Lions, Tigers and Bears; Oh My! (Isaiah 11): 5 of 5

As briefly alluded to earlier, verse 16 concludes all this rallying unto Christ with, “And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of His people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt” (ASV). The KJV says, “like as it was.” Of course, this “likeness” is not to be understood as a physical reality that is to once again occur some day in our future, but is to be understood as a historical “type” of the spiritual “antitype” that is to be realized in the hearts and lives of all of God’s people who are spiritually made citizens of the commonwealth of spiritual Israel (cp. Eph. 2:12, 19). All obstacles and obstructions before God’s remnant to come and rally around Christ are removed entirely out of the way. He makes a “highway” whereby we can all come up to the heavenly Jerusalem out of which city and temple flows living waters and whereby we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles year after year, spiritually speaking that is (see Zech. 14:8-21; Ezk. 47:1; Rev. 22:1, 14-15, 17; Jhn. 4:13; 7:37). All of this is entirely the work of God’s grace. All spiritual influences and obstacles are removed out of our way by Him, and we are “able” to come because He has enabled us to do so (cf. Jhn. 6:44, 65). Praise God! It is all entirely the work of God, from start to finish.

Again, Isaiah beautifully portrays the reality of all this spoken of here, when he writes:

IN THAT DAY there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. IN THAT DAY Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance (19:23-25).

And it is again Isaiah who says of this day that we are now living in:

IN THAT DAY the Lord will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered up one by one. And IN THAT DAY a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem (27:12).

This “third” (portion or remnant) that Isaiah mentions above in chapter nineteen, that belongs to the Lord, is also described in Zechariah, which says, “This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God’ ” (13:9). "They are My people" is the close covenantal language used repeatedly throughout the Scriptures that is true of all of those who belong to God as His chosen remnant saved by grace, whether they be Jews or Gentiles (Rom. 9:24-26; 1Pet. 2:10).

Concerning all of this, Isaiah again continues to write:

IN THAT DAY there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign [LXX: semeion] and witness to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, He will send them a Savior and Defender, and He will rescue them. So the Lord will make Himself known to the Egyptians, and IN THAT DAY they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them. The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and He will respond to their pleas and heal them (19:19-22).

This same idea is graphically portrayed for us in Zechariah 14:12-19:

And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against [New] Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.[1] And it shall come to pass IN THAT DAY, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor. And Judah also shall fight at [New] Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against [New] Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoever will not come up of all the families of the earth to [New] Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even on them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, with which the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles (AKJV; words in brackets mine).

Again, none of this is to be understood literally. Even the Egyptians that God says through Isaiah above that will worship the Lord with sacrifices and grain offerings are being used by the Lord in a figurative manner; for since the once-and-for-all sacrifice of Christ, "literally" doing all of these things anymore in the future has seen its day. We now offer up to the Lord spiritual sacrifices (1Pet. 2:5) for which these literal Old Testament sacrifices portrayed. Christ's finished work on the cross demands that we understand all of this in no other way than in a spiritual manner. And the same is to be said for Ezekiel's visions in his last eight chapters. If we lose sight of this, we will always inevitably read into these words from God that which is literally to occur in the future, rather than that which is spiritually occurring right now as we speak.

The promise to Abraham that he would be “a father of many nations” is being fulfilled right before our eyes. This prophecy in Isaiah 11 is for us in our day, not for another day. Now is the day of salvation! The visions that the prophets had of Israel’s borders and peoples being extended to the four corners of the earth began to be realized when Christ commissioned His twelve Jewish apostles: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations [the Philistines, Egyptians, Moabites, Assyrians, children of Ammon, and the like in Isaiah 11], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Mat. 28:19-20). And “you will be My witnesses [His “signs” and "banners" no less] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). And “after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of God” (Mk. 16:19). This “gathering up” of God’s chosen vessels spoken of earlier is each in his own turn: “Christ, the firstfruits; and then when He comes, those who belong to Him. Then the end will come [or, lit., ‘will have come’]….For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1Cor. 15:23-26).

To summarize Isaiah 11, Christ is depicted as coming forth from the ruins and humble estate of the Davidic kingdom as the one who was promised to David that would sit on his throne to rule and reign, not only over the earth but over the heavens and earth, and for which He is right now doing. According to Peter, Christ ascended to such a position of honor and glory when He was raised or caught up to God and to His throne in the heavens. And according to Peter, David, being a prophet, was visualizing the Messiah being raised to sit on His throne in heaven, via the resurrection. This was what Isaiah referred to as “His place of rest” (or lit., “residence”) and “of glory” (v. 10), and is also realized in the hearts and lives of all of God’s people who are His “living” temple, made out of “living” stones in whom the Lord dwells.

