Sheep Living Safely With The Beasts Of The Earth (1 of 2)

God speaks of a time through His prophet Jeremiah where apostate Israel had scattered His true sheep and had not taken care of them (cf. Jer. 23:2). But the Lord had promised to “gather the remnant” (v. 3). The days were coming when “a Righteous Branch” (v. 5) from David would rise up as “a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In His days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which He will be called: ‘The Lord Our Righteousness’” (vv. 5-6).

Ezekiel picks up on this same theme in chapter 34. The Lord through Ezekiel again talks about how the scattered remnant of His sheep that belong to Him “lacks a shepherd” and “has become food for all the wild animals” (v. 8). But the Lord says, “I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken. I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild beasts so that they may live in the desert and sleep in the forests in safety...The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops...They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid” (vv. 23-24, 28). In conclusion, the Lord says, “You My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Lord” (v. 31).

Of course, as clearly delineated for us in verse 31, none of this is to be understood literally speaking. It is impossible to be a literalist here. Shepherds, sheep, wild and savage beasts, the desert, the forests, trees yielding their fruit and the ground yielding its crops with rich pasture lands for sheep to graze in are all literal ideas or words that are used to convey a much deeper meaning. They are literal concepts or ideas that are used to figuratively portray something far more ethereal than carnal and worldly notions or ideas. To be sure, the shepherd/prince (or “David”) is Jesus; the sheep are His chosen spiritual sheep or remnant called specifically by Him; the savage beasts are the Gentiles (and as we will see later, also apostate Jews); and the wilderness and forests are those regions where these savage beasts (the Gentiles) lurk and dwell. The “trees of the field yielding fruit” and the “the ground yielding its crops” are the evangelistic results or efforts of God’s people throughout all these forests and arid regions. And these are the same fruit trees of all kinds that Ezekiel describes planted on the banks by the river of the Water of Life whose fruit serve for food and their leaves for healing (47:12); and which even David and Jeremiah describe as of those whose leaves do not fade or wither but are always green (Psm. 1:3; 92:12-13; Jer. 17:8). Even the “land” isn’t the literal land of Palestine, but is the land wherever Christ’s sheep graze and dwell and of which He said they “come in and go out, and find pasture” (Jhn. 10:9). Is Christ talking here about literal pasture lands for His sheep to come into and go out of? Of course not! The term “pasture” (and even “land”) is being used by our Lord, and Ezekiel, in a figurative non-literal manner. And if all that is not enough and too difficult to contemplate, consider also this fact for a moment that the author of Hebrews says the patriarchs desired “a better homeland, that is, a heavenly one” (11:16, lit. trans.). For “people who talk like this make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the homeland from which they had gone out, they would have opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire...a heavenly one” (vv. 14-16, lit. trans.). In other words, a spiritual one! Not literal land, but spiritual land; not earthly terra-firma, but heavenly terra-firma. Wherever Christ’s sheep graze and pasture, they are claiming spiritual terra-firma or ground for the kingdom of God, and are thus becoming that “great mountain” (or “My hill” here in Ezk. 34:26) that the Lord speaks about that “fills the whole earth” (Dan. 2:35) with His knowledge filling the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 11:9). This also is not a literal mountain; for one literal mountain cannot physically encompass the entire earth which is round. It is Christ’s kingdom, rule and reign going forth into all the earth to conquer and plunder a people for His namesake. At the cross, Christ bound the strongman, Satan, and is now like Abraham spoiling his house and distinguishing between those who are His sheep verses those who are not. He notes His people as they pass underneath His Shepherd’s rod (Ezk. 20:37), counting one in ten that belong unto Him as typified in Lev. 27:32. (for this idea of Christ taking a people for His namesake as “plunder” or “spoil” from other nations, see also my lengthy five-part article: Lions, Tigers and Bears; Oh My!, which is a more detailed commentary on Isaiah 11; see also The Typology of the Tithe, Firstfruits and Firstborn on the Lord’s tithe being typical of His people who are set apart and chosen to belong solely and “holy” to Him).

