The Isaiah
Essay [part two]
Intro:
In
this second installment, among other things, we’ll tie up all the loose ends
regarding the scholars dividing of Isaiah into three parts that are not only
unnecessary but misleading in the extreme.
It
doesn’t matter whether it was done by secular scholars or religious scholars
because what it does show are increasing tendencies on the part of many to
discredit what they clearly don’t understand. That they don’t understand the
word of God is very clear --- but why malign it by casting serious doubts as to
its authenticity?
The
series of relatively recent attacks on the bible, from not just the blatantly
outright defamatory viewpoints of modern books like ‘The Jesus Papers’ by a
misguided and confused author, one --- ‘Michael Baigent’ --- [see our article
on this website on the ‘rebuttal of the Jesus papers’] but also the more subtle
variations, like the seemingly innocuous dividing of a major prophet of the Old
Testament into three parts and then claiming two parts were written, by
inference, presumably less inspired ‘other’ authors, or as stated ‘a poet’
which would make that very important prophetic work virtually meaningless.
These are serious matters that cannot be left unchallenged.
The
undermining of the word of God in our English speaking countries whose cultures
were based on the moral values and underpinning of the principles embodied
within its pages upon which many of our civil laws were initially constructed
are not to be taken lightly for the simple reason of the repercussions we might
be bringing upon ourselves by the very God who caused those books of the bible
to be written in the first place.
There’s a timeless warning among the pages of
the prophet Jeremiah that may in fact apply equally to our modern age as it did
to an earlier one when God stripped away the blessings from our ancestors for
ignoring His words because even though God promises to save us from our own
misguided ways He also tempers that promise of salvation with words of warning
of some measures he intends to take against us as well for ignoring Him and/or
his words, delivered through His prophets:
I am with you and will save you,' declares the LORD.
`Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will
not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely
unpunished.' NIV Jeremiah 30:11
The
KJV renders that last part as:
… but I will correct thee in measure, and will
not leave thee altogether unpunished.
KJV Jeremiah 30:11
To understand Isaiah completely a number of
misconceptions regarding
If
our readers go back a few verses in Jeremiah 30 they will find what many have
taught is the great tribulation supposedly to occur in our future:
5 For thus
saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
6 Ask ye now, and
see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with
his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into
paleness?
7 Alas! for that day is great, so
that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be
saved out of it.
8 For it shall
come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke
from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve
themselves of him: KJV Jeremiah 30:5-8
We can confidently re-assure our readers that these passages
from Jeremiah 5-8 are not referring to our future at all but to the 67-70 AD
Diaspora of the Jews and which the book of Daniel also confirms a time of
unprecedented trouble for the Jews also was for 67-70 AD:
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great
prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a
time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that
same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that
shall be found written in the book. KJV
Daniel 12:1
The
understanding by those who teach that these verse’s represent ‘a great
tribulation’ to occur in our future i.e. the underlined sections, are that
these two scriptures are referring to the same point in time, i.e. our future
at the time of Jesus’ second coming.
They
are correct that these verses are for the same point in time but not the one
they think.
In
the case of Daniel 12:1 it is the next verse that leads people to think this is
for the time of the second coming because it refers to a resurrection:
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt. KJV Daniel 12:2
Those who teach Daniel 12:1’s great time of
trouble signifies “the great tribulation” supposedly for our future instead of
the one for 67-70 AD, because of the mention of a resurrection,
apparently fail to understand completely that the resurrection of the saints at
Jesus’ return is only for the righteous and that the resurrection mentioned
here is for ‘the great white throne judgment’s resurrection after the
millennial reign of Christ.
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the
thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath
no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with
him a thousand years. KJV Revelation 20:5-6
11 And I
saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth
and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and
another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged
out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and
death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged
every man according to their works. KJV Revelation 20:11-13
Verse
2 of Daniel is actually a ‘promise’ of a future resurrection of all
the Jews that have ever lived that we believe was given to Daniel to
reassure him that there was hope for his people even beyond the grave. This
promise, in spite of their defiance of God in Daniel’s days before the
Babylonian siege of Jerusalem is the reason for our belief, because Daniel
clearly foresaw from Jeremiah’s writings that a more terrible time was ahead
for the Jews and was astonished by what he read in Jeremiah about a future
great tribulation even greater than the Babylonian captivity.
Daniel’s
prayer, when he came to that realization of ‘a greater tribulation’ to
come after the Babylonian captivity
shows that he was shocked terribly by that realization when he came to
understand what was written by Jeremiah in the 1st year of the reign
of Darius the Mede. [Daniel 9:4-19]
The
seventy week’s prophecy [Daniel 9:23-27] that Gabriel the archangel of God came
to reveal to Daniel as a direct result of that prayer is what shows that fully,
including the relating to Daniel of his renown ‘Abomination of desolation’
revelation that was cited by Jesus to be just one sign of the ‘end’ of the
‘age’ among the many others that Luke’s gospel shows clearly was for the
Jews in 67-70 AD only and not our day and age as all Christianity teaches.
The
clear difference that distinguishes between the angel’s mention of a
resurrection, the resurrection of Daniel 12:1 and a much more distant one than
that of Jesus’ coming, ahead in our time, clearly, is this:
Those
that take part in the first resurrection of the dead at Jesus’ return as
King of kings and Lord of lords are referred to as “Blessed and holy.” [Rev.
20:6, above]
Those
in Daniel 12:2 on the other hand fall into two categories:
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and
everlasting contempt. KJV Daniel 12:2
Those
in the second category could hardly be called blessed and holy therefore,
showing that Daniel 12:2 is not referring to the resurrection at Jesus’ future
coming in our time but that of the great white throne judgment instead.
Once
that is realized, Then Daniel 12:1 becomes a whole new ball game and can be
clearly seen not to be referring to that time yet ahead of us also, but of the
past therefore i.e. the 67-70 AD tribulation.
Daniel
12:1 as the angel clearly says is for Daniel’s people i.e. the Jews:
"At that time Michael, the great prince who
protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such
as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time
your people--everyone whose name is found written in the book--will be
delivered. NIV Daniel 12:1
It
was necessary to clear up this misconception among the Sabbath keeping Churches
of God and others who may teach the same thing regarding “a great tribulation”
to come in our future, being referred to in these passages of Daniel, in order
to also clear up the same misconception about Jeremiah 30:7 which is also
taught by the churches of God and others in Christianity, as referring to a
great tribulation in our future as well.
