6 The sound of noise from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of the Lord, Who fully repays His enemies!
7 “Before she was in labor, she gave birth; Before her pain came, She delivered a male child.
8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children.
9 Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the Lord. “Shall I who cause delivery shut up thewomb?” says your God.
10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem, And be glad with her, all you who love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her;
11 That you may feed and be satisfied With the consolation of her bosom, That you may drink deeply and be delighted With the abundance of her glory.”
12 For thus says the Lord: “Behold, aI will extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall bfeed; On her sides shall you be ccarried, And be dandled on her knees.
13 As one whom his mother comforts, So I will acomfort you; And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
The Reign and Indignation of God
14 When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, And ayour bones shall flourish like grass; The hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants, And His indignation to His enemies.
15aFor behold, the Lord will come with fire And with His chariots, like a whirlwind, To render His anger with fury, And His rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by aHis sword The Lord will judge all flesh; And the slain of the Lord shall be bmany.
17 “Thosea who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, Togo to the gardens 1After an idol in the midst, Eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse, Shall1 be consumed together,” says the Lord.
18 “For I know their works and their athoughts. It shall be that I will bgather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory.
19aI will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. bAnd they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles.
20 Then they shall abring all your brethren bfor an offering to the Lord out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.
21 And I will also take some of them for apriests and Levites,” says the Lord.
22 “For as athe new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, “So shall your descendants and your name remain.
The New Testament shows that God has not broken His pattern. A new Israel is being formed—a people from all ethnic backgrounds. The Kingdom of God is expanding through the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16)! This ties directly into Revelation 19 and the Marriage of the Lamb, because it is this Israel—the Israel of God—the spiritual organism consisting of people of all nations, that will marry Christ, the Lamb.
We can see a progression. First, there is one man—Jacob—whose name was changed to Israel. He was chosen by God, even though his brother was firstborn. Next, the descendants of Israel were chosen from the nations of the world, even though other nations were larger, greater, and stronger. Then, as God's plan takes off with the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom of God, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the giving of the Holy Spirit, God first chooses from among the Israelites and then from all ethnic groups, choosing and putting them into the Body of Christ, though He says the members of His church are foolish, weak, and base.
So the Israel of God is formed to marry Jesus Christ. This is why Gentiles have to become Israelites. In fact, all of us have to become real Israelites—spiritual Israelites—even though we may be genetically "of Israel."
