Isaiah 66:7-13 “Before she was in labor, she gave birth; Before her pain came, She delivered a male child. 8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children. 9 Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the LORD. “Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God. 10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem, And be glad with her, all you who love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her; 11 That you may feed and be satisfied With the consolation of her bosom, That you may drink deeply and be delighted With the abundance of her glory.” 12 For thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall feed; On her sides shall you be carried, And be dandled on her knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforts, So I will comfort you; And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
The expectation of the coming Kingdom of God is intimately connected with the restoration of Israel and the city of Jerusalem. The preceding passage describes Zion in labor, as once again, we find the metaphor of birth used to convey this scriptural promise. It is a national gestation which will not be aborted, but will come to fruition. But first, before this labor begins…a “male child” is born… This can be none other than Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah, Israel’s King, Himself, arriving beforehand, (on a donkey, at that), quite some time before the labor which gives birth to the nation; and causing the prophet to wonder if a nation can be born in a day.
So, the King comes to Jerusalem, humble and proclaiming the Kingdom, offering it to the people of Israel, if they will accept it, claiming that John the Baptist is the Elijah who came, and demonstrating His Messianic and kingly authority….but knowing in advance that they, especially the leaders, won’t receive Him; [Isaiah 53], and the Kingdom will have to wait. Nevertheless, shall the delivery process stop? Should the womb suddenly be shut? No, it will continue, but after some time.
In the interim, the nations will receive the gift of salvation through Israel’s Messiah, and the seed of the Kingdom will be planted in them. Then, after two days (two thousand years), [Hosea 6:1-3], the Kingdom promise will begin to be fulfilled in our day, in the rebirth of modern Israel as a nation, three years after the Holocaust….”Zion’s labor,” and so a nation IS born in a day, May 14th, 1948. But is this the Kingdom? No, not yet. It’s still only a harbinger.
Such a series of “birthings” already, and still more to come? The modern state of Israel will once again go through the travail of birth. “Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?” Jacob’s Trouble, yet another “birthing”….then, finally, all Israel will be saved! [Jeremiah 30:6-7; Romans 11:25-29]
Ask any mother about giving birth. Ask her especially about “transition,” though you may never have heard the medical term for the final stage of labor. If she’s a believer, she may tell you that she never prayed like that at any other time in her life, and if not, she may tell you that she prayed for the first time in her life during transition. The pain is excruciating. The Lord is longing for the birthing of His Kingdom, even as the labor pains increase, the nations align themselves against Jerusalem [Zechariah 14:2], and Zion’s final travail seems on her doorstep. So He calls to the faithful of all nations to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, [Psalm 122:6], and to His watchmen, to give Him no rest [Isaiah 62:6-7] until Jerusalem is a praise in all the Earth, and to everyone, “Thy Kingdom come!”
But is it possible you also are experiencing some kind of “travail”? The Kingdom, in its seed form, in us also, is birthed through painful trials, and we should not be surprised about it; [1 Peter 4:12]. If the King, Himself was made perfect through suffering [Hebrews 2:10], we also, will enjoy the same privilege, with the same result. Endure in prayer through your trial, and let the Kingdom be birthed in you. He will comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]We tend to focus on the part of that scripture where God does the blessing — but why did He bless Him? The answer lies in the passage! The Lord told Abraham: “I will bless you — and you shall be a blessing.” Abraham was blessed so that he could be a blessing!
One day a passerby saw a homeless man on the roadside. He stopped for a moment to hand him some loose change and casually said “God bless you, my friend”.
“I thank God,” said the homeless man, “I am never unhappy.”
The church at Laodicea received a stern warning in chapter 3 of John’s Revelation. We would do well to reflect on it.
The word “Laodicea” is a compound in the Greek; “Laos” which principally means “people”, and “dike”, defined as “principle or decision”. One rendering might read, “rule of the people”, or, in modern terms, “Democracy”. In the western world, we have an affection and even a deep commitment to Democracy. Yet this form of government, “rule of the people” is fatally flawed… because we are fatally flawed by our sin nature…
Laodicea was an idyllic city except for its lack of a water supply. It depended on water from an external source, the city of Hierapolis was located six miles to the north, the site of mineral hot springs which were used for medicinal purposes. These steaming hot waters were piped to Laodicea, arriving there… lukewarm, hence the metaphor in Yeshua’s warning to the Laodicean church.
The city of Laodicea was founded nearly three centuries before the birth of Christ. Built on a trade route, Laodicea was quite prosperous. The wealth of the city was legendary, as Jews who lived there sent 9 kilograms (20 lbs) of gold to the Temple in Jerusalem on a yearly basis according to historical records.
One of my passions is studying history, especially the American Civil War. Here is an amusing story about General Stonewall Jackson’s famous Valley Campaign. During the war, Jackson’s army found itself on one side of a river when it needed to be on the other.
Here in Israel we have an interesting geographical phenomenon – there are two landlocked seas. One is alive and one is dead. The sea full of life is the Kinneret, better known as the Sea of Galilee. The dead sea is…….you guessed it, the Dead Sea. Now the Kinneret is constantly emptying as it flows through the Jordan River valley…. into the Dead Sea. But the Dead Sea does not empty its water at all. Instead, the Dead Sea is continually shrinking, because the intense heat at this lowest place on Earth actually evaporates more water than is flowing in. Do you see a parable here?