Revelation 19:1-21 Part 4 - Supplemental - Isaiah 8-11
REVELATION 19:1-21 Part 4
Christmas Day 2011
Supplemental: Isaiah 8-11
1) After these I heard as a great sound of a multitude in the heaven saying “halleluia the salvation and the glory and the power of our God,
2) for His judgments are true and just; for He judged the great harlot that corrupted the earth in her fornication and avenged His servants’ blood at her hand.”
3) Then again they declared “halleluia! Her smoke ascends into the ages of ages.”
4) Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped The God seated over the throne, saying “Amen! Halleluia!”
5) Then there came forth a sound from the throne saying, “all you His servants, the small and the great who are afeared, extol our God!”
6) Then I heard as sound of a multitude and as sound of many waters and as sound of mighty thunders saying “halleluia! Kurios the Almighty God reigns!
7) Rejoicing and celebrating we will give Him the glory, for the wedding feast of the Lamb did come! And His betrothed did ready herself!
8) And it was given to her that she be arrayed in pure, bright linen; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the holy ones.”
9) Then he says to me, “write: ‘blessed the ones called to the wedding feast of the Lamb’”; and says to me, “these true words are from God”.
10) And I fell before his feet to pay homage to him, and he says “see you not do that, for I am the fellow servant of you and your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
11) Then I saw the heaven opened and, lo, a white horse; and seated upon it One called Faithful and True, and He judges and wages war in righteousness,
12) His eyes as flaming fire, many diadems on His head, having a written name that is known by no one but Him.
13) He was clothed about – the raiment blood-spattered, and His Name called The Word of God,
14) the armies in the heaven – clothed in pure white linen - following Him on white horses,
15) a sharp sword proceeding from His mouth, that with it He would smite the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. And He treads the winepress of the wine of the wrath – the vengeance of Almighty God.
16) And He has a name written on His raiment and on His thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
17) Then I saw one messenger standing in the sun; and it cried out – a great sound – saying to all the birds flying in mid-heaven: “Come! Gather to the great feast of God
18) that you may eat the flesh of rulers, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of the strong, the flesh of horses and of those sitting upon them, the flesh of all – both free and slave, small and great.
19) Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to wage war with the One sitting upon the horse and His army;
20) and the beast was seized (and with it the false prophet that did the signs before it by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and paid homage to its image); both were cast alive into the lake of fire, being burned in brimstone;
21) and the remaining ones were killed with the sword of the One sitting upon the horse – that which proceeded from His mouth; and all the birds were gorged from their flesh.
As John looks on in God’s tabernacle in the heaven, he is shown (from God’s purview) that which “was” and “is”; and he is shown that which is to come to pass quickly… all of which is prophesied in the older Scriptures.
Being the “capstone” of all Revelation, it is shown to Him via the great “covenantal matters”. Since it is the mind of God regarding His Own history (all of it), it is meticulously integrated and interwoven so that there is perfect continuity from Genesis one to the last words of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. And John was shown it all from the point of view of the covenant made in Triune Godhead before there was a creation. It is revealed in covenantal terms and in language that is recognizable throughout.
Misappropriation of the text of The Revelation comes from not recognizing that language, and from ignoring the covenantal context in which God reveals His will and purpose. It’s only when folks impose their own language and their own historical context on God’s Revelation that the letter to the Churches becomes unintelligible.
That’s the reason that we’ve gone to the Scriptures innumerable times in the last three and a half years. We’ve done that in order to give us a clear and unquestionable connection between the language and context of the older prophetic Word and that which we find here in John’s letter.
And since this is the celebration of the birth of Christ the Lord (XRISTOS KURIOS), I’d like to take you back to another portion of the prophetic Word – this one concerning His birth (700 years in the future) and the covenantal context in which it was spoken. And as we read you’ll hear all of the context surrounding that wonderful future event, and that both context and language are the same that which we find in John’s Revelation.
We hear the words of God through the prophet Isaiah every year when the season rolls around. They’re made famous in Handel’s Messiah… and that’s good! But hardly anyone ever reads the context in which they were spoken to Isaiah! They just hear the words and make the leap directly to the nativity scene in the New Testament!
But the fact is that that context is required reading for our understanding of God’s Revelation of Jesus Christ – not only in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, but also to the apostle John here in his letter to the Churches!
So what we’re going to do this morning is read portions of what God said to Isaiah concerning the birth of the Son; and, as we go, we’ll make some pertinent comments about the context.
As verse ten of our Revelation text says, “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”! As we hear and learn the prophetic Word, hopefully we all will be strengthened to hold the testimony of Jesus and keep His Commandments; for the testimony of Jesus IS the very “breath” (spirit) of prophecy!