Even “David” mentioned above in Ezekiel (and in Ezk. 37:24-25), in Jer. 30:9, and even in Hosea 3:5, isn’t to literally come back some day, as many literalists erroneously suppose, in order to rule over all natural Jews in the literal land of Palestine someday. The person of “David” here is to be understood as no more literal than the person of “Elijah” who was promised to come and to precede the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in Malachi 4:5. For Jesus said, “‘To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist” (Mat. 17:11-13). Just earlier Christ had also said of this “Elijah” who was prophesied of Malachi to come, “if you are willing to accept it, he [John the Baptist] is the Elijah who was to come. Whoever has ears, let them hear” (Mat. 11:14). Are you hearing this? Are you willing to accept this? And finally, the angel Gabriel had also said to John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah: “And he [John] will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Lke. 1:17), just as Malachi had foretold. Like Elijah who was to come, and came, and the people “did not recognize him”; so too in like manner is “David” who was to come, and came, not recognized by not a few. As John the Baptist came in the Spirit and power of Elijah, so too has Christ come in the Spirit and power of David. The former in the Spirit and power of a Prophet, the latter in the Spirit and power of a King. John exercised his authority after the manner of Elijah and thereby came in his name; Christ exercises His authority after the manner of David and thereby came in his name. Jeremiah clearly understood this and alluded to this fact when he spoke of how God would “raise up to David a righteous Branch” (23:5). And Peter likewise affirmed of David’s prophecy who said that his body would not see decay as referring to Christ’s body that would not see decay―not David’s; for, “Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him an oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he [David] spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that He was not abandoned to the grave, nor did His body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God....God has made this Jesus...both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:29-32, 36). Christ now, not later, sits on David’s throne ruling from heaven over not only the earth but over heaven and earth. The keys of David that were passed on to one of David’s descendents, Eliakim, who ruled as a palace administrator for Hezekiah (or for David's house) in Isaiah 22:22, Christ now says such authority over David’s house has been passed over unto Him: “These are the words of Him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open” (Rev. 3:7). The tabernacle (or house) of David that had fallen down, is now being rebuilt through the administration of Christ’s rule and reign (Amos 9:11-12; Acts 15:16-17). And to all who overcome as Christ did, Christ says He will “give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (v. 21). Have no doubt about it, Christ is now seated as a King on David’s throne ruling and reigning from heaven. His throne is never to be an earthly throne like the other kingdoms of this world, but a heavenly throne; His kingdom is not of this world, but from “another place” (cf. Jhn. 18:36-37). In fact, the Old Testament says that David’s throne was indeed God’s throne (cf. 1Chr. 29:23), with David ruling as one of God’s co-regents, not so dissimilar to us now being also co-regents together with Christ in heaven and also here on earth (cp. Eph. 2:6; Rom. 5:17; 1Cor. 4:8; see also Rev. 5:10 in ASV for “and they reign” now, not “shall reign”); therefore Christ’s (or God’s) throne could be none other than David’s throne but with the difference being that He is now ruling on it from heaven. And if He were not ruling from heaven, then all rule, authorities, powers and dominions would have remained over Him and not “under” Him. But Scripture says He is “far above” them all (Eph. 1:21f), just a kings are suppose to be.

Now, more particularly, here in Ezekiel 34 God also says that His flock “has become food for all the wild animals” (v. 34), and that God would “rid the land [or His pasture] of wild beasts so that His flock may live in the desert and sleep in the forests in safety” (v. 25). This idea is repeated again in verse 28. What are these arid “desert” regions and “forests,” where these “wild animals” or “beasts” live and where God’s flock is to live and dwell in safety? They are the arid regions and forests of ungodly people throughout the world, such as the “forests” of those mentioned who belong to the king of Assyria as depicted in Isaiah 10:18-19 whose “splendor of his forests and fertile fields” God will “completely destroy” and where “the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could write them down.” It is such regions as these that are spiritually dry and arid and lack God’s refreshing living waters. Christ was, and is, changing all of this wherever His water of life flows into the hearts and lives of His sheep which are scattered throughout all the world like sheep without a shepherd. They are His lost sheep of the house of Israel and His “other sheep” out of the Gentiles that He had said He must also gather (Jhn. 10:16; cp. Jhn. 11:52). All such “desert” and arid regions as these “will be glad and blossom like the rose” (Isa. 35:1); “then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped...water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs....And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness” (vv. 5-8).

So what, or who, are these “wild beasts” or “wild animals”? Clearly, as was said earlier, all of this is to be understood figuratively. None of this is to be interpreted literally. Real concepts and ideas are being used to figuratively portray an underlying concept or idea. “Wild beasts” and undomesticated animals in Scripture are everywhere typically denoted as the Gentiles; whereas those animals that are domesticated, such as sheep, are typically portrayed as those who belong to the Lord. Thus there are domesticated animals verses undomesticated animals; clean verses unclean; wild verses tame. But God through His prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel (not to mention all of the other prophets) promises to one day unite these unclean, unruly and wild animals with the domesticated ones in order that they may all live together harmoniously. And this was portrayed for us in Peter’s vision in the sheet coming down out of heaven where he was told to eat all unclean animals that he had never eaten before, and where  both Jews and Gentiles are now to dwell together.

