The redeemed of the Lord shall return !
Isa 51:11
11
Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
Many in man made religion dont understand nor believe the effects that Christ's redeeming death had on all for whom He died, It returns them back to God from whom they went astray, apostatized from in Adam, yet His redeeming death shall cause them to return, as it is written, the redeemed of the Lord shall [predestined] return.
To give an idea of this blessed return, look at the prodigal son Lk 15:11-21
11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Now notice vs 17-20 , thats the action of being returned to the Lord, thats what is effected in each of the redeemed of the Lord, those Christ died for, in other words, Christ's redeeming death receives all the credit for the actions of the returning son in Vs 17-20 !
Now this very same Illustration is stated in Peters writings 1 Pet 1:18-20
18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Peter writing to the redeemed, those redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb, notice what he writes:
They were redeemed
out of a vain conversation or manner of Life Vs 18
The word from preposition ek means:
I.
out of, from, by,
away from
See how Peter is crediting the Blood of Christ as the means by which they were brought out of, away from a vain manner of life ! Peter does not say it was due to their wise decision making, or their freewill, that they are changed, but again, because of the precious blood of the Lamb !
Yet even more to the point is what he writes later here 1 Pet 2:24-25
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
Notice the word returned in Vs 25, that applies to the redeemed back up in 1 Pet 1:18-20 !
So you see, that's what Isa 51:11 means, the redeemed of the Lord shall return or be returned.
The word returned in 1 Pet 2:25 is the greek word epistrephō:
I.transitively
A.to turn to
i.to the worship of the true God
B.
to cause to return, to bring back
i.to the love and obedience of God
Here in the text its in the passive voice :
The passive voice represents the subject as being the recipient of the action. E.g., in the sentence, "The boy was hit by the ball," the boy receives the action.
The passive effects the middle and causes the subject to act, so the word also means:
A.to turn to one's self
B.to turn one's self about, turn back
C.
to return, turn back, come back
Because what's being effected here is conversion !
Lets look back once again at the prodigal Lk 15:17-18
17
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
The son being acted upon as in being the hit ball, he corresponds in like action, though he begins to act and cooperate, he is not the author of it, the redeeming blood of Christ is ! So again we see come to past what is promised in the prophecy Isa 51:11
11
Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
Fulfilled in Christ, the Redeemed 1 Pet 1:18 and the being returned 1 Pet 2:25 ! 36