There
is no doubt there will be great tribulation, which simply means
“trouble” ahead of us before the time of Jesus’ return in our future
because Jesus said that the particular ‘great tribulation’ of those days
of 67-70 AD was just the beginning of sorrows[troubles/tribulations]:
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 24:7-8
Luke plainly reveals ‘the great tribulation’ was
to come before the ‘beginning of sorrows’ listed above in
Matthew 24:7 and was to concern the Jews only --- not us in our
day and age:
9 When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be
frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right
away."
10 Then he said to them: "Nation will rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and
pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. [The
beginning of the ride of Revelation’s four horsemen of the apocalypse]
12 “But before all this, they will lay hands on you and
persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be
brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.
13 This will result in your being witnesses to them.
14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how
you will defend yourselves.
15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of
your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.
16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers,
relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.
17 All men will hate you because of me.
18 But not a hair of your head will perish.
19 By standing firm you will gain life.
20 “When you see
21 Then let
those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and
let those in the country not enter the city.
22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been
written. [In Daniel’s seventy weeks prophecy specifically and other
prophets also]
23 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant
women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people.
24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken
as prisoners to all the nations.
25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars.
On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and
tossing of the sea.
26 Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what
is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming
in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 When these things begin to take place, stand up
and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
29 He told them this parable: "Look at the fig
tree and all the trees.
30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for
yourselves and know that summer is near.
31 Even so, when you see these things happening,
you know that the
32 “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away
until all these things have happened.
NIV Luke 21:9-32
As part one of “the hand of God in the day of the Lord” shows,
it is entirely possible each and every one of these signs could have been completely
fulfilled at that time, because similar, to almost identical signs, have
accompanied all of God’s interventions in man’s history in the past. There has
been more than one ‘day of the Lord’ in actuality with similar signs
extant in each at various periods in biblical history.
It
must also be firmly fixed in mind that all the gospel accounts were written
well in advance of the actual events of the great tribulation of 67-70 AD.
As
much as scholars might like to claim Luke’s account could have been written
after the events of 67-70 AD no one can make that claim even if they wanted to
because even the book of Revelation shows no recognition on John’s part that
the Temple and Jerusalem were not still intact at the time of the writing of
Revelation around a year before the events of Revelation began to unfold in
reality. We’ve stated that we believe
the book of Revelation to have been written sometime in 66 AD which is against
what scholars have claimed for ages and we’ll stand by that assertion.
There
is no evidence whatsoever for the scholars’ claim that the book of Revelation
was written around 95 AD. Those who base
their claims on the language of the text should realize that all these
documents were copied many times before the present texts were formed and each
copier may have updated language to their times.
Luke’s
gospel which is also an affirmation of the other synoptic gospels is perfectly
clear on whom the great tribulation would fall and when it would occur.
The
only logical conclusion that can be reached given all this information and
evidence in the prophetic scriptures themselves in the light of Josephus’
historical account and the account of the synoptic gospels, is that Jesus came
in 67-70 AD and fulfilled completely all the prophecies that the angel of
Daniel chapter 9 spoke of concerning Jesus the Messiah’s first coming in the 70
weeks prophecy, including the abomination of desolation, every other prophecy
concerning those times and of course, Daniel 12:1 in the past exactly as
Luke records.
As we’ll show shortly Isaiah and another so called ‘minor’
prophet are in complete accord with Luke or vice versa.
The
conclusion that we’ve reached, in five years of intensive research into
prophecy is that all of Christianity’s eschatology has been skewed by
misunderstandings of parts of prophecy.
Jeremiah, Hosea and Isaiah together with
Malachi give the ‘full’ picture of all our modern English speaking nation’s and
the Jew’s incredible future
Jeremiah
30:7, is a reference to the 67-70 AD great tribulation also, that was depicted
in the 3 synoptic gospels that cover that period of ‘great tribulation of the
Jews’ in those days.
How
anyone ever got to associate “a great tribulation” or “the great tribulation”
of the past that was clearly for the Jews only, that clearly occurred according
to all prophecy in 67-70 AD and applied it to our future, is a bit of a mystery
in itself. Nearly all modern churches
have leapt to that unproven conclusion.
The
idea of the ‘second’ coming in our age, which is practically universally
understood, when Jesus never designated or labeled his comings and goings with
a number at all --- seems to be a man-made designation and not necessarily
according to prophetic truth, therefore.
Jesus
will come again in our future that’s for sure and it will be his final coming
because He’ll be here to stay for all eternity in His Father’s kingdom on
earth.
Few
understand that the bible is a “now” collection prophetic books dealing with
not only our ancestors of the past ages, but also “us” in this modern era and
so is therefore, not the least bit dated at all, in terms of being completely
up to date with not only our immediate future but even our distant future ---
fully depicted throughout is prophetic pages.
Many
just think of the bible’s Old Testament as simply an ancient collection of
dated, historical books and prophetic books dealing only with the Jews as many
conceive the Old Testament was supposed to be.
But
instead, as we hope to show shortly, the bible, in full context, is a very
comprehensive coverage of a people chosen by God to be a spiritual light to all
other nations.
It
involves the Jews, yes, but also much, much more than any have previously
thought. These chosen peoples at one
stage were a single nation of 12 tribes but because of an ideological split
went their separate ways and became two nations.
All
subsequent prophecy after the ‘split’ is written from the perspective of those
two nations separately, in some books and from various prophets of those two
nations.
In
other books, prophecy is referring to them jointly and some were Jewish
prophets, but others, evidently were Israelite prophets also.
The bible is even
more relevant to our modern times than many can even conceive, because much
prophecy, written thousands of years ago is speaking to us of our age and to
our future ahead.
Just exactly how
much is for us today in our age is why we are examining prophecy in detail, to
determine for our readers, if possible, because there is widespread confusion
and misinformation galore about prophecy in general and it’s not getting any
clearer, but is actually worse than ever before, indeed, getting more
so, minute by minute almost, or so it seems.
All kinds
of weird interpretations abound --- even among churches that specialize in
prophecy or claim they have an ‘edge’ over others in understanding prophecy.
Discounting
the obvious charlatans, calling themselves prophets of God, that are purely in
the religion business for the profit they can make by living off people’s fears
and desires for spiritual enlightenment or in many cases healing from
debilitating diseases --- there are those who teach prophecy legitimately for
all the right reasons but have clearly misunderstood it in many instances.
How
much of that misunderstanding stems from the arbitrary division of the bible
into chapter and verse or not taking all of prophecy together as a ‘whole
tapestry’ and merely teaching the parts they can understand, but have
subsequently misunderstood, by lacking the full picture, would be a difficult
call to make.
It is essential that our readers understand the true significance
and importance of the identity of our modern western nation’s roots, via their
ancestors, clearly identified in the bible, because both Ezekiel and Malachi do
indeed hold keys to true understanding of certain elements of prophecy for our
future to a remarkable degree and without the true understanding of the various
nation’s identities and their modern descendants depicted in prophecy --- very
little true understanding of prophecy could ever be realized in actuality.
