Isaiah 66: 1 – 24
God Did Say!
1 Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? 2 For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the LORD. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word. 3 “He who kills a bull is as if he slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb, as if he breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering, as if he offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations, 4 So will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; Because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; But they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.” 5 Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word: “Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for My name’s sake, said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they shall be ashamed.” 6 The sound of noise from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of the LORD, who fully repays His enemies! 7 “Before she was in labor, she gave birth; Before her pain came, she delivered a male child. 8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. 9 Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the LORD. “Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God. 10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her; 11 That you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom, that you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.” 12 For thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall feed; On her sides shall you be carried, and be dandled on her knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” 14 When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like grass; The hand of the LORD shall be known to His servants, and His indignation to His enemies. 15 For behold, the LORD will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire and by His sword The LORD will judge all flesh; And the slain of the LORD shall be many. 17 “Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, to go to the gardens after an idol in the midst, eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse, shall be consumed together,” says the LORD. 18 “For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory. 19 I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. 20 Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the LORD out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. 21 And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites,” says the LORD. 22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the LORD, “So shall your descendants and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the LORD. 24 “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
As we begin I want to point out how Great and Big Is our God. He Is A Blessed Holy Trinity. He Is One God of Three Equal and Same Unified Holy Ones Father [Yahweh], Son of God, Lamb of God, Master, King, Lord, and Savior [Yeshua] Jesus Christ, and Precious Holy Spirit, Adoni Holy Ghost. He Is Omnipotent [All Powerful], Omnipresent [Everywhere], and Omniscient [All Knowing]. He Is So Big that the earth with we think is huge is just His footstool.
I want you to copy what I just said about our Holy El Shaddai – Almighty God and think about it each day from now on. It will not be that time consuming on you. It will however keep your heart and mind focused.
The book of Isaiah ends where it began in facing men up to our Adoni Yahweh, and denouncing their formality in religious ritual. We note that like the first five chapters all the emphasis is now on our Holy God and Father Yahweh. The coming King, the coming Servant, the coming Redeemer, The One through Whom Yahweh will do His work, has been described in different ways in the main part of the book, but now the main focus is back again on Yahweh alone as at the beginning.
The chapter summarizes many themes of the book as it leads up to the final triumph of Yahweh. Warnings against formality and inclusivity in worship, the coming of the divine King, deliverance for His own, the establishment of the New Jerusalem, the judgment of the unrighteous, the condemnation of Canaanite religion, the gathering of the Gentiles, the return of the exiles, the new heavens and the new earth and the universal worship of Yahweh Who reigns over all, both the living and the dead.
1 Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? 2 For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the LORD. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.
As Isaiah approaches the climax of the book he makes clear the basis on which all that he has said must be judged and interpreted. All must be interpreted in the light of one great fact, that Yahweh is not limited to an earthly Mount Zion, nor to an earthly dwelling place. Heaven is His throne, earth is His footstool, He Is over all, He spans all, He Is the Creator of all. He rules the heavens; the earth is subject to Him. Thus no house can be built that can contain Him, there is no house that can be sufficient for Him to find rest in. Everything has been made by His hand, and that is how they came to be. Thus He is too great to be limited to a tiny house in one part of His creation, even the temple on Mount Zion.
The prophet Isaiah wants all to recognize that the concept of Zion as Yahweh’s Dwelling place is not to be seen as putting any limits on Him. His dwelling in Zion is as the One Who Is above all things.
In His greatness God does have some on whom He will fix His eyes in love, those who are of a poor and contrite spirit, those who recognize their nothingness and the true state of their own spirits as lamed and limping, and who tremble at His word, because they recognize Him for what He Is, the High and Lofty One Who inhabits the everlasting (57.15). And because they worship Him, they want to serve Him, weak though they are. Isaiah understood this for he too had seen himself like this when he had seen the revelation of God in the earthly temple (chapter 6), and had humbly and tremblingly responded in offering himself for service
In all the vastness of the universe these are the ones to whom God pays attention, the humble, the poor, the spiritually limping, and the spiritually lame. He looks to those who hear His word and His instruction and fear Him and respond to His word. The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding (Job 28.28 Psalm 111.10).
