Lesson 6: Israel's Salvation and Restoration

Scripture to Read: Isaiah 59:162:12

The final chapters of Isaiah continue the themes that are prominent in the second major section of the book (Isaiah 40–66). These include the need for the nation to recognize and repent the sins that caused her people to be led into exile. Like a surgeon who must wound before healing, the Lord brought Israel face to face with her failures. Isaiah identified with the people and confessed their sins before God as a representative of the nation, and chapter 59 ends with a repeated promise of God’s desire to heal and restore. The climax of this will be when “the Redeemer,” Messiah, comes to God’s people (59:20).

Messiah’s glorious arrival ushers in the golden age of Israel. The description of Messianic times in Isaiah 60 and the following chapters is awesome to contemplate. It includes the return of Israel’s exiles to the Holy Land from even the farthest corners of the earth (v. 4), a prophecy which is being fulfilled even today and which we are privileged to participate in through The Fellowship’s On Wings of Eagles ministry. The joy that will come when the Messianic age is fully come is well expressed in the glorious description of the nation’s future (Isaiah 62).

Study Questions

• Why was repentance so important to Israel's right relationship with God?
• According to Isaiah 60:3, what will attract the nations to Israel in the Messianic age?
• What does Isaiah 61:8 teach us about the ethical requirements of those who would enjoy God's blessings?
• By what wonderful name will faithful Israelites and the holy city of Jerusalem be known in the Messianic age when the nation’s restoration is complete (62:12)?

Something to Think About

Another verse that plays a prominent part in The Fellowship’s ministry appears in this study. The prophet’s bold statement, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet” (Isaiah 62:1), helped to confirm my conviction that we who love Israel must take a bold stand for her welfare in the face of those who would destroy her!