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Scripture Reading: Isa. 11:10-16
In this message we want to continue our fellowship concerning the revelation of the all-inclusive Christ in Isaiah 11. We have seen that in Isaiah 4 there are four items typifying Christ, and these four items form two pairs. The first pair is Christ as the Shoot of Jehovah and the Fruit of the earth, and the second pair is Christ as a covering canopy of glory and an overshadowing tabernacle of grace. In Isaiah 11 there are also four items typifying Christ, and these four items form two pairs. The first pair of items is Christ as a twig from the stem of Jesse and a branch from the roots of Jesse. The second pair of items is Christ as a banner to the peoples and a standard to the nations.
Isaiah 11 is altogether a chapter on the coming restoration of life, especially the restoration of the returned nation of Israel. In these messages we are not studying the future fulfillment of Isaiah 11. We are studying the principle of the restoration of life. The twig and the branch come up in life, and this life is full of restoring power, deepening power, growing power, and fruit-bearing power. A twig coming out from a dried and dead stump is a strong indication of the restoring power in this life. The branch signifies that this life has the deepening power, the growing power, and the fruit-bearing power. This life brings in the Spirit, and this Spirit carries out God's administration where we see a full restoration of life. Wherever Christ as life grows in freshness and depth, there is the Spirit with His riches, there is the government of God in righteousness and justice, and there is the restoration of life.
Through the restoration of Israel, Christ will become a banner to the peoples and a standard to the nations. We need to consider the distinction between a banner and a standard. In order to understand the biblical truths, we need to understand the proper meaning of the words used in the Bible. Isaiah 11 describes the scene of a recovery, a revival, a restoration. When the peoples see such a restoration, they will ask, "What is this? Who is carrying this out?" This is why there is the need to put up a banner full of explanation, description, and instruction. This convinces people, convicts people, and captures people. This banner becomes a magnet. It is very magnetic. In the restoration, there will also be the need of a standard to call the people and to gather the people. Thus, in Isaiah 11 the banner is mentioned first and then the standard. The banner is mainly for designation, explanation, and instruction, and the standard is mainly for calling and gathering. The standard is placed as the central object of the called and gathered people.
In our church life, when the Christ among us grows bigger and bigger, eventually we have Him as the banner. This grown up Christ becomes a banner to describe, to designate, and to explain. Christ as the banner instructs people concerning the revival and restoration in the church. This banner will be a great magnet, a great attraction. It will become very magnetic. Actually, this great magnet is also a standard which draws people, attracts people, calls people, collects people, and gathers people.
Wherever Christ is exalted and taken as the central object for His seeking ones to be gathered to, there is the return of God's people and the submission of the subdued ones. The church life then becomes an attraction, not by the church itself but by Christ as the twig to become the banner and as the branch to become the standard. We need to see why Isaiah couples Christ as the twig and the branch with Christ as the banner and the standard. When we have Christ as a twig growing among us, this growing up twig becomes a banner, which describes, explains, designates, and even gives some instructions concerning what Christ is to the church. The same Christ is also a branch growing up to be a standard.
Christ is a banner to all the peoples. Isaiah 11:10 says, "And in that day the root of Jesse, / Who stands as a banner to the peoples — / Him will the nations seek, / And His resting place will be the glory." The root of Jesse indicates the same human royal source as that of the twig in verse 1. David is this human royal source. The word stands indicates being full of strength and ability. Christ stands full of strength and ability as a banner to the peoples.
A banner, probably being the enlargement of the twig in verse 1, indicates an ensign as a gathering and collecting mark. The Hebrew word for banner in verse 10 may also be translated as ensign (ASV) or signal (NASB). Christ as a banner is the gathering and collecting mark to the peoples of the earth. The phrase to the peoples in verse 10 indicates to all the people of the earth.
Him will the nations seek indicates that all the nations of the earth will turn to Him and be willing to be His people. The day will come when all the peoples on this earth will turn to seek after Christ and will be happy to be His people. We are expecting that day.
His resting place will be the glory indicates that the divine glory of God will be Christ's resting place. The divine glory will be His bed, His sofa, His resting place. This indicates that the divine glory is one with Christ. The divine glory being His resting place implies His divinity, which means that He and God are one. Actually, the banner to the peoples is God Himself.
Christ is also a standard to the nations (v. 12a). A standard, probably being the enlargement of the branch in verse 1, indicates the influence of the calling and gathering power. A standard, standing high, always calls and gathers people to that place where it is. Such a standard becomes a great magnet to the nations. To the nations indicates to all the earth.
Christ as the banner to the peoples and the standard to the nations will bring in the return of God's people and the submission of the Gentiles (Isa. 11:11d, 12b-16). The Lord will recover for the second time the remnant of His people from the nations and gather them from the four corners of the earth (vv. 11, 12b). The first time the Lord recovered Israel was in their exodus from Egypt. Even today most of the Jews are dispersed, scattered everywhere, throughout the globe.
Verses 13 and 14 say that Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor will Judah be hostile to Ephraim. They will be together to plunder the nations on the west and on the east; the nations will come into the grasp of their hand and submit to them. Ephraim was the northern nation of Israel, and Judah was the southern nation. The one nation was divided into two — the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah. Instead of their being hostile toward one another, they will be harmoniously one. They will be together to plunder the nations on the west and on the east. The nations will come into the grasp of their hand and submit to them. In our experience this signifies the result of our preaching of the gospel. If we are jealous of each other and hostile to each other, we cannot be together to plunder the people from the west and from the east, and they will not fall into the grasp of our hand and submit to us.
