Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20040725.htm

ISAIAH: GOD'S DIRECTIVES TO THOSE TROUBLED AT GOVERNMENTAL APOSTASY
Part L: God's Salvation During The Great Tribulation
(Isaiah 63:1-65:25)
  1. Introduction
    1. When the Church is raptured to heaven, a great shift in God's program for the world will occur: the entire community of believing Christians will have been removed from the earth, leaving the world steeped in iniquity and darkness, awaiting God's Great Tribulation wrath, cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:9!
    2. In light of this turn in God's program, today's Christian may ask: "What is going to be the fate of dear but unsaved associates I now know were that rapture to occur today? What may I now do to help them?!"
    3. Combining what Isaiah 63:1-65:25 informs us prophetically about that coming Great Tribulation Period with what Revelation 19:11-21:8 predicts supplies answers to these questions (as follows):
  2. God's Salvation During The Great Tribulation, Isaiah 63:1-65:25.
    1. In the Tribulation Period, God will avenge the mistreatment of His people, Isa. 63:1-6 with 2 Thess. 1:6-8.
      1. In Isaiah 63:1, God is pictured coming from Edom (meaning "red") with His garments dyed red with the blood of people in Edom's capital, Bozrah. (compare this to the description of Christ's Second Coming in Rev. 19:11-13). Edom was Israel's particularly noxious enemy, so this picture describes God's taking vengeance on Edom for its great mistreatment of Israel, Bib. Know. Com., O.T., p. 1117.
      2. God's will thus avenge the oppression of His own, Isa. 63:2-6 with 59:14-16 and Rev. 19:14-15, 21.
    2. However, during the coming Great Tribulation, Israel as a nation, in great distress, will pray a pitiful prayer in spiritual weakness unto the Lord, Isaiah 63:7-64:12:
      1. Israel will recall God's past help for her from the ancient Egyptian bondage, Isaiah 63:7-9.
      2. She will recall temporary afflictions of her past due to her sins, and recall God's past rescues of her from these afflictions when she called unto God for deliverance, Isaiah 63:10-14.
      3. Yet, during her unparalleled, prolonged, great suffering of the Great Tribulation Period, Israel will wonder why God is not quickly rescuing her from this her greatest of all afflictions, Isaiah 63:15-64:12.
    3. God's response to this prayer reveals His final plans for the nation Israel, Isaiah 65:1-25:
      1. First, God explains why He will unusually distance Himself from Israel in the Great Tribulation:
        1. God explains that Gentiles [during the Church era] had found God although they had not sought Him out as His chosen people, Isaiah 65:1.
        2. Opposite these Gentile believers, God reveals the nation Israel had refused God even though He had spent much of human history seeking the nation Israel's repentance and fellowship, Isaiah 65:2.
        3. Indeed, the nation Israel will have spent much of history provoking God to wrath, 65:3-7: (a) Israel by then will have provoked God in turning to idols, Isaiah 65:3. (b) She by then will have provoked Him by outright desecration of the Mosaic Law, Isaiah 65:4. (c) The nation Israel by then will have provoked God in hypocritically professing a "holier-than-thou" attitude in relation to Gentiles, Isaiah 65:5. (d) Consequently, God's wrath by then will have finally expressed itself against Israel in the Tribulation with such steep trials coupled with God's distancing Himself from her, 65:6-7, 2.
      2. Yet, God promised salvation and blessing for the believing remnant in the Great Tribulation, 65:8-16.
      3. Following this Great Tribulation, God predicted there will be a new order of blessing for believers:
        1. God promised to make a new heavens and a new earth for believers, Isa. 65:17a (cf. Rev. 21:1).
        2. Israel's former suffering in the Great Tribulation will not then be recalled, 65:17b (cf. Rev. 21:4).
        3. During the Messianic reign that precedes this state, man will enjoy long life (Isa. 65:20), agricultural peace and blessing (65:21-23), spiritual intimacy with God Who will answer Israel's prayer before she even prays (65:24) and the removal of the Adamic curse on nature, Isa. 65:25; Genesis 3:14-19.
        4. [In concert with this prophecy, Rev. 20:4-6 with 21:26 reveals who are martyred in the Great Tribulation will be raised after this era to enjoy Messiah's Millennial reign.]
Lesson: Individuals will be saved during the coming Great Tribulation, but under great trial!

Application: We who will be RAPTURED before the Tribulation owe great love to the lost in our relating to them, for what trouble they will face after the rapture will be so horrific, the MEMORY of the LOVE of God they see in US can cause them to LONG for Him so as to TRUST Him for salvation! (Romans 13:8)