Isa 65:7-12 I Will Bring Forth a Seed Out of Jacob, and Out of Judah An Inheritor of My Mountains

[Study Aired September 6, 2020]

Isa 65:7  Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
Isa 65:8  Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
Isa 65:9  And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
Isa 65:10  And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
Isa 65:11  But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
Isa 65:12  Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.

The Lord has deemed it essential to our salvation that we know “the pit from whence [we] are digged”.

Isa 51:1  Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.

Much of this chapter will be reminding us of the marred condition into which our old man was placed by the hand of the Potter.

Isa 65:7  Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

This verse reaffirms what was said of our rebellious old man in the previous verses:

Isa 65:2  I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
Isa 65:3  A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
Isa 65:4  Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
Isa 65:5  Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
Isa 65:6  Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,

The message of our verses for today is essentially the same as the message of chapter 51, a few words of which I will repeat here before going to verse 7:

“Isa 51:1  Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. 

“From what rock are those who “follow after righteousness… hewn”? From what pit are we all digged? It is the same for all men, Abraham included:

Isa 51:2  Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. 

What do we see when we ‘look to Abraham and Sarah’ when the Lord called them? We should see a barren, unfruitful couple of idol worshipers who had nothing to offer the Lord. Should not the Lord at least have chosen a couple who were not infertile if He intended to make of them a nation and a multitude of nations and to bless the world through them? That is certainly the way any natural man would go about producing a nation and a company of nations. Neither Abraham, nor any herdsman, would ever have picked a couple of cattle which had produced no offspring for over a decade, much less 98 years, to build up his herds. Nevertheless, the Lord chose an infertile couple, past the age of childbearing, to build a nation and a company of nations through which He would bless all other nations:

Gen 18:18  Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” (End Quote)

What both chapter 51 and these verses of this 65^th chapter are telling us that God has chosen and still chooses, only the most despised, weak, and foolish of this world, and He does so deliberately for this express purpose:

1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

The first six verses of this 65^th chapter tell us that we are first a rebellious people who provoke our Lord to anger continually to His face” (Isa 65:2-3).

Moses made it clear that our election is not because of us or because we are righteous, rather it is despite us and in spite of our unrighteous, rebelliousness:

Deu 9:6  Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.

Deu 9:13  Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

Through the story of King Hezekiah the Lord is even now encouraging us to repent of our “stiffnecked”, rebellious ways and to yield ourselves to Him and to His ways:

2Ch 30:8  Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.

The Lord has ordained that it is only through His chastening and scourging justice that we are brought to repentance and to yield ourselves to Him as we read in the last verse of our last study:

Isa 65:6  Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,

However, the Lord does not cause us to reap what we sow just for the purpose of getting even with us for “provoking Him to anger continually to His face”. Rather, His judgments are always out of His love for us:

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

In the New Testament, this Biblical principle of reaping what we sow, and chastening us with our own works, is expressed in these words:

Mat 18:23  Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
Mat 18:24  And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents [An unpayable debt].
Mat 18:25  But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
Mat 18:26  The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:27  Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
Mat 18:28  But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
Mat 18:29  And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:30  And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
Mat 18:31  So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
Mat 18:32  Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Mat 18:33  Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
Mat 18:34  And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
Mat 18:35  So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Two other scriptures are a condensed statement of what we are being told in this parable of this ungrateful, unmerciful servant.

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Jas 2:13  For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

Therefore, the Lord repeats His warning of reaping what we sow in the very next verse:

Isa 65:7  Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

Speaking specifically of this present time and His work with His elect who He has preordained to be the conduit of His mercy to all men, we are told:

Isa 65:8  Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.

This “blessing… in… the cluster” is “found” only by crushing the grapes.  In the time of our own judgment, and in the judgment of the rest of the world, the Lord will destroy all but a few of His ‘grapes’ and through the crushing of those few that are left He will in His time bless all the others. “Destroy it not… destroy… not… them all… for a blessing is in it”. This ‘blessing’ is the Lord’s blessing upon Abraham and his seed in type and in shadow. This ‘blessing in the cluster’ is in anti-type, and in the fulfillment of this type the “blessed and holy… few… who have part in the first resurrection”, which is “the redemption of the purchased possession”.

Gen 12:1  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
Gen 12:2  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Gen 12:3  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Isaiah has prophesied of this very thing twice before:

Isa 17:4  And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
Isa 17:5  And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
Isa 17:6  Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.

Before we go to the next place where Isaiah prophesies of the remnant grapes, let’s first consider the meaning of this phrase “in that day”. This phrase in the Old Testament almost always speaks of the day of our judgment:

Deu 31:17  Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?
Deu 31:18  And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.

Isa 10:20  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them [our unmerciful old man]; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

These “gleaning grapes” are “the remnant… [the] few chosen”. These “gleaning grape” are the elect remnant upon whom “judgment must… first begin”:

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

When Christ’s glory is revealed to us, then we should by all means “be glad… with exceeding joy”.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

“The ungodly and sinners… will appear [at the] great white throne… judgment” where they will be judged by those who are being judged in “this present time”, and for whom they unwittingly are “earnestly… waiting”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

It is our fiery trials which are our judgment which is now upon “the house of God”. Those trials and fiery judgments must “first begin at us”. Being judged now is the greatest blessing the Lord can bestow upon us, because it is through Christ’s mercy that we are being judged in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). We are not being judged and saved at “this present time” through the Lord’s mercy upon us simply for our own salvation and nothing more. Rather our “first-fruit” salvation is for the purpose of making us “saviors” and the conduits of our Lord’s mercy upon all the rest of mankind who has ever lived:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels [in the next life]? how much more things that pertain to this life?

