What does the Bible mean when it refers to God's outstretched arm?

The member of the body which is capable of lifting burdens and defending the person: it is used symbolically for the power and strength of God on behalf of His saints. Ex. 15:16; Ps. 77:15; Isa. 51:9; Isa. 53:1. The arm of Jehovah is often spoken of in the O.T. It redeemed, Ex. 6:6; etc.; gathers His own, Isa. 40:11; and rules for Him, Isa. 40:10, as in the kingdom. It is a holy arm, Isa. 52:10; Ps. 98:1; and it is a glorious arm, Isa. 63:12. The arm of the Lord is revealed to souls where there is repentance and faith in the report which God sends. Isa. 53:1; Rom. 10:16. It is to be trusted in even by the isles of the Gentiles, that is, by sinners everywhere in creation. Isa. 51:5.

Verse 1. — The prophet laments the unbelief of those who were peculiarly the subjects of the mercy of God. The Arm of the LORD is a symbol of the power of God, so often exerted for the overthrow of His enemies and for the salvation of those who trust in Him (see Isaiah 51:9; Isa. 52:10; Isa. 53:1; Isa. 59:16; Isa. 62:8; and Isa. 63:5, for uses of this title). On occasion, as in chapter 53, the Arm of the LORD seems to be personified.

As the "Arm" He is the mighty Executor of all Jehovah's pleasure whether in grace or in judgment. As the "Servant" He stoops to suffer in order that He may lay the righteous basis on which the structure of Jehovah's pleasure is to be reared. He was seen as the "Servant" at His first Advent. He will be manifested at His second Advent as the "Arm."

As Jehovah's "Arm" He is particularly referred to in Isa. 40:9-11; Isa. 51:4-16; Isa. 52:13 — Isa. 53:1; Isa. 59:16; Isa. 63:5 and 12.

Taking a rapid survey of these passages, we learn that by His "Arm" the Lord God is coming not in weakness but in strength, not to suffer but to rule and to give reward There will be reward in judgment for the wicked, but the same "Arm" will be gracious, acting in the tenderness of a shepherd for the smallest and weakest of the true sheep of the Lord.

Then again, on that "Arm" the godly may safely trust, for it will awake and put on strength as it did in the days of old, when it smote Egypt (Rahab) and divided the Red Sea. But now far greater purposes are in view, as enumerated in the latter part of verse 16 (Isa. 51:16). The heavens are to be planted, the foundations of the earth are to be laid; Israel in Zion is to be acknowledged as God's people.

The word for shoulder is also translated, according to the context, by ‘arm’ or ‘leg’ (in the sense of foreleg). Used in the figurative sense, it speaks of ‘strength’. In Job 22:8 and Ezekiel 22:6 it is translated by ‘power’. It occurs for the first time in the blessing of Joseph (Gen. 49:24): ‘But his bow abideth firm, and the arms of his hands are supple (or: strong), by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob’. Here and also in other passages, e.g. Exodus 6:6: ‘with a stretched out arm’ it is clearly used in connection with strength. The Nazarite can therefore remember that His Lord has borne all the responsibility and accomplished the work in His own strength (cf. ‘by himself’, Heb. 1:3).

The blood then had been shed, and in the obedience of faith it had been sprinkled; and now God stepped in to redeem. This was in accordance with His message through Moses, "I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments." (Exodus 6:6.) God who, being holy, had necessarily been against His people because they were sinners in Egypt, could now, consistently with all that He was, be for them on account of the blood of the lamb. And the blood of the lamb, under which they were sheltered, was the sole ground of His subsequent acting on their behalf.

Who is the Lord? has now received a full answer. Egypt was destroyed (10:7). The firstborn in every family was dead. The chosen chariots of Pharaoh and his captains lay buried in the sea. But more: Jehovah, in the character of Redeemer, had now displayed Himself. What He promised Israel in Exodus 6:6 had come about, and His redeemed people on the first morning of their deliverance proclaimed it: "Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed" (15:13). What redemption was — redemption by power — they now understood, and began to enjoy it. God had wrought in Egypt on their behalf, God had sheltered them in Egypt from divine judgment (12), God had redeemed them with a stretched out arm at the Red Sea (14, 15). In these ways had He made Himself known. Other manifestations of Himself will follow.

