Isaiah 66:1 is the same passage that Stephen used in his defense that God does not SIT or DWELL in temples made with men's hands. And in Acts 17:24-25, Paul affirms the same thing as Stephen, adding, “He is not served by human hands.” Human hands offering up animal sacrifices in a future physically rebuilt temple will not serve Christ. Sin has been atoned for by the perfect once-and-for-all-time sacrifice of Christ. He has “served” Himself and His people with the sacrifice of Himself, of which the earthly and carnal representations were but mere "copies" and “shadows” until He should come (Heb. 9:8-10). For Christ to SIT in a literal, earthly, rebuilt temple or city someday is to revisit all these institutions that were nothing more than mere types and shadows of the true tabernacle pitched in heaven by God. They have “served” their purpose; Christ’s once-and-for-all sacrifice has “served” ours. Christ as the Suffering Servant suffered down here on earth for us, but Scripture always affirms to us (as already mentioned earlier), that Christ's rule and reign as King is to always remain in and from heaven. His kingdom is never to be “of this world;” not in the past, present, or in the future. Christ's throne, rule, and reign has always been, and always will be, in and from heaven.
And finally, Christ in Revelation says He rules and reigns with David’s “keys” right now, not sometime in the future (see Rev. 2:27; 3:7; cp. with Isa. 22:22 and Mat. 16:19). Consider what Isaiah 22:22 says here for one moment about Eliakim: “I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.” If such an idea of Eliakim having the governing arm and shoulder of Hezekiah’s (or David’s) rule can be true of him back then (vv. 20-24), how much more so when said of Christ now in Rev. 3:7 who is the very son of David? And who rules not only over the earth, but over the heavens and earth now with those same keys? It stands to reason, if Christ doesn't have the keys of David (as some claim), like Eliakim had, then He couldn’t be governing over David’s house. But since He does, then it also stands to reason that He is now governing over David’s house, just as Eliakim did. David’s throne is now Christ’s throne, but no longer just over the land of Palestine, but over the entire world; and also in fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham that he would one day be “the heir of the world” (Rom. 4:13) over both Jews and Gentiles; over principalities and powers; and over every name that can be named.
In comparing Isa. 9:6-7, which we discussed earlier, with Rev. 3:7, we see that the government that was David’s, was from from the very beginning since Christ’s birth, and even upon His ascension, upon Christ’s shoulders as well. And the “keys” of that kingdom are in His possession now, not some time later in the future. This alone should tell us all something of what it is of David's that is also said to be Christ's right now. And if John the Baptist was “Elijah who was to come” (Mat. 11:14), how much more so is Christ the greater “David” who is also prophesied to come and Rule and be a Shepherd over His people, spiritual Israel, as foretold by all the prophets (cf. Ezk. 34:23-34; 37:24-28; Jer. 30:9; Isa. 55:1-5, see esp. v. 3 with Acts 13:34 where “the sure mercies of David” are said by Paul as now being realized in Christ and His Church). This isn’t a future, earthly literal reign of the Messiah, or of a future resurrected David that the dispensationalists teach. Like John the Baptist who was Elijah (figuratively speaking) who was prophesied to come in Malachi, so too is Jesus “David” (figuratively speaking) who was prophesied to come; but like Christ said of John the Baptist, only “if you are willing to accept it” (Mat. 11:14-15). And it is only those whom Christ said have “spiritual” ears to hear, that they can truly understand and hear what the Spirit of God is actually saying to His Church here, and not to natural Israel in the future. These words of the prophets concerning David are for no other person in another place or time.
The fundamental understanding and flaw for dispensationalists (or even premillennialists for that matter), is that a literal exegesis of an Old Testament prophecy demands an identical or absolutely literal fulfillment. As Dwight Pentecost declares: “According to the established principles of interpretation the Davidic covenant demands a literal fulfillment. This means that Christ must reign on David’s throne on the earth over David’s people forever” (Things To Come, p. 112). C. I. Scofield goes even further, stating: “Prophecies may never be spiritualized, but are always literal” (quoted from Backgrounds to Dispensationalism, by C. B. Bass, p. 150). Can these men really be serious? You bet they are! And they have seriously and gravely missed the mark, to put it mildly, just as their Pharisaical counterparts did in Christ’s day.
The application of the Davidic covenant to Christ’s present rule and reign is rejected by dispensationalists, and actually, even by premillennialists, as an allegorization or wrong hermeneutic for prophecy. Their literalistic, carnal, man-made (and even Jewish) ideologies about Christ and His kingdom will not allow them to think outside of this box. Conversely though, the apostle Peter in Acts 2:29-36, and the author of Hebrews in Heb. 1:13 and 7:16-20, refer predominantly to the Christological fulfillment of the promise of the Davidic king/priest in Psalm 110, which says:
The Lord says to my Lord: Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet. The Lord will extend Your mighty scepter from Zion; You will rule in the midst of Your enemies. Your troops will be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn You will receive the dew of Your youth. The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings on the day of His wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He will drink from a brook beside the way; therefore He will lift up His head.In the verses mentioned above in Acts and Hebrews, both the author of Hebrews, and Peter, transfer this messianic promise in this Psalm of the throne of David from its earthly sphere in a literal city called Jerusalem and Mt. Zion, to the heavenly sphere and the spiritual city and mount also referred to as “the heavenly Jerusalem” and “Mt. Zion” for which these earthly representations were but types (Psm. 87; Gal. 4:25-31; Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12-13; 11:10, 15-16; 12:1, 18, 22, 28; 13:14; Php. 3:20; Rev. 3:12; 21:2, 9-10). Peter affirms in no uncertain terms: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). The title “Lord” means sovereign ruler, and “Christ” means Messiah or Anointed One. Jesus Christ the Lord, by His ascension into heaven, has entered once-and-for-all into His messianic rule and reign, seated at the right hand of Power as Prophet, Priest and King. And as it is everywhere affirmed, He will continue to NOW rule and reign until He has put all enemies under His feet (Psm. 110:1; Heb. 1:13; 10:13; Acts 2:35).
