122. Looking Forward to the Millennium (2)

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Hymns: RHC 226 The Lord Is King 227 O Glorious Day 450 To the Work!

Isaiah 62

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. 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.

Looking Forward to the Millennium (2)

OUTLINE

  • His Kingdom Will Not Tarry (v1-7)
  • His Kingdom Come (v8-12)

INTRODUCTION

We saw the function of the Jews in the Millennium in Isaiah 61 – 6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: menshall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

The main function of priests in the Old Testament are the teachers of the law, the Bible teachers of Israel. They will be teachers of the world in Christ’s kingdom and ministers of our God.

When God started the Theocracy of Israel, He said in Exodus 19:5-6 (KJV) Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

The Jews will be priests to the Gentiles, mediators to help them to God and it will be a full time job and with vast numbers of people upon earth ~ a trillion people on earth!

The sacrifices on behalf of the people and the people they will have to teach. The Millennia Temple will be greatly enlarged.

People in Israel will live to great ages, they would be healed of any diseases just like the time when Jesus walked the streets of Israel. He healed the lepers and the lame, the dumb and the deaf, there was no sick person after Jesus walked the length and breadth of the Israel in His 3 ½ years of ministry. It was a looking forward to the Millennium.

When the kingdom comes Jerusalem will flourish again, Jews, regenerated, healed, reinvigorated, natural bodies will rebuilt the ancient ruins with the strength that God endued them (Isaiah 61:4). Foreigners will be farmers and vinedressers to the Jews in Israel. 

Israel shall rejoice as the bride with the bridegroom. The wedding is the highest state that could be imagined, the first institution created. God glories in the bridegroom and the bride. He was the first solemnizer and wedding counsellor. 

  • His Kingdom Will Not Tarry (v1-7)

1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. 

The Lord will hasten to His kingdom – Isaiah 9:6-8 (KJV) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. 8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.

The church is exhorted to pray – Matthew 6:10 (KJV) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

The word “kingdom” speaks of God’s dominion expressing His rule and reign. The verb “come” is the first word in the Greek sentence giving it emphasis and it is given in the form of a command. It is an imperative giving a sense of urgency to its fulfilment and yet alluding to an action that is not started. Therefore, “Come, thy kingdom” is the literal translation of the cry of God’s people through the church age. 

The people of God are not satisfied with the present state of affairs in the world today as the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

The earth has been under God’s curse since the fall of man. Recall this pivot event in human history that resulting in our current state of misery.

  • His Kingdom Has Come (v8-12)

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: 

The day will come when Israel will be fully blessed of the LORD because they are wholly following the LORD – Romans 11:8 (KJV) (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.          

When Israel fails to walk with God, their departure from the LORD will bring spiritual misery.

Deuteronomy 28:14-15 (KJV) And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. 15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:

The history of Israel is a outworking of their departure from God for our learning. As God’s people, they were supposed to know better with the Word of God to guide and guard them.

How is it that they were overcome by temptation to go awhoring and suffering the distress of their alienation from God.

Just as it was with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden who had everything going for them. When the tempter came and enticed them, they fell.

James gave this admonition to the twelve tribes of believers scattered throughout Asia Minor in James 1:12-16 (KJV) Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 16Do not err, my beloved brethren.

Adam and Eve erred, they died and their posterity with them. The earth was cursed and they were banished from Paradise.

Raising of the nation of Israel was God’s plan to save the people in the nations of the world.

Out of Israel will come the Deliverer, the Christ. Our text gives us the consummation when Christ returns to restore Israel and rule as Israel’s King from Jerusalem.

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: 

Recall during the times of the Judges when Israel did what was right in their own eyes, the LORD sent enemies, and their corns were given for meat to their enemies, their wine to strangers.

Judges 6:1-6 (KJV) And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. 3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; 4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. 6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD.

Why were the Israelites hiding in caves (Judges 6:2)? With few fortified cities, the Israelites’ only protection was to hide out in the hills, where they could preserve their supplies and their families. In this region they are most likely to have used the caves from the Carmel range into the Iron Hills flanking the Valley of Jezreel on the southwest. 

