The Nations(Isa 66:12-19a ESV) 12 For thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the LORD shall be known to his servants, and he shall show his indignation against his enemies. …
18 “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19 and I will set a sign among them.”
God promises “peace … like a river” and the inbringing of the nations — “all nations and tongues” — a reference to God’s covenant with Abraham to bless the nations and to end of the division of the nations by tongues at Babel.
(Isa 66:20 ESV) 20 And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.
Isaiah refers to the nations “as an offering to the LORD” — a thought echoed by Paul —
(Rom 15:16 ESV) to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah then returns to the theme of an eternal new heavens and new earth where God is worshiped always.
(Isa 66:22-24 ESV) 22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain. 23 From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD.
But those who rebel against God will die — and the fire that will destroy theme cannot be put out.
24 “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
The End of time
(Isa 24:21-23 ESV) 21 On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth. 22 They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished. 23 Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.
(Isa 25:4-9 ESV) 4 For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, 5 like heat in a dry place. You subdue the noise of the foreigners; as heat by the shade of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is put down. 6 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 7 And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
I bargained for salvation and they gave me a lethal dose
I offered up my innocence and got repaid with scorn
“Come in …
“I’ll give you shelter from the storm”.
The image of a feast among the redeemed at the end of time is found in the parables of Jesus, anticipated by the Lord’s Supper, and repeated in the Revelation. It’s built, I believe, on the story of the blood of the covenant in Exodus, when God had a feast with the leaders of Israel to confirm the covenant first made at Sinai, and even by Abraham’s offering of bread and wine to Melchizedek. It could be a series all by itself.
(Isa 51:6 ESV) 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
(Isa 65:17-20 ESV) 17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. 20 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.”
Late in the book, Isaiah introduces the idea of “new heavens and a new earth.” The reference is obviously to Genesis 1:1 — God created the heavens and the earth at the beginning, and he will create a new heavens and new earth at the end. He will bring the world full circle, back to Eden.
Moreover, God promises a new Jerusalem — a theme found repeatedly in the New Testament —
(Gal 4:25-26 ESV) 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
(Heb 11:10 ESV) 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
(Heb 11:16 ESV) 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
(Heb 12:22-24 ESV) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
(Heb 13:14 ESV) 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
(Rev 3:12 ESV) 12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
(Rev 21:10 ESV) 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
(Rev 21:2-3 ESV) 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
The New Testament takes Isaiah very seriously indeed. The true Jerusalem — the Jerusalem of prophetic promise — is stored in heaven for us, and will be brought down to earth at the Eschaton, so that God may dwell with his people.
Jerusalem is, of course, the city where God dwells. Before the Exile, God dwelled in Solomon’s Temple. He now dwells in heaven — and thus that is where the true Jerusalem is. And at the end of time, he’ll dwell among his people in the recreated new heavens and new earth. And that will thus be the new Jerusalem. You see, there’s a sense in which Jerusalem ceased to truly be Jerusalem when the Exile began and the Temple was destroyed. God’s Glory left and did not return when Nehemiah built a replacement Temple. Rather, from then on — until Jesus came — God’s Glory was only in heaven.
In Hebrew, the word translated “new” can mean brand new or renewed, but the Greek in the Septuagint uses kainos rather than neos, meaning renewed rather than brand new. And this is also the language of the New Testament —
(2Pe 3:13 ESV) 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
(Rev 21:1 ESV) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
