Isaiah 30, 31: The Spirit of Truth: Chapter 6: The Harbinger of the Spirit

When speaking of the Spirit of Truth coming as the rain from heaven, the prophet tells us in Isaiah 30:25 that it will be accompanied by great destruction as well,

²⁵ On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter when the towers fall.

The prophet was speaking primarily of the destruction of Jerusalem, which, though postponed for a century in his day, was surely coming. The towers on the wall of Jerusalem ultimately fell to the invading army of Babylon. The voice of the great Teacher of righteousness was heard throughout the land. Few recognized His voice at that time, because He spoke with a foreign tongue through the Babylonian army that He had raised up to conquer the city.

Neither was this a classic “revival” that is normally seen when the Holy Spirit is poured out. No doubt some repented at the last minute as the awful truth began to be known, but by then it was too late to prevent the army from tearing down the walls of Jerusalem.

Yet this passage also prophesies of much greater things in the future. Most prophecy in the Bible has more than one fulfillment. The earlier fulfillments set the patterns for greater fulfillments in the future. The first time a prophecy is fulfilled should be thought of as a type and shadow of greater things that will come in a new context. This is because the word of God is alive; it grows with time and has the ability to change form as it matures, so to speak.

Jerusalem’s Destruction in 70 A.D.

When Jesus came to minister in the first century, He was the great Teacher of righteousness prophesied by Isaiah and Joel. His rival was a man named Zadok, who founded the party of Zadokites (Sadducees). The Sadducees believed that their founder fulfilled Joel’s prophecies of the Teacher of righteousness. As Christian believers, we follow Jesus as that Teacher.

Jesus taught many things, but toward the end of His ministry, He taught about the soon-coming destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 19:43, 44; Matt. 24:15-28). Though it took another 40 years for Jerusalem to be destroyed, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was a more immediate fulfillment, as the river of the Spirit flowed from every lofty mountain (kingdom) and on every high hill.

When the Judeans revolted against Rome in 66 A.D., the Christians in Jerusalem remembered Jesus’ words and moved out of town to the other side of the Jordan River. Thus, they avoided the great day of slaughter when the towers fell in 70 A.D.

The Final Destruction

 We have shown earlier that Jer. 19:10, 11 prophesies the utter destruction of Jerusalem, where the city will no longer be rebuilt. Such utter destruction has yet to be fulfilled. So we know that the prophecies of Jeremiah, as well as those of Isaiah, apply to the end times in a greater way than before. The same applies to Jesus’ prophecies about Jerusalem, whose destruction in 70 A.D. was only a type and shadow of things to come.

The demolition of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 was a “harbinger” of things to come, as Jonathan Cahn has eloquently shown in his book, The Harbinger. Some U.S. politicians arrogantly quoted Isaiah 9:10 at that time,

¹⁰ The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with smooth stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.

Instead of taking heed to the divine warning, they refused to repent of their own rebellion against God. In defiance of God, these politicians determined not to repent but to rebuild, and this has ensured a greater destruction yet to come.

Even so, as we have already shown, there is more to this prophecy than just destruction of the towers. Isaiah linked the destruction of the towers to the Teacher of righteousness and to the “rain” of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, the sign that we saw on September 11, 2001 was a harbinger of the outpouring of the Spirit of Truth as well.

In fact, when the truth comes out about who was really behind the attack on the Twin Towers, it will spark national outrage. I believe that this will cause the people of America to realize that men within our own government organized and planned this event for the purpose of gaining more dictatorial control. We will then no longer be able to blame the Saudis, the Israelis, or any other external force, no matter how involved they may have been. We will then see the great prophecy of Pogo fulfilled when he said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

This change in perspective, no doubt, will be accompanied by a change of mind (“repentance”) in the people’s view of the great Teacher of righteousness. In fact, without a spiritual repentance, where the people turn to God, there can be no lasting political change for the better. The spiritual repentance no doubt will spark huge changes in the social and political order of the nation. By understanding that spiritual repentance is the cause of political repentance (change), we can direct our efforts accordingly.

The Light of the Sun and Moon

Isaiah 30:26 continues,

²⁶ The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.

Many people take prophetic metaphors too literally without seeing that when prophecy is fulfilled literally in a physical manner, it is only a sign (type and shadow) of greater things. In the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah, no such astronomical signs were fulfilled as far as we know.

But in the first century, there were many signs in the heavens. The signs that appeared were the ones described in Joel 2:31. On the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, the sun was darkened at noon for 3 hours (Matt. 27:45), and when the moon rose at 5:10 pm over Jerusalem, it was already eclipsed. (See chapter 1 of The Laws of the Second Coming.)

