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October 2, 2026 |
| Isaiah 66 | ||
In this chapter of Isaiah, God speaks about the arrogance of the Jews and how he expects humility, but he also speaks about the eternal life.
The particular arrogance in focus is their choosing of how they will live. They did some things that were like the life God wanted them to live, but they would also do things that they liked that were not what God wanted. Therefore they were the choosers, that is, the kings of their lives.
It's one thing to try to live the life God wants, but sometimes fail, but it is a different thing to decide when and how you will live that life.
God doesn't spend much time on that, though, as he turns to encouraging the Jewish believers who remain true to him. They are being mistreated because they are true. God tells them that they will see the revelation of his glory. Then God spends a lot of time talking about the glorious destiny of Jerusalem and the Jews in the eternal life.
Thus says Yahweh,
"Heaven is My throne, and the earth is the footstool of My feet.
Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that I may rest?
2 For My hand made all these things,
Thus all these things came into being," declares Yahweh.
"But to this one I will look,
To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. (Isaiah 66:1-2)
The New Testament quotes parts of these verses. In Acts 7:49-50, Stephen quotes them to argue that God does not dwell in temples made by hands. He is making this point, just before they will kill him, to show them that their focus on the temple is misplaced.
"But he who slaughters an ox is the one who strikes down a man;
He who sacrifices a lamb is the one who breaks a dog's neck;
He who offers a grain offering is the one who offers swine's blood;
He who offers a memorial offering of frankincense is the one who blesses wickedness.
As they have chosen their own ways,
And their soul takes pleasure in their detestable things, (Isaiah 66:3)
The first 4 lines of this verse present 4 comparisons. What you do not see here, but will see in most other translations, is the word "like," for example, "he who slaughters an ox is like the one who strikes down a man." But a direct translation from the Hebrew is "The one slaughtering an ox strikes down a man."
This addition of "like" is churchianity struggling and failing to understand what God is saying. Below is a churchian understanding of the message.
The verse states: "He who sacrifices a lamb is like one who breaks a dog's neck," equating the act of sacrificing a pure lamb with the abominable act of breaking the neck of an unclean dog, thereby rendering the worship worthless and detestable to God. (Some AI)
This is wrong. It is also not logical. The verse is not "equating" the pairs of items, that is, not saying that slaughtering an ox is as terrible as killing a man. It is saying that a man does both. He does something that would be a sacrifice to God, and then he does something evil. Then the verse says, "they have chosen their own ways," meaning that they have not chosen God's ways. Therefore they are not God's people, and their sacrifices are ignored by God as though they were the sacrifices of Gentiles.
If the same message were written for our time, it would be more like, "You go to church and sing songs about me and raise your hands in praise, but then you go home and slander, gossip, lie, and reject the parts of my word that you don't like."
That takes us back to the first verse, "I will look [approvingly] on the one who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word." Arrogance, which is the opposite of humility, says, "I will do it my way, and God will approve."
"So I will choose their punishments
And will bring on them what they dread,
Because I called, but no one answered;
I spoke, but they did not listen.
And they did what was evil in My eyes
And chose that in which I did not take pleasure." (Isaiah 66:3-6)
This set of verses connects to the previous verses with a "So," which could also be "Therefore" or "Thus," meaning that the coming statement is a result of what was said before. So, "[I] will bring on them what they dread" is the result of "their soul takes pleasure in their detestable things." This plays "pleasure" against "dread." We know this is the correct analysis because "pleasure" also appears in this set of verses.
But what is the thing that they dread that will be their punishment? The answer comes in another word that also repeats in this set of verses: "chose." They fear losing their "right" to choose, which is exactly what they will lose when they become slaves to their conquerors. This is also the cause of their current situation with God. Instead of giving up their "right" to choose by submitting their will to God's will, they want to choose, and to be the kings of their lives.
God also shows that this punishment is a reasonable and necessary step when he says that he called them (in warning), but they would not listen. Under the Old Covenant, God had the right to correct his people. He will now be exercising that clause.
Hear the word of Yahweh, you who tremble at His word:
"Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name's sake,
Have said, 'Let Yahweh be glorified, that we may see your gladness.'
But they will be put to shame.
6 A voice of rumbling from the city, a voice from the temple,
The voice of Yahweh who is paying recompense to His enemies. (Isaiah 66:3-6)
God now speaks to those in Israel who still trust in him.
The phrase "for My name's sake," and, really, the whole clause "Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name's sake" express an idea that appears frequently in the New Testament.
And you will be hated by everyone because of my name, but whoever will endure until the end, he will be saved. (Matthew 10:22)
When the verse says, "Let Yahweh be glorified …" the point is not clear. It is a sarcastic allusion to the hope of the Jews who await the revelation of God. By this, the unbelievers are saying that the gladness of the believers depends on an event that never comes (implicitly never will), but they are always glad.
God responds by saying their gladness will be turned to shame. In the next verses, he continues with that thought.
"Before she was in labor pains, she gave birth;
Before her pangs came, she delivered a male child.
8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things?
Can a land be brought forth through labor pains in one day?
Can a nation be born all at once?
As soon as Zion was in labor pains, she also gave birth to her sons.
