Isaiah 59 - A short sermon

This is a sermon on Isaiah 59 that I preached at GCI on Sunday 18th July 2021.

You can find the audio only here.

You can find a video of the whole online service here.

Or you find a recorded version of the message that I created a couple of weeks ago.

Isaiah 66:19-24 - The new heavens and the new earth

66:19

The world and the devil aim to shut God up, to stop people hearing about Him. And we very much see that in our society today. A society that would love never to hear another word of the Lord. But they will fail, for God will send people to all the ends of the earth, proclaiming His glory. This very much ties in with the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19,20.

66:20,21

“And they will bring all your people ...” God’s plans, as revealed in Isaiah, are to take His salvation to all the world, to bring people from all nations into the kingdom, but they also remain centered on Jerusalem and we need to remember this. I must admit I cannot understand how anyone can think that Israel no longer has a special place in God’s plans. They are included in God’s salvation plan, He has not given up on Israel.

66:22-24

“As the new heavens and new earth will endure, so your name will endure”. God has an eternal plan for His people. And God’s plan involves all mankind bowing down before Him. See the significance of this in the light of Phil 2:10,11. Then the closing verse reminds us of what the end is for those who persist in rebellion. And verse 24 needs to be borne in mind when reading what Jesus said about hell if we are to understand it aright. And when thinking about hell we should always look at it in the context of man’s rebellion against God, and God’s judgement upon that rebellion.

Isaiah 66:15-18 - The Lord is coming with fire

66:15,16

“See the Lord is coming with fire”. John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptise with fire. God will bring His wrath and rebuke upon the earth. And in Revelation, which tells of the ultimate salvation of God’s people, is also shot through with wrath and judgement. There will be many who are saved, but also many who are slain by the Lord. We need to take account of both of these truths.

66:17,18

“Consecrate and purify themselves” here is not referring to anything good. Rather, it is referring to those who prepare themselves to worship idols. Judgement will come to these people, and the one that they follow. But judgement is not the only consequence of these actions. The Lord will gather all the peoples of the world and they will see His glory. This is usually linked with redemption, and God will indeed redeem people from all nations. However, it could also include God bringing all the nations against Jerusalem, and there seeing God’s glory in their defeat.

Isaiah 66:12-14 -I will extend peace to her

66:12,13

How can this happen? How can this possibly come about? It will come about because of the Lord, because He will extend peace to her, and peace like a river. The glory of the nations will come to Jerusalem.

God will comfort Jerusalem. We need to remember this when we look at Israel today, and we need to remember this when we look at ourselves and others. Salvation is all of God.

66:14

Yet again we see the blessing and the judgement. This is a consistent pattern throughout the Bible, and we need to give due weight to both aspects. Note that the flourishing happens when the people see God comforting Jerusalem. People talk about blind faith, or faith without evidence. While faith will go against the common view of the world, the Bible does not actually know much about blind faith! Biblical faith is based on evidence and on who God is. 

Isaiah 66:9-11 - Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her

66:9

This verse stresses the certainty of all this. The cross and all that went with it was God acting on His own initiative. Was God going to do all this, even sending His own Son to the cross, and then stop, and then not complete the work that He has started? No, God will fulfill all His plans, and we should always remember this, especially when everything in the world seems to be going in the opposite direction.

 66:10,11

Jerusalem was an absolute wreck of a place at the time. How could one rejoice in her? She had no “glorious abundance”. Yet God urges those who love Jerusalem to rejoice in her and be glad for her. God had not finished with Jerusalem, He had (and has!) glorious plans for her, based on His grace. Jerusalem will become a source of delight.

Isaiah 66:5-8 - Hear the word of the Lord

66:5,6

God now addresses those who do tremble at His word, for they were coming under attack from their fellow Israelites who hated them. Today there are parts of the church that will criticise and condemn those who hold to the Bible’s clear teaching on sexual morality, telling us that we are on the wrong side of history. We should not fear, for it is better to be on the right side of God than the “wrong side of history”. Indeed it is the sin-affirming “Christians” who will be shown to be on the wrong side of history.  And God will bring judgement upon those who oppose Him.

66:7,8

God had amazing plans for Israel, as indeed He has for all who will trust in Him. This is despite the sin of Israel, and despite our sin. God does not overlook our sin, rather He dealt with it fully on the cross. But we need to realise that we have not just been forgiven. Forgiveness was the gateway to God’s glorious plans for our lives. The birth of the church in Acts 2 is part of the fulfillment of this.

