Blessings for Other Nations

Israel will not be the only nation to benefit from the fall of Babylon. Isaiah says:  "This is what Jehovah has said: 'The unpaid laborers of Egypt and the merchants of Ethiopia and the Sabeans, tall men, will themselves come over even to you, and yours they will become.  Behind you they will walk; in fetters they will come over, and to you they will bow down.  To you they will pray, saying, "Indeed God is in union with you, and there is no one else; there is no other God. "' " (Isaiah 45:14) In Moses' day,  "a vast mixed company" of non-Israelites accompanied the Israelites  on their Exodus from Egypt.  (Exodus 12:37, 38) In a similar way, foreigners will accompany the Jewish exiles who return home from Babylon.  These non-Jews will not be forced to go but "will themselves come over."  When Jehovah says, "to you they will bow down" and "to you they will pray," he is referring to the willing subjection and allegiance show to Israel by these foreigners.  If they wear letters, it will be in a voluntary sense, signifying their willingness to serve God's covenant people, to whom they will say:  "God is in union with you."  They will worship Jehovah as proselytes, under the provision of his covenant with Israel. -Isaiah 56:6.

Since 1919 when "the Israel of God" was  released from spiritual captivity, Isaiah's words have had a greater fulfillment than in Cyrus' day.  Millions earth wide show a willingness to serve Jehovah.  (Galatians 6:16; Zechariah 8:23)  Like the 'laborers" and "the merchants" mentioned by Isaiah, they cheerfully offer their physical strength and financial resources to support true worship.  (Matthew 25:34-40; Mark 12:30)  They dedicate themselves to God and walk in his paths, gladly becoming his slaves.  (Luke 9:23) They worship only Jehovah, enjoying the benefits of associating with Jehovah's  "faithful and discreet slave," who are in a special covenant relationship with God.  (Matthew 24:45-47; 26:28; Hebrews 8:8-13) While not participants in that covenant, those "laborers" and "merchants" benefit from it and obey the laws associated with it, boldly proclaiming:  "There is no other God."  How thrilling to be eyewitnesses today of the grand increase in the number of such willing supporters of true worship! -Isaiah 60:22)

After the disclosure that people of the nations will join in worshiping Jehovah, the prophet exclaims:  "Truly you are a God keeping yourself concealed, the God of Israel, a Savior"!  (Isaiah 45:15  Although Jehovah refrains from showing his power as present, in the future he will no longer hide himself.  he will show himself to be the God of Israel, the Savior of his people.  However, Jehovah will not be the Savior of those who trust in idols.  Of such ones Isaiah says:  "They will certainly  be ashamed and even be humiliated , all of them.  Together in humiliation the manufacturers of idol forms will have to walk."  (Isaiah 45:16)  Their humiliation will be more than a temporary sense of disgrace and shame. It will mean death-the opposite of what Jehovah next promises Israel. 

"As for Israel, he will certainly be saved in union with Jehovah with a salvation for times indefinite. You people will not be ashamed, nor will you be humiliated for the indefinite times of eternity." (Isaiah 45:17)  Jehovah promises eternal salvation for Israel, but his is conditional. Israel must remain  "in union with Jehovah."  When Israel breaks that union by rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, the nation will lose its prospect of  "salvation for times indefinite."  However, some in Israel will exercise faith in Jesus, and these will become the nucleus of the Israel of God, which will take the place of fleshly Israel.  (Matthew 21:43; Galatians 3:28, 29; 1 Peter 2:9)  Spiritual Israel will never be humiliated. It will be taken into "an everlasting covenant." -Hebrews 13:20.

Next time: In Creation and in Revelation, Jehovah Is Reliable

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, Volume II, 2001