The Good News of Isaiah 61:4 = The Promise of Restoration
The Good News of Isaiah 61:4 = The Promise of Restoration.
“They will rebuild the ancient ruins, and will restore those sites that were destroyed so long ago; they will renew the ruined cities out of the wreckage, taking the rubble that was abandoned generations ago and making it new.” (Isaiah 61:4).
Ruins (feat. Joe L Barnes & Nate Moore) | Maverick City Music | TRIBL
Reconstruction after Destruction. The promise of rebuilding that which was destroyed is a common theme in Isaiah. In 1:7, Isaiah proclaimed to the Israelites that because of their detestable disobedience, their stubborn resistance to the ways of the Lord their God, their country will lie desolate, their cities would be burned, their land would be destroyed by barbaric outsiders while they helplessly watched, and their homeland would be reduced to rubble “as if overthrown by the floods.” In 44:26-27, Isaiah promises that after they have been judged, the cities of Judah will be rebuilt, and the Lord will raise up the ruins. Isaiah predicted that Yahweh would rebuild Jerusalem and the foundations of the broken-down Temple will be laid 200 years it actually happened! In 54:11-12, Isaiah spoke these beautiful words of Yahweh… “Storm-ravaged city, unconsoled, I will set your stones in the finest way, lay your foundations with sapphires, make your windows shine with rubies, your gates with garnet, your walls with gemstones.” In 58:12, Isaiah encourages the Israelites with words of hope from the Lord… the old waste places will be restored, the ancient foundations that were utterly ruined will be raised up; the scattered rubble will be used to rebuild the land and make it like new; that which was damaged beyond repair will be renovated to make the community livable again. The new nicknames of the Israelites will be “the Repairers of the Broken Walls” and “the Rebuilders of Livable Streets.” So Isaiah’s words of comfort and hope in 61:4 are nothing new in his prophetic ministry. Isaiah is saying to the Israelites, Yes, your homeland will be destroyed in God’s judgment… But don’t give up hope, because the Lord promises to rebuild everything that was torn down.
Three-Stage Rocket. Isaiah wasn’t shy about reminding the Israelites that the destruction of the homeland is God’s act of justice as He judges His chosen people. You brought this all down on yourselves, he said. Nonetheless, he wasn’t shy either when offering his words of restoration that were meant to be taken literally. After the destruction by the enemy, and after their return from exile, the Lord will indeed take them by the hand and help them rebuild their homes, the walls, the cities, even the Temple. So the first stage of Isaiah’s prophecy was literal… Jerusalem will literally be rebuilt and the Israelites can once again live in a flourishing community. The second stage of the prophecy is that these well-deserved ruins are also a symbol of the spiritual ruins of their disobedience. And just as the Lord will rebuild their physical homes and cities, He will also rebuild their spiritual lives. Their central place of worship, the Holy Temple, will be restored, and the people will return to the Lord and establish their identity in the worship of Yahweh once again. The Lord will renew His people and help them rebuild their faith and trust in Him. The Lord Yahweh will once again be their main identity in the presence of all the nations; Yahweh will be their nation’s purpose and their reason for being. The third stage of Isaiah’s rocket is intended for us who strive to follow Yahweh and His Son. God promises to rebuild the inner wreckage of our fallen nature and make it like new. He will restore that which was broken because of our willful disobedience. He will renew our ancient ruins, taking our broken image of God and restoring each of us to our original image in which we were created, the image of Christ. Because of His sheer grace and mercy, the Lord is only too happy to take what is broken in us and make it whole. Even when life looks hopelessly broken, remember that with the Lord, there is no such thing as hopeless, no matter the apparent devastation. Jesus Christ is the ultimate building contractor and is able to miraculously restore that which appears to be irreparable.
Restoration (Official Lyric Video) | David Brymer | BEST OF ONETHING LIVE
“Every place where the enemy has come against you is a place for future victory, a stage set for you to sing of My triumphant love, a launching pad into My magnificent restoration. Every trauma can be turned into a place of exorbitant strength. I will sow the seeds of resurrection life into what appears dead and desolate. Each step of love and every movement of grace will release a resurgence of hope and joy. Though you have witnessed loss and destruction, life will come forth despite it all.” (Dr. Brian Simmons, Bible Translator).
The Fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and the Rebuilding Process After Returning from Exile:
“When the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord, the priests in their robes and carrying trumpets, the Levites with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as David king of Israel had instructed. They sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord Yahweh, saying, ‘For He is good, and His mercy (“hesed”) continues forever toward Israel.” (Ezra 3:10-11).
Lost Sheep. After 70 years of exile in Babylon for their national punishment, the Hebrews were finally allowed to return to their homeland. They badly needed to reestablish the nation of Israel and their identity as the Chosen People of God. In the first few years of settling into the Promised Land of yesteryear, it was clear that the people of Israel had lost touch with their Jewish faith in Yahweh. They were like lost sheep as they tried to figure out how to return to their Israelite roots. Upon their return to Israel, it was obvious that it’s easier to get out of Babylon than it is to get the Babylon out of them. They had been living in a polytheistic culture, a pagan society, and the worship of their one true God was bit foreign to them. Eventually, after about twelve years or so, the people were successful in rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. This first remnant, numbering about 50,000, returned to Jerusalem and recognized what they had missed all those years… their homes and livelihoods, their ancestral land, and the Temple that contained the very presence of God. So they immediately went to work building the Altar of Sacrifice, and then built the foundation for the new and rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. Solomon’s spectacular Temple lay in ruins because of God’s decree of punishment for Israel’s sins. So the foundation was a good start to the big project of rebuilding the Temple. But between the priority placed on rebuilding their own homes, and the strong opposition of neighboring peoples, the returned exiles let the foundation lay bare for sixteen years. They were indifferent, intimidated, and discouraged. So they dragged their feet in the big project to restore worship to the center of Jewish society. Finally, though, because of the leadership and prodding of the key leaders named below, the people succeeded in completely rebuilding the Temple in four and a half years, as well as the protective walls of Jerusalem 70 years later.
“They kept building until they were finished, in keeping with the command of the Lord of Israel… The people of Israel, the priests and Levites, and the other people from the exile joyfully dedicated this house of God. At the dedication of the Temple they offered 100 young bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and, as a sin offering for all of Israel, twelve male goats, corresponding to the tribes of Israel.” (Ezra 6:14-17).
The Five Key Players in Rebuilding Jerusalem:
Zerubbabel. His name means “planted in Babylon,” so he was born and raised in exile, and was considered by the Persian king Cyrus to be an important Hebrew leader. Zerubbabel was a descendent of King David (which means of course he was in the family tree of Jesus), and so Cyrus appointed him to accompany the first group of exiles back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. This is a direct fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy 150 years earlier in 45:13 that envisioned someone named Cyrus would rebuild God’s city. Zerubbabel was the first governor of Judah after the exile and led the charge to rebuild the Temple. After completion, it was referred to as the Temple of Zerubbabel, the famous Second Temple that was later renovated by Herod the great. This Second Temple was the Temple in which Jesus was dedicated as a baby, the site of His discussions with the scholars when He was 12 years old, the place in which He cleared out the moneychangers in a fit of righteous indignation, and was later destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Isaiah referred to this Second Temple as a “House of Prayer for all nations.” (Is. 56:7).
Haggai. Haggai was in Jerusalem with Zerubbabel leading the cheers, with his encouragement to stay strong, have courage, the Spirit of the living God is with you. After all this time, God seemed to grow impatient with the rebuilding of His House. So He tapped two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to take on the mission, the high calling, of inspiring the people to get on with the Temple rebuild. For three and a half months Haggai in particular proved to be the inspiration for the people of Judah. His words of the Lord encouraged the people, inspired them, and led them to pick up their building tools once again. Haggai was like a cheerleader prophet. He would call to the people and ask questions like, How could you be comfortable in your own nice homes, when God’s House lay in ruins? How come you work so hard at having a nice life for yourselves, when the Temple is destroyed and unusable? It might have taken a few months to sink in, but eventually the leadership of Zerubbabel, Joshua the high priest, Haggai and Zechariah helped the people to get to work. Haggai let the people know that rebuilding His House would truly bring God pleasure. They listened to Haggai, for they knew a true prophet of the Lord when they heard one. They knew that Haggai’s words were from the true God, and if they continued listening to Haggai, they would be honoring God with their efforts. Sure enough, after four and a half years of hard work, the rebuilt Temple was completed. This rebuilt Temple has come down through history known as Zerubbabel’s Temple, but that is a little misleading. It could be easily known as Haggai’s Temple as well, since he was the one cheering from the sidelines and in the middle of the action, saying, You can do this! Do this for the Lord! He is with you! Haggai was primarily concerned with the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem after the exile. But he ended up being quite a preacher of the Gospel as well. He directly pointed to a New Temple in the distant future of Jerusalem. Haggai anticipated the messianic age when a New Temple will be filled with glory and splendor. And he said that this Temple would be where God would give His peace. (Haggai 2:7-9). Haggai clearly pointed to Jesus Messiah, who not only was full of God’s glory (John 1:14), but also was the very Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6-7). This New Temple is Christ Himself, as Jesus clearly stated in John 2:19-22.