Now what I will attempt to do in this article is to apply what the Reformers referred to as, “The Analogy of Faith.” Though not the only principle used in interpreting the Scriptures, the “analogy of faith” was a key principle of interpretation understood by the Reformers which teaches that Scriptures are normally sufficient within themselves to provide for us an understanding or “interpretation” of what God Himself has said to us on any given subject. Scripture normally is self-interpreting. When I say “normally,” what I mean is that sometimes history determines for us how something is to be interpreted, or understood, such as in the actual outworking and fulfillment of the prophecies of Daniel and of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. But the actual meanings and concepts behind the literal words or ideas being used to depict those things are to be interpreted solely by God’s word alone. For example, when Daniel uses images of lions, bears, and leopards, Scripture elsewhere affirms to us that God uses such imagery to denote the ferocious behavior and hostility of certain kingdoms or peoples. And what better way to convey the ferocious behavior of these people and kingdoms than by using such graphic images of “wild beasts” to convey to our minds what God is trying to tell us. They strike terror and fear into all of those who would ever come near such animals. These animals are more powerful than us, and we know very well that we are to keep our distance from them. So, when Isaiah 11 talks about such carnivorous animals as lying together with other animals not of the same nature with them all eating the same food—in light of what has just been said—what do you think he (or “God”) is attempting to illustrate to those of us with the ears to hear and the eyes to see? Sadly, many have put a bent or interpretation upon these passages of Scripture, and others similar to them, with thoughts or ideas that come naturally to them through their own natural reasoning minds. But this is not how the meaning of what God is saying to us is to be understood here. In other words, the sense or meaning is not to be ascertained through carnal and natural reasoning minds; but is to be understood by having our senses exercised to discern what God means by what He says through other verses of Scripture. This is comparing Scripture with Scripture, and not through our own human logic or reasoning. This is why many in our midst still fail to believe that Elijah who was to come was John the Baptist. Their natural reasoning minds cannot comprehend that. And so we still have with us today some who will say that this prophecy concerning Elijah to come in Malachi must still be literally fulfilled in the physical return of Elijah someday in the future.

I think a very important “interpretive key” into gaining the wisdom and understanding behind the words that God uses in Isaiah chapter eleven, especially with His usage there of domesticated and undomesticated animals, is to be found in Jer. 5:6 and in the verses before and after this verse. As said before, God’s own Word will interpret His Word for us, if we will just let Him do so. 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; 2:4).

There is much more elsewhere said in God’s Word that will help us to understand and get the sense of these words in Isaiah 11, but for now we will begin with the words of the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah writes:

“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, on the surface this really does sound like God is referring to literal animals that were to ravage Israel. But let me just say right from the start that God is not talking about literal “lions,” “wolves,” or “leopards” here. “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 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.” So how can I make such a blunt statement, being so sure of myself? Please bear with me for just a moment, and let’s continue with the narrative. Remember, not I, nor anyone else for that matter, are the interpreters of God’s Word here, God is. God means what He says, and He says what He means.

First of all, the text says that the leopards will watch over all of Israel’s cities and tear any (or all) who would attempt to venture out. That is the first little “red flag” here that should let us know that God is not talking about literal leopards lying in wait outside of every city. Why not? 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 “towns” would be ravaged by these leopards—every single one of them! This is a literal impossibility! It can’t happen as such. There would have to be hundreds of thousands of leopards devouring hundreds of thousands of people, and every single person at that. Many times God does this with such language in the Bible to let us know that He is not talking about something that is to be understood literally, but figuratively speaking. Jesus did this often with words. Even when He made the claim: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” He did not have a literal temple in mind. Such a feat of rebuilding such a temple in three days is a literal, physical impossibility. And the natural thinking and reasoning Jews understood this in their reply to Jesus’ words. Clearly Jesus, as well as Jeremiah, and many more of the prophets, have many things to say to us that go way beyond a literal, physical understanding, and are only to be figuratively understood. To be certain, all of these things were to literally occur, but not in the way that we think that they were to “literally” occur. We will 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 being “Elijah who was to come” spoken of by Malachi, we will never know the meaning of much of what the prophets are saying until God reveals it to us in His Scriptures that He wrote. No prophecy is of a “private interpretation,” which is so prevalent today in the Church. Again, God means what He says, and says what He means by such sayings. He needs no help from us.

