Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child.
Isaiah's last chapter announces a birth in words that turn nature upside down. The child arrives before the labour. That raises two questions: who is this son, and why is there no pain?
One writer compares this birth with the other Scriptures about Zion giving birth:
Another Scripture speaks of Zion's bringing forth, but it is of a very different kind. In the last chapter of Isaiah the reference is to a birth, but there it happens in one day... this passage in Isaiah 66 stands in contrast with the others. The circumstances mentioned are the exact reverse of those that go with a natural birth.
One writer explains how Israel's anguish and the birth of Christ fit together:
It may be hard to square Israel's anguish in labour with what actually happened when Christ was born... The labour and pain refer to Israel's coming hour of trial, the Great Tribulation. But the Messiah, the Man-Child, is born before that great event... The woman's labour comes at least two thousand years after the birth of the Messiah. It refers to her sorrow in the coming Tribulation.
Verse 7 and verse 8 are not saying the same thing twice. One writer separates them, and shows who the first child is and why everything hangs on Him:
In verse 7 we read of the "Man Child." Do not confuse Him with the "nation," Zion's "children," at the end of the next verse. They come to birth naturally, at the proper time. In the case of the "Man Child" it is extraordinary; it is exceptional, and remarkable. All the hopes of a nation, especially of Israel, according to the promises of God, centre in a Man Child. Israel will be brought as low as it can possibly go. How then will God's promises to them be made good? This remarkable "Man Child," who comes on the scene at the very time of Israel's distress, is the answer. ... But the "Man Child" — the Seed of David, the Seed of Abraham, the Seed of the woman — is the Sign of God, and the divine explanation of it all. He is there. And the tiny remnant will be able to say, in the face of all their enemies, "EMMANUEL!" "GOD IS WITH US!"
Childbirth has always carried pain. One writer explains why this birth is different:
Zion will then be the mother — the Zion of the land of Israel — just as the "Jerusalem above" is the mother now. The ancient pain and penalty will be taken off. God will no longer say to her, "in sorrow you shall bring forth children," but "as soon as Zion was in labour, she brought forth her children." This is because the Lord is there, acting in His own power. "Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth, says the Lord?"
After the son comes a whole nation, appearing in a single day:
Shall a nation be born at once? is the question asked in surprise. And the answer is quite clearly — Yes, it will... The Israel that will enter the blessing of the thousand-year kingdom will be a new Israel, born again and so cleansed from their old life and ways.
Commentators differ over what that birth means. Another writer takes it as national, not individual:
Some say Israel must believe as a nation, that the nation will be born in a day, and that Zion is in labour and brings forth. But it is surely wrong to take that as new birth, a truth the Old Testament never speaks of as such. At the time of their deliverance the remnant will come to the birth, as the new nation of Israel. That is true, and that is what this means. The idea that as individuals they were not born again before is unwarranted and false.
No past disaster in Jerusalem's history matches what Isaiah describes here:
Rome's destruction of Jerusalem was no real fulfilment of this, but it will be fulfilled to the letter, as many prophecies say... Then will follow the new birth, the gathering in of Zion's children. They will no longer be Abraham's seed in name only, but his children in deed and in truth. Nothing of the kind followed Nebuchadnezzar's capture of the city, and nothing followed when Titus took Jerusalem.
- Before — the whole verse turns on that one word. The birth comes ahead of the labour, the exact reverse of the natural order.
- The Son first — the Man Child is Christ, born long before the nation's hour of anguish. The long gap between His birth and their pain goes unmentioned.
- The children next — verse 7 gives a son, verse 8 gives a people. Do not confuse the extraordinary birth with the natural one.
- No sorrow — the ancient penalty on childbirth is gone, because the Lord Himself is there and at work.
- Not yet — neither Babylon nor Rome fulfilled this. God has still to gather Zion's children, Abraham's children in truth and not in name only.
Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Can a land be made to bring forth in one day? shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her sons.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith Jehovah; I who cause to bring forth, shall I shut [the womb]? saith thy God.
The two questions in this verse are not really questions. They are God's way of saying that what He starts, He finishes. They answer a fear: that the promised restoration might stop halfway. They also raise a harder question — when does this birth happen, and who is born?
The verse turns on who is speaking. One writer links this birth without pain to God's own presence, and sets beside it the promise that Sarah would have a son.