We’ll cover where Malachi comes into the picture, at the very
close of this essay, after we’ve dealt with the last several chapters of
Isaiah.
In at least one other chapter some of the things that Ezekiel
spoke of in his last eight chapters are covered by Isaiah.
Some really big and quite astounding surprises await our readers
that will indeed rock the boats of all Christianity, whether or not
they are Sabbath keeping or Sunday keeping churches.
What we have to show our readers in this second installment of our
Isaiah essay will also rock the boats of Orthodox Judaism and even the Muslim
religion, the other two of the recognized ‘big three’ influential or dominant
religions of the modern era.
A self-evident and important
truth emerges --- all prophecy is interrelated.
Not
only is all prophecy intricately interrelated though, but many of the so called
‘Minor Prophets’ support the ‘Major Prophets’ in quite extraordinary ways.
Not
much real attention is given to the so called ‘minor prophets’ and surprisingly
scholars who lack prophetic understanding and awareness have even regarded
Zechariah as ‘minor’ prophet.
Our
articles show this assumption about Zechariah to be untrue --- in no uncertain
terms. In all probability Zechariah is
only regarded as a minor prophet simply because not much is known about him
historically, apart from what is recorded in scripture.
It’s
already clear by what we discovered in Isaiah’s middle chapters and wrote about
in our original ‘Isaiah promises’ article, that Jeremiah, another ‘major’
prophet, fully supports and backs up everything Isaiah reveals in his
prophecies.
Ezekiel,
also a major prophet, seems to be both misunderstood and seemingly the odd man
out regarding his last eight chapters referring to a mysterious ‘third temple’
that many, except perhaps the Jews of today, may understand indeed.
Ezekiel’s
visions of Angels and his dealings with them throughout his prophecies are
certainly weird and wonderful accounts that few understand at all.
What
we are about to show our readers at the conclusion of the rest of this Isaiah
Essay will absolutely ‘floor’ modern Christianity’s side of the third temple
question regarding the building of Ezekiel’s temple.
What
is rather ironic is that neither of the two author’s of this small website ---
in spite of the intensive research we’ve carried out over the last five years
into all prophecy, were aware of what has just come to light among
the minor prophets [during the writing of this Isaiah essay in fact] and it is truly
stunning --- almost beyond belief. [From a Christian point of view]
Some
of the Jewish community scattered throughout the world, on the other hand may
well understand what we are about to show from the prophet Isaiah and a so
called ‘minor’ prophet, that fully explains both the situation with the Jews in
the past and their incredible and unparalleled and quite amazing future.
The
real test will come when and if the co-author of this website, also the
webmaster, concurs with the findings and conclusions drawn by the author of
this essay.
Insertion by Clay Willis
Though
I have several questions regarding Glenn’s interpretation of the prophecies
cited in this essay, I cannot cite any specific error. In particular, I have problems with Glenn’s
assertion that the Levitical Priesthood will have any role in the coming
Kingdom of God – after the final return of Jesus to this earth. This is based on the description of the
change in priesthood under the New Covenant as described in Hebrews chapters 7
– 10. However, in a later section of
this essay, Glenn actually posits one of the most intriguing theories I’ve
heard in many years – it is that we are NOT under the New Covenant today and
that Covenant will be established AFTER Jesus’ return. That is mind-boggling in its implications and
very well may support Glenn’s interpretation concerning the establishment of
the 2nd temple and the Levitical Priesthood’s return during the
millennium.
I
should also note that though I have corrected some minor spelling and
grammatical errors in these papers, my contribution to this paper is minimal – just
supplying a few references and answering a few questions from Glenn.
At
this point, I’ll just say, “Carry on, my brother. You have my admiration and support!”
The stunning
conclusion to the Isaiah essay
Apart
from the extraordinary revelations of the middle chapters from beginning about
the 40th through to the 45th chapters where God sets out
clear, unconditional, exceptional and
extraordinary promises to both houses of Israel who are referred to jointly in
the 40th chapter --- there are some amazing revelations beginning
from the 58th chapter to the conclusion of Isaiah’s most important
prophetic book.
Even
the secular scholars apparently recognized the change of pace in the 40th
chapter. [But not the author, of course, as they’ve apparently claimed]
The
claims made by God and Isaiah together in the middle chapters are truly awesome
as this opening of the 40th chapter, the lead up to the middle
chapters, does indeed show to a remarkable degree, but this is all we are
going to show of the middle chapters and the reason for that will be made
plain:
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to
3 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare
the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind
together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD
has spoken."
6 A voice says, "Cry out." And I said,
"What shall I cry?" "All men are like grass, and all their glory
is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the
breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but
the word of our God stands forever."
9 You who bring good tidings to
10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for
him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the
lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those
that have young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his
hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the
dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the
hills in a balance?
13 Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or
instructed him as his counselor?
14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and
who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed
him the path of understanding?
15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded
as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine
dust.
16
17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him
as worthless and less than nothing.
18 To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will
you compare him to?
19 As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a
goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it.
20 A man too poor to present such an offering selects
wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that
will not topple.
21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not
been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was
founded?
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a
canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to
nothing.
24 No sooner
are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the
ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away
like chaff.
25 “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the
Holy One.
26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who
created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them
each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them
is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his
understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the
power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men
stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their
strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow
weary, they will walk and not be faint.
NIV Isaiah 40:1-31
We’ve
only underlined and emphasized some relevant points here that have a bearing on
the remainder of the Isaiah essay.
It
would be a little difficult determining how much of this is the inspired
prophet putting things into his own words and how much is the direct word of
God that he was asked to record because they blend together here into almost
one.
What
it may show in fact is that Isaiah was completely “at one” with his God.
It is clear that
Isaiah understood the whole panorama of human history from start to
finish including events to happen in his day right through far beyond our times
in this day and modern era.
We
draw and group all these verses together to show what are essentially the major
themes running throughout Isaiah overall:
15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though
they were fine dust.
17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they
are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the
rulers of this world to nothing.
25"To whom will you compare
me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his
understanding no one can fathom.
But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or
the son of man, that thou visitest him?
KJV Hebrews 2:6
6 A voice says, "Cry out." And I said,
"What shall I cry?" "All men are like grass, and all their glory
is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the
breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but
the word of our God stands forever."
The
secular scholars make a big deal over what seems impossible to them by this
statement in Isaiah:
4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain
and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a
plain.
Their
original claim according to Wikipedia’s original article “ the book of Isaiah”
is that middle Isaiah must be a grandiose poet of some kind with ---to them ---
unrealistic vistas of sweeping changes proposed for our world ---supposedly only in the mind of said
poet.
