The abundance of things, in the form of earthly blessings, that will be poured into Israel, is given in much detail from verse 6 of chapter 60. In that verse Sheba is mentioned, the land from which came the Queen, who visited Solomon with much gold and spices. When she arrived, as related in 1 Kings 10, she showed forth the praises of Solomon. In the day contemplated in our chapter, “they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.”
This will come to pass in the way that is intimated in verse 7. Not only will the altar of God be once more established, but the house of the Lord be in their midst. A century or two after Isaiah, the prophet Haggai predicted that “the glory of this latter house” (2:9), or, “the latter glory of this house” (New Trans.), should be greater than the former in the days of Solomon; and so it will be. It is designated here as “the house of my glory”, and even as such the Lord Himself will glorify it. In the glorified house of His glory His praises will be seen and heard.
We pass from the house to the people in verses 8 and 9. Today the Jews are returning to their ancestral home in their hundreds and thousands without faith in Christ. When God regathers His people it will be a quick and effectual work They will “fly” — a speedy work. It will be “to their windows” — like a bird returning to its home. And this they will do as “doves” a bird noted for its meek and quiet spirit. The unconverted Jew of today may still be just as Paul described his own nation in 1 Thessalonians 2:1515Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: (1 Thessalonians 2:15), but the born-again Israelites, who will fly to their millennial home in the coming day, will be a repentant and meek people. The ships too of Gentile nations will carry them and their riches, acknowledging the name of Jehovah as “the Holy One of Israel”. Inasmuch as He has been glorified, He can now glorify Israel.
In result, the nations, instead of being antagonistic, will be the helpers of their fame and prosperity, as we see in verses 10-12. As things stand today, nothing would seem more unlikely than what is here predicted; but we must remember that not only will there be a work of God in Israel, but among the nations also. In Revelation 7 we have not only a vision of the “sealed” among the tribes of Israel, but of a great company of the elect, drawn out of all nations; and in Revelation 21 we read of “the nations of them which are saved”. Those who rebel among the nations will perish.
In result, Jerusalem will be acknowledged as “The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.” It will have become what God intended it to be “an eternal excellency” and “a joy”. But again the basis on which this will be accomplished is made very plain. All will see that it is not something produced by Israel but rather by the One who is their Saviour and Redeemer. Jacob, the schemer, and his posterity have nothing in which to boast. The Mighty One of Jacob alone has done it on the basis of redemption.
We read of the Redeemer coming to Zion in verse 20 of the previous chapter, and noticed how the Apostle referred to this in Romans 11. We now see that the Redeemer is Jehovah. And in the New Testament it is equally clear that the Redeemer is Jesus. He who is the Arm of Jehovah IS Jehovah.
In our chapter this is stated in verse 16, and it is the fact that explains what otherwise would be a mystery; namely, the wealth and the glory that will be poured into and upon Israel from the Gentile nations, as we see detailed in the verses that precede and that follow. We read that “the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish”. Why should such severe judgment fall? Because the Divine plan for the coming millennial age is that Israel shall be the central nation, surrounding His glorious temple, as a nation of priests, and that the other nations should be grouped around them, and expressing through them their submission and devotion to the King of kings. Should a nation in that day defy the Divine plan, they will perish. It will be the age of Divine government. We live at present in the age of grace.
In the latter part of Revelation 21 we have described the new and heavenly Jerusalem, which is “the Lamb’s wife” — a symbolic description of the church in its heavenly position during the millennial age, and if we compare with it the details of our chapter concerning the earthly Jerusalem, we notice certain similarities, and yet striking contrasts. The presence of the Lord is the glory of both cities. The gates of both are open continually to receive the wealth and honor of the nations. Both have an abundance of “gold” and find their everlasting “light” in the Lord.
But the contrasts are more numerous. The gates of the earthly will not be shut day or night: of the heavenly not shut by day— but the day is an eternal one, for there is no night there. The glory of the earthly will be the temple, described in verse 13 as “the place of My feet”. Jehovah will have His feet on the earth; but in the heavenly there is no temple, for “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” It is the place of His presence rather than the place of His feet. The earthly will know a glory brighter than the sun; but the heavenly will have no need of the sun for “the Lamb is the light thereof” Gold will be brought plentifully into the earthly; but in the heavenly it forms the street, and they walk on it. We think we may say that the difference is accounted for by the introduction, in Revelation, of THE LAMB.
But we can indeed rejoice in the description given us by Isaiah of millennial blessedness and glory, when righteousness and peace will mark the scene and violence will have disappeared; when the real walls of Jerusalem shall be salvation, and out of its gates shall issue praise. This will only come to pass when, as verse 21 Says, “Thy people also shall be all righteous”. That will only come to pass when the new birth, of which Ezekiel 36 speaks, takes place. Then God will “sprinkle clean water” upon them, and give them “a new heart”, and put within them “a new spirit”. Then, “born of water and of the Spirit”, as the Lord Jesus put it to Nicodemus, they will see and enter into the kingdom of God.
When the children of Israel are thus born again and righteous before their God, through the grace of their Redeemer, they will be multiplied as the last verse of our chapter tells us. At last God is able to make of them “a strong nation”. When the time arrives God will do it speedily. It will not be a long, drawn-out process, a kind of evolution, such as men love, but a swift action, of a sort that manifestly is a work of God.
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