Isaiah 66:10

In the last part of Isaiah chapter 66 God is telling us about the future. God tells us about the future of Israel. He says in Isaiah 66:10-14, “Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.” In talking about the future, the Lord tells us of a wonderful future for believers. Notice the many positive words that are used about the future condition that we will experience by the grace of Christ. Isaiah 66:10 uses the words “rejoice,” “glad,” “love,” “and “joy.” Isaiah 66:11 uses the words “satisfied,” “consolations,” “delighted,” “abundance,” and “glory.” Isaiah 66:12 speaks of “peace like a river” and glory “like a flowing stream.” Isaiah 66:13 speaks of being comforted and uses the word comfort three times. Isaiah 66:14 tells us that our “heart shall rejoice” and our “bones shall flourish.” These verses also tell us that our eternal existence will have some similarities to a child who is well-fed and taken very good care of by his mother. God will be our mother and our father. Jesus will protect us and provide for us.

For believers the future holds a bright promise backed up by the Word of Almighty God. But for unbelievers the opposite is true. The unbelievers stand in danger of the coming judgment. The last part of Isaiah 66:14 speaks of God’s “indignation toward his enemies.” Isaiah 66:15-16 speaks of the judgment to come and says, “For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.” How terrible the judgment will be for those who refuse to believe in Jesus Christ. In contrast with the positive words that were used about the future of the believers, notice the words that are used to describe what awaits the unbelievers: Isaiah 66:15 speaks of “fire,” “whirlwind,” “anger,” “fury,” “rebuke”, and “flames of fire.” Isaiah 66:16 speaks of “fire” and a “sword.” And it also says that “the slain of the Lord shall be many.”

Isaiah 66:17-18 tells us why people will be judged. What have they done to make this terrible judgment their own personal destiny? It says, “They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD. For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.” Isaiah 66:17 is talking about false religion. The most important teachings in the world are the true teachings about God and Christ. Therefore the worse teachings in the world are any teachings or actions that involve false teachings. Anything that is not true is false. Any religious teaching that departs from the Bible and from God’s intended meaning is a false teaching. Where does that leave you if some of the teachings that you have accepted all these years turn out to be false? Concerning those who end up in heaven, Jesus said in Matthew 5:19, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

In addition to those who are involved in false religion or false teaching in Isaiah 66:18 the Lord gives us a general explanation of why people are facing the judgment of God as part of their future. That is, those who are not saved through faith in Christ are facing this future. God says, “For I know their works and their thoughts.” Every person has sinned. We are all sinners. God must punish sin, and He will punish sin. That is why Jesus came and died on the cross: so we could believe in Him and have a Savior and not have to face eternal punishment for our sins. We are much more sinful than we realize. Not only do we have sinful works, but we also have sinful thoughts; and God sees our thoughts as well as our works. Sometimes we think of murder and adultery as among the worst of sins. But many people are guilty of these sins in the eyes of God even though they have not committed them in action. They have committed these sins in their thoughts. Jesus taught this truth in Matthew chapter 5. Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Jesus also said in Mathew 5:27-28, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already with her in his heart.”

There are three main promises made in Isaiah 66:19-20. The Bible says in Isaiah 66:19-20, “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 Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.” The three great promises are as follows: 1. The dispersion of the Jewish people into the nations of the world. 2. The preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles. 3. The re-gathering of the Jewish people to Israel at the return of Christ.

The promise about the dispersion of the Jewish people is given in Isaiah 66:19 that says, “and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations.” Notice that the word that is translated “nations” is the same Hebrew word that is translated “Gentiles” at the end of Isaiah 66:19, and then it is translated “nations” once again in verse 20. The nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Babylonians. This was God’s judgment against the Israelites because of their sins against God. Part of that judgment was the dispersion of the Jewish people into all the nations of the earth. That is why even today Jewish people are found in almost every nation of the world.

The second great promise that God gave in these two verses in Isaiah is the fact that during the time of the dispersion, the gospel would be preached to all the Gentiles. Undoubtedly the Lord wanted the Jewish people to teach the other nations the truth about the One True God. The Jewish people also failed at teaching others the truth about God, but when Jesus, who was a Jew, came into the world, He sent His believers out into the world to fulfill this mission. Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 28:18-20, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” The will of God in this age for every believer individually and collectively is to be involved in the spread of the gospel to all the nations of the world.

Once the work of spreading the gospel of Christ has been completed, then the Lord will fulfill the third promise that He made in Isaiah 66:20. God said to the children of Israel, “And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations.” The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11:1-2, “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.” The day will come at the return of Christ when all the Jewish people will be re-gathered into the land of Israel. God made a promise to Abraham and to David, and God always keeps His promises.

The Lord continues with His promises for believers in the eternal estate in Isaiah 66:21-23. It says, “And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD. For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.” The promise that God makes in verse 21 has to do with the doing away of the clergy. The concept of having a clergy such as represented by the priests and Levites was meant to be of limited duration. In the age of the church God’s will was for there to be a brotherhood of believers with no clergy. Each Christian is given one or more gifts and should serve Christ by putting into practice those gifts. The call to be a pastor is not a call to become part of a clergy. It is a call to exercise the gifts and responsibilities of a pastor. Of course, the church has failed, and every denomination has a clergy, and the clergy that has energetically tried to rule over the believers. The result is that this clergy has helped to greatly weaken the concept of a brotherhood. But it will not be that way in the Kingdom of Christ.

Israel failed in its opportunity to serve God during the time of the Old Testament. The church has also falied in this age of grace. Jesus implied that the church would fail when He said in Luke 18:8, “When the Son of man cometh, shalll he find faith on the earth?” It also says in Second Thessalonians 2:3, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” But God does not fail. He will make the nation Israel what they could have becomes had they not failed, and Jesus will make of the church what it could have become had it not failed. All of this regathering and rebuilding will take place at the return of Christ.

In the last verse of Isaiah chapter 66, God gives us a serious warning about the unbelievers and their eternal estate to which they are going. It says in Isaiah 66:24, “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” God gives us two important truths about the final condition of unbelievers. He, “their worm shall not die,” and “neither shall their fire be quenched.” To greatly emphasize the significance of this verse, Jesus quoted from it three times in Mark 9:42-48 when He said, “And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Hell is a place of eternal fire. People who go to hell will be receiving the just retribution for their sins. Instead of being in heaven, the abode of eternal happiness, they will be in hell, the abode of eternal suffering. The phrase “their worm dieth not” emphasizes the truth that the unsaved souls will not cease to exist. Death is not the end for them. Death is the beginning of an eternal suffering. As worms twist and turn, these damned souls will be tormented in their conscience day and night for the evil deeds that they have done. They sinned against God and man, and they trod under foot the blood of Christ. When they finally and completely rejected the mercy of Christ, they damned their own souls to this eternal torment. Jesus came to the earth and died for you so that you would not have to go to the place of torment. Turn from your sins and turn to Jesus while you have time.

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