Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 35:1-10 Your God Will Come With Vengeance…He Will Come and Save You
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Isa 35:1-10 Your God Will Come With Vengeance... He Will Come and Save You
Isa 35:1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
Isa 35:2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
Isa 35:3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
Isa 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
Isa 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Isa 35:6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
Isa 35:7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
Isa 35:8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
Isa 35:9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
Isa 35:10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Let's remember that there were no chapter breaks in the original Hebrew or Greek. The subject here, as we saw in the last couple of studies, is God's judgment and vengeance upon Idumea/Mount Seir within us, "for the controversy of Zion":
Isa 34:5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
Isa 34:6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
Isa 34:7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
Isa 34:8 For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
This is the wonderful day of judgment upon the kingdom of Babylon, 'the chief of sinners' within you and me. Earlier Isaiah rejoiced with these words of exhortation for us:
Isa 26:8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
Do we want to "learn righteousness"? I hope we all want to learn righteousness and learn how to think as Christ and His Father think. If we are given to do so, then we will "desire [with our] soul... the way of [His] judgments".
I often tell others, "The worse day of my life was the very best day of my life." I certainly didn't realize it was so at the time. I came to realize that to be the case only by "look[ing] behind me" (Rev: 1:10-12). Like Job I, too, felt the loss of all things, the disdain of the whole world, and the desire just to get it over with. Peter had this same experience when the cock crowed the second time as he was denying his Lord for the third time (Mar 14:72). Paul had this experience when all he had ever worked for was taken away from him in a flash of bright light, when he was struck down to the ground on his way to Damascus to persecute Christ's Christ (Act 9:3-6).
Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
Rev 1:12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
These verses here is Isaiah concerning the Lord's wrath being poured out upon Idumea within us are just one of many accounts of the destruction of Babylon within us. Inwardly these verses are describing the destruction of the man of sin. That destruction does not take place at the snap of a finger. Even the trial and crucifixion of Christ, "who knew no sin" (2Co5:21), lasted many long hours during which He endured being ridiculed, slapped in the face, being beaten within an inch of His life, culminating in being publicly crucified "without the city" where societies criminals were crucified.
Isa 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
Isa 52:14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
Isa 52:15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
"As [Christ] is so are we in this world" (1Jn 4:17). We are specifically promised:
Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
There are no exceptions to this promise:
2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2Ti 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Few appear to realize that our Lord promises to take revenge upon the enemies of His children. If we simply consider the torment of our own judgment, then the Lord's vengeance should become crystal clear.
Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
The Lord gives no quarter to our own old man of sin. It is our new man himself who cries out for the Lord's vengeance against the rebellious carnal mind within and without:
Rev 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Rev 6:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Rev 6:11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
All of this takes what seems to uslike an eternity while it is working within us. One does not find himself "under the altar" without first "falling into the earth and dying" to his own carnal-minded old man who "dwells on the earth". When that day does arrive it comes through the excruciatingly painful judgment of our old man. But when we are finally given to appreciate the judgment and the destruction of the kingdom of our old man, and we are given to see what the Lord is doing, then the things of this life will have all lost their attraction, and only then will:
Isa 35:1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
Isa 35:2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
Another way of expressing this message is with these words:
Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
It is through our being judged in this age that "The wilderness and the solitary place" within us will begin to "rejoice even with joy and singing" and will begin to be changed into a fruitful garden and "bloom as the rose". It is in this changed "wilderness and solitary place" that the dying of our old man within begins to take place, and then it is the new man within us possessing the mind of Christ which will again "be glad... and rejoice even with joy and singing" for the wonderful fruit produced through this destruction because we now understand this Truth about the just character of our Lord:
Isa 35:3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
Isa 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
Here is the message of these verses in the New Testament:
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
It is only through "the power of God" that any of us "strengthen [our] weak hands, and confirm [our] feeble knees". These words are so very true, but when we are staring death in the eyes, when the Egyptian army is on one side and the Red Sea on the other side, it is difficult for any of us to rest in these truthful words. When "[we] are in heaviness through manifold temptations", Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace and Darius's lion's den are an imminent danger to our flesh, and when the cross itself is staring any of us in the face, then even our Lord Himself cried out:
Mat 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
Mat 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
The Truth remains that the cross is the only way because it will always be true:
Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
When our old man begins dying and our new man comes to life:
Isa 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Only when our spiritual eyes are opened and our spiritual ears are unstopped:
Isa 35:6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
Isa 35:7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
The glorious message of these verses is repeated in:
Isa 44:3 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:
Isa 44:4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.
