times because its clear that the subject matter and prophetic theme of
the next Chapter 31 and begins to change at verse 4 to again refer to future
prophetic events way beyond the local Assyrian and Egyptian references of the
end of chapter 30 i.e. verses 31-33 of chapter 30 and verse 1-3 of chapter 31 respectively.
We
know for example that the Lord didn’t preserve Jerusalem during either the
first [Babylonian] or second 67-70 AD [Roman] Diaspora’s of the Jews but
allowed Jerusalem to be destroyed both times with subsequent scattering of the
Jews resulting in the aftermath of each and so Isaiah 31:4-5 is a prophecy that
either coincides with Zechariah’s 12&14th chapter’s prophecies therefore or
the time of Hezekiah, whom God preserved because of a bedside prayer and
genuine repentance along with the Jews of his day against the Assyrians who
boasted that they would destroy Jerusalem if Hezekiah [a good Jewish king]
didn’t surrender it to the king of Assyria of those times.
The only problem being that this entire story of the
preservation of Jerusalem under Hezekiah and Isaiah’s advice isn’t related
until after chapter 34 & 35 and is found from chapters 36-39 in time order
--- it would seem however that Isaiah might have been forewarned of the coming
of the Assyrians ahead of time which would make this quite an interesting local
prophecy from verses 4-9 of Isaiah 31 --- fulfilled only a very short time or
at best a few years later perhaps.
So
a new block of far distant future prophecy actually begins in chapter 32 and
ends at 35 that is not related directly to those times of Hezekiah, sandwiched
in between the local prophecy of chapter 31:4-9 and chapters 36-39 as it
apparently is therefore and was given to Isaiah in the interim period it would
seem.
The
secular critics ‘main claim to fame’ so to speak regarding the middle chapters
of Isaiah is that they were written by “an anonymous poet” who had” sweeping
visions of mountains collapsing and valleys lifted up”:
Chapters 40 to
55 (Second Isaiah or Deutero-Isaiah): probably written by an
anonymous poet near the end of the Babylonian captivity.
Isaiah is here a master of sound and music with sweeping visions of mountains
collapsing and valleys lifted up.
[Wikipedia]
However,
in addition to having already shown that Isaiah already had those sweeping
visions in Chapter 2 of his book[Isaiah 2:1-4] --- in this opening of a ‘block’ of prophecy of
the far distant future when Jesus begins His reign and rule at last --- in
chapter 32 Isaiah waxes quite ‘poetic’ even in the modern English version of
the NIV:
Prophecy of the second coming:
1 See, a king
will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice.
2 Each man
will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams
of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
3 Then the
eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear
will listen.
4 The mind of
the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and
clear.
5 No longer
will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
General and quite poetic and indeed timeless comments [almost
tailor made to suit modern secular scholars in their approach to God’s word in
the underlined section]:
6 For the
fool speaks folly, his mind is busy with evil: He practices ungodliness and
spreads error concerning the LORD; the hungry he leaves empty and from the
thirsty he withholds water.
7 The
scoundrel's methods are wicked, he makes up evil schemes to destroy the poor
with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.
8 But the
noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands.
Quit an interesting and consequently fascinating local prophecy
[how close to the time of the Babylonian siege and capture of
9 You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen
to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say!
10 In little more than a year you who feel secure
will tremble; the grape harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will not
come.
11 Tremble, you complacent women; shudder, you
daughters who feel secure! Strip off your clothes, put sackcloth around your
waists.
12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the
fruitful vines
13 and for the
land of my people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers-- yes, mourn for all
houses of merriment and for this city of revelry.
14 The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city
deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight
of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
Also prophecy for the beginning of Jesus’ reign:
15 till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a
forest.
16 Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness
live in the fertile field.
17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the
effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.
18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling places,
in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
19 Though hail flattens the forest and the city is
leveled completely,
20 how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every
stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free. NIV Isaiah 32:1-20
Verse 15 is actually a repetition of a prophetic theme/prophecy
already given to Isaiah earlier in Chapter 29:17--- also for the future return
and reign of Christ as the context shows:
17 In a
very short time, will not
18 In that day
the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the
eyes of the blind will see.
19 Once more
the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of
20 The ruthless
will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will
be cut down--
21 those who
with a word make a man out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and
with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.
22 Therefore
this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob:
"No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale.
23 When they
see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name
holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will
stand in awe of the God of
24 Those who
are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept
instruction." NIV Isaiah 29:17-24
Do we believe what Isaiah is telling us here in verse 23 that the
Jews in our future will acknowledge Jesus and stand in Awe of Him? We should
because all prophecy shows it will happen, and
they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge
the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of
Israel. Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who
complain will accept instruction.
Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed
Abraham, says to the house of Jacob: "No longer will Jacob be ashamed;
no longer will their faces grow pale.
