ISAIAH 65: 8-16
A FUTURE AND A HOPE
Habakkuk 3:17-18
In the preceding verses YAHWEH declared that He always stood ready to respond to Israel, but they had scorned His invitation (65:1-2). Not only had they failed to respond, but they had provoked Him to wrath by their shameful practices (vv. 3-5) [and consequently He had pronounced judgment (vv. 6-7).] Yet even still God holds out the promise of a future and a hope for those who would become His servants (vv. 8-10). But those who persist in their evil way must be destroyed (11-12). [David Garland; Isaiah, Bible Study Com., p.113]
Thus God contrasts the future of those who forsake Him with those that are faithful to Him. The effects of His faithful servants’ sinful condition will pass away and the blessings of YAHWEH will be theirs instead. The future for the faithful shines in brilliant splendor against the dark and dismal back drop of what awaits the apostates. For God has promised to give His faithful servants a future and a hope (CIM).
I. PROMISED DELIVERANCE, 8-10.
II. CONSEQUENCES DECLARED, 11-12.
III. CONTRASTED DESTINIES, 13-16.
In verse 8 God begins to assure the faithful remnant that those who love Him will be delivered. Thus says the Lord, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is blessing in it,’ So I will act on behalf of My servants in order not to destroy all of them.
The basic point is that God will not destroy the good with the bad. Though judgment was addressed to the whole nation (6-7), it will not be indiscriminate. Just because the bad grapes will be destroyed does not mean the good grapes would be also. The good grapes, the faithful remnant (Mt. 13:36-43), will be culled out and spared (Isa. 27:2-6).
The original significance of "blessing" is "giving power to increase." Thus these grapes have life-giving properties in them. Through these blessed ones God will be able to give new life to others.
To be a part of this remnant is not simply to return from Babylonian captivity. The remnant are those who are truly servants of God, those who believe His promises enough to obey His word. [Oswalt, NIC Isaiah 40-66, 646].
Verse 9 promises to bless the spiritual descendants of the faithful life-giving remnant. "I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and an heir of My mountains from Judah; Even My chosen ones shall inherit it, and My servants will dwell there.
God will bring forth new life from His faithful people. These will be given the right to possess God’s high places (My mountains; Isa. 14:25; Ezek. 36:1, 8; 38:8; Hab. 3:17-18).
What a blessing it is to possess God’s promises and walk upon His high places. It is of greater worth than the ownership of any earthly thing. The empowering of God’s chosen enables them to respond to Him as His servants.
Another encouraging promise is made in verse 10. "Sharon will be a pasture land for flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for My people who seek Me.
The fertile Mediterranean coastal plain of Sharon, south of Mount Carmel, is excellent land for agriculture and represents the extent of the westward inheritance first given by Moses. The eastern valley of Achor west of Jericho would represent the easterly extent of the Holy land. Though barren it would become a resting place for herds (Hosea 2:15). The whole country would be fruitful. God promises to revive, restore, and improve the dwelling place of those who have sought Him.
II. CONSEQUENCES DECLARED, 11-12.
These verses describe how the majority of Israel lived. Verse 11 depicts those who rebelled against God and His ways. "But you who forsake the Lord, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune, and who fill cups with mixed wine for Destiny,
The opposite of seeking the Lord is forsaking the LORD. They forgot God’s holy mountain where His house was (Isa. 11:9). They abandoned pure worship that covenant obedience demands, and even worse have gone seeking the blessings of other gods. Fortune and Destiny were names of gods Israel worshiped in her attempts to know and manipulate the future. They were the pagan gods of fortune (luck, gad) and fate (meni). Food and drink were set before those idols in an effort to please them. [Walvoord, John; Zuck, Roy; The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983-c1985, S. 1119]
In verse12 God announces what He will do to those who so abandon Him. I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will bow down to the slaughter. Because I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did not hear. And you did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight."
Those people who sought to control their destiny are destined for the sword. Those who bowed down before other gods, God will bow them down on a slaughter block.
Why such sever punishment? "Because I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did not hear. And you did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight." Such people, God said, are doomed because they refused to listen to Him and deliberately chose to go on sinning (66:4). It is the sin of stubborn rebellion against God and His ways.