Separating Christ’s throne in heaven, from the Davidic throne on earth, as two different spheres of rule is an unwarranted compartmentalization in order to maintain a man-made dogma (or doctrine) of a postponement of Christ’s kingship off into a future earthly millennium. A separation of David’s throne and God’s throne was already considered a fiction even in Old Testament times, because the Davidic King Jesus was even back then the theocratic king who sat “on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel” (1Chr. 28:5; cf. 29:23; 2Chr. 9:8). The Davidic kingdom on earth (and even all the kingdoms) is just as much the Lord’s, as is His kingdom in heaven. From the one on earth, David served; whereas, from the one in heaven, the greater Davidic King and Messiah serves, not only over earth but over the heaven and the earth; with regards to David, his rule was limited, whereas with regards to Christ, the greater David, His rule is unlimited and "forever."
Even Christ himself applied the promise of His theocratic rule and reign in Psm. 110 in an apocalyptic sense in Mat. 16:27-28; 24:30; 25:31 and 26:24 in the destruction of His enemies—including apostate Israel—when He said to Caiaphas: “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Mat. 26:64; cf. Mk. 14:62; Lke. 22:69). In this most solemn moment, Jesus united the apocalyptic Son of Man in Daniel 7:13-14, and the Davidic Messiah of Psalm 110 into one Person (or himself), and applied both ideas to His own coming in glory and the judgment for to come when He would be seated on His throne at the right hand of power with the Father until He makes all enemies His footstool. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was just a tip of the iceberg of this great power of Christ's present messianic rule and reign.
Many have not understood this aspect of Christ’s reign. They see the Messiah bringing blessings, but they haven’t realized that He also pronounces curses and judgment, just as He did in the Old Testament. But Christ (the Messiah), is both Savior and Judge; His is both Lamb and Lion; both Suffering Servant and King of kings; Son of Man and Son of God; the foundation Stone and a Stone of stumbling. “And whosoever shall fall on this Stone shall be broken; but whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Mat. 21:44, KJV).
As was just said, similar contrasts are seen in the Old Testament of God being both Judge and Savior. For obedience, God’s people would receive “blessing”; for disobedience, “curses” (Duet. 28). God is not only a God of compassion and mercy, but of anger and wrath (Mic. 7:19-20; Hos. 6:4-5). God says through Isaiah:
Surely they are My people, sons who will not be false to Me; and so He became their Savior. In all their distress He too was distressed, and the angel of His presence saved them. In His love and mercy He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Yet they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy and He himself fought against them (63:8-10).Now if the Savior and Redeemer of the Old Testament “turned,” became “their enemy,” and “fought against them,” is it not Scriptural and consistent to understand that the One who is revealed as “Savior” and “Redeemer” in the New Testament is the same God of the Old Testament who just as certainly brings “judgment” upon all who rebel against Him, not only at a future date, but even now in this life? Most Christians are quick to acknowledge that the judgment that fell upon Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was the judgment of God, and a Divine judgment at that, but many have difficulty in seeing this judgment as that of also Christ. But you can’t take away from one what rightfully belongs to both. Christ and the Father are one and the same in purpose and in thought. This is known in theological terms as “the unity of the Godhead.” They are unified in everything they do. Christ also said:
For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him…..For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man (Jhn. 5:22-23, 26-27, NAS).In some respects, as the Son of Man Jesus judges as a King; while in other respects, as the Son of God Jesus didn't come to judge, He came to save as a Savior.
So, in getting back to our previous discussion on correctly interpreting the Scriptures, for the dispensationalists (and even premillennialists) to interpret the Old Testament only in a strictly, “literalistic,” grammatical-historical manner and say that Christ must reign on David’s throne “literally” (or physically) upon the earth, would seem to be valid only if the Old Testament were to be taken by itself (which they say it should be) apart from any inspiration of the New Testament. The hermeneutic of dispensational literalism is a presupposition that is forced upon God’s Word from the outside, and heralded as an “objective standard” in an attempt to safeguard against unwarranted spiritualizations and allegorizations. The Jews had a problem with this with Christ and His apostles, and even more so, since there wasn't any inspired New Testament writings at that time. You would expect this of the Jews back then in that day, and even today, but not from those inside the Church. The Church's problem back then was mostly wolves dressed in sheep's clothing, whereas our problem today is "even from your own numbers men shall arise and distort the truth" (Acts 20:30). "So be on your guard," says Paul (v. 31).
