Deeper Commentary
Isaiah 66:1 Thus says Yahweh, Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: what kind of house will you build to Me? And what place shall be My rest?-
I have argued on Is. 64:5 that Is. 65 and 66 are God's response to the prayer of Is. 63:7–64:11. This explains why those chapters offer the Kingdom of God to those who are humble and repentant, not idolaters. And it explains why the entire prophecy concludes on an apparently negative note at the end of Is. 66, threatening judgment on God's people who are apostate for Him despite all His best efforts. That is His final answer to this prayer of complaint. The returned exiles had built a temple, but it was not what God had asked for according to Ez. 40-48. That temple had been the intended place for God's throne and footstool for His feet: "this is the place of My throne, and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel" (Ez. 43:7). But He was not going to be enthroned in the temple they had built in disobedience to Ezekiel. "What kind of house is this...?" could be the sense. He was going to dwell now in the humble hearts of individuals, not a building. There is now no call for repentance. God is stating His final decisions.
I discussed on Is. 65:3
LXX "And of what kind is to be the place of my rest?". See on Ps. 132:8. The answer was that God recognized that the idea of a reestablished Kingdom and temple wasn't going to happen with the restored exiles, and instead He was going to focus upon dwelling in the hearts of humble individual hearts.
Is. 11:10 had spoken of how the Messianic figure possible at Isaiah's time could have restored the Kingdom, "And his resting place will be glorious". This could simply refer to a literal appearance of glory upon mount Zion, as hinted at in several prophecies. But this was precluded at the time by Judah refusing this "rest" (Is. 28:12 s.w.). Or His resting place could be the hearts of those who "trust" in Him (Is. 11:10), a resting place chosen by Him because the temple on Zion had not been rebuilt as required and therefore God chose to dwell in the hearts of individuals instead.
The later chapters of Isaiah speaks of the faithful remnant in Babylon. The prayers and thoughts of that faithful minority often surface- e.g. “Will You refrain Yourself for these things, O Lord? Will You hold Your peace?” (Is. 64:12; Is. 62:1). Thus they fulfilled the prophecy that Zion’s watchmen would give God no rest (Is. 62:6,7). But overall, the poor response of Judah seems to have led God to abandon the plan for the gloriously rebuilt Messianic temple. Is. 66:1,2 records Him reflecting that “Where is the house that you build unto Me?” [i.e. they had not built it as He required in Ez. 40-48], and instead deciding to focus on dwelling in the hearts of the contrite faithful minority who trembled at His word. Ezekiel was sent to preach to the early captives, with the message that they were responsible personally for their exile- even though they insisted they were innocent and were suffering unjustly for their fathers' sins. Ezekiel 18 and other passages labour the point that they personally, sitting their in captivity, were serious sinners. God even warned Ezekiel ahead of time that those captives were "a rebellious nation" (Ez. 2:3), just as wicked as their fathers. There was active opposition to Ezekiel's witness to the exiles- they persecuted him as with "briars and thorns", behaving as scorpions to him (Ez. 2:6). His face had to be hardened against their faces (Ez. 3:8). This was in the very early days of the exile. Jewish tradition has it that Ezekiel was murdered at the command of senior Jews in Babylon. See The Lives And Deaths Of The Prophets in J.H. Charlesworth, ed., Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Cambridge: C.U.P., 1985). The same book claims that Isaiah was sawn in two by Manasseh, and Jeremiah was stoned to death by the Jews.. By the time of Isaiah 66, we see that even well after the restoration had happened, there was still major persecution of the faithful remnant and their prophets. Thus Isaiah speaks of the reapplication of the promises about building a temple- that temple would now be in the individual lives of a faithful remnant. Zech. 4:7 had prophesied that if Zerubbabel lived up to his potential, then a flat tableland would be prepared as a "platform" [Heb.] on which the new temple could be built. But this didn't happen- and so this language was reapplied to the work of John the Baptist in making the rough places of men's hearts smooth, in order for them to accept Jesus, the true temple.
Isaiah 66:2 For all these things has My hand made, and so all these things
came to be, says Yahweh- The contrast is between what God has made, and the man who trembles
at God’s word. It’s as if God is searching for something which He Himself
has not created, in the sense that He created the physical world. Perhaps
the implication is that when a human being responds to the word of God,
then there begins a totally free creation by the believer in his or her
own life. God in one sense is the author of the new creation of human
hearts- and yet the parallelism in Is. 66:2 seems to imply that the
difference between us and the natural creation is that we are in some
sense not created by God in that same way, but rather have we allowed
God’s word to mould us as, and to respond to that word, in ways which we
have control over… and thus we offer ourselves to God as a creation which
we have made, and in which He thereby takes extra pleasure.
But to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a broken spirit, and who trembles at My word-
This looking of God to man is an idea found elsewhere, each time in the context of the restoration of the humbly penitent. In Ps. 33:13,18 "Yahweh looks down from heaven... the eye of Yahweh is towards those who fear him and towards those who hope in his mercy". The broken spirit is one who hopes in God's merciful forgiveness. In Ps. 102:19-22, Yahweh again "looked down from the height of his sanctuary, from the heavens Yahweh has looked down towards the earth... to hear the sighing of the prisoner (cp. the exiles in Is. 49:9; 61:1), to loose the children / bands of death (the exiles, in Is. 51:14), so that they might declare the name of the Lord in Zion". The poor and broken spirited man is based upon David in penitence after the sin with Bathsheba (Ps. 51:17). And he is presented by Paul in Romans as every man; "Yahweh is close to the broken hearted, and he will save the crushed of spirit" (Ps. 34:16). And ultimately the poor, smitten spirited, crushed hearted man is the suffering servant: "He was smitten... crushed for our iniquities" (Is. 53:4,5), in whom God tabernacled in fullness. We note that the singular is used, "to this man... to him", rather than 'to these people...'. "To this man will I look..." is God's answer to the lament in Is. 64:9: "See, look, we beg You, we are all Your people". They assumed that because they were all Jews, therefore God must "look" to them. God's answer is that He looks to individuals who have the right heart. He is now and finally dealing with individuals, not an ethnic or social group. One of the dangers of denominational Christianity is the impression held that all within the denomination will be saved. Just as the Jews thought that being Jewish would save.
