Isaiah 66 has been quite a chapter! With more to come, really! (I just saw a Book that calls Revelation the “capstone” of the whole Bible. That’s what Isaiah 66 is to the whole Book, to the whole Prophecy, as well.)

Today our Text focuses on Isaiah 66:10-13. An advance view of Israel’s place in God’s future world, during the Millennium. (I am leaving the verse numbers in place, to help us locate the phrases or clauses upon which I comment.)

“10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: 11 That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. 12 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”

Written to people (most likely us Christians who obey Psalm 122:6) who genuinely “love Israel” and have “grieved” over her many trials … “10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her.”

Be happy for Jerusalem, Her Mesiah has come!

Millennially speaking, Jerusalem (and thus Israel) will be enjoying security and blessing as never before … with (King) Jesus on the Throne.

The second “rejoice” in verse 10 is “giyl” in Hebrew. To be so excited that one “spins round and round!”

The next two verses, 11 and 12, use the word picture of a nursing baby benefitting from her (or his) healthy mother! Read with me: 11 That ye (us saved gentiles) may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her (Jerusalem’s) consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. 12 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.”

Israel, the financial and political and scientific capital of the world!

(As in Zechariah 8:23 … “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”)

Wow!

And verse 13 … “comfort” for the whole world (what’s left of it after Armageddon) … via Jerusalem and Judah and Israel!

“13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” God speaking!

Israel’s “reputation, glory, honor” now restored!

Because of Jesus the Messiah!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

.

Jesus used the term with Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews who consulted our Lord one evening long ago. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN.” John 3:3 and 7.

And our Lord (Scripturally) learned that Expression from … Isaiah the Prophet, his writings!

God, speaking of Israel’s future Salvation, declared in Isaiah 66:9 … “Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.”

God as attending Physician in the birthing room!

But He is more than that, God as Creator of life … prior to the birthing room. As the very Lord of the birthing room!

He (the Lord) will some day (after the Tribulation has sufficiently humbled her (Israel) and brought her to the point of conviction) “will bring her to birth!” A second birth for that little nation! 

Then God promises to “cause her to bring forth!” Looks to me like Israel is now having children of her own! A host of “new births” as the Millennium begins, as Jesus returns to earth! Riding John’s “white horse” of victory, described in Revelation chapter 19.

And this birth will be successful, guaranteed! “Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.” (Throughout the whole Old Testament God is the Shutter and the Opener of the womb!)

Rachel’s words from Genesis 30:1 prefigure Israel’s new attitude here: “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.”

“GIVE ME CHILDREN, OR ELSE I DIE.” And God is now giving Israel children, lots of them.

To quote Isaiah 66:8 … “a nation will be born (again) in a day!” The King James Version, word for word: “Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once?”

Wow!

This Move of God, this true upcoming “Revival” may exceed the dimensions (the numbers) of any such Stirring in all the history of the Bible!

More than Pentecost!

More than Jonah’s converts in Nineveh!

Jesus, the True Evangelist!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

.

Two verses today, Isaiah 66:7 and 8, numerically marked for clarity here … ” (7) Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. (8) Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.”

The discerning eye can easily see that each of these verses uses the noun “travail.” In Hebrew this word is spelled “chul,” in both instances (verses), I mean. Suggesting this: “to be in pain, to travail (in giving birth), having something formed (a baby in one’s womb), to tremble and bring forth.” These definitions are all represented in the King James Version of Scripture, anyway.

But note this difference, an important one too. In verse 7 … “before she travails,” she gave birth to a Man-Child! I believe this “Man-Child” is a direct reference to Jesus! Yes, Israel gave us Jesus! Via the Virgin Birth! (Israel was not being unduly persecuted when Jesus was born. The Romans allowed her to live in relative peace, in fact. So, just like Isaiah prophesied in 700 BC … no travail here!)

Revelation 12 provides my Bible Background for making such statement. “(1) And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman (Israel) clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: (2) And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. (5) And she brought forth a MAN CHILD (Jesus), who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”

Wow! No wonder we Christians appreciate the Jews so much. Our Saviour was a Jew, from the ruling Tribe of Judah nonetheless!

Then as our text segues from verse 7 to verse 8 … another “travailing” episode occurs. “Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” AS “AS SOON AS SHE TRAVAILED, BUT TRAVAIL SHE DID THIS TIME!

See?

This “travail” occurs two thousand (and still counting) years after the Virgin Birth of Jesus! (After the Rapture as well!) During the Tribulation, the great Tribulation. When Israel so suffers under the reign of the devilish anti-Christ. Who will seek (an oft attempted, though still unsuccessful, genocide) to destroy the nation of Israel, all the Jewish people.

And this time, with much pain and agony (a hard time giving birth indeed) Israel will produce a whole (albeit little) miraculous Nation of born-again children of God, believers in Jesus Christ the Son of God!