The word to her will not be, "in pain you shall bring forth children," but, "as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children." This is because the Lord is there, working in His own power. "Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?" says the LORD. "I will return to you, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." This explains to us this birth without the ancient penalty.
One writer sets this promise beside an earlier moment in Isaiah, where the birth stalls for lack of strength — and beside the joy that follows.
Again, "children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth" (Isa. 37:3). Now note Isaiah 66:9-10, "Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?" says the LORD … "Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her." Why? She "delivered a son" (v. 7). Who has heard such a thing? A NATION born in one day! "As soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children" (v. 8).
Verse 8 asks whether a nation can be born in a single day. Our verse is God's reply. One writer gives that answer, and says what kind of nation this will be.
Shall a nation be born in one day? is the question asked in surprise. And the answer is clearly — Yes, it will… The Israel that will enter the blessing of the millennium will be a new Israel. They will be born again, and so cleansed from their old life and ways.
Commentators differ over whether this birth is the new birth of individuals. One holds that it is the nation, not the person, that comes to birth.
It is true that at the time of their deliverance the remnant will come to the birth, as the new nation of Israel. That is what this means. But the idea that they were not born again as individuals before then is unwarranted and false.
Many have read this passage as a picture of the church labouring and seeing souls converted. One writer pushes back.
I know well how often people have applied this to the Christian church. They say that when she labours in birth for souls, crowds are born — that is, converted. But it is Jerusalem we are reading about here, not the church. And what stirs wonder and delight everywhere is the birth of a nation — Israel appearing again as a nation — not the new birth of souls.
Some place the fulfilment in events already past. One writer denies that the Roman destruction of Jerusalem fulfilled this, and points instead to the Lord's reign.
What is described here is not the gospel. It is the effect of the Lord taking His great power and reigning, as in Rev. 11:15-18… The Roman destruction of Jerusalem did not adequately fulfil this. But it will be fulfilled to the letter, as many prophecies say… Then will follow the new birth, or gathering in, of Zion's children. They will no longer be Abraham's seed in name only, but his children in deed and in truth.
God's care does not stop at the delivery. The same writer goes on to what the mother does next.
When she has brought forth her children in this way, this mother will nurture and cherish them. She will feed them from her breasts, and nurse them on her knees.
- Promise. God asks whether He brings a thing to the point of birth and then stops. The question carries its own answer: He does not abandon what He has begun.
- Power. The old cry was that the children had come to birth with no strength to deliver them. Here the strength is God's, so the delivery is certain.
- Speed. A nation born in one day is not a slow process but a sudden act, and the Israel that enters that blessing is a new Israel.
- Subject. This is Jerusalem and the nation, not the church. Commentators differ on whether it also covers the new birth of individuals.
- Provision. The birth is not the end. The same God who delivers the children then feeds and cherishes them.
Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her
The call in this verse comes right after a startling promise. Zion gives birth suddenly, and a whole nation is born in a day. The call then names two groups who seem opposite: those who love Jerusalem and those who mourn over her. They turn out to be the same people.
The call assumes a present sorrow over Jerusalem's condition. One writer treats the mourning as something happening now, and the joy as still ahead.
In view of this, all those who love Jerusalem, and at present mourn for her, may well rejoice. Her prosperity and glory will be a joy to behold.
So the verse does not call two different crowds. Love for the city and grief over it mark the same people. Another commentator names the day when their joy arrives:
It will be the day of the LORD, when man's and Israel's sad history is reversed. Those who loved Jerusalem and mourned for her will rejoice for her and share the rich results of her blessedness.
Many readers take this passage as a picture of church growth — crowds of souls converted at once. One writer rejects that reading.
Isaiah 66:8–11 foretells a restoration of Jerusalem and of Israel that is plainly still future. I know well how often people apply this to the Christian church. They say that when she is in labour for souls, multitudes are born — that is, converted. But it is Jerusalem, not the church, of which we are reading here. And it is the birth of a nation — Israel's reappearance as such — that excites universal wonder and delight, not the regeneration of souls.
The joy commanded here has a real city and a real people as its object.
The joy of that day differs in kind from Christian joy now.
Yet it is in no way the character of gospel joy, which blends inward comfort by the Spirit's power with shame and sorrow and rejection in the world. It is the future day — not of grace and salvation only, as it is today, but of vengeance as well.
