Isaiah 66:15-24

3. BUILDING OF ZION

TEXT: Isaiah 66:15-24

15

For, behold, Jehovah will come with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire.

16

For by fire will Jehovah execute judgment, and by his sword, upon all flesh; and the slain of Jehovah shall be many.

17

They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go unto the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together, saith Jehovah.

18

For I know their works and their thoughts: the time cometh, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and shall see my glory.

19

And I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.

20

And they shall bring all your brethren out of all the nations for an oblation unto Jehovah, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith Jehovah, as the children of Israel bring their oblation in a clean vessel into the house, of Jehovah.

21

And of them also will I take for priests and for Levites, saith Jehovah.

22

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain.

23

And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah.

24

And they shall go forth, and look upon the dead bodies of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

QUERIES

a.

Why repeat the message of judgment?

b.

What is the sign of Isaiah 66:19?

c.

Who is going to come before Jehovah on new moon and sabbath?

PARAPHRASE

Yes, Jehovah must come with His judgment of wrath to prepare the way for the redemption of mankind. He comes in all the awful consuming fierceness of fire when He judges. His sword of judgment will fall upon the world. Those who have rejected the Lord will suffer His wrath and many will die. Yes, the manifest judgment of God is near upon all, both Israelite and Gentile who dedicate and purify themselves to idolatry, who follow those who indulge in perverseness like eating swine's flesh, mice and other abominable things contrary to My holy Law. I see what they do and I know their secret thoughts, says Jehovah. The time is coming when I will summon all nations and races to behold the ultimate demonstrations of My glory. At this time, men will see My awesome sign of redemption and judgment in its historical certainty, and some of them will escape the judgment I have pronounced upon the world. Those who escape I will send as messengers with the good news of My salvation to the far reaches of civilization to people who have never heard of Me and have never seen My sovereign omnipotence. These messengers will go to Spain, North Africa, Armenia, Greece and other lands beyond these. They shall proclaim My glory among men of all nations and races. All who hear and obey will become brethren and precious gifts to My honor. They will be brought to My New Zion from all over the world; they will come from different directions, by every means possible. Many will come because some of the children of Israel will have accepted My salvation and offered themselves to Me in obedience. They will become messengers, bringing Gentiles to Me with that same faith and obedience; these Israelites will finally have offered Me clean offerings; these Gentiles will also be considered cleansed and I will consecrate them as My servants, says the Lord. For as surely as the new order which I am creating will last forever, so those who accept My salvation shall be My children forever and their relationship to My name shall stand forever. People from all nations will come into covenant relationship to Me and worship Me according to My will forever. These will behold My judgments upon those who were so favored but who rebelliously rejected My will; this will be a constant reminder of the terrible punishment of the rebellious and of the greatness of redemption to the obedient.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 66:15-17 DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD: We repeat, for emphasis, this chapter (66) is an epilogue. First, judgment upon Israel for disobeying the Old covenant (Isaiah 66:1-6); second, promise of a new Israel and a new order (Isaiah 66:7-14); third, building the new order by destroying the old and opening up citizenship in the New order to the whole world (Isaiah 66:15-24). J. A. Alexander, in Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah, pub. Zondervan, says these verses are ... an integral part of the -great argument-' with which the whole book has been occupied, and which the Prophet never loses sight of to the end of the last sentence. The grand theme of these prophecies. is the relation of God's people to himself and to the world, and in the latter stages of its history, to that race with which it was once outwardly identical. The great catastrophe with which the vision closes is the change of dispensations, comprehending the final abolition of the ceremonial law, and its concomitants, the introduction of a spiritual worship and the consequent diffusion of the Church, its vast enlargement by the introduction of all Gentile converts to complete equality of privilege and honor with the believing Jews, and the excision of the unbelieving Jews from all connection with the church or chosen people, which they once imagined to have no existence independent of themselves.

The emphasis of this final prophecy is on the establishment of the New messianic age and the gathering of the Gentiles into covenant relationship. In order to establish its fulfillment the Old order must be abrogated. The abrogation of the Old and the establishment of the New are coincidentalthey are to occur at the same time, i.e., within a generation (cf. Matthew 24:34). The generation of the apostles (Peter, James, John, etc.) did not pass away until God had abrogated the Old order and instituted the New!