Invasion at harvest time (Judges 6:3). The timing of the raider was very important. If harvest time had passed, the villagers would have stored and hidden all of their grain and could withstand attack more easily. If the grain was still in the fields, the invader would have ample provisions and the villagers none. This would suggest April or May as the time of the invasions. The villages could easily be crippled if they were deprived of their year’s supply of grain, so what the invaders did not use or steal, they destroyed. The trampling of the fields would jeopardize future seasons. 

Who were the Amalekites? (Judges 6:3) The Amalekites were a confederation of tribes living primarily in the steppe area southeast of Canaan (Exodus 17). There may have also been groups of Amalekites in the hill country west of Samaria. They were always portrayed as Israel’s rival for territory. The Amalekites wandered through vast stretches of land in the Negev, Transjordan and Sinai Peninsula. (Adapted from “The IVP Bible Background Commentary- Old Testament”, 252-3)

It was Israel’s sin that led to Israel’s chastisement. God sent the Midianites to improverished them. It was the anger of God’s wrath upon them not to destroy them to jolt them to repentance. 

Israel has repeatedly closed their ears to the warnings of God. Israel has become fearful of their enemies and their gods. They were exhorted to desist from fearing these dumb idols.

Psalm 115:4-8 (KJV) Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

Our text brings us through the thousand five hundred years of history from Moses to Jesus Christ and the church age brings us another two thousand years of Israel’s history with projection to Christ return to set up His Millennia Kingdom on earth.

In our Wednesday Bible Study, we were contemplating Israel requesting for a king and the LORD granting them their self-will showing them the deficiency of their king.

Of course, when the king is righteous, the nation prospers spiritually. During the reign of David and good kings after him Israel experienced some good years. However, compared with the LORD leading them, it was a far cry. God’s plan to save Israel and the nations of the world was to send His Son, who will be most qualified to rule Israel. Jesus is both God and man, two natures in one Person. His rule will be just. Israel made the mistake of crucifying their Christ. God turned it for their good in that Satan was defeated at the cross where Christ was crucified.

For their rejection of Messiah, Israel will be dispersed the second time in A.D. 70 to the four corners of the earth.

Their gathering together again as a nation on 14 May 1948 was fulfilling the plan of God in raising the nation to prominence to prepare for the return of Christ rule the world from Jerusalem.

Today, the nation is far from God. They still reject Jesus Christ as their Saviour except for a minority of believing Jews.

It tells us that the stage is set for Christ’s return. He can return anytime. When He does so, Israel’s enemies will no longer distress them as it is the case today. 

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: 

Israel will be blessed because Israel finally fears God.

Psalm 128:1-6 (KJV) A Song of degrees. Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. 2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. 3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. 4 Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD. 5 The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. 6 Yea, thou shalt see thy children’s children, and peace upon Israel.

Godliness and Fruitfulness

  • Fear God (v1a, 4)
  • Follow Him (v1b, 2)
  • Overall Fruitfulness Through Him (v3, 5-6)

Psalm 128 describes for us the quintessential of the godly man. Blessed according to God’s Word. This man “gever” used in verse 4, is the purest and most perfect example of a Spirit-filled Christian. This man is fully described for us in Psalm 37 and in verse 23 the King James translator called him the “good man”. Psalms 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.”

Spurgeon said well, “The fear of God is the corner-stone of all blessedness.” What is the fear of God? The fear of God is disposition to give utmost reverence and regard to God in one’s life. This is a man to live a life of holiness.

King Solomon filled this earthly life to the fullest. He summed up the godly life, the blessed life as this in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

And the blessing or the fruitfulness of a God fearer is received by faith not by measured by our feeble senses. Spurgeon again said well, “The blessedness may not always be seen by carnal readon, but it is always a fact, for God Himself declares that it is so, and we know that those whom He blesses are blessed indeed.”

This is also a good picture of the Millennium where Israel live in peace with Jesus ruling over the nation and the world. Satan will no longer deceive and distress the nations – Revelation 20:3 (KJV) And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

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. 

Israel shall live in holiness. 

