Restoration Promised

Isaiah 62:10-12.

¹⁰ Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.

¹¹ Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.

¹² And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

In 40:3, a reference is made to the way prepared for the coming of the Messiah. Here, it is the way prepared for His people.

The highway mentioned here is a literal one referred to several times before this (v. 10; 11:10,19:23; 35:8).

The “standard” is always a rallying point around which the people can gather. Messiah, Himself will be the standard; the rallying point point of all nations. To Him they will come and to Him they will put their trust

Messiah is the salvation of all people in every corner of the earth. Not only His chosen people Israel, but also all the nations of the earth will enjoy the reward and blessing He has in store for them when they turn to Him in recognition and praise.

In that day, Israel will earn the name God’s holy people;  and Jerusalem    will enjoy the blessing and privilege of being a city everyone wants to see; of not forsaken.   

Indeed, the world will be a far different place for everyone when Jesus rules and reigns in Jerusalem, and the whole world is blessed by His presence!

Free from Oppression!

Isaiah 62:8-9.

⁸ The Lord hath sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured:

⁹ But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of My holiness.

What precious promises to a land and a people that will have gone through the Tribulation and been crushed under the heel of Antichrist! All down through history, one nation invades another and takes possession of everything that the people had labored for, but will not be allowed to enjoy.

God’s promise to Israel is that He will defeat the nations that would love to defeat Israel. No other nations, from that point to forever, would steal their hard-earned food and wine. They would enjoy the fruits of their own harvests, with no more fear of an enemy focused on destruction.

Watchmen on the Walls

Isaiah 62:6-7.

⁶ I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence,

⁷ And give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

Watchmen on the Walls:  The idea here is that God’s prophets and ministers were like the watchmen who could not hold their peace or give Him rest day or night until Prophecy was completely fulfilled in the full restoration of Jerusalem and Israel in their land.

Since cities were first built, walls have been built around them to protect them from invasion; the watchmen had the duty of warning the citizens if an attack was coming. The watchmen in this passage are not there to warn of attack, but to encourage the people and to continually pray to God for the complete restoration of Israel and Jerusalem.

God Rejoices over Israel

Isaiah 62:5.
 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

This is a very tender picture, the bridegroom rejoicing over his pure bride with protective, loving delight. As a young man marries a virgin, so will the sons of Israel come back to and marry (be united with) the rest of Israel and their land Palestine.

As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so God will rejoice over His eternal people and their land when the are eternally united.

In June, Terry and I will have been married for 50 years. I remember as if it were yesterday the expression on his face as I walked down the aisle toward him holding my dad’s arm. What I didn’t know is that the look of love, hope, expectation and rejoicing would never change. Of course we have had our times of struggle and not being happy with each other. That is normal in the best of marriages. But when the love is true and faithful, that sense of protection and caring that the bridegroom offers his bride never goes away.

So is the rejoicing of God when His people Israel finally turn to Him forever, never turning back to idols and other gods. The joy that a married couple feels here, now, will be like a tiny candle compared to the bonfire of rejoicing in the heart of God when Israel returns to Him forever.

A Crown of Glory

Isaiah 62:3-4.

³ Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.

⁴ Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

The picture here in verse three is of God holding Israel carefully in His hands, a precious jewel, a crown of glory for the nations to admire. The diadem is more like a tiara or the headdress of the priests, also indicative of Israel’s new relationship with God: The eternal restoration and reconciliation that all other nations will see, and will rejoice to see.

In v. 4, the words no more would indicate that Israel had been   forsaken by God for a time; but it would never happen again. Hephzibah  means delight, or in whom is My delight. 

Beulah means married,  and is a symbolic name of Palestine, just as Hephzibah is a symbolic name for Jerusalem.

The Garments of Salvation

Isaiah 61:10-11.

¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

¹¹ For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

Verse 10, along with vv. 1-2a, have been fulfilled with the first advent of Jesus Christ to the earth. Some believe that, because the personal pronoun “I” is used, Isaiah is speaking of himself. But that construct is not consistent with Luke 4:16-18, which Jesus quoted in the synagogue.

In Eastern weddings, both the bride and the groom were adorned with beautiful clothing and jewels, according to the wealth of the parents.

My favorite part in these two verses, even though they are full of the beauty, grace, and mercy of God, is the part that says that righteousness will “spring forth” among all the nations. Just as sin is accepted and is the standard for so many nations now, so will righteousness set the standard and be the accepted way of living during the Millennium.

Think of that! Righteousness will be NORMAL and EXPECTED among ALL nations, both Israel and all Gentile nations as well. All the terrible lying, subterfuge, personal attacks and hatred we are seeing in world politics now, will be over. Peace will reign; Jesus will reign; righteousness will cover the earth.

Honestly? It makes me yearn for the return of Jesus! Today would be just fine!

Eternal Reconciliation

Isaiah 61:9. “And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.”

One of the most glorious parts of the Millennial kingdom will be the reconciliation of Israel with God; a final, eternal reconciliation that will never be broken again

Not only will God restore, bless, and elevate Israel; all the nations of the world will also recognize that Israel is, and always has been, the nation He has chosen to bless; the nation from which Messiah would come to defeat Satan forever; the nation through which salvation for all people everywhere would become available.

They are also, sadly, the nation that rejected God, turned their backs on Jesus Christ, and needed to be disciplined, scattered, and almost destroyed before they finally returned to God.