(Continued-February 1946)

The Destruction of the Ungodly in Israel and
The Salvation of the Faithful Remnant

The prophet is carried forward by the Spirit to the very end of the Tribulation and sees, in verses 11-13, the destruction of all of the apostates in Israel. These of course will be cut off out of the land of the living. On the contrary, all those that take refuge in the Messiah shall be saved, preserved, and enter into possession of the land which God gave Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to his seed forever. They are the ones who shall inherit God's holy mountain.

The Final Appeal to the Nation

We read in 57:14 the exhortation which the prophet gives to certain ones regarding casting up or preparing a way for the people of Israel to return to their God. He speaks of this necessary preparation in terms of the building of a road. In this connection he speaks of removing stumbling blocks from the way over which Israel, His Chosen People, are to pass in their return to Him. This prediction assumes that there are many stumbling blocks in the way. An examination of the case of Israel at the present time, of her spiritual condition, and of the problems which confront the nation, shows that these stumbling blocks may be removed and the way prepared for the Jewish people to return. When this exhortation is viewed in the light of other relevant passages, we see that, the prophet is speaking concerning the proclamation of the truth of the gospel to His Chosen People in order that they might return to God.

The Lord wants His people to return to Him. Though He is the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, He assures us through the prophets that He also dwells with the one who is of a contrite and humble spirit in order that He might revive the spirit of the humble and the heart of the contrite one. God has through the centuries, figuratively speaking, worried with Israel. But He declares that He will not continue to contend with her always. If He did the spirit would faint. The Lord cannot countenance sin with approval. His holiness will not permit such an attitude. God, therefore, must punish all sin with the proper corrective measures.

When Israel sinned, God hid His face and was wroth. He cannot do otherwise. When the Lord thus turned His back upon the nation, it went backsliding in the ways of the corrupt heart. A person or a nation may reach the point when God can no longer countenance their wrongdoing. He thus withdraws His restraining grace and power and allows him to go on in his own stubborn, willful, sinful way. This is always to his hurt.

But the prophet sees in verses 18,19 a time when God will turn to the nation and heal it. At that time He will heal Israel and restore comfort to her. He will make the nation joyful and thus create the fruit of lips, which is expressed in the following words: "Peace, peace, to him that is far off and to him that is near, saith Jehovah; and I will heal him." The Lord will thus save and heal the penitent remnant of His people, but for the wicked and sinful among the chosen race, the stroke of judgment must fall and they must be swept into a Christless eternity, without God and without hope in the world. Thus ends this oracle.

Isaiah's Call to Israel Must Be Taken Up By Us and
Given to Her in This Generation

As stated above, Isaiah was borne by the Spirit of God across the centuries and spoke in this sermon to Israel of the last generation scattered among the nations, in the end time. In it he passionately appealed to his brethren to turn from their wickedness and to follow all the light that they have.

The prophet is not here today. Messengers, other than Isaiah must come forward and must send forth this call to all Israel in this generation. Who can do this? Whose duty and whose privilege is it to sound forth this message of the gospel of the true grace of God? The answer of the Scriptures is that it is the people of God who now have His truth. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth, according to the Apostle Paul (I Tim. 3:14,15).

In Isaiah, chapter 62, the Lord shows His great interest in His ancient people and in the first five verses foretells their glorious return to Him. In verses 6 and 7 He informs us that certain ones, whom He designates as watchmen, are constantly praying that God will make Jerusalem the joy of the whole earth. Those who know how to pray are urged to give Him no rest and to take no rest until He does make Jerusalem the capital and the metropolis of the whole world. This prediction will be fulfilled in the great Kingdom Age in the future.

In verse 10 we read an exhortation given to certain ones to prepare the way of the people of Israel which preparation takes the form of proclaiming to the Jews throughout the world the message of Messiah's coming to deliver them, at which time Jerusalem shall be called "Sought out, A city not forsaken." Then the Hebrew people will be called the redeemed of Jehovah.

The special point in this connection is that God has sent, according to verse 11, a proclamation throughout the earth, urging those who have the message concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and His redemption to proclaim this to the Jewish people. When we study Isaiah, chapters 55-57, the call of Israel to repentance, we see that we who have the truth are to take up this call that was sounded by Isaiah and to give the message to all Israel. Are we doing this? If we are not, will we do it? Let everyone who knows Jesus Christ in a personal way, answer the call of God and do what he can to give this message of salvation to lost and suffering Israel.

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