Christ is also a standard to the nations (v. 12a). A standard, probably being the enlargement of the branch in verse 1, indicates the influence of the calling and gathering power. A standard, standing high, always calls and gathers people to that place where it is. Such a standard becomes a great magnet to the nations. To the nations indicates to all the earth.
Christ as the banner to the peoples and the standard to the nations will bring in the return of God's people and the submission of the Gentiles (Isa. 11:11d, 12b-16). The Lord will recover for the second time the remnant of His people from the nations and gather them from the four corners of the earth (vv. 11, 12b). The first time the Lord recovered Israel was in their exodus from Egypt. Even today most of the Jews are dispersed, scattered everywhere, throughout the globe.
Verses 13 and 14 say that Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor will Judah be hostile to Ephraim. They will be together to plunder the nations on the west and on the east; the nations will come into the grasp of their hand and submit to them. Ephraim was the northern nation of Israel, and Judah was the southern nation. The one nation was divided into two—the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah. Instead of their being hostile toward one another, they will be harmoniously one. They will be together to plunder the nations on the west and on the east. The nations will come into the grasp of their hand and submit to them. In our experience this signifies the result of our preaching of the gospel. If we are jealous of each other and hostile to each other, we cannot be together to plunder the people from the west and from the east, and they will not fall into the grasp of our hand and submit to us.
Furthermore, Jehovah will destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt (the gulf of the Red Sea) and will dry up Euphrates, the great river, with the scorching of the wind and will strike it into seven streams; and there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of His people which remain to return (vv. 15-16). The sea of Egypt is the Red Sea, and the tongue of the sea of Egypt is the Gulf of Suez, the gulf of the Red Sea. The day will come when this gulf will be destroyed. In that day God's people, Israel, will be able to walk through from Egypt to their holy land.
Isaiah tells us that Jehovah will dry up "the River" (v. 15). This is the great river, the Euphrates, which Abraham crossed (Josh. 24:2-3). The great river Euphrates is also mentioned in Revelation 16:12 in relation to the war at Armageddon. In the coming days, God will dry up the Euphrates with the scorching heat of the wind. Then that river will be stricken into seven streams, so that God's people can walk through it to return to their land.
There will also be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of His people which remain to return. The Lord will build a highway from Assyria to the Holy Land. He will change the situation of the earth. First, the tongue of the sea of Egypt, which frustrates the traffic from Egypt to the Holy Land, will be destroyed. Second, God will use the scorching heat of the wind to dry up the Euphrates into seven streams. Verse 15 says that He will march men through it dryshod. Dryshod literally means in sandals. This big frustration will be dried up so that the children of Israel can walk through it. Third, God will build up a highway to the Holy Land from Assyria. All of this will solve the three big problems and frustrations for the return of the children of Israel.