Isa 65:21-25 The Wolf and the Lamb Shall Feed Together…and Dust Shall be the Serpent’s Meat

[Study Aired October 11, 2020]

Isa 65:21  And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
Isa 65:22  They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Isa 65:23  They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
Isa 65:24  And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
Isa 65:25  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

Which stage of ‘the kingdom of God’ are these words describing? When will the wolf and the lamb eat together? When will the lion eat straw like the bullock? When is dust the serpent’s meat?

When we finish this study, I hope we will have answered all of those questions.

There are three stages of the “kingdom of God” which are all expedient to accomplish the Lord’s goal of bringing all things together in Christ so the Father will be “all in all”.

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: [Stage one: the Passover season, in the spring of the year] Christ the firstfruits; afterward [Stage two: Pentecost, the summer wheat harvest, also called “the feast of firstfruits”] they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then [Stage three: the Feast of Tabernacles “in the end of the year” when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ”] cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

Before we proceed to the goal and purpose of God’s will, which He is working through His Son and His Son’s children, let’s look at how the Lord’s plan for mankind is typified for us in the Old Testament:

Exo 23:14  Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
Exo 23:15  [1] Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
Exo 23:16  [2] And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and [3] the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

Here is scripture’s second witness to this Truth:

Deu 16:16  Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; [1] in the feast of unleavened bread, and [2] in the feast of weeks, and [3] in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

Just as the Passover is the integral prelude to the days of unleavened bread, so the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day of the Feast are the essential and integral prelude to the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death which is the destruction of death. Death is distinguished in scripture as “the last enemy to be destroyed”.

Now let’s continue with this revelation which Paul was blessed to give to us:

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.

If we simply consider that these verses here in Isaiah 65 conclude with “dust shall be the serpents meat”, then we will know that these verses are not speaking of the thousand-year reign, because “that old serpent” the devil [is] bound for a thousand years:

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.

If we consider that we are being told, “They [the wolf, the lion, and the serpent] shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” then we will know what stage of the building of the New Jerusalem is being spoken of here in Isaiah 65.

The wolf, lion and serpent will be permitted for “a little season… after [the] thousand years [to] hurt and destroy” again. It is very significant to know that the wolf and the Lion will be attempting to ‘hurt and destroy’ the camp of the saints at that time:

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.

Nothing is more hurtful and destructive to any man than to ‘come up against the camp of the saints and to withstand the Lord’s beloved city’.

So it is in the first two stages of the Lord’s kingdom in which all these words can and must be applied, and those stages are: 1) “Christ the firstfruits; 2) afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” During these two stages “the Lord and His Christ” have the kingdom of God within them and have all the beasts of the earth within them, but those beasts are all subdued like all the beasts within the ark of Noah. In Noah’s ark the wolf and the lion ate grass with the  lamb, and the serpent ate dust, and there was no hurt in all of Noah’s ark. There was the promise of a typical new world, but it was not yet realized. Life in the ark of Noah typified our lives in Christ. We have the promise of the kingdom, but the fullness of the purchased possession is not yet realized:

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in [the] Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
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:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Christ and His kingdom are within us, and the serpent and all other beasts of the field are subdued and have no dominion over us. Christ is supreme, the beasts within us come willingly to Him. However, that is not all there is to it, and the best is yet to come.

Gen 6:20  Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

Here are just a few of the promises given to incentivize those to whom it is given to endure to the end:

Rev 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Rev 2:17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

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 2:28  And I will give him the morning star.

Rev 3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

If we are given and are predestined to be overcomers, we will be “granted to sit with [Christ] in His Throne with His Father” in His kingdom.

The certainty of all these promises is the theme of this prophecy of Isaiah:

Isa 49:15  Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

This prophecy is built upon all previous scripture. Isaiah echoes and repeats all the promises Christ made to His kingdom of Israel. Here is this same promise in:

Deu 4:31  (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

King David gives us the same assurance.

Psa 27:10  When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

The beginning of the Lord’s “beloved city” is long before the first resurrection, and that city and that kingdom do not come to an end or stop being His kingdom and His “beloved city” after the thousand-year reign. We were His “beloved city… before the world began”, and we will continue to be “the beloved city” even after the “short season” of rebellion which follows the thousand-year reign of “the camp of the saints.”

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Only after that universal rebellion which follows the thousand-year reign does our work of becoming “saviours upon Mount Zion” begin. This work culminates in the destruction of death, “the last enemy to be destroyed.”

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.

The destruction of “the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth” immediately ushers in the judgment of all the rest of mankind before the Great White Throne.

