Isaiah
Forward: ISAIAH, son of Amoz (not Amos); contemporary of Jonah, Amos, Hosea, in Israel, but younger than they; and of Micah, in Judah. His call to a higher degree of the prophetic office ( Isaiah 6:1-13 last year of Uzziah, that is, 754 B.C. The first through fifth chapters belong to the closing years of that reign; not, as some think, to Jotham's reign: in the reign of the latter he seems to have exercised his office only orally, and not to have left any record of his prophecies because they were not intended for all ages. The first through fifth and sixth chapters are all that was designed for the Church universal of the prophecies of the first twenty years of his office. New historical epochs, such as occurred in the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah, when the affairs of Israel became interwoven with those of the Asiatic empires, are marked by prophetic writings. The prophets had now to interpret the judgments of the LORD(Jesus), so as to make the people conscious of His punitive justice, as also of His mercy. Isaiah 7:1-10:4 thirty-ninth chapters are historical, reaching to the fifteenth year of Hezekiah; probably the tenth through twelfth chapters and all from the thirteenth through twenty-sixth chapters, inclusive, belong to the same reign; the historical section being appended to facilitate the right understanding of these prophecies; thus we have Isaiah's office extending from about 760 to 713 B.C., forty-seven years. Tradition (Talmud) represents him as having been sawn asunder by Manasseh with a wooden saw, for having said that he had seen Jehovah ( Exodus 33:20 ; 2 Kings 21:16 ; Hebrews 11:37 Isaiah survived Hezekiah; but "first and last" is not added, as in 2 Chronicles 26:22 only carried up to a certain point. The second part, the fortieth through sixty-sixth chapters, containing complaints of gross idolatry, needs not to be restricted to Manasseh's reign, but is applicable to previous reigns. At the accession of Manasseh, Isaiah would be eighty-four; and if he prophesied for eight years afterwards, he must have endured martyrdom at ninety-two; so Hosea prophesied for sixty years. And Eastern tradition reports that he lived to one hundred and twenty. The conclusive argument against the tradition is that, according to the inscription, all Isaiah's prophecies are included in the time from Uzziah to Hezekiah; and the internal evidence accords with this.
His WIFE is called the prophetess [ Isaiah 8:3 … The CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT favors the opinion that Isaiah himself collected his prophecies into the volume; not Hezekiah's men, as the Talmud guesses from Proverbs 25:1 can be ascertained, stand in the right place, except a few instances, where prophecies of similar contents are placed together: with the termination of the Assyrian invasion (the thirty-sixth through thirty-ninth chapters) terminated the public life of Isaiah. The second part is his prophetic legacy to the small band of the faithful, analogous to the last speeches of Moses and of Jesus Christ to His chosen disciples.
ISAIAH is the First Book of the Major Prophets. Most of his prophecies are yet to occur!
Isaiah 1
1 This is the vision which Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw about Judah and Jerusalem at the time of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
2 Listen, heaven, and pay attention, earth! The LORD(Jesus) has spoken: I raise children and help them grow, but they have rebelled against me.
3 Oxen know their owners, and donkeys know where their masters feed them. But Israel doesn't know her master. My people don't understand who feeds them.
4 How horrible it will be for a nation that sins. Her people are loaded down with guilt. They are descendants of evildoers and destructive children. They have abandoned Me Jesus ( אֵת ('eth))* -- the LORD(Yahweh). They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They have turned their backs on Him.
5 Why do you still want to be beaten? Why do you continue to rebel? Your whole head is infected. Your whole heart is failing.
6 From the bottom of your feet to the top of your head there is no healthy spot left on you-- only bruises, sores, and fresh wounds. They haven't been cleansed, bandaged, or soothed with oil.
7 Your country is devastated. Your cities are burned down. Your fields are destroyed right before your eyes by foreigners. Your fields are devastated and taken over by foreigners.
8 My people Zion are left like a hut in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city under attack.
9 If the LORD(Jesus) of Armies hadn't left us a few survivors, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.
10 Listen to the word of the LORD(Jesus), you rulers of Sodom! Pay attention to the teachings from our God(Elohim/Theos), you people of Gomorrah!
11 The LORD(Jesus) asks: What do your many animal sacrifices mean to me? I've had enough of your burnt offerings of rams and enough fat from your fattened calves. I'm not pleased with the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats.
13 Don't bring any more worthless grain offerings. Your incense is disgusting to me, so are your New Moon Festivals, your days of worship, and the assemblies you call. I can't stand your evil assemblies.
14 I hate your New Month Festivals and your appointed festivals. They've become a burden to me, and I'm tired of putting up with them.
15 So when you stretch out your hands, I will turn my eyes away from you. Even though you offer many prayers, I will not listen because your hands are covered with blood.
18 Come on now, let's discuss this! Says the LORD(Jesus). Though your sins are bright red, they will become as white as snow. Though they are dark red, they will become as white as wool.
God(Elohim/Theos) wants to talk with us! Discuss our sins, and be His friend!
21 How the faithful town has become a prostitute! She was full of justice, and righteousness lived in her. But now murderers live there!
23 Your rulers are rebels, friends with thieves. They all love bribes and run after gifts. They never defend orphans. They don't notice the widows' pleas.
24 That's why the LORD(Jesus), the LORD(Jesus) of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: How horrible it will be when I take revenge on my opponents! I will avenge myself against my enemies.
25 I will turn my power against you. I will remove your impurities with bleach. I will get rid of all your sins.
26 I will give you judges like you had long ago, advisers like you had in the beginning. After that you will be called the Righteous City, the Faithful Town.
28 Rebels and sinners will be crushed at the same time, and those who abandon the LORD(Jesus) will come to an end.
29 You will be ashamed of the oaks that you wanted to worship and embarrassed by the garden that you have chosen for your gods.
31 Strong people will become tinder for a fire, and their work will be the spark. Both of them will burn together, and there will be no one to put out the fire.
Isaiah 2
Glory of the Future World Kingdom (Millennium):
1 This is the message which Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw about Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In the last days the mountain of the LORD (Yahweh)'s house will be established as the highest of the mountains and raised above the hills. All the nations will stream to it.Same as Micah 4:1 . As Micah prophesied in Jotham's reign, and Isaiah in Uzziah's, Micah rests on Isaiah, whom he confirms: not vice versa.
last days--that is, Messiah's: especially the days yet to come, to which all prophecy hastens, when "the house of the God (Elohim/Theos) of Jacob," namely the USA....
3 Then many people will come and say, "Let's go to the mountain of the LORD (Yahweh), to the house of the God (Elohim/Theos) of Jacob. HE will teach us his ways so that we may live by them." The teachings will go out from Zion. The word of the LORD (Yahweh) will go out from Jerusalem.
He: = Jesus
mountain of the LORD's house .in the top, &c.--the temple on Mount Moriah: type of the Gospel, beginning at Jerusalem, and, like an object set on the highest hill, made so conspicuous that all nations are attracted to it.
4 Then HE will judge disputes between nations and settle arguments between many people. They will hammer their swords into plows and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will never fight against each other, and they will never train for war again.
5 People of Jacob (USA), come. Let us live the way the LORD (Yahweh) (Jesus) has taught us to.
Jacob's name belongs to Joseph = This equals a prophecy towards the USA & Great Britain
The Day of the LORD—End Times:
"the day of the LORD" shall come at last, beginning with judgment, a never-ending day in which God (Elohim/Theos) shall be "all in all" ( 1 Corinthians 15:28 , 2 Peter 3:10 ).6 LORD (Yahweh), you have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob, because they are filled with Eastern (pagan) influences. They are fortunetellers like the Philistines, and they make deals with foreigners.
7 Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures. Their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
9 People will be brought down. Everyone will be humbled. Do not forgive them
10 Go in among the rocks and hide underground because of the LORD (Yahweh)'s terrifying presence and the honor of his majesty.
11 The eyes of arrogant people will be humbled. High and mighty people will be brought down. On that day the LORD (Yahweh) alone will be honored.
12 The LORD (Yahweh) of Armies will have his day against all who are arrogant and conceited and all who are proud of themselves and shall be brought low:
13 And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
14 And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,
15 And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,
16 And against all the large ships of Tarshish and all the beautiful boats.
Tarshish may be Tarsus (where Paul came from), Crete, as Josephus believed (as well as Velikovsky, or even Spain! Some believe Tarshish to have been a mere remnant of a much lareger entity known as "Atlantis". The decription of Atlantis given by Plato does fit a possible region near Tartessos that was submerged under the sea. British-Israel writings identified Tarshish with the British Isles.
17 Then the arrogant race of people will be brought down, and high and mighty people will be humbled. On that day the LORD (Yahweh) alone will be honored.
18 And the idols HE shall utterly abolish.
19 The people will try and hide in caves, in rocks, and into holes in the ground because of the LORD (Yahweh)'s terrifying presence and the honor of his majesty when he rises to shake terribly the earth.
Tribulation
20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold to the moles and the bats, that they made for themselves to worship.
moles--Others translate "mice."
21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD (Yahweh), and for the glory of his majesty, when He rises to terrify the earth.
22 Stop trusting people. Their life is in their nostrils. How can they be worth anything?
Isaiah 3
THE TRIBULATION:
1 For behold, the LORD(Jesus), the LORD(Jesus) of hosts, is going to take from Jerusalem and Judah every kind of support and their entire supply of food and water.
3 the captains and the honorable man, and the counselor and the skilled artificer and the eloquent orator.
5 People will oppress each other, and everyone will oppress his neighbor. The young will make fun of the old, and common people will make fun of their superiors.
Compare the marks of "the last days" ( 2 Timothy 3:2 ).
6 A man will grab one of his relatives from his father's family and say, "You have a coat. You'll be our leader. This pile of ruins will be under your control."
7 When that day comes the relative will cry out, "I'm not a doctor! I don't have any food or a coat in my home. Don't make me a leader of our family."
8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah (modern Israel) has fallen, because what they say and what they do is against the LORD(Jesus). They are defiant in his honored presence.
9 The look on their faces will be held against them. They boast about their sins, which are like Sodom. They don't even bother to hide them. How horrible it will be for these people, because they have brought disaster on themselves.
10 Tell the righteous that blessings will come to them. They will taste the fruit of their labor.
11Woe unto the wicked! Disaster will strike them. What they have done will be done to them.
12 As for My people, children will oppress them, and women rule over them! O My people, your guides mislead you, and you don't know which way to go.
A time will childrern will be wild and unruly, and women will rule over the “girly” men! A time like today!
13 The LORD(Jesus) stands up to plead and to judge His people.
14 The LORD(Jesus) presents his case to the respected leaders and the officials of his people: "You have burned down the vineyard! Your houses are filled with goods stolen from the poor."
15 What mean ye that ye beat My people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor?" saith the Almighty LORD(Jesus) of hosts.
16 The LORD(Jesus) adds, "The women of Jerusalem [Zion] are arrogant. They walk with their noses in the air, making seductive glances, taking short little steps, jingling the ankle bracelets on their feet."
seductive glances: or acting like whores!
17 So the LORD(Jesus) will put sores on the heads of those women in Jerusalem [zion],
and he will make them lose their hair.
Hair is a symbol for the vanity in women, so that is where God (Elohim/Theos) strikes them!
18 At that time the LORD(Jesus) will take away everything that makes them proud: their beautiful ankle bracelets, their headbands, their necklaces shaped like the moon,
19 their earrings, bracelets, and veils,
20 their scarves, ankle chains, the cloth belts worn around their waists, their bottles of perfume, and charms,
21 their signet rings, nose rings,
22 their fine robes, capes, shawls, and purses,
23 their mirrors, linen dresses, turbans, and long shawls.
