Plunging into The Glory, C. R. Oliver [feel good novels txt] 📗

Isaiah 63:1-7

The Prophet:

'Who is this who comes…with his magnificent garments of crimson? Who is this in royal robes, marching in the greatness of his strength?'

God's Answer:

'It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation; I, the Lord, the One who is mighty to save!'

The Prophet:

'Why are your clothes so red, as from treading out the grapes?'

God's Answer:

'I have trodden the winepress alone. No one was there to help Me. In My wrath I have trodden My enemies like grapes. In My fury I trampled My foes. It is their blood you see upon My clothes. 4 For the time has come for Me to avenge My people, to redeem them from the hands of their oppressors. 5 I looked butno one came to help them; I was amazed and appalled. So I executed vengeance alone; unaided, I meted out judgment.
6 I crushed the heathen nations in My anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground.'

The Prophet:

7 I will tell of the loving-kindnesses of God.

TLB

The Lord revealed no one rose to help Him. That which Jesus could not announce (that day in the Temple) has arrived, "the day of vengeance." Where are His helpers? Where are those intercessors? Where are the people of God who stand with Him and are His servants? 

Answering the Lord's declaration, Isaiah verbalizes what should have been a national prayer from Israel. He experiences the distance from God that has characterized His people. Isaiah takes on the personae of the whole nation and their history of abandoning the Lord. He truly is an intercessor. 

Hear his plea:

Isaiah 63:19
O God, why do you treat us as though we weren't your people, as though we were a heathen nation that never called you "Lord"?
TLB

Chapter 64 (Intercession Continued):

Isaiah 64:1 Oh, that You would burst forth from the skies and come down.

Isaiah 64:2-5 
The consuming fire of Your glory would burn down the forests and boil the oceans dry. The nations would tremble before You; then Your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! 3 So it was before when You came down, for You did awesome things beyond our highest expectations, and how the mountains quaked! 4 For since the world began no one has seen or heard of such a God as ours, who works for those who wait for him! 5 You welcome those who cheerfully do good, who follow godly ways.

Isaiah 64:5 (His national confession)
We are not godly; we are constant sinners and have been all our lives. 

8 Yet, O Lord, You are our Father. 

12 Will You stand silent and still punish us?

Isaiah offers one of the greatest prayers in the Bible. It would do well to stand on the steps of all the nation's capitols and cry out what he cried out, lest the nations experience what Israel did. 

The Lord answered His plea. 

Chapter 65:

Isaiah 65:1
The Lord says, "People who never before inquired about Me are now seeking me out. Nations who never before searched for Me are finding Me."

The Lord reminded Isaiah that even though Israel had forgotten Him, there are others who have not. The birth of the Church caused the expansion of His people and the establishment of His kingdom. He revealed to Isaiah He no longer depends on Israel to be His witness to the world. Even though His plan is set before Him, He will honor His chosen ones.

Isaiah 65:8-9
8 'I will not destroy them all,' says the Lord; 'for just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones (and someone will say, 'Don't throw them all away--there are some good grapes there!') so I will not destroy all Israel, for I have true servants there. 9 I will preserve a remnant of My people to possess the land of Israel.

There was an Israel of God within Israel the nation; just as there is a people of God among the flocks of churches. O' church, just as it should not have been in the days of Isaiah, it should not be today, not all Israel was God's Israel and not all the church is THE CHURCH. 

However, the message of God is clear for this hour. Rise Up, O Church within the church, and let your light shine!

2 Timothy 2:19
Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are His,' and, 'Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.'
NKJV

Isaiah said it as well.

Isaiah 28:16-17
Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation,
A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
Whoever believes will not act hastily. 
17 Also I will make justice the measuring line,
And righteousness the plummet;
NKJV

The Lord's answer to Isaiah's intercession did not veer from His plan.

Isaiah 65:13-15
13 Therefore, the Lord God says, "You shall starve, but My servants shall eat; you shall be thirsty while they drink; you shall be sad and ashamed, but they shall rejoice. 14 You shall cry in sorrow and vexation and despair, while they sing for joy. 15 Your name shall be a curse word among My people, for the Lord God will slay you and call His true servants by another name.
TLB

The Lord points to a future time, maybe even beyond current times, when He will establish His Temple, His Jerusalem, His heaven on earth, with the people of a NEW NAME.

Isaiah 65:16-25
'And yet, the days will come when all who invoke a blessing or take an oath shall swear by the God of Truth; for I will put aside My anger and forget the evil that you did. 17 For see, I am creating new heavens and a new earth--so wonderful that no one will even think about the old ones anymore. 18 Be glad; rejoice forever in My creation. Look! I will recreate Jerusalem as a place of happiness, and her people shall be a joy! 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and in My people; and the voice of weeping and crying shall not be heard there anymore.' 