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.

‘Mount Zion’ is just another name for “Jerusalem above… the New Jerusalem… the beloved city” of which ‘Mount Zion’ we are told:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

“Through Him” means ‘through us’ because Christ said:

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

The Truth is that “we are the temple of God… the household of God… the beloved city… the New Jerusalem… a bride adorned for her Husband”, and we are espoused to Christ with all those titles right here and now. As such, Christ is sending us to accomplish what His Father sent Him to accomplish, which is:

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Christ’s doctrine is that “the kingdom of God is within you”, and as such we are all children of Jerusalem above and saviors who have “come up on Mount Zion”. Obadiah reveals to us that the judgment of the world is done by “the kingdom [which] is the Lord’s”. Therefore, it is made very clear that it is “the kingdom of the Lord”, His elect saints, who will be the judges of all the rest of mankind:

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luk 17:22  And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
Luk 17:23  And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.
Luk 17:24  For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
Luk 17:25  But first must he [and His Christ] suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
Luk 17:26  And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luk 17:27  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:28  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
Luk 17:29  But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:30  Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

That stage of building of the new heavens and a new earth is the stage we are in at this very moment… at “this present time”. It is our time of dying daily to our old man as our new man increases daily. That daily dying is very painful, but we are incentivized to endure to the end 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.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
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.

This stage of the construction of the new heavens and new earth is this down-payment “earnest of the spirit” stage (Eph 1:14) where the Lord is allowing the tares to grow with the wheat in the kingdom of God. This is not the post-first resurrection New Jerusalem, nor is it the post-great white throne judgment New Jerusalem. “Dust shall be the serpent’s meat” is “the kingdom of God is within you” stage of the New Jerusalem. In other words, these verses of Isaiah 65 are primarily speaking to us of our own time in these fleshly vessels of clay. The serpent is given no dust to eat in the great white throne judgment. He himself is being devoured by the flames of the words of truth.

For the sake of context here are the last three verses of our last study:

Isa 65:18  But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
Isa 65:19  And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
Isa 65:20  There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.

Both “I will rejoice in Jerusalem” and “joy in my people” are in the Qal stem. “The voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying” is in the ‘Niphal’ tense, or ‘stem’, and this is how that part of Hebrew grammar is defined:

H8833
Niphal
a) Niphal is the “passive” of Qal-See [H8851]

The point is that this construction of Jerusalem is a process, and therefore this is who “Jerusalem” here in verse 19 symbolizes:

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

God’s elect are His “bride adorned for her husband” who have “the name of the city of [their] God written upon [them]”, and they are the subject of the verses we will be studying today. These verses are certainly not primarily addressed to those who do not overcome in this present time, and who in this age are not the Lord’s “elect” (vs 22). These verses of our study today are for us in “this present time”.

Before we continue, I want to finish making the point concerning the word ‘judgment’ with which we concluded our last study:

Here is how Christ describes this particular ‘sinner’ who is feasting with His people in ‘Jerusalem’:

Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests [at the marriage of the king’s Son (vs 2)] he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

This man was taking part in the wedding of the King’s Son, and yet he was discovered to not have a wedding garment! This is how those who are given a proper wedding garment are to avoid the fate of that man:

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge [G1252: diakrino, verb, separate, make a distinction, to prefer] ourselves, we should not be judged [G2919: krino, verb].
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged [G2919: krino, verb, judged in this present time] we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned [G2632: katakrino, down judged, judged against] with the world.

Being “condemned with the world” refers to the judgment against “the ungodly and sinners” (1Pe 4:18) of this age who will “appear” at the “white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death” because they are not being judged as “the house of God… in this present time”, and are not given a wedding garment in this age. Christ distinguished those being judged in “this present time” from the judgment of all others:

Mat 23:33  Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation [G2920: Greek, krisi, judgment] of hell? [G1067, Greek: ghenna, the great white throne judgment, krisis, the  lake of fire/second death].

This message of the order of being judged is reaffirmed in:

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment [Greek: krisis, G2920] also, because he is the Son of man.
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 [at the beginning of the thousand year reign]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Exact same Greek word translated ‘judgment’ in verse 27, krisis, G2920… the “white throne… judgment” (Rev 20:11-15)].

This order of judgment is again reaffirmed in:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment [G2917: ‘krima’, noun, neuter, same root as the Greek noun: ‘krisis’ G2920: feminine, noun], 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? [The answer to Peter’s rhetorical question is that they will be “condemned with the world to the “resurrection of damnation, Greek krisis, (Joh 5:27-29) over a thousand years after the first resurrection]
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.