But God's purpose must be carried out, and "He that is for us is stronger than he that is against us," hence in the next chapter the Lord speaks again (Ex. 6:1-8). Pharaoh still keeps them in bondage, but to the children of Israel God sends a lovely message. Mark the seven "I wills." Seven in Scripture is always the number of spiritual completeness. (1) "I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." That is good. They were feeling those burdens. (2) "And I will rid you out of their bondage, and (3) I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments; and (4) I will take you to me for a people, and (5) I will be to you a God. … And (6) I will bring you in to the land. … and (7) I will give it you for an heritage: I am the Lord" (Ex. 6:6-8). It begins with, "I am the Lord," and it closes with, "I am the Lord." His "I will" never fails, and faith always reposes on God's Word. I recommend you to take God's seven "I wills" to your heart. I think I hear you saying, "I have had a good many doubts." You will never have any more if you hug those "I wills." God will not fail of His word, and His purpose He always carries out. Your redemption and mine does not depend upon what we are, it depends upon God. We could not help ourselves. and we cannot do ought for ourselves. Leave all with God, and peace is the result.

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations? For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even to this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I will not be enquired of by you. And that which comes into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone. As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: and I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, says the Lord Jehovah. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord Jehovah; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken to me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols. For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, says the Lord Jehovah, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things." Thus their persevering and heinous sin in always most unnaturally dishonouring Jehovah, like fathers, like children, is pressed on their consciences, as the ground why He could not be enquired of through His prophet. (Ver. 30, 31) But God would take care that they should not carry out all the apostate iniquity of their hearts. They should not be as the heathen after all, they should not succeed in throwing off the yoke of Jehovah to serve wood and stone. They had all the guilt of it in their minds, but God would not forget His own honour, and they should pay the penalty. "[As] I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you." Is this only in the way of judgments? Of judgments without doubt, but with the view and end of purging Israel. He will have His people separate from the Gentiles, whatever may seem the natural course of events, and whatever the desires not only of the Gentiles but of Israel. In the result, Jehovah only shall be exalted; and this when men least expect it. As surely as summer follows winter in the earth, so light shall succeed the darkness of man's day. For this are the ancient people kept of God spite of themselves and the enemy. For, let Satan reign as he may, God is above him and will rule openly as He does in secret providence.

But it is in verse 35 that we see one of the momentous and distinctive intimations of this new word of Jehovah. It is not a question of the temple or Jerusalem or the last reigning branch of her boughs out of which fire went and devoured her fruit, so that there is no more on her a strong branch for a sceptre to rule, till Shiloh come. Here it is the people as a whole, Israel at least rather than the Jews; and of the deepest interest is the intimation of their special future. With them (not with the remnant in the land and city) will God rehearse the history of the chosen nation. After gathering them out from the people and the countries wherein they are still scattered, and this not by quiet, moral, or evangelic means, but with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with outpoured fury, He will bring them into the wilderness of the people, and plead or hold judgment over them face to face, as of old when He so dealt with their fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt. And there He caused them to pass in review, as a shepherd the sheep under the rod, and so brings into the bond of the covenant. It is sovereign grace, but reigning through righteousness. Hence the rebels are severed from the Israel of God, and transgressors against Jehovah (for even the Israelites are not confounded with sinners of the Gentiles) are no longer to be with His people. Out of the country of their sojourn He will cause them to go forth, but into the land of Israel shall not one enter. How strikingly in contrast with the destiny of the remnant of Judah, who are to suffer for their specific sins in the land! There they refused the Christ of God who came in the Father's name; there will they receive the Antichrist who is to come in his own name. Compare Zechariah 11:16-17; Zechariah 13:8-9; also Daniel 12:1 for the remnant, and 2 for the body of the people among the Gentiles, as I understand each of these verses.

The Book of Ezekiel gives us, in much detail, the subject before us. "As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you; and I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury. poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, says the Lord God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me; I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God. … I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered: and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers" (Ezek. 20:33-39, 41, 42). The statement is clear. God is going to gather them out, and bring them into their own land; but, observe, He purges them on the way. There is this difference between the two tribes, and the ten. The two tribes go into Palestine in unbelief, and are purged in the land. The ten tribes are brought out of the nations in unbelief, but they are purged, by God, on their way to the land. just as their fathers fell in the wilderness, so will God test the children, in the time to come.

When Israel were settled in the land, the Lord allowed them in His government to reap the bitter fruits of their rebellion, idolatry and blasphemy, and those who came to enquire of Jehovah from the prophet Ezekiel were no better, therefore He refused to listen to them (verses 27–32). The judgments about to be poured forth on Israel at that time, and perhaps those that will fall upon the nation under antichrist, are found in verse 33, where the Lord says, “With a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you.”

Then the recovery of Israel is foretold by the Lord. He looks down the centuries when He says, “I will bring you out from the people, and I will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out” (verse 34). God’s arm is outstretched for the recovery of Israel, His fury poured out against the enemies of His people.