A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 58: Promises of Comfort

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 58: Promises of Comfort

The first portion of our discussion of Isaiah chapter 54 had primarily focused on the promise to the children of Israel which is made here in verse 3, that they would “... break forth on the right hand and on the left”, where we had spoken about the expansion of their οἰκουμένη or dwelling space, and “thy seed shall inherit the [Nations], and make the desolate cities to be inhabited,” where we hope to have explained how the Adamic nations of Genesis chapter 10, at least those which had survived to this point in history, would ultimately be dominated and subsumed by the many nations which had been promised to come of the children of Israel. By the time of Christ, there were scarcely any of the original nations of Genesis chapter 10 which remained in any recognizable form, even if there were pockets of people who had retained their original names. The people who ruled the world at the time of His ministry, chiefly the Romans, Parthians, Phoenicians and Scythians, which would include both Gauls and Germans, had mainly descended from the children of Israel, and they were unheard of at the time when Yahweh had made promises and covenants for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Parthians and Scythians, Germans and Gauls were still unheard of when Isaiah had first begun to write his book of prophecy, before 743 BC. 

As a digression, over the course of our studies these past 25 or so years, many friends have asked questions concerning the fate of those other Adamic nations, imagining them to still be with us today, and ostensibly many of them are, in one way or another but not by their original names. Many of their descendants may be among people of European descent, but it does not really matter, and this is why it does not matter: because Abraham was promised to be The Heir of the World, as Paul of Tarsus had described him in Romans chapter 4, and those words must have been at least partly inspired by this promise here in Isaiah, that Israel would “inherit the nations”. Nations are people groups, and not geographical entities. The desolate cities may have been considered desolate by Yahweh simply because they had not His law, living in the decadence which may justly be associated with varieties of ancient paganism. For this reason we read in verse 5 of the chapter, in reference to Yahweh: “The God of the whole earth shall he be called”, because Abraham is the heir of the world and Israel will inhabit the whole earth. In the Christian era, for better or worse, for right or wrong, all European nations ultimately accepted Christianity, and Yahweh certainly is considered the “God of the whole earth”. Of course, the unfortunate aspect of that is that the goats are often led to believe that they can somehow become sheep, but Christ had also warned that the wheat and the tares must coexist until the time of the end, and Isaiah will warn of that same thing here in chapter 56 of his prophecy, but in a somewhat different manner.

These promises had immediately followed the prophecy of The Suffering Servant, a figure whom we must identify as Yahshua Christ, as the apostles of Christ had also done, and here in Isaiah the Suffering Servant it also associated with prophecies of the Gospel. There is no break in context where the children of Israel in captivity are told to “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear” and “stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations” here in the opening verses of this chapter. This must be a reference to them, as they are told that “shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more” and then they are assured that “thy Maker is thine husband”, so this is also a promise of the reconciliation which is offered in Christ. Then, since a thousand years is as one day in the eyes of God, as the apostle Peter had attested in his second epistle, we left off in this chapter where we read:

7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

Here we cannot help but to remark on the exclusivity of these words. All of the Messianic prophecies and promises found throughout the Old Testament are made for the exclusive benefit of one people: the children of Abraham through Jacob Israel. It is the stated intent of Yahweh God to gather them in Christ, and no one else is called, named, invited, or predestinated by Him. Only the children of Israel had promises to be justified and glorified by Him. These promises in Isaiah are how we must interpret the words of Paul of Tarsus, where he wrote in Romans chapter 8:

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Here in Isaiah, the purpose of Yahweh God in Christ is fully and explicitly explained, and we cannot imagine that He shall abandon it in favor of the whimsical dogmas of some medieval bishop or modern pastor. While the wider Adamic race has a common heritage and is of like creation, having the Spirit of God that was instilled in Adam, they are a peripheral issue. Their fate is illustrated in the promises to Adam in the hope of eternal life in Genesis chapter 3, and expressed in Peter’s illustration of Christ having preached the Gospel even to those of the children of Adam who had died in the flood of Noah, in 1 Peter chapters 3 and 4. But anyone who does not share this common heritage in the Genesis 10 nations is excluded, as Christ had explained, it was the devil who sowed tares among the wheat from the beginning. The devil is still sowing those tares.