All “[the Lord’s] elect” who are in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” are even now in down-payment form given to build and plant the things of the spiritual ‘kingdom within’ themselves, and to even now eat the fruits of the spirit, and to have dominion over every beast in their lives, even in “this present time” as the elect of the Lord:

Isa 65:21  And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

Christ gives us the best example of the houses being built by the Lord’s elect, and He gives us the contrast between the houses of His people and the houses which are built by anyone else:

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.

When we “do the things which [our Lord] says” only then are we living in the house we built upon a Rock because that ‘Rock’ is Christ Himself and “the things [He tells us to do]”.

When we accept completely that the Lord Himself is “working all things after the counsel of His own will, and that He is working all things together for good to them who love Him and are the called according to His purpose, then we will be doing the things our Lord tells us to do. If we are given to be obedient, then we will reap and eat the good fruit of our own vineyard, and no one will be able to take it from us:

Isa 65:22  They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

There is that phrase “mine elect” again. We, the Lord’s elect, are the subject of this entire 65^th chapter as we read in:

Isa 65:9  And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

Christ Himself is the seed brought forth out of Jacob, and according to Christ Himself, we are Him:

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

If we are granted as His elect to endure to the end in this present time, then we will indeed ”Long enjoy the work of our hands” ruling with a crown of life with Christ for a thousand years, after which we will also become “saviors… on Mount Zion [and] judge[s of] angels” in the great white throne judgment:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

We are not saved in this present time simply for our own benefit. Rather we are being saved in this present time for the purpose of showing all others the same mercy of which we, in this present time, are the first recipients.

“We [are]… the first to trust in Christ” (Eph 1:12). That is predestined and certain:

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
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:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

“The Father” (vs 2) is working all things after the counsel of His own will that we… who first trusted in Christ… should be to the praise of his glory”. However, we will not know beyond any question that we are those “who first trusted in Christ… faithful… to the end” until we are raised up in “the resurrection of life” (Joh 5:27-29). That is why we’re told:

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Paul reaffirms the efficacy of this mindset in the very next chapter of this same epistle to the Philippians:

Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Paul now goes on to make clear the resurrection for which he is striving:

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect [are being perfected], be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

If it is proven that we are in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” then:

Isa 65:23  They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.

Christ never physically married, yet what we are told of His spiritual offspring is that they are far more in number than His first physical wife who is always the first to be very fertile in the things of the flesh.

Isa 53:8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Act 8:33  In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

It is to us, if we are “His generation”, that these words are addressed:

Isa 65:24  And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

These words are true, but they are not telling us that we don’t need to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling”. We are commanded to ‘call out’ to our Savior, and we are that ‘importunate widow’ of the Lord’s parable because that is what He tells us to be:

Luk 18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Luk 18:2  Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
Luk 18:3  And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
Luk 18:4  And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
Luk 18:5  Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
Luk 18:6  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
Luk 18:7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

The greatest adversary any of us face in this life is that beast we face in the mirror every morning. The worst feature of every beast of the field is to be found in that one beast which comes up out of the vast sea of all flesh with “seven heads and ten horns” being empowered and enthroned by the “great red dragon” (Rev 12:3).

Rev 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having [like his father] seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

That is the enemy of the importunate widow, and by giving us dominion over that enemy within us, Christ is avenging us of our enemy, and the wild beast with seven heads and ten horns is now under our dominion, and we are no longer under his dominion.

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.

”For he that is dead…” is in the aorist tense, but “…is freed from sin” is in the perfect tense, which means that we are “dying daily” to that inward, multi-headed beast (1Co 15:31), and that is the meaning of:

Isa 65:25  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

“They [these beasts] shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain” is just another way of saying ‘They shall not hurt nor destroy the kingdom of God within us’ here and now in this present time.

It accords with the witness of John the Baptist when he was inspired to say this about Christ:

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

All of our trials in this present time are working together for our good, and if we are the Christ of Christ, then those trials will all serve only to transform our old man’s death into the strength and the birth of our new man, Christ within us. Our trials are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is yet to be revealed in us at “the resurrection of life”:

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.

That is our study for today. Next week we will begin the last chapter of Isaiah, chapter 66, and these are the verses we will be studying. It is all the same message. The Lord is taking vengeance upon the heavens and the kingdom of our rebellious old man and is in the process of blessing the heavens and the kingdom of God within our new man:

Isa 66:1  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Isa 66:3  He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
Isa 66:4  I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.
Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
Isa 66:6  A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.