Hope for the Heathen
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numbered among the Israel of God. “They shall spring up as among
the grass, as willows by the watercourses,” said the prophet. “One
shall say, I am the Lord’s; and another shall call himself by the name
of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and
surname himself by the name of Israel.”
Isaiah 44:4, 5
.
To the prophet was given a revelation of the beneficent design of
God in scattering impenitent Judah among the nations of earth. “My
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people shall know My name,” the Lord declared; “they shall know
in that day that I am He that doth speak.”
Isaiah 52:6
. And not only
were they themselves to learn the lesson of obedience and trust; in
their places of exile they were also to impart to others a knowledge of
the living God. Many from among the sons of the strangers were to
learn to love Him as their Creator and their Redeemer; they were to
begin the observance of His holy Sabbath day as a memorial of His
creative power; and when He should make “bare His holy arm in the
eyes of all the nations,” to deliver His people from captivity, “all the
ends of the earth” should see of the salvation of God.
Verse 10
. Many
of these converts from heathenism would wish to unite themselves
fully with the Israelites and accompany them on the return journey to
Judea. None of these were to say, “The Lord hath utterly separated
me from His people” (
Isaiah 56:3
), for the word of God through His
prophet to those who should yield themselves to Him and observe His
law was that they should thenceforth be numbered among spiritual
Israel—His church on earth.
“The sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve
Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone
that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My
covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them
joyful in My house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
shall be accepted upon Mine altar; for Mine house shall be called an
house of prayer for all people. The Lord God which gathereth the
outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to Him, beside those
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that are gathered unto Him.”
Verses 6-8
.
The prophet was permitted to look down the centuries to the time
of the advent of the promised Messiah. At first he beheld only “trouble
and darkness, dimness of anguish.”
Isaiah 8:22
. Many who were
longing for the light of truth were being led astray by false teachers
into the bewildering mazes of philosophy and spiritism; others were