Isaiah 35 is a magnificent chapter.
Best I can tell, millennial from its first Line till its last!
It’s first two verses seem nearly poetic, word picturesque! “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.” Isaiah 35:1-2, King James Version.
The noun “wilderness” is “midbar” in Hebrew, translated “desert” 13 times in our Old Testament. And it is immediately “matched” (an example of literary “parallelism”) with the term “solitary place,” rendered as “dry” or “dry land” 9 times in Scripture. You immediately get the idea, the Holy Spirit being such a grand Author.
Seldom does the Bible associate “gladness” with “solitude or aridness. But here it clearly does! “Sus” in Hebrew does indicate a spirit of “rejoicing” (21 times) … but it is also the word for a “horse!” I suspect because horses “prance” and “dance” and “paw” often, being that exuberant for the race or battle or ride!
Why all this “gladness?”
The Lord has come!
Jesus, back to earth!
Deserts are not known for a lot of lush vegetation! (Ever heard of an “oasis?”) Very little rainfall too! But now …!
This hints at the fact that when Jesus rules on earth … even weather patterns will be “rectified, changed, healed!”
The dry “south” (“midbar” is translated “south” a few times, since that’s the general direction of the barren desert in relation to Israel) will trade its so-so reputation for that of glorious Lebanon (in Bible days) and the vibrancy of Carmel and Sharon!
This will be called a dramatic “reversal!”
And this once parched land will see “the Glory of our Lord!” Then another “parallelism,” will see “the excellency of our God!”
That’s Jesus, folks! (“Glorious, Excellent,” and a whole lot more!)
Just like when on earth the first time, everywhere He went dead people came to life … His second time on earth, everywhere He goes dead acreage begins to thrive!
Oh, the sheer Power of our Creator/Redeemer!
Paul was right, “By Him (Jesus) all things consist.” (Colossians 1:17) Literally meaning “all things hold together, exist, prosper, function rightly!” In Greek “sunistao.”
Wow!
When Jesus returns to earth …
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
So much in the Bible about the Millennium, yet I still imagine “the half has not yet been told!” (As an overwhelmed Queen of Sheba once said to King Solomon.)
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