Will God Bring Back the Miracles
In the Millennial Kingdom of Christ?
PART II
Will God Bring Back the Miracles
In the Millennial Kingdom of Christ?
PART II
JAN LILLEBY
The chapter 66 of Isaiah’s book is also concerning the future Israel to come, as we find in the millennial kingdom prophesied. Thus we also find here much of Jesus – because he actually quoted from this chapter 66 in some instances. I shall come back to this below.
Isaiah 66 American Standard Version
1 Thus saith Jehovah, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will ye build unto me? and what place shall be my rest?
2 For all these things hath my hand made, and [so] all these things came to be, saith Jehovah: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word.
3 He that killeth an ox is as he that slayeth a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as he that breaketh a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, [as he that offereth] swine's blood; he that burneth frankincense, as he that blesseth an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations:
4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did that which was evil in mine eyes, and chose that wherein I delighted not.
5 Hear the word of Jehovah, ye that tremble at his word: Your brethren that hate you, that cast you out for my name's sake, have said, Let Jehovah be glorified, that we may see your joy; but it is they that shall be put to shame.
6 A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of Jehovah that rendereth recompense to his enemies.
7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child.
8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? shall a nation be brought forth at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith Jehovah: shall I that cause to bring forth shut [the womb]? saith thy God.
10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her;
11 that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.
12 For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and ye shall suck [thereof]; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees.
13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
14 And ye shall see [it], and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hand of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants; and he will have indignation against his enemies.
15 For, behold, Jehovah will come with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire will Jehovah execute judgment, and by his sword, upon all flesh; and the slain of Jehovah shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves [to go] unto the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together, saith Jehovah.
18 For I [know] their works and their thoughts: [the time] cometh, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and shall see my glory.
19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.
20 And they shall bring all your brethren out of all the nations for an oblation unto Jehovah, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith Jehovah, as the children of Israel bring their oblation in a clean vessel into the house of Jehovah.
21 And of them also will I take for priests [and] for Levites, saith Jehovah.
22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah.
24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the dead bodies of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
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VERSES 1 – 4:
God Jehovah declares to Israel, in particular the unbelievers and rebellious ones among them (I think mostly of the Pharisees and Sadducees!) that the temple is not a house in which God is actually dwelling. The temple is too lowly and human, and not divine one. Verses 3 and 4 tells of God chastising the hard hearted Israel, …because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear. Does it sound familiar?
Yes, this was spoken to Israel by Paul – he quoted Is. 6 and the judgment – to the Sanhedrin counsel at Rome, Acts 28:25-28. And neither did those Jews answer or hear what God (through Paul) spoke to them. It ended by God destroying both the temple and Jerusalem a few years later.
Jesus quoted the same passage to the unbelieving Jewish leaders, as He ministered to the nation the three years before He was crucified.
Same thing with Stephen, the first martyr, as found in Acts 6:13, 14 – accusing him of having spoken against the temple (!) and the Law of Moses,
“And they brought forward false witnesses who asserted, This man never stop making statements against this sacred place (temple) and the Law of Moses. – 14: For we have heard him say that this Jesus the Nazareene will tear down and destroy this place, and will alter the institutions and usages which Moses transmitted to us.”
This topic, as found in Isaiah, of among other ones, how the temple is not the most important thing in the eyes of God Jehovah – has long time ago been proven to all the world: The temple was utterly destroyed and laid flat to the ground by the Roman army in 70 CE. God did not lift a finger to prevent the disaster, on the contrary, He actually sent that army against them because they had killed the followers of Jesus, in Mat. 22:7 called ‘The King’s Servants’ in Jesus’ prophetic parable as He foretold the destruction of the temple and the burning of Jerusalem. It went exactly as Jesus had prophesied, to the least detail.
VERSES 5 – 9:
These verses, as a group, have the main issue of the future new Israel, the Israel which will be ‘born’ from out of the Great Tribulation soon to come. Jesus used the imagery of a woman in birth pangs, describing the future Israel as she will come out of the Great Tribulation. The latter is likened with birth pangs and pains…like those of a woman giving birth to a new child, in this case Israel.
The ‘Christian-Zionist’ circles have used the saying of Isaiah – that of a nation being brought forth at once (verse 8) as fulfilled by the UN-1948 declaration of Israel as a state for Jews on 14th May. But this is not so. This prophecy has yet to be fulfilled; it will be done in the same instance that Jesus comes from heaven after the Great Tribulation, establishing a new Israel. Just as I taught in the first part of this article – on Isaiah 11.
The establishing of this nation in 1948 was an illicit one, a man-made political sort of theft of land, - the Israeli terrorist group Irgun shot and killed hundreds of Palestinians/Arabs in the years prior to 1948. Even bombed the headquarters of the British Mandate keepers, Hotel David, and started bombing busses etcetera.
Thus Israel of today is not a nation of God, far from it. It will become the platform upon which the false ‘Messiah’ – the anti-Christ of Rev. 13, will come forth and seduce the Jews. Soon this world will witness these horrors, and taken with fear I will presume.
VERSES 10 – 16:
This group of verses has the main topic of Jesus Christ coming and establishing His millennial Kingdom with the throne on Zion.
Verse 10 is striking up the merry tones, Rejoice ye for Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her, rejoice for love with her, all ye that mourn over her.
Verses 15 and 16 are in particular well known to a Bible student, and are found quoted much with Paul’s epistle 2 Thes. 1:7-10, using KJV,
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”
VERSES 17 – 24:
This group tells of the nations as they shall come to the new Israel, and shall see the glory of Messiah Jesus. In details we find the Lord bringing people from the dispersion into the new Israel, mentioned by names. This glory mentioned must have to do with Jesus performing great things, healings and things like that. He shall be the Supreme Court judge as well as the ‘Miracle Worker’ giving people great welfare, and they will praise God and Jesus for this.
In particular we find a well-known passage used by Jesus in his speeches, namely that of judgments on ungodly, in verse 24,
“….for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh.”
We recall how Jesus warned unbelievers when ministering to Israel, using the dung in Hinnom (Gahanna) valley near Jerusalem, which burned perpetually as more waste was thrown on the fire so to help keeping the heavy rotten smell from plaguing the entire town.
When Rome crushed Israel in 70 CE, many dead victims of war were cast upon that fierce burning dung, historians tell. Thus the warning of Jesus came true.
In the final group of verses from Is. 66, we also find that Jesus as the King in Jerusalem shall re-introduce the tradition of observing new moon days, as well as the Sabbath. He will have these old elements included in His new Law which He will establish and teach the nation (see Is. 2:1-4).
This does not mean that He will revive the Law of Moses. That old Law was abolished, told us by Paul in Eph. 2:14, 15. Also - with it – the feasts, Sabbaths, New Moons, food and drink ordinances, were simply abolished. It was thrown into the litter-grinder once and for all!
But when the millennial era has been established with the return of Jesus to earth, He shall give them a new Law (the New Covenant), and the word of the Lord shall sound from His throne at Jerusalem.
And I believe, as all peoples will notice and be told of all the great miracles Jesus will perform, this time the entire Jewish population will happily obey the Law given them, not by Moses, but by Jesus Christ, God’s great Son!
And Gentiles from all over the world will come as Pilgrims, to learn the word of the Lord in Jerusalem. Zec. 8:23.
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