Isaiah 66:3,4 - When I called, no one answered

66:3

What are we to make of this? God demanded these sacrifices in the Law? Now He is saying they are like unclean acts and outright disobedience. The people were putting faith in these acts, rather than in God Himself. Their soul started delighting in their own righteousness, thinking they were good because they offered the sacrifices. We need to beware of the same problem with communion or the cross. We are saved by Jesus, who He is and what He has done.

66:4

The futility of their actions was demonstrated because they did not respond to God's calls. They did not listen to God when He spoke. Instead they did evil, so God's wrath would come upon them. Our actions show what is in our hearts.

Isaiah 66:1,2 - Heaven is my throne

66:1

This verse urges us to get a right perspective, and it is addressed to the religious (including you and me). So often we view the Christian life as being a matter of our doing things for God. David wanted to build a temple for God (1 Chron 28:2,3), but God told him that he was not the one to do this. We think that God needs our help. When Solomon did build the temple he recognised that it could not possibly contain God (1 Kings 8:27). The whole message of Isaiah has been that Israel could not save themselves, yet God still had great plans for them, and these would be fulfilled by the power of the Lord. Heaven is God’s throne, and the earth but a footstool. In one sense we are nothing at all.

66:2

So the attitude that sees things as us having to do so much for God is completely skewed. God created everything, He is the One who brought all things, including you and me, into being. So it is not those who think they can do so much for God whom He esteems. Rather it is one ones who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at His word.

Isaiah 65:23-25 - Before they call I will answer

65:23

We often criticize the so-called prosperity gospel, and there is much to criticize. However, we must not throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. God’s plans actually are to prosper His people. This verse outlines some of the aspects of that prosperity. Our labour will bear fruit, our children will be blessed and we ourselves will be blessed. So where does the prosperity gospel go wrong? It lays an undue weight on material wealth, and sees the gospel as a means to gaining material wealth. Jesus said “seek first the kingdom and His righteousness and these things will be added unto you”, He did not say “seek first the kingdom and His righteousness so that these things will be added unto you”. The prosperity gospel makes this fundamental mistake. It also neglects the fact that God’s greatest concern is to deal with the sin in our lives, and to involve us in His work of saving others. And this latter aspect may well involve us in suffering.

65:24,25

God will answer their prayers. For a long time God had seemed to be silent, He was deaf to their cries. But a time will come when He hears and answers our prayers quickly. And there will be great peace in the land. Note that there is no redemption for the serpent! He will continue to eat dust. There will be no more harm on the mountain of the Lord.

Isaiah 65:18-22 - I will rejoice over Jerusalem

65:18,19

It will be a place of unalloyed joy. We are to rejoice and be glad in what God will create. God will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. God will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in His people.  Weeping and crying will be gone forever. All suffering comes to an end. The way things are meant to work are that we focus on God, for He focuses on us. 

65:20

The language used here should not be seen as meant to imply that in the new heaven and earth people will still die. It is present day analogies to illustrate a point. The things that are a curse in this life, such as children dying young, will not happen. It is possible that this is a reference to the millennial kingdom, but that is speculative and impossible to prove one way or the other.

65:21,22

It is an injustice when someone does a lot of work, only to see someone else reap the fruit of that work. Work is meant to be a good thing, something where we take pleasure in using and developing skills, and where we gain fruit from our labour. The curse made work hard work (Gen 3:17-19). So life will be good.

Isaiah 65:16,17 - New heavens and a new earth

65:16

The people had taken to invoking blessings in the name of Baal or some other false god. We do the same today when we think the land is blessed because we enhance “abortion rights” or because we celebrate LGBT stuff. A time will come when blessings are invoked only in the name of the one true God, when everything is done in the name of the Lord. And at that time past troubles will be forgotten forever. It is a theme of the direction of the Bible that one day every tear will be wiped away, suffering will be gone forever.

65:17

There is another feature of God’s plans that is echoed in Revelation (21:1). What is God’s response? It is to make a new heaven and a new earth. It is obvious why a new earth is a good idea, but why a new heavens? If heaven is where God rules, where His will is done (thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven), it is far from obvious why a new heaven is required. Maybe it is because the demonic forces will be banished forever? Or maybe “heavens” is just referring here to the heavens in the sense of “not the earth”. The new earth is required because of our sin. We should also note that the new heavens and earth may not be cosmically new (though they may be), it is the change in our relationship with God, and our moral transformation, and all that follows on from that, that are the crucial features. The former things will be gone forever, we will not be haunted by our history.