24 Instead of wearing sweet-smelling perfume, they will stink.
Instead of fine cloth belts, they will wear the ropes of captives.
Instead of having their hair fixed in fancy ways, they will be bald.
Instead of fine clothes, they will wear clothes of sadness.
Instead of being beautiful, they will wear the brand of a captive.
25 At that time your men will be killed with swords,
and your heroes will die in war.
26 There will be crying and sadness near the city gates.
Jerusalem will be like a woman who has lost everything and sits on the ground.
Isaiah 4
1 When that day comes, seven women will grab one man and say, "We'll eat our own food and provide our own clothes. Just let us marry you for your name. Take away our disgrace."
If a woman did not have a husband or children, it was thought that God was punishing her.
Polygamy will return during the End Times, before the coming Day of the LORD.
THE LORD(Jesus) WILL BLESS HIS PEOPLE WHO SURVIVE:
2 In that day shall the branch of the LORD(Jesus) be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride of all Israel.Branch = Messiah here in prophecy.
3 Also, whoever is left alive in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.
4 When the LORD(Jesus) will wash away the filth of Jerusalem's people. He will clean bloodstains from Jerusalem with a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning.
5 And the LORD(Jesus) will create upon every home in Jerusalem a cloud of smoke during the day and a glowing flame of fire during the night. His glory will cover everything.
This is how the LORD led the people of Israel during the forty years they were in the desert (see Exodus 13.20- 22; 40.36-38).
6 And there shall be a shelter (tabernacle) during the daytime from the heat, as well as a refuge and hiding a place to cover (the people) from storms and rain.
TABERNACLE--Christ's body ( John 1:14 ). "The Word 'tabernacled' (Greek for 'dwelt') among us" ( John 2:21 , Hebrews 8:2 ). Christ is our Shelter, hence the Feast of Shelters or Tabernacles is a festival of God pointing toward Christ's kingdom to come. This is why we are to celebrate the feast.
TO COVER: The Hebrew for defense in Isaiah 4:5 , is "covering"; the lid of the ark or mercy seat was named from the same Hebrew word, caphar; the propitiatory; for it, being sprinkled with blood by the high priest once a year, on the day of atonement, covered the people typically from wrath. Jesus Christ is the true Mercy Seat, on whom the Shekinah rested, the propitiatory, or atonement, beneath whom the law is kept, as it was literally within the ark, and man is covered from the storm. The redeemed Israel shall also be, by union with Him, a tabernacle for God's glory, which, unlike that in the wilderness, shall not be taken down ( Isaiah 38:20 ).
Isaiah 5
PARABLE OF THE LORD'S VINEYARD as told by God the FATHER!
1 Now I will sing my beloved this song, a song of my friend and his vineyard: My friend had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
A new prophecy; entire in itself. Probably delivered about the same time as the second and third chapters, in Uzziah's reign.
My Beloved / FRIEND: This is obviously God the Father talking here!! “My friend, or beloved” is in actually a reference to Christ, HIS partner in the GODHEAD! Notice it starts out “I” but later changes to “He” because “He” is Christ is this song! He is the farmer, the one doing the work, the husband of Israel and Judah.
"The Beloved" is Jehovah, the Second Person, the Godhead, not in His character as incarnate Messiah, but as God of the Old Testament!
2 He put an fence around it and cleared it of the stones and planted it with the finests vines and built a watchtower in it, and made a winepress in it. Then he waited for it to produce good grapes, but it produced only sour, wild grapes.
A Fence: rather, "digged and trenched" the ground to prepare it for planting the vines [MAURER].
STONES = Pagan shrines
watchtower = watchmen or prophets
3 So now my friend says, "You people who live in Jerusalem and Judah, judge between my vineyard and me.
4 Is there anything I failed to do for it? Then why did it produce sour grapes and not the good grapes I expected?
5 Now then, let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will tear away its hedge so that it can be devoured and tear down its wall so that it can be trampled.
The HEDGE = God's Divine Protection
6 I will let it be overgrown with weeds. I will not trim the vines or hoe the ground; instead, I will let briers and thorns cover it. I will even forbid the clouds to let rain fall on it."
Overgrown with weeds: SIN! LAWLESSNESS. God is going to allow the people to go into a state of sin! NO RAIN = NO Holy Spirit on those that rebell.
7 For Israel (USA) is the vineyard of the LORD(Jesus) of host (of angels); the people of Judah (Jews) are the vines he planted. He expected them to do what was good, but instead they committed murder. He expected them to do what was right, but their victims cried out for justice.
Isaiah here applies the parable. It is no mere human owner, nor a literal vineyard that is meant.
8 How horrible it will be for you who acquire house after house and buy field after field until there's nothing left and you have to live by yourself in the land.
9 With my own ears I heard the LORD(Jesus) of hosts say, "Many houses will become empty. Large, beautiful houses will be without people to live in them.
10 The grapevines growing on five acres of land will yield only five gallons of wine. Ten bushels of seed will produce only one bushel of grain."
11 You are doomed! You get up early in the morning to start drinking, and you spend long evenings getting drunk.
12 At your feasts you have harps and tambourines and flutes - and wine. But you don't understand what the LORD(Jesus) is doing,
13 and so you will be carried away as prisoners. Your leaders will starve to death, and the common people will die of thirst.
14 That is why the grave's[hell] appetite increases. It opens its mouth very wide so that honored people and common people will go down into it. Those who are noisy and joyous will go down into it.
HELL literally the grave; Hebrew, sheol; Greek, hades;
15 Everyone will be brought down. Everyone will be humbled. And the eyes of arrogant people will be humbled.
Everyone is brought down in death to the depths of a grave!
16 But the LORD(Jesus) of hosts shows his greatness by doing what is right, and he reveals his holiness by judging his people.
17 Then lambs will graze as if they were in their own pasture, and foreigners will eat among the ruins of the rich.
LAMBS and Foreigners The New Christians, many of which would be Gentiles!
19 You say, "Let the LORD(Jesus) hurry up and do what he says he will, so that we can see it. Let Israel's holy God (Elohim/Theos) carry out his plans; let's see what he has in mind."
20 You are doomed! You call evil good and call good evil. You turn darkness into light and light into darkness. You make what is bitter sweet, and what is sweet you make bitter.
22 How horrible it will be for those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are champions at mixing drinks,
Compare these “Woe's” to Matthew 23
23 But for just a bribe they allow the guilty go free, and you keep the innocent from getting justice.
24 Therefore, just as straw and dry grass shrivel and burn in the fire, your roots will rot and your blossoms will dry up and blow away, because you have rejected what the LORD(Jesus) of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the LORD(Jesus) is angry with his people and has stretched out his hand to punish them. The mountains will shake, and the bodies of those who die will be left in the streets like rubbish. Yet even then the LORD(Jesus)'s anger will not be ended, but his hand will still be stretched out to punish.
Why is the Lord angry withHis people here? For being LAWLESS!
26 The LORD(Jesus) raises up a flag for the nations far away. He whistles for them to come from the ends of the earth. And here they come, swiftly, quickly!
27 None of them grow tired or stumble. They never doze or sleep. Not a belt is loose; not a sandal strap is broken.
28 Whose arrows are sharp , and all their bows bent , their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
29 They roar like a lioness. They growl like a young lion. They growl as they snatch their prey and carry it off to where no one can rescue it.
30 On that day they will roar over their prey as the sea roars. If they look at the land, they will see only darkness and distress. Even the light will be darkened by thick clouds.
Isaiah 6
ISAIAH'S COMMISSION:
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord (Adonai) Jesus ( אֵת ('eth))* sitting on his throne, high and exalted, and his robe filled the whole Temple.
Lord--here Adonai- title, spoken in place of Yahweh in Jewish display of reverence. ( אֵת ('eth)) after the Lord denotes this again is Jesus. See note in Genesis 1 verse 1.
Isaiah is outside, near the altar in front of the temple. The doors are supposed to open, and the veil hiding the Holy of Holies to be withdrawn, unfolding to his view a vision of God represented as an Eastern monarch, attended by seraphim as His ministers of state ( 1 Kings 22:19 ), and with a robe and flowing train (a badge of dignity in the East), which filled the temple. This assertion that he had seen God was, according to tradition (not sanctioned by the pretext for sawing him asunder in Manasseh's reign ( Hebrews 11:37 ). Visions often occur in the other prophets: in Isaiah there is only this one, and it is marked by characteristic clearness and simplicity. (Jamieson)
This would be about 754 B.C. [CALMET] 578 (Common Chronology).
2 Around him flaming creatures(seraphims-angels) were standing, each of which had six wings. Each creature covered its face with two wings, and its body with two, and used the other two for flying.
seraphim--nowhere else applied to God's attendant angels; but to the fiery flying (not winged, but rapidly moving) serpents, which bit the Israelites ( Numbers 21:6 ), called so from the poisonous inflammation caused by their bites. Seraph is to burn; implying the burning zeal, dazzling brightness ( 2 Kings 2:11 , 6:17 , Ezekiel 1:13 , Matthew 28:3 ) and serpent-like rapidity of the seraphim in God's service. Perhaps Satan's form as a serpent (nachash) in his appearance to man has some connection with his original form as a seraph of light. The head of the serpent was the symbol of wisdom in Egypt (compare Numbers 21:8 , 2 Kings 18:4 ). The seraphim, with six wings and one face, can hardly be identified with the cherubim, which had four wings (in the temple only two) and four faces ( Ezekiel 1:5-12 ). (But compare Revelation 4:8 ). The "face" and "feet" imply a human form; something of a serpentine form (perhaps a basilisk's head, as in the temples of Thebes) may have been mixed with it: so the cherub was compounded of various animal forms. However, seraph may come from a root meaning "princely," applied in Daniel 10:13 to Michael [MAURER]; just as cherub comes from a root (changing m into b), meaning "noble." A seraph : Seraphim . seraph[us], pl .seraphi[m]) is one of a class of celestial beings mentioned once in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Old Testament), in Isaiah. Later Jewish imagery perceived them as having human form, and in that way they passed into the ranks of Christian angels. In the Christian angelic hierarchy, seraphim represent the highest rank of angels.
3 They were calling out to each other: "Holy, holy, holy! The LORD(Jesus) of the host is holy! His glory fills the world."
5 So, I said, "Oh, no! I'm doomed because every word that passes my lips is sinful, and I live among a people whose every word is sinful. And yet, with my own eyes I have seen the King, the LORD(Jesus) of hosts."
6 Then one of the angels (seraphims) flew down to me, carrying a burning coal that he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.
coal--literally, "a hot stone," used, as in some countries in our days, to roast meat with, for example, the meat of the sacrifices. Fire was a symbol of purification, as it takes the dross out of metals
7 He touched my lips with the burning coal and said, "This has touched your lips, and now your guilt is gone, and your sins have been forgiven."
8 Then I heard the LORD(Jesus) say, "Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?" I answered, "I will go! Send me!"
9 So he told me to go and give the people this message: No matter how much you listen, you will not understand. No matter how much you look, you will not know what is happening.
10 Make these people close-minded. Plug their ears. Shut their eyes. Otherwise, they may see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their minds, and return and be healed.
11 I asked, "How long will it be like this, LORD(Jesus)?" He answered: Until the cities are ruined and empty - until the houses are uninhabited - until the land itself is a desolate wasteland.