"Poor" is
the word usually translated "afflicted". Isaiah's prophecies continually
emphasize that God is fully aware of their "affliction" at the hands of
the Babylonians, and would have mercy upon them in it (Is. 49:13; 51:21;
54:11 s.w.). Remember that these words were primarily addressed to
the exiles.
Is. 66:1-5 seems to anticipate that the actual rebuilding of the temple would be nullified by an incorrect attitude to the sacrifices, and more important would it be that individuals in Judah trembled at God’s word. The Jews did tremble at the word at the beginning of the rebuilding (Ezra 10:9). But it was a momentary thing; they came to see the building of the walls as more important than keeping a trembling spirit. Works eclipsed spirituality. Yet Isaiah had taught that the trembling at the word was more essentially important than building temples. But Judah paid no attention in the long term. So these verses speak of God's change of purpose after the failure of the exiles to restore the Kingdom as intended. The idea could be that God is here asking His people to not bother trying to build the temple, and stating that He will now focus upon individual relationships with humble minded individuals, through His Messiah Son who trembled at His word.
Isaiah 66:3 He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man- The man under the Old Covenant who made his offering of, e.g. an ox, at
a place other than at "the door of the tabernacle of the congregation" was
viewed as having shed blood and therefore was to be cut off from the
congregation (Lev. 17:3,4). The Law foresaw that there would be this
tendency, to worship God away from the rest of the congregation. Those who
did so were condemned in the strongest terms: their sacrifice of an animal
was seen as the murder of their brother, whereas they would have seen it
as an expression of their righteousness. "He that killeth an ox is as if
he slew a man" (Is. 66:3) refers back to this, making it parallel with
idolatry and proudly refusing to let God's word dwell in the heart. Later
Isaiah is criticizing the exiles in Babylon for their refusal to 'return',
both to their God and to their land. Perhaps in view is their attempt to
offer sacrifices in Babylon, away from the sanctuary.
He who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig’s blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations-
NEV "As..." is perhaps unnecessary. The sacrificer of a lamb to Yahweh was also sacrificing a dog to the idols, offering to Yahweh and also offering pig's blood to idols. Is. 57:5,8,13 has already accused the returned exiles of idolatry and child sacrifice. Zech. 5 and other restoration prophets clearly speak of their idolatry. This is what was going on during the exile, and it continued when the same people came to Judah: "You defile yourselves in the manner of your fathers and go whoring after their detestable things. When you present your gifts... you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day... When they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it" (Ez. 20:30,31; 23:39). Thus they were fulfilling their own condemnation, to go into exile and "serve other gods" (Jer. 16:13). The Apocrypha records how Mattathias the Hasmonean killed a Jew who stepped forward to offer a sacrifice to an idol, long after their return from Babylon. Ezra 9:1 is clear: "The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands and are following their abominations, even those of the Canaanites...".
The Hebrew words used here for memorial, meal offering and frankincense clearly allude to Lev. 2:1-3, where this is seen as "the most holy of the offerings": "When anyone offers an oblation of a meal offering to Yahweh... the priest shall burn the memorial thereof on the altar... he shall put frankincense on it... it is the most holy of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire". And they were making it the most unholy, mixing it with the pig's blood used in their idol worshipping rituals for the dead mentioned in Is. 65:4. Here we have God's answer to their complaint in Is. 64:6 that God was despising their righteous acts, e.g. sacrifices. They laboured under the common misconception that if a man does some sacrifice or good deed for God, this must cancel out his gross sins so that they don't count. This betrays a total lack of understanding and faith in Divine atonement and grace.
What is
criticized in later Israel is the tendency to worship Yahweh through offerings
to Yahweh (even though they had no temple or sanctioned sanctuary), whilst at the same time as offering sacrifice to other gods. Is. 66:3
speaks of this dualism in worship. An ox was sacrificed to Yahweh whilst a
man child was killed in worship of the idols; a lamb was slain as a dog was
struck down to an idol; an offering was brought to Yahweh as pig flesh was
eaten in an idol ritual; incense was offered to Yahweh, suggesting this
happened within the temple precincts, whilst idols were kissed. And the new Israel made
just this same blasphemy in the way some in the Corinth ecclesia ate of
the Lord's table and also at the table of idols ["demons"]. Paul wasn't
slow to bring out the similarities when he wrote to the Corinthians. It is
this kind of dualism which is so wrong; to be both Christian and
non-Christian at the same time, to mix the two. But differences of
interpretation between equally dedicated worshippers of Yahweh, or
believers in Christ, were never made the basis of condemnation.
Isaiah 66:4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears
on them; because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they didn’t
listen; but they did that which was evil in My eyes-
This continues God's response to their lament in Is. 63:15-64:11 that God was hiding from the exiles and had gone off contact. He has begun His response in Is. 65:1,2 by saying that in fact He had been begging them to come to Him, holding out His hands all day long. He had been calling to them and speaking to them, but they had refused to respond. They were unlike their ancestor David, who could say in Ps. 34:4 "I sought Yahweh and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears". Condemnation is to have our fears brought upon us, as Job experienced in this life: "the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me" (Job 3:25). Condemnation by God is the subconscious fear of every man; it is the ultimate fear of displeasing the parent: "What the wicked dreads, it will come to him" (Prov. 10:24). Death is "the king of terrors" (Job 18:13); man lives all his life "in fear of death" (Heb. 2:15). And that dread is what the Gospel saves us from. God thus meets man at the point of his greatest psychological and subconscious need. God is able to delude men. He sends strong delusion that men may believe a lie, if they don't love His truth (2 Thess. 2:11). We think of Him putting a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab's prophets (1 Kings 22:18-22); "If the prophet is deceived when he speaks a word, I, Yahweh, have deceived that prophet" (Ez. 14:9). "God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonoured among themselves... God gave them up to vile passions. Their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature... receiving in themselves that reward of their error which was due... as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not appropriate" (Rom. 1:24-28) might even allude here. Because they chose what God did not delight in, He chose their delusions. This is a fate to be feared more than death itself.
We note all the personal pronouns, "I", "My"- and "Yahweh" occurs 18 times in this chapter. This is God Himself passionately speaking and acting, in answer to the complaint in Is. 64 that God was too distant from them.
