THE BOOK OF ISAIAH
They Shall See My Glory
Isaiah 66 SCC 3/2/14
God is in
charge, His plan is in play, and He knows who is fake and for real.
THE HUMBLE NOT THE RELIGIOUS HAVE GOD’S ATTENTION 66:1-6
66:1-2: The Lord
reminded His people that He is sovereign over His universe. They should not
assign too much importance to the temple and its service since they built the
temple for God. It was a symbol of Him. They should consider more important
that He had created all things Himself not be
self-assertive with their own rights but delight in the Lord’s word that He
favors.
(1) The humble recognition
that we can do nothing either for or to him (afflicted).
(2) The awareness that we
deserve nothing but destruction from him (broken in spirit).
(3) The desire to do nothing
other than what he commands (trembles at my word).
66:3: The person who
relies on ritual to satisfy God is repulsive to Him. The Lord regards the
slaying of sacrifices by such a person as no better than murder. There is no
difference to Him between the sacrifice of an acceptable lamb or an unclean dog
when a person relies on ritual. A grain offering can be as abominable to Him as
offering a swine’s blood. Burning incense with such an attitude is just pagan
worship.
66:4: Such
worshippers chose to worship God as they pleased rather than as He pleased, so
He would deal with them as He pleased, not as they pleased. He would do this
because they proved unresponsive to
His words and insensitive to His
desires.
66:5: The Lord
addressed the faithful who did tremble at His word v 2. He would put to shame
their ritualistic brethren who hated them for their reality and excluded them
for emphasizing genuineness. One group worshipped God for His sake and the
other for their benefit. The ritualists challenged
the “spiritual” to find their joy in the Lord while not really believing that
obedience was the key to that joy. There is a distress and
tension even within the people of God. God
promised that as they had shamed their spiritually sensitive brethren so He
would shame them in the end.
66:6: God would
intervene with a word announcing and affecting judgment. The superficial
worshippers had called for God to act v 5, and He would. They had called on Him
to give them the comfort they thought He owed them. He would give them what
they deserved, but it would be judgment rather than comfort. These were enemies
of His, not His true worshippers.
EVERYTHING BEGINS AND ENDS IN
JERUSALEM GOD’S CITY 66:7-14
This context refers to Zion bringing forth a nation
in one day, which includes Gentiles. At the return from exile no Gentiles were
included. Therefore, this must be eschatological
66:7: As a pregnant
woman, Isaiah pictured Zion delivering a baby without pain. She would give
birth to a boy before she began experiencing labor pains. This is, of course,
the opposite of what usually happens. This may be a prophecy of Messiah’s
appearing before the Tribulation. Israel’s return to the land will be so
remarkably quick that it will be like a woman giving birth to a son before v 7
or as soon as v 8 she has any labor pains.
66:8: Such a reverse
order of things seems incredible. Nevertheless, Israel would come (back) into
existence quickly and painlessly. This would be a supernatural work of God. It
will happen at Messiah’s return. He will recreate Israel as a nation after
Antichrist and the combined Gentile nations of the world have sought to destroy
her. However, the whole rebirth of Israel from the Exile to the Millennium may
have been in the prophet’s vision.
66:9: God promised to
bring the nation of Israel to birth. Her emergence as a nation in the future
might appear impossible, but the Lord would accomplish it. Political Israel was
born on May 14, 1948, but ‘the new Israel’ will be ‘born in a day’ when they
believe on Jesus Christ.
66:10: God called
Jerusalem’s friends to rejoice with her at the prospect of her bearing a nation
in the future. God would do for Jerusalem what He had done for Sarah and
Abraham. He would give her a supernatural birth. Jerusalem’s friends had
formerly mourned her condition because God had called her enemies to trample
her down and because she could not be righteous in herself. As a new mother,
Jerusalem would be able to nourish her newborn. The city would supply the needs
of her inhabitants and would comfort them with contentment and fulfillment.
