40 Minutes In The Old Testament - Isaiah 66:4-24 (Episode 507)

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

Chad and Daniel wrap Isaiah in this episode. Only God chooses to save, but it is man who chooses to reject that salvation. Heaven requires you to become a child again. And in the end, God's victory is absolute. Have a listen. Show Notes: Support 1517 Podcast Network 1517 Podcasts 1517 on Youtube 1517 Podcast Network on Apple Podcasts 1517 Events Schedule 1517 Academy - Free Theological Education What's New from 1517: 1517 Youtube: How God Still Speaks Today Being Family by Dr. Scott Keith A Reasoned Defense of the Faith by Adam Francisco Stretched: A Study for Lent and the Entire Christian Life by Dr. Christopher Richmann The Essential Nestingen: Essays on Preaching, Catechism, and the Reformation Philip Melanchthon's Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Translated by Dr. Derek Cooper More from the hosts: Daniel Emery Price Chad Bird

welcome back to another episode of 40 minutes in the old testament 40 minutes in the old testament is a 1517 podcast network podcast you can go to 1570.org slash podcast check it all through the podcasts that are living over there while you're over there make sure you check out everything else that 1517 is doing writing lots of articles creating lots of videos academy courses hosting events writing books just go check it all out and then uh once you've checked it all out if you like some of it i mean if you like this there's i mean it would be weird chad come on it would be weird if um if 40 minutes in the old testament was the only 1517 thing that somebody consumed i mean this is impossible that if you like this that there's not other things over there that you you would

like just yeah there's just no way so if you are just like yeah listen if i found i was searching up old testament podcasts on apple podcasts or whatever and i've never been to 1517.org what are we doing well i mean you got to get over there and just spend a little bit of time searching around and uh you're gonna find a lot of stuff a lot of stuff for me and chad but a lot of stuff from a lot of great people. Go check it out. All right, guess what, Chad? We are wrapping up Isaiah.

Is it going to be 40 minutes? We're going to try to do it in 40 minutes, but we're doing it one way or another. This is the way it is. Isaiah will be completed in this episode, and we did make it to the final chapter, so we set ourselves up decently for this. It's not like we have a chapter and a half

to try to get through. We know ourselves. We got through the first couple of verses of the final chapter to set ourselves up for success, hopefully. And in those first couple of verses of the last chapter, God talks about heaven is his throne, earth is his footstool. He says, hey, you know, I know you'd love to build a house for me. Really, that needs to be reversed. I'm the builder of great things here. So that's what's going to happen.

and uh if you want to if you want to inhabit that house what you want to do is uh be humble and contrite in spirit or humble and crushed in spirit you want to be one who trembles at his word and what you don't want to do is be somebody who uh you know does abominations that would be that that would be the big thing things that uh that that creates smoke in my nostrils that would be the what you don't want to do yeah so that's and that's the way that's the way it ends these folks have chosen their own ways and so their their soul delights and their abominations and so god in verse four oh he's going to do a little choosing of his own right they have chosen their own ways uh they're just kicking it up there with their abominations

really having a good time doing all sorts of idolatry and evil practices so god says all right well, I'm going to do some choosing of my own. And that's the way verse four is going to begin. I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them. Well, that's a loaded statement there. Bring their fears upon them. Because, and this is language we heard in the previous episode, because when I called, nobody answered. When I spoke, they did not listen, but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which i did not delight so they've chosen their own ways and so god is going to choose some harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them the reason i think that's such a loaded statement is because

you know when you when you think about all the things that you're truly afraid of most of the time and we know this in daily life most of the time these things never happen right Yeah. We sit and worry and fret about things. I'm afraid of this. I'm afraid of that. And yeah, 99% of the time, those things never come true. There's still fears, of course.

