65. Isaiah Chapter Sixty-Five

Isaiah Chapter 65 The answer of the Lord was not immediately by way of the promise of restoration, though that was to be given (Isaiah 65:8-10). The condition of the people however was so grievous that further reproach and warnings of judgment were necessary, so obstinate and incessant had been their resistance to God’s grace.

There are two ways of understanding the opening words of this chapter. Primarily the meaning of the Hebrew is by way of divine denunciation of Israel, and that is continued in the succeeding context, in Isaiah 65:2-7. The original has the past tenses, as in the r.v. margin: “I was inquired of [or rather I was discernible] by them that asked not for Me [i.e., who refused to turn to God and seek Him]; I was found [to be found] by them that sought Me not.” God was ever ready to reveal Himself, had there been a heart to approach Him in humble desire to walk in His ways. Further, “I said, Behold Me, behold Me, unto a nation that hath not called upon My Name” (r.v. margin). In keeping with this the Lord goes on to say “I have spread out My hands all the day [that is, throughout the long period of His dealings with Israel] unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts; a people that provoketh Me to My face continually” (Isaiah 65:2, r.v.). With regard to the other interpretation, the Septuagint version is different, and we have to remember that the apostle Paul in Romans 10:20-21, uses the Septuagint, as he frequently does elsewhere. Thus verse 1 is regarded as referring to the Gentiles; for it is of these that the statements are made, “I was found of them that sought Me not; I became manifest unto them that asked not of Me.” It was by the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit that the great missionary to the Gentiles thus made use of this passage and in the next verse referred to the apostate conditions of Israel. In the ensuing passage in Isaiah 65:3-4 there is a terrible revelation of the idolatrous practices of God’s people. Sitting among the graves probably had to do with a form of spiritism, in an effort to hold intercourse with the dead. Lodging in the secret places (r.v.) probably represents the practice, in crypts or caves, of a form of idolatry accompanied by abominable sacrificial meals.

Those who practiced these abominations were accustomed to boast in their own special sanctity and so to say to the uninitiated “Stand by thyself [or stop]: come not near to me, for I am holier than thou” (Isaiah 65:5). Such made themselves fuel for God’s wrath and called forth the most grievous and righteous retribution. In contrast to all this, the Lord now makes mention of those who were His faithful servants, for whose sake He would not bring about the universal destruction of the nation (Isaiah 65:8-10). These, who foreshadow the godly remnant in the future time of Jacob’s trouble, were like clusters of ripe grapes, in the midst of a degenerate vineyard producing sour grapes or fruitless tendrils. From amidst all God will bring forth “a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains [representing the land of Israel; cp. Ezekiel 6:2-3]: and My chosen shall inherit it, and My servants shall dwell there” (Isaiah 65:8-9). Election always has an object in view. For example, the “elect of God the Father” according to His foreknowledge, are chosen “unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:2). In this connection mention is made in Isaiah 65:10 of two places, Sharon, the plain of rich pastures and famous for its flowers, stretching along the coastal region from Joppa to Carmel (see Joshua 17:9; 1 Chronicles 5:16; Song of Solomon 2:1; Isaiah 33:9; Isaiah 35:2), and secondly the valley of Achor (a place lying in the plain of Jericho and associated with the sin of Achan, Joshua 7:1; called Achar in 1 Chronicles 2:7). There the people humbled themselves before God, dissociating themselves from the evil. There, in the language of Hosea 2:15, the nation, in the days of her youth, made answer to God (r.v.). Consequently the valley is to become “A door of hope.” The whole region is to become “a garden of the Lord,” a scene of fertility and productiveness.

