Do I Bring to the Moment of Birth and Not Give Delivery?
66: 7-9
Do I bring the moment of birth and not give delivery? DIG: When and where does this rebirth take place (63:1-6)? What must precede it (63:7 to 64:12)? How many are saved at that time? What does ADONAI say about His faithfulness (40:8)? What would this message mean to the faithful remnant at the end of the Great Tribulation as the antichrist and his world army tightened the nose around their neck at Bozrah?
REFLECT: What do these verses say about God’s promises to you? What does this do to your faith? Your hope? Your trust? When were you born-again? Are you born-again? If you would like to know how to accept Christ, to see link click Jd – It Was the LORD’s Will to Crush Him and Cause Him to Suffer.
The fervent prayer of the believing remnant in Chapter 64 is answered by God in Chapters 65 and 66. ADONAI makes it very clear that their sins and unfaithfulness were responsible for the judgment they had endured during the Great Tribulation. But their sins had not frustrated His promises and purposes concerning Isra’el; therefore, here the LORD gives a vision of the Messianic Kingdom and her position in it.
In this segment the focus returns to hope, picking up the theme of Jerusalem as mother that has occurred frequently throughout Isaiah. Elsewhere this theme has been used to point to mourning and denial (26:16-18, 37:3, 51:18-20); but also, of hope and promise (49:19-21; 54:1-3). Zion will be known for her abundance and blessing, and will provide such for her inhabitants. Gone will be the days when she was stripped bare, when her children were slaughtered and it seemed impossible that she would ever give birth again. This is a summary of the rebirth of Isra’el. Yeshua Messiah will not return until He is asked to by the leadership and the people of Isra’el at the end of the Great Tribulation (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ).
Like childbirth, the Great Tribulation will be a time of labor. Here again is one of Isaiah’s graphic metaphors used to make a point. Isra’el will go through the Great Tribulation after Messiah is born in Bethlehem – before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a Son (66:7). The Church Age was a mystery to the righteous of the TaNaKh. Paul said: This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the Church (Eph 5:32). But the believing remnant would read these words with complete clarity. It will help them understand what they have been through, and why they had to go through it.
The sudden and speedy repopulation of Zion is depicted to hearten the faithful remnant. Isaiah highlights the amazing nature of what he was saying with four rhetorical questions, all of which are all grammatically designed to expect a negative answer. Who has ever heard of such a thing? No, of course not. Who has ever seen such things? It is contrary to nature. This is obviously a work of God. Then the prophet changes the subject of this dramatic turn of events. Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment (66:8a)? Oh, we are talking about the birth of a country. All at once? In a single moment? Who could be the mother of such children? This surely was puzzling to the faithful of Isaiah’s day, after all, Ezeki’el’s description of the valley of dry bones springing to life was not written until over a hundred years later (see my commentary on Jeremiah Gk – The Valley of Dry Bones). Yet the believing remnant at the end of the Great Tribulation, crying out in pain and suffering would have no doubt that the mother was Yerushalayim. However, who were her children?
Yet no sooner is Tziyon in the labor of the Great Tribulation than she gives birth to her children (66:8b). Isaiah was talking about them! It was them! Yes, they had been in labor. Yes, they had been in distress. But destruction was not God’s ultimate goal. It was to give them life! The Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it (John 5:21b)! It was like Yeshua was talking directly to them on the road to Emmaus: Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and they asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us” (Luke 24:13-35)?
Do I bring the moment of birth and not give delivery? says the LORD (66:9a)? God will make sure that all He has promised is accomplished, nothing will be left unfinished. Shall He start the birth process as He had in the creation of the nation of Isra’el, and not bring it to completion? But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead (26:19). The word says, as in says the LORD, occurs twice in this verse. The first instance is in the imperfect tense, or keeps saying. ADONAI keeps saying, do I not follow through on what I say I am going to do?
The second instance is in the perfect tense, something already settled. Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery? says your God (66:9b). These illustrations point out that God keeps saying what He has declared, and has declared what is already settled. The 144,000 Jews who are sealed at the beginning of the Great Tribulation will make it through. Every single one of them (see the commentary on Revelation Cr – Then I Heard the Number of Those Who Were Sealed, 144,000 from all the Tribes of Isra’el).
The world, the antichrist, the false prophet and Satan himself may have said that Yerushalayim was barren, and even if pregnant, was too weak to give birth to anything like the righteousness of ADONAI (37:3). But it is not Tziyon saving the world, it is God. And He is the One who has proved that what He says is so. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out of My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (55:10-11). Therefore, if the LORD says that He will bring spiritual life back to the nation of Isra’el, we can count on it. For nothing, absolutely nothing, can prevent that promise from being realized.
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