Continuing,
in this block of singular main theme future prophecy concerning Jesus’ return
to rule that includes Chapters 34&35 in no uncertain terms and all of which
are in fact the lead-up prophecies to the middle chapters of Isaiah 40-45 where
God Challenges the skeptics, doubters, and self-styled critics of His word and
offers panoramic and far reaching prophecies, which when understood together
with the last several chapters, Hosea, Ezekiel and some other prophets, when
fulfilled completely will leave our modern world reeling in shock and awe and
perhaps even a certain amount of terror for those who currently defy God in
word or action --– intentionally:
The
lead-up chapter to chapters 34&35 examined closely:
A
very fine line exists between ‘two’ possibilities here in this pivotal chapter
because God has indeed used fire in the past to destroy nations and indeed did
so in two Diaspora’s when Solomon’s temple and Jerusalem were twice destroyed
by fire. One of those ‘interventions’
was the Babylonian siege and destruction of
It’s very clear that Isaiah saw far more in
terms of God’s entire plans than a number of other prophets and also saw right
down into our future and beyond.
Even
now though it’s a difficult call in this particular chapter to categorically
say that all of this chapter is entirely future prophecy because when God
intervenes in world affairs no matter what age or era His methods of dealing
with nations is almost exactly the same as the first article in this series
outlines by showing there are multiple “days of the Lord” i.e. days of wrath or
anger towards destructive and defiant nations.
Clearly
God was exceptionally angry at those surrounding nations of ancient Israel’s
that effectively corrupted the Israelite’s true worship of God in every way so
that the Israelites eventually became the same as or even worse than the
other nations in their defiance and rejection of the true God also.
So
some other prophets work may be needed in support that cover the period that
this seems to be covering.
It’s
very possible in fact that because Isaiah did see so far into our future that
this chapter could fall into the ‘timeless’ category that we decided many
prophecies fall into i.e. that they are given at a specific time but encompass
vast stretches of time before final fulfillment.
The
entire timbre and tone of this particular chapter are so general in fact that
they could apply to any age or any era from the siege of Babylon to our modern
times but it is clear however that while in places Isaiah laments the current
fate of his nation with the prospect of the Babylonian invasion looming that he
does indeed see far beyond those times because of the content at the close of
this chapter and the opening of the next where he contrasts what God has
already done to the nations of the past to what God was currently doing and what
He will do inexorably to the nations that would be extant in our times that
would also be destroying the earth at the time of Jesus’ return in our future.
The
book of Revelation shows that the world’s nations haven’t changed all that much
and are basically still locked into a self destructive way of life --- showing
that God’s final dramatic and forceful intervention will be entirely necessary
to save all of mankind from itself:
18 The nations
were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the
dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those
who reverence your name, both small and great-- and for destroying those who
destroy the earth." NIV Revelation 11:18
It
goes without saying that it is not good in our day and age of weapons of mass
destruction [termed WMD’s by many, for short] to have nations that are angry
because anger as we all know leads to error in judgment more often than not.
It’s quite incredible how the apostle and prophet John wrote a
great deal of Revelation --- like this verse above --- as if it has already
happened though it is yet to occur in our future and Isaiah writes pretty much
the same way in quite a lot of his work and it really does take a certain
amount of spiritual discernment to place or assign prophetic passages to either
the past or future.
In fairness to the secular scholars [and admittedly there hasn’t
been much of that in this essay]and to show how difficult it would be for them,
we’ll present Isaiah 33 in an either or scenario in places as a little
test for our readers also, because we personally believe the average man[or
woman] in the street has more ‘savvy’ than the scholars give them credit for
especially in this day and age of widespread communications where the average
man is becoming increasingly self-educated and more aware than ever before of
the sheer complexity of the world around us.
Not that the average man understands the society around us even in
spite of the glut of information available --- but we do at least know that a
great deal of what we see --- truly ‘sucks’ as they say, in terms of justice
and fairness to all. That much the average man [or woman] clearly
understands even in our modern democracies where things are generally so much
better than dictatorship-like regimes that exist on this globe and which all
prophecy shows God is going to put a stop to --- permanently. That is good
news which alone makes studying prophecy worthwhile because it gives us a clear
and present hope for the future.
Isaiah 33:
Woe to you, O destroyer, you who have not been
destroyed! Woe to you, O traitor, you who have not been betrayed! When you stop
destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying, you will be
betrayed. NIV Isaiah 33:1
Is
this a warning to nations in Isaiah’s time? OR could this be a general future
warning to nations who harbour terrorists who terrorize other nations in our
time? Take your pick.
2 O LORD, be
gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation
in time of distress.
3 At the
thunder of your voice, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.
4 Your
plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts
men pounce on it. NIV Isaiah 33:2-4
Verse
2 is of course a prayer, for his nation then at that time and also for the
distressing future that he may have seen in detail, in visions --- quite
well. A statement or promise of things
to come perhaps in verse 3 and a universal truth regarding aggressive nations
in verse 4.
5 The LORD is
exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill
6 He will be
the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and
knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure. NIV Isaiah 33:5-7
This
is definitely a promise/prophecy for the future. [Isaiah saw this happening in
chapter 2:1-4] and we [Clay and I] are in total agreement that standing in awe
of God is the key to a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge.
7 Look, their
brave men cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways
are deserted, no travelers are on the roads. The treaty is broken, its
witnesses are despised, no one is
respected.
9 The land
mourns and wastes away,
These
verses were probably describing conditions in Isaiah’s time --- but conditions
around the holy land in our times could also be exactly the same.