Now shouldn't the “objective” principle for understanding the Word of God be derived from an “inductive” study from the entire inspired record itself? From sola Scriptura? Remember what we talked about earlier, about using The Analogy of Faith principle of the Reformers? The “inspired” interpreters of the New Testament interpret the Old Testament record for us, of which the dispensationalists do not readily admit as a valid interpretation. Their understanding of Christ and the apostles teachings, is that they never said such things as I have already demonstrated above. For them, this was not what was promised by God for the Jews. What was promised for the Jews, according to them and the dispensationalists, was a natural, literal theocratic kingdom set up upon the earth; and due to the Jews rejection of it, Christ set up His Church which was not according to them foretold by the prophets. But in the future (according to the last eight chapters of Ezekiel), Christ will give these Jews their kingdom on earth that they have been waiting for, in the future millennial reign on the earth; with all of their literal "atoning" animal sacrifices, new moon observances, the keeping of the Sabbath and the festivals (ch. 43-46), the restoration of the literal Levitical priesthood (ch. 45), and even with a literal, physical circumcision no less in Ezk. 44:9—and all to be done just as “a memorial.” But Ezekiel says these offerings will be for "a sin offering" (43:19, 22, 25) and to make "atonement" for sin (43:22, 26; 45:15, 17, 20). What happened to the dispensationalist's "literal" hermenuetic here? Of course, they will now tell you, though these things will again be "literally" done, they will only be done as a "memorial"; there will be no literal "atoning" efficacy anymore with these sacrifices. So they "twist" these Scriptures to suit their own means—even as we all know how the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormon's and many other aberrant groups have done. The absurdity of all this, as one can very well see, just keeps getting more and more absurd when understood literally. The "plain" sense has now indeed become utter nonsense. This acknowledgment by them, in and of itself, should cause one to pause with deep reflection and grave concern with regards to such teachings. They are not “borderline” heresies, they are heresy! They touch at the very heart of the essentials of our Christian beliefs and faith. According to Paul in Gal. 2:18, to impose upon others what we ourselves say we are to no longer do, is to make ourselves out to be "transgressors" of those laws for our non-compliance, just as Peter was demonstrating to the Jews. And if Peter’s hypocrisy of eating only with Jews, as opposed to eating with Gentiles, makes Christ out to be “a minister of sin” and one a “transgressor,” how much more so we who propose and mandate for others to do in the future what Christ himself has abolished at the cross? Wouldn’t such a future “mandate” by Christ no less in a future earthly millennium continue to make Him a minister of sin? Or are we to suppose that Christ “changes” the rules again in order to make it all “legal” so that we can all revert back to the way it all was before the crucifixion of Christ? You be the judge!
Additionally, dispensationalists claim that the new covenant God promised to Israel in Jeremiah 31:31-37, that has really become our covenant, is not a covenant that is made with the Jews and inclusive of the Gentiles, but is a future one that is to made ONLY with all natural Jews. That’s right! That new covenant that Jeremiah spoke about is a new covenant that God makes only with natural Jews in Palestine in a future earthly millennial reign, wherein Ezekiel’s temple and city will then be built along with the reinstatement of all of the animal sacrifices, the Levitical priesthood, circumcision, land divisions and you name it. This will be their own new covenant with God, but not with us. The distinction and dividing wall between natural Israel and the Church is left intact. The Christians will supposedly hang suspended in space over natural Israel and Jerusalem in their own literal city no less called New Jerusalem. I kid you not! And many Christians today naively believe all this.
The Old Testament, as understood by the dispensationalists, in and of itself, lacks the guiding norm of Jesus Christ and His apostles for the Christian’s understanding of the Hebrew Old Testament Scriptures. The principle of “literalism” is thus introduced by the Jews and the dispensationalists in this supposed vacuum of an unfinished canon of Scripture, to supply the guiding norm of interpretation that Christ and the New Testament writers were appointed by God Himself to actually fulfill. The term “literalism” itself becomes dubious in meaning if one defines it as the literal or normal grammatical-historical exegesis of the Old Testament, and then immediately exalts this literalism as the final arbiter of the total canon of the Bible, so that Christ and His apostles have no authority whatsoever to unfold, modify, interpret or reinterpret the Old Testament promises as they saw fit to do so. In essence, dispensationalists (as well as the Jews) have exalted their own extra-biblical canon of inspiration and authority above the biblical authority of the New Testament writers. And the so-called modern interpretations and literature of the prophetic aspects of the Word of God which exalts natural Israel and the natural Davidic kingdom to a status above, and with total disregard for, the teachings of Christ and His Apostles, misses the Divine mark of inspiration, and lights a torch for all kinds of false teachings and false prophecies.
A practical knowledge of the New Testament principles of interpretation for the application of the Old Testament is indispensable for an accurate understanding of the Scriptures as a whole. We need biblical principles, derived from the fullness of the completed canon of Scripture (and not just from the Old Testament), in order to detect any speculative, human rational and interpretations to the prophetic imageries and symbolisms given to us by God. The Christian’s understanding of the Old Testament is determined by what is known as the “Christocentric” focus by which the New Testament writers interpreted the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures for us, and not the other way around; otherwise, the Christian is in “grave” danger of reading-into the Old Testament prophecies in an un-Christlike manner, and misinterpret and distort the Old Testament biblical prophecies simply by not interpreting them with the New Testament “keys” of understanding.
