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Monring Manna | Isaiah 29:13 | A Fruitful Field

Writer's picture: Bro. Caleb TaftBro. Caleb Taft

Isaiah 29:17

17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?




Our verse today is a prophecy that has been fulfilled, but at the time of its writing, it was still nearly 700 years from the time of its fulfillment. God refers to 700 years as “a very little while.” We would look at 700 years and say that it was quite a long time, but it’s because of our frailty and perspective. For a creature that lives 70-80 years on this earth, 700 years is quite a long time to wait for something, but to the creator of the universe who is from eternity to eternity, 700 years is insignificant, less than a day. This teaches us several things, one that we should consider things from God’s point of view. We may die in faith having never received the promise of God. Yet that will not annul the promise because the promise maker is eternal. Secondly, it teaches us that God is not bound by time, but by his own promises. He brings to pass what he wills when he wills. We shouldn’t concern ourselves with God’s timetable; worrying about the amount of time that passes in waiting only makes us anxious. Waiting on the Lord is not sitting in a waiting room tapping your foot, wondering when the doctor will call you back. Rather, it is calmly looking unto Him. When my wife and I were courting, I lived a half mile into the woods of Alabama. When I would be expecting her, I would set my eyes on the furthest area I could see and joyfully wait to see her little red Geo Metro come bouncing down the driveway. I waited, looking for her coming with expectation, and that is what keeps the child of God collected while we wait for the fulfillment of our Lord’s promise, especially His return.





Lebanon was a forest, uncultivated, left to its own devices, no man to care for it. It had often been useful for the massive cedars that grew there, but for them to become useful they had to be cut down, dragged out of that forest, then a man would have to begin to process it and make it into boards, poles, or furniture. Lebanon was a gentile nation and in this verse, it's a representation of the gentile nations. Before the gospel dispensation [the church age], God, at times, would cut down a great cedar from the forest of the Gentiles, bring it into his workshop, and make it a useful addition to his work in the nation of Israel. For instance, think about Rahab, a mighty gentile, her profession was one of great sinfulness, but God cut her down with the message of soon coming judgment and placed her in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Ruth is a similar example, she grew up in Moab, a terribly wicked place and by the death of her husband, brother-in-law, and father-in-law she was cut down, brought to Bethlehem, and made a useful fixture in the lineage of King David and King Jesus. The gentile nations were like the uncultivated forest of Lebanon, yet in a little while, they will be “A fruitful field.”

Grapes on the vine

That is the change that took place in the gentile nations at the beginning of the church age, those nations of the world who knew not God became the field for the gospel seed to be sown in, cultivated, watered, and by the promise of God reaped in due season from these fields. The gospel was rejected in Israel but it found good ground in Macedonia, Acacia, Asia, and throughout the gentile world. Churches were established and here we are two thousand years later and the gospel is still finding good ground to grow in throughout the uttermost parts of the world. May I encourage you to take the gospel into all the world, it will be work, there is the clearing of land that must be done, there is sowing and watering, weeding and many days spent in the sweat of your brow, but by cultivation you can reap a gospel harvest if you’ll sow the gospel seed in the field that was once a forrest.


Now our verse says that the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest. This must be the nation of Israel. They were God’s garden in days gone by. It was in this garden that the law of God was cultivated, the promise of a savior was given, the way to worship was developed, and countless men and women were raised up by the hand of God. Yet the first have become last and the last have become first. They were the first to receive the promises, the first to see the King, and sadly, they were the first to reject him, kill him, and anyone who dared follow him. Then in 70 AD, the nation of Israel was no longer a nation. Rome sacked Jerusalem, and the tiny nation that had been God’s garden was left to itself. They were scattered throughout the world, and today only God knows who belongs to what tribe, and their national history has been marked by persecution and instability. The prophecy of this verse has been fulfilled over the past couple of thousand years, yet this is not the end for this nation that was left to itself. In 1948, something amazing took place: the nation of Israel became a nation again, they are back in the land, and there are promises of their restoration from this fall. I believe this is why our verse says they shall be esteemed as a forest but not they shall be a forest, they will look forsaken but God could never forsake them. Zechariah 13:6 speaks of a time when the nation will come to know Jesus as their Messiah, and like Joseph revealed himself to his treacherous brothers, so will our Lord reveal himself to the nation that killed him. When will this take place? “Yet a very little while.” If it is a thousand years from now, still it will be “In a very little while.” What is a thousand years compared to eternity? A thousand years only looks like a long time from our point of view, but from God’s point of view, it is nothing more than a day. Soon and very soon, Jesus will come to consummate all the promises ever made. Some will believe the promises and receive eternal life, some will not and receive eternal damnation. Believe in him today, for yet in a little while, we will see him.

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patrick Rwothomio
patrick Rwothomio
Jul 20, 2024

Hallelujah!! To the Lamb of God.

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