Isaiah
did see our future in incredible detail after all.
Is
it indeed past prophecy for his times [local] or future prophecy for us? Take your pick.
10 "Now
will I arise," says the LORD. "Now will I be exalted; now will I be
lifted up.
11 You
conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes
you.
12 The peoples
will be burned as if to lime; like cut thorn bushes they will be set
ablaze."
13 You who are
far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge my power!
14 The sinners
in
Whether or not Isaiah was a poet as the secular scholar’s claim
of the middle chapters immediately after chapter 40 which this chapter and
chapters 34&35 are setting up for the middle and last several chapters of
Isaiah’s work --- he most certainly had a way with words that could certainly
scare the pants off anyone from any age!
Again,
these verses were most likely for the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem that Isaiah
clearly foresaw and was looming on the Jew’s horizon of those times but in view
of what he writes for the remainder of this chapter and since we’ve pointed out
in part one of the “The hand of God in Day of the Lord” that God does indeed
act pretty much the same way in all of His dramatic interventions into our
world and there are many other prophecies covering very similar pronouncements
for our times ahead. Can we be
absolutely sure this was past prophecy exclusively for the Jews of those days
only? OR is this a possible hint of things to come in the future of our time?
Again,
take your pick.
This
is sort of fun isn’t it? Trying to
decide what is past or future prophecy because at the moment as Isaiah said ---
these are just words in a prophetic book to us that don’t really impact much on
us just yet. But prophecy that will
impact on us might change all our perceptions in the not too distant future
and so we are not just studying for fun, are we?
11 For you
this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who
can read, and say to him, "Read this, please," he will answer,
"I can't; it is sealed." NIV
Isaiah 29:11
Although
there is an element of humour in what the secular scholars present as fact and
which we are shortly going to demolish completely and utterly because the secular
scholars have in fact completely tripped themselves up on not noticing some
very clear prophecy which we’ll point out after the 34&35th
chapters have been laid to rest as being fully Isaiah’s --- perhaps we
shouldn’t have been so hard on them --- but prophecy and the discrediting of it
--- is serious business overall and shouldn’t be taken lightly, nevertheless.
Isaiah
does indeed ask a very poignant question that we all would do well to give
serious consideration to in this last half of Chapter 33:
The sinners in
Are
we absolutely sure Isaiah is only referring to the sinners of that age?
Of
course it’s a rhetorical question! Isaiah also gives an extremely poignant
answer that would stand any of us in good stead if this timeless advice were
heeded:
15 He who
walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and
keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of
murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil--
16 this is the
man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress.
His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him.
17 Your
eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar.
NIV Isaiah 33:15-17
Clearly
Isaiah was a man of faith --- a faith that was reinforced by the far distant future
that verse 17 reveals he knew about through his incredible visions of our
future.
Verses
18&19 are references to Isaiah’s time and verse 23 is a little obscure but
don’t need quoting in any case but these others are quite revealing as to what
Isaiah really did see in visions apparently far into our future and in the
millennium sometime ahead:
20. Look upon
Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful
abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor
any of its ropes broken.
21. There the
LORD will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and
streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them.
22. For the
LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; it is he who
will save us.
24. No one
living in Zion will say, "I am ill"; and the sins of those who dwell
there will be forgiven. NIV Isaiah
33:20-22&24
Is
this just sheer optimism? Or foreknowledge of an incredible future revealed to
Isaiah by God? And, when will all this happen?
The
opening verse of chapter 32 gives the answer which in turn sets up the next two
chapters 34&35 as at the time of “the Day of the Lord” in our future and
slightly after as well in the millennium:
See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers
will rule with justice. NIV Isaiah 32:1
1 Come near,
you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and
all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it!
2 The LORD is
angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally
destroy them, he will give them over to
slaughter.
3 Their slain
will be thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will
be soaked with their blood.
4 All the
stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all
the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled
figs from the fig tree.
As already quoted earlier in this essay verse 4 is completely
confirmed by the Book of Revelation as being future prophecy:
13 and the
stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken
by a strong wind.
14 The sky
receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed
from its place. NIV Revelation 6:13-14
Verse 5 may in fact be a reference to Obadiah’s prophetic book
but that would depend upon when Obadiah was written [an unknown factor for this
author]:
NIV Obadiah 1:1-2
1 The vision
of Obadiah. This is what the Sovereign
LORD says about Edom-- We have heard a message from the LORD: An envoy was sent
to the nations to say, "Rise, and let us go against her for battle"--
2 "See, I
will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised.
My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it
descends in judgment on
Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,
you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. NIV Obadiah 1:10
So verses 6&7 are probably to do with those times and even
verse 8 because of what verse 10 in Obadiah reveals above:
For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of
retribution, to uphold
NIV Isaiah 34:8
What must remain a mystery however that the author of this essay
is unable to verify in any way whatsoever --- is exactly how much of the rest
of Isaiah 34 was past prophecy and how much might be for the future because of
the mysteriously ambiguous wording contained in verses 9&10 as follows:
9
10 It will not
be quenched night and day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to
generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again. NIV
Isaiah 34:9-10
Did
the rivers of ancient
Therefore
no comment can be forthcoming for the remainder of Chapter 34 as to whether it
is past or future.