It is upon this inauguration of Christ's kingdom that God was to gather His remnant a second time which began at Pentecost from out of natural Israel, and was to be realized also from out of all the nations in the world. The promise and visions of the prophets spoke of this promise beginning at the literal city of Jerusalem's borders and expanding to the four corners of the globe (which dispensationalists, or natural Jews, just can't envision as going on right now with their “literal” hermeneutic). Jealousy and hostility is a thing of the past in Christ’s kingdom, with it being of the old nature or disposition of the old heart (v. 13). God’s people will swoop down to the east and to the west (other places in Scripture also mention to the “north” and “south,” particularly in Lke. 13:29) to do as Isaiah said would happen and, “plunder the people, laying hands on the people of Edom and Moab, and even the children of Ammon” to become subjects in Christ’s kingdom (v. 14). In His train Christ has led captivity, captive, having “spoiled” principalities and powers by having entered into the strongman’s (or Satan’s) house and domain. God’s “plunder” is His people, whom like Abraham with Lot, has released His people from the enemies domain. They are His tithe and His firstfruits, His firstborn and His remnant—the allotted portion and inheritance that is given to our faithful High Priest by God the Father (Isa. 6:13; Lev. 27:32 w/ Ezk. 20:36-38; Ja. 1:18; Heb. 12:23; Rom. 9:24-29; 11:5-6; Deut. 32:9; Psm. 28:9; 33:12; 78:62, 71; 94:5, 14; 106:5, 40; Jhn. 6:37, 39; 17:2).

And as you also recall from Isaiah, “the Lord will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea [not literally, as also Isa. 10:26 showed us]; and with a scorching wind He will sweep His hand over the Euphrates River,” breaking it up (figuratively speaking) “into seven streams, so that men can cross over…There will be a highway for the remnant of His people [“Israel” according the Spirit] that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from Egypt” (vv. 15-16).

John the Baptist understood all of this in this manner, when he cried out in the words of Isaiah:

A voice of one calling in the desert, "Prepare THE WAY for the Lord, make straight paths for Him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God’s salvation” (Lke. 3:4-6).

Christ as the One Shepherd and Ruler over one people does indeed have a kingdom right now as we speak, and spiritual Israel is safe from her enemies, and God has come down to dwell with them; and they do reign with Christ as kings and priests on earth and in heaven unto their God in His holy city New Jerusalem and temple upon His holy mount called Zion, the joyful assembly of His righteous ones. And it is truly a kingdom that is “not of this world,” but “from another place” (Jhn. 18:36). And it is only given unto such people by God’s Spirit to hear with spiritual ears, and to see with spiritual eyes, the mysteries and wonders of such a kingdom as this. Otherwise, it is nothing but “parables,” “dark sayings” and “mysteries” which many only “stumble” over. The natural thinking man and Christian will never begin to comprehend such mysteries and heavenly language until they let go and let God be “the interpreter of dreams” and of the language in which He uses to describe and explain such things about Himself, His kingdom, and His ways.

“How much better to get wisdom than gold,

to choose understanding rather than silver!

The highway of the upright avoids evil…

The wise in heart are called discerning,

and pleasant words promote instruction.

Understanding is a fountain of life

to those who have it…

(Pro. 16:16, 17a, 21, 22a)

Come, I will show you the bride,
the wife of the Lamb. 
And He carried me away in the Spirit
to a mountain great and high,
and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God….

The city does not need the sun

or the moon to shine on it

[no “natural” light from men needed],

for the glory of God gives it light [“spiritual” light],

and the Lamb is its lamp.

The nations [Jews and Gentiles] will walk by its light,

and the kings of the earth

will bring their splendor into it

[i.e., give the glory due to Christ].

On no day will its gates ever be shut,

for there will be no night

[no sin, darkness, or evil in her midst] there.

The glory and honor of the nations

will be brought into it.

Nothing impure will ever enter it,

nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,

but only those whose names are written

in the Lamb’s book of life.

No longer will there be any curse

[for we have been redeemed from the curse].

The throne of God and of the Lamb

will be in the city [in our midst],

and His servants will serve Him.

They will see His face,

and His name will be on their foreheads.

There will be no more night [sin and evil].

They will not need the light of a lamp

or the light of the sun [any natural illumination],

for the Lord God will give them light

[or spiritual illumination].

And they will reign for ever and ever”

(Rev. 21:9b-10, 23-27; 22:3-5).

“For here we do not have an enduring city,

but we are looking for the city

that is to come” (Heb. 13:14),

that perfect and completed city of God,

whom we also are likened as a temple, wherein

“in Him the whole building is joined together

and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord…

a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit….