A TITHE WILL LIVE!!!!:
13 Yet I will leave a Tithe (a tenth) of my people in the land. When a sacred oak or an oak is cut down, a stump is left. The holy seed will be the land's stump."
I believe this is a future prophecy for us (The USA, Israel and the Jews) where only 10 percent of the survivors live through the Tribulation
Isaiah 7
THE SIGN OF IMMANUEL:
1 When Ahaz, son of Jotham and grandson of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Syria[Aram] and Pekah son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, set out to attack Jerusalem, but they couldn't defeat it.
Syria--Hebrew, Aram ( Genesis 10:22 Genesis 10:23 ), originally the whole region between the Euphrates and Mediterranean, including Assyria, of which Syria is an abbreviation; here the region round Damascus, and along Mount Libanus. (Jamieson)
3 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Isaiah, "Go out with your son Shearjashub to meet Ahaz at the end of the ditch of the Upper Pool on the road to the Laundryman's Field.
4 Tell him to stop worrying. Tell him he doesn't to fear the fierce anger of those two burned-out embers, King Rezin of Syria[Aram] and Pekah son of Remaliah.
5 Yes, the kings of Syria and Israel are plotting against him, saying,
6 ‘'Let's march against Judah, tear it apart, divide it among ourselves, and set up Tabeel's son as its king.'
7 This is what the LORD(Jesus) God(Elohim/Theos) says: It won't take place; it won't happen.
8 The capital of Aram[Syria] is Damascus, and the leader of Damascus is Rezin. Ephraim[Israel] will be shattered within 65 years so that it will no longer be a nation.
9 The capital of Ephraim[Israel] is Samaria, and the leader of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you don't remain faithful, you won't remain standing.
10 Later, the LORD(Jesus) sent this message to King Ahaz:
11 Ask the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos) for a sign of confirmation. Ask anything (as a sign) as high as heaven or as low as SHEOL(the grave)
12 But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the Jesus ( אֵת ('eth))* LORD(Yahweh).”
13 "Listen now, descendants of David," Isaiah said. "Isn't it enough that you try the patience of mortals? Must you also try the patience of my God(Elohim/Theos)?
14 All right then, the LORD(Jesus) himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin[or young woman] will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him[his name shall be] Immanuel (which means ‘God(Elohim/Theos) is with us’).
The Hebrew word here is young woman, most likely, but not necessarily a virgin. The Septuagint renders the word “virgin,” and this is the translation I use.
FROM JAMIESON: virgin--from a root, "to lie hid," virgins being closely kept from men's gaze in their parents' custody in the East. The Hebrew, and the Septuagint here, and Greek ( Matthew 1:23 ), have the article, the virgin, some definite one known to the speaker and his hearers; primarily, the woman, then a virgin, about immediately to become the second wife, and bear a child, whose attainment of the age of discrimination (about three years) should be preceded by the deliverance of Judah from its two invaders; its fullest significancy is realized in "the woman" ( Genesis 3:15 ), whose seed should bruise the serpent's head and deliver captive man ( Jeremiah 31:22 , Micah 5:3 ). Language is selected such as, while partially applicable to the immediate event, receives its fullest, most appropriate, and exhaustive accomplishment in Messianic events. The New Testament application of such prophecies is not a strained "accommodation"; rather the temporary fulfillment of an adaptation of the far-reaching prophecy to the present passing event, which foreshadows typically the great central end of prophecy, Jesus Christ ( Revelation 19:10 ). Evidently the wording is such as to apply more fully to Jesus Christ than to the prophet's son; "virgin" applies, in its simplest sense, to the Virgin Mary, rather than to the prophetess who ceased to be a virgin when she "conceived"; "Immanuel," God with us ( John 1:14 , Revelation 21:3 ), cannot in a strict sense apply to Isaiah's son, but only to Him who is presently called expressly ( Isaiah 9:6 ), "the Child, the Son, Wonderful (compare Isaiah 8:18 ), the mighty God." Local and temporary features (as in Isaiah 7:15 Isaiah 7:16 ) are added in every type; otherwise it would be no type, but the thing itself. There are resemblances to the great Antitype sufficient to be recognized by those who seek them; dissimilarities enough to confound those who do not desire to discover them.
His name shall be: name--not mere appellation, which neither Isaiah's son nor Jesus Christ bore literally; but what describes His manifested attributes; His character (so Isaiah 9:6 ). The name in its proper destination was not arbitrary, but characteristic of the individual; sin destroyed the faculty of perceiving the internal being; hence the severance now between the name and the character; in the case of Jesus Christ and many in Scripture, the Holy Ghost has supplied this want [OLSHAUSEN].
15 He will eat cheese and honey until he knows how to reject evil and choose good.
16 For before the child is that old, the lands of the two kings you fear so much will both be deserted.
17 Then the LORD(Jesus) will bring things on you, your nation, and your family unlike anything since Israel[Ephraim] broke away from Judah. He will bring the king of Assyria upon you!
18 In that day the LORD(Jesus) will whistle for the flies that are at the distant branches of the Nile River in Egypt and for the bees that are in Assyria.
19 They will come in vast hordes and settle in the fertile areas and also in the desolate valleys, caves, and thorny places.
20 In the same day shall the LORD(Jesus) will hire a razor from beyond the river (Euphrates) who is the king of Assyria—to shave the hair on your head, the hair on your legs, and even your beard.
21 In that day a farmer will be fortunate to have a cow and two sheep or goats left.
22 And it shall come to pass, that there will be enough milk for everyone because so few people will be left in the land. They will eat their fill of cheese and honey.
Cheese may be more like a yogurt than what we consider a cheese today
23 And it shall come to pass in that day that in every place where there were 1,000 vines (worth 1,000 pieces of silver), there will be briars and thorns.
1,000 = 25 pounds of silver
24 The entire land will become a vast expanse of briers and thorns, a hunting ground overrun by wildlife.
25 No one will go to the fertile hillsides where the gardens once grew, for briers and thorns will cover them. Cattle, sheep, and goats will graze there.
Although this entire message is from God(Elohim/Theos), I only put the actual quotes of God(Elohim/Theos) in RED! The reader should understand that everything Isaiah says here is really given to him by the LORD(Jesus)! Also, I believe that this prophecy is dual-- This happened 2500 years ago, and is destined to happen again at the “end time” when Israel (mainly America and Great Britain) will be destroyed by Assyria (Germany and the new Europe) much like what almost happened in World War II!
The End Times according to Isaiah and Christ:
- The Nations of Western Europe, together with North America, are the lost tribes of Israel. They share a similar mind and have some noble traditions and institutions, but are rapidly increasing their sins against God. They love freedom and justice, that's why they are addicted to democracy and 'western values', including Protestantism, often against their own self interest. Some tribes are referred to as "God's chosen people", that's why they are at the center of great global events. In prophecy, their fate is to become victims so they finally "learn the lesson" and are purified from their sins.
- Germany and Italy, on the other hand, are not closely related to the other European nations:
- Babylon's (Italy's) role is to poison the peoples of the world with false beliefs, through the Roman Catholic Church, and to assist the Assyrians (Germans) in their desire of world conquest.
- The Assyrians (Germany) are destined by God to punish the peoples of Israel. They have a militarist legacy, as well has being a great people in technological and industrial accomplishment, and thus they are the perfect opponent for the tribes of Israel.
- In the end, after punishing Israel through 'Assyria', God will destroy the power of the Assyrians. By doing so, he demonstrates that evil will always be punished and that HIS values are far superior. The survivors of Israel realize that if they had followed God's word more closely, 'Assyria' would never have had a chance. Assyria will finally repent. Punished by God himself, it is finally able to realize its mistakes. From that day on, it will use its immense power to serve God and the other nations.
Isaiah 8
Isaiah 8:1-9:7'.
The first seven verses of the ninth chapter belong to this section. The eighth chapter continues the subject of the seventh chapter, but at a later period (compare Isaiah 8:4 with Isaiah 7:16 ); implying that the interval till the accomplishment is shorter now than then. The tone of Isaiah 8:17 Isaiah 8:21 Isaiah 8:22 , expresses calamity more immediate and afflictive than Isaiah 7:4 Isaiah 7:15 Isaiah 7:22 .man's pen--that is, in ordinary characters which the humblest can read (so Habakkuk 2:2 ). Hebrew, enosh means a "common man," is contrasted with the upper ranks ( Revelation 21:17 , Romans 3:5 ). Not in hieroglyphics. The object was that, after the event, all might see that it had been predicted by Isaiah. (Jamieson)
Maher-shalal-hash-baz--"They (that is, the Assyrians) hasten to the spoil (namely, to spoil Syria and Samaria), they speed to the prey" [GESENIUS]. Otherwise, "The spoil (that is, spoiler) hastens, the rapine speeds forward" [MAURER].
2 And I asked Uriah the priest and Zechariah; the son of Jeberekiah, both honest men, to witness my doing this.
3 Then I went and slept with the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD(Jesus) to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz.
prophetess--perhaps the same as the "virgin" ( Isaiah 7:14 ), in the interim married as Isaiah's second wife: this is in the primary and temporary sense. Immanuel is even in this sense distinct from Maher-shalal-hash- baz. Thus nineteen months at least intervene from the prophecy ( Isaiah 7:14 ), nine before the birth of Immanuel, and ten from that time to the birth of Maher-shalal-hash-baz: adding eleven or twelve months before the latter could cry, "Father" ( Isaiah 8:4 ), we have about three years in all, agreeing with Isaiah 7:15 Isaiah 7:16 . (Jamieson)
4 For before [within a year] the boy knows how to say 'Daddy' or 'Mommy,' the wealth of Damascus and the loot from Samaria will be carried away as plunder to the king of Assyria."
5 The LORD(Jesus) spoke to me again, saying:
6 Inasmuch as this people have rejected the gently flowing water of Shiloah and find joy in Rezin and Remaliah's son.
7 Now therefore, behold, the LORD(Jesus) will overwhelm them with a mighty flood from the River(Euphrates)—the king of Assyria and all his glory. This flood will overflow all its channels
8 and sweep into Judah until it is chin deep. It will spread its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other, O Immanuel.
O Immanuel--Though temporarily applied to Isaiah's son, in the full sense this is applicable only to Messiah, that Judea is His, was, and still is, a pledge that, however sorely overwhelmed, it shall be saved at last; the "head" is safe even now, waiting for the times of restoration ( Acts 1:6 ); at the same time these words imply that, notwithstanding the temporary deliverance from Syria and Israel, implied in "Immanuel," the greatest calamities are to follow to Judah. (Jamieson)
9 Do your worst, O you people, and be terrified. Listen, all you distant parts of the earth. Prepare for battle, but be terrified. Prepare for battle, but be terrified.
10 Take counsel together, but they will never succeed. Give orders, but they won't be carried out, because God(Elohim/Theos) is with us!
11 This is what the LORD(Jesus) said with his powerful hand on me. He warned me not to follow the ways of these people:
12 Don't say that everything these people call a conspiracy is a conspiracy. Don't fear what they fear. Don't let it terrify you.
13 Sanctify the LORD(Jesus) of hosts himself; He is the one you should fear and the one you should be terrified of.
Sanctify--Honor His holy name
14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; But he will be a rock that makes people trip and a stumbling block for both kingdoms of Israel. He will be a trap and a snare for those who live in Jerusalem.
sanctuary--inviolable asylum, like the altar of the temple
Both Kingdoms- proof that this was not for Isaiah's time, as Israel was already gone! It is an End Times prophecy, being fulfilled by CHRIST!
