Isa 51:6-11 Put on Strength O Arm of the Lord - Discussion

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Isa 51:6-11 Put on Strength O Arm of The Lord

[Study Aired December 15, 2019]

Isa 51:6  Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. 
Isa 51:7  Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. 
Isa 51:8  For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. 
Isa 51:9  Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? 
Isa 51:10  Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? 
Isa 51:11  Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

The Lord wants His elect to know “the heavens shall vanish away like smoke… and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.”

As impossible as those words may seem to be, the truth is:

2Co 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2Co 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The truth is that “the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal”, but our flesh cannot accept this fact. We simply are not just naturally given to see or understand the things of the spirit (1Co 2:13-15). It is especially hard for us to believe that a transition from one realm to another, from this old physical world to another realm, the realm of the spirit is even possible.

For that very purpose and for our sakes, the Lord has given us the entire experience of Noah. The story of Noah demonstrates how none of us of ourselves can believe in things which we cannot see. Noah was given the faith to believe the seemingly impossible fact that a flood was coming upon the whole earth. Because it had never rained in all the history of mankind, everyone believed nothing would ever change. The whole world considered Noah to be a delusional mad man who was building a huge ship on dry land which had never seen rain, much less an impending destructive flood which would destroy all in whom was the breath of life. It was in this atmosphere that Noah warned the world for 120 years that the Lord was going to destroy all life on earth. Noah, we are told, was preaching to people who were all bound in a prison of their own preordained unbelief and lack of faith in something they could not physically see:

1Pe 3:18  For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19  By which [spirit] also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; [When did Christ “preach to spirits in prison? The answer is:]
1Pe 3:20  Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by [Greek: dia, through] water. [Not fire]

Luk 3:16  John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

Another similar story with the same lesson for us is the account of the two messengers who were sent to take Lot and his family out of Sodom before the Lord destroyed that city and all the cities of the plains around the Dead Sea. No one in Sodom believed anything would be changing any time soon. Here is that story. This time it was done by fire, typifying the coming destruction of all flesh:

Gen 19:9  And [the men of Sodom] said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.
Gen 19:10  But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.
Gen 19:11  And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
Gen 19:12  And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:
Gen 19:13  For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. 
Gen 19:14  And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this  place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

Luk 3:16  John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

Those two stories, the story of Noah and the story of Lot, should give you some sense of how this world thinks of the idea of anyone “making war with the beast within” or of a literal kingdom of God ruling over the kingdoms of this world for “a thousand years”. It simply does not seem possible, and it is so hard to believe that many of our own brothers have lost faith in these very plain words:

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. [Greek: ages of the ages]
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. 
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

“He shall reign for ever and ever” should read ‘He shall reign for the ages of the ages” meaning the thousand years and the time of the great white throne judgment mentioned in the last half of Revelation 20. It is here in Revelation 20 that some of the details of the reign of “the Lord and His Christ [over] the kingdoms of this world” are revealed to us:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Immediately following this “little season” of rebellion against the sovereignty of “the Lord and His Christ” we are shown that there will be a second judgment before the great white throne, which is but another symbol for “the Lord and His Christ”, the same “priests of God and of Christ [who] reigned with Him a thousand years”:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Noah “preached to spirits in prison” for 120 years, all while being ridiculed by that generation. Nevertheless, the flood came just as Noah had been warning. Lot preached for a very short time to His sons-in-law, “But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law”. However, Sodom was destroyed that very same day. This brings us to the first two verses of our study today concerning how we should be thinking of what was prophesied thousands of years ago concerning what the Lord has in store for us and for the world of today:

Isa 51:6  Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. 
Isa 51:7  Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

It is only the Lord’s elect who ‘listen to the Lord, know righteousness, and whose heart is in the Lord’s law’. It is we who are admonished, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner:”

That these words, “The heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old as a garment” are addressed to us is made clear when they are repeated in the books of Hebrews and 2nd Peter:

Heb 1:10  And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Heb 1:11  They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12  And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 
2Pe 3:8  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 
2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 
2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

This is not some new doctrine the Lord is giving Paul and Peter. It is all right here in the book of Isaiah. “The things that are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal”:

2Co 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Isaiah continues with this theme:

Isa 51:8  For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. 