III. CONTRASTED DESTINIES, 13-16.
Contrasts between the people who are the Lord’s servants and those who have departed from Him are dramatically presented in these verses. Verse 13 begins God’s pronounced blessings on the faithful and curses on the guilty. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, "Behold, My servants will eat, but you will be hungry. Behold, My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.
Therefore refers to the preceding conduct. Since the attitude and behavior of the people is different, a different future awaits them. Behold, His servants will eat, drink, and rejoice, while the apostate rejectors will be hungry, thirsty, and shamed.
Eating drinking and rejoicing characterize the blessings God’s servants will receive. This reference is not to physical eating and drinking so much as it is to the satisfaction they represent. Their physical and spiritual needs will be abundantly supplied so that they rejoice in God’s care.
However the disobedient will receive the opposite of what comes to God’s servants. They will hunger for the Bread of Life for their needs will not be satisfied. They will thirst for the Water of Life will be withheld and they will be ashamed for the have done the foolish thing of disobeying God’s calls and words. [Young, Isaiah, Vol. III, 511]
Who is intended by My servants here? The faithful remnant of Israel and also the faithful new covenant believers (Luke 14:13, 24; Mt. 8:11). Since this is the case should we not make ever effort to reach unbelievers with the Bread of Heaven and the Living Water that belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings here and now?
The contrast continues in verse 14. "Behold, My servants will shout joyfully with a glad heart, but you will cry out with a heavy heart, and you will wail with a broken spirit.
God’s servants will sing for joy whereas the rejectors will cry and wail with a broken spirit. Desperate despair will overtake those who have rejected the promises of hope and healing. Those who refuse to seek God with a broken and contrite heart (Isa. ) will one day have their spirits broken by God.
The contrasted destiny between the rebels and the servants continues in verse15. "You will leave your name for a curse to My chosen ones, and the Lord God will slay you. But My servants will be called by another name.
The legacy of the unrepentant will be cursed, and the Sovereign Lord will give to them what they have coming, death. God’s servants though will receive another name, that is, will be given a new character (62:2). It seems that a plurality of persons will bear the same name as is the case with the name Christian. What ever the name is that they will be call by, it is received because they are distinguished as the chosen servants of God.
Verse 16 gives us the promised hope of a new day. "Because he who is blessed in the earth will be blessed by the God of Truth; And he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of Truth; Because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from My sight!
The reputation and character of the new people of God will be such that people will be drawn to the Lord God who so transforms those who follow Him. The integrity of the Lord God who so fulfill such life changing promises will make Him the one men make their promise by meaning they will take oaths honestly by the God of Truth (Ps. 31:5). God is true to His promises. The Hebrew word for truth here is amen, which means firm reliable, true. His word is absolutely, through and through, every fibre of it, reliable and true. You can stake you life and eternal destiny on it. [Maclaren, Vol. 5 Isaiah, 239] ( (2 Cor. 1:20; Rev. 3:14).
People swear by something stable, for it is ridiculous to swear by something unstable. It is like writing a check on an account that has insufficient funds to cover it. The only thing sure and stable enough to swear by is God.
Only on God can you lean all the weight of your life and be sure that the support will not give way or His secure grip slip. All other bridges across the great abysses of life and death which we have to traverse fall in like those snow bridges upon some high mountain which may break when the climber is on the middle of them and send him down into darkness from where he will never struggle out. There is only one path clear across the deep gulf which we poor pilgrims can tread with absolute safety that will never yield beneath our feet.
My friend there is only one support that is safe and only one foundation upon which a man can put his whole weight and be sure that the rope will not break or scorch his hand by slipping. He is the God of Truth, the God of the Amen.
For those who have so entrusted their life to God He gives them a great and encouraging promise. God will forget their previous difficulties and sins because of His grace. God is more that willing to hide our former troubles or distresses from His sight. There is blood at the cross for all who will come to Jesus.
CONCLUSION
Though the full consequences for sin may be a long time coming, they must be faced. The Good News is that there are also consequences or rewards for faithfulness. Does the world see you as one who is faithful to God? As the world sees the character in the lives of God’s servants they are drawn to Him for deliverance from their own sins and distresses (12:4-6; 66:18-21). Romans 1:16.
