A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 65: Called by a New Name

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 65: Called by a New Name

In Isaiah chapter 56 Yahweh had promised to gather the outcasts of Israel, and in chapter 57 His Word avowed that there shall be no peace for the wicked, for His enemies, even if in this age the righteous may suffer on their account. Then in Isaiah chapter 58, the sins for which the children of Israel had been sent into captivity are described, as they had defiled their fasts and their sabbaths by oppressing the weak and disadvantaged of their own people, and having neglected their own flesh they only fasted and used their sabbaths for their own individual self-righteousness. However there they are told how it is that they may repair the breach which such conduct had caused between themselves and Yahweh their God, and in chapter 59 they are reminded again of their more general iniquities, which separated them from their God, the breach of the previous chapter. But there, as they are portrayed, it is only once they realize they cannot save themselves, and turn to their God, that they are promised by Yahweh that He Himself would save them, bringing the destruction of His enemies along with salvation “unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob”. So the promises which are in Christ are echoed in the final verse of that chapter, where we read:

21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.  

In Isaiah chapter 60, there are premonitions of the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, and finally, we left off at the end of chapter 61, where there is a prophecy of “the acceptable year of Yahweh” which Christ Himself had professed as having come to proclaim, as it is recorded in Luke chapter 4. Now here we have given this synopsis, because there is a lesson in the order of subjects in these chapters. We could have begun at Isaiah chapter 41. Salvation is for all of Israel, because in Isaiah chapter 45, there are promises that ultimately, all of Israel shall turn away from transgression, and all of Israel shall be saved with an everlasting salvation.

So, once the children of Israel turn from transgression and the breach between them and their God is repaired, here in Isaiah chapter 62 they are portrayed as being righteous, by which the other nations and races shall no longer consume their goods, and they shall be at peace in their own land. So as I hope to have explained in our discussion of Isaiah chapter 61, that is the acceptable year of Yahweh, and now, this chapter 62 of Isaiah describes the results of that year, when it comes, and it is no coincidence that immediately after this chapter, Yahweh has His day of vengeance upon Edom, in Isaiah chapter 63. So the enemies of Yahweh are destroyed once the children of Israel turn to obedience to God in Yahshua Christ, and not until then. That is precisely why Paul of Tarsus had written, in the closing verses of Philippians chapter 1, advising his readers to:

27 Only let your conversation [or conduct] be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 28 And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.

Faithful Christians, who are not tempted by sin, strike fear in the hearts of the enemies of their God. So the enemies of Yahweh need to tempt Christians into disobedience, because somehow they know deep inside that Christian obedience is a sign of their own impending destruction. This was the plan of the serpent in the garden, it was the motivation for the counsel of Balaam for Balak the king of Moab, and it is a phenomenon which manifests itself to this very day. Throughout the historical books of the Old Testament, and especially Joshua and Judges, when the children of Israel sinned, they were oppressed by their enemies. When they turned to obedience, they were delivered and even exalted above their enemies. Likewise today, so long as Christians are disobedient, they shall be ruled over and oppressed by Satan, which is a collective term for jews and all the other races. For that same reason, Paul advised the Corinthians, in chapter 10 of his second epistle:

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

There is no relief from our current woes, until we turn to obedience in Christ, which includes a recognition that only Christ Himself may rule over us. Here in Isaiah there are clear promises that those who turn from transgression in Jacob shall once again be exalted. But one of the truly national sins of the ancient children of Israel was to demand an earthly king. First, in Judges chapter 8 we read where the men of Israel had been rebuked by Gideon:

22 Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. 23 And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you.

This trend must have become a pattern, and in 1 Samuel chapter 7, the people demanded of Samuel that he make them an earthly king, which caused Samuel to lament. But upon their having done so, Yahweh reassured Samuel and declared that they rejected Him as King. So three hundred years later, as the kingdom had consistently failed, in Hosea chapter 13 the Word of Yahweh attested that:

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? [i.e. Gideon and Samuel] 11 I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

But then in Zechariah chapter 9, in a Messianic prophecy fulfilled in Christ, we read:

9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

Where Yahweh had told Israel that “I will be thy king”, the promise is fulfilled in Yahshua Christ, who is Yahweh God Incarnate, and Christians should not look unto earthly leaders or rulers for salvation, because salvation is never going to come from them. They will only be punished more harshly for continuing to look for deliverance from men, which is also a form of idolatry. So what is the primary lesson which we should get from this? The “acceptable year of Yahweh” is not some date on the calendars of men. Yahshua Christ never declared a date on a calendar, or some specific number of years, but rather, He told His disciples that it is not for them to know the times or the seasons, in Acts chapter 1, and in reference to the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Rather, the acceptable year is the year in which the children of Israel finally cry out to their God for mercy and repentance, realize that only He can save them, and once they receive repentance, that is when He has promised to exact vengeance upon His enemies, which is also the pattern here in the narrative of these chapters in Isaiah, once the breach is repaired.