15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. 16 Seal up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
17 And I will wait upon the LORD(Jesus), who hides his face from the descendants of Jacob. I will hope in him.
18 Behold, I and the children the LORD(Jesus) has given me serve as signs and warnings to Israel from the LORD(Jesus) of Heaven’s Armies who dwells in his Temple on Mount Zion.
19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God(Elohim/Theos) for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?
Should the living seek guidance from the dead? What the angels said when they came looking for the missing body of Christ.. “Why seek the dead for the living?”
20 Look to the law and to the testimony: If people don't speak these words, it is because they are in the darkness.
God is not with them, they are of the Devil
21 And they will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God(Elohim/Theos). They will look up to heaven
22 And they shall look to the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and thrown into thick darkness.
Compare this with Jesus comparing the light and the darkness.
Isaiah 9
Showing “HE” will come from Galilee
2 The people who walk in darkness will see a bright light. The light will shine on those who live in the land of death's shadow.
3 You will expand the nation and it will be great again. It will be happy in your presence like those who celebrate the harvest or rejoice when dividing the spoils (of war).
4 For You will break the yoke that bind Your people and the whip that scourges them, just as he did when he destroyed the army of Midian with Gideon's little band.
5 For every battle of the warrior will be confused with noise. Never again will uniforms be bloodstained by war. All such equipment will be burned with fire.
6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God(Elohim/Theos), Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Notice these terms are applied to Jesus! The God of the Old Testament
Also notice the word GOVERNMENT! Christ is coming with HIS GOVERNMENT!
He shall receive the kingdom of the earth from the Father, to vindicate it from the misrule of those to whom it was entrusted to hold it for and under the Most High, but who sought to hold it in defiance of His right; the Father asserts His right by the Son, the "Heir of all things," who will hold it for Him ( Daniel 7:13 Daniel 7:14 ). 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. He will establish David's throne and kingdom. He will uphold it with justice and righteousness now and forever. The LORD(Jesus) of hosts(angels) is determined to do this!
there shall be no end = This is the time of Christ's reign on Earth- A Future time yet!
8 The LORD(Jesus) sent a word against Jacob. The message is against Israel(Jacob).
PROPHECY TO THE LOST TEN TRIBES:
9 All the people of Ephraim(Israel or Jacob) and the people who live in Samaria will know it. With arrogant and conceited hearts they will say,
Remember Jacob is Joseph who is Israel! Israel today is the USA, Great Britain and Western Europe! NOT THE JEWS!
10 "Our land lies in ruins now, but we will rebuild it better than before. We will replace the broken bricks with cut stone, the fallen sycamore trees with cedars."
11 The LORD(Jesus) will set Rezin's oppressors against Israel and will stir up its enemies--
12 the Arameans from the east and the Philistines from the west. They will devour Israel with open mouths. Even after all this, his anger will not disappear, and he is still ready to use his power.
13 But the people have not returned to the one who struck them, nor have they sought the LORD(Jesus) of angels(hosts).
14 So in one day the LORD(Jesus) will cut off from Israel both head and the tail, the palm branch and the reed.
15 Respected and honored leaders are the head. Prophets who teach lies are the tail.
16 Those who guide these people lead them astray. Those who are guided by them will be destroyed.
The fate of our evil rukers! This is for us! It is against our leaders and ministers!
17 That is why the LORD(Jesus) isn't happy with our young men, nor will he show compassion for our orphans and widows. For every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks foolishness. Even after all this, his anger will not disappear, and he is still ready to use his power.
18 For wickedness burns like fire. It burns up briars and thorns. It sets the underbrush in the forest on fire, and it whirls upward in clouds of smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the LORD(Jesus) of hosts the land is blackened , and the people are like fuel for the fire. No one shows concern for others:
20 On the right, one gobbles up food and is still hungry. On the left, another eats and is never full. Each person eats the flesh from his own arm.
21 Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, Ephraim will feed on Manasseh, and both will devour Judah. But even then the LORD(Jesus)'s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike.
Manasseh, Ephraim--the two sons of Joseph. So closely united as to form between them but one tribe; but now about to be rent into factions, thirsting for each other's blood. Disunited in all things else, but united "together against their brother Judah" This seems to imply that the USA and Great Britain will become enemies, but will still work together against the JEWS – their own brother! In the end time, we will forsake the JEWISH PEOPLE and their nation, which will force them to turn to the beast in Europe for protection.
Isaiah 10
THE MESSIAH:
Compare with Matthew 23
2 They deprive the poor of justice. They take away the rights of the needy among my people. They prey on widows and rob orphans.
3 What will you do when I come an call you to account [for these things], when the disaster comes from far away? Where will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
4 I will not help you. You will stumble along as prisoners or lie among the dead. But even then the LORD(Jesus)'s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike.
5 How horrible it will be for Assyria! It is the rod of my anger. My fury is the staff in the Assyrians' hands.
6 I send them against a hypocritical nation, and against the people to take their belongings, loot them, and trample on them like mud in the streets.
7 But that's not what they intend to do. Their minds don't work that way. Their purpose is to destroy and put an end to many nations.
10 My power has reached kingdoms which have idols. They had more carved statues than Jerusalem or Samaria.
12 When the LORD(Jesus) has finished using the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes in Jerusalem, He will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him – for he is proud and arrogant.
The fate of Germany
Isaiah 10:9 Isaiah 10:11 show that Samaria was destroyed before this prophecy. It was written when Assyria proposed (a design which it soon after tried to carry out under Sennacherib) to destroy Judah and Jerusalem, as it had destroyed Samaria. This is the first part of Isaiah's prophecies under Hezekiah. Probably between 722 and 715 B.C. (see Isaiah 10:27 ). (Jamieson)
13 He boasts, "By my own power and wisdom I have won these wars. By my own strength I have captured many lands, destroyed their kings, and carried off their treasures.
14 By my greatness I have robbed their nests of riches and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs. No one can even flap a wing against me or utter a peep of protest."
15 Can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it? Is the saw greater than the person who saws? Can a whip strike unless a hand is moving it? Can a cane walk by itself?
16 That is why the LORD(Jesus) of angels will send a degenerative disease against brave men. A flame will be turned into a raging fire under his power.
LORD(Jesus) of host means LORD(Jesus) of the host of angels in heaven
17 The LORD(Jesus), the Light of Israel --- the Holy One, will be a flaming fire that will destroy them in a single day.
18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: They will be like a sick person wasting away.
Only a FEW of us (Israel) will survive!
20 At that time the remaining few Israelites, the survivors of Jacob's descendants will no longer depend on the one who struck them. They will only depend on the LORD(Jesus), the Holy One of Israel.
This predicts that only a small part of America and England, along with the western European nations will seek after Christ during the last days. Most of the people will die.
22 Although your people Israel were once as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, [yet] only a few will return. Destruction will be complete and fair.
Destruction is our fate!
mighty God--( Isaiah 9:6 ) the God who shall have evinced such might in destroying Israel's enemies. As the Assyrians in Sennacherib's reign did not carry off Judah captive, the returning "remnant" cannot mainly refer to this time.
yet--rather in the sense in which Paul quotes it ( Romans 9:27 ), "Though Israel be now numerous as the sand, a remnant only of them shall return"--the great majority shall perish. The reason is added, Because "the consumption (fully completed destruction) is decreed (literally, decided on, brought to an issue), it overfloweth ( Isaiah 30:28 , 8:8 ) with justice"; that is, the infliction of just punishment ( Isaiah 5:16 ) [MAURER].
23 The LORD(Jesus) of angels will carry out this destruction throughout the world as he has determined.
24 The Almighty LORD(Jesus) of angels says: My people who live in Zion(here meaning Israel), don't be afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with a rod or when they raise their staff against you as the Egyptians did.
26 Then the LORD(Jesus) of angels will raise his whip against them. As he struck down Midian at the Rock of Oreb and raised his staff over the water, so he will lift it as he did in Egypt.
27 In that day the HE will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders because of His anoiting.
anointing--namely, "Messiah" ( Daniel 9:24 ). Just as in Isaiah 9:4-6 , the "breaking of the yoke of" the enemies' "burden and staff" is attributed to Messiah, "For unto us a child is born," &c., so it is here. MAURER not so well translates, "Because of the fatness"; an image of the Assyrians fierce and wanton pride drawn from a well-fed bull tossing off the yoke ( Deuteronomy 32:15 ). So Isaiah 10:16 above, and Isaiah 5:17 , "fat ones."
29 They go through the mountain pass and lodge at Geba for the night. The people in Ramah tremble; the people in Saul's Gibeah flee.
32 But the enemy stops at Nob for the rest of that day. He shakes his fist at Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
that day--literally, "As yet this (one only) day (is allowed to the soldiers) for remaining (halting for rest) at Nob"; northeast of Jerusalem on Olivet; a town of the priests ( Nehemiah 11:32 ).
daughter--rightly substituted for the Chetib reading, house. His "shaking his hand" in menace implies that he is now at Nob, within sight of Jerusalem. (Jamieson)
daughter--rightly substituted for the Chetib reading, house. His "shaking his hand" in menace implies that he is now at Nob, within sight of Jerusalem. (Jamieson)
33 Behold, the LORD(Jesus), the LORD(Jesus) of hosts(angels) will trim the branches with terrifying power. The highest trees will be cut down. The tallest ones will be brought down.
34 He will cut down the underbrush of the forest with an ax. Lebanon will fall in front of a (the) Mighty One.
Isaiah 11
THE BRANCH FROM JESSE (CHRIST):
verse 9 suggests that this is from the word of Yahweh! - So I have in RED
1 And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stump of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
2 The Spirit of the LORD(Jesus) will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of advice and power, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the LORD(Jesus).
3 He will delight in obeying the LORD(Jesus). He will never judge by appearance, false evidence, or hearsay.
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor. HE will make fair decisions for the humble people on earth. He will strike the earth with a rod from his mouth. He will kill the wicked with the breath from his lips.
6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the goat. Calves, young lions, and year-old lambs will be together, and little children will lead them.
7 Cows and bears will eat together. Their young will lie down together. Lions will eat straw like oxen.
This suggests to me that the very nature of the meat eating carnivorous animal is going to change in the millennium or the world yet to come. This is where many feel that in the Garden of Eden, this was the nature of beasts.... That they did not eat one another, and that death did not come until man's sin. This may or may not be true, but carnivorous teeth, came upon creation – which doesn't suggest to me that vegetarianism was the rule in the garden. If it was or not, we must conclude that it will be this way someday!
8 The breast feeding child will play near cobras' holes. Toddlers will put their hands into vipers' nests.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD(Jesus), as the waters cover the sea.
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which will stand as a banner for the people to seek the Gentiles: and his rest shall be glorious.
This is surely a reference to Paul! He is the apostle to the Gentiles, and his mission is being foretold here as a proof of his ministry.
REST= from Monaoh and not Shabat (Sabbath). I do not believe this has a Sabbath connotation here. His work (rest) will be glorious for Christ!
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the LORD(Jesus) 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.
The promised return of all of the people of Israel and Judah. Which will happen in the FUTURE!
Islands of the Seas = The Bristish Isles....
12 And He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the outcasts of Israel and bring together the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
The promised return of all of the people of Israel and Judah. Which will happen in the FUTURE!
13 Ephraim's jealousy will vanish, and Judah's opponents will come to an end. Ephraim won't be jealous of Judah, and Judah won't oppose Ephraim.
