Isaiah 10:20
20 And it shall come to pass in that day, [yowm] that the remnant [sha'ar]
of Israel, [Yisra'el] and such as are escaped [paleytah] of the house [bayith] of
Jacob, [Ya`aqob] shall no more again [yacaph] stay [sha`an] upon him that
smote [nakah] them; but shall stay [sha`an] upon the LORD, [Yahovah]
the Holy One [qadowsh] of Israel, [Yisra'el] in truth. ['emeth] KJV-Interlinear
20 Now it will
come about in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of
Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but
will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. NASB
Isaiah has been
prophesying the fall of Israel and Judah, followed by the fall of Assyria, but
that series of events back then, is but a pattern of the invasion and
destruction that will occur at the end of the future history of Israel.
When God laid out the
divine plan, which is called the Divine Decrees, He partitioned up history into
separate dispensations. Each dispensation having unique attributes of its own.
The Garden was unique in
that only Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden. That was the first dispensation, or the Age
of Innocence. That was followed by the
next dispensation which spanned from their eviction out of the Garden, to the Flood
of Noah. These are unique time frames
with obvious beginnings and endings.
The next dispensation
followed the pattern of family rule from the post-flood days of Noah to
Abraham. Job would be the best example
of family rule.
Then there was the Age of
the Patriarchs, which separated the line of Christ making it unique from all
other lines. Then there was the Age of
Israel, which spanned from the Exodus which defined the nation and continued to
the time of Jesus and the Cross.
Old Testament prophecy
states that the pattern and time of the sacrifice of the Messiah would be
followed by the establishment of the Kingdom of God. But that did not happen immediately.
Back then all of the
Jewish people were looking for the Kingdom, but there was an interruption of
the dispensation of the Age of Israel, which has seven more years remaining
within it. This is Daniels seventieth
week or last week, in his seventy weeks prophecy. Each week representing a year for each day of
the week.
In his seventy weeks
prophecy, each day of the week represented one year (70*7=490). From the time of that prophecy, 483 years or
sixty nine weeks of years (69*7=483) had passed, leaving one final week of
years, or seven years. That final week
of years or seven years, was or will be, the great tribulation in which most of
the prophecies of the Old Testament are to take place. These years were to be the final years of the
Age of Israel.
After the Cross, which
occurred at the Feast of Passover, then fifty days later at the Feast of
Pentecost, our current dispensation, which we generally call the Church Age,
began. We interrupted the Age of Israel
which has seven years remaining within it.
So, the Kingdom of God
was postponed in order to insert into history, and complete, our current
dispensation.
Our current dispensation is
generally called the Church Age, but it is also called the Age of the Bride of
Christ, and is also called the Age of the Royal Family. All of these titles refer to the same
dispensation.
When our current
dispensation ends, and it will end with the event of the Rapture, then the Age
of Israel will resume in order to complete its last seven years.
That is when all of these
final days of history prophecies, will occur.
So, in our verse, the
phrase, ‘in that day,’ refers to the final days of history as they will occur
within the Age of Israel.
Remember that the Church
Age was never mentioned in the Old Testament.
Our dispensation was kept secret from history. Therefore all of the prophecies from the Old
Testament refer to and are contained within, the Age of Israel and never to our
Church Age.
And so, these events from
Isaiah’s day, are types or examples of the events that will occur once again,
in the Tribulation. The world will rise
up against Israel to destroy it. Assyria,
the region, to the north will rise against Israel and will destroy Israel, but
then it, itself will be destroyed by God.
The trend will repeat
itself over and over again with Babylon, Persia, Greece and finally Rome. And then one last time, at the end of
history.
And here is the prophecy
for specifically Jewish people. The
remnant that has escaped of the house of Jacob, is a reference to specifically
Jewish people. Other gentile believers will
escape too, but this is one of many references wherein God promises that there
will be a Jewish race in existence at the end of human history. Thus the
obsession of Satan to destroy Israel and all Jewish people prior to those last
days of history.
During Isaiah’s time, the
nation was overrun such that most people were either killed or taken into
captivity. There are other prophecies
that promise a return of a remnant to the land.
But here, the remnant will return to God.
They will not stay, on
their oppressive invaders, but will stay, on the Lord. To stay, ‘shaan,’ means to rely on, to depend
on, to follow, to stay or remain with.
And so this remnant will escape,
‘paleytah,’ is in the feminine form and means to be delivered, or to escape the
hands of their enemies, being delivered or rescued by God. They do not rescue
themselves. God is the masculine who
rescues the feminine.
We know that in the
Tribulation many will run to the mountains and hide out for some time, in many
cases for several years. But too, there will
be those who will remain in Jerusalem and they will hold out against the most
phenomenal invasion and attack against Jerusalem in all of history. They will hold on until the Second Advent and
will be rescued by Christ.
Therefore, not only will
there be Jews alive in those last days, but there will be Christian Jews, who
will hide or fight, and will be delivered by Christ.
They will not turn to the
philosophies and religions demands of their enemies of their day, but will turn
to Gods word, which is truth.
The Lord is defined here
as the Holy One, which separates Christ from all other false deities or
philosophies, and identifies Jesus Christ specifically.
Now note one thing. This is a remnant. Most of the Jewish race, along with most of
the population of the world in general, will die.
The number of the remnant
is not defined. It could be a few hundred or a few thousand people. But these are the only people, plus other
gentile believers, from every nation, who successfully hide and survive, that will
remain alive at the Second Advent and will enter into the Kingdom of God.
The rest of the
population of the world will be dead.
If these things were to
occur now, then over seven billion minus believers removed in the Rapture,
would be dead within seven years. If
this does not occur for another few decades or a century or so, then that seven
billion will increase to a much bigger number, perhaps ten or twenty or fifty
or a hundred billion people. God only
knows.
In any case, the surviving
remnant will be a very small number by comparison to the entire world
population.
So the promise here at
the end of history, is that there will be Jews alive, they will be believers in
the one true God, Jesus Christ, they will escape the clutches and intentions of
the invading armies, they will be rescued by Christ, and they will be few in
number. And by inference since they are alive in the Tribulation, they will begin
the Tribulation as unbelievers, not having been removed by the Rapture, but will
believe in Christ at some point during the Tribulation.
