Isaiah 66

Isaiah 66:1

Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

Why do ye, vain Jews, think to merit me; and boast yourselves of a temple built to me? as if that were a sufficient cover for all your hypocrisy and misbehaviour: no; ye know well enough I have no need of a house of your making; I have another manner of house of my own, even the heaven of heavens is the roof of it, and the earth is the floor of it; in that I can and do gloriously dwell, without any material fabric of yours.

Isaiah 66:2

But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

My love and respect is to that man, that is of a true, broken, penitent, faithful heart: he is a fit temple for me to dwell in.

Isaiah 66:3

He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; &c.

Without this, all your legal compliments of ceremonies are not only vain, but odious: he, that killeth an ox, in a formal sacrifice to me, is as pleasing, as if he had murdered a man; &c.

Isaiah 66:4

I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them.

I will make choice of their own delusions, wherewith to punish them: they thought to deceive me with their hypocritical devotions, and I will make their very hypocrisy their confusion; and will bring upon them those judgments, which they most of all feared.

Isaiah 66:5

Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

Those false brethren of yours, that hated you for your piety and goodness, were ready to say, We are more careful to glorify God than yourselves; or, Let God glorify himself by his judgments where they are deserved: but, they shall once find it otherwise with them; for God shall appear to your joy, and their confusion.

Isaiah 66:6

A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD, that rendereth recompence to his enemies.

Behold, their judgment is not afar off: hearken! methinks I do already hear a voice of noise and tumult from the city of Jerusalem, and from the temple, which shall be wasted; even a fearful voice of that just God, which rendereth vengeance to his enemies.

Isaiah 66:7

Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.

My Church under the Gospel shall be exceedingly fruitful: she shall bear children unto her God, with great ease and speed; yea, she shall bear a generous and manly issue, before she finds the throes of her travail. So verse 8.

Isaiah 66:9

Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: &c.

What marvel can there be of this easy and speedy multiplication of the Church, when as the Lord himself hath undertaken the work? Is there any thing impossible or difficult to the Almighty? Finite powers may fail; but shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth, saith the Lord? &c. ISMAIL, CHAP. LXVI.

Isaiah 66:12

For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.

Behold, I will give a happy and glorious condition to my Church: her peace and prosperity shall overflow her, like a full river; and the glory and excellency of the Gentiles shall come gushing in upon her, like a strong torrent: then shall ye sons of the Church your Mother, suck the breasts of her happy nourishment; and she, like an indulgent mother, shall bear you close to her in her arms, and shall dandle you on her knees, and testify her dear love and care of your tendance and education.

Isaiah 66:14

And your bones shall flourish like an herb.

Ye, which lay like dry bones scattered upon the earth, shall then live again and flourish, as an herb of the field.

And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

And those, that have sincerely professed me, shall be made the witnesses of the heavy vengeance of God upon them, that have wilfully rebelled against me; who shall be tormented with perpetual anguish of conscience, and lie unrecoverably under the sense of the fearful wrath of God, and be a woeful and abominable spectacle to angels and men. ISALAH, CHAP. LXVII.—JEREMIAH, CHAP. I.

Isaiah 66:15

For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, &c.

For, behold, the Lord will come in a furious and terrible manner, to take vengeance on his enemies; so as his adversaries shall be confounded with the horror thereof, &c.

Isaiah 66:17

They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abominations, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.

They, that give themselves to their idolatries in their private groves within their orchards, with all fond ceremonies of superstition, making choice of some one tree above the rest, more peculiarly consecrated to their false god; and do wilfully transgress the law of God, in eating those things which are forbidden, as abominably unclean; they shall be consumed together, both the superstitious and the profane, saith the Lord.

Isaiah 66:18

It shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see my glory.

The time shall come, when, out of all nations and tongues, I will gather me out a holy Church to myself; and they shall be partakers of that grace, which hath hitherto been appropriated to the Jews; and, as my truly adopted children, shall inherit my glory.

Isaiah 66:19

And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.

And, amidst the common judgment, I will set a mark upon them, whom I will have reserved; and those, that do escape of them, I will send as my messengers to the nations round about, to convert them unto me: I will send them, both by sea and land, to all parts of the earth; as to Cilicia, to Africa, to the lesser Asia, to the Parthians, Grecians, Italians, and to the isles afar off, that have not formerly heard of my name, nor seen my glory; and they shall publish my Gospel amongst the Gentiles.

Isaiah 66:20

And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.

And they shall be a means, to turn the hearts of the world unto God, and to win men from their superstitions and impieties to the service of the true God; so as, out of all nations, there shall be some added to the church, and shall hasten, by all the several means of their conveyances, to join themselves to the assemblies of God’s people; with no less zeal and purity, than now the children of Israel are wont to serve and worship God, in the house consecrated to his name.

Isaiah 66:21

And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD.

And, of these converted nations, will I take some to my immediate service, to be peculiarly devoted to me, in the public ministration of my Church, saith the Lord.

Isaiah 66:22

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.

And this happy condition of my Church shall be during and permanent; so as there shall never want those, that shall profess my name upon earth, &c.

Isaiah 66:23

And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

Whereas, under the Law, there were set and fixed solemnities, in which God was publicly attended upon with sacrifices and thankful celebrations; now, these festivities and religious duties shall be perpetual, and continue without all intermission; and all nations shall, at all times, come to worship before me, saith the Lord.