Isaiah 66 "The New Creation 2: The Birth of a Nation"

Isaiah 65-66 forms one great chiasm.

Isaiah 65:1 calls those who had not known or sought me.

Isaiah 65:2-7 speaks of God anger against those who sacrifice in gardens

and eat pig's flesh (rejecting the true worship of God).

Isaiah 65:8-10 speaks of the remnant-

the servants who will dwell in the land-

the offspring that will flourish in the land.

Isaiah 65:11-12 speaks of those who forget God's holy mountain,

turn to an idolatrous feast,

and delight in what was evil in my sight.

Isaiah 65:13-16 speaks of the contrast between the feast

of the servants and the starvation of the wicked,

juxtaposing the blessing of the servants and the

cursing of the wicked.

And at the very heart of the chiasm are verses 17-18,

the declaration of the coming of the new heavens and the new earth.

The creation of a New Jerusalem,

the city of the living God.

This is the heart of Isaiah's message to Israel and Judah.

Isaiah 65:19-25 then returns to the blessedness

of those who live in the New Jerusalem

Isaiah 66:1-4 then reminds us that heaven is God's throne,

and condemns those who have delighted in false worship.

Isaiah 66:5-14 explains the miracle children of Zion, the Lord's servants.

Isaiah 66:15-17 uses the exact same language, and speaks of their destruction.

Isaiah 66:18-21 concludes with those who have not heard my fame.

Tonight we are focusing on the second part of the chiasm.

1) God's Readiness to Save "Them" (the Gentiles)-- 65:1

2) God's Readiness to Judge His People--65:2-7

3) God's Blessing upon the Remnant of His Servants--65:8-10

4) The Destiny of Those Who Forget God's Holy Mountain--65:11-12

5) The Contrast between the Servants and "You"--65:13-16

6) The Coming of the New Creation--65:17-18

5') The Contrast between the New Creation and the Old--65:19-25

The first part of the chiasm emphasized the fact that some of God's people

have turned against him, and refused to inherit the new creation.

"You" have forsaken the LORD and forgotten his holy mountain.

Therefore "you" shall be hungry, "you" shall wail for breaking of spirit,

while "they"-my servants-shall rejoice.

But in the second part of the chiasm, "you" are called to repentance.

The pronouns are reversed.

Now "you" are called to hear the word of the LORD,

while "they" are put to shame.

4') The Destiny of Those Who Forget the Heavenly Throne-66:1-4

Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool;

what is the house that you would build for me,

and what is the place of my rest?"

What's the right answer?

God says "I made all things-how can you build me a house?"

The question seems to demand a negative answer:

we cannot build God a house.

But that is not Isaiah's answer.

Remember Solomon's prayer in 1 Kings 8:12-29.

"But will God really dwell on the earth?

The heaven of heavens cannot contain you.

How much less this temple I have built!"

But while Solomon recognizes that the temple cannot contain God,

yet he knows that God has promised to dwell there among his people.

Isaiah likewise declares that God will dwell with his people.

It is probably clearer in Hebrew:

It's almost impossible to translate this literally, but the end of verse 1 says

"where is this house that you would build for me?

and where is this place of my rest?"

Then at the end of verse 2:

"but this is the one to who I will look"

The irony is poignant.

Man builds huge, impressive temples for God.

And God asks, "where is it?"

You built something impressive for me?

I created the heavens and the earth,

how is this little dinky temple you've thrown together

supposed to impress me?

This temple is not impressive.

Now, the one who is humble and contrite in spirit,

the one who trembles at my word,

that is impressive!

This is the one who catches God's eye.

Are you trying to impress God?

Then tremble at his word!

As if to demonstrate how futile are the endeavors of man to impress God,

Isaiah then compares even the proper, commanded worship to idolatry:

(Read verse 3)

You can build God a great, big temple,

and even follow all his liturgical commands,

and still be an abomination in his sight.

Why?

Because "when I called, no one answered,

when I spoke they did not listen;

but they did what was evil in my eyes

and chose that in which I did not delight."

God will dwell with man.

He delights in those who tremble at his word!

3') God's Blessing upon the Son/Children of Zion-66:5-14

And so hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word.

In verses 5-14 we hear Isaiah's final exposition

of the great deliverance that is coming.

God will put to shame the wicked,

but he will redeem his servants.

But notice that the wicked are "your brothers who hate you

and cast you out for my name's sake" (verse 5)

There are those who are "brothers" who hate you.

In our day these are the liberals-those who deny Christ

and persecute those who stand for righteousness.

Verse 6 then reads (literally)

A voice of uproar from the city.

A voice from the temple.

A voice of Yahweh rendering recompense to his enemies.

The triple staccato "a voice . . . , a voice . . . , a voice . . . "

emphasizes the suddenness and the thoroughness of God's judgment.

It will come swiftly-and it will come from the temple!

It is no accident that Jesus spent his last week teaching in the temple.

It is no accident that Jesus cleansed the temple at the beginning of that week,

nor that he said, "destroy this temple and I will raise it in three days."

He had to make it clear that he was the temple of the living God,

and that judgment would begin with him.

But in this context of the sound of an uproar from the city/temple,

we hear of this woman who gives birth before she is in labor!

A painless childbirth is unheard of!

In Genesis 3:16 we hear that part of the curse is that women will have pain in childbirth.

But God promises that when he brings forth children for Zion,

it will be a painless birth.

Who has ever heard of such a thing?

Who has ever seen such things?

But no sooner does Zion bear a son,

then she brings forth a whole nation!

(Read verses 8-9)

This is what our God has done in Jesus Christ.

He is the son who was born before Zion was in labor.

And we are the nation born in a moment.