However
Chapter 35 is all future prophecy and will be quoted in full and there’s the
possibility verse 8 might be [speculation] confirmed oddly enough in an
event to occur in our future, recorded the book of Revelation, its entirely
possible the “way of the kings” might actually serve a two-fold purpose but of
course that is very tenuous at best and can’t be confirmed either:
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the
great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the
kings of the east might be prepared. KJV
Revelation 16:12
Is
the drying up of the river
Will
there be a permanent highway for pilgrimage to the holy lands across the former
riverbed of the
NIV Mark 11:17
And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: "`My
house will be called a house of prayer for all nations' ? But you have made
it `a den of robbers.' "
2 In the
last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief
among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will
stream to it.
3 Many peoples
will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to
the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his
ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from
The
KJV just uses the word house not temple but Ezekiel confirms a temple will be
built containing an ‘inner house’ of the Lord, housing the Lord’s throne, so either
is correct in this case: [Ezekiel 43:4-7, 44:4]
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the
mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow
unto it. KJV Isaiah 2:2
A
number of prophecies already quoted show there will be an abundance of water in
the Holy land so the
1 The
wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall
rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
2 It shall
blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of
3 Strengthen
ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
4 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.
5 Then the
eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then shall
the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the
wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
7 And the
parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water:
in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and
rushes.
8 And an
highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring
men, though fools, shall not err therein.
9 No lion
shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be
found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
10 And the
ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to
Proof positive that Isaiah had complete
foreknowledge of the upcoming siege of
It’s a little long but worth quoting every word for full
context:
1 See now,
the Lord, the LORD Almighty, is about to take from
2 the hero and
warrior, the judge and prophet, the soothsayer and elder,
3 the captain
of fifty and man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever
enchanter.
4 I will make
boys their officials; mere children will govern them.
5 People will
oppress each other-- man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will
rise up against the old, the base against the honorable.
6 A man will
seize one of his brothers at his father's home, and say, "You have a
cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!"
7 But in that
day he will cry out, "I have no remedy. I have no food or clothing in my
house; do not make me the leader of the people."
8
9 The look on
their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like
10 Tell the
righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their
deeds.
11 Woe to the
wicked! Disaster is upon them! They will be paid back for what their hands have
done.
12 Youths
oppress my people, women rule over them. O my people, your guides lead you
astray; they turn you from the path.
13 The LORD
takes his place in court; he rises to judge the people.
14 The LORD
enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: "It is
you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses.
15 What do you
mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?" declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
16 The LORD
says, "The women of
17 Therefore
the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of
18 In that day
the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent
necklaces,
19 the
earrings and bracelets and veils,
20 the
headdresses and ankle chains and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms,
21 the signet
rings and nose rings,
22 the fine
robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses
23 and
mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls.
24 Instead of
fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of
well-dressed hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of
beauty, branding.
25 Your men
will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle.
26 The
gates of
NIV Isaiah
3:1-26
Jeremiah’s lamentations gives the full grisly account of
everything described in this chapter and exactly how the wealthy and even royal
noblewomen were reduced to utter depravity and degradation with many even
cooking and eating their own offspring and did indeed do everything that Isaiah
prophecies in this chapter and included in this prophetic declaration:
See now, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, is about to take from
2 the hero and
warrior, the judge and prophet, the soothsayer and elder,
3 the captain
of fifty and man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever
enchanter.
All of which is confirmed fully and completely fulfilled
according to Jeremiah’s accounts in Lamentations 100% straight down the line---
in no uncertain terms.
The
only scriptures that we ourselves can find that could definitely be attributed
to Isaiah’s disciples is the entirety of Chapter 64 which will alleviate the
necessity to include this chapter in the summary of the last several chapters
that follows this quite revealing chapter that the secular scholars have
declared adamantly was Isaiah’s within the first 1-39 chapters and so in
effect tripping themselves upon their whole ‘theory’ that any of the chapters
cited by them were not Isaiah’s.
So
it’s possible that Chapter 64 may have prompted the scholars to search
elsewhere for proof of their theory
that the disciples could have written other passages in Isaiah but
clearly they were barking up the wrong trees and their claims stand completely
unfounded as we set out to prove.
At
the conclusion of this essay we are going to include some further proof of the
validity of Isaiah’s work in listing where Isaiah was referenced by New
Testament authors including Jesus but that will be inserted after the overview
of Isaiah’s work by prophecy and theme which follows this next segment which is
a summary of the last chapters in comparison to Ezekiel’s work and Hosea’s
contemporary prophecies covering the modern nations of ancient Israel’s
descendants i.e. the English speaking peoples.
