Not only will JESUS literally return to earth (“And HIS feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east.” Zechariah 14:1) … and not only will multitudes then be SAVED, BORN AGAIN (“Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and HE WILL SAVE US: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his SALVATION.” Isaiah 25:9) … but also the earth itself will be abundantly blessed!

Even to the point that animal life will be impacted! (One of our upcoming Lessons … “The WOLF also shall dwell with the LAMB, and the LEOPARD shall lie down with the KID; and the CALF and the YOUNG LION and the FATLING together; and a little child shall lead them.” Isaiah 11:6) Yes, “physical” blessings too!

And today’s Text Verse, Isaiah 30:23 (not very well known, not often studied) hints at these physical (geographical) blessings.

“Then shall He give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.” Isaiah 30:23, King James Version

Look at the key words. The Lord “shall give rain.” That’s important in the Near East (including Israel) … but this divinely “controlled climate” is world-wide, I believe.

And this “rain” is targeting the “seed” of the ground … which will cause a bumper crop of wheat (or barley or rye) with which to make “bread!” Recall please the “famine” that will engulf planet earth under the antichrists’ reign of terror! (“A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny.” Revelation 6:6, a whole day’s wages to buy a handful of flour!)

Then Isaiah gives us a two word description of farming success during the Millennium … “fat” and “plenteous!” Self-explanatory, I think. But the former literally meaning “vigorous” and the latter meaning “stout, robust!”

Then the Holy Spirit gives us one more trait of the agricultural blessings of that coming Epoch … “In that day shall thy cattle feed in LARGE PASTURES.” Plenty of land! (Probably The CENTRAL issue in Israel today!) And apparently plenty of “cattle” to graze on that land! “CATTLE” feeding prodigiously, with the verb “feed” being cognate to the Hebrew noun “shepherd!” Yes, the “Chief Shepherd” will have returned! Not only to care for his “people sheep” but also for their “animal sheep” and livestock!

The Apostle Peter so promised: “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a …” 1 Peter 5:5, no telling what all will be “received,” in total!

Wow!

I’ve enjoyed sharing this “thought” with you today. The Website here (these cumulative) Lessons have been building since 2002! This whole on-line endeavor was the idea of my older son Joel, a God-called preacher and Pastor himself. Joel unexpectedly went home to be with the Lord last Wednesday. But his influence will herein live on, the Lord willing. At least until his Dad is called home too!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Unless the Lord chooses to answer this prayer, the last request in the whole Bible: “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22:20

No more death!

Revelation 21:4 … “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be NO MORE DEATH, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

Hallelujah!

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My Text this morning: “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isaiah 25:9, our chapter for nearly this whole week, focuses on the Millennium, the coming time when Jesus rules the earth.

Israel particularly is saying this. But the nations (gentiles) of the earth, by then, will freely agree!

“This is our God.” Is that not a personal, albeit collective, confession of faith? It may be the “Behold the Man” parallel of the Old Testament, quoting John 19:5. Or the “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” Sentiment, from John 1:29.

But the next clause, “We have waited for him,” is the real “clue” to what’s happening. The Hebrew verb “qavah” means “to hope for” someone or something! Actually this sentence occurs twice in our relatively short verse! “We have waited for him.” For emphasis no doubt! The seven year Tribulation will probably make its survivors (few in number) “eager” for the Messiah, the Deliverer, the Saviour!

By the way, we Christians today are yet to be “waiting for the Lord!” As in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 … “And TO WAIT for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” With “waiting” here implying our being “residents on earth with our hearts in Heaven!” It’s spelled “anameno.”

But back to Isaiah 25:9, this great watershed verse. “He will save us.” Is that not believing faith? Here is Israel (at least Israel, if not nearly all then-alive humanity) expressing the spirit of John 6:68 … “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to WHOM shall we go? THOU hast the words of eternal life.”

Amen!

“He will save us” merely claims in advance such verses as Romans 10:13, written in a Jewish context anyway. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Or Acts 16:31, written in a gentile context. “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

Then the verse reveals the general result of such glorious salvation … “We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Happiness and joy (unspeakable) in the saving Grace of God! He saved us, Hallelujah!

