God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Ex 19:6). But too often in the centuries that followed, the nation failed to live up to its high calling. In the eighth century BC, Isaiah said that Israel was "like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water"(Isa 1:30).
However, God had not given up on his people. Isaiah prophesied that God would one day restore the nation, so that Jerusalem would be called "the city of righteousness, the faithful city" (Isa 1:26).
Isaiah later showed that this restoration would result from the work of the Messiah, who would bring deliverance from bondage to sin (Isa 61:1-2). He would give his people "a beautiful headdress" (v 3), like the turban of the high priest (Ex 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:28, 31). Instead of an oak with withering leaves, they would become "oaks of righteousness" (v 3). They would be "called the priests of the LORD" (v 6), fulfilling their original mission to the nations. As God's "firstborn son" (Ex 4:22), they would enjoy a "double portion" in the Promised Land (Isa 61:7).
Isaiah goes on to say that through the "everlasting covenant" (v 8: Jer 31:31-34), Israel will live righteously and will be praised by the nations (v 9).
As commentator John Oswalt points out, Isaiah's beautiful prophecy issues a challenge for those who have been delivered from sin by Jesus the Messiah and are now part of a "chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Pe 2:9-10). Are we living as "oaks of righteousness" or oaks with withered leaves?
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