They still can cripple us or just lead to a life's full of anxiety, but we don't actually experience these things that we fear. And God says here, well, what you fear, I'm actually going to bring on you. And the reason is not because God's vindictive or something like that. it's because basically this is the way that you have chosen, right? God's form of punishment usually takes the form of giving us exactly what we had worshiped in its worst form. So we end up going the way of our idols. And he, repeating himself in the previous chapter, he says, you chose the way of not answering me when I called, of not listening when I spoke,

But instead doing what was evil in my eyes and delighting in that which I did not choose. You know what's interesting is that, first of all, I would argue that the thing that most people fear, the thing that everyone's trying to evade, the thing that people are trying to put off as long as they can is death. So this is the thing. You don't want to be destroyed. Everyone's trying to figure out a way to live. You know, what do you, what do you see people, like tons of people all over the world still to this day where they sit around, you know, on WebMD trying to Google their symptoms, trying to make sure they're not going to die from that headache or whatever it is they got going on. And if you're not in Christ, this is exactly what God's going to give you, right? Like, so he's like, yeah, that thing that you're most afraid of, that thing that you know is coming but can't do anything about, only I can do something about.

i'm gonna let it come but one of the things that's interesting about this is that well we know you know we would believe as monergist that um listen the only reason that chad believes or i believe or we have faith is because god gave it to us like we did not find it in ourselves we didn't muster some up we didn't create it uh god looked around and wanted you know wanted some people to listen to him and to believe in him. There weren't any. So he had to generate this faith, this belief, this trust in him. However, what is also true is that when God speaks about those who are under judgment here, he is very much using this human responsibility language where he says, you chose this, right? And so the language of choosing is the way that this

whole thing works, which is God choosing and you choosing. And yes, God chooses, and he puts faith in people, and he preaches his gospel to them and causes them to believe and all of this stuff, while at the same time offering this to anyone. I mean, his arm is stretched out all the day long, right? And people choose something else, and he takes that choice as an actual choice. You chose this, not me. And this is where maybe we would, so we wouldn't believe in something that would be like a double predestination, that God is choosing for some to believe and some not to, but rather that all are in unbelief, and God chooses some to believe, and that the choice is an active choice for them to reject god yeah absolutely and an active choice that is not done

in ignorance either it's not like they weren't aware of this because god called right god spoke and yet they chose not to answer they chose they chose not to listen this was actually the the path that they willed themselves to to be on contrary to everything that god was doing to get them off that path yeah so like this is why you have him at the end here and shows that which i did not delight like so who's who's to blame here right is it god's like can't put this on me no my hand was out my hand was out there yeah god is doing everything necessary in order to get people off of this path that they have chosen so they're on it not because of somebody else making them or due to ignorance but this is a willful evil choosing that they are responsible

for when and you have to and you can believe that and at the same time also believe that the reason i believe is not because i chose god which of course i would never do chad yeah that's the way and that's the way that the scriptures speak yeah because well we're we're dead in our trespasses and sins so we're not choosing life the only only way we're getting out of that is by god actually enlivening us and resurrecting us and giving us the faith whereby to receive the gifts of christ yeah okay so verse five is going to address the hearers of the word the people who tremble at his word this is the same language that we saw back in verse two that god looks to the one who is humble, contrite in spirit, who trembles at his word. So here he's going to address those

word hearers and word tremblers, and things have not gone well for them because it sounds like they're being persecuted. Verse five says, hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word. Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name's sake have said, let the Lord be glorified it, that we may see your joy, but it is they who shall be put to shame. So this is putting both of these groups side by side. You got those who listen, you got those who don't listen. You got those who tremble and you get those who hate those who are actually listening to the word of God and mocking them. And so God ends up saying, it is they, not you, but it's they who shall be put to shame. So it's not like you've got these two groups, those who listen, those who don't,

who are completely disassociated with one another. There's an active antagonism that's going on here where you have the one group persecuting the other group, which of course has found all of the scriptures. It's found Old Testament, New Testament, Revelation, and of course still is the reality in our world today. We should not expect anything else. If you are a follower of Christ, then you will have trouble. If your church is preaching the gospel, then you will have trouble. There is no kind of peaceful existence in this world when you're part of the kingdom of God, because we're in a military zone. I mean, we're in a place where war is being engaged day by day. You know what's kind of shocking? That Paul never quoted this in the midst of his

persecution this seems like uh something that he might have like pulled out and been like hey well did isaiah prophesy of you when he said your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name's sake i've said let the lord be glorified that we may see your joy but it is they who shall be put to shame that seems like who knows maybe we don't have every single instance that paul maybe he did but it sure seems like there was opportunities where paul could have pulled this one out yeah i can think of about a dozen situations in acts alone where paul could have pulled out the isaiah 66 verse 5 card out of his pocket and read it because that's precisely what was happening yeah chased from town to town by those who were supposedly his brothers but who

