Edouard Kitoko Nsiku writes that “While it would be going too far to say that the last chapter of Isaiah is a summary of the book, it does touch on most of the major themes: denunciation of hypocritical worship of the Lord, the restoration of Jerusalem, God’s intervention as both judge and Saviour, and Salvation for Israel and the nations.”[1] Isaiah 66 is an important chapter with which to conclude the book.
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I remember reading about the Emperor of Japan once during the Samurai era. The people believed that the Emperor was divine so the military powers wouldn’t dare harm him. What they would do instead was that the various warlord Shoguns would fight to control the area around the Emperor’s palace. That way, as they could not rid themselves of the Emperor, they could at least contain him and control who had access to him.
It seems that the same thing was happening at various times in the history of Judah. The ruling classes were seemingly trying to contain YHWH in the Temple on Mount Zion in the capital city of Jerusalem. Temple worship had become the central focus of the religious practices of the ancient Israelites. It seems that over time some people had come to believe that God himself lived in the Temple of Jerusalem. They should have known better. 1 Kings 8:27, records, at the time of the dedication of the first Temple in Jerusalem, Solomon’s temple; Solomon says: “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!”
But nonetheless some had come to believe that God had been sealed in that Temple well-guarded by the shogunate of their time and place: leaders, the religious authorities and practices of their day. Isaiah opens up this chapter reminding them that this is not true. Isaiah 66 opens with, vv. 1-2a:
This is what the Lord says:
“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be?
Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being? declares the Lord.
God, through Isaiah, reminds us that He made the earth to contain us; we did not make the Temple to contain him. We are contained. He is free. He is the one who is generously supporting us, not the other way around (TSA doctrine 2).[2]
Verses 3 and 4 speak of some of the rituals that the people had been performing originally, one would presume, to glorify and honour God but here God through Isaiah reminds us that the rituals in and of themselves don’t honour God if we aren’t actually honouring God with the rest of our lives. This would be like if someone broke into your house on your birthday and stole all of your favourite stuff – like your TV or your dog or something – but they left you a birthday cake or a recording of them singing Happy Birthday to you! The rituals, like sacrifices in the Temple or singing Happy Birthday to someone, only matter if we are actually decent the rest of the time.
The Good Guys, Verse 2b, the ones whose sacrifices the Lord does favour are those who are humble and contrite. The Lord favours those who tremble at His Word. The Bad Guys are the ones who not only aren’t humble and contrite and don’t show respect for the Lord – even more – they, Verse 5, exclude those who do fear the Lord.
It is like a workplace. In the Army, I have a healthy fear of my boss. Tiffany is a nice person but I am not going to do anything to intentionally or carelessly make her mad. Equally as much, I am not going to intentionally disobey or disrespect Jamie. These people have control of my life. They could fire me or transfer me to Newfoundland! God bless The Salvation Army!
That being said, I have been in workplaces before I was an officer and maybe even heard of a few since where people did not listen to their boss. I have been in workplaces where people intentionally disobeyed their boss. I have been in workplaces where people talked back to their boss. I have even seen people ostracized by fellow employees for actually doing what their boss told them to do! I have seen people decide for themselves how they are going to do their job and refuse to do anything else - even what the boss tells them to! And they don’t care. They don’t fear their boss in the least little bit. I don’t know if you have ever been in a work environment like this where people do not actually do what the boss wants them to do but this is the environment that God through Isaiah is describing here. The Bad Guys don’t respect the boss; they don’t fear God. God says He doesn’t care that they are showing up for work every day if the work they are doing is contrary to the work He wants them to do! This is what God is saying life at the Temple is like.[3] But God says He is not confined to the Temple and He will take action!
Isaiah then goes on to tell us what God is going to do to those bad employees. God is not happy with the people who do not tremble at His Word! He is not happy with those who don't do what they are supposed to do and He is not happy with those who exclude those who do! Using the employer analogy some more: He is going to fire them. Using contemporary Church language He is going to fire them as well only this firing is more significant (TSA doctrine 11). Claus Westermann states about our text here that "This is the earliest idea of hell as a state of perdition".[4] Don’t worry I am not going to spend a lot of time on the idea of hell here but I do want to point out that God and Isaiah are not happy with those – even the chosen people, even the chosen people in the Temple, even the people chosen as priest and other leaders in God’s Temple – God is not happy with those who don’t actually fear Him, in the way that I described fear earlier. They are not going to be able to disrespect God forever! John Calvin says of Isaiah 40 which can be applied here, “This is a remarkable passage, which teaches us that God is not confined to any people, so as not to choose whomsoever he pleases, by casting off unbelievers whom he formerly called to himself.[5] God is not confined by the Temple or the people of Jerusalem!
