Although I am going to return to the book of Isaiah over the next few weeks for some other purposes, we’re going to wrap up our look at the “Day of the Lord” in Isaiah this morning in chapters 65 and 66. This is the continuation of the message that I began last week, so I’ll begin by briefly reviewing the main points I made last week. Since chapter 66 also addresses those points, I’m also going to read a few brief passages from that chapter that will reinforce those concepts.
FICKLENESS OF MAN (65:1-7)
As God answers Isaiah’s prayer for mercy, the first thing he points out is that no one is deserving of His mercy because of their fickleness in turning away from Him even after God had initiated the relationship and had persistently pursued that relationship. The people had forsaken God by failing to listen to Him and by choosing to follow their own ways rather than God’s. As a result, what the people deserved was God’s judgment, not His mercy.
Many of those same points are repeated again by God in chapter 66, particularly in these verses:
These have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their abominations;
I also will choose harsh treatment for them
and bring their fears upon them,
because when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke, they did not listen;
but they did what was evil in my eyes
and chose that in which I did not delight.”
Isaiah 66:3b, 4 (ESV)
But even though the people did not deserve God’s mercy, there was a bridge that God had built that moved His people from the realm of their fickleness to the realm of God’s faithfulness. That bridge was, and remains to this day, God’s grace.
THE BRIDGE - GOD’S GRACE (65:8-16)
Even though no one is deserving of God’s mercy, God, in His absolute sovereignty, has determined to preserve a remnant of His people by the operation of His grace. Last week, we discovered two characteristics of those who would make up that remnant:
• Seekers – God’s remnant would first of all consist of those who were earnestly seeking after Him
• Servants – This was the focus of chapter 65 as seven times God described those in the remnant as “my servants.” The picture here is of those who will make Jesus their Lord, or master, and obey His commands and carry out His desires.
In chapter 66, God provides us with another glimpse at the character of the remnant:
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.
Isaiah 66:2b (ESV)
Here, we find two more important character traits of those who will make up the remnant:
• Humility
Earlier in Isaiah, we saw how God confronted the arrogance of the people of Judah. And here at the end of the book, that arrogance is still evident. The people are religious, but their religion is all based on their own ideas about how to worship God. They are making sacrifices, but certainly not in the manner that God had provided, and even more importantly, they were merely going through the motions without having their hearts right with God.
But God is much more concerned about our hearts than our outward actions. That is a lesson that David certainly learned well after he was confronted by Nathan about his sin. David wrote Psalm 51 as his response to God and in the midst of that Psalm we find these words:
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psalm 51:16, 17 (ESV)
As we saw last week, it is certainly important to make Jesus our master and Lord and obey His commands and carry out His wishes. But that really only has significance and meaning if those actions are carried out with a sense of deep humility where we recognize our sinfulness and our dependence on God and those actions are a response to the goodness and faithfulness of God and not an attempt on our part to earn or merit favor with God.
• Reverent awe for God’s Word
I’m sure for Isaiah, and for many of the other Old Testament prophets, their hearts must have been heavy as they faithfully preached God’s word day after day and yet saw such little evidence that the people had even heard God’s word, alone changed their life in any way in order to respond to that word.
The “Day of the Lord” judgment that Isaiah has described throughout his ministry is a scary thing, or at least it should have been for the people of Judah. They certainly should have trembled at that word and it should have been the motivation for them to adjust their lives to God’s word. But instead, in their arrogance, they just kept living their lives according to their own ways and expected God to adjust to them.
I know that when Dana and I and the other teachers in this body handle the Word of God each week, we do it with a deep sense of reverent awe for His Word. I am very cognizant of the fact that I am entirely incapable on my own of ever being able to preach from God’s Word in my own knowledge, wisdom and strength. That’s why I pray each week that every word I speak would not be my own, but God’s.
But as hearers of that word, all of us also have a responsibility to respond to that word with a sense of reverent awe. We ought to tremble at the thought of the consequences that inevitably come with a failure to listen to and obey God’s Word. We need to get on our knees and ask God to help us to understand and apply His Word and to empower us to do so.
The bridge of God’s grace, which is evident in His preservation of a remnant, allows us to cross over from the fickleness of man and experience:
GOD’S FAITHFULNESS (65:17-25)
God’s faithfulness is on full display in the last section of chapter 65 where Isaiah describes what God has in store for those who experience His grace:
17 “For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the young man shall die a hundred years old,
and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain
or bear children for calamity,
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
Isaiah provides an additional picture of this glorious time near the end of chapter 66 as well:
“For as the new heavens and the new earth
that I make
shall remain before me, says the Lord,
so shall your offspring and your name remain.
