Bible Search

27:1

@@@^In order to bring all this unspeakable joy of God’s promises, the expectation of the ages, these studies are published and sent without charge or obligation to all who wish to have them. Send your name and address to The Universal Publishing Association, Mt. Carmel Center, Waco, Texas.

3:1

@@@^Last week we finished studying the thirty-fifth chapter of the book of Isaiah. And now since, as can be readily seen, chapters 36-39 inclusive, interrupt with historical data the theme of Isaiah’s prophecy, we shall continue where Inspiration picks up the thread of thought in chapter 40 with a tender plea to God’s message-bearing people:

4:1

@@@^@0@9Verse 3 — “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”@7 True, verse three found fulfillment in the work of John the Baptist; but the verses preceding and also the verses following, definitely apply to the people in the latter days and only partially to the people in John’s day. Therefore the truth stands out boldly that the direct fulfillment of this chapter is found in our time, thus making John’s work an ensample of our work — John’s work the type, ours the antitype.

4:2

@@@^@0The “wilderness” and the “desert” (Isa. 40:3) in contrast to the “vineyard,” the house of Judah literally and antitypically says: “The voice of him that crieth in the land of the Gentiles, that says, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the Gentile world a highway for our God.”

5:3

@@@^They are to explain that the people whom God uses to get His work done are “His arm”; that they are to rule for Him; that His reward is with Him, and His work yet before Him; that He shall feed His flock, and with His arm (with His church) He shall gather the lambs (the newly converted) and carry them to His kingdom.

10:1

@@@^This verse reveals that God is speaking to a people who have gone through all the trials — hardships, captivity and persecution allotted them to go through for their sin and disobedience — they have drunk of the dregs of the cup of trembling and even wrung them out. At long last there are no more dregs left in the cup. This, of course, could not be said to the people in Moses’ time, nor in Isaiah’s time, nor even in the Apostles’ time. It could not be said to any people at any time but to those who have come to the time of their liberation from want, fear, and insecurity which they have created through their sin and rebellion. Their Divine calling to awake, however, reveals that though the time of deliverance has come, yet they are in deep spiritual sleep — ignorant of these good tidings.

10:3

@@@^God, you see, positively addresses a people who have already taken all the punishment they are to take, and at long last He is pleading their cause. This cannot be said at any time to any people heretofore. How do we know that the time is here and that the Lord is now speaking to us? We know it from the fact that these long concealed prophecies on the subject are now for the first time unfolded and brought to attention. We are now ready to study the chapter verse by verse.

11:1

@@@^@0@9Isa. 51:1, 2 — “Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.”@7@^God advises His people of today to hearken unto Him. They are those who are endeavoring to obtain righteousness, those who are seeking the Lord, and who are anxious to have a revival and reformation among them. They are now urged to look to the rock whence they are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence they are digged.

11:2

@@@^We are not to conclude that the Jews are the only descendants of Abraham. Those who are fortunate enough to have this revelation brought to them, are the people. There is no other safe conclusion if God causes the prophecies to be written, sealed, and then unsealed at His will and at the time appointed. The Jews, therefore, are not the only descendants of Abraham. To find who these seekers of righteousness really are, there are several genealogical facts to consider: (1) Only the citizens of the kingdom of Judah (the two-tribe kingdom, Judah and Benjamin) received the title Jews. (2) Those of the ten-tribe kingdom (the kingdom of Israel) were scattered among the nations, and there they completely lost their identity. (3) The Christian church herself is an upshoot of the Jewish church and nation — the Apostles and her followers, up to about 35 A.D. were all Jews. Then it was that again a multitude of Jews lost their identity by calling themselves “Christians.” Comparatively speaking, only a few Jews, from the Kingdom of Judah, have preserved their national title, Jews.

