Isaiah 66:7-14

2. BIRTH OF NEW ZION

TEXT: Isaiah 66:7-14

7

Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a manchild.

8

Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen Such things? Shall a land be born in one day? shall a nation be brought forth at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.

9

Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith Jehovah: shall I that cause to bring forth shut the womb? saith thy God.

10

Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her;

11

that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.

12

For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees.

13

As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

14

And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hand of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants; and he will have indignation against his enemies.

QUERIES

a.

Who is she and who is the manchild of verse seven?

b.

How will Jehovah extend the glory of the nations to Jerusalem?

c.

How will the Lord combine comfort to Jerusalem and indignation against his enemies?

PARAPHRASE

But a marvelous thing shall happen with Jerusalem. She will fall and this nation will be cast off by God and dispersed all over the world. She will be like a woman pregnant with child but she will miraculously give birth before the travail of labor pains come upon her. Before her time of judgment she shall deliver the predicted Son! At one stroke the nation that is destined for destruction shall produce a new nation. Such a miracle has never occurred beforeno one has ever seen such an instantaneous birth of a nation! The reason such a miracle will occur is that Jehovah started this work. Will the Lord, having begun this new nation in its germinal form, not be able to bring it to completion? Rest assured that when I decide to bring something into existence, I will certainly do so, says God. Therefore, be jubilant with this news concerning new Jerusalem all you who love the place where God dwells and mourn over old Jerusalem's sin. Rejoice that you will be cuddled to her breast and drink deeply of her sustenance and find security, satisfaction and pleasure. This is what Jehovah says, I will fill her up and running over with goodness and glory from the best people of all the nations of the world and she will be nourished and cared for like a mother cares for her baby. Those who will be citizens of this miraculously-born new Jerusalem shall acknowledge this when it happens and they shall praise Jehovah for having brought them forth and causing them to grow and for manifesting Himself to them. The birth of God's new nation will become His pronouncement of judgment upon all human attempts to usurp His sovereignty over man and the world. When God forms His new kingdom on the earth, it will, in fact, become a judgment upon all other kingdoms.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 66:7-9 MIRACULOUS: That the pain and travail of verse six predicts the Roman destruction of Jerusalem is evident from what follows in these verses (Isaiah 66:7-14). Isaiah's prediction here of the birth of a new nation on the ruins of the old closely parallels the predictions of Daniel (see our comments on Daniel 9:24-27) who also looks forward to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem.

The point of verses seven through nine is to emphasize the miraculous nature of what God is going to do before He casts off old Zion finally and completely (at the Roman destruction). Before the Old covenant nation is destroyed, the manchild and the New covenant nation will be born. The manchild can be none other than the son and child of Isaiah 9:6 and Immanuel of Isaiah 7:14. He is the Messiah (the anointed prince of Daniel 9:25). The manchild of Isaiah 66:7 is the same, we believe, as the manchild born of the woman in Revelation 12:1-6. In the Revelation John sees the O.T. woman (faithful members of the Old covenant people) give birth to the manchild, the great red dragon (the devil) attempting to devour the manchild, and God catching the manchild up to heaven safe and secure. Just as in Isaiah 66:8, so in Revelation 12, the woman has a plurality of offspring or children. Of course, these children are joint-heirs with the only-unique Son (manchild) by adoption. He is the seed (singular, Galatians 3:16) and they are offspring (plural, Galatians 3:23-29, by adoption).

Old Jerusalem will produce the manchild and the offspring before her travail comes upon her. By a series of rhetorical questions Isaiah emphasizes the uniqueness of the predicted birth of the new nation. Who ever heard of a new nation from an old nation before the old nation passes away? But even more unknown is the birth of a nation in one day! The Hebrew word pa-'am is translated at once but means literally, at one stroke, as with one stroke of a hammer. A land and a nation was brought forth with one stroke of God on the Day of Pentecost, June, A.D. 30. Isaiah's figurative use of land should help us understand that much of what he (and other prophets, especially, Ezekiel) says about the future of God's land refers to the messianic land (or church), (cf. Ezekiel 37:15-28; ch. 45-48, etc.).

The guarantee of all this is that Jehovah started it (with Abraham) and He will most certainly carry it through. When God promises, He fulfills. God does not lie; He is not a man that He repents or changes His mind or will. God's new nation (the Church) will be born; nothing will stop it (cf. our comments on Daniel 2:44-45, Daniel, College Press, pgs. 91-94). Not even the gates of Hades (death) shall prevail against the birth of God's church (cf. Matthew 16:18). God's new nation will be like no other nation ever on the face of the earth. Governments and cultures of human origin come and go, but God's nation (kingdom) will incorporate all races, tongues, cultures and classes, and will last forever. His kingdom is supernatural!