England, America and the Jews will no longer be against each other. No more anti-Semitism
14 They will sweep down on the hills of Philistia in the west. Together they will plunder the people of the east. They will conquer Edom and Moab. The people of Ammon will be their slaves.
15 The LORD(Jesus) shall utterly dry up the gulf of the Egyptian Sea. He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River with his scorching wind and divide it into seven streams so that people can walk over it in their sandals.
16 There will be a highway for the remaining few of his people left in Assyria like there was for Israel when it came out of Egypt.
One of the most graphic pictures of Christ’s kingdom on earth is that of a highway. The prophet Isaiah describes it as a road leading from the depths of degradation and death to the pinnacle of life and happiness. This highway is a leading theme in the book of Isaiah. Not only is it described in our theme text but it appears throughout the pages of this prophecy. In chapter eleven he describes the origins of this road. In chapter nineteen he outlines its route. In chapters 40 and 62 he tells of the preparations for its construction. We will seek to examine each of these references to this highway in this article.
The Highway Described
"And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the LORD(Jesus) shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."—Isaiah 35:8-10The thirty-fifth chapter of Isaiah is one of the most beautiful descriptions of the peaceful kingdom of Christ to be found in the Bible. Not only does the prophet describe the fertility of the earth with the desert blossoming abundantly and the parched ground becoming a pool but he also tells of the love of man to man with the strengthening of the weak hands and the confirming of the feeble knees. Physical health is also covered with the eyes of blind being opened, the tongue of the dumb singing, and the lame man leaping as an hart. He caps his kingdom description with this image of a highway, "the way of holiness," or the road that leads to holiness in thought, word, and deed.
Isaiah 12
FEAST OF TABERNCLES AND THE SYMBOLS OF CHRIST:
1 And in that day you shall say, O LORD(Jesus), I will praise you: Although you had been angry with me, you turned your anger away from me, and you comforted me.
2 Behold, God (El) [is] my salvation(Yeshua); I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD(Yahh) JEHOVAH(Yahweh) [is] my strength and [my] song; he also is become my salvation(Yeshua).
Yahh, Jehovah. The repetition of the name denotes emphasis, and the unchangeableness of God's character. The correct rendering here is more like Yahh, Yahweh (Or the One who is Yahweh!)
Yeshua: Is the same name as Joshua, or the hebrew name for Christ. We know from here that Jesus (Yeshua) would be the name of the savior!
God (El) El is the singular form of Elohim! One of the Godhead (El) is our salvation and that one is Yeshua the Messiah or Jesus the Christ! The idea of salvation was peculiarly associated with the feast of tabernacles (see Isaiah 12:3 ). Hence the cry "Hosanna," "Save, we beseech thee," that accompanied Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on that day (the fifteenth of the seventh month) ( Matthew 21:9 ; compare with Psalms 118:25 Psalms 118:26 ); the earnest of the perfected "salvation" which He shall bring to His people at His glorious second appearance at Jerusalem ( Hebrews 9:28 ). "He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Compare Revelation 21:3 , "The tabernacle of God is with men." Compare Luke 9:33 , "three tabernacles: one for thee," &c. (the transfiguration being a pledge of the future kingdom), ( Psalms 118:15 , Zechariah 14:16 ). As the Jew was reminded by the feast of tabernacles of his wanderings in tents in the wilderness, so the Jew-Gentile Church to come shall call to mind, with thanksgiving, the various past ways whereby God has at last brought them to the heavenly "city of habitation" ( Psalms 107:7 ).
3 Therefore with joy shall we will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!
On the last day of the feast of tabernacles the Isrraelites used to bring water in a golden pitcher from the fountain of Siloam, and pour it, mingled with wine, on the sacrifice on the altar, with great rejoicing. This is the allusion in Jesus' words on "the last day of the feast" ( John 7:2 John 7:37-39 ). The pouring out of water indicated repentance ( 1 Samuel 7:6 ; compare, as to the Jews' repentance hereafter, Zechariah 12:10 ). There shall be a latter outpouring of the Spirit like the former one on pentecost ( Joel 2:23 ).
4 And in that day shall you shall say, Praise the LORD(Jesus), call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make it happen that His name is honored.
5 Sing(songs) to the LORD(Jesus); for He has done excellent things: this [will be] known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout, Let all of Israel [Zion] know how great the Holy-One(qadowsh ) of Israel who lives among you, is.
Christ is coming to live among us! FOREVER!
Isaiah 13
END TIMES:
PROPHECIES AS TO FOREIGN NATIONS.-- BABYLON(Rome) AND ASSYRIA (Germany):
Since this is called a divine revelation = I am considering this Christ Speaking (in Red)
The predictions as to foreign nations are for the sake of the covenant people, to preserve them from despair, or reliance on human confederacies, and to strengthen their faith in God: also in order to extirpate narrow-minded nationality: God is Yahweh to Israel, not for Israel's sake alone, but that He may be thereby Elohim to the nations and to THE TRUE CHURCH OF GOD! . These prophecies are in their right chronological place, in the beginning of Hezekiah's reign; then the nations of Western Asia, on the Tigris and Euphrates, first assumed a most menacing aspect.
2 Lift your banner upon a bare mountaintop. Call loudly to them. Signal them with your hand to enter the nobles' gates.
3 I've commanded my holy ones. I've called my mighty men to carry out my anger. They find joy in my highness.
4 The noise on the mountains are like the sound of a large army. It is the sound of kingdoms and nations gathering together. The LORD(Jesus) of angels[hosts] is assembling his army for battle.
5 His army is coming from a distant land, from the ends of heaven. The LORD(Jesus) is coming with the weapons of his fury to destroy the whole world.
6 Cry aloud, for the day of the LORD(Jesus) is at hand. It will come like destruction from the Almighty(Shaddai). ( Revelation 6:17 ).
8 And they shall be afraid: Pain and anguish will seize them. They shall be in pain as a woman giving birth to a child. They'll look at one another in astonishment. Their faces will be burning red.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD(Jesus) comes! It will be a cruel day with fury and fierce anger. The earth will become desolate. He will destroy its sinners.
10 For the stars in the heavens (sky) and their constellations won't give their light.. The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon won't shine.
Compare Isaiah 13:10 with Matthew 24:29 , Revelation 8:12 . The sins of Babylon, arrogancy ( Isaiah 13:11 , Isaiah 14:11 , Isaiah 47:7 Isaiah 47:8 ), cruelty, false worship ( Jeremiah 50:38 ), persecution of the people of God ( Isaiah 47:6 ), are peculiarly characteristic of the Antichristian world of the latter days ( Daniel 11:32-37 , Revelation 17:3 Revelation 17:6 , Revelation 18:6 Revelation 18:7 Revelation 18:9-14 Revelation 18:24 ). This is why I think that Babylon in prophecy is not modern day Iran (although it could be) but more likely the Holy Roman Church of Revelation. IT MAY BE DUAL and be both, especially if modern Iran were to attack an destroy modern Israel(the Jewish state). See ( Revelation 21:1 ).
11 And I will punish the world for [their] evil ways, and the wicked for their lawlessness; and I will put an end to arrogant people and humble the pride of tyrants.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man will be more rare than gold from Ophir.
OR -”I will so cut off Babylon's defenders, that a single man shall be as rare and precious as the finest gold.”
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will be shaken from its place, in the wrath of the LORD(Jesus) of hosts(angels), and in the day of his fierce anger.
14 They'll be like hunted gazelle and like sheep with no one to gather them. Everyone will return to his own people and flee to his own land.
16 Their children will be smashed to death right before their eyes. Their houses will be looted and their wives raped.
17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, they don't care for silver and aren't happy with gold.
18 Their bows will slay the young. They'll have no compassion for babies, nor will they look with pity on children.
19 Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the proud beauty of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God(Elohim/Theos) destroyed them.
20 It will never be inhabited (again), and no one will live in it forever. Arabs won't pitch their tents there. Shepherds won't let their flocks rest there.
21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; Their homes will be full of owls. Ostriches will live there, and wild goats will skip about.
wild beasts--Hebrew, tsiyim, animals dwelling in arid wastes. Wild cats, remarkable for their howl [BOCHART]. satyrs--sylvan demi-gods--half man, half goat--believed by the Arabs to haunt these ruins; probably animals of the goat-ape species [VITRINGA]. Devil-worshippers, who dance amid the ruins on a certain night [J. WOLFF].
22 And the wild beasts will howl in Babylon's strongholds, and jackals will howl in its luxurious palaces. Its time has almost come. Its days will not be extended.
Isaiah 14
END TIMES:
THE CERTAINTY OF DELIVERANCE FROM BABYLON:
1 For the LORD(Jesus) will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet (again) choose Israel. HE will resettle them in their own country. Foreigners will join them and unite with the descendants of Jacob.
Jacob is Joseph = Israel and today = America and Great Britain
2 People will take them and bring them to their own place. The nation of Israel will possess nations as male and female slaves in the LORD(Jesus)'s land. They will take their captors captive and rule their oppressors.
3 When that day comes, the LORD(Jesus) will give you relief from your pain and suffering, from the hard slavery you were forced to do.
4 Then make this proverb against the king of Babylon with this saying, "How the tyrant has come to an end! How his attacks have come to an end!"
staff--not the scepter ( Psalms 2:9 ), but the staff with which one strikes others, as he is speaking of more tyrants than one ( Isaiah 9:4 , 10:24 , 14:29 ) [MAURER].
6 They persecuted the people with unceasing blows of rage and held the nations in their angry grip. Your tyranny was unrestrained.
8 Even the trees of the forest – the cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon – sing out this joyous song: 'Your power is broken! No one will come to cut us down now!'
9 The grave[hell] below wakes up to meet you when you come. It wakes up the ghosts of the dead, all who were leaders[chief ones] on earth. It raises all who were kings of the nations from their thrones.
SHEOL: The Grave translated “Hell” in KJV, does not mean a place of torment, but a hole in the ground, a grave were dead people are buried and await the resurrection from the dead.
chief ones--literally, "goats"; so rams, leaders of the flock; princes ( Zechariah 10:3 ). The idea of wickedness on a gigantic scale is included ( Ezekiel 34:17 , Matthew 25:32 Matthew 25:33 ). MAGEE derives "Rephaim" (English Version, "the dead") from a Hebrew root, "to resolve into first elements"; so "the deceased" ( Isaiah 26:14 ) "ghosts" ( Proverbs 21:16 ). These being magnified by the imagination of the living into gigantic stature, gave their name to giants in general ( Genesis 6:4 , 14:5 , Ezekiel 32:18 Ezekiel 32:21 ). "Rephaim," translated in the Septuagint, "giants" Thence, as the giant Rephaim of Canaan were notorious even in that guilty land, enormous wickedness became connected with the term. So the Rephaim came to be the wicked spirits in Gehenna, the lower of the two portions into which Sheol is divided. (Jamieson)
11 Your pride has been brought down to grave along with the music of your harps. Now maggots are your sheet and worms your blanket.'
12 How you have fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the star! How you have been cut down to the ground, you conqueror of nations!
Lucifer--"day star." A title truly belonging to Christ ( Revelation 22:16 ), "the bright and morning star," and therefore hereafter to be assumed by Antichrist. GESENIUS, however, renders the Hebrew here as in Ezekiel 21:12 , Zechariah 11:2 , "howl." (Jamieson)
13 For you said to yourself, "I'll go up to heaven and set up my throne above the stars of God(El). I'll sit on the mountain far away in the north where the gods(mow`ed ) assemble.