They
called [according to Wikipedia’s original article] the middle chapters beyond
chapter 40 “Deutero” Isaiah or ‘second’ Isaiah.
Supposedly
because of further unrealistic vistas of ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ in the latter
chapters they claimed a ‘third’ Isaiah was necessary from about chapter 55 to
the end to explain what must seem to the secular minds “eccentricities.”
Wikipedia
however now has a much better article than the one before upon which this essay
was initially based and has seemingly scrapped to a certain extent the way the
original article was written up.
Does
this new re-write of “the book of Isaiah” in Wikipedia change the premise upon
that which this essay was based?
Not at all!
The
scholars are still dubious as to the fantastically incredible things that the
Author of Isaiah presents throughout that phenomenal prophetic book.
We still intend
to show what the scholars plainly cannot see! Whether they still divide Isaiah
into three or not, Isaiah was not the author of Isaiah at all --- any of it ---
Isaiah was just the messenger!
Of course the
messengers of God i.e. prophets, add their own input in presenting their
prophecies, how could they not? And so they are regarded as the author[s].
However the fact
that the word of God also explains that they were inspired by and given “the
holy spirit” in order to do so is a major consideration of no small importance.
For
the rest of the Isaiah middle chapters our readers can view the article “the
Isaiah promises” at our “in home” website but for now the explanation of the
underlined parts:
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
To
understand all of Isaiah correctly it is necessary to understand who all
of God’s people are.
And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all
mankind together will see it.
Even
in the wording of the KJV there’s no mistaking Isaiah’s prophecies are for all
humanity [Including the secular scholarsJ]:
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and
all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it. KJV Isaiah 40:5
9 You who bring good tidings to
Since
many in Christianity regard the Jews as largely irrelevant or a lost cause in
some cases --- who indeed will be the ones to say to the modern towns of
The
Jews don’t currently recognize Jesus as the God of the Old Testament.
Oddly
enough the great majority of Christianity fails to recognize Jesus as the God
of the Old Testament either in spite of what the fourth synoptic Gospel of the
Apostle John clearly shows about Jesus’ divinity before His human birth very
clearly in the first chapter of John’s account.
See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for
him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.
Jesus
reveals in the New Testament that all power and authority are given to Him, by
God the Father, and He, Jesus, will rule in the Father’s kingdom in the holy
land [New Zion] when the
And Jesus came and spake unto
them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. KJV
Matthew 28:18
Jesus
even calls the future kingdom of God/‘spiritual’ kingdom of Israel/Zion which
was the part of the outgrowth of Daniel’s fifth Stone kingdom to be established
in Roman times of old --- his Father’s kingdom --- and not His
own kingdom, even though he will be ruling over it for 1000 years during the
millennium:
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. KJV Matthew 26:29
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth [Isaiah 40:22]
There is a lot more implied here in this simple statement than
meets the eye:
This
was emphasized because it shows if nothing else that man has indeed been
through different ages or epochs where knowledge has been both lost and gained
and that the earth may have been through golden ages that may have even
approached our modern times for enlightenment or understanding of the world
around us.
It
shows too that the bible is not quite as unscientific as many do and have
portrayed it because even highly educated scholars of times past have progressed
through stages of awareness that have lacked understanding.
This
simple statement by Isaiah shows what
many even of the ‘educated’ in the middle Ages to even later ages that believed
or theorized about the world being ‘flat’ in those times were totally incorrect
in their concepts when even Isaiah of some 2500 years ago knew it to be round.
Didn’t
anybody in the “Flat world” era ever read their bibles?
Even
if they did, apparently they like our modern scholars obviously didn’t
believe what was plainly revealed
there and has been for countless centuries.
What that simple statement by Isaiah/God may also reveal by
implication is that the ‘kingdom in heaven’ or ‘kingdom of heaven’ may not
be all that distant from our planet as is supposed by many. The heavenly realm may in fact be a lot
closer to earth than we might imagine.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from
the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"?
This
simply shows the clear distinction between the two houses of
This
clear distinction will become even clearer at the end of this article when
Hosea is brought to the fore as back-up to Isaiah’s prophetic book under the
“supporting prophets” section heading.
Highlights from lead-up chapters to the last
several Chapters of Isaiah
The
lead up chapters actually start as far back as chapter 54 straight after
Isaiah’s vision of the Crucifixion, actually, that he recorded in chapter 53 as
mentioned and quoted earlier.
According
to the new Wikipedia article [but that could change due to the “fluid” nature
of the Wikipedia online Encyclopedia --- which although frowned upon by many is
not necessarily a bad thing at all] the scholars see the account in Isaiah 53
as a story about a mysterious “suffering servant” along with some of the
other references to Jesus by Isaiah which they apparently identify as about
four in number throughout Isaiah.
These
chapters are also supposed to be written by Isaiah’s disciples or someone
other than Isaiah according to the scholars and of course as with the
rest of Isaiah can’t see that they are indeed fantastic prophecies showing the
depth of Isaiah’s insights.
The
irony is that Isaiah was written by someone other than Isaiah who as the
secular scholars have noted was “a master of music and poetry” so the scholars
are in effect agreeing totally with us in this essay!
However,
be that as it may, starting out in an allegory clearly speaking about
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent
curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
3 For you will spread out to the right and to the
left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate
cities.
4 “Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do
not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of
your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
5 For your Maker is your husband-- the LORD Almighty
is his name-- the Holy One of
6 The LORD
will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit-- a
wife who married young, only to be rejected," says your God.
7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will
bring you back.
8 In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a
moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,"
says the LORD your Redeemer.
9 “To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore
that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn
not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.
10 Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you
will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,"
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
NIV Isaiah 54:2-11
The
underlined and emphasized portions raise some very interesting questions that
just beg for an answer because some of these statements are affirmed by
Zechariah and some other prophets.
A
comparison to some verses from Zechariah should suffice to show Isaiah’s
prophetic talents were prolific:
3 For you will spread out to the
right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and
settle in their desolate cities.
Compare to Zechariah: [notice especially the last part of verse
6 underlined]
5 Then the leaders of
6 “On that day I will make the leaders of
A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will
be divided among you.
NIV Zechariah 14:1
We
know through our previous studies into prophecy that even though the Jews
returned to the holy land 70 years after the Babylonian captivity, God only
restored to them their original lands and possession of their ‘original’
estates.
Although
Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah and the Jewish governors and the
42,000[approx.] returnees were given unprecedented favour and considerable
authority over the trans-Jordan region by their Babylonian and Medo-Persian
overlords, Artaxerxes, Cyrus and Darius --- they were never given any of the
surrounding lands of their neighbouring districts.