11:3

@@@^The descendants of the early Christian Jews and the descendants of the ten tribes, down the stream of time must have increased to a great innumerable multitude, for Abraham’s seed was to be as the sand of the sea for multitude. It is, therefore, obvious that the few identified Jews of today are not the only descendants of Abraham’s, but that many of the Gentiles must be of Abraham. Since this mixed up situation exists, hardly any one can really say for sure that he is not one of Abraham’s children. Perhaps many of the nations whom the world calls Gentiles are the children of Abraham. We do not know for sure who is who. God, however, has kept a perfect genealogical record, for He says: “I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know Me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the Highest Himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count, when He writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.” Psa. 87:4-6.

13:2

@@@^@0@9Verses 4, 5 — “Hearken unto Me, My people; and give ear unto Me, O My nation: for a law shall proceed from Me, and I will make My judgment to rest for a light of the people. My righteousness is near; My salvation is gone forth, and Mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust.”@7@^We are asked to hearken to the Lord because a law and a judgment are to proceed from Him. These are to be “a light to the people.” Again, says the Lord: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Isa. 2:2-4.

15:1

@@@^@0@9Verse 6 — “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished.”@7@^We are necessarily reminded that all else shall perish, but those who obtain God’s salvation and His righteousness shall stand forever.

16:1

@@@^@0@9Verses 9, 10 — “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?”@7@^If His people were not asleep, then what need would there be for calling them to awaken? We are glad that God Himself is arousing us and plainly telling us that as our forefathers did great things, we, too, as the Lord’s “arm,” can and shall do even greater things than they.

16:2

@@@^@0@9Verse 11 — “Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.”@7@^Thanks be to God that He is not only to awaken His people and to cause them to sing while marching into Zion, but is also able to remove their sorrows and their mourning forever. He is well able to put everlasting joy upon their heads.

16:3

@@@^@0@9Verse 12 — “I, even I, am He that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass.”@7@^In an endeavor to show us how absurd it is to fear men that shall die as does grass under foot, Inspiration in this verse emphasizes the promised comforts of Isa. 51:11. It must be that with some the fear of men is great. Now that we have God’s Word and comfort let us fear Him Who only is to be feared.

17:1

@@@^@0@9Verse 13 — “And forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?”@7@^When we begin to fear man, just that moment we forget God. The question, “Where is the fury of the oppressor?” implies that in reality there is not any, that it is only a bluff. @{{1TG37: 17.1@7@5

17:3

@@@^@0@9Verse 16 — “And I have put My words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of Mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art My people.”@7@^Here we have God’s own statement that the words we speak are the words of Truth direct from Him. Moreover, He assures us that His hand, His care and keeping, are around us; that by this means He may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, “Thou art My people.”

18:4

@@@^@0@9Verse 19 — “These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?”@7@^David of old was given to choose one of three things: “...So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land?...” 2 Sam. 24:10-13. Now, in like manner God’s people are asked to choose either desolation and destruction, or famine and the sword. Then unlike in David’s day, He Himself solves our problem if we let Him.

22:2

@@@^@0@9Isa. 52:1 — “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.”@7@^At the time this awakening call goes forth throughout the land, Inspiration announces that the harvest time has arrived for the angels to put out and to keep out of Zion and Jerusalem the uncircumcised and the unclean, a work which Inspiration variously entitles: (1) cleansing of the sanctuary (Dan. 8:14), (2) purify the sons of Levi (Mal. 3:1-3), (3) purification of the church (“Testimonies,” Vol. 5, pg. 80), (4) Judgment in the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17), (5) harvest (Matt. 13:30), casting out the bad fish from among the good fish (Matt. 13:47, 48), separating the sheep from the goats, — the Judgment for the Living.

26:1

@@@^@0@9Verse 6 — “Therefore My people shall know My name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak: behold, it is I.”@7@^Because God’s people are mis-ruled, mislead, and abused, and His name blasphemed, He declares that He will not leave them in ignorance: He promises that regardless how hard the carnal rulers of unsifted Zion and Jerusalem try to keep the people in ignorance of this sifting message, He will, in spite of it, cause His people to hear and to know that it is He speaking, not an enemy as they are told.