The secret of Israel (10) – The Son of the Blessed One
The prophets of Israel tell what the calling is of the King of the end times. In Isaiah 49 we find a beautiful and clear example of this. The Lord’s Anointed is someone from the midst of Israel and God assigned to him the following things.
God’s name praised
Firstly God made his mouth like a sharpened sword. With that God’s name will be praised. I think that we must think of the judgment of the nations that God has laid in his hands. Isaiah 11 too speaks of this, the well-known chapter about the “shoot that will come up from the stump of Jesse”. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his mouth he will slay the wicked (Isaiah 11:4). Actually we find the text from Isaiah 49 elsewhere in the Bible only in the Revelation to John, where the exalted Jesus appears as the king of Kings and the leader of God’s heavenly hosts (Revelation 1:16 and 19:15). It is clear that Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, knows this expectation. He exulted that Israel then could serve God, ultimately set free of all its enemies. The judgment on the nations and the neighbours of God’s people is one of the main themes of the prophets.
Bring Israel home
The second task of Messiah is to bring all of Israel home in Zion, also the ten hidden tribes (Isaiah 49:5,6 and 9). The division between Judah and Israel will be healed, the kingdom of Israel will be restored. It will be again: One shepherd and one flock (Ezekiel 37:22 and 24, John 10:16).
Light for the nations
But that is still too little, God added a third task to it: God made them a light to the nations, so that the salvation, God’s shalom will reach to the earth’s edges. A couple of chapters further God says what He means with that light: it is the Torah. The nations will walk in God’s ways. That will be God’s ultimate blessing to the nations of the world, their godlessness and their delusive gods (Isaiah 51:4-5). In other words: Messiah must make the nations God’s disciples.
Recover the land
And finally there is the fourth task: Messiah is called a covenant for the people to recover the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances (Isaiah 49:9). It is so obvious, but pushed aside so often – like the Old(er) Testament is treated as inferior – Messiah is going to do just that what God has promised He would do! But there is more: The prophet Jeremiah speaks of a New Covenant that God will give to Judah and Israel and Isaiah 53 speaks of the road of suffering Messiah has to go in order to fulfil the other assignments.
And there is something else, well, something? The King of the end times proves to be the Son of the Blessed One.
