Having become a worship chorus, this scripture is familiar to many. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” It’s a comforting promise, but there’s more to it than that. As it came to mind recently, a thought abruptly stopped my mental recitation partway through it.
How will renewed strength enable you to mount up on wings as eagles do? Have you ever been able to do that before?
The obvious answer is no. No second wind, however invigorating, will be enough to make that happen. These are separate promises stated together to make a point — a point that, until now, we’ve commonly overlooked.
This is a PROPHECY, not just a promise. The “they” referred to is automatically converted in our minds to mean ‘all those’, but that’s not what it says. That expansion of its meaning may be harmless, but what if “they” refers to a specific group, not just everyone waiting on the Lord? In that case, scripture is obligated to expound on that group… and it does. I’ll go into it in the next post.
Let’s finish examining this passage. Running and walking without becoming worn out is supernatural, no question about it. The thing to note is it can’t be endless if we’re not! If God’s word has a specific group in mind, then it must be for a specific time. Now we’re getting to the exciting part!
Isaiah was given grace to describe the coming Messiah in more detail than any other Old Testament prophet. Things pertaining to Jesus were spotlighted in his writings. This passage is to be fulfilled in the final days of the Church Age. As He prepared witnesses at its beginning, He has also readied witnesses to herald its end. I believe I am one of them!
In my case, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. I’m not a young man anymore. It doesn’t matter! He will empower folks like me to run with the gospel message and report that HE IS COMING! How will His messengers not exhaust themselves in such a monumental, unprecedented effort? That’s easy: we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before that happens! When He says go, we will run until we have to walk, but before we would faint, we will mount up on wings as eagles into His presence. That’s how our race comes to an end!