Furthermore, Jehovah will destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt (the gulf of the Red Sea) and will dry up Euphrates, the great river, with the scorching of the wind and will strike it into seven streams; and there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of His people which remain to return (vv. 15-16). The sea of Egypt is the Red Sea, and the tongue of the sea of Egypt is the Gulf of Suez, the gulf of the Red Sea. The day will come when this gulf will be destroyed. In that day God's people, Israel, will be able to walk through from Egypt to their holy land.
Isaiah tells us that Jehovah will dry up "the River" (v. 15). This is the great river, the Euphrates, which Abraham crossed (Josh. 24:2-3). The great river Euphrates is also mentioned in Revelation 16:12 in relation to the war at Armageddon. In the coming days, God will dry up the Euphrates with the scorching heat of the wind. Then that river will be stricken into seven streams, so that God's people can walk through it to return to their land.
There will also be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of His people which remain to return. The Lord will build a highway from Assyria to the Holy Land. He will change the situation of the earth. First, the tongue of the sea of Egypt, which frustrates the traffic from Egypt to the Holy Land, will be destroyed. Second, God will use the scorching heat of the wind to dry up the Euphrates into seven streams. Verse 15 says that He will march men through it dryshod. Dryshod literally means in sandals. This big frustration will be dried up so that the children of Israel can walk through it. Third, God will build up a highway to the Holy Land from Assyria. All of this will solve the three big problems and frustrations for the return of the children of Israel.
We also have to overcome frustrations for our preaching of the gospel in the Lord's move. I was recently fellowshipping with some brothers about my feeling that the Lord's recovery should reconsider its direction. The world has changed and it is still changing. There have been four great recent changes in the world situation. First, today Europe has a common market. Second, East and West Germany have been united. Third, there has been much political change in the small European countries. Fourth, Russia and all her satellite countries have changed and are still changing. All the leaders of this earth are considering what steps to take for their economy, their industry, and their education for their future among all the nations on earth.
We have pointed out in the past that the entire world situation is the preparation for the Lord's move in His gospel. The book of Isaiah shows that God's chastisement of His chosen people and His judgment of the nations ushers in Christ. Christ is just the gospel, and the world situation is for the gospel. The present world is changing for the advancement of the gospel. Even the Lord Jesus came as the world was changing. The Roman general Pompey had conquered Jerusalem in 63 B.C. In 27 B.C. Augustus received the approval of the Roman Senate to form the Roman Empire. That prepared the way for Christ's birth just twenty-seven years later.
The apostles' preaching of the gospel followed the political situation at that time. In the past twenty centuries, the gospel has always traveled according to the political changes on this earth. The brothers who have traveled to Russia recently have shared that the Lord has opened up Russia to our publications. There are many encouraging letters from the Russian people testifying of this. We cannot merely observe this situation and be complacent. We have to reconsider our direction in light of the world situation today.
Acts 13 shows five prophets and teachers in the church in Antioch fasting and praying together. Then the guidance came that Paul and Barnabas should be separated and sent out. They carried the gospel from Antioch to Asia Minor. That was a big step for the Lord's move. I believe that these five prophets and teachers were considering how to bring the Lord's gospel from the Holy Land to the Gentile world, and during their consideration, the guidance came.
In Paul's second journey, he and his co-workers intended to speak the word in Asia, but they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6). Then they tried to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them (v. 7). The Holy Spirit's forbidding them to go to the left, to Asia, and the Spirit of Jesus' not allowing them to go to the right, to Bithynia, indicated a straightforward direction for the apostle and his co-workers. Spontaneously, they should have just gone forward to Macedonia. But Paul had to receive a vision during the night of a Macedonian man entreating him to come over across the Aegean Sea into Macedonia to help them (v. 9). Then Paul and his co-workers concluded that God had called them to bring the good news to Macedonia.
They crossed the Aegean Sea into Europe and came to Philippi. Philippi was a fortified outpost of the Roman Empire in a foreign country, where the citizens had equal rights with those at the capital, Rome. As a fort of the ancient empire of Rome, Philippi was a very strategic city for the spread of the gospel at its beginning in Europe. From there the gospel spread throughout Europe and eventually to Greece and Rome.
We have to consider the present world situation and our present direction. Should we just look at the situation and say that everything is good with the Lord's recovery? Many young ones among us have been trained in the past few years, and we presently have over one hundred in the full-time training. We are praying about this matter. It may be that in our next term of training, we will change our language lessons to Russian, French, and German, plus British English. If one has a knowledge of these four languages, he can travel and speak to people throughout nearly all of Europe and Russia. I encourage the young people to learn French, German, and Russian for the Lord's move.
In these days we need to pay our full attention to the all-inclusive Christ, who is the centrality and universality of the great wheel of the move of the Divine Trinity for the divine dispensing of Himself into His elect. In the church life for the Lord's recovery, where the proper revival and restoration of life are taking place, Christ should be the twig, the branch, the banner, and the standard. First, we ourselves must have a restoration of life. Then this will be propagated and will be designated by a banner, Christ. He will then be sought after by the nations, and He will become a standard to them. Hallelujah for Christ!