Now, speaking of those Genesis 10 nations, as we proceed with Isaiah chapter 54, there is another promise of comfort for Israel in captivity:

9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 

This promise to Noah is found in Genesis chapter 9:

11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Of course, this is not an assurance that there would not be floods, but only that the entire land would not be destroyed in a flood, along with all of its inhabitants, on account of the wrath of Yahweh. It is that which had happened in the waters of Noah, wherein the entirety of the descendants of Adam had perished with the exception of Noah and his family. Otherwise, living in places which are prone to seasonal or occasional flooding, such as river valleys, shorelines or swamps, one should expect to suffer from floods. So here Israel is only promised that they would not all perish in this manner, as it was in the days of Noah.

10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. 

In prophecy, mountains and hills are sometimes allegories for large and small nations. This certainly seems to be the case in Isaiah chapter 42 where we read:

14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. 15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.

Of course, Yahweh God would not execute His wrath upon literal mountains, hills, and herbs, except that they are metaphors for large and small nations and the individual men of which those nations consist. So where the Word of Yahweh continues in that chapter we read:

16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.

Of course, the blind of that passage are the children of Israel in captivity, and then here there is an assurance that “my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee”, and the subject is also the children of Israel in captivity. Although large and small nations may be pushed aside, or even destroyed, Yahweh shall nevertheless have mercy on Israel.

This message of comfort does not mean that there will not be challenges, or even wars. The children of Israel in captivity may have these assurances, but they are also still under the warning which is first apparent in Leviticus chapter 26, where in the event that they are disobedient, we read:

18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

Then, a little further on in that chapter:

23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; 24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

In our last discussion of the first portion of this chapter, we equated the mercy promised here in verse 8 to the mercy that Israel is promised in the wilderness in Jeremiah chapter 31, and the prophecy of the nourishing of Israel in the wilderness with the Gospel of Christ, in Revelation chapter 12. But during this same time, other things were also promised, such as we read in Amos chapter 9. Amos was a prophet contemporary to the earlier years of Isaiah, so Israel was not in captivity quite yet, although it was at the doorstep:

8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. 9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. 11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old.

Then also in Ezekiel chapter 20, where there is another reference to Israel in the wilderness:

35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. 36 Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD. 37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: 38 And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Therefore we must conclude that ostensibly, these promises of comfort here in Isaiah are not for the rebels, but for the obedient, as we had read in verse 6 of this chapter:

6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.

These promises of comfort are for those who answer that call, not for the rebels who would disregard the call. Now here, before the end of the chapter, it is explicit that this comfort and the peace offered here are for those in captivity who “shall be taught of Yahweh”, as we read in verse 13. But first there are words which evoke another vision from the Revelation:

11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. 12 And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. 

In Revelation chapter 21, in the description of the City of God, the New Jerusalem descended from Heaven, we read:

19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

The precious stones making up the foundations of the wall of the City of God are certainly one and the same as the “borders of pleasant stones” promised here in Isaiah. So while it may be envisioning cities of Israel in their more immediate future, this also seem to be a far-vision prophecy, especially since the children of Israel must fulfill what was written of their punishment, which are the seven times, and then the time of Jacob’s trouble, when, according to Revelation chapter 20, Satan is released from the pit for a “little season”, something which we also see in Jeremiah chapter 30:

4 And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. 5 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. 6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? 7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. 8 For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: 9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. 10 Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.

It is evident that during this time of trouble, strangers had indeed served themselves of Jacob, the end of which we read in another prophecy, in Obadiah:

15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. 16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain [the body of the children of Israel], so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. 17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. 18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.

When Jeremiah wrote, most of Israel and Judah were in Assyrian captivity. When Obadiah wrote, the remnant of Jerusalem was already in Babylonian captivity. In Revelation chapter 12, the Edomite king Herod is identified with Satan and the Dragon. Throughout the Gospel of Christ, His enemies are frequently identified as a race of serpents, and it is manifest in Romans chapter 9 and elsewhere that they were also chiefly Edomites. This was first prophesied by Isaac himself, in Genesis chapter 27, where he spoke to his son Esau. While Rebekah had Jacob deceive Isaac and give his blessing to Jacob, Isaac later saw that she was justified, on account of Esau’s having race-mixed with the Hittites, who had themselves been race-mixing with Kenites, the Rephaim and others. When Esau saw that, he himself had begged Isaac for a blessing, and we read:

39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; 40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

Now we are in that very time, which is also the time of Jacob’s trouble, where Satan, a word which means adversary and which is primarily represented in the world today by the Edomite Judaeans who are in large part now known collectively as Jewry, has indeed ascended from the pit to become citizens with rights equal to Christians in all Christian nations, and has exploited that position to gain hegemony, to dominate Christians, and to gather all the world’s other nations against the Camp of the Saints. The saints are the Christian nations of the world, for which Obadiah condemns those alien nations which “have drunk upon my holy mountain” which ultimately “shall be as though they had not been.” So going back to the passage of Jeremiah chapter 30 and the time of Jacob’s trouble, where we left off in verse 10, in the very next verse we read:

11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.