There is always hope for those who humble themselves in the sight of God and seek to walk in His fear (Psalms 33:18; Psalms 39:7). In Psalms 65:11 the prophecy returns to the guilty ones who were threatened in Isaiah 65:1-7. They forsook the Lord, were unmindful of His worship, substituting for it idolatrous feasts. Two objects of their veneration are mentioned, Fortune and Destiny (r.v.). They prepared a table for the one and filled up mixed wine for the other. The reference is rather to the spreading of cushions upon which the images of the gods were placed during the feasts in their honor. Accordingly the Lord declares that He will “destine” them (the word rendered “number” in the a.v. is associated in idea with that rendered “Destiny”) to the sword, and as they bowed down to their images so they would bow down to the slaughter. The Lord was longsuffering with them: He called, but they did not answer. He spoke and they refused to hear but deliberately chose that in which He found no pleasure (Isaiah 65:12). In Isaiah 65:13-16 the Lord presents a vivid contrast between them and His faithful ones who walked so as to please Him. They would eat and drink and rejoice and sing for joy, whereas those who turned away from God would suffer want and shame and anguish and vexation. Their name would become a curse, referring to the oath with which the priest had to administer the water of jealousy (see Numbers 5:21-24), for Israel had acted as an adulteress. On the contrary, the Lord would call His servants by another name, so that He who blessed Himself in the land and He who uttered a solemn oath, would do so by “the God of Amen” (margin). That is, the God who fulfills His word and will carry out His covenant promises to His people. So now in Christ “how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us” (2 Corinthians 1:20, r.v.; see also Revelation 3:14). In the coming day the redeemed nation will stand in firm and uninterrupted relationship with the Lord.

All this brings home the folly, futility and sinfulness of pursuing our own way, carrying out our own designs and turning after that in which God cannot take pleasure, instead of waiting upon Him, listening to His voice and delighting in the fulfillment of His will. Through our walking with God He fulfills, and will fulfill, all the promises of His Word. He responds to delighted confidence in Him, by adding an Amen to His assurance. The peace of an obedient heart and a trusting spirit is that which enjoys the sunshine of His countenance and the calmness of holy communion with Him. With the assurance that the former troubles are to be forgotten and hidden from His eyes (Isaiah 65:16), the Lord now foretells the unspeakable blessedness and joy to be ministered to redeemed Israel in the coming Millennial day. But this, which begins at Isaiah 65:18, is preceded by the declaration of what is to be brought about after the Millennial period is over. For it is only when God creates the new heavens and the new earth that unalloyed and perfect blessedness will be granted, and “the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” When the Lord sets up His Kingdom of righteousness and peace He will fulfill what is now about to be stated in a passage which, perhaps more than any other passage in Scripture, describes the prosperity and bliss of this coming time. He calls upon us to be glad and rejoice perpetually in what He is about to create, and says “for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying” (Isaiah 65:19).

True, there will be death and there will be sin, but these evils will be under severe restraint. And the explanation of this lies in the double fact that Christ and His Heavenly people as well as His earthly will be reigning, and, secondly, the evil one will have been cast into the abyss for the thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3). Under these conditions there will not be “an infant of days [that is a suckling only a few days old], nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old, and the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed” (Isaiah 65:20). That is to say, that one who is a hundred years old will be a youth, and one who, being a sinner, will suffer death as punishment, will not come under this judgment before the hundredth year of his life. The longevity of the earliest times of human history will return. The next promises, (Isaiah 65:21-23), give the assurance that His people will enjoy what they have worked for and reap the fruits of their labor without plunder by foes; the duration of their life that of trees which lived for centuries. They will be a generation blessed of Jehovah and their children will share with them what they enjoy, without being removed by premature death (cp. Job 21:8). The Lord declares that before they call He will answer and while they are speaking He will hear (Isaiah 65:24). That is to say, the desire in the hearts of His redeemed will be in perfect harmony with His own will. Often now there is an interval between the prayer offered and the answer given, but not so in the day to come (cp. Daniel 9:20-23 and Isaiah 30:19). This provides a striking testimony to that which will be the outcome of the very presence of the Lord in their midst. Prayer that is the Lord’s delight can only arise from the enjoyment of close fellowship with Him.

There is also to be a change in the nature of rapacious animals (Isaiah 65:25). Natural conditions have been full of discord, but then the wolf and the lamb will feed together. The fodder eaten by the ox will be that of the lion. This passage recalls in an abridged form what the prophet had said in Isaiah 11:6-9. This and similar correspondences between the later portions of the book from chapter 40 onward, and the earlier, again give plain testimony to the unity of Isaiah in contrast to the higher critical suppositions.

What is new in the present passage is the prophecy that dust shall be the serpent’s meat. Its form will be the same but it will have the food appointed for it in Genesis 3:14.

These conditions will not be the outcome of evolutionary processes but will result immediately from the decree and power of Israel’s Messiah. To imagine that what is here said of the changed condition of creatures is mere allegory is utterly without foundation. Isaiah has not used allegory in any of his descriptions of the coming period.