What does it mean that the redeemed of the Lord will return (Isaiah 51:11)?

(V. 11). Having hearkened to the LORD’s promise of future blessing, and with the assurance of God’s power in the past, the remnant can say with confidence, “The redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing to Zion.” And when they return “everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.”

(Vv. 12–16). In response to this appeal, Jehovah comforts the remnant, and exhorts them not to fear man or “the fury of the oppressor”. Man is but as grass that perishes; Jehovah that comforts them is the Maker of the heavens and the earth. Therefore His captive exiles will be set free: His starving people will be fed. He can still the waves that roar: he can make His people a testimony by putting His words into their mouths. He can protect His people; plant them in the land and say of them, “Thou art my people.” So of the overcomer in this day of ruin – the one that keeps His word and does not deny His name – the Lord can say that in the day of glory “I will write upon him the name of my God the name of the city of my God … and I will write upon him my new name” (Rev. 3:12).

In prophetic vision Isaiah predicts the dispersion of the people, the desolation of the land, city, and temple, and their return, in such terms as wholly transcend the days of Zerubbabel and Joshua, or of Ezra and Nehemiah. Then the redeemed of Jehovah shall come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy shall be on their head; then they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. The prophet had, in the most distinct terms, predicted the exile just before to the king (Isa. 39). Therefore it was highly congruous to make known the comfort that God desires for His people, after (not the captivity alone but) their dispersion and national ruin, because of sin still more profound, and the solemn dealings of grace as well as of judgement at the end of the age, when they shall bow before their long-rejected King, Who shall come as Redeemer to Zion, and to those that turn from transgression in Jacob. Thereby their blessing shall be from henceforth and for ever, and the glory of Jehovah arise as never before even in David's days or Solomon's, and through saved Israel to all the nations and kings of the earth. Is this the ideal of a poet, or the real of a prophet? Do these critics fancy that their speculations outweigh the authoritative comment and application of the apostle in Rom. 11:26-27? The future is contrasted with the gospel as now in the verses (Isa. 28 — 32) that follow, and refers to the kingdom in which Christ will surely come and reign over all the earth. The prophet Isaiah, like the rest, spoke of that kingdom, as Moses in the law (Gen. 49; Num. 23 — 24) had done; so do the Psalms. It is Christ suffering our judgement on the cross, which introduces Christianity and the church for heaven; it is Christ coming again to execute judgement on the ungodly quick which introduces His kingdom in manifested power and glory for the earth. Both are revealed, and one therefore is as true as the other; but they are wholly distinct ways of God for His glory, each centring in Christ.

In the last foregoing passages, God, speaking by the national name of Jehovah, has said thrice over concerning Israel as a nation that He has redeemed it. Yet the accredited interpretation is, that He has deceived Israel with false hopes, and that when He spoke of Israel, He really meant something entirely different! Is it credible that Christians should dare to impute such deception to the One "who cannot lie"? If God could so cruelly deceive Israel, what reason have we to believe He is not equally deceiving us? The bare suggestion is shocking, and yet it is the inevitable inference arising out of the Romish and evangelical interpretation. But again, in one of these passages God speaks of making Israel a sharp threshing instrument, in another of gathering her sons and daughters from the ends of the earth, and in the third of her return to Him with her transgressions forgiven. All this exactly befits Israel's state. But is the Church a sharp threshing instrument? Has the Church ever been scattered to the ends of the earth? Or is the Church ever spoken of as having been estranged from God and coming back forgiven? Such are the contradictions involved in the ordinary interpretation. Quotations might be multiplied without end, but I select a few only. "The redeemed of Jehovah shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away" (Isa. 2:1-4) When will the Church come to Zion? Or if Zion be spiritualised into heaven, how can the Church "return" where it has never been? "Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk of the hand of Jehovah the cup of His fury" (v. 17). Israel has drunk the cup of Jehovah's fury, but when has the Church done so? "Thus says thy Lord, Jehovah, and thy God that pleads the cause of His people, Behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of My fury; thou shalt no more drink it again, but I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee" (vv. 22-23). Applied to Israel, this is beautiful, consistent with other scripture, and adapted to her circumstances. Applied to the Church, the passage is absolutely without meaning.

These verses have unfolded before our minds a glorious and desirable prospect, only to be realized when the Lord Jesus comes again. Hence the call of verse 9: "Awake, awake, put on strength, O Arm of the Lord." In prophetic vision John saw Him so doing, in Revelation 19:11-16, when He will be displayed as King of kings and Lord of lords. The Lord Jesus has ever been the Executor of the purposes of God. He acted in the mighty scenes of creation. It was He who cut in pieces Rahab — a name meaning "Arrogance," given to Egypt in contempt — and dried up the sea, when God brought the people under Moses out of the land of their bondage. When He puts on strength and acts in the future day, there will be a far greater deliverance, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return to Zion with singing, and their joy will be everlasting and not transient and fleeting as all joyful deliverances have been hitherto in this sinful world. We today may call upon the Arm of the Lord to awake, only the language we use is, "Even so, Come, Lord Jesus."

This will be a work of redemption by power but, as we know, it will find its righteous basis in the redemption by blood accomplished at His first coming. At the present time the poor Jew still rejects the righteous basis while hoping for national deliverance. It will be otherwise when their Redeemer does appear in power. He will then be manifested as the "Mighty One" of poor crooked "Jacob;" and not merely as the Mighty One of Israel.

