For behold, Jehovah will come with fire, and his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isaiah has just been promising comfort to Jerusalem. Then the scene turns to fire, whirlwind and flame. Commentators ask two questions here: who is this coming One, and when does He come?
Verse 14 speaks of the Lord's hand toward His servants and His anger toward His enemies. Writers link that turn to a moment in Jesus' life. He read from Isaiah in the synagogue and stopped mid-sentence.
It is the future day — not of grace and salvation only, as it is today, but of vengeance also. In that day the Lord will not stop short as He once did on earth (Luke 4:20). Then He was proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord, and this only. Later He will proclaim and carry out both that year and the day of vengeance.
The chapter goes on to speak of God's glory. But that glory arrives by an unexpected road.
In this passage the Lord brings in His glory by fire and by sword… Here His glory comes as He executes judgment. There is nothing of the gospel at all.
Many readers take the closing chapters of Isaiah as pictures of the church's blessing today. One writer sets two fires side by side and finds no resemblance. The second fire is Pentecost, when the Spirit came on the first believers with what looked like flames.
The Lord coming in fire, with His chariots like the whirlwind… is as different as can be from the Holy Spirit coming in power from on high, with tongues of fire that divided and rested on each one. The future gathering of all nations and tongues to see His glory differs just as much from the work of grace going on now. That work gathers out of them a people for His name, in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but Christ is all.
The verse names the LORD — Jehovah — as the one who comes. Commentators set this beside other places where Christ does what the Old Testament says Jehovah will do.
All Scripture confirms the truth that Jesus is Jehovah. John the Baptist was "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord" — that is, Jehovah (Isa. 40)… In Isaiah 66:15 Jehovah comes with fire and the sword, but we know it is Christ who comes.
Chariots and whirlwind are pictures of speed. This judgment also leads somewhere.
This chapter describes the judgment that introduces the glory and blessedness of the restored nation… This passage shows that He comes suddenly, like a whirlwind, and renders to His enemies the fire of judgment.
Some point to Rome's destruction of Jerusalem as the fulfilment. One writer measures that against the terms of the prophecy, and looks ahead to the reign it opens.
The Roman destruction of Jerusalem was no adequate fulfilment of this, but it will be fulfilled to the letter, as many prophecies say… Sudden as it will be, it will also be permanent… It will be the introduction of His day, and of His thousand-year reign.
The next verse widens the scope to "all flesh." No religious standing shelters anyone from it.
But the Lord will come, as Isaiah says: "For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment, and by His sword, with all flesh, and those slain by the Lord shall be many." Such will be the return of the Lord Jesus when He takes up His ancient people again and deals with the enemies, Jewish or Gentile… Judaism and Christendom plead privilege in vain on behalf of their sins.
If the slain are many, who is left to fill the earth afterwards? The chapter answers a few verses later.
All this is true, and many parts of Scripture describe it fully. Yet the chapter also says, "the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory" (verse 18)… So those who have heard the gospel and rejected it will be destroyed. Those who have not heard, and have not rejected it in the same way, will then hear and be saved. At the flood a very small remnant were saved through the judgment, but that small remnant soon repopulated the earth.
- Delayed — Jesus once read Isaiah aloud and stopped before the words about vengeance. This verse finishes that sentence.
- Sudden — no past event has matched this yet; when it comes, it comes like a whirlwind, not by slow decline.
- Personal — the LORD who comes in fire is Christ Himself; the same One who came in grace comes in flame.
- Impartial — He judges all flesh. No religious standing shelters sin.
- Fruitful — the fire is not the last word. He sends survivors out, and the nations come to see His glory.
For by fire and by his sword will Jehovah enter into judgment with all flesh and the slain of Jehovah shall be many.
Isaiah's last chapter closes with the Lord coming in fire and whirlwind. This verse names the outcome, and it raises sharp questions: who falls under this sentence, is this a picture of the gospel spreading, and does anyone survive it?
Some readers soften the passage by reading it as a picture of the gospel age. One commentator rejects that reading outright:
The efforts of ancient and modern commentators to apply this passage, like the rest, to gospel times are desperate but vain. How plainly this is a day of judgment! It is not the good news of salvation by His grace. It is His revelation from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel. … It will be a question then not of believing the grace of God, but of seeing the glory of the Lord that is to be revealed.
Another writer weighs the word "glory" in this chapter:
In this passage the glory of the Lord is brought in by fire and by sword. … The glory of the Lord here comes with the execution of judgment; there is nothing of the gospel at all.