You also, like living stones,

are being built into a spiritual house

to be a holy priesthood,

offering spiritual sacrifices…”

(Eph. 2:21-22; 1Pet. 1:5).

We, the wife of the lamb,

are that great city called “New Jerusalem,”

that temple “of the Lord,”

and that high and holy mountain that fills the whole earth,

called “ Mt. Zion” and of which,

“glorious things are spoken of thee.”

Footnotes:

[1] There is one thing that “consumes” us while still living in this life: Sin, or the lust of sin. And there are 3 things (or avenues) that the inspired writers of the New Testament say sin proceeds from: the flesh, the eyes, and the tongue. These are the 3 things that God says in Zech. 14:12 “will consume away.” John speaks of “the lust of the flesh” and “the lust of the eyes”; while James speaks about “the FIRE” of “the tongue” which can consume us. He says, “It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell” (Jam. 3:6). This is to be the state or condition of all those who do not worship the Lord with us with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. They receive no rain from God to sustain them, and so they dry-up and are consumed away because of their sin; not only throughout the course of this life, but in the life to come they will be eternally tormented by this flame. This is the “plague” with which the Lord will smite them, and they don’t even see it coming.

Some translations use “rot” instead of “consume” here in Zech. 14:12, and God speaks through Isaiah how that the root of the wicked will “rot” (5:24). So whether “consume” or “rot,” we clearly get the idea of what the Lord is talking about here. He is NOT talking about the root of literal trees rotting, nor is He talking about peoples tongues, eyes, or bodies melting away while they are still standing on their feet (which is the image that the world wants you to believe in after watching the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark). Naturally, this is how they and all those who read such passages as this in Zechariah would “naturally” interpret all of this. But this is not what God means by what He is saying; He is saying something that must be interpreted through the inspiration of the Scriptures, and especially through the New Testament writers, since this prophecy is talking about Christ’s current rule and reign here on earth through His Church; and not something in the future with natural Israel, with natural Jerusalem, with the literal temple, with literal festival observances or sacrifices, or with the natural land of Palestine.

There is much to be gleaned in the Scriptures with regards to people being “consumed” for their sins. Isaiah says, “There is none who calls on your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities” (64:7). It doesn’t get any much clearer for us than that! Psm. 31:10 says, “For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed” (KJV). Psm. 37:20, “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away” (KJV). Psm. 71:13, “Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt” (KJV). Psm. 73:19, “How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors (KJV). Psm. 78:33, “Therefore their days did He consume in vanity, and their years in trouble” (KJV). Job 15:34 says, “For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery” (KJV). Job 31:12 says of the sin of adultery: “For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase” (KJV).

Strong’s Concordance says of the Hebrew word (maqaq) used in Zech. 14:12, and in a handful of other places, that it’s “a primitive root,” which means, “to melt; figuratively, to flow, dwindle, vanish—consume away, be corrupt, dissolve, pine away.” Many Greek lexicons add to this above list with: “decay, rot, or fester.” The following verses take the exact Hebrew word as found in Zech. 14:12, and translate it as such: In Lev. 26:39, the Lord says, “And those who are left of you—they consume away in their iniquity, in the lands of your enemies; and also in the iniquities of their fathers, with them they consume away” (YLT). The Net Bible, New Heart English Bible, ESV, and NASB all say, “rot away.” Some say, “pine away,” with the idea meaning that people will gradually decline in health, vigor and vitality; in other words, they slowly waste away both physically and spiritually due to their sin. Ezk. 4:16-17 says, “Moreover He said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: That they may want bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and consume away for their iniquity” (AKJV; also KJV). The ESV and Net Bible say, “rot away,” while the majority say either, “pine away” or “waste away.” Ezk. 24:23 says, “Your turbans shall be on your heads and your shoes on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall rot away in your iniquities and groan to one another” (ESV; also Net Bible and NASB). Most translations say either, “pine away” or “waste away.” Ezk. 33:10 says, “Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel: Ye speak thus, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are consumed because of them. How should we then live?” (Jubilee Bible 2000). The ESV, NASB, ISV and GWT say either, “rotting away” or “rot away.” The majority of translations say either, “pine away” or “waste away.” And last, but not least, Paul says speaking in the Greek language, “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another (Gal. 5:15, KJV).

Clearly, in all of these instances above, disobedience (or sin) before God is that which “consumes” people while still standing on their feet. They are “dead men walking” and they don’t even know it. I like how the New Living Translation translates this: “Their people will become like walking corpses.” The light of the body is the eye. But if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! In the end, it will bite like an adder and sting like a serpent with the flesh, eyes and tongue wasting away. They have no life in them. Only death becomes them both now and forevermore.