Secondly, God says He was going to punish Israel for their sins by these “wild beasts” referred to as a “lion,” a “wolf,” and a “leopard.” Notice what He 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 wild, untamed animals throughout Israel. But pay attention to what God has just said in verse 10: “but do not destroy them completely.” Hold your finger there, and now continue to read the rest of the chapter, and even into chapter 6:1 and the verses following. Especially pertinent to a proper understanding of all of this is chapter 5:15-18. In verse 15 God says: “I am bringing a distant nation against you” (cp. 6:1). And in verses 16-17 He adds: “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 that are to “devour” Israel, does it? Now having been told to keep your finger on verse 10, begin to read verse 18. Notice what it 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,” are now to be understood of the distant nation that was to ravage and devour Israel and, “not destroy you completely.” God said this again just moments earlier with regards to this distant nation who were the Babylonians in 4:27, “The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely.” The parallelisms are striking. There can be no doubt whatsoever that God is using these wild animals as descriptive terms for this heathen nation from the north that was going to ravage and devour God’s people. Stationed at the gates of every city of those who would attempt to flee were thousands upon thousands of the armies of the Babylonians, and not literal leopards, who were just denoted earlier also for us by Jeremiah: “they surround her [Israel] like men guarding a field” (4:16). It was even as Isaiah denotes: “Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the city gates” (22:7); and, again, the Lord through Ezekiel also affirms: “So that the hearts may melt and the fallen be many, I have stationed the sword for slaughter at all their gates” (21:15). So basically what we have here in Jeremiah is a parable, accompanied by an interpretation, something to be had in common frequently with Christ’s teachings. And as Christ said, some will comprehend the mysteries that He speaks of, while others will not. For to only some it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom. All others will be left in the dark scratching their heads.

David similarly uses such language when denoting the ungodly, wherein the word “dog” could just as easily be exchanged for that denoting “wolves,”

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 striking. Both “howl,” both “prowl,” and both “wonder about for food” to “devour your harvests and food.” Literal animals are no where to be understood in any of these instances. All of this is highly figurative language—the highly figurative language of God that only those with the ears to hear, can hear! Once again, in Psalm 80:8 and 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.

Please click here for part two.

Sheep Living Safely With The Beasts Of The Earth (2 of 2)

So, earlier in Jeremiah, we saw a “wolf,” a “lion,” and a “leopard;” and all ready to attack the “lambs” so-to-speak, who are the Israelites. There is nothing “literal” going on here concerning these animals! It is all figurative language! It is worth repeating: God means what He says, and clearly says to us what He means by using such images. And as He does once in awhile, God has “held our hands” on this one in Jeremiah, leading us along to a proper biblical understanding of what He is attempting to describe for us. But He doesn’t always do this so readily for us. Sometimes we have to mine for the meaning as one would mine for gold. Scripture will clearly and sufficiently be its own interpreter and guide for us; but only for those of us who are willing to mine for it and with the discerning minds to comprehend it all. These examples cited above should be sufficient reason for us in determining what God is truly saying to us when He now begins to speak of similar animals being tamed in Isaiah chapter 11 under Christ’s kingdom, rule, and reign. The animals spoken of earlier in Jeremiah that once tore God’s people Israel, are the same animals whose animosity has now been removed, and which now lie together and are united with all born-again Jews 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 (the Gentiles) 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. Additionally, these “jackals” and “ostriches” (or better “owls” in some translations) are the night creatures (cf. Isa. 34:14-15; 35:7ff), or creatures of the dark which come to the light of Christ where “the burning sand becomes a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow” (Isa. 35:7). A change is foretold here that is to occur from something that is ravenous and preys upon others, to something that is totally unobtrusive and not invasive. Creatures that thrive in darkness will be changed to become plants that thrive in the light. These jackals, desert owls, grasses, reeds and papyrus are all descriptive terms used by the Lord to describe various types of people. People of the dark vs. people of the light; people who ravage other people vs. people who don’t. Job understood this of the darkened counsel of his friends who were ravaging him and attacking him, when he said, “I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls” (30:29). And God said apostate Israel’s prophets were “like jackals among ruins” (Ezk. 13:4), a term often (but not always) employed of those who were not walking in the light, but who were walking in darkness and ravaging those who were in a ruinous state or condition. Because of Israel’s sin, Micah as a sign to Jerusalem and to the sinners among his people, puts himself in their shoes and takes on a lament of those who were ungodly and to be carried away naked by the Babylonians: “Because of this I will weep and wail; I will go about barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and moan like an owl” (1:8). And of Esau, God says, “I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the the desert jackals,” meaning, his kingdom with their rulers would be given over to those more vile than themselves. In the next verse Edom says, “though we have been crushed [by men], we will rebuild the ruins” (v. 4). But this is what God says, “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord” (ibid). Jeremiah likewise describes Jerusalem becoming desolate and “a haunt of jackals” (10:22), in other words, a haunt of the Babylonians who were the “great commotion from the land of the north” (ibid) coming in upon them like a commotive yelping pack of hyenas or jackals. And the Psalmist similarly talks of how God had “crushed us in a place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death” (44:19, NASB).

So, now that we understand a little bit more about how God uses the terms “jackals” and “owls,” what of the “grass,” “reeds,” and “papyrus”? Scripture again alludes to these things as people (cp. Isa. 19:6, 15 w/ 9:14; and 37:27; 40:6-7 and 44:4; see also Mat. 11:7; 12:20). In Psalm 68:30, a striking resemblance is given concerning similar wild beasts with these lowly and unobtrusive reeds: “Rebuke these enemy nations―these wild animals lurking in the reeds, this herd of bulls among the weaker calves. Make them bring bars of silver in humble tribute. Scatter the nations that delight in war” (NLT). Pretty much all of the older commentators are in agreement that these “wild animals” (or beasts) vs. the “reeds,” and the these “bulls” vs. the “calves” are all metaphors being used to describe people; those who are evil verses those who are not evil.