Spurgeon observed well, “And so, to enjoy the divine blessing we must be active and walk; we must be methodical, and walk in certain ways; and we must be godly, and walk in the Lord’s days. God’s ways are blessed ways; they are cast up by the Blessed One, they were trodden by Him in whom we are blessed, they are frequented by the blessed, they are provided with means of blessing, they are paved with present blessings. And they lead to eternal blessedness: who would not desire to walk in them?”

It would be drank with gratitude to God in the feasts which were celebrated at the temple. 

Leviticus 6:16 (KJV) And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it.

Deuteronomy 12:17-18 (KJV) Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand: 18 But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.

Deuteronomy 14:23 (KJV) And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.

The idea is, that the effect of true religion would be to produce security and liberty, and to make people feel that all their blessings came from God; to partake of them with gratitude, and to make them the occasion of praise and thanksgiving.

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. 

It is a direction to the exiles in Babylon to go forth and return to their own land. The gates so long closed against their return would be thrown open, and they would now have liberty to depart for their own country. 

Thus explained, the connection is apparent. The watchmen were commanded to pray until this was done (v7); the prophet had said that he would not rest until it was done (v1); The LORD had promised this in a most solemn manner (v8-9); and now those prayers are heard, and that promise is about to be fulfilled, and they are commanded to leave the city and enter upon their journey to their own land.

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

1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

Isaiah 52:10-12 (KJV) The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. 12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.

Prepare ye the way of the people – Isaiah 40:3 (KJV) The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

It was a reminder of John the Baptizer whom we saw preparing the way of the LORD for in His first coming. Here is the preparation for His Second Coming.

Cast up, cast up the highway – Isaiah 57:14 (KJV) And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.

Gather out the stones – Clear it from the stones – in other words, make a smooth path on which they can travel with ease. Hence, it means to pile up stones in a heap; and it has also the signification of removing stones from a field (Isaiah 5:2), and here of removing them from the way when they are an obstruction to the traveller. 

Lift up a standard – As when an army is about to march. They were about to be collected from their dispersions and restored to their own land, and the command is given, that the banner might be reared that they might rally around it.

Isaiah 10:18 (KJV) And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. 

Isaiah 59:19 (KJV) 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. 

Isaiah 49:22 (KJV) Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.  

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. 

Behold the Lord hath proclaimed – Proclamation is made to all nations that the LORD is about to come and rescue His people.

Say ye to the daughter of Zion – To Jerusalem – Isaiah 1:8 (KJV) And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

Thy salvation cometh – The Hebrew word properly means salvation, but the reference is to God as the Deliverer or Saviour. The immediate allusion is probably to the return from Babylon, but the remote and more important reference is to the coming of the Redeemer (Isaiah 40:1-10).

Isaiah 40:1-9 (KJV) Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins. 3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 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. 6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: 7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. 8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. 9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

Behold, his reward is with him – Isaiah 40:10 (KJV) Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: 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.

And they shall call them – It shall be the honourable and just name by which they shall be known, that they are a holy people, and that they are the redeemed of the LORD. No name is so honourable as that; no one conveys so much that is elevated and ennobling as to say of one, ‘he is one whom the LORD has redeemed from sin and death and hell by atoning blood.’ 

He who has a just sense of the importance of this name, will desire no Other record to be made of his life – no other inscription on his tomb – than that he is one who has been redeemed by the LORD. [Barnes]

And thou shalt be called – 2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.

Sought out – The city much sought after, or much desired – to wit, by converts who shall come from afar; by foreigners who shall come to do thee honour. 

Isaiah 2:3 (KJV) And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Isaiah 40:5-6 (KJV) 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. 6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

Isaiah 40:10-11 (KJV) Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

Isaiah 49:18-22 (KJV) Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. 19 For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. 20 The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. 21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? 22 Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.

Or it may mean that Jerusalem would be a city sought out and desired by the LORD; that is, no more forsaken by Him. 

A city not forsaken – No longer given up to the invasions of a foreign enemy, and abandoned to long desolation. 

The idea is, that the church and people of God would be the object of His kind protecting care henceforward, and would enjoy his continued smiles.

CONCLUSION

The people of God functioning as His priests and experiencing the fullness of God’s blessing is the picture given here. Amen.