Now the whole mid-section of this text speaks about Jerusalem. It is a little confusing at times, I must admit. I did have to read and reread this chapter quite a bit to get the grasp of the flow of it. Verses 7-14 are speaking about a new Jerusalem. They seem to be speaking about the same New Jerusalem that is referred to very, very many years later; in Revelation 22.[6] Revelation has this as the place where heaven and earth come together for eternity as the city descends from the clouds. God, in Isaiah here, speaks of the overflowing shalom, peace, abundance which will overflow in the city. He speaks of this shalom that He will extend to her like a river and the wealth of the nations that will be pouring into this new Jerusalem (v.12). God speaks about how much He loves this new Jerusalem and how the people He loves will be its citizens but to His foes He will show His fury (v.14), anger (v.15) and rebuke with flames of fire. “For with fire and with His sword the LORD will execute judgement on all people and many will be slain by the LORD” (v.16).
And then God says something very interesting. God says that because the Bad Guys did these bad things in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount, His Holy Hill, Mt. Zion; beyond punishing the Bad Guys something else will happen. Through Isaiah He says, Verse 18, “And I, because of what THEY have planned and done, am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come see my Glory.” Because of what the Bad Guys have done, God will fulfill His promise made to Abraham (Genesis 12:3) that all the nations will be blessed. God can use even the bad we do to accomplish His good. I always find it very interesting that God often has more than one reason and more than one way to do what He says He will do, like tying so many loose ends together into a bow.
In our Bible Study on Luke the other week we were speaking about how the guests in Jesus’ parable who were invited to the eternal wedding feast declined the invitation and so forfeited their seat at the banquet but in so doing many others came to the eternal feast of Salvation (Luke 14:15-23). God through Isaiah here is saying that even in the disobedience of some of His chosen people He will extend His grace further - to the corners of the earth, inviting people of all the nations to come.[7]
Now this passage certainly does have some tensions in it. It does introduce some of the language of hell and of ongoing torment but it also speaks of Salvation for all of the nations and that every knee will bow and every tongue confess. Walter Bruggemann asserts that these thoughts aren’t necessarily meant to be reconciled.[8]
What is important is this: God is not confined to the Temple or anywhere else and He rules His Kingdom. In God’s Kingdom, all who are present, we will have deference and respect for the Lord. In God’s Kingdom, all who are present, we won’t rebel against God’s laws of love and life. In God’s Kingdom, all who are present, we will seek to do His will rather than our own. In God’s proleptic Kingdom, all who are present, we will be humble and contrite.
So then the invitation of our text today is this: we don’t need to spend another moment outside His Kingdom. Today we can humbly and contritely come to Lord and when we do, like a friend of ours, Major David Ivany always says, ‘In the end everything will be alright; so if it isn’t all right then it isn’t the end. With that then I would like to encourage us that even if we are being excluded by people or society as Verse 5 says, even if we are being persecuted, even if we are suffering in all kinds of ways here and now, the Lord will prevail and as we persevere then everything will be alright for He is able, more than able to handle anything that comes our way.
Let us pray.
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[1] Edouard Kitoko Nsiku , 'Isaiah', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010),878.
[2] Cf. Walter Brueggeman, WBC: Isaiah 40-66 (John Knox Press: Louisville, 1998), 251
[3] Cf. Karl Barth, Fragments, Grave and Gay ed., M. Rumscheldt (London: Collins, 1971), 46-47
[4] Claus Westermann, Isaiah 40-66: A Commentary (Translated by David MG Stalker) The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1969, p. 428.
[5] John Calvin, Isaiah IV, 431-432. Available on-line: https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/isaiah.html
[6] Walter Brueggeman, WBC: Isaiah 40-66 (John Knox Press:Louisville, 1998), 256.
[7] Edouard Kitoko Nsiku , 'Isaiah', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 878
[8] Walter Brueggeman, WBC: Isaiah 40-66 (John Knox Press:Louisville, 1998) 256.
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