God deceived prophets to speak things in His Name which were actually false (1 Kings 22:20-22; Ez. 14:9). He chose Israel's delusions by making their idols answer them (Is. 66:3,4). Jeremiah feared God had deceived him (Jer. 20:7)- showing he knew such a thing was possible. Dt. 13:1-3 warns Israel not to believe prophets whose prophecies came true although they taught false doctrines, because they may have been raised up to test their obedience. God deceived Israel by telling them about the peace which would come on Jerusalem in the future Kingdom; they didn't consider the other prophecies which were given at the same time concerning their imminent judgment, and therefore they thought that God was pleased with them and was about to establish the Messianic Kingdom; when actually the very opposite was about to happen (Jer. 4:10). This is why the Bible is confusing to those who wish to believe their word rather than God's. God had called them back to Zion, and they had refused to respond. They preferred to worship their idols in the name of Yahweh worship; and so God confirmed them in those delusions.
And chose that in which I didn’t delight- The context is their choice of sacrificing to idols; but in Is. 1:11 the same term is used of God's lack of delight in the sacrifices offered to Him. It seems that they worshipped the idols in the name of Yahweh worship. And this is an abiding temptation for all God's children- to worship our idols in the name of worshipping God.
The contrast is with how the foreigners and eunuchs chose that in which God did delight (Is. 56:4). The same phrase is used three times of how the Jewish exiles did not choose what pleases God, but rather chose the idols which do not please God (Is. 65:12; 66:3,4). Yet they made those choices beneath the umbrella of external devotion to Yahweh. Life is a string of choices, and God looks carefully at those choices.
The connection with Is. 1:11 ["I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats"] is just one of many connections between Isaiah 1 and Is. 65,66. The Jews had begun in this situation with God, and despite the long span of Isaiah's prophecies, through the events of Hezekiah, the exile and restoration- they were still as they were. All that grace had not achieved any transformation in them. The clear points of connection suggest a single authorship for the book of Isaiah, forming an obvious inclusio or bookends to the entire prophecy. They were rebels ("rebels against him", Is. 1:28), and as rebels would be condemned ("they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me", Is. 66:24). The vision opens with "your cities are burned with fire" (Is. 1:7) and concludes with again Judah being judged by fire, eternally (Is. 66:15,16). God begins by saying how much He hated their feasts, "new moons, Sabbaths, and holy gatherings: I can’t bear with evil assemblies" (Is. 1:13), and concludes with the picture of every Sabbath and new moon "all flesh [the new Israel, including Gentiles] shall come to worship before Me" and go and look at the carcasses of the condemned Jews (Is. 66:23,24). In Is. 1:29 they are condemned for their idolatry in "gardens": "you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen". And nothing had changed at all by the time of Is. 66:17, where even in the restored Jerusalem they were committing idolatry in the gardens. They were threatened with the sword (Is. 1:20 "you shall be devoured with the sword"), and so it came to pass: "For by fire will Yahweh enter into judgment, and by His sword" (Is. 66:16).
Isaiah 66:5 Hear the word of Yahweh, you who tremble at His word-
The double reference in Is. 66:1-5 to trembling at Yahweh’s word is a
definite prediction of the situation in Ezra 9:4; 10:3, where the same
rare Hebrew word is used regarding how those of the exiles who repented
for their marriage out of the Faith trembled before the word in
repentance. Then, at that point, the Kingdom blessings could have been
brought about, as described in the rest of Is. 66. But again, there was no
staying power in their repentance. By Nehemiah’s time, and by Malachi’s
time even after his, marriage out of the Faith was still their weakness.
Your brothers who hate you, who cast you out for My name’s sake, have said, ‘Let Yahweh be glorified, that we may see your joy;’ but it is those who shall be disappointed- See on :24. The religious leadership used the old argument of exclusionists- that Yahweh's Name will be glorified through separation from those considered substandard or spiritually different within the community of believers. The faithful remnant were therefore disfellowshipped by the corrupt religious leadership of the Jews in Babylon; see on Is. 65:5. And for this they would face the shame (s.w. "disappointed") of condemnation. Such behaviour provokes the intense anger of Yahweh.
The gross hypocrisy was that these men said they disfellowshipped their brethren for the sake of Yahweh's Name; but Is. 65:1 has stated that they themselves didn't call on His Name: "I said, ‘here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that did not call on my name". As noted on Is. 65:6, this gross hypocrisy was so intensely abhorrent to God. Suffering "for My Name's sake" is applied by the Lord to us His people now: "But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not Him that sent me" (Jn. 15:21; cp. Mt. 10:22; 24:9).
We note how the hypocritical Jews were rejected by their "brothers". In this context we will read in :20 of how "they shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to Yahweh". The true brothers of the faithful Jews were faithful Gentiles. Again and again we see God's redefinition of His Israel, His temple and Zion. Paul's argument about Israel in Romans could be understood as saying that God has only not "cast away His people whom He foreknew" in that He has redefined that people as all the faithful, who were 'foreknown' unto salvation. For as Paul says, "They are not all Israel who are of Israel".
These hypocrites mocked the faithful, sarcastically saying to the effect 'Oh may God be glorified when you reach this great joy of salvation and inclusion of Gentiles you are on about, and we watch it all!'. The reality was that the faithful would indeed have eternal joy (see on :10). And there would be the greatest inversion; those humble, faithful ones would look on at the dead bodies of the condemned hypocrites, who would lay down in the second death in sorrow and shame.
Isaiah 66:6 A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a
voice of Yahweh that renders recompense to His enemies-
The enemies of the humble, excluded believers (:5) were Yahweh's
enemies. He was identified with those humble, excluded ones. The city and
temple which they had refused to return to was to the source of this
Divine voice of judgment against them in Babylon. The city and temple
would be restored, and from there would come judgment against these awful
hypocrites. Or we could read this statement and what follows as
meaning that God was going to judge the temple, whilst ensuring a glorious
future for the redefined Zion (:7 and forward). These people who proclaimed their extreme religious
piety were in fact the enemies of God, and will be revealed as such at the
last day. Their lament that God was silent (Is. 64:12) is here answered;
God will indeed cry out very loud, from the temple, and His message will
be of their condemnation.