Now in some of the verses just mentioned, particularly in Isaiah 19, God predicts the overthrow of these Egyptians by “a fierce king” (v. 4) with again very highly figurative language, when He declares:

The waters of the river will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and dry. The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither, also the plants along the Nile, at the mouth of the river. Every sown field along the Nile will become parched, will blow away and be no more. The fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who throw nets on the water will pine away” (vv. 5-8).

And it is upon this note that the Lord concludes: “There is nothing Egypt can do head or tail, palm branch or reed” (v. 15).

The Lord is talking about people here. How do we know this? Well, for one, earlier in Isaiah 9:14-15 the Lord had already explained to us us exactly who or what this “head or tail” is when speaking about Israel: “The elders and prominent men are the head, and the prophets who teach lies are the tail.” Case closed! No private interpretation here! The “heads” of Pharaoh are his “prominent men,” and the “tails” are his magicians or false “prophets.” The “branches” of palm trees (or of any tree or plant for that matter), and even the palm trees themselves, are also typical of people, as we all should very well know by now who settle by waters. And “reeds” and “rushes” are also self-explanatory by the other verses cited above, to name just a few. But what about “the river,” “canals,” “streams,” “plants along the Nile,” “every sown field along the Nile,” and the “fishermen...who cast hooks” and “who throw nets on the water”? When we study God’s word with regards to these particular words at hand, it becomes very apparent that all of these things are descriptive terms for different classes of people from all walks of life, as verse 15 begins to allude to us. But in order to uncover the hidden meanings behind these words we must read the prophets over and over again to discover what God means by what He is saying. As Solomon quoted earlier has stated: “if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures,” then you will “understand a parable and the interpretation; the words of the wise and their enigmas [or dark sayings]” (Pro. 2:4; 1:6, Jubilee Bible).

Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel give us these “keys” that are needed in order to begin to unlock the mystery and enigmatic nature of these dark sayings of God through Isaiah above. For God likewise through Jeremiah says,

Who is this that rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters? Egypt rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters. She says, “I will rise and cover the earth; I will destroy cities and their people.” Charge, O horses! Drive furiously, O charioteers! March on, O warriors―men of Cush and Put who carry shields, men of Lydia who draw the bow (46:7-9).

What God through Jeremiah begins to state concerning Egypt as like the Nile river that rises over cities and people, His prophet Ezekiel concludes:

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams.” You say, “The Nile is mine; I made it for myself.” But I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales. I will pull you out from among your streams, with all the fish sticking to your scales. I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and not be gathered or picked up. I will give you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air (29:3-5).

As anyone can again readily see, all of this is highly figurative language. The “Nile” river with its small tributaries (or “streams”) is Pharaoh’s kingdom (from its heights to its lowliest regions), and the “fish” are his people who are cast into the open fields (the world of the ungodly) and become likened unto "food" for the hoards of ravaging "beasts" and "birds" to devour, which are the Babylonians.

So, now when Isaiah has stated that “the waters of the river will dry up...the canals will stink; and the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up” so that “the reeds and the rushes will wither” along with “the plants along the Nile,” etc., etc., we should now know by now what the Lord is talking about. All of these words are descriptive terms to describe people one way or another. The Lord is piling up metaphors and parables one after the other that only those who “seek her as silver and search for her as hidden treasure” will discover the meaning―bar none! Again the Lord adds here concerning Egypt: “I will dry up the streams of the Nile and sell the land to evil men; by the hand of foreigners I will lay waste the land and everything in it” (Ezk. 30:12); and by whom He calls “fishermen” at that no less in Jeremiah 16:16. The “fishermen” God described earlier in Isaiah are those who did commerce with the people of the land of Egypt, but those described here in Ezekiel were the Babylonians as denoted by Jeremiah. Jesus and Ezekiel also use the term concerning us fishing for men (Ezk. 47:9-10; Mat. 4:19). And it is Ezekiel again who lays the capstone on all of this, when he writes concerning Egypt:

...you are like a monster in the seas thrashing about in your streams, churning the water with your feet and muddying the streams. This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “With a great throng of people I will cast my net over you, and they will haul you up in my net. I will throw you on the land and hurl you on the open field. I will let all the birds of the air settle on you and all the beasts of the earth gorge themselves on you....For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “The sword of the king of Babylon will come against you. I will cause your hordes to fall by the swords of mighty men―the most ruthless of all nations. They will shatter the pride of Egypt, and all her hordes will be overthrown. I will destroy all her cattle from beside abundant waters no longer to be stirred by the foot of man or muddied by the hoofs of cattle. Then I will let her waters settle and make her streams flow like oil, declares the Sovereign LORD” (32:2-4, 11-14).