As Hans K. LaRondelle so aptly states:
We apply to these texts the inductive principle of the analogy of Scripture, which carefully relates those passages of Scripture which reveal the same terminology, imagery, or comparable redemptive events, recognizing that Christ alone is the true Interpreter of Israel’s sacred Scriptures….It is widely recognized today that one’s philosophical and theological presuppositions substantially affect one’s conclusions. Of vital importance, therefore, is one’s idea of divine inspiration and of the mode of prophetic transmittance of divine revelation, whether one starts from literalistic assumptions of biblical terms or allows God to communicate His revelations through “borrowed” cultural symbols and contemporary thought processes with added depth and new content to old words (The Israel of God in Prophecy, pp. 1, 3).Clearly, the identity of “words” and “phrases” in the New Testament quotations of Old Testament prophecies do not denote absolute identity of meaning as a grammatical-historical hermeneutic attempts to corral us into. The “words” of Scripture in the Old Testament were not intended to be an end in themselves, but rather served as an instrument to convey a meaning or message. Words, and their meanings, are not always synonymous, as Christ clearly demonstrated for us, and as exemplified in figures of speech or symbolic language. A “literal” interpretation will not do justice to a piece of literature filled with types, prose, symbolisms, and the like. A “literal” exegesis and interpretation must depart when it recognizes such genre or type of literature with which it is dealing with, and understand it as Jesus and His apostles understood it. The historic Christian Church has normally recognized that the literal exegesis of Scripture permits the typological applications in both the historical and prophetic narratives, as employed by Christ and His apostles (and not just in the “historical” narratives as dispensationalists believe). The prophetic view of history, as foretold by Moses and the prophets, never had as their end secular events of a political nature. This is very important for us to realize and understand. Everything (and I mean, "everything") pointed to that which was of a heavenly and spiritual nature. It was always, first the natural, then the spiritual, but never back to the natural once the spiritual had arrived. All the types, including David’s temple and theocratic kingdom, pointed to the heavenly sanctuary and kingdom from which Christ was to dwell, rule and reign from, never to be revisited again. The Jewish leaders of Christ’s day (as well as of today) misinterpreted the "prophetic" word by their overly “literalistic” hermeneutical rule of understanding. And many in the Church today have followed their que.
Even Christ’s own disciples had not understood fully the spiritual nature of Christ’s kingdom or reign. As Hans LaRondelle again notes:
When Peter wanted to prevent Jesus from being a suffering and dying Messiah, Christ rebuked Peter sharply: “Out of my sight, Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Mark 8:33). As T. W. Manson renders it freely: “Out of my way, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are more concerned for a human empire than for the kingdom of God” (ibid, p. 15).Without recognizing Jesus as the "key" of understanding the root and center of all God’s covenants made with Israel, any “literal” understanding of God’s ancient covenants would only be a vital and serious misunderstanding of any claims to their ultimate promised blessings, and therefore only a presumption at best. But a "presumption" that is wrong, both then and now. It is therefore very critical and necessary to make a distinction between a genuine literal interpretation as Christ and His apostles understood it, as opposed to a “literalism” of unbiblical proportions that is only according to the letter of the Law and not according to the Spirit of that Law. Clearly, the "key" to the Old Testament is not a man-centered, humanistic, rationalistic method or principle of interpretation. And in having examined the Old Testament in relation to the revelation of God to Israel, before and after that period, the interpreter must then turn to the New Testament in order to view any further meaning of those passages from that perspective—the once-and-for-all tried and true, spiritual, and biblical perspective of Christ and His apostles.
Now, after all that has just been stated, does anyone still really believe that Christ will some day in the future come back down to the earth from His heavenly throne to "SIT" on a carnal, earthly, and temporal throne that is to be “served” by men’s hands? Need we ask? If after all that has been said there are still those among us who cannot “see,” “hear,” or “understand” any of this, then this saying of God still stands:
Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them" (Mat. 13:10-15).But for those who do understand, Christ says: “Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear” (v. 16).
So, with all of that now said and done behind us, let us now start to think and be more “spiritually minded” instead of “naturally minded”; and let us begin to interpret and understand the real Messianic kingdom of Christ in Isaiah 11, in the way Christ and His apostles understood it.