Isaiah 66:7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came,
she delivered a son-
"Pain" is, unusually, in the singular- as if not one birth pang will be felt. The Hebrew words in :7,8 for pain, sorrow and labour are all found in descriptions of condemnation: "Pangs and sorrows will seize them, they will be in pain like a woman in labour" (Is. 13:8); "how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail!" (Jer. 22:23); "when Your chastening was on them. Like as a woman with child who draws near the time of her delivery and is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so we have been before You, Yahweh. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we gave birth, it seems, only to wind" (Is. 26:16-18). The idea may be that she is saved from condemnation, she gives birth before the pain, sorrow and labour come upon her; whilst the condemned go through those things, give birth to nothing, and die in labour. That is exactly the image of 1 Thess. 5:3: "then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape". In the ancient world, the image of a woman in "pain, sorrow and labour" immediately raised the fears that she might die- for death in childbirth was so common. The labour of childbirth is the picture of condemnation (Jer. 4:31; 6:24; 13:21; Hos. 13:13 "The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him. He is an unwise son"; Ps. 48:6 "Trembling took hold of them there, pain, as of a woman in travail"). The implication is that this is how [figuratively] the rejected will die. It will be suffering in vain; "we gave birth, it seems, only to wind" (Is. 26:18). Whereas "Zion" is spared that condemnation. We might also be able to deduce from the figure that labour [=condemnation] was about to come on- for the woman gives birth to live children. This would then be a case of how the righteous are "scarcely saved" (1 Pet. 4:18).
We note the transformation of Zion from a barren prostitute in Is. 1:21 and earlier in second Isaiah, where she is presented as a beaten up woman who had lost her children, to a woman who not only does have children, but now gives birth before she goes into the pain of labour. Such is the power of Divine transformation. The idea is similar to how in Is. 65:24, a situation arises where before man prays, his request is known and answered by his loving God. This is in such contrast to how Isaiah began: "When you spread forth your hands, I will hide My eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear" (Is. 1:15). Such is the utter transformation possible. This is the triumphant tone of how Isaiah finishes- the message is of utter transformation, and that is made clear by the images connecting with those with which Isaiah began. And in passing, that is an argument for the unity of Isaiah.
The image suggests that the curse that arose as a result of
Eve's sin will be ended. All consequences of Zion's sin shall be eternally
removed. This is a theme often presented in Isaiah- that the curses for
disobedience will be removed. All the frustration, mortality... will be no
more. The image of a miscarriage and stillbirth has been used of Zion in
Is. 37:3. But that shall be no more. It isn't even alluded to because of
the joy of the birth. The idea is more or less as in GNB "My holy city is like a woman who
suddenly gives birth to a child without ever going into labor". The
implication is that the final travail or birth pangs of God's faithful
people will be cut short in the last days (Mt. 24:22). This "son" who
suddenly appears in Zion will utter the voice of Yahweh which judges the
hypocrites amongst His people (:6). Ultimately this is speaking of the
revelation of God's Son, the Lord Jesus, after the travail of the faithful
daughter of Zion is cut short by His grace.
Isaiah 66:8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has 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-
"Who has heard?" and "Who has seen?" is God's answer to the lament in Is. 64:8 that nobody can ever see or hear what God has prepared for His people. God is responding to that by saying that the most amazing transformation and salvation by grace is going to be realized by "Zion".
AV "Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day". That is, to produce its grass, flowers, fruit etc. The idea is, that it usually requires much longer time for it to mature through long slow growth. Likewise a nation develops over a very long time. But God was willing to turn the unspiritual exiles into spiritually mature people in a moment. They refused this, and so it shall come gloriously true for us at the last day as we stand before the Lord's judgment seat. "We shall be changed" as Paul says. And that change clearly means moral and not just physical change.
As explained on :7, a singular "son" was to be brought forth after the travail of the faithful daughter of Zion is cut short. But here we find that this son is in fact plural "children", an entire nation with their own land. The restored people of God in their restored land, the Kingdom of God on earth, would be suddenly brought forth out of the sufferings of the faithful minority in Zion. Whatever primary application this could have had to Hezekiah's time and other sufferings of Zion, the ultimate application is to the appearance of the Lord Jesus and a new nation "in Him" after the sufferings of Zion, geographically and spiritually, shall be cut short by grace (Mt. 24:22).
Isaiah 66:9 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-
This can be read as an implicit criticism of the words of Hezekiah at
the time of the Assyrian invasion, who lamented that the children had come
to be born but there was no strength to bring them forth (Is. 37:3). God
is saying that He will certainly bring forth the new nation of Zion out of
their trauma at the hands of their invaders. He is not powerless, and
therefore Hezekiah was wrong to imply this. Why the children were not
brought forth at Hezekiah's time was because of the lack of spirituality
in the daughter of Zion, rather than because of God's limited ability.
God likens Himself to a midwife; He would not bring or lead to the place of birth, and then hinder it. "I who cause to bring forth" would have been understood definitely as a reference to the midwife who was then believed to have the power and knowledge to induce labour. In fact He is the most amazing midwife, leading Zion to the birthing stool [NEV "the birth", but it should be read as a noun not a verb], inducing her birth and then delivering her with no pain nor labour. We noted above that pain and labour is the language of condemnation. God is here promising to save us from that, even though like every woman, we fear it and sense it is an inevitable trauma that awaits us. But God as the perfect midwife will "bring to the birth", to the birthing stool, to judgment day- and deliver us. We recall that in Is 42:14, God has likened Himself to a woman in labour, gasping in pain to bring Zion to the birth. Although He is God, He shows by this connection in His word that He is aware of Zion's potential pain, and seeks to save her from it. God as the amazing midwife has 'herself' given birth.
Possibly Paul alludes here in saying that the God who has begun a good work in us will work to complete it in the day of judgment. God will not bring to the birth and then shut the womb. The image has been used in Is. 37:3; “the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth”. But God would give the strength to do this.