From new moon to new moon,
and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
declares the Lord.
Isaiah 66:22, 23 (ESV)
As most of you know, we have been attempting to examine the “Day of the Lord” prophecies in the Old Testament in the order in which they were written because the Scriptures bear evidence of God progressively unveiling His truth. That can be seen quite clearly here as we find the first reference in the Bible to a “new heavens and a new earth.”
As we would expect, that concept is one that will be more fully developed as the Bible unfolds. In particular, we find this same idea referred to by Peter in 2 Peter 3 as well as in Revelation 21. So we shouldn’t expect that Isaiah is going to give us the whole picture here. But there is no doubt that Isaiah is picturing here the faithfulness of God which is going to be demonstrated to His people by the provision of a glorious future.
Although Isaiah doesn’t seem to distinguish between them in this passage, there are two separate, but related, aspects to that glorious future that are described here:
• The millennial reign of Jesus
This is the 1,000 year period identified in Revelation 20:
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Revelation 20:4-6 (ESV)
Interestingly, John doesn’t provide us with much information at all about what will be occurring during that period of time. But fortunately, Isaiah fills in some of the details for us. In particular, verses 20-25 in chapter 65 seem to describe that period. Although we don’t have a lot of detail and some of this language bears evidence of being somewhat symbolic, we can make several observations about this period. As always, we’re going to limit our observations to those things that can be determined from the text and not speculate on what the text does not reveal.
o Transitional time
The millennial reign of Jesus here on the earth appears to be a transitional time that bridges us from the current age to the “final estate”, which we’ll look at in a moment. There are clearly activities that will be occurring on the earth during this period that distinguish it from what will occur during that “final estate”:
People will be born and die
This passage makes it clear that during this period that people will be born and will die. What is not clear is who these people will be and the exact relationship between these people and those who come to life and reign with Jesus during this period.
But there is certainly evidence of a transition from the present age since people will apparently live to be much older, very similar to the longer life spans of the period before the flood.
People will engage in “ordinary activities”
There are a number of references to common, ordinary activities such as working and building houses. But once again these activities will be different than they are in the current age. People will reap the benefit of their own labor rather than being exploited like they were both in Isaiah’s time and in our culture today.
There is still the possibility of sin
In verse 20, Isaiah refers to the “sinner”, so the people who are earth during this period, including those who are born during this time, will still have the ability to choose whether or not to submit their lives to Jesus.
Satan will be restrained
In verse 25, we find this interesting phrase:
…and dust shall be the serpent’s food…
This is almost certainly a reference to the words of God in Genesis 3:
The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
Genesis 3:14 (ESV)
This is fulfilled during the millennium when Satan is bound and does not have the ability to exert his influence on the earth as John describes in Revelation 20.
The fact that Satan is restrained in this manner and yet there is still the possibility of sin, just reinforces the point that I made last week when I pointed out that we can’t blame anyone else for our sin – certainly not God, and not even Satan.
There is no doubt that the conditions on earth during this period will be far better than those that exist right now. Since Jesus will reign with righteousness and justice, even though there is still the possibility of sin, the level of evil and unrighteousness will certainly pale in comparison to what we experience today. So this will be a period of calm and peace in which people will live in prosperity and experience joy. But as good as that time will be, it is merely a time of transition to…
• The “final estate”
John picks up on the concept of a new heaven and new earth in Revelation 21:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:1-4 (ESV)
Isaiah describes this same event in verses 17-19 of chapter 25 as well as verses 22 and 23 in chapter 66. Although Isaiah doesn’t really distinguish between the millennial reign of Jesus and the final estate as two separate events because God has not yet revealed that detail, it is obvious to us, over 2,500 years later, that there is a difference.
There are several aspects of this final estate, seen by both Isaiah and John, that distinguish it from the millennium:
o No more death
In chapter 65, verse 19, Isaiah reveals that there will be no more weeping or distress. And in Revelation we see why – there will be no more death. This certainly distinguishes the final estate from the millennium where, as we have seen, people will still be born and die.
o No more sin
The description of the final estate by both Isaiah and John make it clear that when God creates the new heavens and the new earth, there will be no more sin. And not only that, because of God’s grace, the sins of the past will no longer be remembered or come to mind. Once again this is in stark contrast to the millennial reign of Jesus on the earth where sin will still be possible.
o No more time
In the final estate, there will be no more need to measure time since that age will continue for eternity. As Isaiah revealed near the end of chapter 66, God’s people will remain with God and God will remain with them. John confirms that in Revelation 21 when he describes how the dwelling place of God will be with man.
