“And again he says, ‘Here am I, and the children God has given me.'” -Hebrews 2:13
For months this verse from Hebrews has been going through my mind. I’ve been thinking of it, speaking it out in prayer, and singing it to myself. Every now and then I would ask the Lord, “Why does this keep coming back to me?” I never seemed to get an answer but the verse was always on my lips!
Recently during a corporate church fast I decided to look the verse up. I knew it was from Hebrews, but at that time I wasn’t connecting it to Isaiah 8:18 from which it is quoted.
Upon reading Isaiah something suddenly came into focus for me. The Holy Spirit seemed to be talking to me about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ!
It was very surprising to me because in my 38 years as a Christian I had never connected Hebrews 2:13 with Isaiah 8:18 in the context of the second coming of Jesus!
Here is the full verse from Isaiah from which Hebrews 2:13 was quoted:
“Look, here am I, along with the children whom God has given me, and in the house of Israel they will become signs and wonders from the Lord Sabaoth, who dwells on Mount Zion.” -Isaiah 8:18
This verse from Isaiah is quoted in Hebrews 2:13 as referring to Jesus and the children He would redeem. I don’t think that I would have caught the connection to His 2nd coming but I happened to be reading from the Septuagint where the phrase “the Lord Sabaoth” appears. I felt that the Holy Spirit highlighted the phrase to me so I decided to look it up.
The following is from an online devotional about “Lord Sabaoth”…
“Yahweh Sabaoth is one of the most widely used names for God in the Old Testament, occurring nearly 300 times. The name Sabaoth comes from the Hebrew word for “that which goes forth” and for “armies” or “hosts.” The name Yahweh Sabaoth declares God’s reign over heaven and earth and over all armies, earthly and spiritual.” (Today Devotion)
What stood out to me in reading the devotional is that Lord Sabaoth has the meaning of “that which goes forth” and for “armies” or “hosts.” In the verse from Isaiah then we can see God going forth with the armies of Heaven along with His children. The reason we can tie this verse from Isaiah 8:18 to Jesus is because Hebrews 2:13 specifically ties it to Him.
As I meditated upon it God brought this additional verse to me…
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” -Jude 1:14-15
When you connect the verse from Jude, Isaiah and Hebrews you get a picture of the second coming of Jesus Christ with all of His saints with Him. Jesus, who is the Lord of the armies of Heaven, goes forth appearing with all His children and makes us to be “signs and wonders” to the watching world!
A startling picture of the return of Christ!
Now let’s compare the previous verses with the language of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians which speaks of the return of Christ:
“When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed,” -2nd Thessalonians 1:7-10
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:17
“Here I am with the children the LORD has given me to be signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of Armies who dwells on Mount Zion.” – Isaiah 8:18
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” -Jude 1:14-15
I believe that the reason Hebrews 2:13 was going around in my head for months was because God was trying to stir within me an expectation for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He used my time of fasting as an opportunity to reveal to me through the scriptures a picture of the Lord of the armies of Heaven going forth “with a cry of command”- a battle cry! GATHERING HIS CHILDREN TO HIM along with the angelic armies of Heaven for the purpose of establishing His lordship, rule and reign while “inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus”. In the words of Jude, “Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed,”
This is an extraordinarily serious wake-up call and warning to an unbelieving world. It is also an alarm bell to sleeping saints to wake up, have their lamps trimmed, filled with oil, and ready for His return.
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” -Matthew 25:13