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.
And ye shall see [this], and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants, and he will have indignation toward his enemies.
Isaiah's last chapter reaches the moment when Jerusalem's sorrow turns to joy. This verse marks the turn: first sight, then gladness of heart, then new strength. Everything rests on one event. The Lord acts in the open, and His hand is felt in two directions at once.
Until now God had appealed to hearts through His word. Here that changes. One writer ties "You shall see" to a public act of God, not to a message.
So no longer by testimony to the heart, but by open judgment will Jehovah decide between one and another. The scoffing of unbelievers, which troubled the heavenly people for so long, will then be put to shame before the poor in spirit of the earthly people. It is not the gospel that is described here, 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 verse steps back from the picture of a restored city to name the event that produces it.
Verses 7-9 depict the solemnity and suddenness of the transition; then, to verse 13, the prophet joyfully portrays the blessing and glory that follow; returning in verse 14 to the event itself, the coming of the Lord.
The joy here is not the joy believers know today. One writer contrasts what the Lord announced at His first coming with what He will do at His return.
This is in no way the kind of gospel joy that blends inward comfort by the Spirit's power with shame, sorrow and rejection in the world. It will be the future day, not of grace and salvation only as it is today, but of vengeance also, when Jehovah will not stop short as He once did on earth (Luke 4:20). Then He was proclaiming the acceptable year of Jehovah, and this only. Later He will proclaim and carry out both that year and the day of vengeance. For this is in His heart, and the year of His redeemed has come. Both will be fulfilled then without hindrance or delay. It will be the beginning of His day, and of the millennial reign.
The word "servants" has a history through Isaiah. One writer traces who has carried it.
Let us trace here the use of the word servant. First of all it was Israel. Then Christ Himself, the only true Servant among this people. After that, the remnant who listened to His words as the Servant, or Spirit of prophecy. For the Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. These last are the ones called servants here. They shall be comforted in Jerusalem, as one whom his mother comforts. And the hand of Jehovah shall be known toward His servants, and His indignation toward His enemies.
One writer counts the mentions of "servants" in these last chapters. This verse is the ninth and last.
(9) "The hand of the Lord shall be known towards His servants, and His indignation toward His enemies" (Isaiah 66:14). And this sums up the position at the end in a few words. The oppressing hypocrites say they are holier than the others (Isaiah 65:5); but God says they are a smoke in His nose… the Lord is at hand with judgment for the wicked and with full blessing for His servants.
The enemies here are not only foreign powers. Earlier in the chapter, their own countrymen throw out the faithful few — the remnant. One moment answers both sides.
From verse 5, it is clear that the remnant will suffer not only at the hands of the Gentile oppressor, but also from the hatred of their brothers according to the flesh… Then, as before, those who are of the flesh will persecute those who are of the Spirit under a religious cover: "but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed." As in Zechariah 14, so here, it is the Lord's appearing that ends the sorrows of "the remnant." It brings confusion on the adversaries. It opens the time of Jerusalem's full glory and the earth's full blessedness under the rule of Christ.
Many read this passage as a picture of revival in the church. One writer rejects that reading.
I know well how often people apply this to the Christian church. They say that when she is in labour for souls, crowds are born — that is, converted. But it is Jerusalem, not the church, that we are reading about here. And it is the birth of a nation — Israel's reappearance as such — that stirs universal wonder and delight, not the new birth of souls.
- Seeing — the promise starts with sight, not hearing. God stops appealing to the heart by testimony and settles the matter by open judgment.
- Comfort — the "servants" are those who trembled at His word, whom their own people threw out. His hand is known toward them.
- Reviving — heart and bones together. These are the marks of a nation brought back to life when He appears.
- Indignation — one coming, two outcomes. It comforts the servants and shames the enemies.
- Kingdom — the end is not revival in the church. It is Jerusalem restored and Christ reigning on earth.
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.