We
now move on to the last several chapters with the exception of chapter 64 ---
that are proven to be Isaiah’s by content and prophetic themes that
match many other prophets --- some of which we will now use to confirm fully
the issue of Ezekiel’s last temple being built, certain animal sacrifices being
re- instituted [but not all] and an incredible “combined future” for all of
God’s chosen peoples, which includes the main descendants of ancient
Since
we have already covered the middle chapters of Isaiah from around chapters
40-45 there’s no real need to cover them again here other than to say that they
are indeed Isaiah’s work [along with all the rest of the book of Isaiah] Our
readers can reference “the Isaiah promises” article for themselves to fill in
any gaps in understanding there in that article which includes the back-up
prophecies of Jeremiah showing pretty much the same things but with different
detail. What we will include is some
highlights from chapter 45 to 59 where some future and timeless prophecy is
included that have a bearing on our future in order to show the true all
encompassing nature of Isaiah’s prophetic work a little better for
our readers and we’ll simply note those chapters in list form as follows by
chapter and subject or theme.
Chapter 46:
Timeless prophecy with a future aspect
8
"Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.
9 Remember the
former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God,
and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the
beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I
say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
11 From the
east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.
What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
12 Listen to
me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness.
13 I am
bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not
be delayed. I will grant salvation to
Chapter 47:
It’s worthwhile quoting nearly all of this chapter because
although this was fulfilled completely in the past and happened without fail as
prophesied in many prophetic books, including Isaiah, much of the actual wording
is repeated in the book of Revelation in an entirely different context when the
apostle and prophet John used ‘Babylon’ as a symbolic reference to the final
demise of the last and lasting remnant of the Roman Empire i.e. the city of
Rome.
1 "Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter of
2 Take millstones and grind flour; take off your
veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams.
3 Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame
uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one."
4 Our Redeemer--the LORD Almighty is his name-- is
the Holy One of
5 "Sit in silence, go into darkness, Daughter of
the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my people and desecrated my
inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on
the aged you laid a very heavy yoke.
7 You said, `I will continue forever-- the eternal
queen!' But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.
8 "Now then, listen, you wanton creature,
lounging in your security and saying to yourself, `I am, and there is none
besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.'
9 Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a
single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full
measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.
10 You have trusted in your wickedness and have said,
`No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to
yourself, `I am, and there is none besides me.'
11 Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know
how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off
with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.
12 "Keep on, then, with your magic spells and
with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps
you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.
13 All the counsel you have received has only worn
you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make
predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.
14 Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn
them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are
no coals to warm anyone; here is no fire to sit by.
15 That is all they can do for you-- these you have
labored with and trafficked with since childhood. Each of them goes on in his
error; there is not one that can save you. NIV Isaiah 47:4-15
Quite an interesting condemnation of astrologers and fortune
tellers abilities of those times --- relevant to today also?
Comparison
to Revelation:
1 After this I saw another angel coming down from
heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.
2 With a mighty voice he shouted: "Fallen!
Fallen is
3 For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine
of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the
merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries."
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
"Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so
that you will not receive any of her plagues;
5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has
remembered her crimes.
6 Give back to her as she has given; pay her back
double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup.
7 Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and
luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, `I sit as queen; I am not a
widow, and I will never mourn.'
8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:
death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the
Lord God who judges her.
9 "When the kings of the earth who committed
adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will
weep and mourn over her.
10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off
and cry: "`Woe! Woe, O great city, O
11 "The merchants of the earth will weep and
mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more--
12 cargoes of
gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet
cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory,
costly wood, bronze, iron and marble;
13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh
and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and
sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.
14 "They will say, `The fruit you longed for is
gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be
recovered.'
15 The merchants who sold these things and gained
their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will
weep and mourn
16 and cry out: "`Woe! Woe, O great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious
stones and pearls!
17 In one hour such great wealth has been brought to
ruin!' "Every sea captain, and all
who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea,
will stand far off.
18 When they
see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, `Was there ever a city like
this great city?'
19 They will throw dust on their heads, and with
weeping and mourning cry out: "`Woe! Woe, O great city, where all who had
ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been
brought to ruin!
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and
apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.'"
21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size
of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: "With such
violence the great city of
22 The music of harpists and musicians, flute players
and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will
ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you
again.
23 The light of a lamp will never shine in you again.
The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your
merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell all the nations were
led astray.
24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of the
saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth." NIV Revelation 18:1-24
There is subtle difference between these prophecies --- one of
which was fulfilled in the past and the other to be fulfilled in our future
apparently at Jesus’ return in the final “battle of that great day of God
almighty” which is called by most “the
That difference is that
1 One of the
seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will
show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
2 With her the
kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were
intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries."
3 Then the
angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting
on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads
and ten horns.
4 The woman
was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious
stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable
things and the filth of her adulteries.
5 This title
was written on her forehead: MYSTERY
6 I saw that
the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore
testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I
was greatly astonished.
7 Then the
angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the
mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and
ten horns.
8 The beast,
which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go
to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been
written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished
when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.
NIV Revelation 17:1-8
Many in Christianity have interpreted verse 8 of Revelation to
be referring to the Roman Empire and that it was basically referring to several
revivals of the Roman empire down through the ages and include in that
interpretation Napoleon’s empire, and Hitler and Mussolini’s supposed attempts at
reviving the Roman empire as some of those 7 revivals and yet this cryptic
verse doesn’t make a lot of sense using that interpretation because the Roman
Empire was still in existence and alive and well at the time the apostle John
wrote the book of Revelation in 66-67AD
It
could however be referring to some element or aspect of the Babylonian Empire
that has been lost to view to us in our day because at the time john wrote
Revelation the Babylonian Empire once was[existed]now is not[not currently at the time of John’s
writing in existence]and yet will come, i.e.
exist in some form in the future[our future most likely since Revelation mostly
deals with the return of Christ and the final great battle[War] to truly end
all battles[Wars]. WW1 was called the
“war to end all wars” but obviously it didn’t --- but God’s Holy war as opposed
to man’s so called holy wars [Jihad’s] will do so in our future. There is nothing holy about man warring
against man.
