Isaiah 35

Isaiah 35:1

7. The Glory of the Coming Kingdom (Chap. 35)35:1-7 After the rebellious nations are destroyed, the glorious kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is introduced. Features of that period include increased fertility of the land and the personal presence of the Lord in glory and excellence. There will be mutual encouragement among the saints. Every type of disability will be removed, and great rejoicing will celebrate the transformation of the desert into well-irrigated fields. 35:8-10 The hundreds of miles of desert route from exile back to Jerusalem will become a “Highway of Holiness,” exclusive to God’s redeemed people. The return of Israel from worldwide dispersion prepictures the joy and gladness that will accompany the translation of believers to the Father’s house when Jesus comes again. In some editions of the Bible, the supplied summary titles at the tops of the pages of Isaiah will read in substance, “Blessings on the church” and “Curses on Israel.” In fact, almost all these predictions are directly aimed at Israelwhether blessings or curses, and the church comes in later or by application. Jennings decries this unjust treatment of Israel by many Christians: We justly blame those who take all the promises of the Old Testament, and leave only the threatenings for the poor Jew, for in this they do greatly err; yet there is an element of truth in their contention, since “all the promises of God are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus.” Their error is in saying that since God has no further use for Israel, these comforting forecasts apply, and only apply, to Christians, not to Israel as a nation at all! God be thanked that whatever is of a spiritual character does so apply: the material blessings that Israel shall enter into on the basis of the new covenant of grace are, in a spiritual sense, ours by that same grace. But that does not fulfil these promises that were given directly to Israel as identified with her Messiah, Jesus, and given her long before the Church of God was revealed at all.