This is the final message on the first section of Isaiah concerning the all-inclusive Christ. The book of Isaiah may be divided into two sections. The first section is composed of the first thirty-nine chapters, and the second section is composed of the next twenty-seven chapters, from chapters forty through sixty-six. This is similar to the division of the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament has thirty-nine books, and the New Testament has twenty-seven books. At the end of the first section of Isaiah, from chapters thirty-six through thirty-nine, there is the account concerning Hezekiah. Thus, this last message on the first part of Isaiah covers the aspects of the all-inclusive Christ up through chapter thirty-five. In the next message we will begin to see the aspects of Christ in chapter forty, the first chapter of the second section of Isaiah.
In this message we want to see Christ as a crown, a stone, and a King. He is a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty; He is a stone as a foundation, a tested stone, and a precious cornerstone; and He is a King as a man to be a refuge, a covering, streams of water, and the shadow of a massive rock. These items of Christ will all eventually be completely fulfilled in the age of restoration after God will have completed His governmental dealing with Israel.
Today the nation of Israel is confined to a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea. Without God's sovereign arrangement to have a nation such as the United States to protect Israel, Israel would have already been more diminished. The recent crisis in the Middle East was the exercise of God's sovereignty for the uplifting of Israel and the putting down of the opposing Arab countries. Although Israel has been uplifted, it is still suffering. The day will come, however, when Israel will be fully restored. The landmark of that day will be the second coming of Christ in His glory.
Deuteronomy 11:24 speaks of the boundaries of the territory of Israel—"Every place on which the sole of your foot treads will be yours; from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even unto the farmost sea will be your border." The farmost sea is the Mediterranean Sea. The territory of Israel will stretch from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Euphrates within Iraq. Today the nations are debating about what land should belong to Israel and what land should belong to the Palestinians. But the Lord set the boundaries of the land of Israel in Deuteronomy, and He promised that He would cut off and drive out others who possessed this land (Exo. 23:23, 28, 31). What the nations of the world feel about Israel does not matter. The Lord's feeling and decision regarding the situation of Israel mean everything.