"All flesh" reaches beyond the nations outside Israel. Where the ESV says the Lord will "enter into judgment" with all flesh, the older translations the writers quote say He will "plead" with all flesh. One writer places salvation and judgment side by side, both aimed at all flesh:
God has made salvation known to all flesh. Now the Lord will enter into judgment with all flesh. The unbelieving, idol-worshipping Israelites will be there too, lumped in with the nations. God will gather them all, and they will come and see His glory. He will execute judgment on the crowd by fire and by His sword. But some will escape through grace.
A religious claim shelters no one. This judgment falls on enemies among God's ancient people as well as among the nations:
The Lord will come, as Isaiah says, with fire and with His chariots like a whirlwind. … Such will be the return of the Lord Jesus. He takes up His ancient people again, and deals with the enemies, Jewish or Gentile. … God's judgment of evil is always unsparing. Judaism and Christendom plead their privilege in vain to excuse their sins.
This coming means two opposite things at once. One writer sets the hope of the faithful next to the fate of the scoffers:
God encourages those who fear Him and wait for Him with the promise that the Lord would appear for their joy and deliverance. He would also appear to shame those who had turned away from Him — the ones who said in contempt, "Let the Lord display his glory." … This passage shows that He comes like a sudden whirlwind, and repays His enemies with the fire of judgment.
If the slain are many, who is left to fill the earth afterward? One writer finds the answer later in the same chapter:
All this is true, and many parts of Scripture describe it in full. Yet God also says that He will gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see His glory. So those who heard the gospel and rejected it will be destroyed. Those who never heard it, and so never rejected it, will then hear and be saved. At the flood God saved a very small remnant through the judgment, and that small remnant soon repopulated the earth.
Those who escape become messengers. Another writer sets out the order — judgment first, then the message:
In Isaiah 66 the prophet first tells of the warrior judgment, in which the Lord enters into judgment with all flesh by fire and by His sword (vv. 15, 16). Then he says the Lord will send those who escape to declare His glory among the Gentiles. These escaped ones are a spared remnant of Jews.
- Fire, not preaching. Glory arrives here by fire and sword. Commentators call this a day of judgment, not an offer of grace.
- Fire reaches all. "All flesh" leaves no one out. Unbelieving Israelites stand among the nations, and heritage shields nobody.
- Fire spares some. Grace brings a remnant safely through, just as a few came through the flood.
- Fire sends them out. The Lord sends the survivors to the nations, to declare the glory they have seen.
- Fire divides. One coming brings fire to His enemies, and joy and deliverance to those who wait for Him.
They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one in the midst; that eat swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall perish together, saith Jehovah.
Isaiah's last chapter closes with people taking great care to make themselves clean. God says they will come to an end together. It raises three questions. What does it mean to "sanctify" yourself? Why the unclean food and the hidden gardens? And when does the sentence fall?
The verb here does not mean these people became holy. Everything depends on what they set themselves apart for.
The word "sanctified" does not always mean we are made holy. It simply means being set apart. In Isaiah 66:17 we find men who sanctified themselves to do evil, set themselves apart to do evil. God sanctified the seventh day, set it aside for a definite purpose, before sin ever came into the world. The Lord Himself, praying about His disciples, said He sanctified Himself for their sakes. He did not need to be made holy. He set Himself apart for a purpose: to sanctify His own through the truth.
So the problem is not missing religion. It is deliberate religion, chosen and aimed at evil.
A garden in the Bible is not always sinister.
The garden was also seen as a place of delight, and it is often used as a picture of that in the Song of Songs. Gardens were also secluded places of secret sin. Isa. 65:3; Isa. 66:17.
Seclusion is the point. These people purify themselves where no one can see them.
Israel counted pig meat unclean. Isaiah's charge is that they ate it anyway, while still bringing offerings.
The pig is one of the animals classed as unclean, and the Jews are thought to have hated it as food. The prophet Isaiah, however, charges them with eating pig's flesh. Their apostasy was so deep that, he says, when they brought an offering it was as if they had offered pig's blood. Their heartless show of religion disgusted God. Isa. 65:4; Isa. 66:3, 17.
Commentators differ on who or what stands "in the midst." One reads it as a tree, and places the whole scene in Israel's future.
Idolatry will come into Israel (Isaiah 66:17), sanctifying themselves behind one tree in the midst, and so on.
One writer rejects reading this scene as a picture of gospel days.
The efforts of ancient and modern commentators to apply this passage, like the rest, to gospel times are desperate but useless. How clearly it is a day of judgement! It is not the good news of salvation by His grace, but His revelation from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel. Clearly the Jews in that day will not only set up their ritual again, but will also give themselves to heathen abominations. The day when God repays will come when old evils revive and blend with new sins. Then all will come before Jehovah in judgement, and a new era will dawn on both Jew and Gentile over the earth now cleansed. The question then will not be believing the grace of God, but seeing the glory of Jehovah that is to be revealed.