Isaiah 66:10 Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love
her: rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her-
The joy is because of the amazing birth of so many in a moment- the joy of salvation finally achieved for God's people in Jerusalem. This is part of the wider, massive emphasis in the prophets upon the joy of the redeemed people of Zion, a joy so deep it as it were gets into the fibre and structure of the physical creation: Is. 25:9 "This is Yahweh! We have waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation!"; 35:1,2 "the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose. It will blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing"; 35:10 and 51:11: "everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away... The ransomed of Yahweh shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their head"; 41:16 "You will rejoice in Yahweh"; 49:13 "Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth; and break forth into singing, mountains"; 56:7 "I will make them joyful in My house of prayer"; 61:10 " I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation"; 62:5 "as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons shall marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you"; 65:13,18,19 "My servants shall rejoice... My servants shall sing for joy of heart... I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; and there shall be heard in her no more the voice of weeping"; Jer. 31:13 "Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow"; 32:41 "I will rejoice over them to do them good"; Joel 2:21,23 "Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in Yahweh your God"; Zeph. 3:14,17 "Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem... He will rejoice over you with joy, He will calm you in His love, He will rejoice over you with singing"; Zech. 2:10 " Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell in the middle of you". This joy will not be like joy as we now experience it, a time limited cusp of emotion that fades. It will be eternal. And that is what we must look forward to and not keep playing the tape of our past sadnesses in this brief life. Everlasting joy shall be upon our heads. Tears and mourning will be no more. The former things shall be forgotten. So we are not to keep remembering them now. The Jews were hearing this message of joy in the context of being part of the Persian empire. The ideology of the Achaemenid Dynasty was that the empire had some Divine calling to expand worldwide, thus bringing joy to the people within it. The message of eternal joy in God's coming kingdom was a deconstruction of this.
LXX has in
view the people of Jerusalem rejoicing along with the Gentiles in a Divine
feast in the last day, the marriage supper of the lamb: "Rejoice, O
Jerusalem, and all ye that love her hold in her a general assembly".
Isaiah 66:11 That you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting
breasts; that you may drink deeply, and be delighted with the abundance of
her glory-
Zion is portrayed here as a woman in all her rightful glory, with ample breasts feeding and delighting so many at once. This is the inclusio that matches the description of Zion in Is. 1:21 as a prostitute, an image continued in Isaiah, where she is pictured as laying drunk in the dust with abusive men walking over her like she was the street, having lost her children and her husband, and now barren. And Zion had thought: “Yahweh has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me” (Is. 49:14). This is the extent of transformation God can work. So never think that "I am too hurt... too damaged... too bitter... too angry... too depressed... too far gone in addiction... to ever change". Radical transformation is possible, in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is indeed good news to take to the world of lost people around us. Truly Zion shall "say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?’" (Is. 49:21).
Clearly enough, Zion has God in her and with her. The bookend to this is also in Is. 1:2, which began the entire prophecy with God lamenting that He had nourished [breast fed] and raised children, who had now turned against Him: "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me". He has the pain of a spurned parent. Although those children were no more, He presents at the end as the parent with loving, adoring children happily dependent upon Him. Again, the story of Job shows all this lived out. He had disobedient children who died, but he ended his days with many children and somehow without any indication of pain at the loss of his previous children.
This continues the image of Zion's sufferings bringing forth a new nation (:8,9). Just as a newborn baby is immediately nursed at the breast by the mother, so these Gentile converts would be. The implication is that the new nation of Yahweh brought forth is multiethnic.
Isaiah 66:12 For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and you will be nursed. You will be carried on her side, and will be dandled on her knees- LXX suggests that the nations would come to Zion carrying the children of the repentant Israelites: "their children shall be borne upon the shoulders, and comforted on the knees". This is in view in other restoration prophecies; the idea was that the fall of Babylon would elicit repentance and migration to Zion, not only of the Jews but of the peoples amongst whom they lived, after the pattern of Egyptians joining in with the exodus. See on :11. But the ambiguity of the text is intentional; the Gentiles would nurse the children of Israel, and Israel would nurse the Gentiles (:11). This reflects the unity of Jew and Gentile within this new nation, which is to come forth from the sufferings of Zion in the last days.
Isaiah 66:13 As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and
you will be comforted in Jerusalem-
The "comfort" continues the picture of a newborn baby being nursed at
the breast of the mother. God Himself likens Himself to a nursing mother,
an unusual and radical figure in the male-dominated culture of the time.
But this "comfort" was offered to the exiles in Is. 40:1; but they then
refused it. Finally it will be accepted, and even now it can be
experienced through acceptance of the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit,
given to all who accept the new covenant.
The "comfort" of the mourners is that pronounced in Is. 61:1,2. But it was a comfort that had to be accepted. Initially, this "comfort" would have been in the restoration of Zion. Those who mourned "in Zion" (Is. 61:3) would be comforted "in" Jerusalem / Zion. But the Jews refused this. And so the comfort is now offered to God's new people through the work of the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, and will come to full term when the Lord returns to Jerusalem to visibly establish His Kingdom.
Isaiah 66:14 You will see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones
shall flourish like the tender grass-
This speaks of the mental and physical change in those who are saved. Their physical bodies ["bones"] will be energized by the same Spirit that now dominates their minds ["heart"]. This is the scene of Is. 60:5 "Your heart shall be enlarged", and our physical bodies will be transformed into a body like that of our Lord (Phil. 3:21). The dry bones of Ez. 37 will now flourish, because the wind of the Spirit of the new covenant is breathed into them, and they accept it. This could have happened at the restoration from Babylon, but is now reapplied to the final revival of God's people.
And the hand of Yahweh shall be known toward His servants; He will have indignation against His enemies- To know Yahweh's hand is to recognize His hand in the sense of His power and ability; and "His enemies" will know this also, through their experience of final condemnation (s.w. Jer. 16:21; Ps. 109:27). The physical restoration of Zion and the Kingdom would likewise make His hand known to His servants (s.w. Is. 41:20). If all are to "know" Yahweh finally, either through salvation by grace or through condemnation- we logically must know Him now, with all that having relationship with Him implies and demands ['knowing' in the Hebraic sense].
The reference to God's servants is His answer to the lament in Is. 63:17 that all Judah were God's "servants" and they expected better treatment from Him. Here He is saying that they are in fact His enemies, and His true servants are the humble, broken believers, of whatever ethnicity, whom they had rejected. Earlier God had spoken of Israel as His servants: "You, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend" (Is. 41:8,9). Now He makes a difference between the apostate majority of Israel, and His true servants. By calling the apostate Jews His "enemies", He makes the point that they aren't His "friends". His friends are His servants, whom the majority had rejected. And in the wider teaching of Isaiah, God's servants are those who are "in" the suffering servant, the Lord Jesus. Which has always been a very small minority of the Jewish people. Truly "they are not all Israel who are of Israel". The "enemies" are those of :6; and this forms an inclusio with Is. 1:24, where God says He will "avenge Myself of My enemies", referring to the Jews. Nothing has changed, from start to finish of this long prophecy. They have not repented, and remain God's enemies. God's "enemies" are typically the Gentiles and Babylon(Num. 32:21; Nah. 1:2,8; Ps. 68:22; Is. 42:13; 59:18); but the majority of the Jews were to share the world's condemnation and Babylon's judgment, being treated likewise as God's enemies. And so it will be for the rejected of the new Israel, who will be "condemned with the world" (1 Cor. 11:32).