Purging out the rebels from among the children of Israel, sifting them as grain is sifted in a sieve, only then we shall truly see the day spoken of here in Isaiah 54:13:

13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. 

Christ Himself had professed to be the point to which the children of Israel would be gathered again to God, and also to be the fulfillment of this prophecy here in Isaiah, where we read in John chapter 6, in the midst of His discourse on the Bread of Life:

44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. 46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

So what we have tried to explain here, is that in the midst of these promises of comfort, there are also consequences for their past sins which the children of Israel must also suffer, and the Word of God had also foreseen and provided descriptions of those consequences. For all of the Word of God to be fulfilled, all of the words of the prophets shall indeed come to pass, the punishments as well as the promises of reconciliation and comfort. In that manner, the children of Israel shall be taught of Yahweh not only with His Gospel, but also in their experience of suffering from the consequences of their sins. This learning process is experienced on both personal and national levels. In Hebrews chapter 12, Paul of Tarsus spoke of the process on both levels and said:

6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement [meaning that you are not corrected], whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

So we should note that the promises of comfort offered here are for the obedient, and not for the rebels, and sometimes the obedient will benefit from them, but in the end, as we read in Isaiah chapter 45, “every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” unto God, even the rebels, and only then shall we have national redemption, wherein “all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.” So on account of that, as we proceed with Isaiah chapter 54:

14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. 

This too is a far-vision promise, as the children of Israel had told that they would be punished for seven times. Half of that period of punishment, or three-and-a-half times, is made evident in a prophecy of Daniel, in Daniel chapter 7, where in relation to the saints of the Most High, or Ancient of Days, titles referring to Yahweh Himself, we read in part:

24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

Those words were spoken in relation to a ruler who would arise out of an earlier series of world empires, which had also ruled over the children of Israel in captivity, where we read earlier in that chapter, in a passage which also relates to Daniel chapter 2:

17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. 18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

Daniel did not give a duration for these first kings, or empires, but only for the little horn which would spring up after them. These empires were described as a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a fourth, unnamed beast which was even more dreadful and terrible than the first three. Comparing the vision of two beasts in Revelation chapter 13, it is evident that these same empires are described as the beast with seven heads and ten horns in the first portion of that chapter. Then in the second portion there is a ruler which grows out of the head of the first beast, which must be the same ruler that comes from a horn following the series of beasts in Daniel chapter 7. While Daniel told us that later ruler would have power for “a time and times and the dividing of time”, in relation to the first beast in Revelation chapter 13 we read: “and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”

In prophecy, a day is often representative of a year, which is evident in places such as Numbers chapter 14 (14:34) and Ezekiel chapter 4 (4:4-6). So if a prophetic time is a year of years, which may be deduced by comparing Daniel and the Revelation, then three-and-a-half times is equal to 42 months, which is 1,260 days, or three-and-a-half years. The first beast of Revelation was described as ruling for 1,260 years, and that same figure is evident in the three-and-a-half times of Daniel in relation to the second beast of that chapter of the Revelation. Together, these periods amount to the seven times in which the children of Israel would be punished, until the “time of Jacob’s trouble” when Satan is let out of the pit, which is when Esau breaks the yoke of Jacob and gains dominion over him, as prophesied by Isaac in Genesis chapter 27. In our commentary on the Revelation we hope to have manifested this in a much more thorough discussion, but we are compelled to summarize it here, because it all leads up to the same scenario which is prophesied in Revelation chapter 20 of the The Camp of the Saints, where Satan gathers all of the nations from the four corners of the earth for battle against the children of Israel, who are the saints.

That is how we must interpret the last portion of this chapter of Isaiah:

15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. 

The Septuagint has this verse to read something which is quite contrary to this statement, and with the context of this last part of the chapter. So as Brenton had translated it we read: “Behold, strangers shall come to thee by me, and shall sojourn with thee, and shall run to thee for refuge.” While no portion of this verse survived in the fragments of the Hexapla of Origen, the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible translates the Hebrew of this verse quite differently, although some of the differences are accounted for in variant readings, where it has “See, if anyone does attack you, it will not be from me; whoever will attack you, they will fall because of you.” Aside from the peculiar translation, this generally agrees with the King James Version. The translation in the New American Standard Bible is quite similar to that of the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible. But while we prefer the rendering in the King James Version for other reasons, it does downplay the meaning of words which mean gather to quarrel, or as it is in these other versions, attack.