What we have here is no different than what Jesus did with His listeners when saying to them, “hear the meaning of this parable.” Here in Ezekiel, our same Lord is similarly saying to us, “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says...” Here again we see the Lord referring to Pharaoh like a great sea monster who thrashes his “streams” with fish in them, and muddying these “streams” with his feet and making them unlivable. How does Pharaoh do this? By himself? No, he uses other people (or “cattle”) who stand “beside” these waters and “muddy” them with their feet or “hoofs.” The Lord said He was going to “destroy” all such people, including Pharaoh himself, with the Babylonians. And it was later that Isaiah even speaks of the king of Assyria who in a round-about-way had been saying of himself: “With the souls of my feet I have dried up the streams of Egypt” (37:25). How so? Surely, not literally. But as has been described above. So is it any wonder now when the Lord says in Isaiah 11, “The Lord will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching hand over the Euphrates River [a type of Assyria, cf. Isa. 8:7-8],” and that “He will break it up into seven streams so that men can cross over on sandals,” and that, “there will be a highway for the remnant of His people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from Egypt” (vv. 15-16). Here the Lord, in context, makes a way for people (both Jews and Gentiles) to rally unto Christ by removing all of the obstacles in their path that forbade them to come together and unite as one. And we see this again beautifully portrayed for us Isaiah 19:23-25: “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria....The Egyptians and the Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be a third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyrian My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.’” Zechariah also foretold of this time when God for His people would “pass through the sea of affliction, and will strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile will dry up; and the pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart” so that His people could “walk up and down in His name” (10:11, 12, WEB). Hallelujah! God means what He says, and again says what He means.

Now, all of the older commentators understand these verses that we have been talking about above in Isaiah 43 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 and rejuvenating waters of His Holy Spirit. For example, 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…” (Gill's Exposition of the Bible online).

Again, as has clearly been demonstrated, God is not talking about literal animals, but He is using these animals to figuratively portray what these people are like, just as He did in Daniel. To borrow Christ’s words of, “speaking figuratively” in Jhn. 16:25, they are like the brute “beasts” that Paul fought at Ephesus (1Cor. 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 talk about in their epistles. (2Pet. 2:12; Jude 10). Where do you think the apostles got such ideas from? From the same place that you and I are to garner them from: from the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. “Hidden” indeed to the naturally reasoning, carnally minded rationalist and Christian, but indeed “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 [Israel] 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 a wild animal 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”―not Him! How is all of this to be understood and played out? By using the “analogy of faith” and seeing that the same “wild animals” God mentions in Jer. 5:6 with verse 9-10 and 15-18, which refers 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 through the Syrian, Antiochus Epiphanes, in 168 BC; and then finally again via the Roman armies in 70 AD (for a clearer realization of all of these ideas on how God uses other nations to mete out His judgments upon others, 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 denoting unruly people: In the book of 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 one of his Psalms 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). In one breath here we see David piling up metaphors as descriptive terms for the same people. Again, David writes: “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 also 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…” Numbers 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 also declares: “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). Jeremiah 2:14-15 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.” Literal lions have laid waste Israel’s lands and burned down their towns? Of course not! Such a conclusion is a reductio ad absurdum!

Jeremiah 50:17 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.” Here is a classic example where God clearly says what He means. But as said before, this isn’t always so easy to ascertain.

Ezekiel says in chapter 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.”

In Lam. 3:10, Jeremiah writes: “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.” And Pro. 28:15 also adds: “Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked man ruling over a helpless people.” And even 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 21:31 ff, 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 him 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). Notice here that David says he "lies among ravenous beasts" whom he delineates for us as “men.” This is important to remember for this study. For just the opposite occurs for us now with these beasts whose natures have been changed in Christ's kingdom. And Isaiah also cried out with regards to these violent serpents and venomous beasts that David describes: “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).

