Friday, December 16, 2011
Isaiah 11:10-12 And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious. It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Cush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands of the sea. He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
THE MESSIAH'S KINGDOM OF PEACE (5)
CITIZENS OF THE KINGDOM ARE GATHERED FROM THE NATIONS
These verses follow immediately after the beautiful description of the wolf dwelling with the lamb and the leopard lying down with the young goat, and the little child playing near the cobra's hole. So that picture of peace can't be a description of what heaven will be like. For God is describing how He brings people together from all nations into His kingdom. He is going to gather the remnant of His people from among the Jews who had been scattered among the nations. He will also gather Gentiles from every nation on earth together with them. He will bring them all together into one. It is not describing our final peace in heaven, but the gathering of His kingdom here on earth.
When is "that day" when He will do this? Notice verse 11 where it says, "It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Cush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands of the sea."
The first time God gathered His people from many of these nations was after the 70 year captivity when He brought a remnant of His people back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and temple.
When was the second time? Those nations mentioned correspond with the various nations that the people came from on the day of Pentecost. On that day the Holy Spirit was gathering the remnant of His people together into His kingdom.
It was also after the day of Pentecost when the gospel began to go out into all the world and gather the Gentiles from every nation into God's kingdom. Wherever Christ is held up as a banner to the people through the preaching of the gospel, believers are being gathered into this kingdom of peace.
This is still being fulfilled to this day. We are among the Gentiles that God has gathered from the nations. We have become citizens of this glorious kingdom by faith in Jesus. We also can be a part of the gathering by holding up Christ as a banner before our friends and neighbors and by sending missionaries out into the four corners of the world.
Truly "His resting place [is] glorious." When we come to Jesus with our burdens of sin, we do find rest for our souls -- glorious rest.