This,
of course makes this prophecy above a prophecy for our future, because
the Jews only possess even today only part of the original holy land
that was their original inheritance among the tribes of
Are
the Jews to be given expanded borders beyond current confines because of the
200 million man army invasion of Revelation 9 and their surrounding neighbour’s
nation’s violence towards them, i.e. those that come against them just before
Jesus’ return as Zechariah shows? Who
knows? It does look likely though.
Verse
7 of Isaiah was fulfilled by the return of the Jews 70 years after the
Babylonian captivity --- and Isaiah’s disciples according to scholars were
supposed to have written these verses? How could they have known prophecies,
worthy of a master prophet, unless that prophet told them or wrote it down for
them? The scholar’s assertions are
getting even thinner to almost and actually laughable, indeed.
Verses
8&10 are clearly far distant or ‘timeless’ promises but verse 9 is a bit of
a curiosity in view of the 67-70 AD great tribulation that was visited on the
Jews of Jesus’ and the apostles generation.
Perhaps
an answer to that will turn up somewhere --- we’ll keep our eyes peeled for
that one and inform our readers when we find it.
Verses
11&12 are confirmed ‘in spades’ by the apostle John in the book of
Revelation and this is clearly a reference to the New Jerusalem after the
millennium:
11 “O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not
comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with
sapphires.
12 I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates
of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your sons will be taught by the LORD,
and great will be your children's peace.
NIV Isaiah 54:11-13
None
of these things were ever done in the past that’s for sure and not likely in
our present day and this is not allegory as the book of Revelation
clearly shows --- but in addition to a hint that the Jews will be personally
taught by our Lord in the future there are these verses in Revelation to
consider by way of comparison:
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure
gold, as pure as glass.
19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated
with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the
second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the
seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase,
the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate
made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like
transparent glass. NIV Revelation 21:18-21
Quite a lot of precious stones are indeed pictured there in
Revelation as Isaiah states in verse 12 clearly enough --- and sapphires are at
least a common factor in the foundations.
Are the ‘singular’ pearly gates going to be encrusted with Jewels
as well? Who knows?
Can God manufacture/create solid pearl gates without giant clams
or oysters to make them? Again who knows? --- But Jesus says with God all
things are possible. [Mathew 19:26]
Isaiah
finishes off this chapter with some extraordinary promises from God for the
future beyond our day:
14 In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny
will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far
removed; it will not come near you.
15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my
doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you.
16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans
the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have
created the destroyer to work havoc;
17 no weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of
the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,"
declares the LORD. NIV Isaiah 54:14-17
The
KJV uses different wording for that last verse’s last sentence though:
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and
their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.
Clearly
this last verse will only be fulfilled when the Jews are included in the New
Covenant at some stage in our future.
God
will indeed keep His promises to make them holy and righteous in spite of their
continued stubbornness in not recognizing Jesus as their future king --- God’s
promises as all prophecy shows and the middle chapters of Isaiah especially ---
never
fail.
Highlights from the 55th chapter:
Confirming
these promises are indeed to be fulfilled when David is again alive in
the future:
3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your
soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the
people, a leader and commander to the people.
5 Behold, thou
shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because
of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified
thee.
6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye
upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will
have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
KJV Isaiah 55:3-8
Verse
5 clearly hasn’t occurred yet.
God
promises the Jews will change their [wicked] ways in regard to acknowledging
their true king in many prophecies --- the only remaining questions being
exactly when and how many will do so.
The book of Zechariah hints at about a third of those who currently
occupy the holy land [Zechariah 13:8-9] but not how many among the dispersed
Jews throughout the rest of the world --- the majority of whom live in
The
last several chapters of Isaiah really put forth some quite stunning prophecies
equally on a par to the middle chapters in regard to what God promises to do
for the Jews and represent the culmination of what Zechariah and many other
prophets show to be what God has in store for the Jews specifically as God’s
chosen scepter peoples.
The
last block of several chapters regarding content and prophetic themes really
begin in earnest at chapter 59 with this opening statement that are completely
consistent with themes Isaiah spoke of in the first 39 chapters:
1 Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot
save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and
your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
13 In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and
departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and
uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice
standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from
evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that
there was no judgment.
KJV Isaiah 59:1-2, 13-15
Clearly these last verses are for when the 200 million man army
of Revelation 9 invades the holy land in our future:
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will
repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he
will repay recompence.
19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the
west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit
of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to
21 As for me, this
is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee,
and my words which I have put in thy mouth,
shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of
the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for
ever. KJV Isaiah 59:18-21
Verse
21 is clear enough confirmation of who the true author of Isaiah’s prophetic
book really was.
Since the King James Version of the bible seems to be the only
one among the many other modern translations that has the words When the enemy shall come in
like a flood
We’ve included a little explanation which helps to show that
either way --- these passages of prophetic scripture are still talking about
Jesus’ intervention in our world as is Zechariah’s accounts of that future
coming of our Lord in Zechariah 12&14:
The
Hebrew word ruwach is translated as “spirit” or “breath” according to context:
To
understand Isaiah 59, you probably should read this in the NIV several times
because the archaic language of the KJV is particularly obtuse in this
chapter. After describing the sorry
state of society in which no one seeks to do good and no one seeks justice,
Isaiah describes the intervention of God into the situation:
16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that
there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his
own righteousness sustained him. 17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate,
and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance
and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
18 According to what they have done, so will he repay
wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands
their due. 19 From the west, men will fear the name of the LORD, and from the
rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a
pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives along.
20 "The Redeemer will come to
This
whole passage is describing God’s intervention into human events because those
who should be following His ways have abandoned those ways.
However,
keep in mind that God uses the armies of men (Philistine, Babylonian, Roman etc.)
to extract His vengeance. Verse 19
should not be taken literally unless one takes it to mean the
concentration of the attack on “
This
could be referring to Vespasian’s approach to Jerusalem in 67 AD “from the
east” (that’s the side of Jerusalem where he set up the initial attack on
Jerusalem) and his son Titus’ approach from the west (he had brought his army
up from Egypt after transporting them from Rome to Alexandria). This is how they surrounded
Whether
the translation is “spirit” or “breath” makes no difference; in both cases, it
points out that the events that happen are driven by the will of God.
Author’s note:
the above explanation supplied courtesy of Clay Willis, co-author and webmaster
of this website --- but the underlining is by the current author of this essay.
This above explanation was a reply to an e-mail by the current author of this
essay requesting information from Clay Willis.