However we cannot repair the breach merely by going to some church, or reading the Bible, or keeping ourselves from our own sin. As the apostle Paul had said, in the closing verses of 2 Timothy chapter 3:

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

So the learning of the Scriptures and the rejection of sin is not the end of our chores, but the beginning, because we repair the breach between us and our God by fulfilling those good works which the Law and the Gospel demand, and James also agreed in chapter 2 of his epistle, where he wrote:

14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

It is fully evident, that both Paul and James had taught that the end purpose of the Christian faith is to fulfill these same works that repair the breach between Israel and God, which is to love and care for one’s brethren, for the people of one’s own kindred. Loving the aliens outside of one’s kindred is equal to cheating and depriving one’s own people. John had also taught this, by another means, where he explained that love is fulfilling the law, and that law also demands that we love our neighbor, which in that same law is defined as one’s own kinsmen, or flesh, as it is here in Isaiah chapter 58 where we read, in reference to the true reasons for fasts and sabbaths:

7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

Then the law in Leviticus chapter 19, the law which Christ Himself had identified as the second greatest commandment, reads:

17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. 18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

There, neighbour is clearly defined as one of the children of one’s own people. And now the obligation to do that leads us to another necessary digression...

For that purpose, that Christians should focus on love for one another, for those of their own kindred and community, the concept of personal salvation which predominates the teachings of the modern denominational churches is absolutely antithetical. There is a significant difference in the psychology of the attitudes of a Christian who is taught to care for his personal salvation, and those of a Christian who dedicates himself to the salvation which is of God, who seeks to repair the breach. Even in these chapters of Isaiah, the Scripture explicitly teaches men that they cannot save themselves, they cannot deliver themselves from their enemies, and that only Yahweh their God can save them. That same God has promised, in Isaiah chapter 45, to save all the seed of Israel with an everlasting salvation.

So for that, I will present an elaboration of opening comments which I have excerpted from a sermon I had presented at the Fellowship of God’s Covenant People in June of 2015 titled Unity and Divisions:

One of the biggest challenges which I have faced in my work is getting people to actually believe that all Israel (true Israel being our White Christian nations) shall be saved – in spite of the fact that Paul of Tarsus stated as much explicitly in his epistle to the Romans, and in spite of the fact that the prophets of Yahweh our God also stated as much. All Christians for nearly two thousand years have suffered from a burden of doubt that was not taught by the original apostles, and that was not taught by the prophets of God. Peter said “you are a chosen race”, and not “you are a race that might be chosen”, or “you are a race from among whom the chosen are selected”.

Christians are raised wondering whether they will be accepted by God at the end of their lives. With this, perpetual doubt is sown which causes men to turn away from the interests of their community and their kindred, in favor of their own interests whereby they pursue the materialistic desires of the flesh. When they face difficult times they feel abandoned by God, and because they have doubt it is just as easy for them to abandon God. By abandoning God, they are of no use to their communities and instead they work against the interest of their kinsmen because they seek to fulfill their own material needs at the expense of the needs of the community.

But what if there was no reason to doubt? What if we were all absolutely certain of our standing with our God? What if we knew without doubt that Salvation is promised not only to all of Israel, but even to our entire Adamic race, without exception, and that no other race has ever had such a promise? We are already chosen, and we are already predestined to have a portion in the glory of our God. This is what the Bible teaches, as Paul of Tarsus professes in 1 Corinthians chapter 15: “22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”

Without that lingering doubt as to whether or not we have a future of life with our brethren, we should want all the more to serve one another earnestly. Each and every one of us, knowing with absolute certainty that we are going to spend eternity with one another, would seek to please our brethren rather than ourselves, we would not have to worry about our own needs or our own destiny, and we would never want to offend one another because we would know that we would have to live with that forever. That is also why it is so important to be repentant and forgiving towards one another.

