Ed. Note: In view of the fast-changing, volatile condition of the Israeli-Palestinian-Arab conflict, the following excerpt, written in 1866, is most timely. May we each walk soberly, conscious of the dark days in which we live. Surely it must be just moments before the Lord calls home His beloved bride (1 Thess. 4). Until then, how important to have an “understanding of the times” and to be found walking as “children of the day.”
A Prophetic History
It is a great privilege for Christians to know beforehand the things that are coming on the earth, though they do not immediately concern him. His hope is a heavenly one, where judgments cannot come—judgments which happen preparatory to the establishment of the millennial kingdom. We await the coming of the “Morning Star, ” before the darkness which now shrouds the world is dispelled by the rising of the “Sun of Righteousness” which fills the world with blessing. Christians will then “shine forth as the sun” with Christ in the Father’s kingdom.
Isaiah 18 gives us, in seven verses, a complete history of the events which take place at the time the Jews return to their land in a state of apostasy. The Lord does not interfere, but allows things to go on apparently prospering and Israel having even the appearance of fruit-bearing in the land of the fathers. The nations who had favored this return then recommence the old hostility to the Jews who become their prey. The Lord then interferes with His mighty arm and brings a remnant of them as a “present” to Himself to the place of His name Mount Zion which He loved.
Verses 1-3. The prophet pronounces “woe” upon some great, unnamed nation which lies outside the rivers of Ethiopia (Cush, the descendants of Canaan, we are told made a settlement on both these rivers), the Euphrates and the Nile. These rivers are the two great boundaries of Israel.
He pronounces woe upon this nation, which is evidently a great maritime power and which is engaged in favoring and helping the return of the people of Israel, “scattered and peeled” wonderful from their beginning hitherto. He then calls all the inhabitants of the world and dwellers upon the earth to see and to hear.
Verse 4. The Lord then tells the prophet that He will take His rest and consider, in His dwelling-place, all that goes on as yet He does not interfere. He allows man to run on to the height of his madness and folly, that He may show him his powerlessness.
Verses 5-6. Before “the harvest” (a figure of separating and gathering for the vintage of judgment see, for example, Revelation 14:14-2014And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 15And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 16And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. 17And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. 19And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. (Revelation 14:14‑20)) when the returned Jews seem to be spreading out as a vine in the land. There is even the appearance of fruit-bearing putting itself forth “the sour grape... ripening in the flower. ” The vine is an old figure of the nation (Isa. 5; Psa. 80:8-168Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. 9Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. 10The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. 11She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. 12Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? 13The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. 14Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; 15And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. 16It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. (Psalm 80:8‑16)). All is then destroyed. The old hatred of the nations is turned against Israel. They are cut down and destroyed.
The emissaries of Satan shall summer upon them, and the nations shall winter upon them, and all that appeared so promising is dashed to the ground.
The time of the “great tribulation,” or “Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:77Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:7)), has come, “but he shall be saved out of it.” “Thy carcass shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away” (Deut. 28:2626And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. (Deuteronomy 28:26)). Or, as the Lord Jesus, talking of this time of trouble, says, “Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together” (Matt. 24:2828For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. (Matthew 24:28); see verses 1-44).
Verse 7. “In that time” in such a state of things as will then be “shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts.” A remnant of people scattered and peeled from a people terrible (or “wonderful”) from their beginning hitherto. The Lord brings to Himself a present of the residue, or spared remnant, of His people, “to the place... of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion,” which He loved.
That little spot is His rest forever! “The Lord hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation. This is My rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it” (Psa. 132:13-1413For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. 14This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. (Psalm 132:13‑14)). Having refused, as a nation, to receive the gospel of God’s grace, they are saved through the judgments of the Lord, which introduce the kingdom.
The Christian’s Hope
As to the Christian’s hope, it is but one: the coming of the Lord Jesus to take His people out of the world, before these judgments take place. He has promised this. He has said to them, “Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev. 3:1010Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)).
This hour of temptation is detailed in Isaiah 24 and takes place before the Lord of hosts reigns in Mount Zion, and before His ancients, gloriously. Isaiah 25 tells of the deliverance of the remnant of the Jews, who say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
Isaiah 26 gives us the song of the delivered remnant and some details. Isaiah 27 gives us the completing of the work and the gathering of the ten tribes to worship the Lord of hosts at Jerusalem with their brethren of Judah in the glorious days of the millennial age.
The Lord’s coming is the hope of the church; His appearing in glory with her, after this tribulation, which happens between these two events, is the deliverance of the Jews and the introduction of the kingdom.
F. G. Patterson (Words of Truth, 1866; adapted)