The description of blessedness ends with the alluring picture presented in verse 10. Those who enter into the everlasting joy and gladness will be the ransomed of the Lord. We can rejoice today in this forecast of the blessedness of the earthly Zion, while we remember with gladness that we are blessed "with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). And "the heavens are higher than the earth," as Isaiah himself presently reminds us.

This chapter passes cursorily over the millennial state, as far as men on earth are concerned. If persons wish to look at the earthly part of the thousand years, they must search into the Old Testament. There it is spoken of constantly as "that day" — when the Gentiles will be brought in and blessed — when God's name will be exalted — when there will be a suspension of all warfare and strife. It is the day when the wilderness shall rejoice and blossom like the garden of Eden, and when the ransomed of the Lord shall come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads — and all sorrow and sighing shall flee away. These words are descriptions that the Holy Ghost gives of this blessed period in the kingdom. Many have been disposed to take the prophetic accounts of the millennium figuratively; but they must allow that these figures may be much more fully accomplished than they suppose. In other words, I take the glowing accounts given of the millennium in the Old Testament prophecies as emblems of real and abundant blessings on earth. These figures may have a sort of spiritual meaning too. But, allowing this, we do not take away the simple and natural meaning of the phrase. For instance, scripture speaks of the wolf and the lamb, and other animals that now devour one another, living together in union and peace. They may be applied as figures to describe what will be morally true of men, though I do not myself believe that this is the real intent.

”I will whistle for them and gather them” (v. 8). The word for whistle refers to a shrill-noted pipe used by shepherds to gather the sheep. Israel will thus respond to the authoritative call of the Lord Jesus in that day and will return to Him. He adds, “for I will redeem them.” This is prophetic language. Though the nation has been terribly decimated and depleted in numbers, they will again be as numerous as in their brightest days.

The exactitude of the expressions used will scarcely fail to strike the intelligent reader. Thus, I will "strengthen" the house of Judah, and I will "save" the house of Joseph, and "bring them again" etc. Judah would already be in the land before the appearing of their Messiah, and being delivered, He would "strengthen" them. The house of Joseph, Ephraim, i.e. the ten tribes, will still be scattered among the nations, and undiscovered, spite of modern pretensions, until after the return of Christ to Zion, and hence the terms employed in our passage.† It is indeed the declar ation of God's unchangeable purposes of grace towards His ancient people, revealing the depth of His long-suffering and immutable love, in spite of their persistent transgressions and sins, and hence saying, "I have mercy upon them," according as we read in Hosea, "I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." (Hosea 2:23.) Then, when once more the objects of Jehovah's mercy, in the beautiful and tender language here employed, "They shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them." After, therefore, Jehovah has returned to His dwelling-place in Zion, He will perform this His word concerning all Israel. (See Rom. 11:26 - 29) Restored again to their own land, they will abound, together with their children, in joy and gladness in the Lord. Their heart shall rejoice as through wine, the elevated character of their joy being thus indicated; and then, to show that it is something more than mere natural gladness, it is added, "Their heart shall rejoice in the Lord," in Jehovah their God, who had sought them out in all the places where they had been scattered, brought them up again to their own land, and made them joyful in His own presence and blessing. And it is also touchingly said, "Their children shall see it, and be glad" — glad in the gladness of their parents, and thus the reflectors of their parents' joy.

In the next verse the prophet returns, and describes as the Lord's mouthpiece how they will be gathered, and how their restoration will be effected, and this extends to the end of the chapter. "I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased." (v. 8.) The word "hiss" is often used in Scripture to express the idea of summoning (see, for example, Isa. 5:26; Isa. 7:18), and teaches here that the Lord in His own way will arrest the attention of His scattered people, make His mighty call to reach their hearts, and at the same time create in them a response to His word before He works out their deliverance. The ground of His action is contained in the words, "I have redeemed them." just as the blood of the Passover Lamb in Egypt was the all-efficacious ground on which God acted to deliver His people from Egypt, to bring them through the wilderness, and to put them in possession of Canaan, so the redemption, which has been wrought out through the death of Christ, will be the foundation on which God will work in rescuing His people from the hands of their enemies, and in re-gathering them to the land of their fathers. And when they are once again settled in their land they shall increase as they have increased. Jacob had said, "Joseph, is a fruitful bough," as he had said before, that Ephraim should become "a multitude of nations;" and Moses had also spoken, "They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh," both alike predicting that increase in numbers should characterise Ephraim, and Jehovah now says, "They shall increase" — i.e. when restored under His sway and kingdom — "as they have increased," as they had done, that is, in former days.

In an earlier chapter we have read what God's purpose as to the people of Israel was: "This people have I formed for Myself: they shall show forth My praise (Isa. 43:21). They have never yet done so in any proper sense, but in this coming day they will, and therefore they will become a centre of attraction upon earth. First of all the attraction will be felt by those who are truly of the Israel of God. Those who can be called, "thy sons" will come to Zion from afar, and those who are "thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side." This will be a re-gathering of the true Israel in the land of God's choice that will altogether eclipse the migration of Jews to Palestine that we see still proceeding today. God will be behind the movement and the revelation of His glory in the once-rejected Servant, but now the mighty delivering Arm, will be the attractive force.