1 John 3:16


"By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

Sunday 16 May 2010

Covenant in Christ

We will now look at Isaiah 65. Just as with the parables that Jesus used, this parable also has a main point to which all the particulars relate. The subject of Isaiah 65 is that the sinners of Israel (not all of Israel) will be destroyed, while God brings in the elect of the Gentiles.

Paul went through this in detail in Romans 9 to11, taking his sources from Isaiah 65 and other Old Testament passages. Paul spoke of God judging some of Israel, while calling the remnant and of joining to them the Gentiles. He quoted directly from Isaiah 65 and said that this is fulfilled in the gospel age.

Isaiah 65 starts with:

I am sought of them that asked me not: I said, ‘Behold Me. Behold Me’, to a nation that was not called by My name. (Is 65:1).

We cannot read this without being moved by the heart of God’s kindness that is shown here. Imagine the creator and ruler of the universe calling to us like this! Paul quotes this verse directly in Rom 10:20 and refers to the same concept as he discusses Israel and the Gentiles in Rom 9:24-26, 30.

Isaiah 65 shows that while the Jews who reject Him would be starved of spiritual nourishment, the Gentiles whom He calls would be given it. Jesus used this language in John 6 to describe eternal life. Amos also speaks of this famine for the word of God (Amos 8:11).

Behold My servants shall eat and drink, but you shall be hungry and thirsty. (Is 65:13).

The theme of Isaiah 65 is stated again in vs. 15, “For the Lord God shall slay you and call His servants by another name.”. In Romans 11 Paul addressed this theme of the reprobate Jews stumbling and the elect Gentiles being grafted in.

Isaiah 65 shows that we Gentiles and the elect Jews are saved because of Christ, “As the new vine is found in the cluster and one says, ‘Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it’, so will I do for My Servant’s sake, that I may not destroy them all.” (Is 65:8). This is the vine that we are grafted into (Rom 11:24).

Then Isaiah depicts our redemption in Christ:

And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall not be there an infant of days, nor an old man that has not filled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.
And they shall build houses and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of My people and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

…And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says the Lord. (Is 65:19-25).

All these blessings begin in Christ. He has wiped away every tear. We have been to Christian funerals which are a genuine celebration, not in hype, but a genuine work of the Holy Spirit. We do not sorrow as the world does (1 Thes 4:13). “Oh death where is your sting, O grave where is your victory?” (1 Cor 15:55). Christ’s redemption brings us real joy now, or we do not have it. We are not saying that we do not sorrow, but somehow God works in our hearts through His Son to take it away.

Isaiah then pictures the redeemed living a long time. He says that we shall build houses and enjoy them and that our days shall be as the days of a tree, meaning we will long enjoy God’s blessing (Is 65:21-22). Sinners are accursed. They are outside, as Revelation 21 depicts. This is not just when the kingdom is handed to the Father in eternity, but it is a reality of the church now. No person can pass into the church of Jesus Christ (into His body) without been cleansed in His blood by the Holy Spirit.

The long age, houses and trees all depict in human terms peace with God and the blessings of the New Covenant that will endure, in this age and in eternity with the Father. They are not like Old Covenant blessings, which require constant sacrifice. This is an eternal covenant in one sacrifice. These terms mean that sin has been forever put away in Christ. This is the difference between the covenants that the prophets pointed to and the way that the book of Hebrews interpreted these passages (Heb 10:4-9).

The wolf and lamb speak of former enemies, Jew and Gentile, united in Christ. Instead of food laws to separate Jew and Gentile, we eat together at one table of the Lord (Eph 2:15). Satan eats dust, as the New Testament epistles depict. We look at this in detail in the chapter on spiritual warfare. Satan is bound for the redeemed in Christ, until the end of this church age when he shall be cast into the lake of fire.

God says it in these pictorial terms to make it simple to understand. It is a parable, just like Jesus used. Isaiah concluded with the summary of his theme; “My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. (Is 65:22) We cover Is 65:17 further below and in the next chapter.

John Calvin said in a nut shell what we are saying here. He was speaking about the world to come. To Calvin this is our redemption in Christ, which began at Pentecost but has its final expression at the end of the church age at the resurrection of the body.

Here the world to come is not that which we hope for after the resurrection, but that which began at the beginning of Christ’s kingdom; but it will no doubt have its full accomplishment in our final redemption (resurrection). (Calvin, Commentary on Hebrews 2:5).

Isaiah 65 depicts the gospel age we are now in, which has its final expression in the resurrection of the body at the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus referred to Isaiah 65 in His parable of the vineyard; the vineyard would be taken from the Jews and given to another nation. Isaiah 65 is about the New Covenant. Jeremiah and all the prophets stated how these passages are to be interpreted: “Behold the days come when I make a New Covenant…not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers.” (Jer 31:31-32).

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