As we saw previously, in the book of Isaiah there are at least three persons that typify Christ and also typify us – Cyrus the king, Isaiah the prophet, and the people of Israel.
Even though Cyrus was a Gentile king, God chose Him, formed him, prepared him, and strengthened him to do His will – to release the people of Israel and captivity and send them back to their home land to build up the city of Jerusalem and the temple of God!
Just like Cyrus, we also need to be those today that go out “as birds of prey” to look for sinners and save them for God’s kingdom! Cyrus is likened to a bird of prey – and so are we, one with Christ, looking for the captives that are prepared and ready to receive salvation!
We work together with the Lord in seeking the lost sinners and bringing them to the Lord, bringing them to salvation – and offering them to God! These saved sinners become sons of God and members of Christ – thus making God happy!
Such a pleasant work for God and with God is so sweet and is never tiring us out…. we are happy and God is happy – His kingdom is enlarged and His Body is increased – God’s good pleasure is satisfied!
On the other hand, the people of Israel typifying Christ as the Servant of Jehovah also typifies us – in a deeper and more subjective sense and experience. We don’t just “do things for God” but we are one with Christ and God is working Himself into us to make us His people!
In Isaiah there are some specific things that are mentioned in relation to Israel, and these things are also applied to us as the people of God:
- Israel typifies Christ for the carrying out of the kind word of comfort spoken by Jehovah (Isa. 40:1-2) – God is the One who comforts us and speaks a word to our heart, and then we can do something for Him to carry out His word.
- Israel was chosen by Jehovah and upheld with the right hand of His righteousness (Isa. 41:10) – God chose us and He upholds us, supports us, and takes an all-inclusive care of us – by keeping us in His hand of righteousness.
- Israel overcame the enemies by Jehovah and rejoiced and gloried in Him, the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 41:8-16) – We also overcome the enemy in Christ and with Christ, and we rejoice with a joy unspeakable and full of glory – we rejoice in Him!
- Israel was the witness of Jehovah (Isa. 43:10) – Christ is also the witness of God (Rev. 1:5), and we are witnesses of Christ, reporting to others what we have seen and heard regarding Christ as the word of life (1 John 1:1-4).
- The Spirit of Jehovah was poured out on Israel for the bessing of his offspring (Isa. 44:1-5) – God poured out the Spirit upon Christ in His baptism, and He poured out His Spirit on us as the all-inclusive blessing of the gospel.
- Jehovah was glorified in Israel (Isa. 44:1-5) – God was glorified in Christ, He was fully expressed and delighted in His Son. Now we are also becoming His expression on the earth, gloryfying God by expressing Him to the entire universe!
These are just some of the words God spoke concerning Israel typifying Christ, which are also true concerning us as the people of God! The believers in Christ, those regenerated by God with the divine life and now in the process of transformation daily, are today the people of God, expressing God to the entire universe. Now there is a corporate servant of Jehovah, the church, the Body of Christ, and we are part of it!
Today the church is the testimony of God and the expression of God in the sense of being one with Christ as the testimony of God! The One who expresses God in the entire universe is Christ – and by being put into Christ in our regeneration and through our baptism, we are now part of God’s corporate expression in the universe!
The highest service we can render to God as His servants is to express God in His glory! All of God’s children, His elect, are the servants of God with Christ for the expression of God’s glory! [sharing inspired by some portions of the life-study of Isaiah, as quoted in the Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Isaiah(2)]
Amen, Lord, thank You for these types in the Old Testament and the fulfillment in the New Testament! Thank You Lord for regenerating us and making us a part of Christ! We are now part of the corporate Servant of God in the universe! Lord, make us Your expression in full! Thank You for choosing us and upholding us! Thank You for being the Overcoming One in us – overcoming the enemy! Thank You for the Spirit who was poured out upon us as the blessing of the gospel! Lord, we are Your witnesses in the universe, testifying concerning You and what we have seen of You! Make us Your full expression! Be glorified in us today!
Amen, you mentioned the church being the testimony of God – here's a good footnote referenced below strengthening this point.
Verse: "Who testified the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, even all that he saw."
Revelation 1:2 footnote 1, regarding the word, testimony – Rev. 1:9; 12:17; 19:10; 20:4
On one hand, this book gives us the revelation of Christ, and on the other hand, it shows us the testimony of Jesus, which is the church. It presents to us the revealed Christ and the testifying church. The lampstands in ch. 1, the great multitude of the redeemed in ch. 7, the bright woman with her man-child in ch. 12, the harvest with its firstfruits in ch. 14, the overcomers on the sea of glass in ch. 15, the bride ready for marriage in ch. 19, and the New Jerusalem in chs. 21 and 22 are all the testimony of Jesus. This testimony of Jesus is the spirit — the substance, the disposition, and the characteristic — of the prophecy (19:10).
Christ is the Witness of God (1:5), the testimony and the expression of God. The church is the testimony and the expression of Christ. As such, the church is the reproduction of the testimony and the expression of God in Christ.