What Ezekiel earlier described for us with regards to these wild animals in parched and arid lands, we had briefly also noted earlier that Isaiah picks up on this same theme in chapter 35. With even further insight and detail, Isaiah says with regards to all of this:

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Joel similarly picks up on this same theme in chapter three, where he writes: “Jerusalem will be holy,” and “never again will foreigners invade here...In that day...a fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house and water the valley of acacias” (3:17, 18). Acacia wood was used to make up the tabernacle of Moses, the Lord’s house, which is typical of Christ and His people. And it was a common symbol used elsewhere to denote a certain type of tree (or a people) that belonged to the Lord (cf. Isa. 41:19). Zechariah also picks up on this theme of Isaiah’s, when he writes: “On that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty” (14:21). Ironically, the terminology that once belonged only to unregenerate Gentiles is now cast upon all of those who are not a part of the true and spiritual Israel of God. Even in Isaiah’s days, apostate Jews were likened unto “dogs” (Isa. 56:10-11). They are also spiritually referred to as “Sodom,” “Gomorrah,” and “Egypt” (Rev. 11:8; Isa. 1:10; Ezk. 16:18). And these are all the same “Egyptians” that Zechariah now describes for us in his 14th chapter who do not go up to the New Jerusalem keeping the Feast of Tabernacles to worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness. This isn’t language describing a future for all natural Jews in the land of Palestine some day. It is going on right now in the New Jerusalem, called the bride of the Lamb, the Church! This is the New and spiritual Jerusalem from above (i.e., born from above), coming down out of heaven (or having her origin) from God (Rev. 21:2, 9; Gal. 4:26; Heb. 12:22). Her origin is from God and of the Spirit; not from the earth and of the flesh. No longer will people go up and worship in the literal city of Jerusalem (Jhn. 4:21-24). But wherever God’s holy city that is made up of His people (the Church) are, people throughout the world are to enter spiritually into her gates with thanksgiving and into her courts with praise, keeping the Feast of Tabernacles as described by Zechariah as we even now are said by Paul to "keep the feast" of Passover who is Christ (1Cor. 5:7). This is “the mountain of the Lord’s house,” prophesied by Micah, that is “established in the top of the [other] mountains [or kingdoms of this world], and it shall be exalted above the hills [or peoples]; and people shall flow into it. And many nations shall come and say, ‘Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:’ for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (4:1-2, KJV). We are now come unto this spiritual Mt. Zion; to this heavenly Jerusalem and city of the living God; even unto the Church of God’s spiritual firstborn-ones whose names are now written in heaven (cf. Heb. 12:22). Unlike the literal mountain of Mt. Sinai, this “mountain” of the Lord’s house that the author of Hebrews describes for us cannot be “shaken” or physically “touched” by men’s hands (vv. 18, 28). Even John the Baptist understood this of all such “mountains” and “hills” when in quoting Isaiah said: “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” (Lke. 3:5, 6). John is clearly talking about people, kings and kingdoms here, not literal mountains, hills, valleys and roads. People of all qualities of life, whether in exalted positions or in lowly positions, were to remove all of the obstacles and hindrances between them and the Lord; they were to “make straight paths for Him”―a “highway” or “Way of Holiness.” “O the happiness of a man whose strength is in Thee, highways are in their heart” (Psm. 84:5, YLT). All the proud are to be abased, while all the humble and lowly shall be exalted.

With regards to all of those “foreigners” described above (including now all apostate Jews), Jesus now alludes to them all as residing "outside" of His spiritual City called His bride, and the Church, in Rev. 21:7-8, 27 and 22:14-15, when He says:

Those who are victorious will inherit all this [the New Jerusalem], and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur....Nothing impure will ever enter it [into God’s city], nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life....Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates [via the Lord’s street or holy highway] into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Now the “wild beasts” that God had earlier said He would use to devour other nations with, such as of Pharaoh in Ezekiel 32:4 (et al), are clearly also described for us in Ezk. 31:6 as the people who would reside under the king of Assyria’s branches (or his kingdom) and give birth to children. Here the prophet says in chapter 31 that Assyria is likened to a tall tree whose branches are his people, and under whom “the birds of the air” and “the beasts of the field” would reside. And it is these “birds of the air” and “beasts of the field” that God throughout Scripture is said to also use, as in Mat. 24:28, when He states: “Wherever the carcass is, there will the eagles (or vultures) be gathered,” as referring to Jerusalem being overtaken by the Romans; a common phrase used by God throughout His Prophets in the OT, and that Jesus also uses here in Matthew (cp. also Isa. 18:5-6; Jer. 12:9; 48:40-42 with 29:22; Ezk. 17:2, 7, 12, 17; Hab. 1:8). But God speaks of a day when some of these wild animals and birds of the air will come into a covenant of peace with Him, as even Hosea declares:

In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety” (Hos. 2:18).

Pay attention to that last statement: “so that all may lie down in safety.” As was earlier described in the beginning of this article, God promises to restore His fortunes to those in Israel who are born of the Spirit and not of the flesh in Hosea 2:14-17 and 19-23. And in the place where it was said of those, “You are not My loved ones” (v. 23), they too will be called God’s people (cf. v. 23). For the acute student of Scripture, they will pick up on the fact and recall how it is Paul that quotes these verses from Hosea with regards to the Gentiles (or foreigners) coming into God’s fold and joining themselves with the Israel of the Spirit (cf. Rom. 9:25). And Paul again refers to these Gentiles in Rom. 9:26, as quoted from Hos. 1:10, as being called the very “sons of God of the living God.”

