ISAIAH 66: 1-6
GOD’S HUMBLE SERVANTS HONORED
As the climax to the book, this chapter describes the Lord fulfilling some of the promises He has made. The Lord had promise to distinguish between His true people and those who honor Him with their lips but whose hearts are far from Him (especially in chs. 60-62).
In the new era a new place of worship will be built for the Lord. The Lord though is not so concerned with the beauty of the earthy house man would build for Him. He is concerned though about the people who worship Him. Without the proper spirit all else in life and worship, no matter how religious or how it follows the letter of the law, is an abomination to Him.
God has had enough of people who do not listen to His word and despise those who do. God will one day judge those who are depending on externals to establish their relationship with Him, who delight in their way instead of the Lord’s way.
I. THE LORD’S HOUSE, 1-2.
II. THE RELIGIOUS WAYS OF MAN, 3-4.
III. ASSURANCES TO THE HUMBLE, 5-6.
God’s sovereignty over heavens and the earth is found again in verse 1. Thus says the Lord, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?
The sovereign LORD is figuratively pictured as sitting on a throne with the earth as His footstool (Acts 7:49). The earth is His footstool, on which He now rests ready to over-ruling all its affairs according to His will. If God has so lustrous a throne and so prominent a footstool, where then could an appropriate house be build for Him? What is sufficient to be a residence of His glory, or a place for Him to rest? What satisfaction can the Eternal Spirit take in a house made with men’s hands? Because of His majesty no one can build a house for Him to dwell in-- as Solomon recognized (in 1 Kings 8:27). [In reality the very idea is preposterous and used only to imply that God wants to dwell in another house that He, not man, builds.]
Verses 2 and 3 summarize Isaiah’s message. In them God contrasts two ways of living. In verse 2 is seen the way of humble persons who have a profound reverence for God’s word which is then distinguished with those in verse 3 who choose their own way. “For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.
The Lord declares that He is not moved by their structures or their sacrifices. He is the Creator. What can man offer to Him that He does not already own? Yet what He values above His Creation and the works of His creation are people who are humble and contrite (Isa. 57:15; crushed in 53:5) and who follow His word. He wants us to humble our self before Him and obey His word.
In one way or another, this has been Isaiah’s message throughout this book. God wants His people to follow the truth He has revealed to them. For Israel that was primarily the Mosaic Covenant. Pointing people back to the Word of God, Isaiah was indicating that they needed to humbly obey it if they were to enjoy God’s blessings.
Humility is a high and sometimes difficult hill to climb. Peter writes in his first epistle, “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him, for He cares about you. Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour”(1 Peter 5:5-8). Peter expresses the true nature of the virtue of humility. It is a fighting virtue found in those who are engaged in a deadly battle with the devil, and who have found that they cannot fight the battle in their own strength. Their humility rests in their total dependence on God to supply them with the strength to do what they could not possibly do on their own. They do not sink into a lukewarm false humility, but they rise to meet the difficult challenge of the Christian life.
As we work, struggle, fight, and suffer to serve our Lord Jesus to the utmost, we receive the virtue of humility. As we learn by bitter experience what Peter discovered when he denied Jesus, we grow into humility. He learned, as we must also learn, that he did not have it within himself to follow Christ on his own. True humility requires absolute and total trust in Jesus Christ and His power, and lack of trust in our own strength and abilities.
A man had just completed his first major mountain climb. As he reached the summit of the high and dangerous mountain he leaped to his feet with a loud shout of victory. But, his guide pulled him down and warned him, “Don’t do that! The wind will blow you off. We stand on this mountain only on our knees!”
We stand on the peak of the Christian life only on our knees. We do not really know humility until we learn this basic truth. To be humble in this Christian sense requires courage. The lazy or cowardly are incapable of humility. If you have ever had to cast all your cares upon God in the midst of a terrible struggle, you understand humility and the courage required to be humble. We have no power in ourselves to help ourselves, our sufficiency is of God. To know this in the depths of one’s heart is humility, and it is in humility that we are victorious in Christ. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares about you.”
Instead of thinking we can do something for God we are to live with an habitual awe of God’s majesty and purity and in reverent fear of His justice and wrath. Such a heart is a living temple for God; He dwells there; for like the heavens above, He is enthroned there also. God’s sanctuary is the human heart (57:15), and unless He reigns there all other sanctuaries and activities are void and empty.
II. THE RELIGIOUS WAYS OF MAN, 3-4.
Without a humble spirit, religion and religious acts are detestable to God. In verse 3 such hypocrisy is rebuked. “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations,
The language seems chosen to offend the religion of that day and even our day. The strange comparisons in verse 3 indicate that people’s religious sacrifices and offerings were external ritual. Their proud sacrifices were only external compliance. In their hearts they still served themselves.
Since there was no change of heart their offerings were as abominable to God as murder, and as perverted as offering unclean animals (Lev. 11:7). In reality they were going their own ways (Isa. 53:6; 65:12) rather than the Lord’s way.
God declared through Hosea (6:6), “For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Any thing we give to God that is not accompanied by a heart of mercy and obedience is unacceptable.
Our society urges us to be assertive and follow our urges and fulfill our desires. Don’t let your freedom and right to choose lead you away from God’s pathway to eternal life. God looks for a heartfelt obedience (2 Chron. 16: 9; 1 Sam. 16:7).
Verse 4 reveals why God despises their worship. So I will choose their punishments and will bring on them what they dread. Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen. And they did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight.”
They refused to respond to God’s call to come and listen to Him. Therefore harsh judgment would come. (The last four lines of 66:4 are almost identical with 65:12.) People in Israel professed to know the Lord but actually did evil and did not chose God’s way. Since they have chosen their way, God will choose their punishments. They will become victims of the nameless fears that haunt their subconscious mind.
Verse 5 gives encouraging assurances to those who have been rejected by man because they follow the word of God. Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word: “Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake, Have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they will be put to shame.
God now comforts and encourages His own, identified as those who tremble at His word. They will not be involved in the judgments that are coming upon the unrepentant religious. Appropriately those earnestly and reverently obedient to God’s Word will find great joy and sustaining in that word.
The externally religious said, “Let the Lord be glorified.” They pretended zeal for the honor of God and the church, but did it with sham devotion. They acted like they wanted God people blessed, but they really dislike, even hated them. Those who discriminated against and abused those living for God’s will be shamed.
God help us from thinking we are doing Him a favor by rebuking a brother or finding fault with a church that is under the teaching of the word. The Holy Spirit will convict our brothers when they are mistaken. It is presumptuous to think we are doing His job. It’s God’s part to convict, reprimand, and discipline. Our part is to love, forgive, and embrace. [Courson, Application Com. OT Vol 2, 469]
Verse 6 is a powerful conclusion to the thoughts of this section. “A voice of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of the Lord who is rendering recompense to His enemies.
The means of the disgrace to the proud and the joy of the faithful is announced. God intervenes in the affair of man. The voice of the Lord will bring triumphant and joy to His humble people and recompense to His enemies. It is the same voice that in Genesis spoke the worlds into existence. It will speak a new world order into existence. It creates an uproar resulting in each person reaping what they have sown.
CONCLUSION
The thought that God will lift up the humble and judge the wicked is a fitting climax to the book. Let this hope encourage you each day. The hope of God’s people is not in the externals of religion but in repentance and faith in the power of God to enable us to live truly righteous lives. That faith and power come from listening to and obeying God’s Word (Rom. 10:17).