Note the word "together." Old evils and new ones meet one end at one moment.
Commentators differ on how far to press the application. Some keep it strictly to the nation; others hear a direct voice to the present.
There is also a sanctification in wickedness — separating ourselves in wickedness, which is an abomination in the sight of the Lord. Against that God says, "But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." No doubt this applies to the Jews, and their clinging to the man of sin. But it also has a solemn voice to us in these last days. Yes, the very last and worst marks of these last days. Can anything be worse than a showy separation from others that only leads to worse evil? Oh, beware of these mockers of the last days. "These are the ones who separate themselves; they are worldly and do not have the Spirit." (Jude.)
Stanley quotes Jude 19 in an older wording. The ESV reads, "It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit."
- Set apart — by whom? "Sanctify" means to separate for a purpose. God sets apart; here men set themselves apart, and the purpose is evil. The word alone proves nothing about a person's state.
- Set apart — where? The garden is a hidden place. Isaiah points to a cleansing done out of sight, where the sin hides too.
- Set apart — with what food? Pig and mouse were unclean food. They kept the forms of worship and ate what God banned. Commentators call that apostasy, and the offering itself disgusts God.
- Set apart — for what day? Writers place this in a future return of idolatry to Israel. God answers it in flaming fire, when old evils merge with new sins. Then the issue is not believing grace but seeing glory.
- Set apart — or self-appointed? The lasting warning is showy separation that people choose for themselves and that leads to worse evil. God looks instead to the humble person who trembles at His word.
And I, -- their works and their thoughts [are before me]. ... [The time] cometh for the gathering of all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
Isaiah's last chapter ends with fire, sword, and judgment on all flesh — and then with a promise to gather every nation and language. Two questions follow: what does it mean that God knows their works and their thoughts, and when does this gathering happen?
The verse opens with what God knows: their works and their thoughts. One writer places this line among the passages that show the Lord reads the heart.
The Lord Jesus, when He was on earth, showed His knowledge of the thoughts of men's hearts (Matt. 9:4; Luke 5:22; Luke 11:17); for He is the One who "searches all hearts and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts" (1 Chron. 28:9; Ps. 94:11). And the psalmist, feeling this knowledge, throws open his heart for divine inspection, saying, "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" (Psalm 139:23-24).
When does this gathering happen, and how? One commentator gives a rule for reading passages like this one.
Turn now to Isaiah 66, where the glory of the Lord is also spoken of. When we look at these passages that people quote so often, it is always an excellent plan to read the context. Here fire and sword bring in the glory of the Lord... The glory of the Lord here comes with the execution of judgment; there is nothing of the gospel at all.
Some have objected that the nations listed in the next verse — Tarshish, Tubal, Javan — had long since heard of the God of Israel, so this must describe the spread of the gospel rather than a future event. That objection is answered directly.
Vitringa argues on verse 19 that no future call of the nations can be meant here, because those named have long since known the God of Israel. That argument seems to have no real force. For even the Christian world will then have fallen away from the faith (2 Thess. 2). And besides, hearing the Lord's fame and seeing His glory point to the display of Himself that He will then make here below. How few people look for the future as God's word describes it!
"All nations and tongues" recalls the day God divided human speech and scattered the nations. One writer asks whether that judgment still stands.
Long ago the Lord scattered the nations (see Gen. 11). That was judgment on a bold move of theirs. They all had one speech and one language, and they tried to make themselves independent of God. And has He reversed that judgment? There is indeed an appointed time when it will be reversed. Jerusalem will be a centre. The nations will flock to Zion, there to see the King in His beauty.
If judgment is that severe, who survives to fill the earth in the coming reign? This verse and the next one answer that.
I have often found people unable to understand who will fill the earth during the millennium, seeing that the Lord comes with such terrible judgment on the wicked. If we examine Isaiah 66, the difficulty disappears... The way this happens is described there too: God sets a sign among them, and sends those of them who escape out to distant nations, to peoples who have not heard His fame or seen His glory, and they declare His glory among the nations. So while those who have heard and rejected the gospel will be destroyed, those who have not heard, and so have not rejected it in the same way, will then hear and be saved.
The gathered nations do not just arrive. A Sign stands among them, and one writer follows the chapter through to what comes next.
Inside the city — now lifted up as the royal city of the Great King, the holy city of the Lord — we see His glory displayed, and God sets the Sign among them. Yes, they will bring the children of Israel to His holy mountain Jerusalem as an offering, and some of them will be taken for priests and Levites (v. 20). And all flesh will come to worship before Him, says the Lord (v. 23).
