Hezekiah given a sign to show that the word of God is true in His promise of deliverance.

Isaiah 37:30-35

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

“This will be a sign to you: You will eat this year such as grows of itself, and the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.” Isaiah 37:30

In the previous post on Isaiah 37:21-29, in response to Hezekiah’s prayer for deliverance from Sennacherib [king of Assyria] the Lord answered Hezekiah, through Isaiah. The Lord said that Sennacherib held contempt for Him and for that reason He would bring Sennacherib to his end. That would subsequently deliver Hezekiah and the Israelites of the kingdom of Judah from devastation and from being exiled far from Jerusalem.

In the verses of this post, the Lord, through Isaiah, provides a sign so that Hezekiah would know that the word of the Lord spoken through Isaiah was a true message.

The Lord promised that the Israelites of the kingdom of Judah would not be annihilated nor exiled but would eat from whatever the land of Judah provided on its own, without plowing and seeding. Then another year would go by, and the Israelites of Judah would eat from whatever sprouted from the seeds of that crop, without plowing or seeding. Then the third year would come around and the people of the kingdom of Judah would sow seed and eat from the harvest of those vineyards.

Before the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, in a sense, the Israelites were eating from whatever grew by itself. That refers to the word of God being given exclusively to them, which included the Ten Commandments and the laws of the animal sacrifices to atone for sin. No other people or country around them had the word of God. In that light, the “third year” refers to the blossom of the resurrection of Christ Jesus, after being sown and planted in the grave for three days. Through Him is given the Holy Spirit so that we can reap the benefits of the blossoms of the fruit of the Spirit. Since the coming of Christ, Jesus, we sow the Gospel seed and the harvest is those who come to God, through Jesus Christ, in the presence of the Holy Spirit. We feast on the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of born-again Believers.

Today, fellowship with other Believers is very scarce because the world lives for the beast that gives them what to say, do, think, and feel, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelations 13:8 Even so, in the eternal New Jerusalem there will be a bountiful supply.

Far away the noise of strife upon my ear is falling;
Then I know the sins of earth beset on every hand;
Doubt and fear and things of earth in vain to me are calling;
None of these will move me from Beulah Land.
I’m living on the mountain, underneath a cloudless sky,
I’m drinking at the fountain that never will run dry;
Oh, yes! I’m feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply,
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land.
[Dwelling in Beulah Land]

“And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem will go a remnant, and those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” Isaiah 37:31-32

For the Jewish people of the State of Israel and around the world, Mount Zion/Jerusalem is a place on earth. Devastation is coming to them in the Battle of Armageddon, but there will be a small remnant who returns to God through Jesus Christ, as described in the post on the “Day After” from Ezekiel 39. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do that.

The prophecy of Isaiah, for that specific time, was that a remnant of Israelites, from the kingdom of Judah, would survive the invasion and destruction that came at the hand of Sennacherib. He had already captured many fortified cities in the kingdom of Judah, forcing the Israelites to flee and scatter to find refuge elsewhere. The Lord promised that the remnant who escaped the destruction of Sennacherib would take root firmly in the ground and grow to produce fruit upward towards the sunlight. That means their population as a city would grow again. The zeal of the Lord of hosts has done this.

Today, we live in a culture that lives by the power of darkness through the beast that gives them what to say, do, think, and feel. They allow the beast to speak and live through them who has been granted to “…make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. ” Revelations 13:6-7 Our Lord Jesus says, “…this is [their] hour, and the power of darkness.” Luke 22:53 As followers of Jesus Christ, we are the faithful few who live in the Light of our Lord Jesus, and our names are written in the Book of Life, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelations 13:8 The zeal of the Lord of hosts has done this.

“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He will not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it.” Isaiah 37:33

That prophesy of Isaiah happened as Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, was struck dead and the remnant of the people of the land of Judah was spared. The death of Sennacherib is described in the verses of Isaiah 37:36-38. He did not come into the city of Zion/Jerusalem, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it. The earthly city of Jerusalem/Mount Zion was not destroyed but could have easily become an archaeological site to be dug up by modern-day archaeologists. Instead, it is a full-blown nation called the State of Israel.

Today, the “king” of this world will be struck dead, which is Satan, who rules the government of the beast and its global culture, “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelations 20:10 A new heaven and earth will be created where our eternal home in the city of the New Jerusalem exists, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” Revelations 21:1 The power of darkness will not come into that city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant,” Hebrews 12:22-24

“By the way that he came, by the same will he return; And he will not come into this city,’ says the Lord. ‘For I will defend this city, to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’” Isaiah 37:34-35

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came from Assyria and returned to Nineveh where he was killed by his sons. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, that is described in the verses of Isaiah 37:36-38. If Nineveh sounds familiar, that is the city Jonah was sent to preach to, Jonah 1:1. The “king” of the government of the beast and the global culture will return to the place where he came, a place of outer darkness and separation from God for eternity…a place of eternal torment in Hell. He will have no place in the New Jerusalem. Before the new heaven and earth are created, he will be eternally destroyed, “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelations 20:10

We have to realize that the promise of the coming of the Christ, whose name is Jesus, was that He would be from the seed of David. David was from the tribe of Judah, so Jesus would be from the tribe of Judah to fulfill Bible prophecy, to fulfill the word of God. That is what the Spirit of the Lord meant when it is written, “For I will defend this city, to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.” The Israelites of the kingdom of Judah were of the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin. Jerusalem was the capital of Judah. If those Israelites would have been annihilated, and the tribe of Judah driven into extinction, the birth of Christ Jesus would never have happened. The Lord God always, always, kept a remnant alive to fulfill the prophecy of the coming of the Christ being from the seed of David. The kingdom of Judah was the southern kingdom of the Israelites, and the northern kingdom of Israelites was the kingdom of Israel, consisting of the other ten tribes of Israel.

Speaking to David, the Lord says about the coming of Christ, “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, Who will come from your body, and I will establish His kingdom. He will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. I will be His Father, and he will be My son.” 2 Samuel 7:12-14

“He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus—” Acts 13:20-23

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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, 3:11