Here then is what Isaiah writes… first at chapter eight:
11) For this is what YAHVEH said to me with great authority, to keep me from going the way of this people:
12) ‘Do not call everything an alliance these people say is an alliance. Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified.
13) You are to regard only YAHVEH of Hosts as holy. Only He must be feared; only He must be held in dread.
14) He is a sanctuary; (a tabernacle) But for the two houses of Israel, He will be a stone by which to be crushed and a rock to trip on (and be smashed), and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15) Many will stumble (and fall) over these; they will fall and be broken; they will be snared and trapped.
16) Bind up the testimony. Seal up the law among my disciples.’
17) I will wait for YAHVEH who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will wait for Him.
18) Here I am (with the children YAHVEH has given me) to be signs and wonders in Israel from YAHVEH of Hosts who dwells on Mount Zion.
19) ‘When they say to you, ‘Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,’ shouldn't a people consult their God? [Should they consult] the dead on behalf of the living?
20) To the law and to the testimony! Should they not speak according to this Word, there will be no dawn for them (the light… the dawning of a new day… they won’t be there for that!).
21) They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their God and king.
22) They will look at the land and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.
To the Law and the Testimony! They both speak of the coming Christ of God, you see. The essence (or spirit) of the prophetic Word is the testimony of Jesus Who is the Light of the World… the dawning of the Day!
Rather than joyfully anticipating the announced coming of the Savior of the World Who is Light and Life, the house of Jacob (Israel) was consulting with the dead through spiritists, wizards and fortune tellers. And their end was famine and affliction and thick darkness over the whole land.
And I might just mention before we go on, that any nation – any people – whose expectation is lodged in something other than The Christ of God is already blinded, and will suffer the same condition prophesied of Israel! He is Light and Life; the opposite is thick darkness and death. And I don’t think we have to do much analyzing to see that there’s a pall of darkness settling over our own country. Temporary… yes; but with consequences… absolutely.
But that’s for another day. Let’s go on…. Here are the Words of YAHVEH through the prophet Isaiah – from chapter nine:
1) Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land won’t be like that of the former times when He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future He will bring honor to the way of the Sea (to the West), to the land east of the Jordan (to the East), and to Galilee of the nations (to the North).
2) The people walking in darkness (Gentile nations) will see a great light; on those living in the land of darkness, a light will dawn.
3) You will enlarge the nations and increase their joy. [The people] will rejoice before You as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils (celebrating).
4) For You will shatter their burdensome yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as [You did] on the day of Midian.
5) For the trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will all be burned as fuel for the fire.
6) For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government (of those nations) will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7) The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of YAHVEH of Hosts will accomplish this.
In the triune counsel of Almighty God, the One to be born will be the “Wonderful Counselor” Who will establish His Kingdom among all the nations which before had only walked in darkness; and He will sustain His Kingdom with justice and righteousness. And its prosperity will never end.
Israel and the city of Jerusalem will be blinded in gross darkness, and experience famine and plagues and gross incivility; but the light of the dawning of a new day will shine upon the nations; for a child will be born to us! And the government (of the nations) will be on His shoulder; and His Kingdom will be forever! The great “zeal” of YAHVEH is the salvation of the world, you see. That’s what the One “born” to us that day is doing among us Gentiles to this very day!
But… more about that in a few minutes. For now, let’s continue with God’s Word to Isaiah there in chapter nine:
8) YAHVEH sent a message against Jacob; it came against Israel.
9) All the people — Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria (northern Israel) —will know it. They will say with pride and arrogance:
10) "The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with cut stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars."
11) YAHVEH has raised up Rezin's adversaries against him and stirred up his enemies.
12) Aram from the east and Philistia from the west will consume Israel with open mouths. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [in anger].
13) The people did not turn to Him who struck them; they did not seek YAHVEH of Hosts.
14) So YAHVEH will cut off Israel's head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day.
15) The head is the elder, the honored one; the tail is the prophet, the lying teacher.
16) The leaders of the people mislead [them], and those they mislead are swallowed up.
17) Therefore YAHVEH does not rejoice over Israel's young men, and has no compassion on its fatherless and widows, for everyone is a godless evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [in anger].
18) For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets so that they go up in a column of smoke.
19) The land will be scorched by the wrath of YAHVEH of Hosts, and the people will be like fuel for the fire. No one will have compassion on his brother.
20) They carve out on the right, but they are [still] hungry; they have eaten on the left, but they are [still] not satisfied. Each one will eat the flesh of his own arm.
21) Manasseh with Ephraim, and Ephraim with Manasseh; together, both against Judah. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike].
