Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on David’s Tent, a ministry of Israeli believers Avner and Rachel Boskey. The Boskey’s have ministered at Tabernacle of David, and we consider them trustworthy and Biblically sound.
During the month of May 2023, a world-wide 21-day intercessory ‘prayer meeting’ took place, focusing on the protection and salvation of the people of Israel. Isaiah 62 was its scriptural theme. Across the planet over 5,000 ministries put their shoulders to the prayer-plough; our dear friend Mike Bickle of International House of Prayer in Kansas City was a major spearhead, catalyst and trumpeter of this gathering. And on May 28 (the traditional Christian Day of Pentecost) up to 100,000,000 believers united to seek the Father’s face regarding Israel’s protection and destiny – all in all an encouraging event.
Isaiah 62 is a bejeweled passage, rich in divine insights. For many believers, the first part of verse 1 is what is remembered: “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet.”
This newsletter takes a closer look at Isaiah 62’s multifaceted message – God’s burning heart and prophetic strategies for His Jewish people.
With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?
The usual interpretation of Isaiah 62:1 is this – the prophet is proclaiming that he will not be silent. This concept is then applied (by those who believe in the continued prophetic calling of the Jewish people) as an intercessory command to pray diligently for the salvation and blessing of Israel. A right-on application, and very much God’s heart.
A closer look at Isaiah reveals two helpful things about this verse:
1: The Book of Isaiah uses two specific Hebrew verbs five different times (Isaiah 18:4: 42:14; 57:11; 64:11-12; 65:6), where YHVH speaks in the first person (‘keep silent’ chashah/חָשָׁה; ‘keep quiet’ shaqat/שָׁקַט). These are the same two verbs used in the double-declaration of Isaiah 62:1.
2: Throughout chapter 62, the God of Jacob describes Himself as the One speaking:
- I will not keep silent (verse 1)
- I will not keep quiet (verse 1)
- I have appointed watchmen (verse 6)
- I will never again give your grain (verse 8)
- I will never again give your new wine (verse 8)
3: The person speaking in the immediately preceding chapter 61:1-2 is described as being anointed by the Spirit of YHVH/YHVH Himself. The Hebrew word for ‘Anointed’ is Mashiach, or Messiah in English. The calling of the Messiah is to proclaim good news to the Jewish people – release, freedom, the favorable Year of YHVH and the Day of God’s vengeance on all His enemies.
Commenting on Isiah 62, OT scholar Franz Delitzch states that “it is evident that Jehovah is the speaker here.” The Proclaimer in Isaiah 62 is the God of Israel – whether it be the Father or the Anointed Son.
What does this all mean?
The fact that YHVH is speaking in chapter 62 – what does that mean for us here?
1: YHVH Himself is not keeping silent and is not keeping quiet about these matters
2: The God of Isaac has an unmistakable commitment of the highest priority: to passionately pursue the protection, salvation and blessing of the Jewish people – all the way through and up to the point where His promises become reality.
3: YHVH’s divine declaration issues forth from His own mouth and it echoes the cry of His heart as well.
- God will never stop being pro-active in fulfilling this declaration, and we also are invited to join Him in this task (see Psalm 122:6-8)
- When we join in in making the same declaration, and when we pro-actively carry it out – we are imitating the heart, the passion and the words of our Father who is in heaven (see 1 Corinthians 2:12)
- The Bible states that God’s priority heart for Jewish redemption and His calling for Jewish redemption and restoration are the divine telescope through which the entirety of human history is to be seen and understood
YHVH proclaims two of His marvelous deeds
In this magnificent chapter, YHVH proclaims two awesome facts:
1: He has appointed intercessory watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem (verse 6). These ‘guardians’ (šō·mə·rîm שָׁמַר) will press into their mission – not limited by time or personal strength – until YHVH’s restoration plans for the Jewish people and their capital city are fulfilled on earth, and until all nations honor and praise the Jewish people for that redemptive reality.
2: He has proclaimed a message to all the nations of the earth, no matter how far away from the Land of Israel (verse 11). Those who hear Him and obey are called to proclaim a two-fold message to the Jewish people (ed., the daughter of Zion):
- that her salvation (the Messiah Yeshua) is fast returning to this planet
- that this Messiah is coming to reward His saints and to judge His enemies
To sum up: all believers have received an intercessory call to pray and labor for the full restoration of the Jewish people and their Land. All believers are called to proclaim to the Jewish people the gospel message of Messiah Yeshua’s atonement, resurrection and return, as well as His swift-coming judgment to judge all the nations.
YHVH’s five commands
In chapter 62:10 the God of Israel commands His listeners to do five things:
- Go through, go through the gates (Isaiah 60:11)
- Clear a way for the people (Isaiah 40:3)
- Build up – build up the highway (Isaiah 40:3; 57:14)
- Remove the stones! (Isaiah 57:14)
- Lift up a flag over the peoples (Isaiah 49:22; 11:10, 12)
These commands call upon the listeners (Jewish and/or Gentile) to set their hands to physically restore the Land of Israel (at the very least) – the removing of physical obstacles and stones as roads are constructed which pass from desolate areas to Jerusalem the Jewish people’s capital city. The flags are a physical manifestation that God is restoring the sons and daughters of Jacob, and that the nations of the world need to sit up and take notice.
