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SOME EXAMPLES OF THE GREAT GOSPEL AGE IN THE ILLUSTRATIVE LANGUAGE OF PROPHECY

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Notice in this chapter of Isaiah the references to the New Jerusalem as quoted in Revelation. This is because this chapter is defining what the New Jerusalem of Revelation is.

Isaiah 60:1. Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. 2. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon you, and his glory shall be seen upon you. 3. And the Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 4. Lift up your eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to you: Your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. 5. Then you shall see, and flow together, and your heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. 6. The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. 7. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you: they shall come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. 8. Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? 9. Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you. 10. And the sons of strangers shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor have I had mercy on thee. 11. Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. 12. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted. 13. The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. 14. The sons also of them that afflicted you shall come bending to you; and all they that despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you; The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 15. Whereas you hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through you, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. 16. You shall also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shall suck the breast of kings: and thou shall know that I the Lord am thy Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. 17. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and your exactors righteousness. 18. Violence shall no more be heard in your land, wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. 19. The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but the Lord shall be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. 20. Your sun shall no more go down; neither shall your moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. 21. Your people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. 22. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.

Here we have the verse Jesus quotes as referring to himself in the N.T. The results of his work listed after the verse are less well known.

Isaiah 61:1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. 4. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. 5. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. 6. But you shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall you boast yourselves. 7. For your shame you shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be to them. 8. For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9. And their children shall be known among the Nations, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the children which the Lord has blessed. 10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11. For as the earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

This is the familiar chapter in Isaiah that prophesied the death of Christ on the cross. The results of his death on the cross in it's time and season in the earth is recorded in chapter 54.  The Apostle Paul declares chapter 54 like the others to be speaking about New Testament believers and the New Jerusalem. . One can also see clearly that the New Jerusalem of Revelation comes out of these chapters also, further defining the symbolism in Revelation.. 

Isaiah 53:1. Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 2. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with sickness: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4. Surely he hath borne our sickness, and carried our diseases: yet we did esteem him forsaken, struck of God, and afflicted. 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opens  not his mouth. 8. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 54:1. Sing, O barren, you that did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says the Lord. 2. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations: spare not, lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes; 3. For you shall break forth on the right hand and on the left; and your descendents shall inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. 4. Fear not; for you shall not be ashamed: neither be confounded; for you shall not be put to shame: for you shall forget the shame of your youth, and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more. 5. For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 6. For the Lord has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused, says your God. 7. For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you. 8. In a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the Lord your Redeemer. 9. For this is as the waters of Noah to me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. 10. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the Lord that has mercy on you. 11. O you afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with fair colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires. 12. And I will make your windows of agates, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your borders of pleasant stones. 13. And all your children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of your children. 14. In righteousness shall you be established: you shall be far from oppression; for you shall not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near you. 15. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against you shall fall for your sake. 16. Behold, I have created the smith that blows the coals in the fire, and that brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 17. No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

Here is the new heavens and the new earth as quoted in Revelation. Notice though that in this place life and death are present, sin and labor, farming, house building. Having children. This new heaven and new earth as defined here is not the next life but the illustrative language of prophecy concerning the great gospel age. As is the new heaven and new earth of Revelation. 

Isaiah 65 17. For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. 21. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. 24. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 25. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

Psalms 2

1. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, 3. Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5. Then shall he speak to them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. 6. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. 7. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said to me, You art my son; this day have I begotten you. 8. Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations for your  inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. 9. You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. 10. Be wise now therefore, O you kings: be instructed, you judges of the earth. 11. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Psalms 67

1. God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. 2. That your way may be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations. 3. Let the people praise you, O God; let all the people praise you. 4. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for you shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. 5. Let the people praise you, O God; let all the people praise you. 6. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. 7. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

© 2009 Daniel Martinovich