3 “He who kills a bull is as if he slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb, as if he breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering, as if he offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations,
There are those who are very religious, but whose religion is formal with no heart in it. They are not humble and contrite, but proud of their religious activity, while thinking that once they have indulged in it they can then indulge in whatever they want. It is but a religious exercise. They honor Him with their lips, draw near to Him with their mouths, but their hearts are far from Him.
Thus when they slay an ox God sees it simply as murder, when they sacrifice a lamb it means nothing more to Him than the breaking of a dog’s neck. This was the lowest possible event, for even the price of a dog could not be brought to Yahweh (Deuteronomy 23.18), stressing the total unacceptability of such an offering as this, which He did not even regard as an offering but as an insult. A dog, like an ass (Exodus 13.13), would be killed by breaking its neck because it could not be offered as a sacrifice.
This is followed by likening their actions to two further abominations, swine’s blood and idolatry. When they offer an oblation it is as if they were offering swine’s blood, an abomination to God. When they burn frankincense it is as if they offered it to other gods, it is an abomination to Him. So they are guilty of murder, of bringing a dog into the temple and breaking its neck before Yahweh, of offering swine’s blood and of blessing an idol.
This indicates that their worship is not only formal but is abominable, because it is carried on without genuine worship amid the flashes and props used for the worship of the hosts of heaven and other false gods. Perhaps today we should consider the stuff that we introduce into worship services, and ask ourselves whether it is really assisting worship, or whether it is actually taking our minds way from God.
That is why God wants nothing of their ritual because it is all formal and ritual, and not from the heart. It is carried out as a matter of course, and to try to ‘influence’ God’s favor, and not because it comes from deeply penitent hearts which seek fellowship with Him.
This is demonstrated by the fact that while they do it they go in their own ways and their very soul delights in this mockery which pretends to be worship. This could be seen as quite acceptable to false gods who have no interest in morality, indeed in anything, but not to the living God. Yet even though it is an abomination to God they themselves are very satisfied with it, and with themselves, demonstrating what they really are and that they really do deserve judgment.
4 So will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; Because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; But they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.”
Because they have cut Him off in their hearts God will select their punishment and bring on them what they have feared. Their ritual was designed to somehow, by manipulation, make Yahweh act to deal with their fears, but He will instead bring what they feared on them. He will respond in accordance with the lack of genuineness in their worship.
The reason is because they have not listened to His call or His words through Isaiah and through other prophets. They have not listened and they have not responded. Their hearts are too hardened. Rather they have continued in sinful ways, and have chosen to do things which Yahweh did not enjoy and which gave Him no delight
5 Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word: “Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for My name’s sake, said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they shall be ashamed.”
Our Father Yahweh now speaks to the remnant that trembles at His word, whose hearts are true towards Him. He tells them that He knows that their fellow-countrymen hate them and cast them out, that they are not welcome in their company or in their homes, or to take part in conversation and discussion. They mock them and their message. Sarcastically they say ‘let Yahweh be glorified that we may see your joy’. Let this ridiculous thing you are talking about happen.
These faithful servants of God have been witnessing to Isaiah’s message of hope, and to the coming glory. So the cynical and jocular reply comes, ‘well, let us see this remarkable event. Then we can watch your joy’. But they do not believe it for a moment. They are just making fun. However, in the end they will be put to shame. For Yahweh immediately assures His own that the day of His activity is imminent, and it will surely come.
This conflict existed all the time that Isaiah was prophesying, indeed always exists in a godless world, even when only simmering, between the world and God’s people. Has it not? We see this type of arrogance in others with what Peter said in his second letter in chapter 3, ‘1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,fn not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
6 The sound of noise from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of the LORD, who fully repays His enemies! 7 “Before she was in labor, she gave birth; Before her pain came, she delivered a male child. 8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. 9 Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the LORD. “Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.
There are two births mentioned here.
1. Miraculously painless
2. In great travail.
The miraculously painless birth (before she travailed she brought forth) is an indication that the birth is of God and not in the usual run. Thus we must expect the baby too to be unusual. ‘She was delivered of a man-child.’ In the context of Isaiah this must surely look back to the promised birth of such a man-child in a miraculous way in 7.14; 9.6-7. At an unexpected time the coming King will be born.
This should arouse a question, ‘does it not say that this passage refers to the birth of the nation back in verse 8?’ Yes it does, but that that is because the coming of the King was to be the precursor to the birth of the nation. Once He came into the world His government and peace would increase and there would be no end. The everlasting kingdom would come in (9.7), justice would be established (11.4), and He would rule (32.1-4). Then the nation would follow in His train, but its birth would be through suffering.
