ISAIAH’S END-TIME TIMELINE

ISAIAH Chapters 2-5

THE MULTIPLE FULFILLMENTS OF ISRAEL’S JUDGMENT

(OVERVIEW OF ISAIAH CHAPTERS 2-5)

CHAPTERS 2-4 have to do with the future Millennial reign of the Messiah and the intervening/altering judgments on Judah and Israel for their iniquities in the intermediate time. The intermediate time being from when Isaiah speaks prophetically and when it’s fulfilled. These 3 chapters can be divided up into three parts to make it easier to follow. 1st part: 2:1-4 starts with the future promise of the Messiah’s Kingdom. In the 2nd part, 2:5-4:1 sets forth the actual condition of the church of Judah and Israel that leads to the consequences, yet to be fully seen. And the 3rd part, 4:2-6 reverts back to the glorious reign of the Messiah in the Millennial Kingdom.

Chapter 5 relates the prevalent sins of His people in a parable or song. Verses 1-7 then goes into great detail to explain and amplify it in the rest of the chapter.

Note: The state of the chosen people here expressed in these chapters were more in line with the times of King Ahaz and were probably spoken then.

Isaiah 2:1-4 IN THE LAST DAYS…these words echo those of Jacob in Genesis 49, in particular verse 10. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” The Septuagint translation is the correct reading: “A lawgiver should not depart from between his feet, until he come for whom it reserved, and to him shall be the expectation of the Gentile.”

THE NATION OF THE NEW MAN FORESHADOWED

Isaiah’s words of these last days of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ the Messiah have an allusion of the accession of the “new man”. [Acts 15:14, Ephesians 2:15, with Revelation 20:4-6] And of a mountainous first heavens Kingdom that will extend down onto the earth at Jerusalem. The earthly city of Jerusalem will be above all others in preeminence. And the Gentile Nations remaining on the earth after the end time judgments of God shall flow unto it. And be taught of His ways, and yield to His will. The Messiah’s people shall rule and reign wisely and peacefully on earth and there will be no more war.

Chapter 2

Now Isaiah reverts back to speak of His people’s state in his time. Chapter 2:5 “O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.” The great state of degeneration and darkness was/is a result of their rejection of the Word of God, and that Word finally manifest as Jesus Christ their Messiah. “Yet a little while is the light with you, walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.” [John 12:35,36] But the rejection of the Messiah is foretold in the next verse of Isaiah 2:6. “Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob…”

The consequences of this rejection the prophet traces in the state of the Jewish nation before that scene of Millennial glory. Wherein they will surely experience a latter day outpouring of the Holy Spirit. [Joel] But it is in this rejected state they will remain until that great Day of His return here foretold. When they will, in the great final judgment of Jacob’s trouble, repent of these many iniquities of which they were guilty then, at Christ’s First Appearing, and will be at His Second Coming. Murder and Sorceries being chief among them in the Last Days. [Rev 9:21] And their land being full of idols and idolatry which will be the last great form of prideful wickedness in Israel and the World. As the Wicked One deceives Israel and the entire World and sets up his idol worship throughout. Isaiah 2:12 has in view Judgment on the Anti-Christ and on this final state of Israel. (Much more to be said about this Man of Sin in other chapters, especially chapters 10 and 14.)“…the Lord alone will be exalted in that day….idols he will utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.”   [Compare this to Luke 23:27-29; Revelation 6:16,17]

THE NEXT 2 CHAPTERS, 3 & 4, carry on the threats against Judah, in the overflow of Jerusalem and the land. Complete devastation is foretold.

Hunger, thirst, signs of their spiritual darkness, the unwise shall rule over them in their want and distress.

Chapter 3:8 “For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory.” This speaks to the First Coming of the Messiah. But the next two verses (9-10)are corrupted to try to remove the cause of their judgment. Vs 9 “The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their Soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. 10 Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him.: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.” The correct translation according to ancient sources is: 9 “For now is their glory humbled; And the confusion of their countenance hath arisen against them, But they published their sin as Sodom, and manifested it openly. Woe to their souls! For they have devised a wicked counsel. Saying among themselves, Let us destroy the Just One, For he is displeasing unto us: Therefore shall they eat the fruit of their deeds.”

This being in harmony with the New Testament followers of Christ in penned Scripture. By Peter in Acts 3:14,15; Stephen in Acts 7:52; and Paul in Acts 22:14. “His blood be upon us, and on our children!” As the men of Sodom published their sin, so do these cry “Crucify Him!” Having bound Him, they led Him to Caiaphas. Having bound the truth, they were deserving of lies, and deserving of the fruit of their deeds. Judged by the Lord and delivered up into the enemies’ hands.

Which shall finally be realized in that Wicked One’s last days alliance.

“And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries.” “And many shall cleave to them with flatteries.” [Daniel 11:32,34] Verse 11 reads then, “Woe to the Wicked One! Evil According to the works of his hands shall befall him.”

Chapter 3

The Word here had its first accomplishment in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. See 2 Kings 24:14,16. But its 2nd and 3rd fulfillments, and more complete ones, are at the destructions of Titus and Hadrian in 70 A.D. and 130 A.D. The devastation, as great as it was in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, was nothing to these. “Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore Hades hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.” [Isaiah 5:13,14]

Solemnly, these words still have future final prophetic significance of which we will later pursue.

CHAPTER 4:2

This verse picks up again with 2:1-4 that glorious Millennial day of the Branch of the Lord, that is to say the Messiah of Israel. [Jeremiah 33:15, 23:5, Zechariah 3:8, Revelation 22:16]

CHAPTER 5

The prophetic parable addresses “…my well-beloved….a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill….And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress….” The Words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 21:33 have those words in view. (Read Parable)

Final comments on Chapter 5.

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