God Means What He Says and Says What He Means
I think a very important interpretive “key” into gaining wisdom and understanding behind the words that God uses in Isaiah chapter eleven, especially with His usage of animals, is to be found in Jer. 5:6 and the verses before and after this verse. As said earlier, God’s own word will interpret what He is saying to us. His word is the last word on all of this, not our own fanciful theories and private speculations. If we search His word diligently “for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise….If you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God” (Pro. 1:6-7). There is much more elsewhere in God’s word that will help us to understand and get a sense of His words to us here in Isaiah, but we will first of all begin with His words through His prophet Jeremiah. In Jeremiah, the Lord says concerning Israel:
Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many (5:6).At first glance this really sounds like God is referring to literal animals that were going to ravage Israel. But let me just say right from the start that God is not talking about literal “lions,” “wolves,” or “leopards.” “Wait a minute now,” someone will say, “what makes you so sure? Who do you think you are? Do you think you have a handle on the interpretation of the Scriptures that others don’t seem to have?” At first glance, I know that it sounds like I have missed the mark. I’m just “one of those Amillennialists who sees everything in a figurative or spiritual manner.” How can I make such a blunt statement and be so sure of myself? Please bear with me for just a moment, and let us continue with the narrative. I am not the interpreter here, God is.
First of all, the text says that the leopards will watch over all their cities and tear any (or all) who would venture out. That is the first little “red flag” here that should let us know that God is not talking about "literal" leopards. Why is this so? Because there would have to be one in and around every single city and town in Israel. And every person that would attempt to leave one of these places would be ravaged by them—every single one of them! This is a literal impossibility! There would have to be hundreds of thousands of leopards devouring hundreds of thousands of people, and every single person at that. The people were "not to go out to the fields or walk on the roads, for the enemy has a sword, and there is terror on every side" (Jer. 6:25). And in Jer. 4:17 it says, "they surround her like men guarding a field," and in Isa. 22:7, they are "the horsemen posted at the city gates." God has "stationed the sword for slaughter at all their gates" (Isa. 21:15). So what makes sense here is that God, using the figure of these beasts, was describing the Babylonians lurking and lying in wait to "devour" all who would venture out to cross their paths.
Many times God does this with such language in the Scriptures to let us know that He is not talking about something that is to be understood "literally," but figuratively. Jesus often did this. Even when Jesus made the claim: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” He did not have the literal temple in mind. Such a feat of rebuilding such a temple in three days was a "literal" impossibility. Clearly Jesus, as well as Jeremiah, and many more of the Lord's prophets, have many things to say that go way beyond a literal, physical understanding, and are only to be figuratively understood. They are the "sayings" and "riddles" of the All Wise One. Of a truth, all of these things were to "literally" occur, but not in the way that we think they are to "literally" occur. And we find this to be the case with this type of genre of speech repeatedly throughout the Bible. And like John the Baptist whom we talked about earlier as being “Elijah who was to come” in Malachi, we will never know the meaning of much of what the prophets are saying to us until God reveals it to us in His word. No prophecy is of any “private interpretation,” which is so prevalent in the Church today.
Secondly, God is saying here in Jeremiah that He is going to punish Israel for their sins by these “wild beasts.” Now notice what God says in verses 9-10:
"Should I not punish them for this?" declares the LORD. "Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this? Go through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not destroy them completely. Strip off her branches, for these people do not belong to the LORD."Again, at first glance it seems that God is still talking about sending these literal, wild, untamed animals throughout Israel, but pay attention to God’s words in verse 10: “but do not destroy them completely.” Hold your thought there and begin reading the rest of the chapter, and even into chapter 6:1ff. Especially pertinent to a proper understanding of all of this is chapter 5:15-18. In verse 15, God begins to explain (as Jesus sometimes did) what He had just said earlier about these animals, “I am bringing a distant nation against you” (cp. 6:1). Verses 16-17 go on to say, “all of them are mighty warriors. They will devour your harvests and food, devour your sons and your daughters; they will devour your vines [the vineyards of v. 10] and your fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.” Now this doesn’t sound like “literal” animals anymore, does it? Now, having kept your mind on verse 10, begin to read verse 18. Notice what it likewise says: “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not destroy you completely.” The analogy of the animals used that would “not destroy them completely,” is to be understood of the ungodly nation that was to "devour" Israel and, “not destroy you completely.” God has said this again just moments earlier with regards to the Babylonians in Jer. 4:27, “The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely.” The parallelisms are striking. There can be no doubt that God is using these wild animals as a figurative illustration for this heathen nation from the north that was going to ravage and devour God’s people. Basically what we have here is a parable, with an interpretation, something that is to be had in common with many of Christ’s teachings.
David similarly uses such language when denoting the ungodly, wherein the word “dog” could just as easily be exchanged for that denoting “wolves” or “jackals,”
Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. They wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill” (Psm. 59:14-15, ESV).The similarity between what David says here with regards to these “dogs,” and what Jeremiah says with regards to “wolves” is again striking. Both “howl,” both “prowl,” and both “wonder about for food” to “devour your harvests and food.” Literal animals are nowhere to be conveyed in any of these instances. It is all highly figurative language—the highly figurative language of God!
Once again, in Psalm 80:8 and verse 13, the Psalmist likens Israel to a vine with grapes on it, and speaks of the Gentiles as “boars from the forest” who ravage it, and as “the wild beasts of the field” who feed on it.