Isaiah 30, however, does not prophesy about the sun and moon being darkened but that they will be brighter. Hence, it is a very different prophecy having a different meaning. If the intensity of the sun were to be seven times brighter (and hotter), the earth would quickly be burned up. Yet this is said to be “the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.” It is a day of healing, not bruising. It is a day of repairing, not fracturing.

Hence, the prophet’s metaphors should be taken in a positive manner.

The “light” is the light of Truth, which takes us back to the prophet’s earlier statements about the Teacher of righteousness who leads us by the Spirit of Truth. The sun in this case represents Christ Himself, whose inner light was manifested on the Mount in Matt. 17:1, 2. Jesus is the Light of the world, and when Christ’s light is manifested in the earth, the people see the glory of God and are able to know His character. His glory is His “goodness” (Exodus 33:18, 19).

The moon reflects the glory of the sun. Hence, the moon is the church and ultimately the whole of creation that will reflect His glory, for that was the purpose for its creation at the beginning. When the glory of God appears seven times brighter, then the mere reflection of that glory will equal that of the sun’s “normal” glory.

Isaiah’s prophecy is primarily positive insofar as it shows the future glory of God being reflected in creation. However, there is also a negative side to it in that this is the day when God “heals the bruise He has inflicted.” The judgment of God bruises people, the prophet says. The judgment of God also fractured the nation, he says.

The fracture (“breach,” KJV) came when God divided Israel from Judah in order to bring judgment for the sins of Solomon (1 Kings 11:7, 8, 9, 11). This was the great breach that only Christ would be able to repair (Isaiah 58:12; Hosea 1:11). When Christ came the first time, this breach was not repaired, because He was rejected. Therefore, the prophecy is to be fulfilled at the time of His second appearance.

This must take place in the midst of repentance, that is, great changes must occur in order to overthrow the evil systems that keep the rebellious people in God-ordained captivity.

The Moon as Jericho

Jericho means Moon City. The root word is Yerach, which means “moon.” Hence, Isaiah’s prophecy is a veiled reference to the battle of Jericho, which in turn set the prophetic pattern for the overthrow of Mystery Babylon in the book of Revelation.

The Israelites walked around Jericho for seven days blowing trumpets (Josh. 6:13, 15) before the walls of the city collapsed and the city was taken. So also we see seven trumpets involving the overthrow of Mystery Babylon (Rev. 8:2).

The book of Revelation is structured around the biblical practice of blowing a trumpet to signal the start of each new month. The seventh trumpet referred to the feast of Trumpets at the start of the seventh month, which also began the sequence of the second set of feast days.

The seven seals represent seven years in a Sabbath cycle. The seven trumpets in the seventh year are the seven months of the feast days. The seven bowls prophesy of the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles, during which feast the priests poured out a drink offering of new wine every day for seven days.

Hence, the book of Revelation is structured according to the biblical calendar of seven years, seven months, and seven days. Essentially, the apostle John tells us the prophetic meaning of the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month within the seventh year of a Sabbatical cycle.

For more details, see my commentary on The Revelation.

Isaiah 30:26 seems to connect the battle of Jericho with the rain of the Spirit of Truth and the repair of the breach that will reunite the two sticks of Judah and Joseph (Ezek. 37:19). Judah held the Dominion Mandate, while Joseph was given the Fruitfulness Mandate (i.e., Sonship/Birthright), as we read in 1 Chron. 5:1, 2. When these tribes were separated, neither could fulfill its mandate, for each needed the other to complete its own calling.

It takes two comings of Christ to repair this “fracture.” Christ’s first coming reunited only the Dominion Mandate and the Priesthood, for Jesus came of the tribe of Judah and yet took the priesthood through the Order of Melchizedek. His second coming brings the promise of Sonship that was given to Joseph (or Ephraim), because this is the time of the manifestation of the sons of God.

Many important events, then, will take place when the time approaches for Christ to appear a second time. The Teacher of righteousness must open the eyes of the people, so that they can repent properly. The Spirit of Truth must alter the people’s view of God and of His plan in prophecy, so that they can align their thinking and come into agreement. The glory of God must manifest in the earth through the sons of God.

Jericho-Babylon must fall as well, so that the Kingdom of God may replace it.

At some point in this general time frame, the autumn feast days will be fulfilled, beginning with the resurrection of the dead on the feast of Trumpets. The first day of Tabernacles will see the birth of the sons of God who are alive at the time, so that they may be one with the resurrected saints.

Christ must then come in the midst of Tabernacles, so that the Head comes upon the body, making the body complete and eligible to be presented to the Father. The presentation of this complete first-born Son must come on the eighth day of Tabernacles, according to the law (Exodus 22:29, 30).

Then this Son will be manifested to the rest of creation to begin the greater work of evangelism that will expand the scope of the Kingdom for the next thousand years.

Isaiah does not give us such a complete picture, of course, but when we combine his revelation with that of other prophets, we are able to see the coming events in a clearer way.