Isaiah Chapter 65 and 66 summary
This Chapter says about how the LORD will indeed bless His genuine servants. A promise of blessing for the true servants of the LORD, and a promise of chastisement for the false or shallow servants of God.
How the LORD sees the shallow repentance of the remnant. Yet, God would be found by those who did not seek Him. To trust in our own wisdom, our own judgment, our own thinking, is to be among the rebellious people. Therefore, judgment is promised to them: I will not keep silence, but will repay…your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together.
Despite the unholy rebellion and pride of some of the remnant, God still has His servants, and He will bless and restore them. They will be regathered into His land, for He says: “My elect shall inherit it, and My servants shall dwell there.” He has a special place for My people who have sought Me. Not all are numbered among the servants of the LORD. They are destined for judgment, because, when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not hear, but did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight. On top of all their other sins is the sin of simply refusing to listen to God’s correction. It is one thing for us to fall into sin through weakness or ignorance; such sin is indeed sin, and God must deal with it as such. But refusing to respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit is far worse. It is bad enough to be speeding down the highway; it is worse to ignore the flashing red lights in your rearview mirror. As the ultimate answer to the problem of man’s sin, God will create new heavens and a new earth. This takes place after the millennium, the glorious thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ, when this very earth and sky is done away with and God makes new heavens and a new earth.
Isaiah Chapter 66: REJOICING IN GOD’S ULTIMATE VICTORY Here, the LORD puts things back into proper perspective. We can never understand much of anything until we understand that the Lord GOD is enthroned in heaven, and that the earth is under His command – indeed, the earth is His footstool. We may want to serve God – but serve Him our way. We may want to build God something, but what can we build that is worthy of God? Instead, what God really wants from us is a poor and a contrite spirit, and to tremble at His word. God’s people chose their rebellion against Him, and they persisted in it despite His continual warnings. As an extreme display of judgment, God will choose their delusions and send a delusion among them. Here, Isaiah shows how those with a shallow, empty religion mock those of genuine faith.Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy
Isaiah prophesies a day when the victory will come easily to Jerusalem, Truly, who has heard such a thing? Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river: When the Messiah returns in glory and triumph, the peace of Jerusalem will be like a gentle, powerful river that is never disturbed. But not Jerusalem alone: And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you: God speaks with supreme tenderness to His faithful servants. No one can comfort like a mother, and God will bring that kind of comfort to His people. When the Messiah returns in glory and triumph, for some it will be a great blessing – and for others it is be nothing but judgment. Here, God describes His ultimate triumph. Through the majestic book of Isaiah, the nations have been judged and often condemned. But God has an ultimate plan to reach the nations, seen in its ultimate fulfillment. God will take people from every tribe and tongue, and “all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the LORD.