So
did the angel call modern Rome “Babylon” for some unknown reason [unknown to
us] or did John as many say use Babylon as a euphemism to hide the fact he was
referring to Rome from his jailers on the Isle of Patmos? Time will tell perhaps.
Chapter
48:
1 "Listen to this, O house of Jacob,
you who are called by the name of
2 you who call
yourselves citizens of the holy city and rely on the God of
3 I foretold the former things
long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they
came to pass.
4 For I knew
how stubborn you were; the sinews of your neck were iron, your forehead was
bronze.
5 Therefore I told you these things long
ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, `My idols did them;
my wooden image and metal god ordained them.'
6 You have
heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? "From now on I will tell
you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you.
7 They are
created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you
cannot say, `Yes, I knew of them.'
8 You have
neither heard nor understood; from of old your ear has not been open. Well
do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth.
9 For my own name's sake I delay
my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from
you, so as not to cut you off.
10 See, I have
refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of
affliction.
11 For my own sake, for my own
sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to
another.
12 "Listen to me, O
13 My own
hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the
heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.
14 "Come
together, all of you, and listen: Which of [the idols] has foretold these
things? The LORD's chosen ally will carry out his purpose against
15 I, even I,
have spoken; yes, I have called him. I will bring him, and he will succeed in
his mission.
16 "Come
near me and listen to this: "From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret;
at the time it happens, I am there." And
now
the Sovereign LORD has sent me, with his Spirit.
17 This is
what the LORD says-- your Redeemer, the Holy One of
18 If only
you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river,
your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children
like its numberless grains; their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from
before me."
20 Leave
21 They did
not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from
the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out.
22 "There is no peace,"
says the LORD, "for the wicked." NIV Isaiah 48:1-22
Isaiah’s disciples or contemporaries are supposed to have
written this chapter?
Yeah Right! Try pulling the other leg!
None but a master prophet could write the likes of this showing
the incredible depth of understanding that Isaiah possessed in knowing both his
God and his Saviour and as he shows often enough throughout his prophetic work
--- his future and coming King.
Quite
an incredible revelation of Jesus’ first coming in verse 16 is it not?
16 "Come
near me and listen to this: "From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret;
at the time it happens, I am there." And
now
the Sovereign LORD has sent me, with his Spirit.
Not
only is this an announcement of the first coming of Jesus, better than 700
years in advance, but it very clearly delineates what Jesus constantly taught
the Jews i.e. that He came to reveal the Father as separate from Himself
--- and what this also further reveals is that Isaiah knew the difference
between the two members of the God family.
From verse 1 right through to verse 16 the narrative is in the first
person from God’s point of view.
Who
do we suppose the Sovereign Lord is
here being spoken of in this way --- if not God the father?
The KJV uses the word Lord God in Isaiah 48:6 but if we go back a few chapters we can see that
Isaiah very distinctly uses the title YHVH which in the KJV is written as Jehovah
in chapter 26:4 or simply Lord
[YHVH] and a different designation in chapter 25 i.e. Lord
God in verse 8 --- if he was talking about a
single personage and not two different members of the God family then why not
use the designation Jehovah both times? or conversely --- Lord God both
times?
8 He will
swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from
off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all
the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. KJV Isaiah 25:8 [and why not use ‘for the Lord God hath
spoken it’ here in this verse as well]
This
as we’ve already pointed out is completely consistent and agrees with the
angel’s revelation to the apostle John that it is God the Father who will wipe away
all tears when he comes to live with mankind:
3 And I heard
a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself
shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for
the former things are passed away.
5 And he that
sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me,
Write: for these words are true and faithful. KJV Revelation 21:3-5
Further
research uncovered these incredible passages from Deuteronomy showing that the
“Lord of all the whole earth” [Zechariah 4:14] uses different names for Himself
at different times:
2 And God
spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord:
3 And I
appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God
Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
KJV Exodus 6:2-3
While
researching some related info for this essay this absolutely extraordinary
Psalm by king David turned up that left the author of this essay stunned, even
though time and time again references constantly turn up that hinted at Jesus
being the God of the Old Testament and were many and varied and Jesus’
statements in the New Testament all state it fairly clearly --- a reference as
plain as this was totally unexpected in the Old Testament --- none of the other
Old Testament references were ever as astoundingly clear as this psalm, that
elucidates as this does, indeed, that Jesus was indeed the Holy one of Israel
and clearly David knew what Isaiah knew
i.e. that Jesus was the Son of God, or would be in the future:
4 He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak
unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6 Yet have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will declare the decree:
the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son; this day have I begotten
thee. [Announcement at Jesus’ baptism --- almost word for word but
paraphrased somewhat i.e.