In Daniel 8:10 , "stars" express earthly potentates. "The stars" are often also used to express heavenly principalities ( Job 38:7 ).
clouds--rather, "the cloud," singular. Perhaps there is a reference to the cloud, the symbol of the divine presence ( Isaiah 4:5 , Exodus 13:21 ). So this tallies with 2 Thessalonians 2:4 , "above all that is called God"; as here "above . . . the cloud"; and as the Shekinah-cloud was connected with the temple, there follows, "he as God sitteth in the temple of God," answering to "I will be like the Most High" here. Moreover, Revelation 17:4 Revelation 17:5 , represents Antichrist as seated in BABYLON, to which city, literal and spiritual, Isaiah refers here. (Jamieson)
See Revelation 20
16 Those who see you stare at you; they look at you closely and say, "Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook the kingdoms,
17 [That] made the world like a desert and tore down its cities, who didn't let his prisoners go home?"
19 But you are thrown out of your tomb like a rejected branch. You are covered with those who were killed in battle. You go down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse.
20 You won't be joined by the kings in the tomb, because you have destroyed your land and killed your people. The descendants of the wicked will never be mentioned again.
21 Prepare a place to slaughter their sons because of their ancestors' guilt. They won't be able to rise, possess the earth, and rebuild cities all over it.
22 "I'll rise up against them," declares the LORD(Jesus) of angels. "I'll cut off the name of the survivors from Babylon, its offspring and descendants," declares the LORD(Jesus).
23 "It will become the possession of herons. It will become pools of water. I'll sweep it with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD(Jesus) of angels.
24 The LORD(Jesus) of Armies has taken an oath: It will happen exactly as I've intended. It will turn out exactly as I've planned.
25 I'll crush Assyria on my land. I'll trample it underfoot on my mountains. Then its yolk will be removed from my people, and its burden will be removed from their shoulders.
26 This is the plan determined for the whole earth. This is how he will use his power against all the nations.
27 The LORD(Jesus) of hosts(angels) has planned it. Who can stop it? He is ready to use his power. Who can turn it back?
PROPHECY AGAINST PHILISTIA:
29 All you Philistines, don't rejoice that the rod of the one who struck you is broken, because a viper will come from that snake's root, and his descendant will be a flying, fiery serpent.
30 The poorest of the poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety. But I will put your root to death with famine and kill off your survivors.
31 Cry loudly in the gate! Cry out in the city! Be frightened, all you Philistines! Smoke comes from the north, and there are no stragglers in its ranks.
32 What should we tell the enemy messengers? Tell them that the LORD(Jesus) has built Jerusalem, and that the poor of his people will find refuge in its walls.
Isaiah 15
PROPHECY AGAINST MOAB:
1 This is the divine revelation about Moab. Because in a single night Ar in Moab is laid waste and destroyed! In a single night Kir in Moab is laid waste and destroyed!
2 The people of Dibon go to the temple,to the worship and cry. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Every head is shaved bald, and every beard is cut off.
3 In the streets they wear sackcloth and on the roofs and in their city squares everyone wails and cries.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out. Their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz. Moab's armed men cry out. Their courage is gone.
5 My heart cries out for Moab. Its people flee as far as Zoar at Eglath Shelishiyah. They go up the mountain road to Luhith. They cry loudly over the destruction on the way to Horonaim.
6 The Nimrim Brook has run dry! The grass dries up, the vegetation withers, and nothing green is left.
8 Cries for help echo throughout the land of Moab. Their wailing echoes as far as Eglaim. Their wailing echoes as far as Beer Elim.
9 The water in Dimon is red with blood, yet I will bring even more on Dimon. A lion will attack the fugitives from Moab and the survivors from Adamah.
Moab is most likely the Palestinians in Jordan today, and it is my belief that this is a prophecy concerning the Palestinian people. The Moabites were close kin to the Hebrews and the language of the Moabite Stone is practically the same as biblical Hebrew. The relations of Moab with Judah and Israel are continually mentioned in the Bible. We may conclude that Edom, Moab, and Ammon constitute the people of the Western side of Jordan; in fact, the entire Israeli-Jordan border. Therefore, it can be said that the antichrist will allow the people of western Jordan to escape . It is well known that the population of the entire country of Jordan is 75 percent "Palestinian." The verse says "the CHIEF of the CHILDREN of Ammon." Since Ammon is the capitol of Jordan, this is is a significant statement.
Isaiah 16
CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECY TO MOAB:
1 Send lambs to the ruler of the land. Send lambs from Sela through the desert to my people at Mount Zion.
from Sela to--rather, "from Petra through (literally, 'towards') the wilderness" [MAURER]. "Sela" means "a rock," Petra in Greek; the capital of Idumea and Arabia-Petræa; the dwellings are mostly hewn out of the rock. The country around was a vast common ("wilderness") or open pasturage, to which the Moabites had fled on the invasion from the west ( Isaiah 15:7 ).
2 For it shall be, [that], as a wandering bird is cast out of the nest, [so] the daughters of Moab shall be at the shallow crossings of the Arnon River.
3 Take counsel, execute judgment; At high noon make your shadow as dark as night. Hide the fugitives. Don't betray the refugees.
4 Let the outcasts from Moab stay with you until noontime. Be their refuge from the destroyer. Ruthless people will come to an end. The destruction will end. The one who tramples others will be gone.
5 And in mercy shall the throne be established (by God): and HE shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and searching for justice, and doing what is right!
Versus : 3-5. GESENIUS, MAURER, &c., regard these verses as an address of the fugitive Moabites to the Jews for protection; they translate Isaiah 16:4 , "Let mine outcasts of Moab dwell with thee, Judah"; the protection will be refused by the Jews, for the pride of Moab ( Isaiah 16:6 ). VITRINGA makes it an additional advice to Moab, besides paying tribute. Give shelter to the Jewish outcasts who take refuge in thy land ( Isaiah 16:3 Isaiah 16:4 ); so "mercy" will be shown thee in turn by whatever king sits on the "throne" of "David" ( Isaiah 16:5 ). Isaiah foresees that Moab will be too proud to pay the tribute, or conciliate Judah by sheltering its outcasts ( Isaiah 16:6 ); therefore judgment shall be executed. However, as Moab just before is represented as itself an outcast in Idumea, it seems incongruous that it should be called on to shelter Jewish outcasts. So that it seems rather to foretell the ruined state of Moab when its people should beg the Jews for shelter, but be refused for their pride.
6 We have heard of the arrogant pride of Moab's people. They are very arrogant. We've heard of their boasting, arrogance, and conceit, but their boasts aren't true.
7 That is why Moab will wail. Everyone will wail for Moab. Mourn and grieve over the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.
8 The farms of Heshbon are abandoned--the vineyards at Sibmah are deserted. Rulers of the nations have cut off their grapes. The grapevines once reached as far as Jazer and strayed out into the desert. Its tendrils spread north as far as the town of Jazer and trailed eastward into the wilderness. Its shoots reached so far west that they crossed over the (Dead) Sea.
9 Therefore, I will cry for the grapevines of Sibmah as Jazer cries for them. I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh. The shouts of joy for your ripened fruits and your harvest will be silenced.
10 Joy and delight have vanished from the orchards. No songs are sung. No shouts are raised. No one stomps on grapes in the winepresses, because I have put an end to the shouts of joy.
bowels--in Scripture the seat of yearning compassion. It means the inward seat of emotion, the heart, &c. ( Isaiah 63:15 ; compare Isaiah 15:5 , Jeremiah 48:36 ).
12 And it shall come to pass, when the people of Moab appear at the worship site, they will only wear themselves out. They will come into the holy place to pray, but they won't be able to.
14 But now the LORD says, "Within three years, Moab's honor will be despised. I will count them like workers count the years left of their contracts. In spite of their great number, the survivors will be very few and powerless."
Isaiah 17
PROPHECY CONCERNING DAMASCUS AND ITS ALLY SAMARIA:
that is, Syria and Israel, which had leagued together (seventh and eighth chapters).
1 This is the divine revelation about Damascus: Damascus will no longer be a city. It will become a pile of rubble.
Damascus is modern day Syria, where it is still the capital of that nation. The modern day Syrians are NOT ASSYRIA, but are more closely aligned with Palestinians
2 The cities of Aroer will be deserted. Sheep will graze in the streets and lie down unafraid. There will be no one to chase them away.
3 The fortified cities of Israel will also be destroyed, and the power of Damascus will end. The few left in Aram will share the fate of Israel's departed glory, declares the LORD(Jesus) of angels[hosts].
Yet another example of God predicting the destruction of Israel (America and England)
4 And in that day it shall come to pass, [that] the glory of Jacob shall fade away, and they will become skin and bones.
5 That time will be like the grain harvest in the Valley of Rephaim. The workers cut the wheat. Then they cut the heads of grain from the plants and collect the grain.
6 Only a few people be left (alive). They will be like an olive tree that has been beaten. Only two or three olives are left at the top of the highest branch, four or five olives on the rest of the branches," declares the LORD(Jesus) God(Elohim/Theos) of Israel.
Mathhew 24
7 When that day comes, they will look to their maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.
This is Jesus Christ!
8 And they shall not look to the altars made by their hands or to the Easter poles or incense altars which their fingers molded.
9 In that day all their strong cities will be empty. They will be like the cities the Hivites and the Amorites left when the Israelites came to take the land. Everything will be ruined.
10 Because you have forgotten the God(Elohim/Theos) of who is your salvation, and has not been mindful of the rock of strength, and instead, you have planted the best plants and have set out the imported grapevines.
THE ROCK = CHRIST!
11 On the day you plant, you will make it grow. On the morning you set out the seedling, you will make it sprout. But at harvest time everything will be dead; a sickness will kill all the plants.
12 Woe for many people! They will roar like the roaring sea. The noise that the people make will be like the noise from rushing water.
13 The nations will make noise like raging water. But the LORDYaweh) will yell at them, and they will run far away. They will be chased away like husks on the mountains being blown by the wind, like whirling dust being blown by a storm.
14 And behold at evening time, there will be trouble, and before dawn they will be gone. This will be the fate of those who looted us, the destiny of those who robbed us.
Syria and Ephriam were confederate against Judah (ch. 7:1, 2), and, they being so closely linked together in their counsels, this chapter, though it be entitled "divine revelation about Damascus’’ (which was the head city of Syria), reads the doom of Israel too. The destruction of the strong cities both of Syria and Israel is here foretold (v. 1-5 and v. 9–11).
Also, these verses read the doom of those that spoil and rob the people of God. If the Assyrians and Israelites invade and plunder Judah,then God will set His face against them! America is not to forsake the Jewish nation!
Isaiah 18
1 Woe to the land of whirring wings which lies beyond the rivers of Ethiopia[Cush]:
Whatever country it is that is meant here by "the land shadowing with wings,’’ here is a woe denounced against it, for God has, upon his people’s account, a quarrel with it. I. They threaten God’s people (v. 1, 2). II. All the neighbours are hereupon called to take notice what will be the issue (v. 3). III. Though God seem unconcerned in the distress of his people for a time, he will at length appear against their enemies and will remarkable cut them off (v. 4-6). IV. This shall redound very much to the glory of God (v. 7). Interpreters are very much at a loss where to find this land. Some take it to be Egypt, a maritime country, and full of rivers, and which courted Israel to depend upon them, but proved broken reeds; but against this it is strongly objected that the next chapter is distinguished from this by the title of the judgement against Egypt. Others take it to be Ethiopia.
CUSH means black. This is a black nation.