So, in Jeremiah above, we see a “wolf,” a “lion,” and a “leopard;” and all ready to attack the “lambs” so-to-speak, which are Israel. There is nothing “literal” going on here concerning these animals! It is all figurative language! God means what He says, and clearly says to us what He means by such images. As He does so often, God has again “held our hands” on this one, leading us along to a proper biblical understanding. But He doesn’t always do this so easily. Scripture has clearly and sufficiently been its own interpreter and guide for us here. And these examples should be sufficient for us when God now begins to speak of similar animals being tamed in Isaiah 11 under Christ’s kingdom, rule, and reign. The animals spoken of in Jeremiah and Isaiah that once tore Israel, are the very same animals whose animosity has been removed, and now lie together and unite with them in the person and work of Christ—even as God says through Isaiah,
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field shall honor me, the jackals and the ostriches: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen: the people which I formed for Myself, that they might set forth My praise (43:19-21, ERV).In this verse God denotes how the giving of water for the beasts of the field to drink is really to be understood here as “to give drink to My people” whom He has “chosen” for Himself from among the Gentiles because Jacob had not “called upon” God (v. 22), so God calls a people who were not His people, “My people,” as Scripture everywhere attests. Literal water is not the idea that is being conveyed here either by God; and if not literal water, then literal animals is likewise not to be understood here. In addition, these “jackals” and “ostriches” (or “owls” in some translations) are the night creatures (Isa. 34:14-15; 35:7ff) or creatures of the dark that come to the light of Christ. All the older commentators understood this verse as referring to the days that we are now living in wherein God turns the hearts of the Gentiles (or “the beasts of the field”) towards Him, taking away their arid barrenness and giving them the refreshing waters of His Holy Spirit. John Gill notes here with regards to these verses that it, “is not to be understood literally of these creatures,….but spiritually of the Gentiles, compared to those creatures for the savageness, fierceness, and stupidity of them, and who were reckoned by the Jews no other than as the beasts of the field; who should honor and glorify God for the Gospel brought unto them, and for his grace and mercy bestowed on them…”
And if all this were not enough in helping us to understand what God is saying through Jeremiah, just look at chapter 4:7-17. Chapter 5 is just a continuation of the same prophecy, and chapter 4 says that these “lions” are a “disaster from the north” (v. 6) and “a besieging army coming from a distant land” (v. 16), and chapter 5 just adds to the fact that they are also likened unto “a wolf” and “a leopard.”
As has been clearly demonstrated, God is not talking about literal animals, but He is using these animals to figuratively portray what these heathen armies are like, just as He did with Daniel concerning the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Grecians and the Romans. To use Christ’s phrase, “speaking figuratively” (Jhn. 16:25) they are like the brute “beasts” that Paul fought at Ephesus (I Cor. 15:32). They are the Cretans that Paul had said that one of their own prophets had said were “evil beasts” (Tit. 2:12). And they are the same kind of unbridled, natural and carnal “brute beasts” that both Peter and Jude talked about in their epistles (2Pet. 2:12; Jude 10). Where do you think the apostles got their ideas from? From the same place that you and I are to garner them from: The Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. “Hidden” indeed to all naturally thinking and carnally minded people, but “revealed” to those who are truly and sincerely led by God’s Holy Paraclete.
In Hos. 13:7-8, once again God says, “So I will come upon them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk by the path. Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open. Like a lion I will devour them; a wild animal will tear them apart.” What “wild animal” will do this? Now, God seems to be saying that like these wild animals He is going to personally do these things to Israel, but then He qualifies His statement by saying “a wild animal will tear them apart.” How is this all to be understood? By using the Analogy of Faith as described earlier, and seeing that the same “wild animals” God mentions in Jer. 5:6 with verses 9-10 and 15-18, and which refer to the distant Gentile nations, He will also use here in Hosea as instruments of His wrath to mete out His judgments upon Israel. And it would all come from the Babylonians, and eventually, even one day via the Syrian Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC, and then finally via the Roman armies in 70 AD (Note: for a clearer realization of all of these ideas on how God uses other nations to mete out His judgments, please read also Isa. 10:5-7, 12; 48:14-15; Hab. 1:5-6; 3:16, with Mat. 21:40-41; 22:7; et al).
The Old Testament is replete with the usage of such imagery: In Job, Eliphaz describes evil men in this way, “As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it. At the breath of God they are destroyed; at the blast of His anger they perish. The lions may roar and growl, yet the teeth of the great lions are broken. The lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered” (4:8-10). David in Psm. 12 writes: “Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me….Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen” (22:12-13, 20-21). Again, David says: “O Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my life from their ravages, my precious life from these lions” (Psm. 35:17). Moses, concerning the clan of Joseph in Deut. 33:17 writes: “In majesty he is like a firstborn bull; his horns are the horns of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations…” Num. 24:8 says: “God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox. They devour hostile nations and break their bones in pieces; with their arrows they pierce them. Like a lion they crouch and lie down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse them?”