Isaiah 65:14,15 - My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts

65:14

We will sing out of the joy of our hearts. We talk about continuously worshipping God in heaven. This will not be nay forced worship, but will be the natural outpouring of our hearts. It will be out of gratitude at what God has done for us, and delighting in who God is when we see Him face to face. In contrast, the rebels will cry out from anguish of heart and brokenness of spirit. Rebellion against God does not do us any good. Sin corrupts our heart, causes pain to our heart. Today there is an enormous reluctance to say that homosexuality is wrong, or transgenderism is a delusion. We need to remember that homosexuality or transgenderism is not actually doing any good to those who experience these things. The gospel offers a way of healing.

65:15

This is a very harsh verse, again highlighting a key difference between those who seek God and those who rebel. The rebels will be put to death, and their names will be come curses. Remember that this is directed at Israel. The notion that Israelites are favoured because of their ancestry is nonsense, and Jesus Himself made this quite clear! In the church we should also take this as a severe warning. There is no automatic blessing. In contrast, to those who serve the Lord will receive a new name. Remember that Revelation (Rev 2:17).

Isaiah 65:11-13 - My servants will eat but you will go hungry

65:11,12

And now we switch back again. The salvation spoken of in the previous two verses is not for all. Those people who are universalists are speaking out of their own imagination, not any word of God. So they should be ignored. So here God makes it quite plain that those who forsake the Lord and worship idols will be destined for the sword. And the end of this verse make the situation plain, and answers the silly question “how can a God of love ...”.

First, God called, but they did not answer. God spoke but they did not listen. Instead they did evil in the sight of the Lord. Most of the “debates” focus on the nature of hell, this is very silly as we really have no idea about the exact nature of hell. The relevant Bible passages focus on God’s judgement on man’s sin. Whatever the precise nature of hell it will be what we fully deserve, so if we have an ounce of wisdom we will repent, and do so quickly. It might be argues that Dante like visions of hell put people off Christianity. Well Dante like visions are not very Biblical, but what people do need to focus on is the reality of judgement and our need to repent. And that is what we should focus on.

65:13

We continue with the clear distinction between those who turn to the Lord and those who reject the Lord. This distinction applies throughout the Bible, and it applies in the words of Jesus. Remember His sayings about “I never knew you” and the sheep and the goats, to mention but two examples. God’s servants will eat, rebels will go hungry. His servants will drink, but rebels will thirst. His servants will rejoice, but rebels will be put to shame. Some might object that this is unfair or cruel, but there is a simple solution for the rebels, end your rebellion. Repent and believe. No one is excluded from the blessings of God except by their own choice.

Isaiah 65:8-10 - I will bring forth descendants

65:8

Once again we get what seems to us a sudden switch in tone. The unavoidable judgement of the previous verse is followed by a declaration of mercy. God promises not to destroy all His people, for there is still some hope. We need to appreciate how the judgement and mercy go together. To plump for just one or the other is a grave mistake.

65:9,10

God will bring forth descendants from Jacob. It is God who brings about salvation. The view of salvation presented in Isaiah is a very monogystic one. But note again that this does not do away with human responsibility. These descendants will possess God’s mountains. His servants will dwell in His land. The place will become a peaceful and fruitful place, for those who seek God. There is human responsibility.

Isaiah 65:3-7 - Who sit among the graves

65:3

God held out His hand to the people of Israel, but the people provoked God, and did so brazenly. They did this by sacrificing to idols.  The gardens were one of the places where idol worship took place. “Altars of brick” can mean “incense altars”, common features of the “high places” where much idol worship took place.  So they worshipped useless idols instead of the living God who could genuinely save them.

65:4,5

Graves were places where idol worship or maybe consulting the dead took place. They ate meat that was expressly forbidden in the Law. They considered themselves to be sacred, so sacred that they told others to keep away. In truth they were utterly profane themselves. They were, in fact, an offence to God.

65:6,7

“I will pay back in full”. God does not overlook sin. There is a very clear statement here that Israel would have to pay for her sins, especially for their idol worship. Sin cannot be ignored, and any understanding of the gospel that thinks it can is wholly inadequate, not to say wrong. That is why the concept of substitutionary atonement is so important. Justice was done on the cross because the penalty for our sin was paid in full.