The fact that we are speaking of moth and worms and something that lasts “from generation to generation” indicates that these words are addressed to those who reign with Christ for a thousand years before judging angels in the lake of fire and before the “all in all” (1Co 15:28 and Eph 5:23)

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Still speaking to us, the Lord continues here in Isaiah:

Isa 51:9  Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? 
Isa 51:10  Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? 

There will be those who will read this study and say to themselves, “We were not there in the ancient days. We have not cut Rahab or wounded the dragon.  We have never dried up the sea or made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over, and we certainly are not the Lord’s arm.” Those who speak thusly will be judged out of their own mouths. Those of that mindset do not yet believe that mankind must “live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God”:

Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man [Greek: ‘anthropos’, mankind] shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Luk 19:20  And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
Luk 19:21  For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.
Luk 19:22  And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

Psa 18:25  With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
Psa 18:26  With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.

If we are of the mindset that God created His weak, carnal-minded creatures knowing He would send most of them away into an ever-burning lake of fire to be tormented with excruciating pain for all eternity, as most Christian denominations  as well as the Jewish and the Muslim religions believe, then that is exactly how the Lord will present Himself to you when you are being judged. Yes, the Lord has “cut Rahab and wounded the dragon”, but when our eyes are opened to see the meaning of the Hebrew word ‘olam’ and the Greek word ‘aion’ we are then given to understand that nowhere in all of scripture is anyone ever once threatened with eternal torment. Such a thought has never once entered the Lord’s mind. His judgments are always corrective and redemptive in their purpose and in their implementation. God’s judgments correct us and teach us His righteousness:

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

To what is “the world… condemned”?  They are ‘condemned’ to a later “judgment” which follows the thousand-year reign of “the Lord and His Christ”, and that ‘judgment’ is called the “great white throne… judgment”:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

There we have it… the “great white throne” is “judgment”, and what do the scriptures teach is the purpose for all of the Lord’s judgments, including this “great white throne… judgment”, which is also called “the lake of fire/second death”? This is the Truth about all of God’s judgments:

1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world [to the later “great white throne… judgment”]

Who is the Lord’s “arm” with which He will administer this ‘white throne judgment [of] the dead small and great’ (Rev 20:7-15)? As we learned right here in this prophecy of Isaiah, it will be administered by “the righteous [who are even now] dwell[ing] with the devouring fire [and] everlasting burnings”:

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

It will be “He that walks righteously [in] this present time” (Rom 8:18) who are given to have part in “the resurrection of life… [of] the righteous”. It was Christ who inspired Isaiah to write these words here in chapter 33, who also tells us:

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. [Greek: ‘krisis’, judgment]

The Lord’s elect, “they that have done good [in] this present time”, (Rom 8:18) are being judged in ‘this present time’ and will have no need to come up “unto the resurrection of judgment”. “When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world… unto the resurrection of judgment.” Nevertheless, even those who are condemned to the resurrection of judgment are still being judged of God, and when His judgments are in the earth men will learn righteousness, even those in the lake of fire/second death/great white throne judgment:

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.

It is only by the Lord’s sovereign will that some few are given to be judged in “this present time”. If we are blessed to be part of “the house of God [in] this present time”, then we will also be given to believe these words of the apostle Paul concerning this the greatest of all honors:

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.

It is because of “the glory which shall be revealed in us” that we will experience the “everlasting joy” of the last verse of our study today:

Isa 51:11  Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

Nowhere in all of scripture are we ever told “and sorrow and mourning shall flee away” in this age and at this time. To the contrary, we are told that only “if we suffer with Him, [then we are] joint heirs with Christ…[and] we shall also reign with Him…”:

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.