Even when the denominational Christians do good for one another, they do so in the hopes of being accepted and saved, as if they could earn it, so that is their hidden motivation – whether they are conscious of that or not. But even worse, they also perform rituals throughout their entire lives, such as altar calls or baptism ceremonies, hoping to have assured their own salvation by those, or that some priest or pastor could assure it for them, which is also idolatry. However once a Christian realizes that he has salvation as a matter of the promises which Yahweh God had made to the fathers, something to which he had been predestined even long before he was born, then he needn’t perform rituals, and he needn’t worry about himself at all. In that manner, he can then serve his brethren selflessly and without fearing for his own salvation. Yahweh did not say that “some of the seed of Israel shall be saved”, and Paul did not explain that “in Christ shall some be made alive.” One is either a sheep or a goat, and cannot choose which of those he may be by his own volition. The pot cannot say to the potter “Why did you make me this way?’ the sheep are in the hand of Christ, and no man can pluck them out of His hand. That means that a man, by his own actions, cannot even pluck himself out of His hand.

In the closing verses of Isaiah chapter 61, we read in part where Israel is portrayed as having said: “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation…” and then declares that “… Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” That is how the chapter had ended, but once again, there is no break in the context where this chapter begins. So with this, we shall commence with Isaiah chapter 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.

We have already seen here in Isaiah that Zion is an allegory for the collective children of Israel, and so is Jerusalem. This is rather explicit in Isaiah chapter 60, where we read:

14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

Then we see this repeated at the end of this chapter, where we read:

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.

In 1 Kings chapter 14 (14:21), upon the death of Solomon and the succession of Rehoboam, we read in part where it describes Jerusalem as “the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there.” But much later, in 2 Kings chapter 12 we read:

27 And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

So the Jerusalem of Yahweh in the words of His prophets is not always the old Jerusalem in Palestine, and here and elsewhere it is instead descriptive of the people of God, the children of Israel, wherever they so happen to be. In Christ, the children of Israel, they are the new Jerusalem descended from heaven, which is described in the final chapters of His Revelation.

Since the prophetic Jerusalem is a new and different Jerusalem, it is appropriate that it would also have a new and different name, so in this age we cannot expect the people of Yahweh to be called by the names or Israel, Zion, or Jerusalem:

2 And the [Nations] 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.

This new name could only be that of Christian. In the course of His ministry, Yahshua Christ had revealed His identity as the Christ to His disciples on several occasions, so it is evident that He had indeed uttered the name, Christ, and He also claimed it for Himself. The apostle Matthew referred to “Jesus, who is called Christ” in the genealogy of Christ in the opening chapter of his Gospel. Then later, when Peter declared to Him the understanding that He is the Christ, Matthew records Christ as having admonished His apostles:

20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

Then in Matthew chapter 23, He admonished them in other ways where He used Christ as a name for Himself and said:

8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

These are just a few of the examples where Yahshua Christ or the apostles had described Him as having been called the Christ, and He Himself as having used the term in reference to Himself. Then, with Christ having become His Name, as Matthew had stated, in other examples we read the following, beginning in Matthew chapter 18:

5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me…. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Then in Matthew chapter 24, where it is evident that He had foreseen people using the Name of Christ to refer to Himself:

5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Then in Mark chapter 9, there is a more significant statement:

41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

This is an important passage which helps us identify this name of Isaiah chapter 62 with the word Christian, which is Χριστιανός in Koine Greek. The Greek word Χριστός is Christ, capitalized as a proper name, and Χριστιανός in Greek literally means of Christ or belonging to Christ, so the apostles were not innovating where Luke had written in Acts chapter 11 that “… the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

The name of Athens, in Koine Greek letters, is Ἀθῆναι and an Athenian, a man belonging to Athens, is an Ἀθηναῖος. Likewise, the name of Corinth is Κόρινθος and a Corinthian is a Κορίνθιος. The name Plato in Greek is Πλάτων while a follower of Plato is a Πλατωνικός. While the endings are modified somewhat, depending on the spelling of the original word, the Greek construct behind each of these terms is the same. In the New Testament, Judaea is Ἰουδαία and a Judaean is a Ἰουδαῖος.

So there should be no doubt, that the followers of Christ were called Christians because they belong to Christ, as He Himself had told them, and He sent His disciples to those nations where they would find the so-called “lost sheep of the house of Israel”, according to the words of both the Gospel and the prophets. Therefore Christian must be the new name which the children of Israel were prophesied to receive here, as Christ being Yahweh God Incarnate had designated that Himself when He told His disciples that they belong to Him.

He stated that in a different way, in John chapter 10:

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and my Father are one.

