Today, we continue in Chapter 62 and need to keep in mind what God did in the Church. God is building us together as a Temple for worship in Zion. The Old Testament saints are not separate from us. The Old Testament saints are part of us.
Isaiah 62:1-4
For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.
We need to remember that we have come to Zion and are now part of Zion by God's mercy and Grace. We will make up Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2) some day as the Bride of the Lamb. Righteousness is ours. Salvation is ours. We are called by a new name because God did something that was surprising. We find these things in the New Testament. One place we see it is in Hebrews.
Hebrews 12:22-24
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
We are truly blessed. Our salvation is far greater than we know. Scripture gives this as a finished work. Even now, in a sense, we enjoy this heavenly position and because of the righteousness of Christ we can enter in to this without fear of judgment. Another important verse explaining this is found in Peter.
1 Peter 2:4-10
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
You yourself, if you are a Christian, are selected and placed within the spiritual house that God is building for the purpose of worshiping Him. Regardless of your race according to the flesh, your race is God's Chosen Race. As we think of the Church, our entire holy nation is a royal priesthood. We are possessed by God for a purpose. Our purpose is to glorify Him for calling us out of darkness into His light. John the Baptizer prophetically spoke of those who followed Christ as the bride (John 3:29) and the Book of Revelation fills out the idea (Revelation 21:2, 9; Revelation 22:17).
Isaiah 62: 5-7
For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.
We see this prophecy fulfilled explicitly in the Apostle Paul with regard to the Church when he (acting as a watchman) is correcting the theology of the Corinthians and he says, "For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:2). When we see a passion for service and scripture in our youth then we need to remember to thank God and, in prayer, give Him not rest until He establishes Jerusalem (Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven).
Isaiah 62:8-9
The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: "I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored; but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary."
I think the question you must ask here is, "Is this an Old Testament foreshadowing of communion?" We see spiritual fulfillment of many of the associated verses. The warnings against an unworthy participation in the Lord's Supper in the New Testament (especially bringing disharmony to communion; 1 Corinthians 11:27-32) seem consistent with God's provision for protecting the produce from enemies here. It seems we should at least say it is consistent with communion. The grain would then be the bread and the wine would be the cup of communion and there is no room for the unsaved at communion and even a Christian is warned to be sure and "discern" the Body of Christ (display a harmony in the Body) in communion. God is the one who is fencing the table of His provision in this case. He will give our grain and wine to us and not to anyone else.
Isaiah 62:10-12
Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal over the peoples. Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, "Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him." And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken
This is consistent with numerous New Testament Scriptures referring to the Church. Most of this we've just discussed in the verses from Hebrews 12 and 1 Peter 2. We know we are the heavenly Zion, we enter in by the gate which is Jesus (John 10:7-9), we are the Holy Nation, once we were not a people but now we are God's people so we are redeemed. God will never forsake His heavenly Zion nor His building there. We are sought out and not seekers except as driven by the Holy Spirit (Luke 19:10; Romans 3:11). People seek (Matthew 7:7-8) but they seek as sheep looking for the sheepfold under the ministry of the Shepherd as a vast quantity of Old Testament and New Scripture indicates.
Isaiah 63:1-6
Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save." Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? "I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me. I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."
Judgment is coming. Edom means red and Bozrah means vintage referring to a winepress. We saw that Jesus stopped at the comma in 61:1-3. Someday the final judgment will occur and give meaning to the word justice. Without God throne, justice is an empty word that describes an imaginary concept. One striking motif in these verses is that the Anointed One is working out both salvation and judgment by Himself. The hearts of men failed utterly (Romans 3) apart from the Holy Spirit. God will either be glorified in your life or upon you in judgment. His justice is perfect. You want Grace and mercy. In the end, we will glorify Him even for His judgment of sinners.
From the following verse to the end of the book of Isaiah we find remembrance and prayer for what God has done and will do for His people.
Isaiah 63:7-9
I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he said, "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely." And he became their Savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
These verses set of a period of remembering God's faithfulness to His people and even in their judgment in Egypt God was there and He heard them crying out and redeemed them. He didn't redeem because of their nature. He redeemed because of His promises to Abraham and David based in mercy and Grace.
Isaiah 63:10-14
But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them. Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit, who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble. Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.
God was faithful to keep a people even when judgment was required. Isaiah is calling for God to manifest Himself again like He did before to guide and dwell in the midst of His people.
Isaiah 63:15-17
Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and beautiful habitation. Where are your zeal and your might? The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion are held back from me. For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. Your holy people held possession for a little while; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. We have become like those over whom you have never ruled, like those who are not called by your name.
The struggle for Isaiah is why he is dwelling faithfully in an unfaithful land. He cries out to God for His intervention in the life of His nation. Israel doesn't listen to Isaiah and turn from their error. He also knows that God in His mercy could turn Israel around but He doesn't. We often can't understand why God shows mercy in some cases and not in others. However, remember that mercy is never required. By definition mercy is delivered as an act of undeserved favor or blessing. They can never claim that God was unfair. They can only claim that He was just. Our sovereign God can make us (as an unsaved people or nation) wander from His ways simply by removing His hand of correction and harden our hearts so that we never think twice.
We, as Christians enjoy a special position in which God will discipline us as a father to correct us. We may not think that conviction of sin is pleasant or His discipline is pleasant but the product is the preservation of my soul for heaven. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).
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