20 'No longer will babies die when only a few days old; no longer will men be considered old at 100! Only sinners will die that young! 21 In those days, when a man builds a house, he will keep on living in it--it will not be destroyed by invading armies as in the past. My people will plant vineyards and eat the fruit themselves--their enemies will not confiscate it. For My people will live as long as trees and will long enjoy their hard--won gains. 23 Their harvests will not be eaten by their enemies; their children will not be born to be cannon fodder. For they are the children of those the Lord has blessed; and their children, too, shall be blessed. 24 I will answer them before they even call to Me. While they are still talking to Me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! 25 The wolf and lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw as the ox does, and poisonous snakes shall strike no more! In those days nothing and no one shall be hurt or destroyed in all My Holy Mountain,' says the Lord. TLB

(Reader: Can you read this passage without shouting, "Haste the Day?" If not, then you had best read it again!) 

Yes, the Lord knew the sin of His people without Isaiah's national confession. 

Most of this chapter reveals the intricacies of a people who did not honor Him, but He chose to promise a new day. We have a forward-facing God, who dwells not on the past, but in what He can do with the future. The nations of the earth are fast becoming what is defined in the first portion of this chapter. Nonetheless, His eye is cast toward the end of "that" and the beginning of "His Day." 

Chapter 66:

The final chapter in Isaiah is one of separation. The Lord separates the unholy Jew from the holy ones. He separates the nations that support Israel and those who do not. He promises blessing to the holy and retribution to the loose, unchaste, hypocritical religious fakers. He knows the difference. 

The Lord promises a New Jerusalem which will be established in a day. Many point to these Scriptures and say, "1948 saw Israel born in a day," here is proof. The beginning lines of this chapter seem to aim at the Zionist wish to re-establish the Temple and sacrifices.

Isaiah 66:1-4
'Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool: What Temple can you build for Me as good as that? 2 My hand has made both earth and skies, and they are Mine. Yet I will look with pity on the man who has a humble and a contrite heart, who trembles at My word.' 

3 'But those who choose their own ways, delighting in their sins, are cursed. God will not accept their offerings. When such men sacrifice an ox on the altar of God, it is no more acceptable to him than human sacrifice. If they sacrifice a lamb or bring an offering of grain, it is as loathsome to God as putting a dog or the blood of a swine on his altar! When they burn incense to him, he counts it the same as though they blessed an idol. 4 I will send great troubles upon them--all the things they feared, for when I called them, they refused to answer, and when I spoke to them, they would not hear. Instead, they did wrong before my eyes and chose what they knew I despised.' 
TLB

When secular-religious people take charge of sacred duties, the sacred becomes unholy. 

This entire chapter is spoken to those familiar with the things of God. Look at the passages that say, "I called and you didn't answer." (The rich man in hell was a devout Jew!) 

Note: that which began in Chapter 65 will be repeated.

Isaiah 65:12 'When I called, you didn't answer; when I spoke, you wouldn't listen.You deliberately sinned before my very eyes, choosing to do what you know I despise.' 

Isaiah 66:4
'When I called them, they refused to answer, and when I spoke to them, they would not hear. Instead, they did wrong before my eyes and chose what they knew I despised."

Chip Brim was correct in asking God, "Why are you going to punish this nation?" God's answer came in sounds, sounds of "a gavel coming down." Bam: no prayer in public schools. Bam: Roe vs. Wade. Bam: Take down the Ten Commandments from government building. Bam: Gay marriage. With each gavel sound came another determination against God. 

Repetition is a didactic form; it adds emphasis and sets principles.

Isaiah 66:2

'Yet I will look with pity on the man who has a humble and a contrite heart, who trembles at My word.' 

Isaiah 66:5
5 'Hear the words of God, all you who fear him, and tremble at his words: "Your brethren hate you and cast you out for being loyal to My name." "Glory to God," they scoff. "Be happy in the Lord!" But they shall be put to shame.' 
TLB

I believe there are three separate scenes regarding Jerusalem in this final prophetic word. I firmly believe the Lord gave Isaiah a vision of Jerusalem that scanned its spiritual significance from the beginning of time to the very end of time. Isaiah witnessed the Jerusalem of his day, but saw it spiritually from its start to finish (note: Acts 3).

1. The Jerusalem of Jesus' Day:
Isaiah 66:6
6 'What is all the commotion in the city? What is that terrible noise from the Temple? It is the voice of the Lord taking vengeance upon his enemies.' 

Judgment begins with the house of God.