Paul had explained how Christians belong to Christ, where in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 he spoke in reference to those who are members of Christ and wrote:

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Then, speaking of that same circumstance, in Galatians chapter 3 he told his readers that:

13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

With this Peter had also agreed, writing in the opening chapter of his first epistle:

18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

The “vain conversation”, or conduct, are the sins which had caused the breach between Yahweh God and Israel. But redemption was explicitly promised to Israel, even here in Isaiah, where in Isaiah chapter 52 we read:

2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. 3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.

It is not a coincidence, that here in this chapter the children of Israel would be called by a new name, and they are also going to be called the redeemed of Yahweh, where the apostles explain that they were redeemed by Christ and called them Christians.

If one was not redeemed by Christ, and if one was not a subject of the promises of redemption found in the prophets, then properly, from His perspective, one does not truly belong to Him, since they were never purchased by Him. Here in this chapter, Yahweh God states that very same fact, in verse 12 where the Word of Yahweh states that these Old Testament children of Israel shall be called “the redeemed of Yahweh”.

Now, in addition to their new name, there are other promises:

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.

As we have already seen in different ways, this is the destiny of those who would “turn away from transgression in Jacob”, as we read in Isaiah chapter 59, and they are still the subjects of this prophecy. Almost immediately after that, in the opening verse of chapter 60, it is they who are told to: “1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.” Now there is further assurance:

4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

The reference to the forsaken here can only describe the same children of Israel who were sent into captivity, who were described in Hosea chapters 1 and 2 as having been disowned by Yahweh with the words “not My people”, but who at that same time were given a promise that at some point in the future they would once again be called His people. But where we read that their land would no longer be desolate, that does not necessarily describe Palestine. We must not lose sight of the fact that in the time of David, Nathan the prophet had told him that the children of Israel would be moved to a place of their own, as we had discussed at length here in relation to Isaiah chapter 49, and that chapter explains how that would happen in the time of their captivity. So wherever they would move, their land would not be desolate.

The word Hephzibah (# 2657) is actually a Hebrew phrase which apparently means My delight is in her and, as the Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew lexicon also points out, elements of the phrase are found in the clause later in this verse which says “for Yahweh delights in thee” [1]. Likewise, the word Beulah is from a Hebrew word which means to marry, and that is also repeated in a different way at the end of the verse. Now there is another promise which reflects these same conditions:

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.

So shall thy sons marry thee: This is how men should look at their nations, meaning the collective of their people, and care for them as they would for their own wives. Doing that, they are repairing the breach by caring for their people.

So shall thy God rejoice over thee: In Isaiah chapter 50, Yahweh had asked the children of Israel: “Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement?”, because He was the Husband of the nation, and He had put her away for her sins. Then in Isaiah chapter 52, there is a call for Zion to “1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments… ” followed by a prophecy of the Gospel of Christ, and a promise that Yahweh shall “bring again Zion” and the rejoicing that would accompany that, in verses 8 and 9 of the chapter.

But here it is more explicit, that Yahweh would once again rejoice over Zion as a bridegroom would rejoice over a bride, and this is parallel to a prophecy in Hosea chapter 2, where after Israel is put away on account of her sins, we read a similar prophecy of reconciliation which says:

19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

There is no other race or nation but the children of Israel who have been told these things, and therefore any interpretation of Christianity and the New Covenant which includes anyone other than Israel is a false interpretation, because it is contrary to both the promises to the fathers, as well as the words of the prophets. Christ came to redeem ancient Israel, and He is the bridegroom who is prophesied here, as John the Baptist is recorded as having explained in John chapter 3, where his disciples marvelled at the disciples of Christ who had been quite successful baptizing people in his vicinity, and we read:

26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. 27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. 28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

There it is clearly explicit, that John the Baptist had declared Christ to be the Bridegroom, on account of the words of the prophets. Now it seems that once the children of Israel have their new name, they would exhibit the fruits of that name:

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, 7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

We would assert that all of these prophecies have both a short term, or near-vision fulfillment, as well as a long term, or far-vision fulfillment. The near-vision fulfillment here began when Christ came to declare the acceptable year of Yahweh, and as an eventual result, all of Europe turned to Him and took His new name upon themselves. But the far-vision fulfillment will not be complete until the terms of the acceptable year are fulfilled, and Yahweh exacts His final vengeance upon His enemies.

