Isaiah, Prophet of Salvation, Book 6, part 5

Isaiah’s contrast between “grass” and “the word of God” was grasped by the New Testament apostles as the basis of their teaching on Sonship. Sonship, in turn, is the heart of the gospel, for Christ’s death, resurrection, and presentation to the Father as the first born Son of God showed forth the path for all of us to become sons of God. Even as Jesus was begotten by the Father and was therefore called the Son of God, so also are we begotten by the same Father by the seed of the word. By this path we may change identity and become new creatures.

The Good News

This is the good news of the gospel. So Isaiah 40:9 says,

⁹ Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news [basar, “gospel, flesh”], lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, hearer of good news [basar]; lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is [“Behold”] your God!”

The good news of Sonship was proclaimed on the “high mountain” where Jesus took three of His disciples. There He was transfigured before them, and there the voice from heaven proclaimed the good news of the gospel: “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him” (Matthew 17:5). Jesus Himself, then, was the One who was to go to Mount Hermon (Sion, Deuteronomy 4:48) above Caesarea Philippi and shout the good news of the transfigured sons of God. Hence, we read in Hebrews 12:18, 19, 22, 23,

¹⁸ For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched [i.e., Sinai, representing the earthly Jerusalem, Galatians 4:25] and to a blazing fire; and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, ¹⁹ and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them…. ²² But you have come to Mount Zion [Sion, KJV, or Mount Hermon] and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, ²³ to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.

Note the contrast between the two mountains. Mount Sinai was a place of “darkness and gloom,” while Mount Hermon was the place of the “church of the firstborn,” where the spirits of the righteous are perfected. Mount Sinai frightened “the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38 KJV), making them incapable of hearing more than just the Ten Commandments; but Mount Sion was the place where the gospel of Sonship was revealed, which was afterward preached without fear.

The Old Covenant breeds fear, because men know that they cannot be saved by the power of their own will. Neither can anyone fulfill his own vows, no matter how sincere he is. Those who think they are saved by the Old Covenant can never fully enter into God’s rest, for they are plagued by the fear that comes through Mount Sinai. Only by the revelation of the New Covenant, knowing that God is responsible to save and perfect us, can we find that place of rest.

Zion and Sion

Most Christians confuse Zion with Sion. The “Z” was a tsade (ts or z), while the “S” in Sion was a shin. The Hebrew name Zion was translated into Greek as Sion. In the New Testament, instead of using the zeta to make it read Zion, the word was always spelled with a sigma (s) to read Sion. Thus, the mount of “the heavenly Jerusalem” was Mount Hermon, not the hill of Zion in the earthly Jerusalem.

The KJV spelled it correctly as “Sion,” while the NASB got it wrong (“Zion”). Obviously, the NASB translators did not understand that Zion and Sion were two different mountains. This has caused confusion in the church and has helped to hide the truth about Sonship.

Yet when we study this distinction, the gospel becomes clearer, for we are able to see that Mount Zion is essentially the place of the Old Covenant that ruled the earthly city of Jerusalem, while Mount Sion is the place of the New Covenant that rules the heavenly city, New Jerusalem. By understanding the difference between these two covenants, we are able to comprehend the revelation of the gospel and to see that it is truly “good news.”

The word translated “gospel” is basar, which is translated “flesh” in Genesis 2:21, 23, 24, etc. In my studies of John 6:53-56, I have shown how Jesus taught that men must “eat” His flesh. This means that men must hear, digest, and assimilate the gospel that He preached. One must know the double meaning of basar in order to catch the significance of His teachings in John 6.

Isaiah 40:8 also said, “Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news” [the gospel]. As with all the other prophets, Isaiah does not clearly distinguish between the heavenly city and the earthly city. That revelation is left to those of the New Covenant. But once we see how this verse was actually fulfilled in Christ, it is not difficult to see that the prophet was referring to the heavenly Jerusalem and Mount Sion, for that is where the gospel was proclaimed.

The earthly Jerusalem and its rulers (Zion) rejected that good news. Those of the earthly Jerusalem were repulsed by the thought of eating Jesus’ flesh (basar); but those who believe in Him partake of His body every time they take communion.

The Good Shepherd

Isaiah 40:10 says,

¹⁰ Behold, the Lord God will come with might, with His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him.

In Revelation 22:12, we read,

¹² “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”

This is essentially a paraphrase of Isaiah 40:10. There are two types of “reward” that men will receive in that day. The word “reward” was used to signify wages or payment for work that was done. Those who have done good will receive a good reward. Those who have done evil will be recompensed accordingly.

Isaiah 40:11 continues,

¹¹ Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

In John 10:11 and 14, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd.” Hebrews 13:20 calls Jesus “the great shepherd.” He has always been the Shepherd, saying, “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 100:3). This is rooted in the prophecy of Christ in Numbers 27:16-19,

¹⁶ “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, ¹⁷ who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” ¹⁸ So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; ¹⁹ and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight.”

Joshua, or Yeshua, was a type of Christ, who was called to shepherd the congregation into the Promised Land. What Joshua did was appropriate in his day, but it was only a type and shadow of what the New Testament Yeshua was to do as the “great shepherd.” Even then, the first coming of Christ only partially fulfilled His shepherding role. Christ second coming will reward the overcomers with immortality at the first resurrection (Revelation 20:5, 6). John further says that a thousand years later, He will reward or recompense everyone for their deeds at the Great White Throne judgment (Revelation 20:12).

Ruling All Nations

Isaiah 40:12-14 says this about the great Shepherd,

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales? ¹³ Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has informed Him? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him of the way of understanding?

These rhetorical questions have obvious answers. God did not need anyone to teach Him how to create the heavens and the earth. No one needed to inform Him or to teach Him the principles of justice. The Apostle Paul understood this clearly and applied it to the divine plan, which He established by the power of His own will. The plan was first to lock up everyone in disobedience, which then makes Him responsible to save everyone. Romans 11:32-36 says,

³² For God has shut up all in disobedience, so that He may show mercy to all. ³³ Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! ³⁴ For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? ³⁵ Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? ³⁶ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory for ever. Amen.

God’s plan may be difficult for men to grasp. God’s plan may seem unjust to those who do not understand His sovereignty. Those who do not know “the mind of the Lord” inevitably feel compelled to make man sovereign through the doctrine of “free will,” hoping to remove God from any responsibility of shutting up all in disobedience. Such people do not understand that God took upon Himself that very responsibility in order that we might know that He is also compelled by His own laws of liability to save all mankind, as Paul teaches in Romans 5:17, 18 and in many other places.

See my book, The Restoration of All Things.

For this reason, theologians ought not to give God counsel about the divine plan, for their knowledge is but a dust particle on the scales of justice. Isaiah and Paul thus celebrate the magnitude of God and the astounding wisdom of His plan. Isaiah 40:15 says,

¹⁵ Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

No Sacrifice is Sufficient

Isaiah 40:16, 17 says,

¹⁶ Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. ¹⁷ All the nations are as nothing before Him. They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

By “Lebanon,” the prophet was referring to the great cedars, which were insufficient, along with all of its “beasts,” to offer an adequate sacrifice to the great Creator of all things. The nations cannot compare with the God who created them. The point is that men should not presume to try to counsel God on how to rule the universe. Their understanding is very limited. Their wisdom is “meaningless.” I have often pointed out this very thing by saying, “If I were God, I would not do it this way!” Such a statement is actually a confession that my ways are not His ways. I have learned that when I would do things differently, it is because my wisdom is but a speck of dust on the divine scales of justice.