The
book of Revelation simply says God will gather his enemies in the place
called Armageddon [Revelation 16:14] which has connotations that sort of
implies that a certain amount of force by the breath or spirit of the Lord
could indeed be used to ‘drive along’ the Gentile nations to gather
where God wants them to be in our future for His spectacular return in this
century. J
* see the
footnotes or author’s notes for the full byplay between the authors of this
website via the e-mail exchanged recently during the writing of this essay and another
‘incident’ that occurred midway during the current writing that may necessitate
a follow up article --- that may have some interesting repercussions if
pursued.
Revelation and
Zechariah support Isaiah’s prophecies fully
To
understand these references in verses 19-20 fully we must actually go
back to chapter 11 in Isaiah’s first 1-39 chapters section claimed by scholar’s
as actually being Isaiah’s work to prove beyond a shadow of doubt [with
the addition of other prophecies] that what the scholars claim as third Isaiah
i.e. chapters 55 onwards are actually pure Isaiah and fully supported by
the book of Revelation and other prophets.
If
the ‘testimony’ of Jesus, i.e. Revelation [the entire book of Revelation
represents to a great degree “the spirit of prophecy’ Revelation 19:10]
supports Isaiah then Isaiah was clearly written by the same ‘approved’ author.
Isaiah was indeed quoted by Jesus and the apostles often --- up to 50 times
according to the fly-leaf in the introduction to one the author’s hard copy
editions of the KJV.
So out of curiosity we’ll endeavour to find as many of those
quotes as possible for our readers --- using our ‘electronic bible’ library
versions as an extra addition to the overview to be included at the close of
this article or
in the footnotes or author’s notes section to appear after the essay proper.
Chapter
11 of Isaiah opens with yet another one of Isaiah’s incredible insights into
both Jesus’ first advent and a very clear reference to the time of the
beginning of the 1000 year reign of Christ where even the wild nature of
animals will be changed so that even children will be able to play amongst
formerly dangerous animals and reptiles:
A clear reference to Jesus’ first advent:
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from
his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the
Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the
Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD--
3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He
will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with
his ears;
A further clear reference of what Jesus will do at His return
this century:
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike
the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay
the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the
sash around his waist.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will
lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a
little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will
lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the
earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
NIV Isaiah 11:1-9
Other
prophets support the first half of this chapter but our chief concern here is
the remainder of this amazing prophecy being fully supported by Zechariah and
Revelation.
Here’s Isaiah’s 59th chapter reference again with
different emphasis:
19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the
west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in
like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to
Compare
to the earlier Isaiah, chapter 11:
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the
peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of
rest will be glorious. NIV Isaiah 11:10
This next part of
Isaiah’s 11th chapter is absolutely fascinating inasmuch as it ties
in perfectly to Isaiah’s 60th chapter which in turn ties into
Ezekiel’s last eight chapters perfectly well also, as we are about to show very
clearly and all fully supported by the book of Revelation and a number of other
prophets including Jeremiah, Hosea, Zechariah i.e. more than the requisite ‘two
witnesses’ that the Jews require to establish a matter of truth, indeed:
11 In that
day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that
is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt,
from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia,
from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.
12 He will raise a banner for the nations and
gather the exiles of
13 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.
14 They will swoop down on the slopes of
15 The LORD will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching
wind he will sweep his hand over the
16 There will be a highway for the remnant of his people that
is left from Assyria, as there was for
Each of these verses deliberately separated due to the amount of
underlining used to draw attention to the incredible prophecies that each of these
individual verses represents in itself, that are backed up by prophecies
throughout all the bible, will be accompanied by a suitable explanation and
location of the back-ups in the word of God --- showing of course that all
prophecy is indeed interrelated and connected together in extraordinary ways:
11 In that
day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that
is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt,
from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from
Hamath and from the islands of the sea. NIV Isaiah 11:11
The only other
time [i.e.
the first time] the Lord has ever recovered some of his chosen peoples which
were taken into captivity in all those lands enumerated by Isaiah in this verse
was after the 70 years captivity under the Babylonians. This was during the time of Ezra, Nehemiah,
Haggai and Zechariah i.e. the Gentile kings, Artaxerxes, Cyrus and Darius’
times.
Since
none of the other ten tribes of Israel were ever returned from their Assyrian
captivity, what Isaiah is showing here is that apparently some Jews were
scattered among the captives of the other ten tribes also --- but that the
Jews
were the ‘remnant of
We
could in fact leap to the conclusion that those nations so enumerated by Isaiah
are the nations of our future that take the modern Israeli’s captive when the
modern siege of Jerusalem occurs in our future --- but that would be not
consistent with proper investigative reporting of truth --- and truth is indeed
what we ourselves seek in all our work.
Clearly then, the
‘second’ time
that God declares through Isaiah that He is going to set His hand to recover
remnant of His people i.e. the Jews --- is yet ahead of us in our future
because clearly the Jews of the second Diaspora are still scattered over the
four corners of the earth today in our times.
This is confirmed completely in the next verse but it also adds another
dimension:
He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of
We
could make the assumption that ‘
The
other ten tribes are Israelites as well, but again we shouldn’t jump to conclusions
or read into prophecy what isn’t necessarily there.
It
does however mention nations [plural] not just the Jews for whom the banner
will be raised.
What
is not clear is if this banner [Jesus] is raised as a sign for all nations or
Just God’s chosen nations as verse 10 shows:
10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the
peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place
of rest will be glorious. NIV Isaiah
11:10
Ezekiel
37 does indeed show that all the Israelite nations will at some point be
restored and joined together again with the Jews but that doesn’t necessarily
occur until after the millennium begins or ends so caution rather than rashness
is prudent in this case however, because as stated we want the truth too and
assumption vary rarely leads or almost never leads to the truth. Clearly this time that Ezekiel refers to is
after the millennial 1000 year reign of Christ.
Because
this prophecy is set amid passages that are all future prophecy the meaning
of the ‘rivalry’ here between the modern descendents of Ephraim [the English
speaking peoples] and
13 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
We
know from ancient History there was that ideological split which led to wars
between the Jews and the house of Joseph, known as Ephraim [Samaria], and these
were recorded by many prophets in many prophecies --- but we are unsure what to
make of that statement in Isaiah in terms of a modern setting or in
terms of today’s current history where these nations are working together in
the physical sense as ‘brothers in arms’ to combat terrorism in the middle
east.
What
is very clear on the other hand is that statement in the middle of this verse
that shows that the modern enemies of the Jews [Judah] will be completely cut
off and dealt with in no uncertain terms, as many prophecies also show. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah in fact show
that God began to deal harshly with all those ancient nations that came against
the Jews after He had dealt with the continued rebelliousness of His own chosen
peoples.