The call to rejoice sits inside a chapter of judgment. One summary of the chapter sets the order out: judgment first, then the glory of the restored nation.
This chapter gives the judgment that brings in the glory and blessedness of the restored nation. The last part of Isaiah 65 describes that nation. First we meet the remnant who fear the name of the LORD and wait for Him. Then we meet those in the nation who have abandoned Him. The promise encourages the first group: the Lord will appear for their joy and deliverance, and to the shame of those who abandoned Him.
Another writer points to the single event that turns the whole scene.
As in Zechariah 14, so here, it is the Lord's appearing that ends the sorrows of the remnant. It throws their enemies into confusion. It opens the time of Jerusalem's full glory and the earth's full blessing under the rule of Christ.
The verse says "all you who love her" and sets no limit on who that is. One writer sees the nations drawn into that gladness.
The voice of joy will not sound in Jerusalem or in Israel's land alone. Zion's breasts of consolation will nurse other children besides her own. Gentiles will freely rejoice as they share the grace that the LORD waits to bring, in that day, to the people of His mercy.
- Mourn — Those told to rejoice are the ones who grieve over Jerusalem now. One love produces both.
- Judgment — The joy does not start on its own. The Lord's appearing ends the remnant's sorrows and shames the mockers. Only then does the gladness begin.
- Birth — The wonder is a nation reborn in a day, not a harvest of individual souls. The subject is Jerusalem herself.
- Overflow — The circle widens past Israel. Zion's consolations feed children not her own, and the nations join the rejoicing.
- Reversal — On that day God turns Israel's sad history around. Those who wept for her share the riches of her blessing.
because ye shall suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; because ye shall drink out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.
Isaiah 66 pictures a restored Jerusalem as a mother, and verse 11 invites those who love her to feed at her breast. It raises simple questions: who is this mother, who are the children, and when does this feeding happen?
The image is not decoration. Jerusalem gives birth first, and then she feeds and holds the children she has borne. Her glory is what they feed on.
If the judgment, like lightning, has removed the wicked, then the presence of the Lord has adopted and filled Jerusalem. He has seated her in her millennial place, as the mother of children on the right hand and on the left. For "the Lord is there." … And when she has brought forth her children in this way, this mother will nurture and cherish them. She will satisfy them from her breasts and nurse them on her knees. The children of the kingdom will feed on the choice provisions of Zion. Then they will keep their holidays to the Lord, delighting themselves with the abundance of her glory.
Many readers take this passage as a picture of the church growing as souls are converted. One writer answers that the chapter names someone else.
I know well how often people have applied this to the Christian church. They say that when she is in labour for souls, multitudes are born — that is, converted. But it is Jerusalem, not the church, that we are reading about here. And what stirs universal wonder and delight is the birth of a nation — Israel's reappearance as such — not the regeneration of souls.
The ones who drink are the ones who loved Jerusalem and mourned for her. Their joy, though, is not the joy Christians know today.
It will be the day of Jehovah, when God will reverse man's and Israel's sad history. Those who loved and mourned for Jerusalem will rejoice for her and share the rich results of her blessedness. Yet it is in no way the character of gospel joy. Gospel joy blends inward comfort by the Spirit's power with shame and sorrow and rejection in the world.
The milk does not stay inside one family. Commentators differ on which way it flows. One reads Judah as the source that feeds everyone else:
Judah will become the means of nourishment and blessing. That blessing will reach not only the ten tribes, but all the nations of the earth.
Another reads the nations as the ones who nurse Israel:
For long centuries the sons of Israel have not believed in their Messiah and have rejected Him. In that time they have stood out for their skill at drawing wealth and profit out of the Gentile world. The bad features that have marked them in doing this will be gone when they are a born-again nation. The saved of the nations will act toward them as a nursing mother. Peace will flow like a river, instead of resentment and disturbance on every side. The hand of God will be in all this, for His word is, "so will I comfort you."
The order matters. Judgment clears the way, and only then does Jerusalem give birth.
Then will follow the new birth, or gathering in, of Zion's children. They will no longer be Abraham's seed in name only, but his children in deed and in truth.
- Born — the feeding in verse 11 follows a birth. Zion's children come first; the milk comes after. They are "his children in deed and in truth," not Abraham's family in name only.
