Isaiah 62:1-12
Isa 62:1
For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for
Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as
brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
Chapter 62 is a continuation of the glory of the church
from chapter 61. The eternal church
of God is one of the focal points in the book of Isaiah and many like to apply
these everlasting promises to the modern nation of Israel which is a very
erroneous application since there is nothing in Scripture which states that
another physical nation of Israel is going to come on the scene.
The Israel that is in view is the Israel of God which is the body of
believers. Zion here is the body of
believers and because of Christ God will not withhold his peace which could be
the peace with God through Christ or the peace that passes all understanding
which the believer inherits at the time of salvation.
But ye are come unto mount Sion,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an
innumerable company of angels, (Hebrews 12:22)
Then the LORD promises that he will not rest until all the believers have
been saved and the righteousness of those believers will go forth as brightness
or brilliancy and salvation will be like a lamp that continually burns.
In the temple and tabernacle there was brought beaten olive oil for the
lamps so they would burn perpetually.
And thou shalt command the
children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to
cause the lamp to burn always. (Exodus 27:20)
The lamps in the temple symbolized the perpetuity of the covenant of
grace which will never be exhausted.
The olive oil had to be beaten so the lamps would burn.
The Lord Jesus Christ was beaten so the covenant of grace would remain in
perpetuity.
Isa 62:2
And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all
kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the
LORD shall name.
The Gentiles will see the true righteousness of the
believers as their lifestyles will be in stark contrast to those who are
unsaved. Then even the earthly
kings will see the glory of the true believer because their glory will be the
imputed righteousness and salvation of Christ.
King Hiram of Tyre was good friends with King David and sent him the best
of the wood for the building of the temple.
Think about it, why would a pagan king want to build the temple to the
God who is going to judge him on the last day.
The Queen of Sheba came to see Solomon and test his wisdom.
So even pagan kings and queens will see the glory of the true believers.
Then the body of believers will be called by a new name which the LORD
himself shall give them. We find
that name in verse 4. We know the
name Christian was given to those from Antioch but here will be a more intimate
name.
Isa 62:3
Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the
LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his
Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation
1:6)
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we
shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)
Twice in the book of Revelation the believer is given the
title of king and priests. Only
kings wear crowns of glory and royal diadems.
The Lord Jesus Christ being the King of Kings grants these exalted
positions to the true believer which he has redeemed.
The Christian’s salvation yields more than just being saved from hell, it
yields a kingly position in the New Heaven and the New Earth.
What exactly will the true believer be reigning over remains to be seen.
The only inkling we get is the fact the Lord makes his faithful children
rule over 5 and 10 cities but what they are is still a mystery.
(Luke 19:16-19)
Isa 62:4
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy
land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy
land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
Once a person has become saved, never will they be
forsaken. Let your
conversation be without
covetousness; and be content
with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. (Hebrews 13:5)
Neither will ever face any type of desolation or destruction because they are
safe in the hands of Jesus. Then we
learn the name which the LORD gives to the true body of believers.
First of all they shall be called Hephzi-bah which means “My delight is
in her.” Then the land which is
symbolic for the Christian themselves is called “Beulah” which means “married”
in contrast to a forsaken person who has no one or one who has become a widow.
Since the Lord Jesus Christ lives forever, the body of believers will
always be married and will never be a widow.
The Lord delights in the true believer because he has redeemed them from
the earth through the sacrifice of his Son.
The marriage to Christ will be an everlasting one.
In ancient times, it was the parents who arranged marriages between their
children and picked the spouses and in like fashion, the Father picks the spouse
for the Lord Jesus Christ.
All that the Father giveth me shall come
to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)
There was a great gospel hymn written about 200 years ago in the late
1700s called “Is not this the Land of Beulah?”
Here is a great rendition of that song sung by the Isaacs.
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFCSmTdi5TQ
Isa 62:5
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so
shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the
bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
Then just as a young man marries a virgin, the LORD will
see the body of believers as a body of chaste virgins.
That means we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and as a result, we
will not play the harlot with false religions because we have been espoused to
only one husband and that is Christ.
For I am jealous over you with
godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present
you as a chaste virgin to
Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2)
When the bridegroom marries the woman he loves, he rejoices mightily also in the
fact that she kept herself pure. In
like manner God rejoices over us because we have been saved from a sinful life
of harlotry as we played with the world but now we have become chaste virgins
dedicated to our husband the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me just say at this juncture many people and Christians included only
see God the Father as some type of mean tyrant who can’t wait to throw a
lightning bolt when you or I mess up.
God the Father rejoices over his Son’s bride and that means God has a
joyful side to him. He is not only
angry but he also has a spirit of joy and we need to realize our Heavenly Father
loves us with an everlasting love.
Heaven is going to be a place of amazing bliss which we cannot understand at
this time.