God's judgments are appropriately likened unto fire. Fire fiercely consumes (cf. Hebrews 12:29; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8, etc.). and is often representative of torment and punishment (cf. Luke 16:24; Revelation 14:10-11). Jehovah abrogated the Old order, in fact, at the cross of Christ (cf. Colossians 2:14-15; Hebrews 9:15-28, etc.). That was when God judged both the Mosaic system and all other human (Gentile) systems through which men tried to earn righteousness before Him. All human governments, religions, and ideologies are essentially human rebellions against the rule of God. They were all judged, exposed as inadequate, and destroyed in the power they might exercise over men at Calvary and the Empty Tomb. All human deviations from faith in God through His promised Son are idolatrous. They all fall under the generalized picture of abomination in Isaiah 66:17. They all came to an end together in God's great redemptive-judgmental work in Jerusalem, 30 A.D., when Old Jerusalem had run its course and used up the time allotted to it (cf. Daniel 9:24-27). When the Suffering Servant had made atonement for sin and was raised from the dead destroying the ultimate power of the devil, Israel was to turn to Jehovah and accept citizenship in New Zion (the church). Some did, but a majority did not. Jehovah, in His longsuffering allowed the Jewish nation to retain its city and temple for another 40 years (until 70 A.D.), and then, by His own providential design He allowed the city and the temple to be destroyed and burned and the nation dispersed over the face of the earth by the Roman empire. Thus the fire of God's judgment fell both literally and figuratively upon the Old order and consumed it.

Isaiah 66:18-24 DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW: Concurrent to the judgment of the Old order, Jehovah will establish the New order. The phrase time cometh connects the judgment of those who shall come to an end together and the gathering of all nations and tongues to see His glory. All nations would see God's glory in the two-fold accomplishment of the destruction of the Old and establishment of the New. Jehovah's historical signal that He was fulfilling His promises made through the prophets about all this was the Messiah! All who saw Jehovah's signal that human systems were overthrown believed in the Christ and were saved (escaped) from that perverse generation (cf. Acts 2:40). These escaped ones (the Jews who became Christians at Pentecost and soon thereafter) were sent by the Lord unto the nations (Gentiles) where they announced the great historical events of redemption which glorified God. Perhaps some of the early Gentile converts (e.g., Cornelius) were also among the sent ones. Tarshish, if our conjecture is right, is Spain (at the extreme west of the Great Sea); Pul is probably Put in North Africa (the extreme southern boundary); Lud is probably Lydia in Asia Minor (northern boundary); and Tubal and Javan are Armenia and Greece respectively (generally forming a northern boundary). These nations are mentioned to emphasize the extreme distances to which the escapees shall be sent with their declaration of the glory of Jehovah.

Those escapees who are sent are going to bring brethren out of all the nations. Apparently the apostle Paul had this scripture in mind when he referred to his ministry of bringing the Gentiles to Christ as an offering unto God (cf. Romans 15:16). The prophet's designation of goiym from all nations being brought forth as brethren of the covenant people is unique! Many of the prophets predicted that the Gentiles would one day be brought to Jehovah, but none (save in this one place) referred to them as brethren! The reference to various beasts of burden and vehicles of transportation pictorializes the ease, swiftness and splendor in which the Gentiles will be brought to the Lord. The holy mountain is a favorite phrase of Isaiah to designate the messianic age (cf. Isaiah 2:1-4; Isaiah 11:9; Isaiah 56:7; Isaiah 57:3; Isaiah 65:11; Isaiah 65:25, etc.).

From the Gentiles Jehovah will take priests and Levites. In the New age (the church) all citizens are priests (cf. 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:10, etc.). This may have a more specific reference, however, to the special ministry of those sent (even of early Gentile converts) to the extreme boundaries of civilization to bring brethren out of all the nations. In other words, it may refer to Gentile converts chosen especially by God as ministers and missionaries to declare the glory of God, e.g., Timothy, Luke, Cornelius and others.

The next verses (22-24) emphasize the finality and perpetuity of the establishment of the New order and the judgment of the Old order. We have already established our view that the term new heavens and new earth as Isaiah uses it means the New Order (the messianic age) (cf. Isaiah 65:17 ff). The prophets talk of a whole new age to come when the Servant of Jehovah appears:

a.

There shall be new things told by God (Isaiah 42:9; Isaiah 48:6-7).

b.

God's people will sing a new song (Isaiah 42:10).

c.

God will make a completely new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31 ff).

d.

God will put a new heart and spirit in men (Ezekiel 18:31; Ezekiel 36:26).

e.

They will have a new name (Isaiah 62:2).

There are many other references to the newness of the age to follow the old one where the word new is not specified but inferred. Just as this new creation will be God's final covenant and just as this new order will last forever, so those who enter into the covenant will be His people forever. That was prophesied by Hosea (Hosea 2:16-23; Hosea 3:5) and fulfilled according to the apostles (Romans 9:24-33; 1 Peter 2:9-10). The name God gives His New Covenant people will remain upon them forever (cf. Revelation 2:17; Revelation 3:12; Revelation 14:1; Revelation 22:4). Old Israel with its old covenant, old name, and old institutions shall pass away (cf. Jeremiah 3:15-18) and not even be remembered! But from the old will spring the remnant that survives God's casting off, and together with the remnant will be a great gathering of Gentiles to form the true Israel of God which is a new creation (cf. Galatians 6:15-16)!

