Isaiah 30:23

HAPPY CONDITIONS IN THE GOLDEN AGE

"And he will give the rain for thy seed, wherewith thou shalt sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures; the oxen likewise and the young asses that till the ground shall eat savory provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork. And there shall be upon every lofty mountain, and upon every high hill, brooks and streams of water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven-fold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah bindeth up the hurt of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound."

This is an agricultural metaphor of very extravagant promises of God's blessings; "But we must understand that this language prefigures the glorious blessings in Christ (Ephesians 3:19; Colossians 2:8-10)."[22] Yes indeed, it also refers to marvelous blessings to Israel after the return from Babylonian captivity; but the continued rebellion of Israel prevented the full blessings God intended for Israel after their return. God had promised to bless Israel "above the blessings upon their fathers" (Deuteronomy 30:5) and that he would do more for them than at their "beginning" (Ezekiel 36:11); but it seems never to have occurred to Israel that these blessings were contingent, absolutely, upon their fidelity to God and upon their honoring and abiding by the teachings of his word. Even today, many Christian people are making the same tragic mistake, prattling about salvation "by faith alone." Israel tried that method and it didn't work. Neither will it work now (James 2:24). Even as late as the days of Malachi, God said that he would "open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi 3:10); but Israel continually forfeited such blessings by their rebellions.

The thing that destroyed Israel was their blind and foolish appropriation of God's most sacred promises without regard to the contingency, existing always, whether stated or not, that the blessings will be received only by the obedient! One of the most important passages in all the Word of God is this:

"At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them" (Jeremiah 18:7-10).

"That these verses (Isaiah 30:23-26) refer to the times of the Messiah there can be little or no room to doubt. It is language which Isaiah commonly employed to describe those times; and there is a fullness and splendor about it that can suit no other period."[23]