Where we read “they shall surely gather together” or attack, the last entity mentioned here which may be opposed to the children of Israel are the mountains and hills, or large and small nations, which are removed from the children of Israel, which had been described in verse 10 of this chapter. They must be represented by the pronoun here. We have already read of the time of Jacob’s trouble from Jeremiah chapter 30, verses 4 through 10. In verse 10 Jacob was told not to fear, and then in the very next verse of Jeremiah, we read another promise of comfort:

11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.

Revelation chapter 20 has long confused many people, on account of the fact that the first sentence in verse 5 is an interpolation, and without the added clause, we would read the second sentence to say “This is the first restoration”, and that is the entire verse. The first restoration is the period of the thousand years wherein “them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God … lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years”, which we read in verse 4 of the chapter. This describes the fact that once Europe accepted Christianity, the sacrifices on account of the Gospel of Christ which had been made by all the early Christian martyrs had bore fruit, and they were indeed venerated and reigned with Christ throughout the entire medieval period.

However now, in our post-modern world, Esau, which is world Jewry, has gained the dominion, and being in the Time of Jacob’s trouble, further on in Revelation chapter 20 we read:

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

These are the hills and mountains of which Isaiah had prophesied would be gathered against the children of Israel in captivity here in this chapter. But on account of the fact that the rebels in Israel must be purged, and the nation of Israel must be punished seven times for its sins, a period which had just begun at the time when Isaiah had written these words, we read:

16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 

There is a similar message in Isaiah chapter 45 where we read:

4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. 5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. 7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Presenting that passage earlier in this commentary, we explained that there are different types of evil. Yahweh does not create the evil that opposes Him, but He creates what is evil in the eyes of men, to punish them for their sins. Even in this time of Jacob’s trouble, if the children of Israel had not sinned, they would not have been punished, and even today Christendom would not be swamped with beasts feeding upon the mountains of Israel, which is the Holy Mountain of God as well as the Camp of the Saints.

So in the final verse of this chapter, there is another promise of comfort:

17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD. 

Likewise, as the Camp of the Saints is trodden by Satan and the nations gathered form the four corners of the earth, we read in the very next verse of Revelation chapter 20:

9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

So according to Jeremiah chapter 30, Yahweh will make a full end of all of the nations wherein Israel had been scattered, and here in Isaiah, every tongue which speaks against the true children of Israel shall ultimately be condemned, where in Revelation chapter 20 as well as in Obadiah and elsewhere, all those nations which had come against the children of Israel shall ultimately be destroyed, along with Satan, the adversary of Christ, a role which for the last two thousand years has been assumed by world Jewry, although the Edomites and their own ancestors had existed under other names for many thousands of years before they became so-called Jews.

True Christians, who are properly what we would call White today, as no one else should even be called a Christian, shall only have salvation in Yahshua Christ their God. The truth of prophesy is in history, and the truth of God is in the accuracy of His prophecy, that He foretold of many of the events which are manifest in history, long before they had actually come to pass. So once one comprehends that, one must also arrive at the understanding that there is no other path which Christians, or White Europeans in general, can possibly take whereby they may still prosper. Departing from Christ, one is a rebel to be purged. Keeping His commandments, which are not burdensome, one may hope not to be punished with the rebels. Ultimately there will be national salvation, and there is no other way to achieve it. Thus we read, in the 118th Psalm:

4 Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 5 I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place. 6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? 7 The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. 8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. 9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.

10 All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them. 11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 12 They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me. 14 The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.

Now we shall commence with Isaiah chapter 55, and once again, the chapter break is unfortunate, because the same vision continues and the prophet records even more promises of comfort for the children of Israel:

1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 

We have already seen a promise in Isaiah chapter 44 which reads:

3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: 4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.

Now him that it thirsty is encouraged to come to that water, which is evidently also the water of which Christ had spoken in John chapter 4, where He had spoken to a woman drawing water from a well and we read:

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

When the woman asked for the water of which He had spoken, He commanded that she fetch her husband, and after some conversation, she went into her village and returned with the townspeople, with whom He remained for two days, preaching to them the Gospel. That is the water, and also the milk and the honey which we see described here in Isaiah, which may be bought without money.