Isaiah was a preacher-prophet to the people of the Old dispensation. He must communicate his message about the New dispensation in terminology and forms to which those of the old dispensation could relate. So, using the terminology of new moon and sabbath, Isaiah predicts that in the new order there will be faithful, regular, worship of God which will be pleasing to Him. This brief picture of worship in the new dispensation given by Isaiah is dramatically paralleled and expanded in Ezekiel, Chapter s 40-48, and in Zechariah 14:16-21. Isaiah 66:23 is Isaiah's picture of the situation with new Zion after its creation. Isaiah 66:24 is the prophet's description of the relationship of the New, true worshipers, to what they see concerning the Old dispensation which has been judged and destroyed or abrogated. The New citizens of Zion are safe within her walls, worshiping Jehovah gladly and truly. Occasionally New Zion's citizens look upon the dead bodies of those who have transgressed against Jehovah and the sight of His judgment upon the sinners reminds Zion of the greatness of its redemption and the awful terror of God's punishment from which she has been saved. The undying worm and the unquenchable fire is figurative use of Gehenna where the Jews disposed of dead carcasses of criminals.

Christians witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and were reminded of the fate of all who disobey God and reject His Son and warned that a similar fate awaits an unbelieving world when Jesus comes back to earth at the end of time (Matthew 24:1-51). New Zion is directed to look upon the dead Roman culture of the first and second centuries (Romans 1:18-32; Revelation, Chapter s Revelation 17:1 to Revelation 20:6) and rejoice for salvation while also being warned against partaking in Rome 'S sin.

Isaiah's pictorialization of the great judgment of God upon impenitent Israel and the founding of a new order upon the ashes of the old has parallels: (a) the great battle of Gog and Magog and the new land, city and temple of Ezekiel, Chapter s 38-48; (b) the great battle in the valley of Jehoshaphat and the escape of those who call upon the name of the Lord in Joel 2:28 to Joel 3:21; (c) the battle and victory the king will win, the purging of the land, and the practice of purified worship depicted in Zechariah 9:9 to Zechariah 14:21. So Isaiah closes his great prophecy predicting, not the end of time but the end of the Old dispensation and the creation by God of a New dispensation. Isaiah is predicting the first coming of the Messiah and the establishment of the Messiah's kingdom, the church, not the second coming of the Messiah.

Essentially Isaiah's message is that God's great plan to redeem the world involves the incarnation of the Word in the person of the Suffering Servant; the atonement for sin by the Servant; the offering of a new covenant relationship of grace through faith; the incorporation into that covenant relationship and the formation of a New Zion from all in the world who will believe and accept its terms; the judgment and punishment forever of all who will not accept it.

QUIZ

1.

How is chapter 66 an epilogue?

2.

Why use fire as a picture of God's judgments?

3.

In what way is the judgment of the old connected to the establishment of the new?

4.

Why list the names of the nations in Isaiah 66:19?

5.

What is unique about the term, bring all your brethren. ?

6.

Who are the priests, and Levites of Isaiah 66:21 and from whence do they come?

7.

Who goes forth to look upon the dead (Isaiah 66:24) and when?

8.

How would you sum up the message of the whole book of Isaiah?

And now, dear reader, having lived some portion of each day of our life for the last four years with the majesty and awesomeness of this work from the pen of Isaiah, we are impressed very deeply that the one great necessity for a world of unbelief is it must be brought face to face, mind to mind, heart to heart with the glory of God. Men must be taught, must acknowledge and put their trust in who God is and not in what man can do! The focus of the prophets on the character and nature of God is the true focus of all preaching. Now, in the end of the ages, the glory and personhood of God has been revealed incarnate in Jesus Christ and His accomplished redemption. And that is the ultimate focus of all preaching. Now therefore, be wise..

Psalms 2

2

Why do the nations rage,

And the peoples meditate a vain thing?

2

The kings of the earth set themselves,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against Jehovah, and against his anointed, saying,

3

Let us break their bonds asunder,

And cast away their cords from us.

4

He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh:

The Lord will have them in derision.

5

Then will he speak unto them in his wrath,

And vex them in his sore displeasure:

6

Yet I have set my king

Upon my holy hill of Zion.

7

I will tell of the decree:

Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my son;
This day have I begotten thee.

8

Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance,

And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;

Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

10

Now therefore be wise, O ye kings:

Be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

11

Serve Jehovah with fear,

And rejoice with trembling.

12

Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way.

For his wrath will soon be kindled.
Blessed are all they that take refuge in him.