We continue once again with Isaiah 29:9-22, and with how the nominal church has sought to hide their various schemes and plans (all contrary to the divine plan) from God, deceiving both themselves as well as their fellow man, but all this scheming will not succeed; for the Lord says,
VERSE 16 "Surely your turning of things upside down [perverting of the Lord's plans and doctrines] shall be esteemed as the [effort of the] potter's clay [to oppose the potter]. For shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? Or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He hath no understanding?"
Surely the Church is God's creation; it is "his workmanship" (Eph. 2:10), but the spirit of the nominal Church is to look to other framers. Some look to Peter, some to Luther, some to Calvin, Knox and Wesley. And indeed, as they at present stand, this is true, for while THE CHURCH is God's workmanship, the division of that Church into fragments is the work of men, and may say to God, ‘Thou hast not made me’.
In fact, that men to-day argue that the division (sectarianism) of the Church is an advantage, and to the advancement of the truth, is the equivalent of the thing created saying to God, "Thou hast no understanding"; we know better how to frame and organize; you said that we all should be one, and that there should be no division among us (John 17:11, 22; 1 Cor. 12:25); but we have learned better --that divisions are a great blessing and advantage.
Verily the great Potter shall have the schemes of the clay in derision, and shall break in pieces their workmanship [the systems or organizations, not the people] as vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, and shall show forth in glory of kingdom power his vessels of more and of lessor honor. What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory? Surely the present overturning of the Lord's arrangements shall be brought to naught.
VERSE 17 "Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field; and the fruitful field shall be esteemed a forest."
Mount Lebanon, with its tall and stately cedar trees, will here represent the majesty and dignity of the nominal Church, and the reverential esteem with which its ministry is regarded. The fruitful field might well represent the humble and lowly saints. In "a very little while" things shall be reversed; that which is now proud and majestic shall be cut down and plowed, and become humble and fruitful, while that which is now humble will be exalted as Lebanon to heavenly conditions, majesty and power. This change, and this overthrow of the present systems, is at the time of the exaltation of the saints to spiritual glory and power, at the introduction of the Millennium. In harmony with this we read:
VERSE 18 "In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness."
What a blessed prospect is this for those who at present are so stumbled by Babylon's confusing traditions! Not only will it bring blessing to those whose vision is obscured, but also to those totally blind and deaf and utterly ignorant of the precious information of God's Word.
VERSE 19-21 "The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel; for the terrible one [Satan] is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: that make a man an offender for a word [spoken contrary to them], and lay a snare for him that reproves in the gate [publicly], and turn aside the just [the righteous] for [or, as] a thing of naught."
This is in that same "DAY" that fleshly Israel shall be restored to favor under the direction of glorified spiritual Israel, their holy one.
VERSE 22-24 "Therefore, thus saith the Lord who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob shall not now [at that time] be ashamed, neither shall his face wax pale. But when he sees his children, the work of my hands [the Christ, the spiritual seed] in the midst of him, they [fleshly Israel] shall sanctify my name [Jehovah], and sanctify the holy one of Jacob [Christ], and shall fear the God of Israel. They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine."