To sum up: Jews and Gentiles who believe in Messiah Yeshua are commanded to rise to the challenge and help in the restoration of the Jewish people and the reclamation of their Land – both physically and spiritually. This calling includes the priority call of the gospel to the Jewish people in Romans 1:16.
YHVH pounds three prophetic sign-posts into holy ground
In Isaiah 62 the God of Israel grants three prophetic time-signs – three times the word ‘until’ is used in this chapter. These draw attention to what is known as a ‘terminus ad quem’ – the finishing point in a process. Intercessors are called on to intensely intercede from the ‘now’ of today until the ‘then’ – when these prayers become fulfilled reality for Jerusalem, Zion and Israel:
- until her righteousness goes forth like brightness (verse 1)
- until her salvation goes forth like a torch that is burning (verse 1)
- until He establishes and makes Jerusalem an object of praise on the earth (verse 7)
To sum up: our intercessory calling and mandate for the Jewish people continues until – until Israel comes into a full and saving knowledge of Messiah Yeshua; until the Jewish people become a lighthouse of spiritual truth, righteousness and rescue for the entire plant – life from the dead (see Romans 11:12); until the whole world recognizes these realities.
YHVH reveals twenty-four future events
Here are the twenty-four prophetic future events that Isaiah sees in chapter 62. We look forward to seeing these come to pass as well:
- Jerusalem’s righteousness will go forth like brightness
- Jerusalem’s salvation will go forth like a torch that is burning
- The nations will see Jerusalem’s righteousness
- All kings will see Jerusalem’s glory
- Jerusalem will be called by a new name which the mouth of YHVH will designate
- Jerusalem will be a crown of beauty in the hand of YHVH
- Jerusalem will be a royal headband in the hand of her God
- It will no longer be said to Jerusalem, ‘Forsaken’
- It will no longer be said of your Land, ‘Desolate’
- You (Jerusalem) will be called ‘My delight is in her’
- Your Land will be called ‘Married’
- To YHVH your Land will be married
- Your sons (O Land) will marry you
- Your God (O Israel) will rejoice over you
- Jerusalem will be established by YHVH and made an object of praise in the earth
- YHVH will never again give Israeli grain as food for to Israel’s enemies
- Foreigners will never drink Israel’s new wine for which the Jewish people have labored
- Israeli Jews will harvest their own crops. They will eat them and praise YHVH.
- They will gather grapes and will drink that wine in the courtyards of YHVH’s Sanctuary
- Israel’s salvation is coming
- Messiah’s (positive) reward is with Him
- Messiah’s (judging) compensation is before Him
- The nations will call the Jewish people, ‘The holy people, the redeemed of YHVH’
- The Jewish people will be called, ‘Sought Out, A City Not Abandoned’
To sum up: the prophetic fulfilment of Isiah 62 homes in on physical and spiritual blessings to the Jewish people in their Jewish homeland. Overflowing intimacy with YHVH and physical prosperity will be their portion, and this fact will be recognized by the entire world. Spiritual truth and light and Messianic teaching will flow from Jerusalem (see Isaiah 2:1-5; Zechariah 8:20-23).
Postscriptum
It is becoming more and more common in a ‘politically correct’ world – especially when it concerns the Middle East – to describe the prophetic future in the Holy Land as being divided between Jews and Arabs; to describe the fulfilment of a ‘One New Man’ identity as being that of properly blended percentage of Jews and Arabs in the Promised Land; to envision and even prophesy a coming ‘Abrahamic Table’ where Ishmael and Esau will have priority seating at the covenantal table along with Isaac and Jacob. One offshoot of this includes the blatant misuse of Isaiah 19, mistakenly classifying the Hamitic people of Egypt as honorary Ishmaelites who are then somehow ‘granted’ (according to this false teaching) full covenantal inheritance rights with the sons and daughters of Jacob.
It is noted that the futuristic vision of Isaiah 62 contains no description of an Ishmaelite or Edomite enclave on the soil of the Abrahamic Land. That territory has been eternally bequeathed to Isaac. Jacob and his twelve sons by the God of Abraham.
How should we then pray?
- Pray for a clear understanding of God’s perspectives in Isaiah 62 to spread among Jews and Gentiles across the planet
- Pray for intercessory fire to fall on believers around the world for these things
- Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth
Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.
In Messiah Yeshua,
Avner Boskey
Donations can be sent to:
FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES
BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA
Donations can also be made on-line (by PayPal) through: www.davidstent.org
The post For Zion’s sake – the divine cry of Isaiah 62 appeared first on David's Tent.
