Isaiah 54:17 is God's amazing promise to keep His chosen people, the Jews, safe at the red rock city of Selah Petra during the time of the Great Tribulation.
Isaiah 54 is an amazing promise to the Jewish people who find themselves living during the time of Jacob's trouble, that in the great Tribulation, God will remember them and put an hedge of protection around them so that "No weapon that is formed" against them will prosper. This is not, I repeat, is not a promise that is transferable to Christians living in the Church Age. If you were to take this promise and apply it to Christians, stealing it from the Jewish people, that is absolutely a heresy known as Replacement Theology.
"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD." Isaiah 54:17 (KJB)
When we rightly divide the 17 verses in Isaiah 54, as Paul commands us to do in 2 Timothy 2:15, we see pretty quickly that God is talking to His chosen people, the Jews, not Christians, and He is giving them a promise that applies to a very particular period in history. The time of Jacob's trouble. Let me show you what I mean.
The Verses Are Directed To The Jews:
- "For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God." Isaiah 54:5,6 (KJB)
Obviously God is not addressing 'believers in every age' but speaking specifically to His chosen people, the Jews. The Jews and Israel are the bride of God the Father, and the Church is the bride of Jesus Christ. The Jews and Israel inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Church inherits the Kingdom of God. Read more about this by clicking here.
Tribulation Is Coming:
- "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto 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 wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." Isaiah 54:7-9 (KJB)
Isaiah is talking about the remnant Jews hiding out from Antichrist in the red rock city of Selah Petra, during the time of great Tribulation. One of the great clues is when he says "For this is as the waters of Noah unto me", prophetically referencing the "days of Noe" from Matthew 24:37. Read more about Selah Petra here. - "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires." Isaiah 54:10,11 (KJB)
Referencing the physical judgments that come upon the earth from Joel 2 and 3, Zechariah 11-14, Revelation 6-19, and so on. Read more about the time of Jacob's trouble.
No Weapon Formed Against Them Shall Prosper:
- "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD" Isaiah 54:17 (KJB)
Now that we have the context, when we get to verse 17, we can understand it is not a promise to any Christian, not by a country mile, this is a specific promise of protection for the Jewish people during the great Tribulation. Think about it, over the past 2,000 years, and especially during the Spanish Inquisition, weapons formed against Christians have 'prospered' all day long. Corrie Ten Boom and her family risked their lives to protect Jews in Holland, and every one in her family except her was killed in the concentration camps. No Christian has a promise that weapons formed against them won't prosper, that's Replacement Theology, the stealing of the promise made to the Jews and applied to Christians.
Christians living in the Church Age have many promises that apply to us, the chief of these being the doctrine of eternal security, something that no Jew ever had in the Old Testament. Jesus promises to never leave us or forsake us, that's a precious promise, and there are many more found in the writing of Paul, John and Peter. We don't need to go stealing promises made to the Jews and Israel. Amen.
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