Birth Of A Nation

Can a country be brought forth in one day? Can a nation be born in a single moment? – Isaiah 66:8b (NET)

The answer to this question, posed by the prophet Isaiah, is yes. A country can be brought forth in one day, and a nation can be born in a single moment, if that day and that moment is the Resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, from the grave. Isaiah writes, “Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons!” (66:8c) Zion is the Lord’s mountain, the place of the New Jerusalem, of which it is said, “Be happy for Jerusalem and rejoice with her, all you who love her!” (66:10a)

With what appears to be a nod to the sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah, the author of the letter to the Hebrews writes, “But you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven” (12:22-23a). Let it be said that the language of “Zion” is the language of the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of heaven that will be enlarged by the Gospel proclamation that Jesus is Lord of all, is that which was inaugurated at the Resurrection of Jesus. From the book of Revelation, we know that the heavenly Jerusalem comes to earth, and here in Isaiah we read God’s declaration that “just as the new heavens and the new earth I am about to make will remain standing before Me…so your descendants and your name will remain”(66:22). That new heavens and new earth seems to be tied to the birth of this new nation, an eternal nation, populated by descendants that share in eternal life in a renewed creation---at the intersection of heaven and earth.

Tying the birth of a nation to the Resurrection of Jesus and the labor and birthing of sons of Zion, it can be said that yes, as soon as Zion goes into labor---as soon as the kingdom of heaven begins to be manifest on earth by the power of the Resurrection and the power of the Gospel of Jesus---Zion does indeed give birth to sons. Those sons are sons of the kingdom of heaven. Those sons are the manifestation and the revelation of the sons of God, brothers in the union of belief with the risen Christ, for whom the creation has been eagerly awaiting (Romans 8:19).

Through the Resurrection and its power that brought to birth these sons of the kingdom, God says through Isaiah that “I am coming to gather all the nations and ethnic groups; they will come and witness My splendor” (66:18b). These nations and ethnic groups will be gathered by the preaching of the Gospel, and by the pure power contained therein. Jesus knew that the kingdom that had been promised to God’s Messiah (Israel’s King/Son of God) had been inaugurated by His Resurrection. For this reason, He said “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18b). Because He knew that it was the Father’s goal, Israel’s purpose as the covenant people of God, His purpose as the embodiment of Israel, and the purpose of the renewed Israel that would be brought into covenant through belief in Him as Lord and King to gather all nations and ethnic groups to witness the splendor of the Creator God, He added, “go and make disciples of all nations” (28:19a). That making of disciples would come about through the Holy Spirit’s application of the power of the Resurrection to hearts and minds, gifting faith for belief.

Furthermore, God says, “I will perform a mighty act among them and then send some of those who remain to the nations… and to the distant coastlands that have not heard about Me or seen My splendor” (Isaiah 66:19a,c). Turning to the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, we read about Jesus telling His disciples “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth” (1:8). Reading on a little bit farther, we find that “when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting… All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit” (2:1-2, 4a). With this mighty act, the firstborn of the sons of Zion received that power that would enable them to begin taking the message of the Gospel of Jesus to the nations and to the distant coastlands, thereby revealing the splendor and the majesty and the faithfulness of God. Through Isaiah, God said that this new country, this new nation, these sons of Zion “will tell the nations of My splendor” (66:19d), and indeed, they did, have, and are doing that very thing, empowered by the Spirit, as a nation under the rule of a resurrected and exalted Lord.