1. Isaiah 4. Will there be normal life after Jesus comes?

The study of the coming Kingdom is a fascinating one, robbed from Bible believers by Jehovah’s Witnesses and others who see some of this clearly, and teach it. Their enthusiasm scares believers away from the subject, thinking it must be poison if heretics are teaching it.

Yes, there will be normal life to a great extent, but with several differences. First, there will be a one-world government, headed up by Jesus Christ and those whom He appoints to reign with Him. There will be a class of people who will be operating out of their resurrected, glorified bodies, and there will be others who just came into the final era, having escaped the horrors of the coming judgments.

The “normal” people will go about their business with super help from the people of God. They will live long lives, but will still be subject to death. They will be required to bring offerings to the Lord in Jerusalem, and failure to do so will meet with dire consequences. This Millennial time will be the transition from a purely earthly way of life, as we live now, to the heavenly time after the Millennium, when all the enemies of Christ, and our enemies – including death itself – will be removed.

With all of those unusual things goin on in the Millennium, I imagine it is hard to think of it as “normal”, but there will be a lot of familiar things going on. Buying and selling, marriages, worship, working, relaxing, etc. But all under the Prince of Peace. A wonderful, incredible time for us, as we prepare for the even greater adventures after the 1000 years have expired.

2. Isaiah 5:26. What is the picture of the “standard” and the “whistle” about?

The “He” of verse 26 is the Lord Himself. This passage (26-30) describes the calling of a nation to judge His people. Perhaps Isaiah even sees an endtime scenario and final judgment by an end-time Empire.

Chapter 10 speaks of Assyria as the rod of God’s anger. It is quite likely that Assyria is here envisioned. God raises a signal flag, as it were. God’s audible signal is then heard. The Assyrians hear within themselves the call to conquer the world of their day. They will swoop down on Israel in 721 B.C. and take captive a foolish people, one time called the people of God.

3. Isaiah 6:1. How could Isaiah “see the Lord”?

Since we are not told the exact form the Lord took, it is better not to speculate. But that Bible characters, even Old Testament ones, saw a human form that they knew to be the Lord, is clear. Abraham should immediately come to mind. And we know that the ultimate seeing of the Lord for us, at least in this era, is to have seen Jesus when he was here. And Jesus made it clear, “He that has seen Me has seen the Father.”

4. Isaiah 6:7. How can a “charcoal” take away sins?

Should we approach this text literally? It is normally the better way. Though Bible translators label this chapter “Isaiah’s vision,” there is no evidence that Isaiah was in some altered state of consciousness, or that he was sleeping. He literally saw the Lord and the seraphim. He heard their cries. He felt the shaking of the foundations. Why should we not think that a literal angel took a literal coal from a literal altar, touched his literal lips, and literally was the instrument of forgiveness?

Consider Moses’ rod. Did it stop the Red Sea? No, but it was raised by Moses as the miracle took place. That same rod stopped Moses from entering the Promised Land, when he used it without authorization. Material things can be used to effect miracles, but must never be considered the power behind the sign.

Examples from the lives of Elijah and Elisha can be brought forth also. The prophets dealt in symbolism and sometimes in the efficacy of the symbol itself. Or so it seemed.

Did Jesus need the spit and the dirt to heal a man? No, but that was what He used.