Isa 44:5 One shall say, I am the LORD'S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
"The grass [and] willows by the water courses", are once again the "much fruit" of these words of our Lord:
Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
"One shall... surname himself by the name of Israel" because Israel means '[we] have power with God', and while it seems impossible in this age for anyone to even aspire to wanting the Lord's name, yet we will all see the time when Christ will be glorified even of men:
Gen 32:27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
Gen 32:28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.Joh 12:23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
Christ here is referring to His impending death on the cross, but He refers to that event as "being glorified". That is the mindset we must have toward the death of our own flesh. "Dying daily" (1Co 15:31) with Christ is how we say, "I am the Lord's" and we "surname [ourselves] by the name of... the Israel of God":
Gal 6:15 Certainly, it doesn't matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.
Gal 6:16 Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God. (GWV)
As "the Israel of God" we cannot, and we do not, travel on the same roads upon which this world travels. Just as we have an altar at which they that serve the tabernacle have no right to eat, so we have our own "highway":
Isa 35:8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
We have one and all be the "fools" of this verse because we have all "in time past" been "chief... of ... sinners":
Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Eph 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: [in the "highway... of holiness"]1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
We learn in the book of Hebrews that the Lord, through His death and resurrection, is "purifying [our] heavens":
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves [you and I] with better sacrifices than these.
These 'purified... heavens' begin to be revealed to us in the laws governing the keeping of the Passover:
Exo 12:43 And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:
Exo 12:44 But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
Exo 12:45 A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof.
This "highway... of holiness" is not some future thousand-year reign event. If we are not walking on this "highway of holiness" in this age, then we will certainly not be in the "blessed and holy... first resurrection" and will not "inherit the blessing" of being in that kingdom. "The unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein."
These words accord with all the rest of the Lord's words:
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Heb 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Esau's birthright meant nothing to him. In type and shadow, being in the first resurrection meant nothing at all to Esau. It was not his fault that he so little valued his own birthright. That is what was written in his book 'while in his mothers womb, having done neither good nor evil'.
Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Those who today are doing the same thing also had it written in their book "being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of their works, but of Him that calls us to do what He has already written in our books "being not yet born":
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.
But it was also written in Esau's book to later realize just how much he had forfeited as will all who will be cast into the lake of fire. Only then will they realize how foolish it is to have believed that their inheritance had any real value, or that it is not common to all.
Those who place great value on their birthright and their blessings in Christ in this age are required to keep pure that heavenly inheritance and not permit it to become polluted by the "profane" 'Esaus' who would pollute our highway of holiness and our heavenly altar/table:
Isa 35:8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
Heb 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Heb 13:10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.1Co 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.
1Co 10:22 Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?
Let none of us be so foolish, as Esau was, to think we can just toy with the things of the spirit and with the doctrines of Christ. Christ has no intention of playing second fiddle to anyone. He will have wholehearted service from us in this age or there will be no marriage relationship.
Luk 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
An early revelation of just how special this sacred relationship is to Christ is the fact that only the priests, the sons of Aaron, were permitted to handle the holy things of the tabernacle. If any other Levite saw or touched the holy things of the tabernacle that Levite would die. That is just how special it is to be in that "blessed and holy... first resurrection" which is diminished and made so common and is despised by so many:
Num 4:4 This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about the most holy things:
Num 4:5 And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it:
Num 4:6 And shall put thereon the covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof.
Num 4:7 And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon:
Num 4:8 And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves thereof.
Num 4:9 And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it:
Num 4:10 And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put it upon a bar.
Num 4:11 And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put to the staves thereof:
Num 4:12 And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put them on a bar:1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Notice closely that only Aaron and his sons were permitted to handle the holy things. This is just how important it is to the Lord to keep any profane person from coming into His house and discussing His Truths and His doctrines as if that profane person were a chosen priest:
Num 4:15 And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they ["the sons of Kohath"] shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.
Num 4:16 And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof.
The urgency of keeping the Lord's temple clean and undefiled from the lies of Babylon is so vital to our relationship with Christ, that He destroys any and all who attempt to defile His dwelling place within His elect:
Num 4:17 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
Num 4:18 Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites:
Num 4:19 But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden:
Num 4:20 But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.
The sons of Kohath are told they "shall not touch any holy thing [vs 15, nor] go in to see when the holy things are covered [vs 20], lest they die". God's elect are His "nation of kings and priests" who are very special to their husband, and He will not let them share Him with anyone who is not He Himself, in His elect.
Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Look at another example of how exclusive this calling of ours is. The patriarch Levi had three sons whose names were:
Gen 46:11 And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
The tribe of Levi was taken from among Israel as servants to Aaron and his sons who were exclusively the priests of the Lord. Each of these three families was assigned certain services to Aaron and his sons as they ministered to the nation of Israel as the Lord's priests. So all priests are Levites, but not all Levites are priests. Aaron and his sons were Kohathites, but they alone of the entire house of Kohath, were priests to the Lord.
The family of Kohath was commissioned to help the priests transport all the holy things of the tabernacle. They could not touch or even look upon those holy things, but they were commissioned to do all the heavy lifting and transporting of the holy things.
Korah was also of the house of Kohath, but Korah was not a son of Aaron and therefore could not be a priest. Moses informs us that Korah was seeking the priesthood when he led the rebellion against Moses and Aaron:
Num 16:1 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
Num 16:2 And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
Num 16:3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?
Num 16:4 And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face:
Num 16:5 And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.
Num 16:6 This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company;
Num 16:7 And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.
Num 16:8 And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi:
Num 16:9 Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them?
Num 16:10 And he hath brought thee near to him, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and seek ye the priesthood also?
I will say the same thing, "Tomorrow [on the Lord's schedule] the Lord will show who are His", and once again it will not be those who are saying "the congregation [in the lake of fire] are holy every one of them", when Christ Himself pronounces them as "cursed":
Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Because Korah was not a priest he was jealous of those the Lord had called to be priests. It is natural to envy others and to want the gifts the Lord has given others. It happened to Joseph whose brothers hated him and could not speak peaceably to him because Joseph's father had chosen Joseph above his brothers (Gen 37:1-4). It happened to King David whose own son attempted to destroy his father (2Sa 15:12). And it also happened to Christ because He told the religious leaders of His day that He was Lord of the Sabbath (Mat 12:1-8) and that He was also the son of God:
Joh 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
It is only natural for us to resent the Lord's form of government and those He chooses to lead His church. That is especially true concerning the fact the Lord has always chosen the least esteemed of this world to serve his body in this age and to rule and reign with Him a thousand years. This is what was said about the apostle Paul by those who forsook and rejected him:
2Co 10:10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.
Hey, I know that guy! I see him every morning in the mirror.
But Korah, and all who rebel against the Lord and His Word and His ways, are sons of their father the devil and therefore are themselves ravenous beasts who will not be permitted to look on or touch the holy doctrines of Christ. Neither will they be permitted to walk upon the 'highway of holiness' which is nothing other than Christ Himself and His Words and doctrines.
Isa 35:9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
This "highway of holiness" is the same as the indwelling of the holy spirit within the lives of the Lord's elect. This 'highway' is but another symbol of those who do the things Christ tells us to do:
Luk 6:44 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.
Luk 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
Luk 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luk 6:49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
Neither the "roaring lion", who is the adversary, nor the wild beast, who is the son of his father the devil, will be able to walk in this highway because everyone on this highway will know when they are hearing the voice of a stranger. "The voice of a stranger" is the exact same thing as a lion and a ravenous beast. Only "the redeemed shall walk there", because the adversary and his lying doctrines are not welcome and will not be tolerated on this 'highway'.
'Digging deep, and laying a foundation on a Rock' is another way of telling us to dig into the Lord's Word and know it well enough to know the Lord's voice and to be able to distinguish it from the voice of a stranger:
Joh 10:4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
Isa 35:10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
The "everlasting joy" of this last verse of Isaiah 10 brings us to these words of our Lord:
Mat 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the [everlasting] joy of thy lord.
Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
"Rejoicing, being glad [and] partaking of Christ's sufferings" is the essence of being called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, as we read in these verses:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
That concludes our study for today. The next few chapters of Isaiah are the story of the invasion of Judah by Sennecharib, the king of Assyria, and how the Lord delivered Judah from that invasion. Here is the first half of this 36th chapter of Isaiah. We will learn about how to wage spiritual warfare as we read about this historic event concerning one of the few 'good kings' of Judah.
Isa 36:1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.
Isa 36:2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.
Isa 36:3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.
Isa 36:4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
Isa 36:5 I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
Isa 36:6 Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
Isa 36:7 But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
Isa 36:8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
Isa 36:9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
Isa 36:10 And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
Isa 36:11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
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