Isaiah 66 (HCSB)
Final Judgment and Joyous Restoration
1 This is what the Lord says:
Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house could you possibly build for Me? And what place could be My home?
2 My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person:
one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at My word.
3 One slaughters an ox, one kills a man; one sacrifices a lamb, one breaks a dog’s neck; one offers a grain offering, one offers pig’s blood; one offers incense, one praises an idol—all these have chosen their ways and delight in their detestable practices.
4 So I will choose their punishment, and I will bring on them what they dread because I called and no one answered; I spoke and they didn’t hear; they did what was evil in My sight and chose what I didn’t delight in.
5 You who tremble at His word, hear the word of the Lord: “Your brothers who hate and exclude you because of Me have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified so that we can see your joy!’ But they will be put to shame.”
6 A sound of uproar from the city! A voice from the temple—the voice of the Lord, paying back His enemies what they deserve!
7 Before Zion was in labor, she gave birth; before she was in pain, she delivered a boy.
8 Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her sons.
9 “Will I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?” says the Lord; “or will I who deliver, close the womb?” says your God.
10 Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her—
11 so that you may nurse and be satisfied from her comforting breast and drink deeply and delight yourselves from her glorious breasts.
12 For this is what the Lord says:
I will make peace flow to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flood; you will nurse and be carried on her hip and bounced on her lap.
13 As a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.
14 You will see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the Lord’s power will be revealed to His servants, but He will show His wrath against His enemies.
15 Look, the Lord will come with fire—His chariots are like the whirlwind—to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For the Lord will execute judgment on all flesh with His fiery sword, and many will be slain by the Lord.
17 “Those who dedicate and purify themselves to enter the groves following their leader, eating meat from pigs, vermin, and rats, will perish together.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
18 “Knowing their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages; they will come and see My glory. 19 I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away—who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. And they will proclaim My glory among the nations. 20 They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21 I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,” says the Lord.
22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will endure before Me”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“so your offspring and your name will endure.
23 All mankind will come to worship Me from one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another,” says the Lord.
24 “As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never go out, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 2): You give us a model person that you look favorable upon in this single verse, which I have failed horribly at for the majority of my faith journey. You tell us to be humble, submissive in spirit, and to tremble at Your word. I fail at all three of these pretty constantly, Father. Please forgive me for my lack of humbleness on a day-to-day basis. Please forgive me for not truly submitting to You until recently, Father, and even now I still slip at times. Please forgive me for not truly embracing and internalizing Your word as my core of being. Please forgive me of these mistakes and sins and continue to help me to be the kind of person that You look favorably on, Father.
PROMISE (verse 22): The promise You make here, Father, is more of a foretelling of what’s to come. You tell us You will make “the new heavens and the new earth.” This is a promise of Your return for a far greater future than any of us could ever imagine in this life, Father. Thank You for this promise. Thank You for the amazing blessings that are to come through this promise.
ATTITUDE (verse 11,13): Father, I typically tend to default to leaning on either myself or others in this life to provide comfort to me. Here You tell us that we should be satisfied by You and the comfort You provide, yet for some reason that is not my default the majority of the time. You tell us that You will comfort us, but the problem from my side is that I’m only willing to accept that comfort under certain circumstances for some reason. Help me to change my attitude towards comfort, Father, so that I go to You for all of my comfort needs no matter the circumstance. Help my default be one that is accepting of Your comfort through ALL things and not just “when I feel like it.”
COMMAND (verse 4): Although not a direct command, Father, You do put some emphasis on something in this Scripture. Anytime I emphasize something to my children, I feel like it’s something I REALLY want them to do or understand, so I guess from You it could be considered a command. In this verse specifically, You say that You called and no one answered; that You spoke and nobody listened; that they did chose to do evil that You didn’t obviously did not delight in. Help me to remember to not only listen when You speak to me, but also to respond, Father. Help me to choose to do things in this life that You delight in, Father. Help me to follow the instructions You give us in this verse of what NOT to do, so that I am consistent in doing the things that You will delight in, Father.
EXAMPLE (verses 2-4): In these verses, Father, You basically outline the type of person that You look favorably on for us to use as an example to live our lives. The core of it is six key areas that we are to live by—be humble, submit to the Lord, fully embrace His word, do not do things the Lord will not delight in, respond to You when You call to us, and listen to You when You’re speaking to us. Help me to follow these six core principles You give us in this example, Father. Out of all of these, my top two that I struggle with is like being humble and not doing things that You do not delight in. Please help me with this example in my life, Father, so that You may increase in my life and my broken and sinful ways will decrease.
*DAILY NOTE: I still have so much to learn from You, Father. I have so many changes that I need to make in my life based on the counsel and wisdom You have been providing to me. In this final chapter of Isaiah, You lay out such a perfect example for us to follow in our lives. My past mistakes have plagued me for a long time, but moving forward in my faith journey with You, please help me to live a life that is delightful to You, father. Help me to follow this example so that Your ways of living increase in me and my own sinful defaults will go away. Thank You for the book of Isaiah. Although it was a bit tough to understand at times due to the writing style, it was an amazing book to get through with SO many lessons to learn on how to be a better servant leader and how to better live this life for Your glory and Your kingdom, Father. Thank you!
*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
Comments