Since
many prophecies cover the enemies of God’s people, a third part of this essay
may be written to cover that aspect which is also a factor in understanding
Isaiah --- the master prophet.
They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west; together they will
plunder the people to the east. They will lay hands on
It
must be remembered that Isaiah is using the names of the ancient nations as they
were known to him throughout all of his prophecies and clashes between these
nations did indeed occur in the ancient past.
We
need to consider that since the entire setting contextually, is future
prophecy, that this has an application for our future as yet also not
understood by us completely. But as mentioned also, other prophecies also show
this plundering of modern nations to the east and west of the holy land and we
repeat some of them here for added emphasis and there is even this hint in Isaiah
chapter 59:19 to that effect which pretty much links chapter 11 firmly to
chapter 59 as fully Isaiah’s:
19 From the west, men will fear the name of
the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For
he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives
along. NIV Isaiah 59:19
Also
repeated earlier in Isaiah 54:3 as follows:
3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your
descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. NIV Isaiah 54:3
Compare
to the other similar back-up prophecies from Zechariah:
"On that day I will make the leaders of
A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will
be divided among you.
NIV Zechariah 12:3, 6 &14:1
All
this in verse 3&6 of Zechariah 12 occurs during the first preliminary
battle portrayed in Revelation 9 and Zechariah 12 and later Zechariah 14:1
apparently, when the spoils of war are reaped at the time of the second battle
“of that battle great day of God almighty” Revelation 16:14&16 [so called,
Armageddon] which occurs at the time that the Lord sets foot on the mount of
Olives as Zechariah 14 also shows:
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and
the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and
half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people
shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as
when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that
day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the
mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward
the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall
remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. KJV Zechariah 14:2-5
The
rest of Zechariah 14 shows the final battle and its aftermath as a number of
other prophets also show, which will be set out in the section heading of this
essay “support prophecies” in part.
These
support prophecies will be more to show where Ezekiel’s temple fits in with
Isaiah’s similar prophecies we are about to cover in chapter 60 however.
The LORD will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching
wind he will sweep his hand over the Euphrates River. He
will break it up into seven streams so that men can cross over in sandals.
Isaiah 11:15
It’s
interesting that the book of Revelation backs this up completely but only
Isaiah out of all the prophets supplies some of the detail that is left out of
Revelation as to exactly how this was to be done in our future:
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet,
Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were
prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third
part of men. KJV Revelation 9:14-15
And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the
sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
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 16:8 and 16:12
This is all a part of the first ‘preliminary’ battle of
Zechariah 12 in which the Jews are pictured fighting the surrounding nations
but the second and final battle follows hot on the heels of the first battle
portrayed in Zechariah 12 and Revelation 9 i.e. these two battles of
Revelation chapters 9&16 are so close together in time sequence as to be almost one continuous battle:
2 Behold, I will make
3 And in that day will I make
Is the second half of this verse in Zechariah 12:3 a hint of the
coming 200 million man world army that revelation portrays? How could the Jews
possibly survive those odds? That the battle of Armageddon --- so called ---
portrays?
The answers do seem to lie in this next verse:
8 In that
day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is
feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall
be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I
will seek to destroy all the nations that come against
And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem;
and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together,
gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. KJV Zechariah 14:14
It would seem that those four angels go to bat on the behalf of
the Jews in defending and helping in slaying a third of the part of mankind
[i.e. the surrounding nations] that come against the Jews. Notice again the last part of verse14:14 of
Zechariah above confirming a great spoil will be taken by the Jews.
The
rest of the world of course won’t see the angels fighting on behalf of the Jews
in that ‘first’ battle --- but the world will see the utter destruction that is
wrought on the surrounding peoples and it may just be why the 200 million man
world army is called for, in an effort to stop the slaughter the Jews alone would
be seemingly responsible for at this future time.
Isaiah Chapter 60 reveals exactly what God
is going to do after the final battle of what many call “the battle of
Armageddon”
In
the long run it doesn’t really matter how or why God gathers the nations to
fight against Jerusalem only that He does so for His own reasons --- but it is
very clear that Isaiah saw our future in extreme detail and even apparently
saw modern aircraft returning some of the Jews that are scattered
throughout the world today and so we quote this entire chapter for our readers
because it’s a pivotal chapter leading to Isaiah’s opening question in 66th
chapter of verse 1:
1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD
rises upon you.
2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick
darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory
appears over you.
After
what clearly amounts to WW3 --- darkness might indeed cover our earth at least
over the peoples of the
3 Nations will come to your light, and
kings to the brightness of your dawn.
4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble
and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are
carried on the arm.
5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will
throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to
you the riches of the nations will come.
6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels
of Midian and Ephah. And all from
7 All Kedar's flocks will be gathered to you, the
rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar,
and I will adorn my glorious temple.
8 “Who are these that fly along like clouds, like
doves to their nests?
9 Surely the
islands look to me; in the lead are the ships of Tarshish, bringing your sons
from afar, with their silver and gold, to the honor of the LORD your God, the Holy One of
Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.
10 “Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their
kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you
compassion.
11 Your gates will always stand open, they will
never be shut, day or night, so that men may bring you the wealth of the
nations-- their kings led in triumphal procession.
12 For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will
be utterly ruined.
13 "The
glory of Lebanon will come to you, the pine, the fir and the cypress together,
to
adorn the place of my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place of my feet.
14 The sons of your oppressors will come bowing
before you; all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you
the City of the LORD,
15 “Although you have been forsaken and hated, with
no one traveling through, I will make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all
generations.
16 You will drink the milk of nations and be nursed
at royal breasts. Then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring you gold, and
silver in place of iron. Instead of wood I will bring you bronze, and iron in
place of stones. I will make peace your governor and righteousness your ruler.
18 No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor
ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
19 The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of
the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your
God will be your glory.
20 Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more;
the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.
21 Then will all your people be righteous and they will
possess the land forever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my
hands, for the display of my splendor.
22 The least of you will become a thousand, the
smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly." NIV Isaiah 60:1-22
This
chapter in complete confirmation of Ezekiel’s last 8 Chapters shows that a
temple will be built during the millennial reign of Christ and also confirms
the visions given to the apostle John about the time after the millennium when
the Father reigns in New Jerusalem [Revelation 21:2-5] as can be clearly seen
in verses 19-20.
Chapter
61 continues on in the same context after the first verse which was a prophecy
regarding Jesus’ first advent, with the second verse announcing The final day
of the Lord which also sets up the last chapter’s revelations of that final
outcome following this particular “Day of the Lord” to come in our future:
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance
of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who
grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil
of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of
despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor. NIV Isaiah 61:2-3
Further
confirmation of prophetic themes running throughout Ezekiel’s last 8 Chapters:
And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will
be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of
nations, and in their riches you will boast.