hated him and cast him out and we're doing it in the name of the lord right oh yeah yeah for sure Yeah, the persecution of Paul took place under the supposed name of the Lord. It's exactly what Isaiah is describing here. Okay, so verse 6, the sound of an uproar from the city, a sound from the temple, the sound of the Lord rendering recompense to his enemies. I should have read that earlier because that goes with verse 5. So this is just saying, listen, God says that they're going to be put to shame. Oh, it's going to happen because there's going to be this uproar from the city, a sound from the temple. It's the Lord. It's his sound.

And he's going to be rendering recompense to his enemies. And his enemies are defined here as those who are persecuting his church, his bride. Speaking of his bride, verse 7, we're going to hear quite a bit about Jerusalem rejoicing in these next few verses. Of course, Jerusalem is often pictured under the image of a woman. a woman with her children so we're going to have some labor images here we're going to have children images we're going to have uh they're nursing at her breast all these kinds of images are going to be used to describe god's people as a city god's people as his children god's people who are together the ones that he is bringing forth in this uh this birth and taking care of

them. So I'll read verse seven through nine to start out. Before she was in labor, she gave birth. Before her pain came upon her, she delivered a son. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth, says the Lord? Shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb, says your God? So, yeah, you got this picture here where you got a woman who, I mean, she's pregnant. And before she even goes into labor, there's the child, painless, like in a moment.

And God at the very end says, I'm the one who's behind all this. You think I'm going to like bring things along to a certain point and then just make it not happen? You think I'm going to like stop the process somewhere along the way? No, of course. I mean, I'm the one who generated this. I'm the one who brought all of this into being. So, of course, my plan of salvation is not going to stop. It's not going to fail.

I'm going to bring everything to the goal that I have designed it for. Now, what's going on here theologically? I think you can look at it a couple different ways. I mean, you can think about this in terms of the people of God being created because of the work of Christ. I mean, like in one day, you can certainly think of it that way. You can think of it eschatologically, where at the very end, God is going to bring forth this new creation, the people of God, a place for them. You can think of it that way. I think there's probably an echo of Genesis 3 here because this woman who is giving birth does so in a way that's pain-free.

And, of course, one of the things that God said in Genesis 3 is that the woman is going to have pain when she brings forth children. So this is a reversal of the curse. It's the bringing forth of a people for God. And it has this more eschatological flavor as well, kind of all happening at the same time. Yeah, you go back to Genesis 3, like the three big things that sin brings about that you're going to have to deal with now. Obviously, the big one is death. So there's that. But unfortunately, it's not just that everything's going to be fine, but eventually you're going to die.

No, no, no. It's not that. It's the other one is toil, which is not work. Toil and work are different. i'm like so you might have worked on some things and enjoyed it toil has a negative thing there right there's a negative connotation like man i was toiling today and it doesn't mean that i was having a good time uh and that all the work has just becomes this way that the things don't work for you the ground doesn't cooperate with you whatever it is and then of course the other one

is pain and childbearing. And so, yeah, if you take this kind of eschatologically, it's that God is going to create a people for himself. He's going to make all things new. And this is just saying that it's going to be curseless. The curse does not apply to any of this stuff that God is doing, right? So yeah, this is, you get to go all the way back to a curseless life and a curseless creation, which is pretty good. Yeah, it's pretty good. In fact, it should lead to rejoicing. In fact, that's what happens next. Yeah. Verse 10 to 11, rejoice with Jerusalem. Well, yeah, I'm going to rejoice. I'm part of Jerusalem, right? So I'm going to rejoice with her. So rejoice with Jerusalem. Be glad for her. All you who love her, rejoice with her in joy. All you

who mourn over her. So you've seen the bad stuff that's happened. Well, that bad stuff not happening anymore. Mourning is over. You who love her, rejoice with her, be happy with her. That you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast, that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance. I love how the ESV just kind of sanitizes glorious abundance. Well, if we go from being nursed and satisfied from consoling breasts, and then we hear about drinking deeply with delight from her, I don't think glorious abundance is what you're going to be expecting to hear about next. So yeah, this is all continuing the imagery of a mother who is taking care of her child. And, you know, she doesn't need a wet nurse. She doesn't