Isaiah likewise declares in chapter 5: “He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, He whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!….Their roar is like that of the lion, they roar like young lions; they growl as they seize their prey and carry it off with no one to rescue” (5:29). Jer. 2:14-15 also says, “Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder? Lions have roared; they have growled at him. They have laid waste his land; his towns are burned and deserted.” In Jer. 50:17 it says, “Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.” Ezk. 19:1-9, “Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel and say: ‘What a lioness was your mother among the lions! She lay down among the young lions and reared her cubs. She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a strong lion. He learned to tear the prey and he devoured men. The nations heard about him, and he was trapped in their pit. They led him with hooks to the land of Egypt. When she saw her hope unfulfilled, her expectation gone, she took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion. He prowled among the lions, for he was now a strong lion. He learned to tear the prey and he devoured men. He broke down their strongholds and devastated their towns. The land and all who were in it were terrified by his roaring. Then the nations came against him, those from regions round about. They spread their net for him, and he was trapped in their pit. With hooks they pulled him into a cage and brought him to the king of Babylon. They put him in prison, so his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel.” Lam. 3:10 also says, “Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, He [God] dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.” Pro. 28:15 says, “Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked man ruling over a helpless people.” And Paul says in 2Tim. 4:17, “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth” (whether the devil or men, Paul surely was not talking about a literal lion here). And finally, Rev. 13:2 says: “The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.”
Now, it is THESE SAME “brute beasts” in Christ’s kingdom that God takes, removing all of their animosity and hostility that they once had towards one another, causing them to all lie down together in one fold, in one pasture, and with one Shepherd who leads them all. In fact, even the children of this kingdom (Isa. 11:6-7) God raises up to lead them as His under-shepherds. For such are those in Christ’s kingdom who will be leaders of His people. And unless all of us “become as little children, we shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mat. 18:3). What else could the analogy of a “child” leading and playing over the hole of an asp in Christ’s kingdom mean, if not for what He and His apostles have already repeatedly proclaimed about such images? And it is John, more than any of the apostles, who refers to believers in Christ’s kingdom as “little children” over and over again. This terminology is so common in the language of Christ and His apostles that it is a wonder that many are still not understanding this today when God speaks like this in Isaiah.
Is God just concerned about animals here in Isaiah? Even as Paul said, “Is God just concerned about oxen?” No, He has a greater spiritual fulfillment that is to be realized between the Jews and Gentiles. The dividing wall of hostility would be removed and these two great witnesses from all over the world would now begin to enter God’s ark together hand in hand. When one sees a Church on almost every street corner, it is no wonder that this prophecy is being fulfilled right before our eyes where God's knowledge is covering the earth as the waters cover the sea.
So where is the problem of understanding these kind of animals that God Himself has said are people, as even being those whom He apprehends and gives a completely new nature or heart? As said before, if we would all just let Scripture interpret Scripture and let God say what He means when He means what He says, then we wouldn’t come up with all the wild and speculative imaginations and theories that all self-made prophecy pundits are claiming today. God's interpretation for us on all these things is all right there in His Word. Sometimes we just have to dig a little deeper to “mine” it out like silver and gold. Within such a God-ordained hermeneutical model of Scripture interpreting Scripture, there will be no more “private interpretations.” God Himself has just explained to us what He means by all of these things. And we have just used the Analogy of Faith for ascertaining God’s “Spiritual truths with [His] Spiritual words.”
Who then is looking for a future coming reign of Christ and a righteous kingdom when it has already come? Who is looking for a future King that we will serve in a future natural earthly kingdom, when Christ has already established His kingdom and His elect people are already serving in it now? Who is looking for a binding of Satan which “had” to be at the cross, or else none of us could have been set free from Satan’s domain (Matt. 12:28-29). The fact is, the captivity of Christ’s people, spiritual Israel, are now being plundered and taken captive for Christ. They are all His spoils of war. Peace has come, and is coming. The lion, the lamb, the wolf, the leopards, the goats and the calves are all lying down together in the Chief Shepherd’s pasture, and all partake of the same "straw," or the same food or bread. And only those who become like Christ as little children will lead them into greener pastures, and with childlike faith be able to play near the lair of the serpent; even placing their hand over the hole of the abyss of the viper’s nest, never to be harmed, even as Christ has said, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes [or serpents] and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” (Lke. 10:19), taking us all back to Isa. 11:9 where “they will neither harm or destroy on My holy mountain,” and which "mountain" we also now are and who is said "to fill the whole earth" (Dan. 2:35). To whom has Christ given this authority to? To all those of us who become like “little children” in His kingdom, with simple childlike faith. Who is the “enemy” here? If you say “literal” snakes and scorpions, then there is truly no hope for you. You, my friend, are a blind guide who leads the blind, and you are both falling into the same ditch. “Snakes,” “vipers,” and “scorpions” is not only common language for the devil and his cohorts, but for his children in this world as well. John the Baptist in speaking of the Pharisees said, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” (Mat. 3:7). God told Ezekiel to not be afraid of the ungodly Israelites, referring to them as “briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions” (Ezk. 2:6). The oppressive ruler Rehoboam told the Israelites that he would, “scourge you with scorpions” (1Ki. 12:11), referring to the mistreatment they would receive by those who served under his rule. When Paul talked about being “delivered from the lion’s mouth” at his “first defense” in 2Tim. 4:16, he was referring to the fact of how God had spared him from the death knell of the Jews, especially in situations such as in Acts 21:31ff where he is eventually handed over to Felix, then to Festus, and then finally taken to Rome to appear before Caesar. Through much prayer, God had delivered Paul out of the mouth of the lion, in ways that he, as well as we would not normally expect. The be sure, the devil is as a roaring lion, but so are his offspring. David understood this when he said, “I am in the midst of lions; I lie among ravenous beasts—men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords….Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; tear out, O Lord, the fangs of the lions!….Rescue me, O Lord, from evil men; protect me from men of violence, who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips” (Psm. 57:4; 58:6; 140:1-3). And it is Isaiah who cried, “Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken; from the root of that snake will spring up a viper, its fruit will be a darting, venomous serpent” (14:29). And again it is Isaiah who says, “No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched” (59:4-5). No doubt, even as a weaned "child" Christ reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews (the "vipers," in John's words), "playing near the cobra's den." And a "synagogue of Satan" no less at that, in Rev. 2:9 and 3:9. Even as a young man Christ's mission was to unite and lead the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the goat, and the calf and the lion into greener pastures. And it was also this "man-Child" who is said in Rev. 12:5 to have been caught-up into heaven and enter into His rule and reign. He is the "Child" whom Isaiah also had just spoken about earlier that the government was to rest upon His shoulders (Isa. 9:6). Have no doubt about it, the Christ-child, and "the children whom God has given" to Him (Heb. 2:13b), all now rule and reign as kings in this life, and in the life to come.
