Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 41:1-15 Fear Not You Worm, Jacob…I Will Help You
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Isa 41:1-15 Fear Not You Worm, Jacob...I Will Help You - Discussion
Isa 41:1-15 - Fear Not You Worm, Jacob… I Will Help You…
Isa 41:1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
Isa 41:2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
Isa 41:3 He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
Isa 41:4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
Isa 41:5 The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
Isa 41:6 They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
Isa 41:7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
Isa 41:8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
Isa 41:9 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.
Isa 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isa 41:11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
Isa 41:12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
Isa 41:13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Isa 41:14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 41:15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Verses 8-15 tell us that “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:15) will be His “threshing instrument having teeth”. Verses 2-7 tell us what His Israel, His threshing machine will do for Him. But to be used of the Lord in that capacity His Israel, His threshing machine must first itself be judged and proven.
In chapter 39 the Lord told Hezekiah, who is a type of us, that his children would be carried off into Babylonian captivity:
Isa 39:4 Then said he [Isaiah], What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.
Isa 39:5 Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:
Isa 39:6 Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.
Isa 39:7 And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
Those words are a prophecy of each of us. We are all born in that captive state of ‘Babylon’. Hezekiah accepts the Lord’s decree, and is comforted knowing it is all of the Lord:
Isa 39:8 Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.
Ephesian 1:11 tells us the Lord is working all things after the counsel of His own will:
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Then Romans 8 informs us that “all things word together for good to them who are the called of God…”
Rom 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.
Rom 8:29 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.
Rom 8:30 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.
Hezekiah, as a type of us, has just been delivered from a “sickness unto death”, having been given a miraculous sign of that healing. It was for Hezekiah’s sake that the whole world experienced the return of the sun by ten degrees on the sundial. This was accomplished just to assure Hezekiah of the Lord’s love for him over all men on earth. Knowing this Paul had every reason to assure us:
2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
As we have seen, Hezekiah, as a type of us, could not of himself give thanks which redounded to the glory of God. He and we just naturally glorify ourselves, and yet we know that being humbled is the very purpose for our lives which are filled with trials:
Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.
In this story of Hezekiah, three times he takes the Lord’s glory to Himself, because this is the story of our own carnal determination to seek our own glory and to rob God of His just and right credit for all things.
1Co 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
This is the lesson of the story of Hezekiah “for our sakes” (2Co 4:15); this is what qualifies us to be the Lord’s elect:
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
The glorious, wonderful, and most encouraging, message for us in these words is that nothing we do is of ourselves and nothing we do, if we are the Lord’s elect, will remove the Lord’s love and His mercy for those whom He has predestined to be His “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”. Here is how that works:
2Sa 7:14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
2Sa 7:15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Our calling and our election are both “of Him” and do not depend upon whether we are strong or wise or virtuous. He will be all those things in us.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Rom 9:28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Heb 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Rev 14:4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
With that reminder we begin our verses for today:
Isa 41:1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
There are two things we need to notice about this verse. The first is that we “renew [our] strength [to] come near together [with Christ] to judgment”, and that is a very good thing because:
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
The second thing we need to realize is that in this verse we are given a type of Christ in a prophecy of the coming of Cyrus the great who, by the hand of the Lord Himself, is caused to commission the building of the temple in Jerusalem. As we will see in chapter 44, Cyrus is referred to as “My shepherd”, and here in chapter 41 he is called “the righteous man from the east”, a type of the Lord Himself:
Isa 41:2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
Like Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar before him, Cyrus was a ruthless dictator. Yet all three men are types of Christ and are used as servants of the Lord in dealing with His people:
Gen 41:39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
Gen 41:40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
Gen 41:41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.Isa 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Jer 27:6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
Jer 43:10 And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.
Zec 6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
Zec 6:13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The nations and their kings are all merely instruments in the Lord’s hand to deliver the kingdoms of this world into the hands of His elect.
Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Everything Cyrus does is for the sake of the Lord’s people, even as Cyrus is given to destroy all the nations at the Lord’s behest:
Isa 41:3 He [Cyrus, a type of Christ and His Christ] pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
Isa 41:4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
Isa 41:5 The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
The Biblical phrase “the isles” is just a reference to the nations. Israel itself is called an ‘isle’:
Isa 20:6 And the inhabitant of this isle [Israel] shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?
The nations within us help and encourage themselves to resist the Lord’s word and His will. They do so depending upon the “idols of their hearts”:
Isa 41:6 They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
Isa 41:7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
The gold of the goldsmith is the Word of God, which we twist and wrap and encase our hearts' idols.
Eze 7:19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
Eze 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;Eze 14:7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
The Lord’s silver and the Lord’s gold are His Words and His doctrines:
Pro 8:10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
This is what we do with the gold and silver which He gives us:
Eze 16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images [false doctrines] of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
That is “the stumbling block of [our] iniquity”! Wrapping our idols of our hearts in the Lord’s silver and in His gold is a matter of rejecting His words and making an idol of our own doctrines:
1Sa 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
2Pe 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
Hezekiah, a type of the Lord’s elect, “rejected the Word of the Lord” Who promised to protect him and his people, and he submitted himself to the king of Assyria. Only because he was a type of the Lord’s elect, Hezekiah was made to repent and was given the faith to depend upon the Lord, who did deliver Hezekiah by destroying 185 thousand of the armies of Assyria (Isa 37:36).
Isa 41:8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
Isa 41:9 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.
Even if we ‘deny Him three times’ and usurp His glory three times, if we are His elect, ‘[His] mercy will not depart away from [us] away as [He] did [king] Saul’:
2Sa 7:14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
2Sa 7:15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
2Sa 7:16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.2Ti 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
It is made abundantly clear that our salvation is not of ourselves. Rather our salvation is despite ourselves and in spite of the fact we are weak and foolish and base and despised.
1Co 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
Our Lord really is, at this very moment, waging war on our behalf, and while doing so He is encouraging us:
Isa 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
If we are indeed His elect, whom He has determined will remain faithful to the end, then we are “the apple of His eye”, and He will wage war for us on our behalf:
Isa 41:11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
Isa 41:12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
Isa 41:13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
The Lord wants us always to remember from whence we came. It is for that reason we are typified by “fiery serpents (Isa 6:2), four beasts (Rev 4:6 and 8; and Rev 5:6 and 8), and here in Isaiah and in the books Job and of Psalms we are likened unto “a worm”:
Isa 41:14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Job 25:6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
Psa 22:6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
“Despised of the people” lets us know this is a spiritually personal assessment of ourselves. The beast within does not just naturally see himself as a worm, despised of the people. Instead he sees himself as God, and he demands to be treated as such:
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
Paul was inspired by the spirit of Christ to say these things, and Christ knew all of this when He made this statement in Matthew 24:
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand)
The Lord then tells us that He made us in this lowly state so “that no flesh should glory in His presence", as we read earlier.
1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
The characteristics chosen by the Lord to typify His elect are that they must be the foolish, weak, base and despised of this world. Who wants those qualifications? No one wants to be thought of in those terms, and indeed it is few who are given to humble themselves to acknowledge that all flesh meets those qualifications. The fact is, those words are the very definition of flesh, and it is absolute foolishness, weakness and baseness within us which denies that even our righteousnesses are as filthy rags to the Lord, and that in our very best moments we are yet spiritually worthless:
Psa 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
Isa 64:5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Isa 64:7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
Isa 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and are the work of thy hand.
Look at what we just read, “…Our iniquities… are the work of thy hand.”
Isaiah 64 is telling us the same things we are reading here in Isaiah 41… In those that remember You in Your ways there “is continuance, and we will be saved”.