need a bottle with formula. She's got plenty right there. She's taking care of her children from her very self. So, I mean, it's a beautiful image of us being nurtured on the good things of God. We're nurtured in the church. We're nurtured as part of God's people, part of Jerusalem. All of this is woven together. It's like the typical mixture of images that you have in the Bible, where you go from a city name to a woman to now children to nursing breast. And it's all together picturing for us a joyous life, which we're taking care of, in which there's no more mourning. And we're never hungry because we're always satisfied with the good things of God. Yeah. They didn't make this one anybody's confirmation verse or anything like that.

This is a, this is not one of those verses, but yeah, the, the, the Bible is funny like that. Um, there's a lot there. It'll use imagery, uh, that, um, you totally understand, but you just want to act, uh, like you is a little bit like, well, that's a little much. Uh, but now this is, I mean, listen, man, if you've ever had children, uh, you ever had like a baby like freaking out and like the only way i mean that is to console this baby like the only it only wants one thing and uh and it's this is the imagery well that one thing is there's

plenty of it you're not gonna you're not gonna go without the the thing that you need yeah yeah god god provides what uh what we need in abundance and then he uh he's he's not done yet we've got more of this coming up. So verse 12, thus says the Lord, behold, I will extend peace to her like a river. Earlier in Isaiah 48, God had said, oh, that you had paid attention to my commandments. Then your peace would have been like a river. Well here, it's no longer being taken away. It's actually given. I will extend peace to her like a river. The glory of the nations like an overflowing stream. You shall nurse. You should be carried upon her hip, bounced upon her knees as one whom his mother comforts. So I will comfort you. You should be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see

and your heart shall rejoice. Your bones shall flourish like the grass and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants and he shall show indignation against his enemies. We'll hear more about the enemies in just a minute. So more of these pretty stereotypical images that we have where, I mean, rivers can certainly be destructive, but here it's the idea of a gently flowing stream or a gently flowing river bringing peace to God's people. And not just that, but more of the image that we have seen elsewhere in Isaiah of the nations being part of this. So this isn't just a Jewish thing, an Israelite thing. The nations are part of this, and we'll hear more about them also in a few more minutes. The glory of the nation is going to flow in, and people will be carried

along like a mother carries her baby upon her hip or bounces her child upon her knees. That's the kind of care and comfort and peace and rejoicing that God's people are going to experience, the kind of flourishing that we will experience. At the same time, as he ends here, there's going to be indignation against his enemies. That's one thing about the Bible. You know, it's always both and, right? It's never just one or the other. Crossing the Red Sea, great moment for Israel. They're rescued. They're delivered. They pass through the waters. And the Egyptians are destroyed. Happens at baptism, right? We are made alive. We're a new creation. We're washed. And at the same time, yeah, the old sinful nature drowned, destroyed

in those waters so it's it's a both hand happening you know what i think of when i when i read all this because you're like man this makes this makes me sound like a baby like i'm that's what this sounds like like i'm just like bouncing around on a knee and stuff you know and as a you know adult man i'm like it's kind of weird uh that does it but i'm reminded of when jesus grabs a little baby and says hey if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven you're going to need to be like this. And Isaiah is saying, well, the only way to do that is to have God make you like this, right? So you're going to need to be like a nursing, knee-bouncing baby if you're going to get into the kingdom of heaven. Yeah, yeah, that's perfect. So blessed are the babes in

Christ, right? For we shall be fed and nourished and carried on the hip and bounced on the knee. I can't think of any better place to be. As an older man now, I mean, not old, but old enough for this to be good news, have your bones flourish? Because I've noticed that my bones are not flourishing the way they used to. When I got up this morning, I wasn't like, these bones are in a flourishing state. You know, and I, so I stay pretty active. uh, I'll walk or run most mornings and I'll, you know, I'll lift weights and I'll do a lot

of stretching and like nothing works perfectly for sure. I mean, it's, it doesn't matter. I can, I can stretch and in the morning it's still there, you know, it's just not going away. You don't wake up in the morning and feel good about those bones. Now, one thing I don't do that I did when I was younger, when I was younger, I'd wake up, i'd slam down a cup of coffee and i'd i mean 15 minutes later after i wake up i'm out the door for a long run that doesn't happen now it takes this body about an hour to finally wake up before i'm doing anything we used to i was talking to my my brother who's a year younger than me but we're both too old to be doing this stuff but we used to uh have a group of guys that we would