- Known — God opens with what He knows: works and thoughts alike. Nothing about the nations is hidden from the One who gathers them.
- Gathered — What He knows, He acts on. He gathers the nations with fire and sword, not with gospel preaching; read the verses around this one and you find judgment.
- Reversed — What God scattered in judgment, He gathers again at Zion. "All nations and tongues" undoes the old division, and the nations flock to see the King.
- Sent — Those who survive the judgment become the messengers. Peoples who never heard God's fame hear it from those who escape, and they are saved. That is how the earth fills in the age to come.
- Worshipping — The end of the chain is worship. God sets a Sign among them, brings Israel home from every nation, and all flesh comes to worship before Him.
And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that 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.
Isaiah 66 closes the book with the Lord coming in fire to judge all flesh. Then a mission goes out to the ends of the earth. Two questions follow: what is the "sign" God sets, and who are the "survivors" He sends?
The verse sits inside a scene of judgment, yet it turns toward mercy. One writer points to what happens in the middle of that day:
But in the middle of this terrible day of His anger on the nations, the prophet hints that the Lord will give some sign. At that sign, it may be, there will be repentance and a turning of heart, and then an escape out of this day of wrath. This is striking. This is a remnant from the nations brought to the Lord, as at the eleventh hour.
Among whom is the sign set? One writer places it in the middle of Israel, and finds the messengers there too.
It will be in the middle of Israel — the newborn nation, so richly blessed in their Messiah — that the Sign of God will be set. The Sign will stand in supreme sovereignty and divine excellence on display, drawing by its grace those who come with worshipping hearts to see His glory. Israel's survivors will carry the news over the world. Having come out of all nations, they will be well fitted in word and wisdom to bring it to all.
Commentators differ here. Bellett, quoted above, takes them as spared people from among the judged nations. Others take them as a spared remnant of Jews, sent out after the judgment.
After this judgment, carried out either by the Lord in person, or by the Jews as His instruments, comes the gospel of the kingdom, in which the glory of Him who has come to reign is declared. This is a message of peace, and it goes out to all the nations. The messengers of this gospel are probably Jews. The escaped ones referred to here are a spared remnant of Jews.
The places named come from the table of nations in Genesis. Javan stands behind the peoples of the coasts and islands.
Fourth son of Japheth, and father of Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. "From these came the distribution of the isles of the nations." Genesis 10:2, 4; 1 Chronicles 1:5, 7. Matching this is Isaiah 66:19, where God sends His messengers to Javan, to the islands far away, where He will make His glory known.
The phrase "who draw the bow" points to peoples known for archery. One writer traces these bowmen to Africa:
Those who spread west of the Nile were archers, as we learn from Isaiah 66:19 and Jeremiah 46:9, where the African peoples seem to be listed and described in this way.
Some read the verse as already fulfilled in the Christian era. One writer answers by pointing to who is being gathered now:
All this is clearly not the same as the gospel or its effects, but stands in the most certain and obvious contrast with it. The offering now is characteristically of the Gentiles, as we see in Romans 15:16, and as experience shows. Jews are no doubt converted now as ever, but they are relatively rare. The prophet is looking at the day when "all Israel will be saved."
Kelly also answers an old objection to taking the verse as still future:
The argument that no future call of the nations can be meant here, because those named have long since known the God of Israel, seems to have no real force. For even Christendom — the professing Christian world — will then have fallen away. Besides, the hearing of Jehovah's fame and seeing His glory refers to the showing of Himself that He will then make here below. How little people look for the future according to God's word!
If judgment falls so widely, who is left to fill the earth afterward?
So those who have heard and rejected the gospel will be destroyed. Those who have not heard, and so have not rejected it in the same way, will then hear and be saved. At the flood only a very small remnant came through the judgment alive, but that small remnant soon repopulated the earth. In the same way the remnant of Israel, brought through the judgments, will carry the good news of the kingdom to those who have not heard.
A people once walled in becomes a people sent out:
They had a priesthood within, but no ministry going out. Their system was not a missionary one; rather, they were walled in. But we should not forget that the day is coming when they will be, in the truest sense, a missionary people.
- Judgment first. The verse follows the Lord coming in fire; the sign is set in the middle of that day, not before it.
- Mercy next. The sign brings repentance and escape "at the eleventh hour" — judgment itself leaves survivors.
- Sending after that. God sends those spared to Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Tubal, Javan and the coastlands far away — nations that have never heard His fame.
- Reach without limit. The names come from the table of nations in Genesis, so the mission runs to the outer edges of the known world.
- Result: a filled earth. Those who never heard will hear and be saved, and a people once walled in becomes a missionary people.