We judge this world, and we rule it with a rod of iron for “a thousand years”. That is not the end of  our judging. We are also the judges of the “great white throne… judgment” after the rebellion which takes place “when the thousand years are expired”. It is here that we will also judge “the devil and his angels”:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Who is doing this judging of the dead at this “great white throne”? The first thing to note is that the throne is a “white throne”, and the next thing we need to remember is that:

1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world [To the later chastening judgment at this great white throne].

As for who is doing the judging of the dead at the great white throne judgment, this is what we are told, and I repeat:

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? [“The kingdoms of this world” (Rev 11:15)] and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? [At the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death/ prepared for the devil and his angels] how much more things that pertain to this life?

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again [to be judged with the devil and his angels] until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Judgment is not taken away from these judges when the thousand years of reigning with Christ on this earth is expired. That thousand-year reign was just a period of preparation for a much greater time and a much greater judgment and harvest than the first-fruit wheat harvest, which is being judged now at “this present time”. All who are not given a part in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” are unknowingly “waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God” who will be their merciful judges when “the dead are judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Verse 19 should remove any doubt about who the judges are of the great white throne judgment.

Why is Paul contrasting “the creature” with “the manifested sons of God”?

Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

“The creature” means all in Adam. It is not referring to cats and dogs. It is only those who are “in Adam” who are “wait[ing] for the manifestation of the sons of God”, and it is “we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the spirit” who are “groaning within ourselves waiting for the adoption… the redemption of our body”.

What we were just told here in Romans 8 is that it is “through [our] mercy” that “all the families of the earth… shall … be blessed”. Yes, that is exactly what Paul tells us just a few chapters later in this same epistle to the Romans:

Rom 11:30  For as ye [Gentiles] in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Knowing that physical Israel will be brought to God via spiritual Israel (Gal 6:15-16) gives these four verses of Isaiah 24 both an inward and an outward application:

Isa 24:10  The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
Isa 24:11  There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
Isa 24:12  In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
Isa 24:13  When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.

Gal 6:15  Certainly, it doesn’t matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.
Gal 6:16  Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God.

The name ‘Babylon’ means ‘confusion’. “The city of confusion” here in Isa 24:10 is the same “great harlot” city of:

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! [Physical Jerusalem, verse 1] it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

And:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

That the first Israel is rejected of God and is replaced by the later spiritual Israel is made even clearer by the first recorded sermon given by our Lord, and by the message within the words of the parable of the workers in His vineyard.

Telling the Jews they would be replaced by a spiritual ‘Israel’ almost cost Christ His life:

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luk 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

The parable of the workers in the vineyard conveys this same message inasmuch as the first will be last, and the last will be first:

Mat 20:1  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
Mat 20:2  And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Mat 20:3  And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
Mat 20:4  And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
Mat 20:5  Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
Mat 20:6  And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Mat 20:7  They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
Mat 20:8  So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
Mat 20:9  And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
Mat 20:10  But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
Mat 20:11  And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
Mat 20:12  Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
Mat 20:13  But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
Mat 20:14  Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
Mat 20:15  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
Mat 20:16  So the last [spiritual Israel] shall be first, and the first [physical Israel] last: for many be called, but few chosen.

It is through Christ living His life within His “few chosen… elect” that the “blessing” mentioned in Isaiah 65:8 and the inheritance of our next verse will be fulfilled:

Isa 65:9  And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

The “Seed of Jacob [and the] inheritor of [the Lord’s] mountains” is Christ, and “His inheritance [which is] in [His] elect… in the saints”:

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Christ within His Christ are His elect who are the “inheritors of [His] mountains” and those ‘mountains’ are typified by “Sharon… and the valley of Achor”:

Isa 65:10  And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.

It is only the Lord’s elect of “this present time whose “flocks” will increase and pasture in peace in “the valley of Achor. Flocks in peaceful pastures typify the peace and prosperity which the Lord’s elect firstfruits will know during the thousand years, and beyond to “the consummation of the ages”. It is the Lord’s elect who will be the first to experience the joys, the glory, and the power of “the consummation of the ages”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

1Co 10:11 Now all this befalls them typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained. (CLV)

The “folds of flocks” in Sharon, and “the herds… lying down in Achor” typify “The glory that shall be revealed in us”. This peace and glory is contrasted with the fate of our old man in “this present time” as well as the rebellious carnal minds of all men of all time who “through [our] mercy… shall receive mercy” in the great white throne judgment (Rom 11:30-31 and Rev 20:11). That contrast is the subject of our last two verses of today’s study:

Isa 65:11  But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
Isa 65:12  Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.

“That troop [and] that number” is those who “no man could number of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” (Rev 7:9). “That troop [and] that number” also includes our own old man and the old man of all men of all time, who have always resisted Christ, including all men of “this present time” and those who will be living in the “short season” of rebellion which immediately follows the thousand year reign “of our Lord and His Christ”.

This is the marred condition of all men right from “the Potter’s hand”:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Act 7:51  Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

“Numbered to the sword” is just another way of saying that our old man was “made to be taken and destroyed”:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Outwardly and dispensationally, “that troop [and] that number” symbolizes all the troops of all the armies of all nations which will “compass the camp of the saints about” in the last stand of the carnal mind of mankind against the irresistible power of “our Lord and His Christ”:

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Rev 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

That is our study for today, and these are the verses for our next study in which we will learn that we are to be given a new name, a new heavens and a new earth, all of which are completely unfamiliar to the “cursed” ‘name’ of our old man:

Isa 65:13  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
Isa 65:14  Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
Isa 65:15  And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
Isa 65:16  That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
Isa 65:17  For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Isa 65:18  But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.