127. Inheritor of My Mountains (2)

Posted on Posted in Sermon Notes Tagged with , , , ,

Hymns: RHC 532 Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us 101 Leaning on the Everlasting Arms 355 Day by Day

Isaiah 65

1 I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name. 2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; 3 A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick; 4 Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; 5 Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day. 6Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom, 7 Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom. 8 Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. 9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. 10 And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me. 11 But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number. 12 Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not. 13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: 14 Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. 15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name: 16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes. 17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. 24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

Inheritors of My Mountains (2)

OUTLINE

  • Blessings of the Gentiles and Bypassing of the Conceited Jews (v1-7, v11-12, 14b-15)
  • Blessings of the LORD’s True Servants (v8-10, 13-14a, 16-25)
    • The Remnant Identified (v8-10, 13-14a, 16)
    • Enjoying the Millennia and Eternal Comforts (v17-25)

8 Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. 9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. 10 And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.

13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: 14 Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, …

16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.

The whole nation shall not be cut off, but a remnant shall be kept and saved.

for my people that have sought me; with their whole hearts, being first sought and found by Him.

Thus saith the Lord – This verse is designed to keep their minds from utter despair, and to assure them that they should not be utterly destroyed. 

This was the case in 722 B.C. by the Assyrians, 586 B.C. by the Babylonians and A.D. 70 by the Romans and 1939-1945 by Hitler.

God preserved for Himself a remnant, which was Judah in 722 B.C., Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel, Nehemiah and others in and after 586 B.C. and a remnant of believers in Christ after the Holocaust.

Isaiah 24:7 (KJV) The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. 

The wine languishes or mourns because there are none to drink it; it is represented as grieved because it does not perform its usual office of exhilarating the heart, and the figure is thus an image of the desolation of the land.

The vine languisheth – It is sickly and unfruitful, because there are none to cultivate it as formerly. The idea is, that all nature sympathizes in the general calamity.

All the merry-hearted – Reference is mainly to those who were once made happy at the plenteous feast, and at the splendid entertainments where wine abounded. They look now upon the widespread desolation of the land, and mourn.

Is found in the cluster – The image seems to be taken from collecting grapes when a large part of them were in some way damaged or spoiled – either by the quality of the vine, or by a bad season, or by having been gathered too early, or being suffered to remain too long in a heap. In such a case the vine-dresser would be ready to throw them away. But in the mass he would find a few that were ripe and good. 

While he was throwing away the mass, someone would say that a part was good, and would entreat him not to destroy it. So with the Jews. The mass was corrupt, and was to be cut off. But still a portion should be left. 

Amidst the general desolation, a small part should be preserved. This was accomplished in the time of the captivity of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar. 

This is in accordance with the doctrine everywhere occurring in Isaiah and elsewhere in the Scriptures, that the whole Jewish nation should not be cut off, but that a remnant should be preserved.

Isaiah 1:9 (KJV) Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, andwe should have been like unto Gomorrah.

Isaiah 10:21 (KJV) The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.

Isaiah 11:11-16 (KJV) And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. 15 And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. 16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

A description of the scene leading to the establishment of nation of modern Israel on 14 May 1948.

For a blessing – That which is regarded as a blessing; that is wine. So will I do – The whole nation shall not be cut off, but a remnant shall be kept and saved.

9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. 10 And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.

And I will bring forth a seed – I will give descendants to Jacob, who shall share my favour and repossess the land.

An inheritor of my mountains – The mountains of Palestine – Jerusalem and the vicinity – called the mountains of God because He claimed that land as His special residence, and the place where His holy presence was established.

And mine elect – They who have been chosen by me to maintain my faith in the world.

Judah an inheritor of his mountains – the Jews’ return out of the captivity of Babylon to Jerusalem, and into their own country, and particularly to worship God in His temple upon Mount Zion. My mountains: the country of Judea was a mountainous country.

Ezekiel 36:1 (KJV) Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD:  

Ezekiel 36:8 (KJV) But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.

Psalm 125:2 (KJV) As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.

The mountains were round about Jerusalem. God calls these mountains His mountains, because He had chosen that country before all others, and was once truly worshipped there.

The special favour of God to identify for Himself a land and a Temple wherein He dwells with His people.

Genesis 15:18-21 (KJV) In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

And Sharon – Sharon was properly a district south of Mount Carmel, along the coast of the Mediterranean, and extending from. Caesarea to Joppa. In the Scripture, this is almost a proverbial name to denote extraordinary beauty and fertility. [Barnes]

Shall be a fold of flocks – At the time contemplated here by the prophet – the close of the exile – that whole country would have lain waste about seventy years. Of course, during that long period it would be spread over with a wild luxuriance of trees and shrubs. Once it was celebrated pasture-ground, and was exceedingly beautiful as a place for flocks and herds. Such a place it would be again When the exiles should return, and cultivate their native land. 

The following description of Sharon, in the spring of 1824, by Mr. Thompson, an American Missionary, will give an idea of the natural appearance of that part of Palestine. The view taken was from a high tower in Ramla. ‘The whole valley of Sharon, from the mountains of Jerusalem to the sea, and from the foot of Carmel to the hills of Gaza, is spread before you like a painted map, and is extremely beautiful, especially at evening, when the last rays of the setting sun gild the distant mountain tops, the weary farmer returns from his labor, and the bleating flocks come frisking and joyful to their fold. At such a time I saw it, and lingered long in pensive meditation, until the stars looked out from the sky, and the cool breezes of evening began to shed soft dews on the feverish land. What a paradise was here when Solomon reigned in Jerusalem, and sang of the roses of Sharon!’

And the valley of Achor – This was a valley near to Jericho, and was distinguished as the place where Achan was put to death by stoning (Joshua 7:24).

The word Achor (עכור akor ), means properly “causing affliction,” and the name was probably given to that valley from the trouble or affliction which was there caused to the Israelites from the sin of Achan. 

The phrase, ‘the valley of Achor,’ would probably thence become a proverbial expression to denote that which caused trouble of any kind. And the sense here probably is, that that which had been to the nation a source of calamity should become a source of blessing – as if a place distinguished for causing trouble should become as celebrated for producing happiness. 

As that valley had been a source of great trouble on their first entering into the land of Canaan, so it would become a place of great exultation, peace, and joy, on their return from their exile. They would naturally enter Canaan near to that valley, and the place which to them had been once the occasion of so much distress, would be found a quiet and peaceful place where their herds might lie down in safety.

That he who blesseth himself in the earth – That is, he who shall invoke blessings on himself.

Shall bless himself in the God of truth – Or by the true God. He shall not seek a blessing from a false god; but he shall come before the true God, and seek a blessing at His hand.

And he that sweareth – Every oath that is taken in the land shall be by the true God. There shall be no swearing by idols; but the true God shall be everywhere acknowledged.

Because the former troubles are forgotten – The former punishments and calamities shall be passed away. The favor of God shall be restored. His pure worship shall be re-established, and his name shall be celebrated again in the land. The image here is one of returning prosperity and favor; a state when the happiness will be so great that all the former trials will be regarded as not worthy of recollection.

  • Enjoying the Millennia and Eternal Comforts (v17-25)

17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

Yet there would be future glory and prosperity, such as His true people had desired, and such as they had sought in their prayers; and the chapter concludes with a glowing description of the glory which would bless Israel, His people (v17-25).

The Lord will create anew when He returns and rule from Jerusalem. There is the allusion to the new heavens and new earth that comes when Christ returns to established His rule on earth for a thousand.

All the earth will turn to Christ. There would be true joy on earth when Christ rules.

To be continued…