62:1. “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my pace, and
for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go
forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.”
The Speaker here appears to be God the Father.
Zion (another name for Jerusalem) means parched place; but Jerusalem means
dual peace shall be taught: lay (set) ye double peace. For most of her
history the city has indeed been Zion, a parched place spiritually, her
disobedience causing her to languish under the chastisement of God; but the
day is near when she will no more be called Zion but Jerusalem, the capital
of the millennial earth basking in the enjoyment of the peace the world has
so long sought but not yet known.
We are reading only half the spiritual message however, if we fail to see in
her transformation a type of what occurs when a sinner repents and accepts
the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior: the formerly “parched” life becomes as a
watered garden basking in the peace and blessing of God, see Php 4:6-7, “Be
careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God,
which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus.”
The second half of the verse has also something to teach us: righteousness
must characterize the believer’s life, because if it doesn’t the brightness
of our lamp of testimony will become the equivalent of a mere smoking wick,
and it is to be remembered that frequent trimming is essential if the wick
is to burn with a clear bright flame, see Mt 5:14-16 “Ye are the light of
the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light
a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven.”
The equivalent of that “trimming” is the self-examination enjoined relative
to the Lord’s Supper on the first day of each week, see 1 Cor 11:27-30,
“Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord
unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man
examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to
himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and
sickly among you, and many sleep (die).”
62:2. “And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness,
and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the
mouth of the Lord shall name.”
It is instructive to note that righteousness precedes glory, the degree of
eternal glory being in proportion to the measure of righteousness displayed
in the life lived here on earth. And relative to the new name, we have
already noted that such a change accompanied a changed state, e.g., Jacob
meaning supplanter became Israel meaning he shall be prince of God; and the
fierce persecutor of the Christians, Saul meaning requested, became Paul
meaning little, the great apostle. And it is to be noted that it is God, not
man, who pronounces the new name.
62:3. “Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand
of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.”
What will be true of millennial Jerusalem will be equally true of her
people: the converted nation will reflect God’s glory, and will lead the
nations to worship Him also. The same principle applies to believers today:
we are responsible to live as becomes our high calling, and to be faithful
in proclaiming the gospel, which believed, will lead others to worship Him
also. Our own eternal glory will also reflect the degree of faithfulness we
have exercised in spreading the gospel, and in seeking to glorify Him by our
obedience to His word.
62:4. “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither
shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah,
and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be
married.”
Hephzi-bah means my delight is in her, and Beulah, married, the state that
is synonymous with fruitful increase. The type will be fulfilled in the
Millennium as declared in Amos 9:13 e.g., “Behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes
him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the
hills shall melt (flow with wine).” In Scripture, wine, used in a good
sense, as here, speaks of joy.
62:5. “For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall
thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so
shall thy God rejoice over thee.”
The symbolic picture is still of Israel in the Millennium, the happiness of
the people being likened to the pleasure a young man has in his bride, and
God’s pleasure in her being presented under the same figure, thus
emphasizing the harmony that will exist between God and the people in that
glorious era.
62:6. “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O
Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make
mention of the Lord, keep not silence.”
62:7. “And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a
praise in the earth.”
Taylor has translated these verses, “O Jerusalem, I have set intercessors on
your walls who shall cry to God all day and all night for the fulfillment of
His promises. Take no rest, all you who pray, and give God no rest until He
establishes Jerusalem and makes her respected and admired throughout the
earth.”
The speaker is generally understood to be God commanding the people to
continue in prayer for the establishment of Christ’s millennial kingdom, and
the question may be asked, Why would He command them to pray for what He had
already determined to do, i.e., bring in that kingdom? The answer seems to
be that it was to keep the hope of it constantly before them in the long
interval that was to intervene before fulfillment of the promise, and during
which there would be much to discourage them even to the point of abandoning
all expectation of its fulfillment.
That same encouragement is needed today. As believers look back over the
2,000 years that have passed since the Lord’s death, resurrection, and
return to heaven, they too may become discouraged, and be tempted to ask the
same question as the scoffers mentioned in 2 Pe 3:4, “Where is the promise
of his coming?” or that of the believers in Rev 6:10 “.... How long, O Lord,
holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell
on the earth?”
Everything however, points to the imminence of His return, first to rapture
His Church to heaven, and then seven years later to return with her to
inaugurate His millennial kingdom.
62:8. “The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by
the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for
thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for
the which thou hast labored.”
The immutability of the Lord’s oath here is similar to that which He made
with Abraham, see Heb 6:13, “For when God made promise to Abraham, because
he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself.” What is promised here in
the verse we are studying will be fulfilled to Israel in the Millennium.
62:9. “But they that have gathered it shall eat it,
and praise the Lord; and they that have brought it together shall drink it
in the courts of my holiness.”
The produce of Israel’s fields and vineyards has been enjoyed all too often
by her foes; but that will not happen in the Millennium. During that era she
will be the head and not the tail of the nations. They will then willingly
present her with the choicest of all they possess, in acknowledgment of her
God-given supremacy over them, see Dt 28:13, “And the Lord shall make thee
the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not
be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God,
which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them.”
Israel’s rebellion has robbed her of these blessings, but the terrible
Tribulation judgments will bring her to repentant confession and abandonment
of her sin, in response to which God will pour out the abundant blessing
promised in Amos 9:13 “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the
plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth
seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall
melt.”
“... the courts of my holiness” are the Temple courts.
62:10. “Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye
the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones;
lift up a standard for the people.”
Taylor’s translation of this verse is, “Go out! Go out! Prepare the roadway
for My people to return! Build the roads, pull out the boulders, raise the
flag of Israel.”
The command for Israel to go through the gates is generally understood to
apply to their departure from Babylon. It was necessary because many had
settled down in Babylon, and had chosen to remain there even after they were
free to leave and return to Palestine. The application today is to those who
have settled down in what Babylon represents: Roman Catholicism, and the
churches of apostate Protestantism. There are many today in those two
systems who are well aware of the error of both, but who refuse to come out
of them.
Some commentators take this to be a command for the improvement of the roads
in Israel in the Millennium; others, that it means to facilitate the return
of the Jews to Palestine from the countries in which they have been so long
scattered. There may be a measure of truth in both views.
62:11. “Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end
of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh;
behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.”
This appears to be God’s command at the beginning of the Millennium, to the
Jews scattered all over the earth, to return to Palestine, and enjoy fulness
of blessing. (It is to be remembered that those who survive the Tribulation
judgments, and pass into the Millennium, will all be believers).
“... his work before him” is better translated “His recompense (reward)
comes with Him.” The believers who survive the Tribulation will be amply
rewarded by the Lord for their faithfulness to Him even at the risk of
losing their lives at the hand of the Beast and his followers.
62:12. “And they shall call them, The holy people, The
redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not
forsaken.”
The “holy people, the redeemed of the Lord,” will be the Israelites who will
be converted during the Tribulation era; and clearly the “sought out, A city
not forsaken” will be millennial Jerusalem.
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