Bringing the fruit of repentance.

Isaiah 16:1-2

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

Chapter 16 of Isaiah is a continuation from chapter 15 about the prophecy against Moab.

“Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela to the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion.” Isaiah 16:1

Isaiah was speaking to the Moabites, who fled their land of Moab [to the southern parts of Edom] to escape the judgment sent on them by God. The message of God, sent through Isaiah, was for the Moabites to send the lamb to the ruler of the land. The lambs would be evidence, or fruit of their repentance, of their repentance for their aggression upon Jerusalem when they lived in Moab. The ruler of the land was the king ruling over Jerusalem. We know the Moabites gave the lambs to the king of Jerusalem by this verse, “Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheepbreeder, and he regularly paid the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand rams.” 2 Kings 3:4

Today, we know the ruler over the land of Jerusalem is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is ruler over the eternal New Jerusalem. Through Him, our sin is atoned for, we are reconciled to God, and we bring to Him the fruit of our repentance. That fruit shows by our belief in Him, acknowledging Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and by the blossoms of the fruit of the Spirit. We know when repentance is sincere, as our Lord Jesus says, “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” Matthew 7:16-19

The map below shows the route that the Moabites traveled to bring the lambs to Jerusalem. The red line from Petra to Jerusalem is that route. Their refuge from the wrath of God was in Petra [a.k.a. Sela], they traveled through the wilderness [the brown area with the red line through it] with the lambs [fruit of repentance], then journeyed to Jerusalem. Today, that is the route of our born-again experience. We start in Petra as people not living for God through Jesus Christ. Then we turn to God by faith in His Son, Jesus. With the fruit of repentance within our heart, mind, and soul, we travel through the wilderness of this atheistic world. Then we arrive to the eternal New Jerusalem to be with the Christ, Jesus.

“For it will be as a wandering bird thrown out of the nest; So will be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.” Isaiah 16:2

When the Moabites fled Moab to avoid the desolation brought on by the wrath of God, they were like a bird thrown out of the nest. They were unable to fly and in desperate need for protection and survival when returning to their homeland. The fords of the Arnon were shallow waters in Moab, and there they would be desperate for survival and protection within their own homeland. They sent a peace offering to the king of Judah [Jerusalem] to seek peace and to safely return to their homeland.

As people living in sin, living by the ways of this world, we were living without strength, we were like a bird thrown out of the nest. Our belief in God, acknowledging Jesus as our Lord, and living in the presence of the Holy Spirit was struggling in desperation to survive. We sinners, with no strength, are who the Christ, whose name is Jesus, died for, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8

We make our peace offerings to God through Jesus Christ, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1

Our Lord Jesus is calling us home, to return to the nest He has prepared for us,

Come home, come home;
you who are weary come home;
earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
calling, O sinner, come home!
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
calling for you and for me;
see, on the portals he’s waiting and watching,
watching for you and for me.
[Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling]

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1