As God speaks to Isaiah, He has afflicted Israel over and over, and would do so again and again throughout her history. And through it all, she would cry out to Him for an end to her misery. And YAHVEH would relent… only to have Israel go right back to her harlotry and idolatry as soon as her condition improved! So He says to Isaiah that His Right Hand – His strong Right Arm – is still raised in wrath and vengeance! And He will consume them in the fire of His wrath.
The language of our Lord that was spoken to His disciples before His crucifixion was first heard by Isaiah right here in chapter nine! When His disciples were questioning Jesus about the signs of His Parousia (Matthew chapter twenty-four) He told them of the dire conditions that would overtake Israel in those last days… the plagues and famines so severe that family members would turn on one another, and there would be pseudo-prophets and pseudo-christs and roving bands of thieves and murderers, and despair and even cannibalism. And John, too, was shown these plagues, you remember, in earlier chapters of the Revelation.
Ultimately the entire land would be burned in the fiery heat of the wrath of God; and the smoke of the burning would ascend as incense into the ages as God’s vengeance is satisfied. That same language is here in chapter nineteen of John’s Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Now reading God’s words at the beginning of chapter ten:
1) Woe to those enacting crooked statutes and writing oppressive laws
2) to keep the poor from getting a fair trial and to deprive the afflicted among my people of justice, so that widows can be their spoil and they can plunder the fatherless.
3) What will you do on the day of judgment when desolation comes from afar? Who will you run to for help? Where will you go with your wealth then?
4) [There will be nothing to do] except crouch among the captives or fall among the slain. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [in anger]….
20) But in that day the remnant of Israel – the survivors of the house of Jacob – will no longer depend on the one who struck them (that’s the beast), but they will faithfully depend on YAHVEH, the Holy One of Israel.
21) The remnant – the remnant of Jacob – will return to the Mighty God.
22) Israel, even if your people were as numerous as the sand of the sea, [only] a remnant of them will return. Destruction has been decreed; justice will overflow.
23) For throughout the land YAHVEH GOD of Hosts will carry out a destruction that was decreed.
Right after the prophecy of the birth of a Son Who would bring light and life and justice and righteousness to the nations (One Whose Kingdom would be forever) comes the prophetic Word of Israel’s complete desolation in the wrath of YAHVEH! That one who Israel trusted, and on which she depended (that’s the fourth beast), would strike her; and only a remnant would be saved and turn to YAHVEH.
And remember, John watched while God showed him that remnant being found and marked and sealed and rescued from the land before the great and terrible “Day of YAHVEH”. It was the remnant of the house of Jacob Who Jesus Himself said that He came to seek and to save. It was first revealed to Isaiah in that same language right here in chapter ten of his prophecy.
Now for a few verses of chapter eleven….
1) A shoot will grow from the stock of Jesse, a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
2) The Spirit of YAHVEH will rest on Him — a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of YAHVEH.
3) His delight will be in the fear of YAHVEH. He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes, He will not execute justice by what He hears with His ears,
4) but He will judge the poor righteously and execute justice for the humble of the earth. He will smite the earth with the rod from His mouth, and He will put the wicked to death with the breath from His lips.
5) Righteousness and faithfulness will be a girdle around His loins.
6) The wolf will sojourn with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together, and a child will lead them.
7) The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like an ox.
8) A suckling will play beside the hole of an asp, and a toddler will put his hand on a snake's den.
9) They will do no evil nor harm or destroy in My holy mountain, for the earth will be as full of the knowledge of YAHVEH as the water covers the sea.
10) On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His rest will be glorious….
In the progression of God’s Word through Isaiah, chapter eight (with which we began this reading) is a continuation (of course, from chapter one) of the sin and iniquity of Jerusalem and all the land of Israel. This people had had the light of God’s Law-word and the testimony of prophecy. It had all served to promote their deep depravity.
The nations (Gentile nations) however, had no light of the Law and the Testimony. They had always been in darkness. Israel’s iniquity therefore was so much greater than that of the Gentiles.
God then reveals to Isaiah a great light dawning on the nations of the earth. And Israel would be driven into thick darkness. A Son would be born; and His dominion would be over all the nations. His Name would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and The Prince of Peace. And of His reign and rule there would be no end.
Then God reveals His will and purpose regarding Israel. Isaiah hears that the Hand of God’s fierce anger would be raised against her until she was completely destroyed and the columns of her smoke ascended into the heaven. It was a “decreed” destruction from which only a remnant would be saved. That remnant was the “lost sheep of the house of Jacob” which The Son saved from God’s wrath.
And now we hear what God revealed to Isaiah regarding the just and righteous dominion of The Son over all the nations. Those that previously walked in darkness will see a great light! His reign and rule (from the heaven) would be as a stone cut (without hands) from Mt Zion, and would grow to be a great mountain over all the mountains of the earth.