- Fed — the mother does not give birth and then leave. She "will nurture and cherish them," and she "will satisfy them from her breasts and nurse them on her knees."
- Shared — the nourishment overflows the family. One reading has Judah feeding "all the nations of the earth." Another has "the saved of the nations" nursing Israel. Either way, the breast is not private property.
- Mourned for — those who drink then are those who "loved and mourned for Jerusalem." Grief over her now marks out the drinkers later.
- Jerusalem, literally — the mother is a city on a map, not a symbol borrowed for another people: "it is Jerusalem, not the church, that we are reading about here."
For thus saith Jehovah Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing torrent; and ye shall suck, ye shall be carried upon the side, and be dandled upon the knees.
Isaiah 66 closes the book with a promise to Jerusalem: two streams, one of peace and one of wealth from the nations. The verse raises three questions — when this comes, why peace is compared to a river, and what place the nations have in it.
This promise does not belong to the present age. One commentator ties this whole section to the moment God takes open power and rules the earth.
It is not the gospel that is here described, but the effect of the Lord's taking His great power and reigning, according to Revelation 11:15-18. It is the world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ actually come.
The picture is exact. A river's whole worth lies in one thing: it never stops moving.
Peace is a higher thing than comfort, a deeper thing than joy, a more solid thing than rest. While I am here my comforts may shrink, my joy may be shaken, my rest may be broken. But my peace flows as a river. Interrupt the flow of a river, and it is a river no longer. You may dam up its waters, but you only make them stagnant; you may have widened their area, but you have only spread out ruin. Their freshness and their fruitfulness depend on their unbroken, unchanging flow. So a river is the Bible's picture of PEACE.
Why does the city receive this at all? Not because she has earned it. One writer traces the gift back to God's own right to show mercy.
Their state then will show the righteousness of the Lord. Their earlier state was their own fault. This mercy was His alone to give; compare Isaiah 48:18 and Matthew 23:37.
The flow has a source. One writer ties this peace to the Lord's death for the nation.
The Lord will come back to His people in the value of accomplished atonement — of His death for the nation. Through His grace they will have afflicted their souls, as He appointed. So He will justly bring them into the enjoyment of all the power of His death, and cause their peace to flow like a river. He will speak peace to all His seed.
The second stream is the glory of the nations. One writer says the ranking between Israel and the nations in that day will be nothing like today's.
In the kingdom of Christ, the Gentiles are to be subject to Israel; they are to hold a lower or subordinate place. This is important; for under the present arrangement the great truth is that "in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, Barbarian nor Scythian, slave nor free."
The verse ends with nursing: fed, carried, bounced on the knee. One writer reads it against Israel's long record of drawing wealth out of the nations.
For long centuries the sons of Israel have not believed and have rejected their Messiah. In all that time people have noted their skill at drawing wealth and profit out of the Gentile world. The objectionable features that marked them in doing this will have disappeared when they are a born-again nation. The saved of the nations will act toward them as a nursing mother. Peace will flow as a river, instead of resentment and disturbance on every side. The hand of God will be in all this, for His word is, "so I will comfort you."
That same day has another side. One writer sets what it brings to those who mourned for Jerusalem next to the vengeance it also brings.
It will be the day of Jehovah, when man's and Israel's sad history is turned around. Those who loved Jerusalem and mourned for her will rejoice over her and share the rich results of her blessing. It is the future day, not of grace and salvation only as it is today, but of vengeance also. Jehovah will not stop short as He once did on earth. Then He was proclaiming the acceptable year of Jehovah, and only that. Soon He will proclaim and carry out both that year and the day of vengeance.
- Source. The peace is not earned. Israel's earlier state was their own fault. God extends peace anyway — mercy that is His alone to give, resting on the value of Christ's death for the nation.
- Flow. A river pictures peace because its worth is that it never stops. Dam it and you get stagnation, not plenty.
- Reach. The second stream is the glory of the nations. Their wealth turns toward Jerusalem, and in that day the nations hold a place under Israel.
- Care. The nations will nurse Israel instead of resenting her. The comfort itself is God's: "so I will comfort you."
- Timing. This belongs to the reign of Christ, not the present age. The day that brings this comfort brings vengeance too.
As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.