Once we begin to understand all of this in this way, it all starts to begin to make more sense to us now when God talks about wolves and lambs living and feeding together in Isaiah 11:6 and 65:25, with the lions now eating straw like the ox (Isa. 11:7; 65:25); the former wild leopards now lying down with the goats, calves and the lions (Isa. 11:6); and even cows feeding with bears (Isa. 11:7). The Lord had promised a day in which Judah and Israel would become as one stick with One Shepherd and King ruling over them (Ezk. 37:15-28); along with the unruly Gentiles even eventually being joined to them. And it is Ezekiel again who in visionary form, not so dissimilar to Peter’s vision of all of all the literal unclean animals being described on a sheet, prophesied of this spiritual union of both Jews and Gentiles to come:

You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance, declares the Sovereign LORD (47:21-23).

Now, how is that in one breath the Lord could say that “no lion” or “ravenous beast” will be found on His holy highway in Isaiah, while in the next breath (also in Isaiah) God says they are living harmoniously together with domesticated animals? The key here is in the word “ravenous,” or “ferocious” in some translations. It denotes one who is very “violent” in nature. Paul understood this when he wrote about his life prior to being saved. He describe himself as a very “violent man” (1Tim. 1:13). No “ferocious” beast (or “violent” person) will walk on God’s holy highway or street into His great and spiritual City called New Jerusalem through which His water of life now flows (cf. Rev. 22:1-2), but only those individuals whose natures have been changed will be allowed or afforded the opportunity to walk therein. Outside are “dogs,” “foreigners,” “Canaanites,” “Sodomites” and “Egyptians.” And this mystery that was once veiled in highly figurative language begins to become unraveled for us in Paul’s explanation in his epistle to the Ephesians:

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you [Gentiles] who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you [Gentiles] who were far away and peace to those [of the Israelites] who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you [Gentiles] are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit....This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:11-22; 3:6).

No wonder that Paul could call both Jews and Gentiles “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16). In Christ Paul said there is “no difference” between the two. They are both one and the same. And since the Father through Isaiah calls His Christ “My servant, Israel” (49:3), it stands to reason that all those born in Him are also to surname themselves by His name “Israel.” Isaiah wrote of such a time as this, when he says:

Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel, who I have chosen: Thus saith Jehovah that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee: Fear not, O Jacob my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. One shall say, I am Jehovah's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto Jehovah, and surname himself by the name of Israel (45:1-5, ASV).

No natural born Jew would have to “surname” themselves with this name “Israel.” They were naturally born from birth with this name. No, the ones being described here are all of those descendants or “seed” that was promised to Abraham through his “seed” which was Christ. This is why Paul (and even Ezekiel earlier) could say that Gentiles in Christ are no longer “foreigners” of the covenants of promise, but “fellow citizens” and “heirs together” with those Jews who are Jews inwardly; and whose circumcision was that of the Spirit and not of the flesh. For “it is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his [natural] descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring” (Rom. 9:6-8). And Paul says, we Gentiles, “like Isaac, are children of promise” (Gal. 4:28). So, if we are Abraham’s children, then what does that make us? The “Israel of God” according to the Spirit. And the Scriptures foreseeing this foretold: “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the bondwoman’s son shall never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son. Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free woman” (Gal. 4:30-31) who is from above. Who is this “bondwoman and her son”? Ironically, as it turns out, they are all those “natural” born Jews whom Jesus said their father was the devil and in slavery to their sins (cf. Jhn. 8:34-47). Contrary to popular opinion nowadays, Paul says that they are “cast out” like Ishmael and Hagar (Gal. 4:24, 25), not to be “children of promise” like Isaac. All who are elect and chosen to be God’s people, like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob―whether they be Jew or Gentile―are “children of promise.” And all who follow after this rule, are the Israel of God born not after the flesh!

God has removed from us our stone-cold and unloving hearts of stone, and has breathed new life into all of us, giving us all living and vibrant hearts of flesh. Those of us who use to be indifferent and hostile to the things of God are now embracing them; those of us who use to be full of animosity and hatred, are now full of peace and love. Truly the once raging beasts of the earth and wild birds of the air have now settled in and under the branches of the Almighty. For “the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches” (Mat. 13:31-32). And this tree is planted smack-dab among the beasts of the field which need not worry, for all of God's people are perched out of reach, dwelling safely among the beasts of the field.

May His truth keep marching on―

casting down every speculation and argument

that blindly and arrogantly exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

If we are to learn anything from God here,

it is that we must become as little children in our learning.

For unless you become as little children

you shall not enter into such a rich understanding of His purpose in Christ Jesus

that has been kept hidden from many in ages past,

but is now revealed unto those of us who are truly His children.

He who has an ear,

let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church!