Woe--The heading in English Version, "God will destroy the Ethiopians," is a mistake arising from the wrong rendering "Woe," whereas the Hebrew does not express a threat, but is an appeal calling attention
whirring wings--rather, "land of the winged bark"; that is, "barks with wing-like sails, answering to vessels of bulrushes" in Isaiah 18:2 ; the word "rivers," in the parallelism, also favors it; so the Septuagint and Chaldee [EWALD]. "Land of the clanging sound of wings," that is, armies, as in Isaiah 8:8 ; the rendering "bark," or "ship," is rather dubious [MAURER]. The armies referred to are those of Tirhakah, advancing to meet the Assyrians ( Isaiah 37:9 ). In English Version, "shadowing" means protecting-- stretching out its wings to defend a feeble people, namely, the Hebrews [VITRINGA]. The Hebrew for "wings" is the same as for the idol Cneph, which was represented in temple sculptures with wings ( Psalms 91:4 ).
2 That land sends ambassadors across the sea; they go on the water in boats made of reeds. Go, quick messengers, to a people who are tall and smooth-skinned, who are feared everywhere. They are a powerful nation that defeats other nations. Their land is divided by rivers.
3 All you inhabitants of the world, and those that dwell on the earth, look! Everyone who lives in the world, look! You will see a banner raised on a mountain. You will hear a shofar [trumpet] sound.
4 So the LORD(Jesus) said to me: I will rest awhile and watch from my dwelling place. My presence will be like scorching heat in the sunshine, like heavy dew in the heat of the harvest.
5 Before the harvest, when the flowers have bloomed and before the harvest, when new grapes will be budding and growing. The enemy will cut the plants with knives; he will cut down the vines and take them away.
6 They will be left together with the birds of prey on the mountains and the wild animals. The birds of prey will feed on them in the summer, and all the wild animals on earth will feed on them in the winter.
7 At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD(Jesus) of angels[hosts] from the people who are tall and smooth-skinned, who are feared everywhere. They are a powerful nation that defeats other nations. Their land is divided by rivers. They will be brought to Mount Zion, the place where the name of the LORD(Jesus) of angels is.
place of the name--where Yahweh peculiarly manifests His glory; Acts 2:10 and Acts 8:27 show how worshippers came up to Jerusalem from Egypt" and "Ethiopia." Frumentius, an Egyptian, in the fourth century, converted Abyssinia to Christianity; and a Christian church, under an abuna or bishop, still flourishes there. The full accomplishment is probably still future.
It should be mentioned here that in the past few hundred years, certain Ethopians have claimed to be “lost Jews” and even claim to have the Ark. This is all nonsense, and these people may have a more greater role in the End Time against the true people of God.
Isaiah 19
WORDS AGAINST EGYPT in the END TIMES:
1 This is the divine word revealed about Egypt. Behold, the LORD(Jesus) is riding on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. Egypt's idols will tremble in his presence. Egypt's courage will fail.
2 I will turn the Egyptians against each other. They will fight-- brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3 The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will confuse their plans. They will plead with their idols for wisdom. They will call on spirits, mediums, and psychics to show them which way to turn.
4 I will hand over the Egyptians to a cruel master. and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the the LORD(Jesus) of hosts(angels).
6 The canals will stink. The streams of Egypt will decrease and dry up. All the water plants will rot;
8 The fishermen, all those who catch fish from the Nile, will groan and cry; those who fish in the Nile will be sad.
11 Surely the princes of Zoan [are] fools, the wisest of Pharaoh's counselors gives stupid advice. How can you tell Pharaoh, "I'm a descendant of wise men, a descendant of ancient kings"?
12 Where are they (your wise men) now? Let them tell you. Let them explain what the LORD(Jesus) of angels is planning against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; the leaders of Memphis have believed false things. lead that nation the wrong way.
14 The LORD(Jesus) has made the leaders confused. So Jesus ( אֵת ('eth))* lead the Egyptians astray like a drunk who staggers in his vomit.
Jesus ( אֵת ('eth))* See Genesis 1:1
16 In that day shall Egypt be like women. They will tremble and be terrified because the LORD(Jesus) of angels will shake his fist at them.
17 The land of Judah will terrify the Egyptians. Whenever they are reminded of Judah, they will be terrified of it because of what the LORD(Jesus) of angels is planning against it.
18 In that day five cities in Egypt will have people that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD(Jesus) of angels. One of the cities will be called Heliopolis.
This implies that Hebrew will still be God's Language
19 At that time there will be an altar for the LORD(Jesus) will be in the middle of Egypt, and a stone marker for the LORD(Jesus) will be near its border.
20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD(Jesus) of angels is in Egypt. When the people cry to the LORD(Jesus) because of those who oppress them, he will send a savior and defender to rescue them.
21 So the LORD(Jesus) will make himself known to the Egyptians. The Egyptians will know the LORD(Jesus) when that day comes. They will worship with sacrifices and food offerings. They will make vows to the LORD(Jesus) and carry them out.
NOTICE SACRIFICES IN THE MILLENIUM!
22 The LORD(Jesus) will strike Egypt with a plague. When he strikes them, he will also heal them. Then they will come back to the LORD(Jesus). And he will respond to their prayers and heal them.
23 In that day, a highway will run from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 When that day comes, Israel will be one-third [of God(Elohim/Theos)'s people], along with Egypt and Assyria. They will be a blessing on the earth.
25 The LORD(Jesus) of angels will bless them, saying, "Blessed [be] Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance. "
This is End Times prophecies here. No question about it. We see the return of animal sacrifices and Egypt's fear of the Jews (not Israel). That fear of the Jews already started since the 1973 war!
Isaiah 20
END TIMES
CAPTIVITY OF EGYPT AND ETHIOPIA:
1 In the year when a general under Sargon the king of Assyria came to Ashdod, to attack it and capture it.
General - Tartan--probably the same general as was sent by Sennacherib against Hezekiah ( 2 Kings 18:17 ). GESENIUS takes "Tartan" as a title
Ashdod--called by the Greeks Azotus ( Acts 8:40 ); on the Mediterranean, one of the "five" cities of the Philistines. The taking of it was a necessary preliminary to the invasion of Egypt, to which it was the key in that quarter, the Philistines being allies of Egypt. So strongly did the Assyrians fortify it that it stood a twenty-nine years' siege, when it was retaken by the Egyptian Psammetichus.
sent--Sargon himself remained behind engaged with the Phoenician cities, or else led the main force more directly into Egypt out of Judah [G. V. SMITH].
sent--Sargon himself remained behind engaged with the Phoenician cities, or else led the main force more directly into Egypt out of Judah [G. V. SMITH].
2 At that time the LORD(Jesus) spoke to Isaiah, son of Amoz saying, "Take off the sackcloth that you are wearing, and take off your sandals!" Isaiah did this and walked around barefoot and naked.
3 Then the LORD(Jesus) said: Isaiah my servant has walked around naked and barefoot for three years as a sign against Egypt and Ethopia.
Ethopia in Hebrew is Cush meaning black.
4 So, the king of Assyria will lead away the Egyptians and Ethiopians as prisoners. He will make them walk naked and barefoot, both young and old, their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
5 And they shall be shattered and ashamed because Ethiopia was their hope and Egypt was their great hope.
6 When that day comes, those who live on this coastland will say, 'Look at what has happened to our hope. We ran (to Egypt) for help to be rescued from the king of Assyria. How can we escape?'
Isaiah 21
END TIMES
PROPHECY AGAINST BABYLON and ARABIA:
1 This message came to me concerning the land of Babylonia : Disaster is roaring down on you from the desert, like a whirlwind sweeping in from the Negev.
2 I see an awesome thing--- I see you plundered and destroyed. Go ahead, you Elamites and Medes, take part in the siege. Babylon will fall, and the groaning of all the nations she enslaved will end.
3 My stomach aches and burns with pain, that grips me like the pain of childbirth. I'm disturbed by what I hear. I'm terrified by what I see.
4 My heart grows weak and fear makes me tremble. I longed for evening to come. But it brought me horror instead of rest.
5 They set the table; they spread the rugs; they eat and drink. Leaders, stand up. Prepare the shields for battle!
6 This is what the LORD(Jesus) says to me: Put a watchman on the city wall to shout out what he sees.
7 Tell him to sound the alert when he sees chariots drawn by horses and warriors mounted on donkeys and camels.
8 The watchman called, "Sir, I stand on the watchtower every day. Every night, I stand guard at my post.
9 Look! Here come chariots and horsemen in pairs." Then he said, "Babylon has fallen! It has fallen! All the idols they worship lie shattered on the ground."
Revelation 18:2
10 O my people, threshed and winnowed, I have told you everything the LORD(Jesus) Almighty, the God(Elohim/Theos) of Israel, has said.
11 This is the divine revelation about Dumah. Someone is calling to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? "
Dumah is a part of Edom
Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? OR How much of the night is left? "Night" means calamity ( Job 35:10 , Micah 3:6 ), which, then, in the wars between Egypt and Assyria, pressed sore on Edom; or on Judah (if, as BARNES thinks, the question is asked in mockery of the suffering Jews in Babylon). The repetition of the question marks, in the former view, the anxiety of the Idumeans.
12 The watchman answers, "Morning is coming, and night will come again. If you need to ask, come back and ask."
PROPHECY THAT ARABIA WOULD BE OVERRUN BY A FOREIGN ENEMY WITHIN A YEAR:
13 This is the divine revelation about Arabia: O caravans from Dedan, hide in the deserts of Arabia.
14 O people of Tema, bring food and water to these weary refugees.
15 They have fled from drawn swords and sharp arrows and the terrors of war.
16 This is what the LORD(Jesus) says to me: In one year all the glory of the country of Kedar will be gone. (This is a year as a hired helper counts time.)
17 At that time only a few of the archers, the soldiers of Kedar, will be left alive... The LORD(Jesus), the God(Elohim/Theos) of Israel, has spoken.
These last few lines shows that Arabia (modern day SAUDI ARABIA) is to be overtaken in the last days. I think that the King of the South of Daniel, may be based out of here, or possibly Iran-Iraq. Never-the-less, Arabia nation is doomed to destruction in a year's time..
Isaiah 22
PROPHECY CONCERNING JERUSALEM Famine and Disease:
1 This is the divine message of the valley of Vision (concerning Jerusalem) :What is happening? Why is everyone running to the rooftops?
valley of vision--rather, "respecting the valley of visions"; namely, Jerusalem, the seat of divine revelations and visions, "the nursery of prophets" [JEROME]
2 The entire city is in an uproar. What do I see in this reveling city? The dead bodies are lying everywhere, killed by famine and disease.
3 All your leaders fled together. They were captured without their bows and arrows. All those who were found were taken prisoner before any of them could get far away.
4 That is why I say, "Look away from me; That I can cry bitterly. Don't try to comfort me because of the destruction brought on my people."
5 For [it is] a day of trouble, terror and confusion caused by the LORD(Jesus) of angels(hosts) who has brought upon the Valley of Vision! The walls of Jerusalem have been broken, and and they are left crying to the mountains.
crying to the mountains--the mournful cry of the townsmen "reaches" to (MAURER translates, towards) the mountains, and is echoed back by them. JOSEPHUS describes in the very same language the scene at the assault of Jerusalem under Titus. To this the prophecy, probably, refers ultimately. If, as some think, the "cry" is that of those escaping to the mountains, compare Matthew 13:14 , 24:16 , with this.