Isaiah 65:1,2 - I held out my hand to an obstinate people

65:1

Some Christians place an awful lot of emphasis on human choice. In one sense at least, the Bible is far less prone to do this. “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me”. There was choice here. God sought them out, they did not seek God out. Indeed, God was found by those who weren’t seeking. “To a nation that did not call ..”. God announced Himself, He was not invited! And thank goodness that God does this, otherwise there would be no hope for any of us. At the same time we should remember that we all have human responsibility. How does this all work together? I haven’t got a clue, but I know that God’s sovereignty and human responsibility do go together. A key concept is that “human responsibility” is a far better way of looking at Scripture than “human freewill” or “human autonomy”. With either of the latter two concepts we are almost certainly going to go in the wrong direction, for it puts man first. “Human responsibility” deals with our responsibility towards God, it puts God first, and is therefore more likely to lead us in the right direction.

65:2

God had held out His hands to Israel, an obstinate nation. Their ways were not good, and they pursued their own imaginations. Now what have we got here? It is a foretelling of the gospel going out to the Gentile nations (ie everyone except Israel), but we need to remember that this is not the end of the story, just another (long) section in it. We can also say that our own nations are “pursuing their own imaginations”.

Isaiah 64:10-12 - Will you keep silent?

64:10-12

This is definitely set in the exilic period, for Isaiah refers to Jerusalem having become a wasteland, a desolation. The temple itself had been utterly destroyed. He then asks God if He will stand back forever, will He just abandon them? Underlying this is the belief that they were God’s people, that they had sinned and deserved all they got, but that God was all powerful and could do something about it. His hope lay in God alone. 

One might ask how Isaiah could write this many, many years before it happened? And this is why most scholars will tell you someone else wrote it. But Isaiah is a prophet, he is writing out of revelation from God (but not as an automaton!). So he was enabled to foresee where things were going.

Isaiah 64:8,9 - O Lord, you are our Father

64:8

Yet Isaiah still sees hope. Why? Because God is their Father, and they are the clay, the Lord is the potter, and we are the work of His hand. We should remember this verse, and remember it in context, when we see New Testament verses alluding to this, Rom 9:21; Eph 2:10. There are many who seem to take great delight in criticising Calvinism and Reformed theology, the sovereignty of God. They really are being rather silly, for our utter dependence upon God is our only hope! In this verse we have the love of God (He is our Father), and the creative power of God. In that rests our hope.

64:9

Yet God’s sovereignty does not mean that we are passive, nor are we called to passive. Because of God’s sovereignty Isaiah cries out to Him. Instead he calls upon the Lord to not be angry beyond measure, not to remember their sins forever. He calls on God to look upon His people with mercy. 

Isaiah 64:5-7 - There is no one who calls on your name

64:5

Isaiah then acknowledges what the problem is. God does indeed “help those who gladly do right”, those who look to the Lord. But Israel was not doing that. Instead they sinned against the Lord, and repeatedly so. So what hope was there for Israel? How could she possibly be saved, for she did not deserve to be saved!

64:6,7

These two verses continue the description of Israel’s sin. The nation had become like the unclean. Their so called acts of righteousness were really filthy rags. They were swept away by their sins. Worse than this, no one sought the Lord, no one tried to take hold of the one who could truly save them. The nation had been given over to their sins, and was reaping the consequences. If an individual or a nation wants to be saved then they need to earnestly seek the Lord, to submit to His ways. This applies to all peoples, and in the case of Israel she will never be saved until she acknowledges Christ as the Messiah and her saviour.

Isaiah 64:1-4 - Oh that you would rend the heavens

64:1,2

Isaiah calls on God to rend open the heavens and come down. He is desperate for God to intervene in the situation. He knows that the mountains would tremble at God’s presence. The point of all this is that if God got involved (as Isaiah understands being involved) then everything would change. Why does God put this in His word? Maybe it is because we all feel like Isaiah at times. We see circumstances that are not the way that they should be. We know that God could change everything, yet He seems to be doing nothing. So maybe God is saying that He knows how we feel.  It is not just the mountains that would tremble, but God’s enemies and the nations would quake as well.

64:3,4

Moreover, Isaiah knows that God is perfectly capable of doing this, and that it is in His character to do things Isaiah longs for Him to do. In the past God has done unexpected things. While the nations worshipped many gods, there was no god like the One True God. And that God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him, who look to Him for help.