Wow!

Isaiah 25:9 is at least an amplification of Romans 11:26 … “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”

It’s going to happen, dear students! Of if you prefer, dear readers! (I like to think of us as fellow-learners in the Word of God.)

Jesus is coming again!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

What a verse to sequentially appear in our series on the Millennium, for THIS SATURDAY! The day we bury my precious Son Joel. A Preacher (Pastor) who believed every word of our Text.

Who looked up Wednesday, having been ushered into the Presence of the Lord, and said “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

Enjoy, Son!

We love you.

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Especially a time when the Lord graces Israel, the Kingdom of Heaven (another Bible name for the Millennium) will also bring God’s Goodness down upon all the earth in veritable “showers of blessings!” (Alluding to Ezekiel 34:26 … “And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.”)

My Bible Text this morning is Isaiah 25:7-8, precious Scripture indeed. The last clause of that two-verse Span speaks of Israel specifically … “And the rebuke of his people (Israel) shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.” The Jew will be no longer hated, God having effectively removed world-wide disgrace, shame, reproach, rebuke!” Instead of anti-Semitism, the world will be saturated with pro-Semitism! (I may have just coined a word!)

Yes, the “remnant” of Jews surviving the Tribulation, entering the Millennium, will be a saved group of Jews!

But my main interest today concerns the remaining parts of Isaiah 25:7-8, not just that last Line.

Beginning here: “And he (God) will destroy in this mountain the face of the COVERING cast over all people, and the VAIL that is spread over all nations.” God will remove a “dark blanket” that has been enshrouding mankind since Adam and Eve sinned in Eden! A “covering” or “veil” that has weighed heavily on humanity, likely because of our sin! (As in: “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23a) I believe the Prophet Isaiah means that dark cloud is death itself!

God cancelling death?

The Lord lifting that universal curse?

As in Romans 5:12 … “Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and DEATH by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

Death somehow overcome?

Keep reading: “He will SWALLOW UP death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces.” Isaiah 25:8

(The Apostle Paul quotes this in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 … “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is SWALLOWED UP in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

Because Jesus lives!

God Almighty (initially in the Millennium, perpetually in eternity future) will “swallowed up” something! (Isaiah 25:8, remember!) No more death! This powerful Hebrew verb is also translated “to destroy” nine times in the King James Version of the Bible! And it is “devour” three more times!

Death will be gone!

And what does death cause, how does it affect the living, the survivors? Sorrow, tears, heartache! So God will also … “wipe away tears from off all faces.” (Again, Isaiah 25:8!) Eternal comfort!

It really does appear that “death” will be extremely rare on this earth during Jesus’ Reign! But in New Jerusalem, in the new heavens and earth … no death ever!

Conquered for all time (if time even exists)!

HOW did God to this, absolve death?

Through the shed Blood of His only Begotten Son on Calvary! And Jesus’ subsequent Resurrection!

Because Jesus lives … we shall live also, those of us believing in His Name! (John 14:19 promises so! There Jesus plainly says: “Because I live, ye shall live also.”)

Yes, Jesus has now the very “keys” of death! (Revelation 1:18)

No wonder the Bible talks so much about “eternal life!”

Tomorrow I will take a trip to a cemetery. My 48 year old son has died. He will be entombed there … death has claimed over him a temporary victory. But, Oh … Jesus is coming again! Joel’s pained body will be raised incorruptible! Literally and gloriously … he will be given a body like that of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Yes, Jesus … “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body” … always keeps His Word! (Quoting Philippians 3:21, again King James Version)

Tearfully I say … HALLELUJAH!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Even so … come Lord Jesus.

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I base my question on one verse of Scripture in Isaiah chapter 25. “And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” Verse 6, King James Version.

The “mountain” being the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where Jesus will rule for a thousand years!

“Lord of Hosts” is literally in Hebrew “the God of the armies!” Antichrist having just been defeated and banished forever!

And here Jesus is depicted as “making a feast!”

Feast implies food, “bread” to the eastern mind.