Isaiah 66:15 For behold, Yahweh 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- This would perhaps initially have been
fulfilled through the cherubim returning to Jerusalem, as envisioned by
Ezekiel- fire, chariots, whirlwind is all cherubim language. That didn't
happen because God's people didn't "return" to Him, and so this full
"return" didn't then happen. But it will come the more gloriously true in
the last days, when the Lord Jesus returns in flaming fire taking
vengeance (2 Thess. 1:8). See on :18. This coming of Yahweh in
judgment in this way is a quote from Jer. 4:13: "Now I will also utter
judgements against them. Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his
chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us!". And so it had happened in the Babylonian invasion. But they
had learnt nothing from it and now the same judgment was to be repeated.
We note God's intense anger; an “uproar” (:6), "rage" (:14), “His anger
with fury” (:15). This gives perspective to Paul's comment that we are
saved from God's wrath through the Lord.
"Yahweh will come" is His answer to the complaint in Is. 64:1 "Oh that You would tear the heavens, that You would come down!"- with the assumption that such a theophany would justify Israel and condemn their enemies. God's response is that He will indeed "come", but with judgment upon the unspiritual Jews.
Isaiah 66:16 For by fire and by His sword will Yahweh plead judgement on
all flesh; and the slain of Yahweh shall be many- The sword of Yahweh
will come down in judgment upon the peoples of the eretz and
perhaps on the resurrected former abusers of His people (see on Is.
26:21). It may take the form of literal fire, as He destroyed Sodom, and
as also mentioned in 2 Pet. 3. But His sword comes down as part of His
'pleading with all flesh' (see on Is. 27:1). This can be read as an
allusion to judgment; but there is still the idea of pleading. The threat
of the sword descending is His appeal, His pleading for repentance.
Or we can read the 'pleading' as taking someone to court. So that God is the plaintiff and also the judge. This is the idea of Ez. 38:22 "I will [legally] contend with him". The "all flesh" who are judged may be the same "all flesh" who worship God in :23. As in :19, they are the "survivors" of judgment. And that is a wider theme- God's saved people pass through the condemnation process at some point in this life, and thereby repent. We too bow in condemnation before the cross of the Lord, are baptized into death, thereby recognizing ahead of time that we are rightly condemned to the wages of sin- and only thereby are we saved.
Isaiah 66:17 Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to
the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh, and the
abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together, says
Yahweh- We can read "behind one in the midst" as meaning 'one
after another. Or "Behind one in the midst" could be an allusion to some
ritual from a cult for the dead, performed in garden tombs; see on Is.
65:4. It could be the same rite described in Ez. 8:7-11, where a single
leader stood in the midst of a group of worshippers: "… seventy men of the
elders of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah
the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand". In which case
we see that the exile hadn't purged the exiles of their sins of idolatry-
they just returned to them as soon as they got back to the land. I suggested on Is. 65:3 that these gardens may have been
within the temple precincts. And LXX adds "and eat swine's flesh in the
porches", the temple porches. But it may refer to some idolatrous
sanctuary in exile, which the exiles used as a form of Yahweh worship. It
was this same group who pronounced themselves 'purified' and abused and
disfellowshipped the faithful remnant (Is. 65:5 LXX "I am pure"). Isaiah
ends with particular condemnation of this group; it was their hypocrisy
and disfellowship of their brethren which clearly elicited God's maximum
wrath.
Isaiah 66:18 For I know their works and their thoughts- Again we note
the parallel between works and thoughts. The state of the heart, our
thinking, is of such paramount importance to God.
The time comes, that I will gather all nations and languages; and they shall come, and shall see My glory- "All nations" usually refers to all nations within or around the eretz promised to Abraham. They will all be gathered to judgment, and perceive God's glory- which will be manifest in Israel, the parade example of the glory of His saving grace towards sinners (Lk. 2:32). I suggested on :15 that the initial fulfilment could have been in the visible return of the cherubim to Zion, and they are repeatedly associated with the glory of the God of Israel (Ez. 9:3; 10:19; 11:22). This would then have fulfilled the prophecy of the glory of Israel's God entering the rebuilt Zion in Ez. 43:2. But the exiles didn't rebuild nor operate the temple system of Ez. 40-48 and so this was precluded. The greater fulfilment will be in the Lord Jesus as the image of the glory of God, returned to Zion and enthroned there before literally all nations. The gathering of the nations will be that of Zech. 14:2: “And I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem”, leading to the Lord's return to Zion.
Isaiah 66:19 I will set a sign among them-
The "them" may refer to the condemned of Israel. The Hebrew can be repointed to read "A sign of reproach". A mark would be set upon them as it was upon Cain. Perhaps this means that some of the condemned will be sent around the world to witness to God's truth and judgment.
Or we can understand that the "them" is repentant, accepted Israel. They will have a sign / token placed upon them, just as circumcision had been the "sign" of the old covenant (s.w. Ex. 31:13 etc.). "Among them" can as well be "upon them". The token of the new covenant is the Spirit, and so this may be here in view.
The idea of taking the Gospel world-wide in the great commission was alluding to Is. 66:17-20. Here those who are spared the ‘Gehenna’ of the last day judgment will have a sign placed on them, as upon Cain, and they will then be sent “unto the nations… and they shall declare my glory among the gentiles”. The rejection process glorifies God’s righteous Name, and this world-wide exhibition of the rejected will actually bring men “out of all nations” to God, just as Israel’s condemnation was an “instruction” unto the surrounding nations. The connection shows that in our obedience to the great commission, we go forth as condemned men who in our case, like the disciples, have known the wonder of grace. Mark’s record stresses three times in the lead up to the great commission that the disciples “believed not”; and then, he records how they were told to go and preach condemnation on those who believed not (Mk. 16:11,13,14,16). They were humbled men who did that.