It is instructive to know that the word translated “meetest’ in Isa 64:5 is the Hebrew word ‘paga’ (H6293) is also translated as “entreat” or “entreat for” in these verses:
entreat, 3
Gen 23:8, Rth 1:16, Jer 15:11
I will quote the first entry only to show how this word can be used:
Gen 23:8 And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me [‘paga’ H6293] to Ephron the son of Zohar,
It is translated as “intercession” in these verses:
intercession, 4
Isa 53:12, Jer 7:16, Jer 27:18, Jer 36:25
I will quote only the first verse to demonstrate that this Hebrew word ‘paga’ can be translated as ‘entreat for’ and ‘intercede for’:
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for [‘paga’ H6293] the transgressors.
It is also very instructive to know that the word translated as ‘continuance’ followed by “and we shall be saved”, is the Hebrew word ‘olam’ (H5769). ‘Olam’ is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word ‘aion’ (G165). Both mean “properly an age”, and that ‘age’ is as long as the context demands. In this verse it refers to “slam” salvation, which was promised to us “from times eonian”:
Isa 64:5 Thou meetest [Hebrew: intercede for] him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those [in His ways] is continuance [Hebrew: olam, eonian], and we shall be saved [salvation].
The two phrases 1) “in those is continuance”, and 2) and we shall be saved”, are derived from two Hebrew words. The first, as we have already discussed, is the Hebrew word, ‘olam’ (H5769), and the second is the Hebrew word ‘yasha’ (H3467). Yasha is properly translated in some form of ‘save’, saved’ or ‘delivered’ in 197 of the 207 times it is listed in e-sword.
It appears that a better translation of this verse would be:
Isa 64:5 Thou meetest [Hebrew: intercede for] him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those [in His ways] is continuance [olam], and we shall be saved [salvation].
Such a translation would be in line with:
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.
The knowledge of the age of salvation was “sealed” away from all who lived before Christ and was not yet available to ancient Israel. Only the promise of that gift was made known in the Old Testament:
Dan 12:8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
Dan 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
Contrast those words to the Old Testament prophet, Daniel, with the words spoken to the apostle John in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ:
Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
This statement is repeated at the end of this prophecy where John is expressly instructed… “seal not the words of this prophecy”. Then the holy spirit again repeats the words which inform us of the urgency of our situation:
Rev 22:10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
It is in looking forward to that time within and without that we will end our study today:
Isa 41:15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
It is only because we have in this life, “this present time”, been judged and have been humiliated and thoroughly threshed and had the mountains and hills within us made small and made as chaff by a “threshing instrument having teeth”, that we are now in the process of being qualified to do the same for the Lord as His “firstborn among many brothers”.
It is through the sacrifice of so many other men and other nations that the Lord has elected us:
Isa 43:3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
Isa 43:4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
It is because “I have loved thee [that] I will give men for you and people for your life”. It is NOT the other way around. Contrary to the demonic false doctrine of man having a fabled ‘free will’, Christ made that point crystal clear:
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
The holy spirit inspired the apostle Paul to give a second witness to this fact:
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Having been humbled and crushed to powder in this age, we are being prepared to serve the Lord in doing the same to the masses of mankind whose hearts were hardened in this age:
Jer 51:20 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
Jer 51:21 And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
Jer 51:22 With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
Jer 51:23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.
That is the meaning of our last verse for today:
Isa 41:15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
These words are addressed to us who are right now the first to experience the ‘fire’ of ‘the lake of fire’. The fire and the threshing are the judgment of the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death.
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
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.1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
If indeed “judgment… first begins” with us, then it follows that the “great white throne… judgment” is a second judgment. The fire and the threshing at that time are the second judgment called by Christ "the resurrection of judgment" (Joh 5:29). ‘The resurrection of judgment’ is a second “fiery trial”. This time the fiery trials are called “the lake of fire [which] is the second death” (Rev 20:14).
Our next study will continue to reveal to us how we as ‘gods’ will judge this world:
Isa 41:16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD , and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 41:17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
Isa 41:18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
Isa 41:19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:
Isa 41:20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
Isa 41:21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD ; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
Isa 41:22 Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.
Isa 41:23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
Isa 41:24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
Isa 41:25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.
Isa 41:26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.
Isa 41:27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
Isa 41:28 For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counseller, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
Isa 41:29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
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