God’s Plan for Isra’el
65: 1-25

Here we have the divine answer to the prayers and pleas in the preceding chapter. A distinction is made between the loyal servants of ADONAI and the provoking rebels. God describes His plan for Isra’el in Chapter 65 and the rebirth of Isra’el in Chapter 66. In both of these chapters distinctions will be made between the believing remnant within the nation and the nation as a whole as in 63:16. But You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Isra’el does not acknowledge us; You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from of old is Your name. The believing remnant is in a unique position. Abraham does not know this remnant because they are well beyond his time; on the other hand, the nation of Isra’el at the end of the Great Tribulation does not know them either. But as a result of the prayers of the believing remnant we are going to see the tables turned in Chapters 65 and 66. It will be this believing remnant that will find itself to be the true Isra’el, the apple of His Eye (Deuteronomy 32:10b). Chapter 65 is an outline of the plan of God during three periods; the Dispensation of Grace (verses 1-7), the Great Tribulation (verses 8-16), and the Messianic Kingdom (verses 17-25).