play basketball with uh at six o'clock in the morning on tuesdays and thursdays and and we had to stop because like it just got to where like dude i can't wait i can't do it that early not because i can't wake up that early or anything it wasn't that like my body won't do it at that at that time right it's like that's too soon and don't ask me to do anything physical until i've been up at least an hour and had two cups of coffee then i'm gonna ease into it for sure yeah This is like, hey, get up and then run up and down here and jump and sprint and move side to side real fast. And he's like, no, you just reach a point where your body is like, your bones, dude, your bones are not flourishing enough to be doing that first thing in the morning. No, no.

So, yeah, that is another part of this promise that kind of hits you different once you get to a certain age. That's right. Have bones flourishing like the grass. okay so uh he finished by saying he's going to have this indignation against his enemies so it's going to be expanded upon in uh the next few verses we'll start out here with uh verses 15 and 16 for behold the lord will come in fire and his chariots like the whirlwind to render his anger in fury and his rebuke with flames of fire for by fire with the lord enter into judgment and by his sword with all flesh and those slain by the lord shall be many oh that definitely is

the law of the lord there yeah you got fire you got chariots you got whirlwind you got sword i mean these are images from all over the scriptures i think of leviticus with the fire of the lord coming out to consume Nadab and Abihu. You think of chariots in all sorts of military context coming in, this army image of God marching in to conquer. Whirlwind, nothing left behind when the whirlwind sweeps through. And then, of course, sword, another pretty common image for destruction. So this is all telling us about how this indignation against his enemies is going to take place. And the end of 16, where it says, those slain by the Lord shall be many, that's going to be echoed when we get to the very end of this chapter, where you had kind of this massive

cemetery where those slain by the Lord are exposed. Yeah, and this is why I get uncomfortable with all those worship songs talking about the Lord sending us fire as if it's a good thing. And when the vast majority of the time in scripture, you're like, no, I would like to be saved from that. I would not. I'm not interested in receiving that. Yeah, this is this is the I mean, this is just a language that God almost always uses. It's almost like the flood happens and God's like, hey, I'll never do that again. And then the fire language starts. you know so like uh the next time i do that i said it wouldn't be with water so guess what

uh you know you know what will also do the job is a whole lot of flames of fire and yeah and what does fire do and just devour stuff up i mean this is this is the language of our god is a consuming fire and it's like yeah you know you don't want any of that no there's i mean there's some, there's some positive verses where you have God's fire like Pentecost, but yeah, most of the time asking the fire of the Lord to come is not something you want to do. No, because it's, uh, it's not going to end well. Now, verse, so that was 15 and 16. Verse 17 is going to give a very specific example of these enemies of the Lord and what they're up to. Why, you know, why does God have such indignation against these folks. Well, we've heard plenty about that already,

but here's another example. Those who sanctify and purify themselves and kind of hear that almost in pejorative kind of language. So this is a religious thing they're doing here, but it's not true sanctity. It's not true purity, but those who sanctify and purify themselves to do what to go into the gardens following one in the midst they got a leader along with them i suppose and what are they going to do well they're eating pig's flesh and the abomination and mice nice mice yeah yeah they shall come to an end together declares the lord now i didn't i gotta tell you that i didn't expect the mice to be in there that was a surprise yeah that's uh Yeah, I don't even know what to do with that.

I've never been hungry enough. It doesn't seem like this is out of necessity. It just seems that this is the fruit of the path they have chosen is mice eating somehow. I'll tell you this. What this section tells me is that you don't want to be one who sanctifies and purifies yourself. Yeah. That's what you don't want. So those who sanctify and purify themselves, I already know you're in trouble.

You need someone else to do that. Yeah. Yeah, not going to end well for them. So we don't know enough about all these sorts of illicit, idolatrous practices to know exactly what's going on here. But Isaiah has given us plenty of hints. He's talked about people like sneaking into the gardens before. So this must have been where some of this was happening. So they're going into these gardens. They got a leader. They're following somebody and they're going to gather it around basically just to engage in all of this abominable behavior, eating unclean foods, no doubt making sacrifices, eating mice for some reason, which is explicitly listed in the unclean foods.