NIV Isaiah 61:6
This
next part is not going to sit too well with either Christianity or the Muslim
religion:
7 Instead of their shame my people will receive a double
portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their
inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be
theirs.
8 “For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and
iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting
covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed." NIV Isaiah 61:7-9
Verse
8 is confirmation that the Jews will be included in the New Covenant at last
just as the prophet Joel shows:
Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, I will pardon.` The LORD dwells in
With
the possible exception of all of Chapter 64 and a possible beginning at either
verse 7 or about verse 17 of chapter 63 which could indeed have been written by
Isaiah’s disciples --- these are the only concession that we are prepared to
make on that score because as pointed out in an earlier point that we’ve made
--- It was not uncommon for other servants of God to finish or add to the
ending of even Moses Pentateuch or Samuel’s Books of prophecy.
Chapter
62 and the beginning of Chapter 63 are too specific, with prophetic detail that
follows through from even the early to the middle chapters and is consistent
with all the rest so we’ll just show the highlights as follows with no
emphasis:
You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, a
royal diadem in the hand of your God.
NIV Isaiah 62:3
10 Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the
way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a
banner for the nations.
11 The LORD has made proclamation to the ends of the
earth: "Say to the Daughter of
12 They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed
of the LORD; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer
Deserted. NIV Isaiah 62:10-12
All Isaiah shows God was going to begin dealing out punishment
to the nations that were his enemies even back in Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s days
--- there is however a curious parallel in Revelation that suggests God deals
pretty much the same way with the nations of the past and that he will no doubt
do so again in the future with little variation as the parallel in Revelation
shows after this quote:
1 Who is this coming from
2 Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress?
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone; from the
nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in
my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing.
4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the
year of my redemption has come.
5 I looked, but there was no one to help, I was
appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm worked salvation for me, and
my own wrath sustained me.
6 I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I
made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground." NIV Isaiah 63:1-7
This last block of prophecy in Isaiah 63:1-7 actually has a
parallel in the Book of Revelation for consideration with regard to Jesus’
bloodstained garments that He is apparently going to appear in when He returns
as King and God of all the earth:
11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was
a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes
war.
12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head
are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.
13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of
God.
14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on
white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to
strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the
fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name
written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried
in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather together
for the great supper of God,
18 so that you
may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their
riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great."
19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth
and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse
and his army. NIV Revelation 19:11-19
The
opening of Chapter 65 Falls into line with the early chapters 1-39 in setting
out the faults and reasons that God delivered the punishments to His peoples in
the first place up to verse 15 where consistent with the earlier, chapters
within the first 1-39 dealing with the far future.
Isaiah
then delivers what Isaiah’s disciples could not possibly know unless they
exceeded the master prophet in ability to foresee the future and this remainder
of 65th chapter then sets up the delivery of the 66th
chapter showing not only the coming of the Day of the Lord but its aftermath as
well.
Included in the latter half of the 65th
chapter is a depiction of life during the millennium and the promise of a new
heavens and new earth that is fully supported by the Revelation of Jesus Christ
in the book of Revelation itself:
16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so
by the God of truth; he who takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of
truth. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.
17 “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former
things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will
create, for I will create
19 I will rejoice over
An
incredible promise of longer physical lives --- perhaps approaching or even
exceeding that of Adam and the other ancients that lived to nine hundred years
or thereabouts.
20 "Never
again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who
does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere
youth; he who fails to reach a hundred
will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they
will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live
in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my
people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their
hands.
23 They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed
to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their
descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still
speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw
like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor
destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD.
NIV Isaiah 65:16-25
In
summary form --- chapter 65 together with chapter 66:
It’s entirely possible Isaiah’s disciples could
have taken a leaf out of Isaiah’s early chapters and copied Isaiah’s style by
writing the 25th verse above from chapter 11 below --- but didn’t
--- for the simple reason there’s no way they could have known nearly 800 years
in advance that the apostle John would write about a vision given him of a
new heavens and new earth and described by John with almost the exact words
of a prophecy given him by Jesus describing the very same post millennium point
in time of an incredible future for God’s peoples.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the
goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and
a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will
lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the
sea. NIV
Isaiah 11:6-9
Compare
Revelation with Isaiah’s almost identical words repeated below:
Revelation:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no
longer any sea. NIV Revelation 21:1
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things has passed away."
NIV Revelation 21:4
Isaiah:
17 “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former
things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
I will rejoice over
The
first half of Chapter 66 follows the same pattern as chapter 65 in falling back
to things of the past up to verse 6 then a new dimension or theme is added from
chapter 7-14 describing the growth or birth of the kingdom of God in its
infancy to its final fruition and up till verse 14 where the narrative once
more reverts to recurrent themes shown throughout Isaiah [from as early as
chapter 2:1-4] in verse 15-18 in covering the final ‘Day of the Lord’
Verses
19-24 finish off with the aftermath of the day of the Lord and the beginning of
Jesus’ reign on earth.
19 And I will
set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the
nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to
the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory;
and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.
20 And they shall bring all your
brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon
horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts,
to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring
an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.
21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith
the Lord.
22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I
will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your
name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from
one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the
Lord.
24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases
of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die,
neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all
flesh. KJV Isaiah 66:19-24
This
basically concludes what we set out to prove by way of showing Isaiah was
written by a single unified author i.e. God.
In
actuality it is only ‘the messenger’ that is being maligned by scholars but
since he indeed had enough of that type of discrediting in his own times we
didn’t think it fair that he should suffer the indignity of our times as
well. J
What
has been brought out fairly clearly, quite distinctly in fact, as a matter of
course in writing this essay is that the prophet Ezekiel’s last eight chapters
actually confirm what Isaiah had already written about in these last several
chapters of the book of Isaiah.
So
in effect Ezekiel supports Isaiah rather than the other way round regarding a
temple sanctuary being built during the millennium or thousand year reign of
Christ on earth.
Since
there does seem to be a sort of controversy seemingly raging over Ezekiel’s
third temple being built, among Christianity and Jews alike, a third part of
this essay will now cover this issue in detail.
Instead
of the supporting prophecies and the overview of Isaiah’s prophetic book
appearing in this section they will now be reserved for the concluding part of
“the Isaiah Essay” along with the full explanation that some of those
supporting prophets provide regarding Ezekiel’s third temple.
It’s quite a fascinating story for the simple reason it will be
a true one in our future reality.
If
our readers haven’t yet had their fill of extraordinary surprises already ---
Guess what? MORE AWAIT YOU! Regards, Glenn.
End of Part II