Isaiah
28:12
12 To whom he said ['amar], This is the rest [m@nuwchah] wherewith ye may cause the weary [`ayeph]
to rest [nuwach]; and this is the refreshing [marge`ah]: yet they would ['abah] not
hear [shama`].
KJV-Interlinear
12 to whom he has said, “This is
rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear. ESV
Tongues is the prophecy. And we need to clarify a little from yesterday’s
study.
The question is, ‘How do you know this prophecy does
not apply to the end times or even in our times, but only the time of Jesus?’
And the answer is really simple.
The Old Testament, most of it, applied to the times of
the Israelites or the Jewish people. We
call that latter part, the dispensation of the Age of Israel. All prophecies written within that period,
apply to that period. And Isaiah was in
that period, the Age of Israel.
Now, the Age of Israel was interrupted when it had
only seven years to go, by our dispensation the Church Age.
We also refer to ourselves as the Age of the Royal
Family, the Bride of Christ, the Royal Family, and all of these are one and the
same dispensation. Our dispensation
begin with Pentecost, and will end at the Rapture. Then the Age of Israel will resume and
complete its final seven years. Those
seven years are what we refer to as the Tribulation.
As far as the Jews back then knew, they expected the
Messiah to arrive, and to immediately set up His kingdom on earth. But that did not occur.
God did not reveal our dispensation to the Old
Testament people, so it was referred to as the hidden or secret or mystery age.
Since we were never revealed to anyone, then no
prophecies could apply to our time.
And you say, what about the establishment of the
nation of Israel in 1948 and of many others things that seem to be fulfilling of
prophecies? Well, when Jesus and Paul
spoke, they listed historical trends that would occur to indicate the ending of
our time, such as population increases, earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars,
and so forth. And, since when the
Tribulation begins, there will be a nation of Israel in existence, then of
course it would have had to come into existence prior to the Rapture. But remember that Israel, from back then, did
not get obliterated until about forty years after the Cross, when the Romans sacked
the nation, destroying virtually everything.
Likewise. When the anti-christ takes control over the
world, he is not born after the Rapture.
He will have to be born prior to the rapture, in order to grow up to an
age and position sufficient enough to give him access to take control.
So, a lot of things will occur during our age, but we
are not the fulfillment of prophecy during our age. We are the preparation footstool, for the
preparation of those final days.
Preparation is the key word, so far as our dispensation is concerned.
Also, the prophecy of tongues, speaks of the teaching
of doctrine through a foreign language, since the Jews were not teaching truth
from their own language. So it was a
reprimand of sorts, suggesting their loss of the right of custody of the
scriptures, but never indicating a change in historical dispensations.
So, they lost the right to teach, when the gentiles
took over. And that loss occurred back
then, not since then, and not in the future.
And now for this verse.
To whom God has said.
And this refers to the Jewish people, to whom God had been communicating
the scriptures, through the prophets for many, many centuries.
This is my rest.
God taught doctrine through the scriptures, but the Jewish people, did
not listen. Instead they fabricated their
own regulations through the Levitical priesthood, and had bastardized the whole
purpose of the scriptures.
My rest, is the peace and fulfillment which is made
available to each person who believes and who studies and who grows up in their
spiritual life.
The refreshing, is the comfort and peace and security
and the relaxed mental attitude of spiritual growth and spiritual maturity,
which comes to everyone and anyone who legitimately and consistently pursues
the daily study of the Word of God.
So, since they did not listen, to their own teaching,
they lost the right to teach. That loss
went to the gentiles. And that occurred
back at Pentecost, over 1900 years ago.
