THE DAY OF THE LORD: THE DAY OF SALVATION

God showed Isaiah some future event. Someday they would be ashamed of themselves. They had been God’s chosen and peculiar people (Deut 14:2) because they were the seed of Abraham. They were people of the Covenant and as such were blessed. Because Abraham was willing to sacrifice His only son, God blessed him and his progeny: 

Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Gen 22:16-18)

 Isaac was Abraham’s only remaining son as God had emancipated Ishmael. The Ishmaelites would not be blessed but only the Israelites. Ishmael was fathered by Abraham in the fertile womb of the Egyptian woman, Haggar. He was of impure genes. On the other hand, perhaps Isaac was the son of God and the barren wife, Sarah.

Going hardly noticed is that both Abram and Sarai, in the Hebrew, had a “heh” added to their names. Heh means “here is.” In this case, “here is the seed.” God planted His Seed in both Abram and Sarai to ostensibly make them a new, peculiar kind. Since “heh” was planted in them both, that points toward God fathering Isaac. Isaac would have been a divine human in the manner of Jesus but came short of the glory of Jesus.

Sarai was barren and surely Abram was impotent; that is assumed because Sarai most certainly laughed at the thought of the old man becoming alive again more so than that she was barren… or perhaps she laughed at both situations.

Isaac was a subsequent “Abel” to Abraham’s “Adam.” Yahweh extended grace to them in the form of genetics.

Why are Jews so hated? Because they are a very different kind. They were a new creation that has gone bad in the manner of Adam’s progeny.

So, along comes Isaiah and God showed him their future: 

The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low. (Isa 2:11-12)

 God showed Isaiah that Abraham’s, Isaac’s, and Jacobs, kind — those with blessed seed (genetics) would be humbled. The pride they had of being of the seed of Abraham that made them estimate themselves so highly, God would humble.

That time would come on the Day of the Lord of Hosts. That implies a warring army when Jesus would come again. It is the time when every knee shall bow as Paul wrote, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11).

Has that happened yet? Paul said to the Phillipians the same thing he said to the Romans. That warning came from God through the words of Isaiah, “I have sworn by Myself, the Word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return; that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (Isa 45:23). Father God spoke of the “Word’” that is Jesus. Everyone would bow to Jesus, and that day would be thousands of years later, likely when the armies of Jesus shall win the war to end all wars at the battle of Armageddon.

That time is coming, revealed in Psalm 91; it is when Jesus shall save the righteous that remain on Earth. In the battle of all battles for those Christians who remain, no harm will come to them as they will be under the safety of Jesus and His heavenly armies, to wit: 

On my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Acts 2:18-21)

 Like the prophet Isaiah, John saw that same vision, “I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood” (Rev 6:12).  That would occur when Jesus comes on a white horse conquering. That is the “Day of the Lord of Hosts” for those still around to be saved.

God revealed to Isaiah that everyone would bow to Jesus and be saved. That would be the day of salvation for the Jews as well as the Gentiles who are alive when Jesus comes to rule. That battle precedes the millennial reign of Jesus when everyone living recognizes Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords.

In the end, the battle is won by our Savior: “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Rev 17:14). Everyone — Jew and Gentile — all the seed of Abraham shall be saved. As Jesus said it: 

Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Mat 24:12-14)

 That was God’s vision of His chosen and peculiar people — the Jews first, then the Gentiles. That blessing would be extended from just the Jews to everyone! Speaking about Christians, Paul wrote to Peter: 

Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (1 Pet 2:9-10)

 Some (Calvinists) would argue that salvation therein was for the Jews alone since Jesus had said it to an audience of Jews. However, He said it to both His apostles and disciples as well. Indeed, those who endure to the end, whether Jew or Gentiles, shall be saved. Salvation is a future event. For some, salvation will come at their demise and for others when Jesus overcomes the world to be King of kings and Lord of lords.

That Christians are Jews inwardly (Rom 2:29), then what goes for the Hebrew pertains to the Christian. The exception is the 144,000 Jews from the tribes of Israel that get their reward by demonstrating the faith of Abraham and the faith of Christians before the Battle of Armageddon.

The Hebrews would need to wait for salvation until the end is endured. God revealed that to Abraham, but Christians are of the seed of Abraham as well, not by genetics but by faith. Any who have faith in the atoning blood of Jesus, just like Abraham, are the seed of Abraham.

It is written, “Avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain” (Tit:3-9). That anyone is from the seed of Abraham is now vanity, just as Isaiah foresaw way back then. That Jewish genes are from Abraham is non-consequential because the Jews have been as haughty as the Gentiles. That the blood of Abraham runs in your veins and that his genes are yours, is insignificant; you must have the faith of Abraham, both Jew or Gentile, to be saved.

God is no longer a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). Regardless the source of your blood, unless it is the blood of Jesus that you trust; you are damned.

At another time, I will write a commentary on the false assumption that salvation is at the time of first belief, or not. Think on the dangers of that! It is a satisfying feeling, but is it true? Or is it that Satan wants you to believe it is true? What doctrine would you propagate to lessen the sobriety and vigilance if you thought like Satan?