Christ said the “gates of hell” shall not prevail over any such "children" in such a kingdom as this which is His. What we bind here on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what has been bound in heaven shall be bound here on earth. It is a cooperative effort between Christ and "the children God who were scattered abroad" and have been "given" unto Him (Jhn. 6:37, 39; 17:2; 11:52). Isaiah 35 speaks of the bliss of Christ’s kingdom here and now, describing it again in such highly figurative and poetic language:
A highway will be there, it will be called a Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there (vv. 8-9).The only reason why “lions” and “ferocious beasts” are mentioned in Isaiah 11 is to depict who they formerly use to be (one need think no further than Saul who persecuted the Church, who later became Paul). Those of us who use to tear at one another, now heal and bind up one another. Christ has removed the hostility that was once among us and has made us all as one to lie down together. And the fact that we are referred to as “lions” and “leopards” is to reminds us from whence we came. We were Gentile sinners saved by grace. Those who are mentioned above in Isaiah 35 are those who are still untamed and who have not had their old nature changed, and they will not be allowed to dwell (or lie down among) God's people.
When one studies the Scripture, lions, leopards, wolves and bears are all primarily descriptive terms for Gentiles; while lambs, oxen, goats, calves and cows are all descriptive terms for Israel and the animal sacrifices that God required for ceremonial purposes. Any cursory reading in a Strong’s Concordance will reveal this. In Christ’s kingdom, these two separate and distinct animal categories now become combined into one to form one cohesive habitat and unit. The wolves (Gentiles) are now united with the lambs (Israel); the lions (again, Gentiles) eat the same diet as the oxen (Israel); the cow (Israel) grazes in the same pasture with the bear (Gentile). In other words, the dividing wall of hostility is removed with everyone now feeding on the same diet of food, which no one should doubt is the Word of God. The type and antitype couldn’t be any more clearer to us here. As I said before, God means what He says and says what He means. And He says it in such a way that is to leave us with no doubt that He has things in mind that go beyond what is physically or literally to be understood here. The types used of these differing animals to reflect the antitypical differences between the Jews and the Gentiles coming together as one is striking. God means what He says, and has said what He means for us by us reading what His other prophets have told us and what Christ and His apostles have "spiritually" conveyed to us with regards to all of this. A paradigm shift has occurred for us, which only those with the eyes to see it, and the ears to hear it, will be able to grasp it and run with it.
Isaiah 11:9 is another interpretive “key” on all of this, which says, “they will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain.” Remember, we are talking about Christ’s kingdom that we spoke of earlier which He inaugurated at His ascension, and for which Paul claimed in Rom. 15:12 (quoting Isa. 11:10) as a present reality. Again, this is not to be understood as a “literal” mountain here. As I said, this is the same “mountain” spoken of earlier in Daniel that is to “fill the whole earth,” which, again, is another literal, physical impossibility. Christ’s Church, in which His kingdom resides, is this “holy mountain,” and which the author of Hebrews says we have now all come unto, or have gathered and rallied together in one big “joyful assembly” (Heb. 12:22-23). Of such a mountain, the author of Hebrews says “cannot be touched” or “shaken” (ie., "moved" as natural kingdoms can be shaken and moved; Heb. 12:18, 28). The “harm” or “destruction” that cannot be done here in Isaiah 11 goes beyond what is just physical, because we are talking about a “spiritual” mountain. Satan may be able to destroy our bodies, but he will never be able to harm or destroy our souls. We will always have the last laugh:
Isaiah says, “in that day” Christ’s rest (in His temple, the Church, and at the right hand of God) will be glorious (Isa. 11:10). This speaks of Christ being seated on the throne of His glory, both in heaven and in us. And for which no one in the Church should doubt by now that this is all occurring right now as we speak. We will be talking more about what “in that day” exactly refers to in the next part. (click here for part 4)Why do the heathen rage,
and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD, and against his anointed,
saying, “Let us break their bands asunder,
and cast away their cords from us.”
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:
the LORD shall have them in derision.
Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath,
and vex them in His sore displeasure.
Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion
(Psm. 2:1-6, KJV).
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