With the king the birth of the nation will come. However, we should note the distinction that is made. The King will be born before the woman travails, the nation will be born when she has begun to travail. First the man-child will be born, and then the travail, and then the children - For the redemption must be born before the new nation can result. Without the birth of the Servant (49.1), the new ‘Israel’ (49.3), there can be no Israel of God (Galatians 6.16).
What is to happen is remarkable, so remarkable, that it is unique. It results in the birth of the nation ‘in one day, at once’. The birth of a man-child in one day would not be remarkable (although His birth could be remarkable), but the birth of a nation resulting from it is truly remarkable. We may well see this birth of the new nation as resulting at Pentecost (Acts 2). This was equally startling and equally sudden, and comparable with the birth of the old nation at Sinai. At Pentecost the essential foundation for the new nation was laid, and from there it has spread around the world, and it will find its completion in eternity.
Our Holy Ruler God now challenges the scoffers. “Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?” says Yahweh, “Shall I who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?” says your God.’ Do they think God will not finish what He has started? Let them beware. What God has begun He will do, and nothing will prevent it.
10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her; 11 That you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom, that you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory
We now see that those who love Jerusalem and who have mourned over her, can now be glad and rejoice over her because of her coming transformation. They can rejoice because she will be reborn, and reborn as something even more wonderful, as a mother who fully satisfies her children. What the old Jerusalem represented in thought, the New Jerusalem will represent in fact. Yes, they will now be able to come to her and nurse at her bosom and be satisfied. For this New Jerusalem is the place where God Is highly exalted. It is connected with heaven in a new way (2.2). And from this Jerusalem will issue forth God’s Instruction (2.3) and the nations will drink of it.
As a result of the birth of the new nation, the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city, from which all His people receive their sustenance will become a blessing and a rejoicing, and a satisfier of the needs of all. The picture is of the contented baby seeking out and finding comfort at its mother’s breasts, drawing from her abundant sustenance. Here the mother’s own overflowing supply is called ‘her glory’.
12 For thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall feed; On her sides shall you be carried, and be dandled on her knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
Our Holy Father Yahweh promises that like a great flowing river He will cause peace to flow to the New Jerusalem He has created, and He will cause the best of what is in the nations, ‘their glory’, to flow to her, like an overflowing stream.
The river would remind everyone of the great river that flowed through Eden, indicating the restoration of Paradise, and is a constant theme in Isaiah. It finds a different perspective in Ezekiel 47 where it flows out giving life wherever it goes. Our Precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ offers a similar thought where the springs and rivers of water flow from Himself (John 3.5) and are linked with Pentecost.
” 14 When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like grass; The hand of the LORD shall be known to His servants, and His indignation to His enemies. 15 For behold, the LORD will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire and by His sword The LORD will judge all flesh; And the slain of the LORD shall be many.
A similar judgment to that placed on Edom (63.1-6) is now threatened against our Mighty Father Yahweh’s enemies. His own people who look to the New Jerusalem will see all that is happening, and their hearts will rejoice, and they will flourish like grass that is springing up. And as His servants they will experience Yahweh’s hand, His personal action on their behalf. They will be part of His Jerusalem. But His enemies will experience His wrath. ‘Heart’ and ‘bones’ here represent the whole man.
Our Mighty God will judge all flesh by fire and sword. Those slain will be many. This description includes the final judgment, but may also include judgments through the ages which are foretastes of it. Yahweh’s hand will continually deliver His servants and He Himself will slay the unrighteous.
The picture of a final period of fire, whirlwind, and warfare is a popular one with the prophets in one way or another. It signals the end of time. It sums up what unredeemed man is, and what his end is. He brings it on himself. And in the end the earth is to be destroyed by fire which will include the destruction of ungodly men (2 Peter 3.7).
17 “Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, to go to the gardens after an idol in the midst, eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse, shall be consumed together,” says the LORD. 18 “For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory. 19 I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles.
This judgment will come on all who follow false religion. They set themselves apart and purify themselves in readiness for their worship, and then they go to the sacred gardens.
There they eat swine’s flesh, and the abomination (insects and creeping things? Such constantly came in contact with what was unclean. Can you picture this worship involving even rodents?
