Isaiah 36-37
Original Post:  July 31, 2012

Chapter 36 seems to be a messianic chapter.  That is, it steaks of a time after the Messiah comes.   Historically we could say that the people were restored to their own land about 75 years after this was written, so it could pertain to that time....except that the blind weren't healed then, the lame didn't walk and the deaf didn't speak.    But that did happen when Jesus came.   In fact, when John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus to ask Him if He was the one who was to come, Jesus replied "go and report to John what you hear and see:  The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor."  (Matthew 11:5)

However, even in Jesus' time there was war, and streams have not yet literally turned the deert into pools.   I believe that this chapter also eludes to a future time as well, when God will reign upon the 
earth in perfect power and peace will be over all the earth.   Only the righteous people of God will come and go from Jerusalem, which will be changed in some way to be more fertile than it already is.

Revelation tells us that when Christ returns the mountain upon which Jerusalem sits will be divided, and water will flow from there down to the Dead Sea, and the Dead Sea will become alive again, teeming with fish and other life.     I think this chapter speaks also of this time, and not just the immediate future.

From Christ's perspective the earth is still in bondage.  We are still oppressed.  The devil still has authority to move around and cause problems for humanity.    In a sense, even though we have repented of our sins, we are still in a foreign country looking forward to the day of our delivery.

Chapter 36 tells me that there is a day coming when I will live in peace as a free man in the kingdom of God, where evil will never again infect my thoughts or decisions, and where the evidence of the curse will be completely washed away.   In the meantime, I continue to serve and wait patiently for Christ to return and fulfill His prophecy.   Even when things look grim, as they begin to in chapter 37.

PR