6 Elam takes its quiver of arrows, manned chariots, and horsemen. Kir uncovers its shields.
7 Then your fertile valleys will be filled with chariots, and horsemen will stand ready in front of the gate.
8 Judah's defenses have been stripped away. You run to the armory for your weapons.
9 You will see how many places in David's wall are broken. You will store water in the Lower Pool.
10 You will count the houses in Jerusalem. You will tear down those houses in order to fortify the walls.
11 Between the city walls, you build a reservoir for water from the old pool. But all your feverish plans are to no avail because you never ask God for help. He is the one who planned this long ago.
12 And in that day the LORD(Jesus) GOD(Elohim/Theos) of hosts(angels) will call for crying and for mourning, for shaving your heads and for wearing sackcloth.
13 But instead, you dance and play; you slaughter sacrificial animals, feast on meat, and drink wine. "Let's eat, drink, and be merry," you say. "What's the difference, for tomorrow we die."
14 The LORD(Jesus) of hosts(angels) revealed this to me: Certainly, this wrong will not be forgiven even when you die," says the LORD(Jesus) God(Elohim/Theos) of angels.
IS THIS A PROPHECY OF THE KING OF ENGLAND (from Judah reigning over Israel being DEPOSED BY GOD??????:
15 This is what the LORD(Jesus) God(Elohim/Theos) of angels says: Go to Shebna, the man in charge of the palace, and say [to him],
16 "What are you doing here? Who said you could cut out a tomb for your self here? Why are you preparing your tomb in a high place? Why are you carving out a tomb from the rock?
17 Behold, the LORD(Jesus) will throw you out. He will grab you,
18 and wrap you up tightly like a turban. He will throw you far away into another land. There you will die. There your splendid chariots will remain. There you will become a disgrace to your master's household.
19 I (the LORD) will remove you from your office and do away with your position.
20 When that day comes, I will call my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah.
21 I will dress him in your linen robe and fasten it with your belt. I will give him your authority, and he will be like a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the nation of Judah.
22 I will put the key to the house of David around his neck. If he opens a door, no one will be able to close it; if he closes a door, no one will be able to open it.
key--emblem of his office over the house
23 I will fasten him firmly in place like a peg, and he will be a source of honor for his father's household.
24 They will hang on him the whole weight of his father's household, descendants and offspring and all the little utensils, from bowls to jars of every kind."
25 The LORD(Jesus) of angels declares: On that day the peg which I firmly fastened in place will be removed. It will be cut off and will fall, and everything hanging on it will be destroyed. The LORD(Jesus) has spoken [it].
Isaiah 23
PROPHECY RESPECTING TYRE:
TYRE may be Modern America (NYC) or England!(Is 2:16)
Tyre became the people of Carthage (Hannibal - “Baal”) and may have been a mixture of Israelites and the blacks of the Philistines.
1 This is the divine revelation about Tyre. Cry loudly, you ships of Tarshish! Your port at Tyre is destroyed. Word has come to the ships from Cyprus.
2 Be silent, you inhabitants of the isle, you merchants from Sidon. Your messengers have crossed the sea.
Isle: England
3 The grain of Shihor is on the Mediterranean. The harvest along Nile River is brought to Tyre. Tyre became the marketplace for the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, because the stronghold by the sea has spoken, "I've never been in labor or given birth. I've raised no sons. I've brought up no daughters."
Tarshish is America..far across the ocean: The Hebrew text has "to Tarshish," probably meaning a long distance.
7 Can this be the happy city that has stood for centuries? Its people that have spread from distant lands;
New York City?
Today, we have those of the King of the South (Muslims) planning on destroying America and mainly NYC! World Trade Towers?
9 The LORD(Jesus) of angels planned this in order to dishonor all arrogant people and to humiliate all the honored people of the world.
10 Travel through your country like a river(or a flood), you people of Tarshish(America). You no longer have any strength.
11 He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD(Jesus) has given a commandment against the merchant [city](New York??), to destroy the strong buildings.
12 He says, You will no longer be joyful, O oppressed virgin, daughter of Zido. Get up, and travel to Cyprus. Even there you will find no rest.
13 Behold! The land of the Babylonians. These people will be gone. Assyria(Germany) gave this land to the desert animals. Assyria set up battle towers, stripped palaces bare, and turned these places into ruins.
15 And it shall come to pass in that day, Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, the lifetime of one king. At the end of the 70 years, Tyre will be like the prostitute in this song:
16 "Take your lyre. Go around in the city, you forgotten prostitute. Make sweet music. Sing many songs so that you'll be remembered."
17 At the end of 70 years the LORD(Jesus) will come to help Tyre. Then she will go back to earning money as a prostitute. She will become a prostitute for all the world's kingdoms.
18 Her profits and her earnings will be turned over to the LORD(Jesus) for his holy purpose. It won't be stored or hoarded. Her merchandise will belong to those who live in the presence of the LORD(Jesus) so that they will have plenty of food and expensive clothing.
To me, this seems to be a prophecy concerning America and maybe England. Especially New York City! Tyre-- in Hebrew, Tsur, means "Rock." We have become the harlot of this chapter – selling our selves as slaves instead of staying true to our God! Certain destruction is the result.
Isaiah 24
END TIMES
ISAIAH'S APOCALYPSE- compare to Revelation:
The four chapters (the twenty-fourth through the twenty-seventh) form one continuous poetical prophecy
1 Behold, the LORD(Jesus) will make the earth an empty, desolate wasteland. He will mar the face of the earth and scatter the people living on it.
The judgement now comes to the entire earth as in Revelation. This is the end of the age, and just before the coming of Christ.
2 At that time the same thing will happen to everyone: to common people and priests, to slaves and masters, to women slaves and their women masters, to buyers and sellers, to those who borrow and those who lend, to bankers and those who owe the bank.
All alike shall share the same calamity: no favored class shall escape (compare Ezekiel 7:12 Ezekiel 7:13 , Hosea 4:9 , Revelation 6:15 ).
3 The land shall be utterly laid waste and stripped because the LORD(Jesus) has spoken.
4 The earth will dry up and die; the world will grow weak and die; the great leaders in this land will become weak.
world--the kingdom of Israel; as in Isaiah 13:11
The TORAH-an Everlasting Covenant:
5 The earth suffers for the sins of its people, because they have transgressed the Law(Torah), changed the laws [of God(Elohim/Theos)], and broken the everlasting covenant.
Why is the Tribulation going to take place? Because we (even Christians) have broken the Law of the Torah (1st 5 Books of the Bible), did away with the law (nailed to the cross) and broken the everlasting Covenant made on Mt Sinai. Could this be any clearer? The Law is in force- all of the Law (Matthew 5) and because we continued to sin, and change God's Laws, the entire earth suffers! Christ says this will be a time like Noah, the last time when man's refusal to obey the Law, brought destruction to the entire earth! See verse below!
laws . . . ordinance . . . everlasting covenant--The moral laws, positive statutes, and national covenant designed to be for ever between God and them.
6 That is why a curse devours the earth, and its people are punished for their guilt. That is why those who live on the earth are burned up, and only a few people are left.
Burned up--namely, with the consuming wrath of heaven: either internally, as in Job 30:30 [ROSENMULLER]; or externally, the prophet has before his eyes the people being consumed with the withering dryness of their doomed land (so Joel 1:10 Joel 1:12 ), [MAURER].
7 New wine dries up, and grapevines waste away. All happy people groan.
8 Joyful tambourine music stops. Noisy celebrations cease. Joyful harp music stops.
9 People no longer drink wine when they sing. Liquor tastes bad to its drinkers.
10 The ruined city lies desolate. The entrance to every house is barred shut.
11 People in the streets call for wine. All joy passes away, and the earth's happiness is banished.
12 Cities are destroyed; and their gates are torn down.
13 Nations will be stripped bare, like olive trees or vineyards after the harvest season.
The west- America and the Free world that has been held captive.
15 People in the east, praise the LORD(Jesus). People in the islands of the sea, praise the name of the LORD(Jesus), the God(Elohim/Theos) of Israel.
16 From all over the world songs of praise are heard for the God(Elohim/Theos) of justice. But I feel awful, miserable. Can anyone be trusted? Everyone is treacherous!
17 Disasters, pits, and traps are in store for those who live on earth.
18 And it shall come to pass: Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap, and those who escape the trap will step into a snare. Destruction falls on you from the heavens. The world is shaken beneath you.
19 The earth will be completely broken. The earth will shake back and forth violently. The earth will stagger.
20 The earth will stumble like a drunkard. It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and will not rise again, for its sins are very great.
21 In that day the LORD(Jesus) will punish the fallen angels in the heavens and the proud rulers of the nations on earth.
the heavenly host, that is, either the visible host of heaven (the present economy of nature, affected by the sun, moon, and stars, the objects of idolatry, being abolished, Isaiah 65:17 , 60:19 , simultaneously with the corrupt polity of men); or rather, "the invisible rulers of the darkness of this world," as the antithesis to "kings of the earth" shows. Angels, moreover, preside, as it were, over kingdoms of the world ( Daniel 10:13 Daniel 10:20 Daniel 10:21 ).
22 They'll be gathered like prisoners in the pit and locked in prison. After a long time they'll be punished.
They are locked away for a long time (the 1,000 years) and then punished.The pit is like hell
23 The moon will be embarrassed. The sun will be ashamed, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD(Jesus) of hosts rules on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. He will be glorious in the presence of all the world leaders.
Still future: of which Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem amidst hosannas was a pledge.
The Prophets:
Isaiah 25
CONTINUATION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH CHAPTER. Isaiah's Apocalypse:
1 O LORD(Jesus), you are my God(Elohim/Theos). I will highly honor you; I will praise your name. You have done miraculous things. You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them with truth.
Truth Hebrew AMEN
2 For you have turned cities into ruins, cities with strong walls are turned to rubble. Beautiful palaces in distant lands disappear and will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore, strong people will declare your glory; ruthless nations will revere you.
4 You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rain, and shade from the heat. For the oppressive acts of ruthless people are like a storm beating against a wall,
5 or like the relentless heat of the desert. But you silence the roar of foreign nations. You cool the land with the shade of a cloud. The song of ruthless is silenced like heat that is reduced by the shadow of a cloud.
6 And in this mountain shall the LORD(Jesus) of hosts prepare for all people a feast with the best foods, a banquet with aged wines, with the best foods and the finest wines.
7 And he will destroy in this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.
Jesus' death ripped and destroyed the veil of the Temple, opening God(Elohim/Theos) to the people
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the LORD(Jesus) God(Elohim/Theos) will wipe away tears from everyone's faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD(Jesus) has spoken it.
Quoted in 1 Corinthians 15:54 , in support of the resurrection.
swallow up . . . in victory--completely and permanently "abolish" ( 2 Timothy 1:10 , Revelation 20:14 , 21:4 ; compare Genesis 2:17 , 3:22 ).
swallow up . . . in victory--completely and permanently "abolish" ( 2 Timothy 1:10 , Revelation 20:14 , 21:4 ; compare Genesis 2:17 , 3:22 ).
9 On that day the people will say, " Lo, This is our God(Elohim/Theos); we have waited for him, and now he will save us. This is the LORD(Jesus); we have waited for, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation--compare Psalms 118:24 , which refers to the second coming of Jesus (compare Psalms 118:26 , with Luke 13:35 ).
10 For the LORD(Jesus)'s good hand will rest on Jerusalem.Moab will be crushed like trampled straw and left to rot.
11 And he will push down Moab's people as a swimmer pushes down water with his hands. He will end their pride and all their evil works.
12 The high walls of Moab will be demolished and ground to dust.