So to an extent, in the so-called “Church Age”, which we would account as the thousand years of Revelation chapter 20, in which the martyrs of Christ prevailed and ruled with Him, Christianity was indeed a praise in the earth. But this prophecy will not be fully realized until He returns and finally eliminates His enemies, and therefore in this day we certainly need watchmen who will not hold their peace, who will continually proclaim Yahweh their God, and who will not give Yahweh any rest from hearing their cries, until He does destroy his enemies and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. That would also permanently end the time of the chastisement of Israel, as we see next in this verse of Isaiah chapter 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:

Another of the sins of the children of Israel which caused their captivity was trading with their enemies, the enemies of their God. This we read in Hosea chapter 2:

4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. 5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. 6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. 7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. 8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.

That too is a promise that Israel would return to their God, which they had done in the name of Christ. However first, she is punished for her sins, a punishment which she suffers once again today, where we read in the pertinent verses of the punishments for disobedience, in Deuteronomy chapter 28:

38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. 39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. 40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit. 41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. 42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. 43 The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.

The prophecy of Obadiah concerns the day of vengeance which was also prophesied in Isaiah chapter 61, and of which we see a fuller description of here and in Isaiah chapter 63. So in Obadiah there is a prophecy which also relates to this verse of Isaiah, where we read:

15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen [nations, other than Israel]: 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, so shall all the heathen [nations] 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.

The heathen nations feeding upon Yahweh’s holy mountain, which is a reference to Zion as an allegory for the people of Israel, are the aliens who come into their lands and consume their goods as a punishment for their iniquities. Both here and in Obadiah, the Word of God prophesies the end of that punishment. So in turn there is another assurance:

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.

Once the time of the punishment of Israel passes, aliens will no longer devour their goods, and they may then enjoy the fruits of their own labors. Other aspects of the lifting of the punishments of disobedience are found later in Isaiah, such as in chapter 65 where we read:

21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

But in Isaiah’s time, when they had just entered into captivity, they still had a long way to go, where we now have a promise which seems to relate to that:

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.

In this context, the language of the New American Standard Bible conveys the meaning better, where we read:

10 Go through, go through the gates; Clear the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway; Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples.

This depicts the children of Israel leaving the places of their captivity and migrating to another place, for which they would have a smooth path. This same theme of migration and redemption was first found in Isaiah chapter 43 where we read:

1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

Surely those verses are parallel to what we see here in this chapter, as these last twenty-six chapters of Isaiah have many such parallelisms, making the same promises in different ways so that the future generations of the children of Israel may look back at Isaiah, and reconcile these words with both their own history, as well as the purpose and substance of the Gospel of Christ, and see that God is true.

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 word world here is not a good translation, as the Hebrew word is ארץ or erets (# 776), the word commonly translated as earth or land in the King James Version. The word for world is typically תבל or tebel (# 8398), and that word does not necessarily refer to the planet, as we know it, whereas erets seems to always, or at least, nearly always have been used in a literal sense of the land. So the proclamation here is made to the end of the earth. Ostensibly, this is where the children of Israel would dwell, or at least, many of them would move that far away.

This we read in Isaiah chapter 26:

15 Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.

Then in Isaiah chapter 40:

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

And again, in Isaiah chapter 41:

8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. 9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

Then in a promise of regathering, in Isaiah chapter 43:

6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; 7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

Ostensibly, that name would be the new name which Israel is prophesied to have, and they were regathered to Yahweh their God as they heard the Gospel and returned to Him through Christ, becoming known by His Name as Christians.

So in Isaiah chapter 45 we read:

22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

Then finally, in Isaiah chapter 52:

10 The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

All of these prophecies indicate that at some point future to Isaiah’s own time, the children of Israel dwelling at the end of the earth, from the perspective of the Near East, where Isaiah was writing and where they had been in captivity in the north, would hear the Gospel of Christ, turn back to their God through Him, and accept His offer of salvation while becoming known by His name. This certainly occurred at by beginning of the so-called Church Age, and now, in the far-vision, it needs to occur once again, as we live in the prophesied time of a great apostasy.

But in either case, the final verse of this chapter applies to them, and to nobody else regardless of what religion they claim to possess:

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. 

Here the subject is still the children of Israel, and especially those who would turn from transgression in Jacob. It is they who are the holy people. It is they who are the redeemed of Yahweh. It is they who are the issue of the promises made to the fathers, which Christ had explicitly come to fulfill. It is they who would bear His Name, and it is they who are prophesied to call upon His Name. A Christian is one whom Christ had chosen, not someone who can choose Christ. Rather, Israelites must choose to obey Christ, and then they may hope to be Christians. But any other application of the word Christian, actually blasphemes His Name.

This concludes our commentary on Isaiah through chapter 62.

Footnotes

1 The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Hendrickson Publishers, 2021, p. 343.