And that abundant wine certainly hints at “the fruit of the vine,” the two elements (ingredients) in the Lord’s Supper!

Remember, many of the Jews who have entered the Millennium, having been hounded and starved and mistreated by the Antichrist’s government … would especially delight in “food!”

Remember too Jesus promised His Disciples long ago: “And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: FOR I SAY UNTO YOU, I WILL NOT ANY MORE EAT THEREOF, UNTIL IT BE FULFILLED IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” Luke 22:14-20

Wow!

Eating with Jesus … for centuries!

Bread and Juice!

Revelation 7:15-17 … “And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall FEED them, and shall LEAD them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

Amen!

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

We Christians can even now sit and “feast” off the things of God, the things of the Word, the blessings of the Cross of Calvary!

Jesus said as much in Psalm 22:26. Because of the Cross, Jesus’ Death there: “The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.”

Hallelujah!

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I have no doubt that lots of Scripture written two thousand years ago (or more) … will have its fullest impact in days yet to come! I personally believe Jesus’ famous “Olivet Discourse,” for example (Matthew chapters 24 and 25 in its largest New Testament Form) gives detailed instructions to those alive during the Tribulation when the Anti-Christ commits that infamous “abomination of desolation.” (Jesus teaching: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth let him understand: then let them which be in Judaea FLEE into the mountains.” Get out of town! Danger looming! Escape! I’ve reprinted here Matthew 24:15-16.)

Wow, this is another way the Bible is a miraculous Book!

Even the “Plan of Salvation” in some of those unusual Texts (meaning “Tribulation” oriented) are likely designed to tell the Jews (evangelizing lost souls) about our Lord’s Saving Grace and specifically how to be “born-again!”

“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:20-21 quoting Joel 2:31-32, God still saving the lost … at an unprecedented (difficult) time!

Well, I think I have found one of those “encouraging verses” in Isaiah 25. A Millennium Chapter, for sure.

That little saved “remnant” of Israelites … worshipping the great God Who has spared them (somehow) throughout the Tribulation … opine: “For thou (God) hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat.” Isaiah 25:4, King James Version.

Why “poor,” Jews?

Because they have been deprived of everything, fleeing for their very lives, refusing the “Mark of the Beast,” under a death watch imposed by that wicked Anti-Christ!

Poor because persecuted! (To the tortured Church in Smyrna, Jesus says: “And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and POVERTY.” Poverty stricken, living in total penury, financially bankrupted, Revelation 2:8-9 … yet spiritually wealthy, “but thou are rich.”)

To those (especially in the coming Tribulation) who will have suffered so (and miraculously will have been rescued by Jesus’ Second Coming to earth) … God has been such STRENGTH!

Back to Isaiah 25:4 … “For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress.” Pretty clear, isn’t it?

“Distress,” simply (and obviously) meaning “affliction, tribulation!”

Both the substantives “poor” and “needy” imply “beggary,” that starkly destitute! They are synonyms to that extent.

Yet they (though lowly and despised by the world) have been born-again and are praising God Almighty, and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Then our Text Verse, in closing, describes the God-hating “wicked” in those future dark days … “When the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall,” Isaiah 25:4, where the expression “terrible ones” re-names the enemies of the Jews, all of them being anti-Semitic to the core! The Devil (Dragon) and his cronies!

These poor Jews have been pursued and if caught, brutally executed “en masse!”

“A storm against the wall” pictures how a violent rainstorm with its resultant torrents of rushing water (flooding) washes away the earth, often literally destroying “walls,” barriers of all kinds!

And yet the Lord Jesus has (for His children) halted the flood, tamed wild waters once again! Remember during His first Visit to earth? “Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” Quoting Matthew 8:26.

A worship Verse indeed, Isaiah 25:4 … “For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.”

We would be so praising God as well, had we not forgotten how He has so gloriously delivered us too!

The noun “refuge” means “shelter!”

As in Psalm 46:1 … “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Out little Verse today truly is a “How to do it Manual” concerning Praise and Worship and Thankfulness for Deliverance from the fiercest of enemies!

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