At the day of Pentecost God poured out the Holy Spirit upon 3,000 people.

In a single day a new nation was brought into being.

Remember Isaiah 26:18?

"We were with child, we writhed, we have as it were brought forth wind"

Zion spoke of her own failure to bring deliverance.

She had gone through the pains of childbirth,

only to pass gas!

What is the point?

Only God can save.

Zion cannot bring deliverance.

All of her agony is in vain.

But when the LORD acts, then a son will be born-

indeed, then a nation will be born-

because only God can save.

You are not saved by the church's action.

You are saved by what God has done in Jesus Christ.

Therefore, rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,

all you who love her;

rejoice with her in joy,

all you who mourn over her;

that you may nurse and be satisfied.

Here it is plain that you are the children of Zion.

You are the nation brought forth in a moment.

And you are called to "nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breasts;

that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance."

"Glorious abundance" is a euphemism.

English translators have been squeamish here!

Literally it reads, "drink deeply with delight from the nipple of her glory"

This is one of the most tender and powerful images of our relationship to the church.

She is our mother.

You are called to love the church of Jesus Christ.

You are to be like a nursing infant who delights and rejoices to be with his mother.

You are called to nurse at her breasts-

to suck upon the pure spiritual milk of the word and sacraments

to drink deeply with delight from the nipple of her glory.

Yes, you must tremble at the Word of the LORD,

but you must also delight in it,

as a nursing infant delights in his mother's milk.

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;"

In the new creation Zion becomes the center of all the earth.

As the nations are converted by the word of the LORD,

all of their glory-all of their wealth and splendor-

is brought into the service of the church of Jesus Christ.

No longer are the sons of Zion passed out drunk in the streets,

now they are nursing at her breast,

carried upon her hip,

and bouncing upon her knee.

But then comes a most striking change in pronouns.

"As one whom his mother comforts,

so I will comfort you;

you shall be comforted in Jerusalem."

While Jerusalem is the instrument of God's comfort,

it is God who comforts.

He is the one who comforts us.

He is like a mother (there is no warrant here for calling God "mother"

especially because the whole context is about how Zion is our mother!)

But nonetheless Zion's mothering is not original to her.

The church is a faithful and caring mother to us

only because she comforts us with the comfort that is from God.

God is the source of "feminine" traits

just as much as he is the source of "masculine" traits.

Verse 14 then concludes this section by returning back to where we started in verses 5-6.

(Read v14)

2') God's Judgment against the Wicked-66:15-17

God will finally accomplish the judgment he has promised.

"For behold"-ki hiney-"Yahweh will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind"

The fire of the LORD will be poured out upon the earth,

and all the wicked-here identified as they were in 65:2-7

as those who sanctify themselves in the gardens and eat pig's flesh-

will come to an end together, declares the LORD.

The compromisers and apostates among God's professing people will be destroyed.

God had told Israel not to sacrifice except at the place of his choosing,

and he had forbidden them to eat pork or mice.

But they have rejected the word of the LORD.

What kind of wisdom do they have?

Purely a wisdom of men.

Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ-

you who have inherited the blessings promised by Isaiah-

hear the Word of the LORD!

Tremble at the Word of the LORD!

Delight in the Word of the LORD!

If you reject this Word,

then you will wander in the way that leads to death.

1') God's Gathering of the Nations-66:18-21

But Isaiah finally returns to the beginning of his chiasm.

And the One who knows all thoughts and hearts has declared that the time is coming,

and in Jesus it has come!

when he will gather all nations and tongues,

and they shall come and shall see my glory.

God promises that he will set a sign among them.

What is that sign?

Isaiah did not know-he does not say-

but we now see that the sign is nothing other than the sign of the cross-

the sign of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Jerusalem would become the center of the pilgrimage of the nations.

In the new creation all nations would come to the city of God and worship.

All the exiled people of God will be restored to the holy city,

and even the Gentiles will come.

A new priesthood is envisioned (v 21)-in which Aaronic birth is no longer necessary.

Conclusion: The Worship of the Eschatological Sabbath (66:22-24)

And God promises that this new creation is permanent.

(Read v22)

The heavenly Zion will never fail.

The gates of hell will never prevail.

(Read v23)

Here we see again that the new creation and the new Jerusalem are one and the same.

The new heavens and the new earth are the one place-the city of the living God-

where all flesh will gather to worship the living God.

The "your offspring" of v22 is here revealed to be "all flesh."

Isaiah 66 has brought us back to Isaiah 56.

(Read 56:1-8)

The Sabbath theme there was joined with the inclusion of the Gentiles.

The foreigner who kept Sabbath and held to God's covenant would be included

together with faithful Israel.

Now at the end of chapter 66, the book of the Anointed Conqueror is brought to a close

with the promise from new moon to new moon,

and from Sabbath to Sabbath (from month to month and from week to week)

all flesh shall come to worship before me.

God is going to redeem humanity.

Sometimes we speak of God condemning man,

and saving the elect out of the mass of dying humanity.

But more properly we should speak of God saving man,

and condemning the rebels who refuse to worship God.

(Verse 24)

They do not look the destruction of the wicked in order to gloat-

nor do they come for pity's sake-

rather they come to behold the wrath of God

against those who refuse to believe in Jesus.

Isaiah leaves us here.

This final chapter, after all, is a call to faithfulness in the light of the new creation.

But the light of the new creation reveals both glory and wrath-

both the glorious beauty of Zion and the hideous corruption of sin.

You need to hear both the call to drink with delight of the glory of Zion's nipples,

and the warning revealed in the destiny of those who rebel against God's word.

As we live in the middle of the already and the not yet of the new creation,

we need to remember the horrible fate

that awaits the one who refuses the call of Christ.