Likewise, Christ is the Bread of Life:

2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 

Not everyone can hear the Word of God and understand. As Christ had told His adversaries, in John chapter 10, “26 … ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep….” To hearken is not merely to hear or to listen, but to give attention to something, to hear with understanding or comprehension. The Hebrew word שׁמע or shama (# 8085) is hear, and the Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew lexicon includes obedience, “hear with attention, interest, listen to” and understand in its definitions of the word. [1] Here in the Hebrew of this verse the word appears twice consecutively, which exacerbates the gravity of the call to listen, for which reason the King James Version has “hearken diligently”. 

A similar analogy to bread here is made of gold in Revelation chapter 3:

18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Understanding the Word of Yahweh God, one’s eyes are opened from the blindness with which the children of Israel had been stricken in the time of their punishment. One should also them seek to keep the commandments, something which Christ Himself had required of His disciples. His Word is the bread here in Isaiah, as well as the gold in Revelation chapter 3.

Thus we read in John chapter 6:

33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Then a little further on in that chapter:

51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

But aside from the response of the Judaeans recorded in that same place, which is also the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, that men must literally eat the flesh of Christ, the flesh which He gave was His sacrifice on the cross for the redemption of the sins of Israel. So eating His flesh is to understand His Gospel, and how and why He had died for the sins of the people. Hearing that, men should depart from those sins and repent, and return to Yahweh their God in Christ. So that is the manner in which this Bread is next described here in Isaiah:

3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 

Men are promised life in obedience, and there is death in sin, something which is exhibited in Moses, in Leviticus chapter 18:

4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God. 5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.

And then in the epistle of James, in the opening chapter:

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

The word translated as sure here is a verb, אמן or amen (# 539), and can mean to support or confirm, among other similar uses. As an adjective it can mean faithful, true or sure. The word amen as it appears in English Bibles is also from this same word (# 543), which, because it is often a response to an oracle or a prayer, we would prefer to translate as an exclamation, truly! The Hebrew word for mercy here is חסד or chesed (2617), which, as we had discussed at length in relation to Isaiah 54:8 in our last presentation, may also mean kindness, among other things.

As it is recorded in Acts chapter 13, Paul of Tarsus had recounted a summary history of the promises of salvation to the children of Israel, and proclaimed that salvation in an address to the men of a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, that it was fulfilled in Christ, and after describing the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ, he said in part:

33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. 34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.

Many commentators seem to interpret the “sure mercies of David” to be the promises made to David that his seed would rule over Israel forever, which are first found in 2 Samuel chapter 7. But we would rather interpret the “sure mercies” of David as Paul had had, as the collection of promises of mercy and salvation which David had recorded throughout the Psalms. The Hebrew word chesed appears at least a hundred and twenty-eight times in the Psalms, so I cannot go through them all. 

So in my opinion, this sure mercy is described in the 103rd Psalm:

17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; 18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. 19 The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.

Then in the 118th Psalm, which we have already cited here earlier, mercy which endures forever is also sure mercy, and that is the mercy by which David expressed confidence that he would destroy his enemies:

1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. 2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 4 Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

But in the 119th Psalm it is also evident that mercy is for the obedient, and those who have mercy should be called to hear and understand the Word of God, as we have just seen here in Isaiah:

124 Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes. 125 I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.

While Paul had cited the 16gth Psalm where we read “ neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption”, all of these psalms and more are relevant to the “sure mercies of David”, the promises of mercy and salvation prophesied by David.

Now, where here in Isaiah the prophet continues to speak of David:

4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. 

David was indeed a commander, and in both his Psalms and the events of his life, he was a witness to the people. In Acts chapter 2, it is recorded that the apostle Peter had esteemed David as a prophet (2:29-30). Yet David was also a prophetic type for the future Messiah, which is evident in Ezekiel chapter 34, where Yahweh had promised to seek out His sheep and feed them Himself, and we read:

23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. 24 And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.

Likewise, in Ezekiel chapter 37 we read: “David my servant shall be king over them” (37:24) and “my servant David shall be their prince for ever ” (37:25). But much earlier, we read in Hosea chapter 3:

4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: 5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

In all of these instances, David is a prophetic type for Yahshua Christ, since in spite of the promises to David, only Yahweh God Himself may justly rule Israel, so we read in Hosea chapter 13:

9 O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. 10 I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? 11 I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

So we must bear in mind, that while David was a witness and commander to the people, here the Suffering Servant is also a witness and commander to the people, being Christ Himself, for whom David had merely served as a type.