Isa 62:6
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which
shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD,
keep not silence,
Then just like watchmen who keep their eyes on the
outside of the city walls to notice any enemy activity approaching the walls of
the city. If they spot any, they
are to sound the alarm. Just like
the watchmen who watch for the enemy, the body of Christ also has watchmen but
of a different kind. The LORD had
implanted spiritual gifts in each of the redeemed believers as we read in
Ephesians 4:11-14. These gifted
Saints are to be watchmen to prevent any false teachings or teachers from coming
into the church or even the body of Christ in general and they are to sound the
alarm against any and all false teachings no matter how insignificant the
teaching may seem. These watchmen
are never to hold their peace when they detect a false teaching or false teacher
who desires to present alternative understandings.
True believers are never to remain
silent when confronted with false teachings or teachers.
The bottom line is who cares if they are offended because they come to
you as missionaries with the agenda to change your beliefs from truth to the
counterfeit.
As we said before, so say I now again, If
any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:9)
Anyone who brings a different gospel is under the curse of God so why
would you tolerate someone who is cursed by God and allowing them to affect the
souls of your people?
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some,
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be
no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of
doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie
in wait to deceive; (Ephesians 4:11-14)
Isa 62:7
And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make
Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
Then the true Christian is to continue to pray and ask
the LORD to open up new fields for evangelism and to continue to forward the
gospel to all parts of the earth.
Giving him no rest means we are to continually call upon the LORD and never give
up even if he closes a door but opens another.
After they were come to Mysia,
they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. (Acts 16:7)
They were then dispatched to Troas.
Then the true believer is to continue to be involved with getting out the
gospel and to teach those who have become saved.
19 Go ye therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world.
Amen. (Matthew 28:19-20) This
was to be continually done until the body of Christ was completed and
established in the earth and they would be praise in the earth but that would be
the New Earth.
Isa 62:8
The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of
his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine
enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which
thou hast laboured:
Then the scene switches back to Judah where the LORD has
sworn by his right hand and the arm of his strength which refer to the same
thing. He does this to signify his
faithfulness in what he plans to do at this time.
He promises Judah that they will no longer be prey to any nation like
Babylon or Assyria where they came in and plundered their nation of not only
their physical wealth but also took their agricultural fields.
No more would they have to worry about their wealth being the meat or the
prey for the pagan nations and neither will they be taken over and the invaders
stay within their borders for such a long time that they would even have
children to continue the occupation.
The days of those threats are over since the LORD will destroy Babylon by
Cyrus. The LORD does this for the
sake of the Elect within Judah.
Isa 62:9
But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise
the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of
my holiness.
Then God further promises that those who were the ones
who planted and cared for the crops will be the ones who will benefit from the
final harvest and it will not be taken away from them.
Their crops which will be blessed by the LORD will be a cause for
rejoicing in their heart and the praise of God for bringing forth the harvest.
When thou hast eaten and art full,
then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given
thee. (Deuteronomy 8:10) Then
the people will be able to bring the tithes of all they harvest into the temple
of God for an offering of thanksgiving to him.
Isa 62:10
Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of
the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a
standard for the people.
Now the scene shifts back again to the coming of the
Messiah. Then the people of all
nations are to go through the gates of their nations and cities and are to
prepare the way of the people who will be coming into the kingdom of God.
The stones which are to be gathered out are the obstacles which may cause
people to stumble. They are to make
plain the roads which will not be hindrance to passengers or to carts which
could cause them to overturn. The
picture here is to make the road smooth for the people of God.
Then a standard is to be lifted up for the people to look to and that
standard is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the gate we walk through and is the
highway of holiness which we read in Isaiah 35:8.
Isa 62:11
Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the
world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his
reward is with him, and his work before him.
The LORD then makes a proclamation to the entire world
through the teachings of the Scriptures that they are to make known to the
daughter of Zion which is the chaste virgin we read about that their salvation
is coming very shortly. The reward
that he will give is everlasting life to his Elect.
The work that is before him is first his earthly ministry which led up to
the cross, resurrection and ascension.
Then what follows is the propagation of the true gospel throughout the
world to gather in the Elect which God named before the foundation of the world.
His work can be summed up in one word “redemption.”
Isa 62:12
And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed
of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.
Then those who become saved through the Lord Jesus Christ
will be called “holy people” because they will have the Holy Spirit indwelling
them.
But ye
are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth
the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light: (1 Peter 2:9) Peter
calls us a holy nation because we have the imputed holiness of Christ.
Then we are the redeemed of the LORD because we have been redeemed from
the kingdom of darkness and given everlasting life in Christ and now we are in
the kingdom of God.
These are they which were not defiled
with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb
whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men,
being the firstfruits unto God
and to the Lamb. (Revelation 14:4)
Revelation 14 calls the completed body of Christ the 144,000 which has
nothing to do with Jewish evangelism or the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Then since there is none that seeks after God, it is he
who is the one who seeks out his own sheep.
As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock in the day that he is among his sheep
that are scattered; so will I
seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been
scattered in the cloudy and dark day. (Ezekiel 34:12)
We are sought out by God because he is the one who named all the Elect
and is the one who grants salvation to them by giving them to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Then we are referred to as
a city not forsaken. We are called
the New Jerusalem which is the very city that Abraham looked for.
9 By faith he sojourned in the land of
promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and
Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a
city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews
11:9-10)
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and
foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom
all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God
through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-
22)