This article forms part of a series presenting varied interpretations of different aspects of eschatology. You can find the others here. It is an area where there are many different viewpoints, and we encourage healthy and constructive discussion. We ask readers to reflect on the various studies put forward, and we welcome comments that are respectfully made. If you wish to contribute an article on any area of eschatology to our series, you can find our guidelines here.
The book of the prophet Isaiah is one of the finest, deepest and most stirring books ever to be written by man. God, through the pen of this poetic linguist, has given insights to men that have inspired hearts and stricken us with longing for more than 2.5 millennia. And I believe that the time of their complete fulfilment is close.
Isaiah 33 – The Remnant Preserved During the Second Half of Daniel’s 70th Week
The Breaking of the Covenant
As I read Isaiah 33, 34 and 35, a beautiful sequence of events leapt out at me from the pages. Firstly, in chapter 33, I saw the breaking of Antichrist’s Covenant with Israel. We learn about this covenant in the book of Daniel chapter 9. Many understand this to be a seven-year covenant made by the Antichrist; the making of it marks the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week (Dan 9:27). We understand from Isaiah 28:14-15 that the leaders of Israel made this covenant with the Antichrist believing that it would protect them from military invasion. Daniel 9:27 suggests that the covenant is broken in the middle of Daniel’s 70th week in several ways – abrupt cessation of sacrifices in the Temple, the ‘Abomination’ (the Lord Jesus tells us that it will be set up in the Holy Place) and the military invasion of Israel by the Antichrist causing the desolation of the land. “In the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease…”
The Faithful and the Unfaithful
We read in Isaiah 33:8, “The highways are deserted, no travellers are on the roads. The treaty is broken, its witnesses are despised, no one is respected.” It is the unfaithful Jews in Israel who welcomed this covenant in Isaiah 28:14,15: “We have entered into a covenant with death, with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement… we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
The faithful remnant of Israel, by contrast, will “not be in haste” concerning this covenant. Isaiah 28:17 says that God makes “justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line”. The righteous will be preserved. In Isaiah 33, we understand that it is the “sinners in Zion” who are filled with fear because of the Antichrist’s invasion (v.14). If in Isaiah 28 justice and righteousness are the line determining who will survive, in Isaiah 33 those who are able to endure the “consuming fire” are “those who walk righteously and speak what is right, who reject gain from extortion and keep their hands from accepting bribes, who stop their ears against plots of murder and shut their eyes against contemplating evil.”
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart… This is God’s description of the faithful remnant of Israel.
This strongly echoes the words of Psalm 24 in which David asks, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?... The one who has clean hands and a pure heart…” This is God’s description of the faithful remnant of Israel. They will be preserved alive when the Antichrist breaks the covenant at the mid-point of the 70th week of Daniel. They will be preserved until the end of the 70th week, when they will ascend into the hill of Jehovah.
The Flight of the Faithful Judeans
Jesus talks about this mid-point event and this Jewish remnant. Addressing them, He says, “When you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel… then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains” (Matt 24:15-16). Revelation 12 talks about this event, the flight of the faithful remnant of Israel at the mid-point of the 70th week. “The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.” (Rev 12:14). From the instruction of the Lord Jesus, we know that this remnant will flee from Judea to “the mountains”.
Supernatural Provision
Revelation tells us that the remnant will be protected in the wilderness and provided there with food for 3.5 years. This fits like a glove with Isaiah 33. While the sinners of Zion are in fear because of the devastation following the breaking of the covenant, the faithful remnant, characterised by righteousness, is described thus: “they are the ones who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, and water will not fail them” (Isa 33:16).
Supernatural Shade
Not only will their food and water be supernaturally provided, the Scriptures seem to indicate that there will be a supernatural shade given to protect them from the sun and moon during the tribulation. Isaiah tells us that during this period “The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter … when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.” (Isaiah 30:26). This is why God Himself is to the remnant “a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat” (Isaiah 25:4).
The Poor and Needy
Here I would note an excellent tip I received from Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, who taught that when the Scriptures mention the “poor and needy” they are referring to this remnant of Israel during the second half of Daniel’s 70th week. The poor and needy are mentioned in Isaiah 25:4 but also in very many other verses throughout the Psalms and Isaiah and I have yet to find a reference that does not fit this context. I am convinced that Psalm 121 refers to this same special protection of the Jewish remnant, “the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.” (Ps 121:5-6).