66:12: The Lord would
extend peace to Israel as a constantly flowing river. He would bring glory from
the nations to her, glory that she had sought in the wrong ways in the past,
and Israel would enjoy preferential treatment from Him.
66:13: God would
comfort Israel as a mother comforts her child by the way He would deal with
Jerusalem in blessing. Isaiah changes the figure. Not only as children sucking
the mother’s breast does God comfort His people, but also as a mother comforts
her grown son.
66:14: The result
would be that God’s people would see His supernatural work, would rejoice in
it, and would receive strength from observing it. His servants, the godly among
His people, would appreciate that God Himself had revived Israel. But He would
punish His enemies.
SO EITHER WORSHIP THE LORD
OR FACE ETERNAL DESTRUCTION 66:15-24
66:15: The Lord coming
with fire in chariots like whirlwinds are a picture of Him coming in judgment
against His enemies. His anger with fury and His rebuke with flame of fire.
66:16: This judgment
in view seems to be the one that will take place when Messiah returns to the earth
at the end of the Tribulation. There comes a point when God’s mercy is over and
His judgment is severe like the thrusts of swords and the fury of raging fire.
In other words, it is all consuming and all encompassing.
66:17: Those who
pursue ritualistic idolatry then and follow the false prophet of that day will
come to their final end. When people cease to heed the word of revelation, it
is not that they then believe nothing but that they will believe anything—gardens,
pigs, and rats included.
66:18: The Lord knows
the works and thoughts of rebels against His will, and He will assemble them
all to witness a display of His glory. The church’s preaching of the gospel is
hardly the fulfillment in view. It is rather the return of Christ to the earth
and judgment of the nations then.
66:19: God promised to
set a sign among His people the Israelites. This probably refers to the Cross,
which He would raise up, before He brought judgment on the world at the second advent. Then the Lord would send survivors of His
people among the nations to proclaim His glory. This may refer to the 144,000
Jewish missionaries that God will send throughout the earth during the Tribulation.
The nations mentioned include Tarshish (Spain), Put
(Libya), Lud (western Turkey), Meshech,
Rosh (Russia), Tubal (eastern Turkey), and Javan
(Greece). The point is that this message
will go to the farthest reaches of the earth.
66:20: The message
having gone out, the Gentiles would escort the Israelites back to the Promised
Land and the holy city of Jerusalem as a thank offering to the Lord. Evidently
many Israelites will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ during the Tribulation
and will return to their ancient homeland to worship Him. Jews will evangelize
Gentiles 19 and Gentiles will evangelize Jews 20.
66:21: Evidently the
Lord will make some of these converted Gentiles, leaders in His worship. He
would accept Gentile believers as freely as Israelite believers and would bless
them with equal privilege in His service. Reminds us all the nations will in
fact be blessed through Israel.
66:22-23: Just as surely
as God would create new heavens and a new earth so He would preserve the
Israelites. In the future, all people left alive after the Lord’s judgments,
Israelites and Gentiles, would worship Him continually in the New Jerusalem.
66:24: The worshippers
would be able to view the corpses of those whom the Lord will judge. This
probably includes those killed in the battle of Armageddon and those sentenced
to eternal damnation. The picture is of Jerusalem-dwellers going outside the
city to the Hinnom Valley where garbage and corpses
burned constantly, where worms (corruption) and fire (holy wrath) were always
working. As those who worship God rejoice before Him perpetually, so those who
rebel against Him will die perpetually. Ezekiel 39:1-13 God’s judgment will be
complete!
So What?
1. God exists and so does His plan
for the ages. It is operative in our age and every nation is participating in
that inevitable outcome.
2. Eventually God will bring down the
curtain as His own Son comes and takes charge of the world and all of its
governance. He is coming back.
3. In the meantime, God’s attention
is drawn to the humble that are repentant and orient their lives around the
truth of His Word. This is how you get his attention.
4. Our eternal destiny is determined
by our response to Him in this life. There is no salvation apart from Jesus
Christ. The only thing you can take with you is the outcome of your
discipleship.