And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
KJV Matthew 3:17,17:, Mark 1:11,2 Peter 1:17, [David’s words
noted by Luke and Paul, Acts13:33 and Hebrews
1:5, respectively]
8 Ask of me, and I shall
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession.
9 Thou shalt break them
with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
10 Be wise now therefore, O
ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath
is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
KJV Psalms 2:4-12
It
sort of makes this confirmation by the apostle Paul that much more poignant:
8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is
the sceptre of thy kingdom.
9 Thou hast
loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
10 And, Thou,
Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens
are the works of thine hands:
11 They shall
perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
12 And as a
vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the
same, and thy years shall not fail.
13 But to
which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make
thine enemies thy footstool?
14 Are they
not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs
of salvation? KJV Hebrews 1:8-14
The apostle Paul was of course quoting from David himself here
in another psalm:
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand,
until I make thine enemies thy footstool. KJV Psalms 110:1
One
last clincher leaves no doubt that both Isaiah and David knew their saviour and
future King by the same name:
That men may know that thou, whose name alone is
Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth. KJV Psalms 83:18
Even
the apostle John put it quite eloquently or rather Jesus did through his
servant John:
39 You
diligently study the Scriptures because
you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that
testify about me,
40 yet you
refuse to come to me to have life. John
5:39-40
We repeat: The only scripture available at the time
these words were spoken by Jesus was The Old Testament and Isaiah, one of the
most comprehensive and prolific books of prophetic scripture of all testifying
fully and often about Jesus throughout its 66 Chapters.
We’ll
cover Just one more of the chapters of middle Isaiah that the secular scholars
claim [in a fanciful ‘pseudo’ Deutero-Isaiah] are possibly written by
contemporaries and not written by Isaiah as back-up to what Jesus said in John
5:39-40 above then we’ll move on again to the last several chapters to cover the
remaining vital points raised in this essay and the previous two articles in
this series. We’ll come back to
some really important chapters as part of the conclusion however, a little
later, showing some incredible stuff indeed.
The prophetic
evidence suggests Isaiah ‘saw’ the Crucifixion in vision
Here’s
the lead up to this prophecy [God nearly always has lead-up passages of scripture
in nearly all prophecy that build to an important point being made]
5 "And
now what do I have here?" declares the LORD. "For my people have been
taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock, " declares the LORD. "And all day long my
name is constantly blasphemed.
6 Therefore my people will know my
name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes,
it is I."
7 How
beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who
proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to
Zion, "Your God reigns!"
8 Listen! Your
watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD
returns to
9 Burst into
songs of joy together, you ruins of
If Isaiah saw the crucifixion in vision nearly 700 years in
advance[in round figures] which this next prophecy of Isaiah’s shows --- then it
doesn’t stretch the imagination too far to conclude that he also saw Jerusalem
and its gates in ruin and his people taken captive by the Babylonians under
Nebuchadnezzar and subsequently by what all of Isaiah shows as well --- the
entire panorama of world history
from his day right down to the second coming and even to the great white throne
Judgment of Revelation --- all the evidence presented in Isaiah leads
inexorably to that conclusion.
The
full prophecy begins in Isaiah 52:9 and ends in chapter 53:12 as follows:
9 Burst into
songs of joy together, you ruins of
10 The LORD
will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of
the earth will see the salvation of our God.
11 Depart,
depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be
pure, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
12 But you
will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the
God of
13 See, my
servant will act wisely ; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as
there were many who were appalled at him -- his appearance was so disfigured
beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness--
15 so will he
sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For
what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will
understand.
1 Who has
believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up
before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no
beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we
should desire him.
3 He was
despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him
not.
4 Surely he
took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken
by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was
pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like
sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has
laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was
oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb
to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not
open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can
speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for
the transgression of my people he was stricken.
9 He was
assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had
done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was
the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD
makes his life a guilt offering, he will
see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper
in his hand.
11 After the
suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied ; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and
he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I
will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the
strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the
transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.
NIV Isaiah 52:9-15&53:1-12
Absolutely
incredible prophecy this, without a doubt worthy of a master prophet!
--- How so?
Verses
9-12 in this remarkable prophecy foretell Ezra’s beginning of
the
restoration of the Jews. [Ezra was a priest who carried not only the vessels of
the Lord but a full copy of the Pentateuch and he also brought with him other
priests and those who bore the vessels of the lord.] And thereby fulfills these
parts of Isaiah’s prophecy:
9 Burst into
songs of joy together, you ruins of
11 Depart,
depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be
pure, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
12 But you
will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the
God of
Not only did the remnant of the Jews not leave the Babylonian
captivity in haste OR flight --- but Ezra had a full escort from the king of
the day![Artaxerxes] and under a previous commission to do so by Cyrus of
1 In the first year of Cyrus king
of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by
Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of
2 "This
is what Cyrus king of
3 Anyone of
his people among you--may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem
in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in
Jerusalem.
4 And the
people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with
silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the
5 Then the
family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites--everyone whose
heart God had moved--prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in
6 All their
neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and
livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.
