THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Isaiah: Jahweh Is Salvation

Part LXXVII: God's Fulfillment Of His Future Promises

B. God's Spiritual Rebirth Of The Nation Israel In The Kingdom

(Isaiah 66:7-14)

I. Introduction

A. The time will finally come when the Lord institutes the Millennial Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ!

B. Isaiah 66:7-14 presents God's teaching on the spiritual rebirth of the nation Israel in the Kingdom, and we view this passage for insight and edification in our era (as follows):

II. God's Spiritual Rebirth Of The Nation Israel In The Kingdom, Isaiah 66:7-14.

A. At Christ's Second Coming, the people of Israel will realize that they as a nation had rejected and crucified their Messiah, resulting in national repentance and God's cleansing of the nation Israel, Zechariah 12:10-13:1.

B. Using the illustration of a woman who goes into labor to give birth to a child followed by her nurturing that child on even unto adulthood, Isaiah 66:7-14 describes how God will produce Israel's spiritual rebirth:

1. First, in contrast to how a woman goes into labor, experiencing pain before she delivers her child, Israel's spiritual rebirth will be so sudden that seemingly before she goes into labor and experiences pain, she will be spiritually reborn, Isaiah 66:7-8; Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1120.

2. Second, Israel's spiritual rebirth will be surely occur, Isaiah 66:9. God claimed that He does not bring one to the point of birth and not cause his birth to occur, that He does not cause a woman to go into labor to bear a child and then close up her womb to keep the birth from occurring. The rhetorical questions that expect a negative reply emphasize the reality of Israel's coming spiritual rebirth! (Ibid.)

3. Third, Israel's spiritual rebirth will supply various personal blessings to Israel's individuals, Isa. 66:10-14:

a. Israel's spiritual rebirth will cause the blessing of a joyful spirit in place of her past mourning, Isa. 66:10.

b. Israel's spiritual rebirth will produce personal consolation and satisfaction for individuals, Isaiah 66:11: (1) like an infant who is completely consoled when he nurses, new believers spiritually reborn in Israel will find complete consolation from past grief and fear through fellowship with God, Isa. 66:11a. (2) Like an infant who is completely satisfied by drinking deeply when he nurses, new believers spiritually reborn in Israel will delight in their glorious spiritual satisfaction found in the Lord, Isaiah 66:11b.

c. Israel's spiritual rebirth will produce great peace like an ever flowing river in her people akin to Christ's prediction of the Holy Spirit being like a flowing fountain in the inner man, Isaiah 66:12a; John 7:37-39.

d. Israel's spiritual rebirth will produce the blessings of the glories of the Gentile nations overflowing towards her people in great contrast to the former days when the Gentiles seized her goods, Isaiah 66:12b.

e. Israel's spiritual rebirth will produce great fellowship with God like how a mother fellowships with her infant by nursing him, carrying him on her hip and bouncing him on her knees when she sits, Isa. 66:12c.

f. Israel's spiritual rebirth will produce blessings of God's help as one matures like a mother who comforts even her nobleman son ('ish, "nobleman," is emphatic, v. 13; E. J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, 1974, v. III, p. 527; R. B. Girdlestone, Syns. of the O. T., 1973, p. 49): they will have health of soul and body (Isa. 66:13, 14a,b) and spiritual health where they see God's strong hand in their walk, Isa. 66:14c; Jn. 14:21-23.

g. Israel's rebirth will produce God's angry punishment of His people's foes, Isaiah 66:14d.

Lesson: Israel's spiritual rebirth at the start of the Messianic Kingdom will be sudden, sure and produce the manifold, varied blessings of joy, consolation, satisfaction with God's blessings, abundant peace, temporal blessings from the world's Gentile nations, fellowship with God, health in the inner man, the human body and the spirit with evident witness of God's clear power at work in one's experience to bless him and to punish his ungodly foes. This ministry will continue even as Israel matures in her walk with God even unto spiritual adulthood.

Application: (1) Since Israel's spiritual new birth is akin to the regeneration that occurs when one trusts in Christ as Savior today, we enjoy the spiritual blessings Israel will know in her regeneration, so we can anticipate God's application of His salvation to our bodies for the blessings we will enjoy in that realm, Romans 8:18-23. (2) Since relying on the Holy Spirit produces the Galatians 5:22-23 fruit of the Spirit akin to Israel's Kingdom blessings where failure to rely on the Spirit by living in the sin nature leads to barrenness (Galatians 5:19-21), may we be motivated from Isaiah 66:7-14 to keep relying on the Holy Spirit to retain God's blessings of spiritual fulfillment. (3) May we apply these truths as we spiritually grow even unto spiritual adulthood in the Lord!