The Son is the root and the fruit of Jesse (the father of King David) – the “Seed” preserved by YAHVEH for Himself all through His history… a Seed previously promised to Abraham. The promise being that Abraham’s seed would be from all the nations, peoples, tongues and tribes; and that they would be a numerous as the stars in the heavens and the sands on the seashore.
And just as YAHVEH said to Isaiah, the Son to be born would kill the wicked, and He would rule the nations with the rod of iron, which is His sovereign authority over all the heavens and the earth. He would rule in Truth and Justice and Righteousness, shining the Light of His Presence and bringing life to the world; and His Kingdom would never be destroyed.
In our final reading – chapter eleven – YAHVEH reveals to Isaiah the consummate fullness of the Son’s kingdom over the nations (which He also shows to the apostle John in the last chapters of The Revelation. We’ll get to those in the coming months).
But in order for us to grasp those wondrous words to the prophet written there in chapter eleven, we have to remember all that we’ve learned regarding the curse of God in the first paradise. The curse involved enmity! Enmity: hatred and vengeance! A creature – having been cast down from God’s tabernacle, the serpent spews its poisonous venom against Triune God by turning the first woman into a harlot. She then enticed her husband to sin against God; and the curse was enmity from the serpent and its seed toward the seed of the woman.
The Scripture reveals the seed of the serpent in terms of beasts… beasts that prowl and lie in wait for the seed; beasts that are ferocious and have great teeth or talons to rip and tear and kill. There are four of them that are called the great beasts of history; and they are described in God’s Word by the familiar names of animals of prey. They are leopards and lions and bears and wolves.
So the serpent with its vengeful, venomous bite raises up ravenous beasts through history to cut off the seed of the woman! But God preserved that Seed through it all; and the seed includes all who belong to Him – all “NEWLY BORN” into Him by His Word and Spirit – newborns from cursed humanity, rebirthed into the new humanity in Christ Jesus.
And that, you see, gives us God’s view of the consummate fullness of the Kingdom of our Lord presented to Isaiah in chapter eleven! A world in which the kings and presidents and leaders acknowledge that He has overcome the world… that He is King of Kings and Savior of the world.
A world in which the serpent and its seed no longer have any power or influence due to the authority of The Overcomer; so all of Christ’s “newborns” are fearless with regard to them!
A world that is “at peace” with God because of the work of the One with the Sword of the Spirit and the rod of iron and, therefore, is civilized and prosperous!
As the Scripture says: All of those who (from the beginning) walked in darkness have seen a great light!” It’s like the dawn of a new day when the sun rises from the East and, over time, brightens the entire earth. Jesus Christ is WAY, TRUTH AND LIFE; and He is the LIGHT of the world! And when the Light shines, darkness is taken away.
The same is true concerning God’s view of the River of Life flowing out from under the new temple on the new Mt. Zion. It flows ever deeper and wider until all the earth is treed and flowered like a new garden of paradise!
The four chapter Revelation to Isaiah is truly an encapsulation of the great covenantal matters; and it is revealed as God sees it and in His language: the filling up of the decadence of His people Israel; the birth of the Son (Who is the Seed of the woman); the saving of the elect of the twelve tribes of Jacob (the remnant); the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the land in the fiery wrath of God; the dawning of a new day over all the nations; and, finally, the work of Christ Jesus in subduing the peoples and tribes and tongues of the world under His reign and rule.
Many times during the course of God’s history (the last two thousand years), things haven’t looked (to men) like what God has revealed here. It has looked “bleak”… man becomes discouraged and reverts to despair (because of what he sees). Peoples falling into idolatry; wars; plagues; famines… darkness settling back in where once there was light (as is the case in our own nation). And what does man do whenever these things take place? He says, “Well, God must not have meant this!” “Given the conditions that we can see with our own eyes, things aren’t turning out the way the Scripture reads (there in Isaiah and other places)! Our experience tells us that there must be another scenario (or other scenarios – plural!).”
That’s when God’s Word gets a “re-interpretation”, you see. Despair at the way things look will do that.
The antidote, though, is to be wide-eyed with wonder (after all He is “wonder-full”) and to be filled with anticipation. For…
2) The peoples walking in darkness (Gentile nations) will see a great light; on those living in the land of darkness, a light will dawn….
6) For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us,
and the government (of those nations) will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7) The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of YAHVEH of Hosts will accomplish this.
No re-interpretation of God’s Words to Isaiah will suffice! All the Gentile nations, the ones that formerly walked only in darkness, have seen a great light! Like the dawn of the day from the East, over a period of time it will shine over all the earth! YAHVEH said it! And His zeal will accomplish it! Expect it! Anticipate it! For a Child was born unto us.
HOSANNA! Save now! And prosper us Lord Jesus!