5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee. 

We have already cited Isaiah chapter 45 where Yahweh had told the children of Israel that He had named them “though thou hast not known me” and that He had girded them “though thou hast not known me”. In the time of their captivity, they had been apostates and pagans, and they did not know Yahweh, not had Yahweh acknowledged them.

The first clause of verse 5 is difficult, but the verb for call is in the 2nd person singular, you shall call, so the clause seems to be an address to the leader and commander of the people, to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah chapter 53, in whom these promises of comfort are realized. Likewise, the pronoun also refers to Him, in the phrases “knew not thee” and “run unto thee”, as well as “glorified thee”.

Since in the time of their captivity, the children of Israel were estranged from Yahweh their God, and they did not know Him, and were accounted bu Him as strangers, once they received the Gospel of Christ and heard His call, they ran to Him, because Yahweh God had glorified Him. So we read, for example, in John chapter 12:

23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Then in chapter 13:

31 Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.

Then in Acts chapter 3, in words attributed to Peter:

13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

As for the nations, those who are gathered to Him are those whom He had called, and in Mark chapter 13 we read:

26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

In chapter 11 of his Gospel, the apostle John wrote in reference to the purpose of Christ, that He would die for the nation, referring to the people of Israel in Judaea:

52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

That must be Israel in captivity, and nobody else. In Isaiah chapter 56, it shall be more explicit, that Yahweh intends to gather the outcasts of Israel, and no others.

While this clause must have addressed the leader and commander of the people, who is the promised Suffering Servant, now once again it seems to address the people themselves:

6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 

As we have already said, the promises of comfort are for the obedient in Israel, and not for the rebels, among whom we must count all those who sin purposely. While sinning inadvertently or involuntarily is a transgression, purposely sinning is an act of rebellion, and Yahweh had avowed to purge out the rebels, in Ezekiel chapter 20 (20:38). Perhaps, while sifting Israel as grain, not all of those in Israel were truly Israel, since they had been mingling with the Canaanites, but not the least grain would fall upon the ground.

But it is in reference to mercy and abundant pardons for those who return to Yahweh that He next states here in Isaiah:

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

In spite of the fact that we read in Isaiah chapter 45 that “17 Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation…” and “25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory”, there are actually Christians who steadfastly refuse to believe that this means that all of Israel shall be saved. In spite of the fact that we read in Jeremiah chapter 33 that “ 8 … I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me”, there are actually Christians who steadfastly refuse to believe that this means that all of the iniquities of the children of Israel shall be cleansed and pardoned.

These people may be likened to the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son, who did not understand how his father could forgive his younger brother, who had squandered his share of the inheritance, when he repented and returned to beg his father for mercy. The older brother would have rather seen his brother cast out and rejected for his transgressions, rather than showing him kindness and accepting the mercy offered him by his father. He even seems to have been jealous of his father’s joy for his returning brother. So the father replied to him, as it is recorded in Luke chapter 15:

31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

So the older son was rebuked, and told that it was more fitting for him to have rejoiced, rather than to have been filled with envy. Having this example from Christ Himself, we should not want to be found in the position of the envious brother when Christ pardons all of the sins of our brethren. Yahweh had said that “… all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory”, and those words are certainly among the words to which he refers in the next verses of Isaiah chapter 55:

10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 

So the fulfillments of all of the promises and prophecies found in the Word of Yahweh are as sure as the results of natural phenomena. Therefore it is folly to dispute His Word and the promises and covenants which He had made.

On account of those promises, provided that we are not rebels:

12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. 

If the sign is not cut off, then that is a further assurance, that the people themselves are not cut off. In Isaiah chapter 5, for the rebellion of Israel and Judah Yahweh had avowed that He would destroy His vineyard, and we read in part:

6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

Then in Isaiah chapter 7:

23 And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns. 24 With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns. 25 And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

Notice in verse 24 of that passage, it is evident that the briers and thorns are actually allegories for people, for undesirable and hostile people, because men will need arrows and bows to defend themselves. It they were literal briers and thorns, men may only need saws and scythes. Likewise, where Christ had spoken in Luke chapter 6, He is also using such plants as allegories for undesirable people:

43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

Here, the children of Israel being obedient, and hearkening to the Word of Yahweh, they have a promise of comfort in that there shall not any longer be any briers or thorns.

Here we have concluded our commentary on Isaiah through chapter 55.

 

Footnotes

1 The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Hendrickson Publishers, 2021, p. 1033.