Isaiah 66:10-14 MATERNAL: Isaiah continues the figure of a mother and her child. He pictures the citizens of the new Zion as hungry children contentedly nursing from the breasts of their mother. Zion's children drink deeply (milk out) until they are completely satisfied. In contrast to those who rebel against God, who can never be satisfied (cf. Isaiah 65:13-14; Isaiah 9:20; Micah 6:14-15), new Zion will be satisfied (cf. Jeremiah 31:14; Isaiah 25:6-9; Isaiah 55:1-3; Isaiah 58:11, etc.). Citizens of new Zion learn to be content (cf. Philippians 4:10-13; 1 Timothy 6:6-8); they have the peace which passes all understanding (cf. Philippians 4:4-7). It is interesting that this contentment, satisfaction, glory and peace which shall belong to new Zion comes to those in her who rejoice and mourn. It seems incongruous to talk of rejoicing and mourning at the same time. Yet the Lord pronounced those blessed who mourned (cf. Matthew 5:4). Only those who believe in the Lord can comprehend this. Those who think that rejoicing can only come when there is nothing over which to mourn do not understand the meaning of joy as Jesus taught it (cf. John 15:1-11; John 16:20-24; John 16:33; John 17:13-19, etc.). It is possible for the citizens of Zion to mourn over sin and all that results from it and at the same time rejoice in the salvation and future vindication of the Lord. When the citizen of Zion is able to do this he is at peace. Peace means wholeness (cf. comments Isaiah 58:9) and Jehovah is going to fill new Zion's land up and running over with wholeness, prosperity and goodness like a river fills up and runs over its banks. Zion's wholeness will come as a result of the best of goiym (nations) being brought to her, (cf. our comments Isaiah 61:5-7). Is there anything more tender and helpful than the comfort a mother gives a distressed child? Nothing except the comfort of God! But our God helps us understand His feeling toward us and His ability to comfort us in the highest experience of comfort we knowthat of our mothers (cf. Isaiah 49:15-16; Isaiah 60:4, etc.). Jesus expressed His tenderness toward Jerusalem often (cf. Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 19:41-44, etc.).

Those addressed in Isaiah 66:14 as those who shall see these things are those who shall actually experience them, i.e., those who became the nation brought forth at one stroke (verses seven-nine). That generation alive when the Messiah was born (the manchild) and when the nation was brought forth (at Pentecost, A.D. 30), experienced the miracle of God and the maternalness of God (cf. Luke 1:67-79; Luke 2:29-38; Luke 24:13-53; Acts 2:43-47; Acts 3:17 to Acts 4:4; Acts 4:32-37, etc.). The hand of Jehovah was seen and acknowledged in all this, not only by those who believed and became followers of the Way, but also by some who did not follow (cf. Acts 5:27-42; Acts 26:28; Acts 28:1 ff, etc.). Not only will the redemptive hand and the providential hand of Jehovah be manifested in the birth of new Zion, but His judgmental hand will also be made known. It is the double-emphasis theme that runs throughout the biblical record of redemption. Whenever God redeems the faithful, He necessarily judges the unfaithful. God cannot reward righteousness without condemning unrighteousness. When He delivered Noah, He destroyed the world; when He saved Lot, He destroyed Sodom; when He delivered the Hebrews under Moses, He destroyed Pharaoh; when He delivered Israel from captivity, He did so by destroying Babylon. The redemption provided in the atonement of Christ and the establishment of the kingdom, pronounces and gives unequivocal evidence of the final judgment of all who will not surrender to His sovereign rule by becoming covenant members of His church, (cf. John 12:31; John 16:11; Jn. 17:31; Ephesians 4:8; Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14-15; 1 John 3:8; Revelation 19:15-16, etc.). God allowed His enemies (Satan and his kingdom) to gather all the power at their disposal and meet Him at Calvary and do battle there. It was at Calvary and the empty tomb that God redeemed the world and judged the worldpotentially. Those who wish the redemption He won for them there must appropriate it by accepting His new covenant terms. Those who do not wish it must accept His judgment. The final execution of His redemption and judgment is yet future, but just as certain as the cross and the empty tomb! (see our comments Minor Prophets, College Press, pgs. 184-201).

QUIZ

1.

Where else in the O.T. and the N.T. are the woman and the manchild referred to?

2.

Why is the birth of the new nation of God so unique?

3.

How can the citizens of the new nation rejoice and mourn at the same time?

4.

How did God choose to illustrate His desire to comfort His people?

5.

Where did God demonstrate with finality His redemption and judgment of the world?