Hallelujah!

A Blood Washed Remnant of (saved) Jews, when Jesus returns!

Zechariah 12:10 tells us more of that coming day … “And I (the Lord) will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the (Holy) Spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me (Jesus) Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son (God’s Only Begotten in fact), and shall be in bitterness (under conviction) for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Thrilling!

And when this glorious, unique birth occurs … the Millennium begins!

Zechariah 13:1 depicts it this way: “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.”

“There is a Fountain, filled with Blood. Drawn from Immanuel’s Veins. And sinners plunged beneath that Blood, lose all their guilty stains!”

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

.

Read with me Isaiah 66:6 … “A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.” Just a short few Lines of Scripture!

The “Voice” here, based on the context of our chapter (Isaiah 66) is None Other than that of Jesus!

Looks like this Circumstance occurs at our Lord’s Second Coming to earth, so aptly described in Revelation 19:11 and Zechariah 14:4.

Yesterday’s Lesson (Isaiah 66:5) plainly declares: “He shall appear to your joy!” God speaking to Israel, the Remnant who have believed in Jesus in those terrible last days of Tribulation!

Also today’s verse teaches us that the Lord (when He returns) will execute judgment on “His enemies.” Who, by the way, are Israel’s enemies too. (If one hates Israel, he or she also hates the God of Israel!)

And Jesus’ Judgment (the “Wrath of the Lamb,” Revelation 6:16) will include expelling all the Jew haters from Jerusalem! Zechariah 14:2 foretells what will have happened: “For I (the Lord) 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.” The Holy City … overrun by a bunch of filthy rebels, gentiles, anti-Semites!

But Jesus is here (in today’s Text) liberating Jerusalem! (“A Voice of noise from the City (Jerusalem), a voice from the Temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.”)

But He not only cleanses Jerusalem from such vileness … the Temple too! (“A Voice from the Temple!”) Yes, Jesus is going to cleanse that Place once again, one more time, the final time!

Oh, His Love for the House of God! That it be a “House of Prayer,” not a “Den of Thieves.” (Matthew 21:13)

And Jesus’ Judgment? It is here called “rendering recompense” to the enemies! “Giving them what they deserve!” Or “repaying” them, one lexicon says.

This is Galatians 6:7 in fulfillment. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Wow!

See how precise Isaiah is when it comes to the Second Coming of Jesus? Even down to our Lord’s specific Actions!

And, even here in Isaiah 66, there is more to come, the Lord willing. We shall study it again tomorrow morning.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I am glad we’re on the winning Side!

.

Isaiah 66:5 is phenomenal!

That verse has taught me (earlier this morning as I studied) that those who hate Israel, persecute her so relentlessly, often do so with a religious motive!

Here is our King James Text … “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.” Again, this is Isaiah 66:5.

God is addressing the faithful, the really born-again, in Israel. Bible loving people. “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word.” This much is abundantly clear.

The next line is what “arrested” me. God reminds Israel that she is not (by any means) a “unified” nation. She is hated by some of her very brethren, other Jews. Here’s Isaiah, speaking for the Lord … “Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out.” This is a Statement of historically verifiable fact!

The verb “cast out” is “nadah” in Hebrew. It means “to drive away, to thrust aside.” And it is written in the Piel stem, a Hebrew indication that this action is vigorous, aggressive, very intense.

(If you recall, the man born blind in John chapter 9, the man whom Jesus miraculously healed … was so outspoken about our Lord’s Power and Glory and Deity … that the Pharisees “cast him out” of the Synagogue! An apt illustration of Isaiah’s Sermon here.)

But now notice WHY they so mistreat Israel, true Israel. “Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out FOR MY NAME’S SAKE …!”

They actually believe they have tortured, imprisoned, killed those Israelites … for the sake of the Lord God himself! They cloak their sin in some sort of religious acceptance!

They say, as they light the fire (to burn the Jews to death, to ignite some holocaust) “Let the LORD be glorified.” Unimaginable, but true! (The Catholics did this during the Inquisition. And the Germans under Hitler! Just two examples.)

But, our verse promises, the day will come when all those hateful people … “shall be ashamed.” (Confounded, confused, delayed, disappointed!)

And when will THAT glorious day occur?

And here only the King James Version tells me this: When “He shall appear to your joy.” And I believe this “He” is none other than the returning Saviour, the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth!

In other words, God will make it “right” some day!

Let’s reassemble the Text for this morning: “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.”

Some day anti-Semitism will come to an eternal end.

So … this millennia long persecution of the Jews IS spiritually sourced! But it is not coming from God’s Holy Spirit … I say it is coming from the Devil, from Satan, from Lucifer, and from all the wicked who have chosen to follow that pernicious path.

“God bless Israel!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

.