Zechariah. Here comes Zechariah to the rescue with his prophet-buddy Haggai. His job was to encourage the people to once again embrace their faith, and to inspire them to rebuild the all-important Temple in order to enjoy the presence of their God. Through his visions, messages and prophecies, Zechariah succeeded in bringing fresh hope and faith to the exiled Jews, and he brought them to a place where they could once again live into their sacred history as God’s chosen people. Zechariah, which means, “he whom God remembers,” wanted to speak the word of the Lord in such a way as to assure this small band of Jews that they were remembered by their God. Zechariah spoke of their present dilemma of the need for repentance and forgiveness. He also spoke often of the future reign of the Messiah at the end of the age. Zechariah’s book is loaded with references to the future appearance of their Messiah. He foretells the gospel story and the coming of Jesus, and is by far the most messianic of all the “minor” prophets. When it comes to anticipating God’s Messiah/King, Zechariah was nothing less than major.
Ezra. Sixty years after this Temple project was finished, the second group of exiles returned from Babylon, led by Ezra the scholar/priest and released by king Artaxerxes. He had the mission of rebuilding the people, not the Temple. He had the calling of restoring worship of Yahweh into the mainstream of Jewish culture. He is the one who helped turn that Temple into a usable worship space, the center of Jewish life in God, with sacrifices, celebrations, Scripture teaching, and religious festivals. It turned out that Ezra was just as successful as Haggai. After a much-needed national repentance and turning to God, the religious culture was rebuilt from top to bottom, and worship in the new Temple was right there at the center of it all. Ezra, the greatest scribe in Jewish history, the leading scholar of Torah who read the Word to all the Israelites from a specially-built wooden platform in full view of the people, was an astounding success in rebuilding the ruins hidden inside each exiled Hebrew.
Nehemiah seemed to be a leader born for this moment, or at the least was equipped by the Lord to do what is necessary. As an exile in Babylon, he rose to prominence as a highly respected official of the royal palace and a trusted advisor to the king and his court. When Nehemiah heard that the walls of Jerusalem were still in shambles fifty years after the completion of the rebuilding projects, leaving the people defenseless, the Temple vulnerable to attack from its many enemies, and open to predators and wild animals in the area. So King Artaxerxes agreed to appoint Nehemiah for a special task, to move back to Jerusalem and lead the construction of all those broken-down walls surrounding Jerusalem. It didn’t take Nehemiah long to get the project organized, inspire the people to begin the extremely laborious rebuilding project, and set everything in motion. He assigned workers into groups who would each tend to different sections of the wall, removing the unusable rubble to the garbage dump, and selecting the choice stones for the wall. Because of some stiff opposition from local enemies, Nehemiah assigned the continuous duty of a watchman with a sounding trumpet if needed, and then half the workers to stand guard duty, and the other half to work on rebuilding the walls with one hand doing the work and the other hand wielding a sword. Due to Nehemiah’s expert leadership and the hard work of the people, the wall was completed in just 52 days! But of course, and Nehemiah was the first to acknowledge this, God was the true construction superintendent. As Nehemiah reported, “When my enemies and the surrounding nations heard about the wall being completed, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.” (Neh. 6:15-16). Nehemiah remained a governor of Judah for about twelve years and helped Ezra lead the way to spiritual renewal in Israel. It didn’t end well for Nehemiah, though, when he realized after a few years that the Temple structure became badly neglected by the people, it was staffed by unqualified people, and those cherished walls were being misused as marketplaces to be operated during Sabbath. So Nehemiah kicked them into gear once again. (Neh. 13).