Isaiah 49:26

The Lord would cause these Gentile oppressors to consume one another, "reduced to their last extremity." [Note: Michael Dahood, "Textual Problems in Isaiah," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 22 (1960):404-5.] This will happen when the nations fight one another at Armageddon. Jesus Christ will return from heaven, the assembled armies will turn on Him, and He will defeat them with a word from His mouth. This will open the way for Israel to return to her land as the honored of the earth in the Millennium (cf. Daniel 11:40-45; Revelation 16:14; Revelation 19:19-21). These events will demonstrate to everyone that Yahweh is Israel’s Savior, Redeemer, and the Mighty God of Jacob.

Are these descriptions just impressionistic pictures of Gentiles coming to Christ for salvation, or should we look for a more literal fulfillment of these promises? Amillennialists say they are figurative descriptions of Gentiles coming to salvation through Christ. Premillennialists say they describe a literal return of Israelites to their land with an accompanying exaltation of the physical descendants of Jacob in the earth. One of the cardinal rules of hermeneutics is that if the interpreter can understand something literally it should be taken that way unless other indications in the text or context point to a non-literal interpretation. Amillennialists concede that it is possible to take these prophecies literally, and that if one does, he or she will come out a premillennialist. But they say that a literal fulfillment was not intended, and that these predictions are being fulfilled spiritually through the church. Premillennialists view this chapter, and most of chapters 50-57, as revealing Messiah’s restoration of Israel to her land at the beginning of the Millennium.