9 Shall I bring to the point of breaking forth and not cause birth?" says Yahweh.
"Or shall I who causes birth shut the womb?" says your God. (Isaiah 66:7-9)
God offers these words of encouragement to the believers who are hated and being ostracized and mocked. There are different views about the event that is referred to here. A common one is that it refers to the future return of the Jews from Babylon and Medo-Persia. Without a struggle, the Jews were released, and on the day that they arrived in Jerusalem, the population shot up from 0 to tens of thousands.
I think, though, that God is referring to all of the things he will do, from the coming purification by slaughter at the hands of the Babylonians through to the Second Coming. That is supported by the following verses, which speak of a far distant future.
God's point is that he has foretold these things that will happen. Will he now try to stop them from happening? So the message is: do not be concerned; these things will happen.
"Be glad with Jerusalem and rejoice for her, all you who love her;
Be exceedingly joyful with her, all you who mourn over her,
11 That you may nurse and be satisfied with her comforting breasts,
That you may suck and be delighted with her bountiful bosom."
12 For thus says Yahweh, "Behold, I stretch out 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 the hip and played with on the knees.
13 As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you;
And you will be comforted in Jerusalem."
14 Then you will see this, and your heart will be joyful,
And your bones will flourish like the new grass;
And the hand of Yahweh will be made known to His slaves,
But He will be indignant toward His enemies.
15 For behold, Yahweh will come in fire
And His chariots like the whirlwind,
To return His anger with wrath,
And His rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire
And by His sword on all flesh,
And those slain by Yahweh will be many.
17 "Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens,
Following one in the center,
Who eat swine's flesh, detestable things, and mice,
Will come to an end altogether," declares Yahweh. (Isaiah 66:10-17)
God speaks of a future when:
Verse 17 can be very confusing because it seems to contradict itself with purified people doing things that make them impure. This translation does a good job of rendering it.
"Those who [vainly attempt to] sanctify and cleanse themselves to go to the gardens [to sacrifice to idols], following after one in the center, who eat swine's flesh, detestable things and mice, will come to an end together," says the LORD. (Isaiah 66:17 Amplified Bible)
"And I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory. 19 I will set a sign among them and will send those who have escaped from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal, and Javan (Greece), to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My report nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations. 20 Then they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as a grain offering to Yahweh, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says Yahweh, "just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of Yahweh. 21 I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites," says Yahweh. (Isaiah 66:18-21)
God continues to answer the earlier sarcasm against his believers, saying that all the nations will see the glory you desire to see. Others will spread the news of his glory to those who "have not heard my report." This concept of "my report" or "our report" appears in other chapters of Isaiah as a reference to the First Coming.
"For just as the new heavens and the new earth
Which I make will endure before Me," declares Yahweh,
"So your seed and your name will endure.
23 And it shall be from new moon to new moon
And from Sabbath to Sabbath,
All mankind will come to worship before Me," says Yahweh.
24 "Then they will go forth and look
On the corpses of the men
Who have transgressed against Me.
For their worm will not die
And their fire will not be quenched;
And they will be an object of contempt to all mankind." (Isaiah 66:22-24)
God is speaking here of the time after Judgment Day, when the Earth and Heavens we know are destroyed to create a New Heavens and New Earth.
Many people quote the part about the New Moon and Sabbath as evidence that these days will be observed again. They are not meant in that way here. This is the eternal rest or eternal Sabbath that God promised his people; how can people be resting more than that? God's intent here is to speak about the spiritual nature of the sabbath and New Moon feasts being part of our lives.
This chapter of Isaiah began with God asking, "Where is a place that I may rest?" and it ends with God describing the eternal rest where he can be with his people.
The New Testament quotes parts of this set of verses. In Mark 9:44,46,48, Jesus cites Isaiah 66:24 to describe the unending nature of Gehenna, which is a metaphor for what we know of as the Lake of Fire. Jesus says, "their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." This appears in other places in the Bible as a metaphor drawn from the piles of bodies of dead warriors. There were so many bodies that it might be thought the worms would dine forever, and the fire that was started from the bodies would burn forever.
Both 2nd Peter 3:13 and Revelation 21:1 speak of the New Heaven and New Earth, where God's people and name endure forever.
This chapter of Isaiah began with God describing creation as a place where he sits and rests his feet. He asks how humans can be so arrogant as to think they can create a place for him to live. Then he says he will look to the person who is humble. At the end, he will talk about the place that he will create for his people, those who are humble and contrite.
Then God begins talking about how Israel lives according to its own rules. He says you do things that look like what I asked for, but then you do horrible things.
The key word here is "chosen." The people are choosing to do the things they want to do. They haven't chosen to submit their will to God. This is arrogance.
God says he has tried to speak to them, but they would not listen. Therefore he has to take it to the next level. He will punish them in the way they dread the most, which is also the issue between them and God - the choosing. We know what this is. The loss of their freedom to choose. As slaves to the Babylonians, other people will choose for Israel what they will do.
Then God begins speaking encouragement to those who are still faithful to him. He recognizes that the unfaithful of Israel are ostracizing them and mocking them for waiting for the revelation of the glory of God. He says not to worry; his words will stand. He will even the score with the unbelievers.
In the end, after Judgment Day, there will be a glorious future for them on the New Earth and New Heavens.