7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out
the articles belonging to the temple of the LORD,
which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from
8 Cyrus king
of
9 This was the
inventory: gold dishes 30 silver dishes
1,000 silver pans 29
10 gold
bowls 30 matching silver bowls 410 other articles 1,000
11 In all,
there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these
along when the exiles came up from
This
was completely fulfilled in quite spectacular ways beginning with
Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel’s day and carried on over into Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai
and Zechariah’s day --- all contemporaries of Daniel’s.
9 Burst into
songs of joy together, you ruins of
10 The LORD will lay bare his holy
arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth
will see the salvation of our God.
The
“arm of the Lord” was truly revealed to all the nations of that day
to several world ruling empire’s kings as those four contemporary books to Daniel’s reveals in no
uncertain terms throughout each of them.
The
‘hand of God’ was laid bare before all those kings and caused them to show
great favour to the Jews of those times and throughout all those ‘linked’
prophetic books the ‘Hand of the Lord’ and the ‘Hand of God’ are mentioned
profusely as being behind the restoration of the Jews to the holy land at that
time.
Ezra
certainly did his best to restore the ‘pure’ word of God and this little
excerpt/quote showing his pedigree [so to speak] following these verses quoted
below verifies that these two verses of Isaiah’s prophecy were certainly fulfilled
at that time:
11 Depart,
depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be
pure, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
12 But you will not leave in haste
or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you,
the God of
Ezra’s curious
third person narrative giving his ‘pedigree’ all the way back to Aaron in the 7th
chapter but also showing the unprecedented favour shown to all the Jews at this
pivotal time in the restoration of a new Jewish society in preparation for
Jesus’ first coming shown
above which
curiously was followed up immediately by Isaiah’s uncanny description of Jesus’
crucifixion:
1 After these
things, during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, the
son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
2 the son of
Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
3 the son of
Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
4 the son of
Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
5 the son of
Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief
priest--
6 this Ezra
came up from
7 Some of the Israelites,
including priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers and temple servants, also came
up to
8 Ezra arrived
in
9 He had begun
his journey from
10 For Ezra
had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and
to teaching its decrees and laws in
11 This is a
copy of the letter King Artaxerxes had given to Ezra the priest and teacher, a
man learned in matters concerning the commands and decrees of the LORD for
12
Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, a teacher of the Law of
the God of heaven: Greetings.
13 Now I decree that any of
the Israelites in my kingdom, including priests and Levites, who wish to go to
14 You are
sent by the king and his seven advisers to inquire about
15 Moreover,
you are to take with you the silver and gold that the king and his advisers
have freely given to the God of
16 together
with all the silver and gold you may obtain from the province of Babylon, as
well as the freewill offerings of the people and priests for the temple of
their God in Jerusalem. NIV Ezra 7:6-17
Some
truly astonishing things will be brought out in the next installment of this
essay but they are so far reaching and important to all our understanding of
what God has planned for the future --- an extension of this essay has now
become necessary.
At
least two new things that this author was unaware of have surfaced in the
writing of this essay so far.
One
was the discovery of the astonishing wording of David’s psalm quoted earlier in
psalm 2:12.
The
other is what has just been set out for our readers in this short prophecy
showing Isaiah did indeed foresee Ezra’s time and it occurs to this author this
would be a good spot to leave our readers pondering the truly amazing accuracy
of Isaiah’s prophecies and especially this section from verses 9-12 of Isaiah
coming as it does right before an incredible description of Jesus’ crucifixion
in the Old Testament.
One other is what has just been set out for our readers in this short prophecy showing Isaiah did indeed foresee Ezra’s time and it occurs to this author this would be a good spot to leave our readers pondering the truly amazing accuracy of Isaiah’s prophecies and especially this section from verses 9-12 of Isaiah coming as it does right before an incredible description of Jesus’ crucifixion in the Old Testament.
The other new thing is what Malachi reveals that nobody has really taken much notice of which will be made very clear in the next installment.
One other interesting point to consider is this also:
Michael Baigent in his book “The Jesus papers” made what seemed an outrageous claim that the books of the bible have been tampered with and therefore could not be relied on as truth.
We
countered that in our rebuttal of the Jesus papers by saying that the most the
Catholic church could have done by way of tampering since there would have been
many copies of the New Testament by the time any so called tampering could have
been done by the time the Catholic church came on the scene between 150-200 AD
and began to have a monopoly on the dissemination of the word of God --- was at
best to change the order of the scriptures and that is all they could have done
i.e. re-organize what was already there and already in existence or possibly
write their own version i.e. the Latin vulgate version which may have some
differences to the original documents that would have already been widely
extant in the form of multiple copies which were indeed most likely what the
early Christians used for church literature of the day, anyway
What
we had set out to prove has already been virtually done in showing Isaiah’s
work to be by a single author even without the overview of Isaiah’s prophecies
that will now appear in the next installment and although now almost redundant,
will still cement things together pretty well in nailing down even further what
this essay is all about by way of affirming the accuracy of the word of God in
fulfilled prophecy.
Be warned however some surprises that may
“rock the boat” regarding whatever you currently believe and cause our readers
to investigate things for themselves, are in the offing and, we sincerely hope
that our readers are up to the challenge and do exactly that! --- Cheers, Glenn.
End of Part I