Maybe there was some religious significance behind this that we're unaware of. But anyway, that's what they're doing. Well, they shall come to an end together. If the Bible was written only for me, that part would have been able to be—you could leave that out. Never been tempted to eat mice. No, that's—I'd be like, okay, you don't need to bring that up. I wasn't going to do that. Yeah, I mean, what this is telling you, too, is these guys can maybe look a little clean on the outside, you know,

sanctified and purified themselves, look like they're doing the stuff. But, you know, you get to verse 18, and God's like, I know what they're up to. Know their works, know their thoughts, and the time is coming, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's 18. I know their works and their thoughts. The time is coming to gather all nations in tongues, and they shall come, and they shall see my glory.

So you got some event coming up, and you're going to have a lot of nations, a lot of tongues involved. They're going to see God's glory. So what's this glory going to look like? Now we have verse 19. And I got to believe this is talking about this sign that's coming up, that this is talking about the cross itself. Because he says, I will set a sign among them. Hmm.

So got a sign that God sets up among them, among all these nations and tongues that gather together and that are going to see his glory. And then I'll just read the next part of this verse. And from them, I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among the nations. Well, what's going on here? Well, God is going to show up. You're going to have nations and tongues all gathered together to see his glory, and their glory they're going to see is this sign that God sets among them.

Maybe this is exactly what John was talking about when he talked about how the glory of God is seen in the cross of Christ. Yeah. Because that's where people see his glory. Yeah, no, I mean, when God is expressly talking about his glory, there is no point. And this is actually just backwards for us, of course, but there is no point where God is more glorified than right there. I mean, that's what theologians have referred to as the blazing center of the glory of God is the cross of Christ. Yeah. And because of that, kind of following up on that, he's going to send these people who are survivors.

Well, these are the ones who have been rescued, the ones who have been redeemed. He's going to send them out. the uh i checked the septuagint here the the greek verb that's used for sending is a form of the the verb from which we get to apostle so you apostle out i'm going to apostle out these folks who have been saved and where are they going to go to the nations this is matthew 28 right yeah i want you to i want you to go out to the nations we have a list of these of course tarshish pool blood and these are all over the place. This is from kind of the Spain down to Northern Africa, up into Asia Minor, these places that are listed. The point is they're going to go out to the

nations, to all the nations, not just those on this list. And these are folks, they don't know God. They haven't heard of his fame or seen his glory, but they're now going to hear all about it because people like Paul are going to show up in Asia Minor and in Greece and in Rome, and they're going to preach Christ crucified. So yeah, I have the mission of the church that's laid out here. And verse 20 is going to continue this. In fact, I think Paul is going to allude to this in the book of Romans. I'll point it out in just a minute. But 20 and 21 says this, they shall bring all of your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries.

to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. And some of them I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord. So what I'm thinking of is when Paul in Romans 15 talks about how he's going to bring these Gentiles, as the gospel was out, he says he's going to make the Gentiles like an offering, holy and acceptable to the Lord. So I think Paul is alluding here to what's happening in Isaiah 66, verse 20, where you have these folks from the nations being brought as an offering to the Lord. Well, that's exactly what Paul was doing in his missionary work. So they're all coming home to God. They're being brought to holy mountain Jerusalem, to the house of the Lord. In other

words are being brought to the kingdom they're being brought to be part of the body of christ yeah i mean i love that it says uh i gotta go get your brothers that you didn't know about yeah you got some you you found out that you had like a lot of uh family out there that uh no one had told you about but god knew about them it is it doesn't just say hey you gotta go you know which of course you're gonna do which is it's just gonna go preach this word but like i got brothers in mind, right? This is God knowing the beginning from the end. Do you have brothers out there? Yeah, I've got other sheep who are going to listen to my voice too, and you got to bring them in. In fact, I'm going to make some of them priests and Levites. In other words, He's going

to take these people from the nations. They're going to be priests and Levites. In other words, there's going to be one people of God. The dividing wall of hostility is broken down, and Jews and Gentiles are united in Christ. And then he goes on in 22 and 23 to say, for as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord. So here's our second reference to the new heavens and the new earth. So they're going to be there. And not just the new heaven, new earth, but the population, the resurrected population are going to be there. They're going