In short, the remnant of Israel will have a very secure protection and sure provision for 3.5 years, in a very special place to which they flee from Judea when they see the Abomination of Desolation.
In short, the remnant of Israel will have a very secure protection and sure provision for 3.5 years, in a very special place to which they flee from Judea when they see the Abomination of Desolation.
Isaiah 34 – The Day of Vengeance, the Lord Mighty in Battle!
The Location
Isaiah 34 then deals with the day of slaughter that occurs at the end of Daniel’s 70th week: the day of the Lord’s vengeance. The invitation is issued to all the vultures of the earth to take their feast on the corpses of the wicked. This occurs in a specific location. Isaiah 34:5-6 says “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom…The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood, it is covered with fat – the blood of lambs and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.” (Bozrah is in Edom.) The chapter goes on to describe how the place will be turned into burning pitch and will be given to birds of prey to inhabit thereafter.
Slaughter in Edom – Isaiah 63
We read more details about this event in Isaiah 63:1-4. “Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendour, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? ‘It is I, proclaiming victory, mighty to save.’ Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? ‘I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. It was for me the day of vengeance; the year for me to redeem had come.’”
The day of the Lord’s vengeance is just what the event is called in Isaiah 34:8. And the location is the same – Edom. The slayer is the Lord Himself and the victims are “all nations” and “all their armies” (Isaiah 34:2). Interestingly, the Lord Jesus, when asked where His return would occur, answered, “wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.” (Luke 17:37, KJV). I believe He was referring to this momentous day in which the invitation is issued to all the vultures of the earth to feed on the slain, the dead bodies of the armies of the nations gathered together in Bozrah.
Some scholars believe the remnant of Israel will be hidden in Bozrah and that this is where the armies of the world will gather.
It is for this reason that some scholars believe the remnant of Israel will be hidden in Bozrah and that this is where the armies of the world will gather at the end of Daniel’s 70th week – and that this is the location to which the Lord will return to deliver the remnant of Israel. The stars of heaven are described falling “like withered leaves from the vine” in Isaiah 34:4. This fits at the end of Daniel’s 70th week, with the physical return of the Lord Jesus, at the end of the 3.5 year period of protection of the remnant of Israel.
Isaiah 35 – The Redeemed of the Lord Return to Zion
Returning through a Flourishing Negev
Following on from this, Isaiah 35 is outstanding in beauty. It describes the sudden flourishing of the Negev and the procession of the righteous Jewish remnant, now delivered, through the Negev to Jerusalem. This dry and barren land is suddenly filled with springs of water, streams, and abundant overgrowth of greenery (Isa 35:7). It is through this regenerated land, lately desert, that the remnant of Israel travels on their way to Jerusalem, on a new highway that is called the “Way of Holiness”: “The unclean will not journey on it… But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (Isa 35:8-10). How our hearts long for this day!
The Worldwide Regathering of Israel
This specific scene forms a part of the worldwide regathering of the Jewish people from the whole earth to the Land of Israel, which is the high point of prophetic Scriptures, starting from Deuteronomy 30:2-5. Here, Moses told the people of Israel that when they would repent and return to the Lord, the Lord would return and “return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee, And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed…” (KJV)
Isaiah 27:12-13 mentions that Jewish survivors who have fled to various countries (presumably following Antichrist’s invasion of Israel) will be regathered to Israel with the sound of a trumpet: “you, Israel, will be gathered up one by one. And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.”
The Lord Himself will go on before them and lead them on their journey.
Jesus said likewise, “He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matt 24:31). Another reference from Isaiah confirms the meaning of the term “from one end of heaven to the other” – Isaiah 13.5: “They come from a far country, from the end of heaven…” So, from all nations the Jewish survivors at the end of Daniel’s 70th week will be gathered to the Land of Israel.
The Ascent to Jerusalem
Concerning the remnant who fled from Judea and were preserved in Bozrah, the Lord Himself will go on before them and lead them on their journey. The eyes of the blind will be opened, the lame will leap like a deer – just as when He was among His nation in His humility, so He will do for them when He is with them in His glory, only it will be completed to the uttermost. On the procession through the Negev to Jerusalem, the righteous will “ascend into the hill of the Lord” in Jerusalem. The gates of Jerusalem will be commanded to lift up their heads for the King of Glory to enter His city. “Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” (Ps 24:7-8)