So these two ages – the millennial reign of Jesus here on earth and the final estate ushered in by the new heavens and the new earth - are clearly different even though Isaiah couldn’t see that from what God had revealed to him. When we get to the Book of Revelation, we’ll be able to look at the relationship between those two ages in some more detail, but for right now what I want us to focus on is this:
HOW ARE WE TO LIVE IN LIGHT OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE “DAY OF THE LORD”?
A pastor visited an older man. The Pastor said, “At your age you should be thinking about the hereafter.” The older man replied, “Oh, I do all the time. No matter where I am - in the living room, upstairs, in the kitchen, or down in the basement - I ask myself ‘What am I here after?’”
Let’s face it; sometimes it is really hard on us to think about the hereafter when we’re just struggling to live out our lives here on earth from day to day. When we’re busy at our jobs, or trying to raise our kids, or figuring out how to pay the bills or taking care of our house and yard, it’s really hard to focus on the future sometimes.
But both Isaiah and John reveal the nature of the “Day of the Lord” for only one reason – to influence the way that their audience was to live their lives right then and there. That’s why we’ve been very careful to make sure that we don’t just approach these Old Testament prophecies and the Book of Revelation like they are some sensationalistic novel that is only for the purpose of entertaining us. Certainly Isaiah and John didn’t write for that reason. They were dealing with the reality of how to live our day-to-day lives in light of what we know about the “Day of the Lord.”
So it’s not surprising that Peter asked the very same question that I posed to us this morning – How are we to live in light of what we know about the “Day of the Lord? And fortunately for us, Peter answers that question very clearly:
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
2 Peter 3:10-14 (ESV)
As Peter refers to the same new heavens and new earth that Isaiah had seen and which would later be described by John, his concern is about how followers of Jesus are to live in light of that revelation. And Peter gives us three practical guidelines on how we are to live right now in light of what we know about the “Day of the Lord”:
• Worshipping
When Peter writes that we are to live “lives of holiness and godliness”, he is addressing two sides of the same coin. Godliness refers to our attitude – to that which rules our hearts. Holiness refers to our conduct – to that which rules my behavior. Together our attitude and our conduct is how we really worship God. In fact, the Greek word for “godliness” literally means to “reverence well.”
You see, true worship is not just meeting here together on Sunday mornings and singing a few songs and listening to a sermon. True worship is a lifestyle that is evidenced by a right attitude and proper conduct. That is certainly the picture that Paul gives us in this familiar verse.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:1 (ESV)
Or as Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase in The Message reads:
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
Since we’re going to spend eternity in a place without sin, it certainly makes sense that we ought to begin practicing that kind of lifestyle right now.
• Expectantly
Peter’s words are full of a sense of expectancy. And that sense of expectancy is certainly a key element in enabling us to worship with the right attitude and the right conduct.
Let me illustrate. Let’s suppose that you are about to marry the love of your life. As you look forward to the wedding day with great expectancy, it’s not likely that you’re going to be tempted to engage in immorality with someone else. The same thing is true with the “Day of the Lord”. If we look forward to that day with great expectancy, it is much less likely that the things of this world are going to have much attraction for us since they pale in comparison to what God has in store for us.
• Diligently
Peter ends this passage with a command to be diligent to be found without spot or blemish. The writer of Hebrews reinforces that idea:
And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hebrews 6:11, 12 (ESV)
The word translated “earnestness” in that passage is a form of the same Greek word translated “diligence” in 2 Peter. Together these verses point out the need to be diligent and earnest in our pursuit of holiness and godliness. Because we are human, we know that we are going to fail and sin from time to time. But God is looking for men and women who are committed to the diligent pursuit of a godly lifestyle.
Worshipping God by living a holy life isn’t easy. It takes hard work. It requires discipline and perseverance. But we are able to do that because of what we have to look forward to in the future.
But worshipping with holiness and godliness, living in expectation and diligently seeking to be found without spot or blemish are not just for us. When we live that kind of life, God also uses our lives to bless those around us and to help them in their journey toward faith in Jesus. It is true that in many cases, the only gospel that unbelievers around us will see is our lives. So what are you doing to live your life in a way that will help others to experience the great beauty and joy of the new heavens and earth right along with us some day?