They will all come to an end together at the last judgment. While they meet in secret, thinking that Yahweh does not see them, our Holy Lord Yahweh knows their works and their thoughts.
Yet even through all of this God’s mercy is to be made available to all nations. Those who have escaped His wrath among His people will be sent among the nations taking the word of God, and declaring His glory among the nations.
We see throughout the Bible that our Holy God regularly gave specific signs to His people - The sign of the rainbow (Genesis 9.13); the sign of circumcision (Genesis 17.11); and so on. So this sign is clearly also significant. It is a token that His purposes will certainly come about, and we are probably to see that it is such a sign as will win the nations. The great sign mentioned in Isaiah is found in 7.14. ‘The Lord Himself will give you a sign, behold a virgin will conceive and bear a son, and will call His name Immanuel.’ He will be a sure sign and could certainly be described as ‘My glory’. Or the sign may be the very restoration that is taking place at the word of Yahweh, the everlasting sign, as a new world is born (55.13).
The names mentioned are far distant places, and such will be the witness of these whom He has gathered that it will reach these far off places, and they will hear of His glory. These possibly represent Spain, Sardinia or East Africa (Tarshish), North Africa (Pul and Lud), the far north (Tubal) and the coastlands across the sea (Javan), thus north, south and west. East is probably omitted because Babylon was there, and Babylon was everlastingly doomed, or possibly ‘East’ was not seen as representing distant places. This Lud is differentiated as ‘drawing the bow and is therefore probably not Lydia (see Genesis 10.13; Jeremiah 46.9 which link it with North Africa).
20 Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the LORD out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.
As a result of conversion among the Gentiles, refugee and exile Jews will return to Yahweh and will be offered by them to Yahweh as an offering. With the excitement of His work among the Gentiles, Israel will not be forgotten. The work of the Christian church among the Jews still goes on. We can compare here Paul’s description of the Gentiles as an oblation which he as an officiating priest offered up to God. The idea of the offering would seem to be that the grateful Gentiles consider that their work among the Jews, to restore to Him the elect of His old people, is something especially pleasing to Him. It is pictured in terms of them being brought to Jerusalem by every form of transport. Every effort will be made to bring about their redemption.
21 And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites,” says the LORD.
Israel will no longer be the exclusive kingdom of priests. All nations will share the privilege, startling evidence of their full acceptance on equal terms.
22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the LORD, “So shall your descendants and your name remain.
Once again we are reminded that God has made all things new. And they are permanent and everlasting as He is everlasting. But equally everlasting are the seed of these whom Yahweh has gathered. The Abraham promise now belongs to them as well. And their name will remain. This is the new name by which He has called His servants. There will be no danger of these proving false to Yahweh or turning back, for Yahweh guarantees their perseverance.
23 And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the LORD
Now the whole world worships Yahweh. This is the final triumph. Month by month, and Sabbath by Sabbath, they observe His day, the sign that they are wholly His, and come to enjoy His feasts. It is a time of feasting and not of fasting, for those who rejected Him has been done away.
24 “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Here we see a solemn declaration that God has triumphed. His true people will enter Jerusalem to worship, and as they go out again they will pass the valley of judgment where the fires of judgment still burn. Many visitors to Jerusalem would remember the glory of the Temple and the vivid contrast of the Valley of Hinnom as they left Jerusalem after their worship.
The point being made here is that all who were against Yahweh are gone. What survives forever are the means of judgment, the maggot and the fire which will never die. Nothing cast there will survive. The picture is in terms of a rubbish dump where the fires continually burn to consume the waste, and the maggots continually do their work, and where the bodies of outcasts are tossed to demonstrate for them supreme everlasting contempt (compare Daniel 12.2). Certainly later the valley of Hinnom (Ge-hinnom) outside the walls of Jerusalem became such a rubbish dump, and its eerie fires at night seen over the walls of Jerusalem would present an awe inspiring sight. This would later result in the idea of Gehenna, the place of eternal punishment.
The thought is that His own will worship Yahweh and be aware of His judgment on the wicked, and that his readers must be aware of it too. It is a vivid warning to his readers that they must choose whether they will be one or the other, the final evangelistic appeal. And it is on this warning that he signs off. It is his last appeal to the hearts of men. In the Garden the tempter questioned, ‘Did God say?’ Here is the reply. ‘God did say’.