And I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands afar off, who have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the nations-
The "them" who "escape" could refer to the minority of the condemned Jews who survive the latter day judgments, those of Zech. 14:2: "I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses pillaged, and the women raped. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city". Perhaps "such as escape" are "the rest / remnant of the people" of Zech. 14:2. Meeting with these condemned Jews with a Cain-like mark upon them will lead the nations to repent. Always the reality of condemnation is part of the appeal. The cross is in this sense "the judgment of this world".
"The nations" refers to these peoples who
could earlier have come to repentance and to
Zion, but they refused. Prophecies like Is. 18:7 were to have
Paul's desire to go to Spain (Rom. 15:24) indicates a commitment to
taking the Gospel to the very ends of the world he then knew. He may well
have been motivated in this by wishing to fulfill in spirit the Kingdom
prophecy of Is. 66:18,19, which describes how Tarshish (which he would
have understood as Spain) and other places which “have not heard my fame,
neither have seen my glory” will be witnessed to by those who have seen
His glory and have “escaped” from God’s just condemnation by grace. Paul
sees this as referring to himself. For he speaks in Rom. 15:19 of his
ambition to take the Gospel to Spain; and in that same context, of how he
will bring the Gentile brethren’s offering up to Jerusalem. This is
precisely the context of Is. 66- the offerings of the Gentiles are to be
brought up to Jerusalem, as a result of how the Lord’s glory will be
spoken of to all nations. So Paul read Isaiah 66 and did something about
his Old Testament Bible study; he dedicated his life to taking the Gospel
to the Gentiles, and he encouraged them to send their offerings to
Jerusalem. He was no mere theologian, no academic missiologist. His study
and exposition of Old Testament Scripture led to a life lived out in
practice, to hardship, risk of life, persecution, loneliness, even
rejection by his brethren. It is also significant in passing to note that
Is. 66:19 speaks of nations which occur in the list of nations we have in
Genesis 10, in the context of the effect of Babel. It is as if Paul sees
the spreading of the Gospel as an undoing of the curse of Babel and the
establishment of the Kingdom conditions described in Is. 66. By his
preaching of God’s Kingdom and the reign of Christ, he brought about a
foretaste of the future Kingdom in the lives of his converts. And we can
do likewise.
Isaiah 66:20 They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for
an offering to Yahweh, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on
mules, and on dromedaries, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh-
I explained on :19 that the "them" are the repentant minority of Jewish
exiles. It seems they are sent to bring their impenitent brethren back to
Yahweh and to Zion. This is the key to successful preaching; repentant,
forgiven sinners sharing the experience of grace.
As
the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into the
house of Yahweh- The offering they brought would have been of their
converts; and Paul uses this idea in speaking of his converts as a
sacrifice. Ez. 40:42 speaks of the vessels to be used in the temple [AV
“instruments”] with the same word used for the temple vessels which were
brought up out of Babylon back to Judah, in fulfilment of several of
Isaiah’s ‘Kingdom’ passages (Ezra 1:6-11; 8:25-33 cp. Is. 52:11; 66:20).
The restoration of the kingdom could potentially have happened at the time
of Ezra. LXX "their sacrifices with
psalms".
Isaiah 66:21 Of them also will I take for priests and for Levites, says
Yahweh- "For" may mean that they were to be instead of the
priests and Levites, rather than 'being' priests and Levites. The "them" appears to refers to the Gentile converts. A new
priesthood is in view. This would have been part of the new covenant
offered to both Jews and Gentiles at the restoration, had they responded.
This again was the intention for the restored exiles; for the work of the
Lord Jesus put an end to the priesthood.
In the restoration from Babylon context, Is. 66:21 had prophesied that Yahweh would regather Judah, “And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD”. This implies, surely, that He would accept some as Levites who could not otherwise prove they were. Zechariah 6:11,13 speaks of Joshua being crowned with the High Priestly mitre and ‘bearing the glory’, i.e. carrying the urim and thummim in the breastplate. But all this was conditional on Joshua’s obedience: “This shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey” (Zech. 6:15). Because Joshua failed, he didn’t have urim and thummim, therefore no decision could be given about who was an acceptable priest, and therefore the ‘Kingdom’ prophecy of Ezekiel 42:13 was left unfulfilled. So much depended upon that man. And likewise, the eternal destiny of many others depends on us. Isaiah’s prophecies of the restoration feature “the servant”- who was a symbol of both the people and a Messianic individual. His success was bound up with theirs. Thus Is. 65:9: “And I will bring forth a seed [singular] out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor [singular] of my mountains: and mine elect [plural] shall inherit it, and my servants [plural] shall dwell there”. His obedience would enable the peoples’ establishment as the Kingdom.
The restoration prophecy of Ezekiel 42:13 commanded: “Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things”. The same words are found in Ezra 2:63 and Nehemiah 7:65- it wasn’t possible for the priests to eat of the holy things [signifying God’s acceptance of His people], because there was no record of their genealogy. Their names were not written in the “register” in fulfilment of Ezekiel 13:9: “neither shall they be written in the writing [s.w. ‘register’, Ezra 2:62] of the house of Israel”. Only if a priest stood up with urim and thummim could they eat of the holy things. These were two engraven stones carried in a pouch in the breastplate which flashed out Divine decisions (see H.A. Whittaker, Samuel, Saul And David for an excellent study of this). Zechariah 3:9 prophesies that Joshua the High Priest would have the engraven stone with seven eyes- the urim and thummim. It would thereby have been possible for a priesthood who had lost their genealogy record during the sacking of the first temple to eat the holy things, and thus fulfill Ezekiel 42:13.
Isaiah 66:22 For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make
shall remain before Me, says Yahweh-
Ez.
44:15 uses the same word: “But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok,
that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went
astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they
shall
stand before me [s.w. “remain before
me”] to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD”. But Ezra
had to confess, using these very words of Isaiah and Ezekiel which he
would have been familiar with: “O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous:
for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee
in our trespasses: for we cannot
stand before thee
because of this” (Ezra 9:15). They hadn’t lived the Kingdom
life, and therefore the Kingdom prophecies could not come true in them. It
makes a profitable exercise to consider all the times that Ezra and
Nehemiah allude to the words of Isaiah and Ezekiel. It must have been
heartbreaking for them to see the possibility of fulfilment within their
grasp, and yet to know that their people didn’t see the wonder of it all.
