A New Day for God’s People

KEY VERSE: “They shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of the LORD.” —Isaiah 62:12

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 2:2-4; 62:1-3

IN THE Lord’s plan of salvation, all who are in their graves will hear the voice of the Son of man and come forth. (John 5:28,29) Their resurrection will be one of the first events that will occur in the kingdom under the terms of the New Covenant. The purpose of their resurrection is beautifully described in our Selected Scripture, Isaiah 2: 2-4. Verse two of the text reads, “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.” ‘The last days’ has reference to the very last days of the Gospel Age, for it is then that the last remaining members of the church will have been tried and tested and glorified. The Scriptures tell us that this work of the Gospel Age must be completed before the kingdom can be established. (Rom. 11:25-27) In the Scriptures, a mountain pictures a kingdom, and so the Lord through the prophet is saying that at the proper time he will establish his kingdom, and it will dominate and control all the other kingdoms of the earth. But most importantly, the text tells us that all nations will flow into it, showing that it is to be a universal kingdom which will have as subjects all the families of the earth.

The third verse of our text reads, “Many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain [kingdom] 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.” The thought is that at the start, the Lord will begin the work of the kingdom with the nation of Israel, and when the nations of the earth see the blessings which are being bestowed upon that people they will want to become a part of God’s arrangement so that they too can partake of the kingdom blessings. One of the beautiful prophecies concerning this time is found in Zechariah 8:13,20-22. “You, house of Judah and house of Israel, have been the very symbol of a curse to all the nations, and now I will save you, and you shall become the symbol of a blessing. … Nations and dwellers in great cities shall yet come to those of another and say, Let us go and entreat the favor of the Lord, and resort to the Lord of Hosts: and I will come too. And so great nations and mighty peoples shall resort to the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and entreat his favor.” (NEB) The prophecy in Isaiah 2:3 goes on to say that the Lord will teach the people of his ways and as a result of this knowledge the people will walk in his paths, or conduct their lives in a manner that will be in harmony with God’s will. Those who have God’s law written in their hearts and are obedient to his precepts will inherit everlasting life here on the earth and they will be God’s people and he will be their God.

One of the beautiful prophecies concerning the nation of Israel being the nucleus of the kingdom is found in Ezekiel 36:24-32: “I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loath yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.”

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