to remain. And this is going to go on forever using typical Old Testament language, new moon to new moon, Sabbath to Sabbath. And I don't know if I said it this episode or last episode, but And in Isaiah 1, he starts out by talking about how the new moon and the Sabbath had been profaned. And so wrapping everything up at the end of the book, he brings that up again, except not in a negative way, but a very positive way to talk about how every day, every week, every month, timelessly, all those who are now part of the people of God, which he calls all flesh here, are going to worship before him. Yeah, at this point, there is no non-worshippers of the Lord left. I mean, this is what it is, right? Every person is a worshipper of God. Yeah, yeah.

So this is the picture we have in Revelation 22, right? All those who are now before the throne of God and of the Lamb, all those who have taken the leaves from the trees of life on either side of the river of life and been healed, all those who are rejoicing in the streets of Jerusalem, all those who have the name of God on their foreheads. Well, this is everybody. This is all flesh. And it's kind of a strange way. It seems like you could have ended here.

Could have stopped right there, yeah. But he doesn't. He's got two more verses. So here's how Isaiah ends the entire book. This is out of the last two verses. And they, of course, they being these folks we've just been talking about, they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. The end.

All that same all flesh, so all the worshipers of God. So these are all the flesh that remains. And yeah, this is rough. If all that's going to remain is worshipers of God, then that means that the non-worshippers of God can't remain. And that's kind of what you're getting at here. I mean, John does something similar in Revelation 21 and 22. You know, he talks about the new Jerusalem and gates are always open and, you know, people are in there. And then he's got what Isaiah refers to as kind of this vast, not even really a cemetery because these folks aren't buried.

It's almost like a big battlefield where you have all these rotting corpses that are also burning, which is probably a pattern after real life scenarios. You know, where you have just untold thousands who are killed where you can't just leave them there. You got to pile their bodies up and you got to burn them. Well, that's where this graphic imagery comes from. And in Revelation, you have the same kind of fiery image, except it's the New Jerusalem and then the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. Well, and if you were – imagine you were looking down on a valley where there was this – after a massive battle and there was all these dead bodies, and then you lit that valley on fire, and then you're standing up looking down on it. What does that look like probably? But you could say like, well, the best way to describe that would be like, that looks like a lake of fire, right?

And it looks like the same kind of area. You might have a lake of water, but instead what you have is fire instead. I mean, it makes sense of why the imagery would – that's what would be conjured up in your mind. Yeah. And so that's how Isaiah ends. He's going to make sure that we hear the good news. He's going to make sure that we hear about also the judgment that comes. But that's the way he wraps up everything.

And, you know, if you kind of set aside those last two verses and think about everything he's been saying over these last few chapters, I mean, the note of the gospel comes out loud and clear. He's taken us from the beginning where he talks about all the problems with Israel, all the problems with humanity. And then he's pictured the king who was to come, the servant who was to come, the sacrifice who was to come. and at the very end he talks about the new creation which is to come and our place in it yeah this is much like Revelation where it's not even

meant to scare you or anything like that what Revelation is about is exactly what John says it's about which is at the very beginning which is the triumph of the Lamb that's what it's about

and that's what this last text is about it's not it's not it's it's saying for this uh are you uh are you a worshiper of god well this is not talking about you but what it is talking about is god's final victory um that that god in the end triumphs over sin death hell idol everything right and that you and and sin uh and idolatry and all of these things do have to be taken care of in order to have a place where the where the curse is lifted where there is where there none of this none of this remains and so uh yeah i don't even read i mean the language is like graphic and you're like oh my gosh but what is giving you is

a graphic description of like yeah the god at the end like triumphs in an absolute way yeah yeah making all things new which is which is a great way to end yeah and that's it that's it we are out of time we are out of verses and uh so we'll leave it uh we'll leave it there uh got a good one coming up next guys uh i won't i won't spoil it but i think you guys are gonna like it uh we got something exciting coming up next book so hopefully you will join us then hey great time to tell a friend to tune in they can jump in a new book with us chad i'll see you for a new book next episode all right see you then We'll see you next time.