So your seed and your name shall remain- This is more than a bald statement that they would be immortalized. Their seed and name would remain, just as Yahweh's seed and Name would- for they would be identified with Him. But we shall each be given a name which is eternal, a unique reflection of our personality and character. Our struggles towards the person of Christ uniquely refracted through us will be eternally memorialized. Who we are now is who we shall eternally be. This points up the crucial importance of spiritual mindedness.
An immortalized seed and name is what God promised to David, as His response to the desire for a physical temple. See on :1.
The new heavens and earth of Is. 66:22 clearly initially refer to the new system of things possible at the restoration. The context is of exiles who "escape from the nations" coming on mules and donkeys back to Zion, having Levites and keeping the Sabbath. See on Is. 65:20, where the new heavens and earth refers to a situation where people are still mortal and sin. This forms an inclusio with how Isaiah began, addressing the corrupt 'heavens and earth' of Jewish society: "Hear, heavens and listen, earth" (Is. 1:2).
Isaiah 66:23 It shall happen, that from one new moon to another, and from
one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says
Yahweh-
This forms an inclusio with Is. 1:13,14 "Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to Me; new moons, Sabbaths, and holy gatherings: I can’t bear with evil assemblies. My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to Me". Now they would not be a burden to God and He would delight in being served. The Rabbis understand this verse to mean that for the new moons of an entire year, i.e. every month for a year, the righteous will keep a worship ceremony at which they look upon the remains of the rejected, until they have 'seen enough' (see on :24).
"All flesh" would not fit in the literal temple; the immediate reference is to a restored temple in the land of Judah, used by the remnants of "all flesh" in the land promised to Abraham who came to live in Judah as they came into covenant with Israel's God. The Sabbath law has been ended in Christ. This is therefore another example of how these prophecies of the restoration were envisaged as coming true at the time the exiles returned from Babylon. But they broke the Sabbath themselves, as Nehemiah records; and they didn't teach the Gentiles God's ways. The essence but not the letter of all this will therefore be fulfilled in the last days, when all flesh will come before Yahweh.
Isaiah 66:24 They shall go forth, and look on the dead bodies of the men
who have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither
shall their fire be quenched-
They "go forth" presumably from Zion, suggesting that the location of the "dead bodies" is just outside Jerusalem. Clearly Gehenna is in view, the valley of Hinnom, where these people had practiced child sacrifice the valley of Hinnom at the base of Zion since it was once a place of human sacrifice (2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 7:31; 32:35; 2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6). Their bodies would be on display there. The exiles had practiced the cults of the dead, laying in the graves of the dead. Now their dead bodies would be despised by all. The form of condemnation for every man will be appropriate to their sins. Their carcasses would be seen and despised by the faithful. They who had taken Babylon's gods with them would be punished as Babylon, who in Is. 14:11 is taunted that they will be devoured by worms in sheol / the grave. The lasting fire forms an inclusio with Is. 1:31 "The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them". The idea is not that the fire will literally burn for ever; rather, that there will be nobody to save them by quenching the fire. It will not be quenchable by man; which is not the same as saying that it will literally burn for ever. The display of dead bodies recalls how Babylon and Assyria's dead bodies were openly displayed (Is. 14:19; 34:3; 37:36). "Worms" would cover the king of Babylon just as worms will work in decomposing the bodies of the rejected Jews (Is. 14:11). Again we see that the rejected amongst God's people will share Babylon's judgment, that of the surrounding world whom they so loved. There is no hint here of eternal conscious torment. The destruction of the wicked here forms an inclusio with Is. 1:28,29: "But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen". Earlier in Is. 66:17 there has been the mention of their idolatry in "the gardens". Before their consumption [by fire] and destruction, there will be their sense of shame (as in Dan. 12:2) and being "confounded" as they recall the idolatry of their earlier lives. When this destruction was spoken of in Is. 1, there was a call to repentance, in order to avoid this outcome. Now in Is. 66 there is no such chance for repentance. Here we have the final picture of condemnation in the last day.
The context here is of the destruction of the apostate, hypocritical Jews who had condemned and disfellowshipped their faithful brethren (see on :5). They are the "sinners in Zion" of Is. 33:14, here described as "the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched". This is quoted in Mk. 9:44 concerning Gehenna, the place of punishment for the unworthy saints. If the judgement is to be at Jerusalem, it would fit into place if the unworthy are punished literally in the physical location of Gehenna. This would make more sense of the Lord Jesus Christ's repeated allusions to it when talking of the judgement. The repeated reference to fire being used to punish the unworthy (remember the Angels can be made a flaming fire) implies their punishment will be within a defined period of time- probably very short, seeing God has no pleasure in punishing sin- and if fire is to be used, it would be logical if it was in a confined location. A punishment in literal Gehenna fits in.
The servant was called to sustain the “dispirited” by the prophetic
word (Is. 50:4). And yet passages like Is. 50:4-11 and even Is. 53 speak
of how the servant met even physical abuse as well as rejection in his
ministry to his fellow Jews. Indeed the servant feels that his mission to
them has been a failure (Is. 49:1-6), a complaint met by God’s promise
that his mission would be in some way reapplied to the Gentiles in their
captivity to sin. The way the servant is beaten and has his hair pulled
out (Is. 50:4-11) reminds us of how the prophet Jeremiah was treated the
same way by the Jews when his message was rejected (Jer. 20:2; Jer.
37:15). The servant was spat at by his fellow Jews- an expression of utter
contempt (Job 30:10). Whilst the servant prophecies find their later
fulfilment in the Lord Jesus, it seems to me that in their first context,
they speak of how a prophet or prophets at the time of the exile were
rejected and even beaten up by their fellow Jews. Indeed, Isaiah ends on a
negative note, describing the judgments to come upon the Jews who had
rejected the message of deliverance from Babylon (Is. 66:24). Is. 65:8-16;
Is. 66:5 etc. speak of a minority of Jews who trembled at the word of
prophecy and were Yahweh’s servants, who had been disfellowshipped by the
leaders of the Jewish community in Babylon. The majority of the captives
insisted, according to Ez. 18, that they hadn’t sinned, and they were
suffering unjustly because of the sins of their fathers; whereas this
righteous remnant in Babylon admitted that “we have sinned. Equally with
them of old time have we transgressed” (Is. 64:5). They took the message
of Ezekiel to heart- unlike the majority. And thus this was the sad end of
the great plan developed by the God of all grace for His people in
Babylon. They rejected it, and hated His servants who brought that good
news to them.
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