There is an old hymn, “Glorious things of thee are spoken” that we may not sing or be familiar with today. It speaks about Zion, “the city of our God, who was formed by God for His dwelling. The first verse emphasis the trustworthy nature of God and therefore, the certainty of dwelling in this place.
Glorious things of thee are spoken
Zion, city of our God.
He whose Word cannot be broken
formed thee for His own abode.
On the Rock of Ages founded,
what can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation's walls surrounded,
thou may'st smile at all thy foes.
The subsequent verses continue to unpack the blessings that come from living in the presence of this God, and it emphasises the communal benefit that it has on the people. We lose something in our Christian life when we lose our ability to understand ourselves as part of a collective. We live in a highly individualistic society and this has crept into our faith. We think about our life based on what we feel today. But we are going to find very limited resources in the Bible that appeal to our individualism. Many of God’s greatest promises — about the safety of Zion, the glory and presence of God in Zion, the privilege of being a child of God — are to a people. Are they “solid joys and lasting treasures none but Zion's children know”?
There is so much glory and joy in these promises. As we mature as Christians, we want to find that it is easier and easier to delight in God’s promises.
Isaiah 66 gives us one of the great hopes that God has laid out for His people — He is making all things new. And at the centre of it all, are His people.
(A) The Middle of where everything is new (Isa 66:1)
At the end of the previous chapter, Isaiah’s prophesy helps set the context for this final chapter in the book of Isaiah (Isa 65:17-25). We see a picture of new creation, one that is marked by joy. God’s people — Jerusalem — are flourishing (Isa 65:18). There is also a picture of fullness of joy and days, and peace marks the place (Isa 65:25). Note that the poetry in Isaiah 65:25 has been running throughout the book. Natural enemies in creation — predator and prey — will be removed and there will be peace and a kind of life that we wish for but have never seen. 2 Peter 3:13 calls this reality the home of righteousness.
What is the link between God’s people flourishing and also all things being made new? One man’s sin is also tied to the world that we live. Thus, sin being dealt with also results in creation being renewed. The Bible tells us that there is something bigger and deeper than what we experience and feel.
Is this about heaven? We may read the details and not immediately think about heaven. Where is this then? The Bible speaks of life after death, and life after life after death, where the new heavens and new earth begins. There, “dust shall be the serpent’s food” (Isa 65:25b) — a final undoing of the curse in Genesis 3. There will be an end to violence, destruction and conflict (Isa 65:25c). This sets the broader context for the promise God has made.
Isaiah 66 reveals God’s promise of cosmic renewal, and it focuses on God’s dwelling — “the house that you would build for me”, the “place of my rest” (Isa 66:1). God is talking about the temple in Jerusalem and is asking what is so great about this temple. After all, this is the God who claims heaven as his throne and the earth as His footstool.
His attention is fixed on Jerusalem and the temple. Why? Does it matter that we worship God? Does anyone care about what we do before God? Remember that when God has promised to renew everything, His eye is fixed on the temple. The middle of where everything is new is on the temple. And we should want to go and be there. We should desire to want to care about and love what God cares about and loves.
(B) The One who holds the look of God (Isa 66:2)
God is the God who made “all these things” (Isa 66:2a). We should not ignore the vast amount of what God has made! It is good for us to go into nature and see all that God has made. We believe that behind every falling leaves and changing trees, continuous rain and monsoon surges, is a God. We do not look at sunsets and the glory of earthworms and say that these things caused themselves. We believe that God is behind every blessing and everything is a reason for praise. It might sound basic but it is true.
God’s attention is fixed on His people and He says specifically that He will look at “he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isa 66:2b). God loves people that loves His word. But why? Is God academic? Does God like theory and literacy? Does God love people to read? There is something about giving attention to God’s word that reveals our heart. Isaiah teaches us that we are humble if we live our lives submitted to the authority of Scripture. We are broken in ourselves because we know how sinful we are — our hearts are twisted and we cannot be trusted with our own decisions and we need God to set the agenda and direct us.
We trust God’s word because we do not trust ourselves. We believe that God is a God who has spoken.
It is possible to find churches and Christians who say that they submit to the authority of Scripture but when pressed, they will default to decision by tradition, preference, culture, pragmatism, but not decision by Scripture. It is important for us to ask how we arrive at decisions. None of these things are evil, but they are not the Bible. We should not settle for anything less than the right kind of spirit, because God pays attention to this kind of heart.
God looks upon the men and women who revere His word and live it out.
(C) The Change God has said will surely come (Isa 66:3-6)
Four comparisons are used to describe the kind of worship in the temple. The one who “slaughters an ox” (Isa 66:3a) is likened to a murderer (“kills a man”, c.f. Isa 66:3a). The one who “sacrifices a lamb” (Isa 66:3b) is “like one who breaks a dog’s neck” (Isa 66:3b) — no different from an animal abuser. The one who “presents a grain offering” (Isa 66:3c) is “like one who offers pig’s blood” (Isa 66:3c) — ceremonially unclean and insulting. The one who “makes a memorial offering of frankincense” (Isa 66:3d) is “like one who blesses an idol” (Isa 66:3d).
Isaiah concludes that “these have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations” (Isa 66:3e). These actions are not accidental. They knew what God had forbidden and yet, settled their heart to continue in these ways because of tradition, what they wanted, what people around them did etc. False worship is not accidental.
Isaiah 66:4 continues to expand what has already been mentioned in Isaiah. God will purify His people who are false worshippers.
We should worry, shouldn’t we? Do you think God tolerates your false worship? When we come to Him on Sunday to praise Him, but with the same lips curse our neighbour, do you think He accepts it? We give our offering but then splurge on worldliness? If there is anything right now that you are clear that you are doing wrong in worship, cut it off. It could be a relationship, habit that needs to end, or something you need to deal with, do it. Do it before you go to the house of God and bring judgement on yourself.
God goes back to address the man who trembles at His word (Isa 66:5). There are those that hate him and cast him out because of his faith. They may also mock him and God is giving a word of comfort now to those who have endured suffering for God. God is saying here that their adversaries will be the ones put to shame instead. God is kind to strengthen His servants.
This section ends with a sound and uproar from the city and temple (Isa 66:6). God begins in the house of God to cleanse His people and purify His worship.
God will bring about a change, with false religion coming down and false teachers being exposed. Those who think they are worshipping God may be found to be far from Him. This text has a certain weightiness and comes with it an urgency. What kind of Christian are you? Have you shackled yourself to the Bible? Are you bound to the Bible, so much so that you can say that the world can take everything from you and you are secure because you have the word?
Can you see that God is already working a change in you to love His word? The natural man cannot desire the things of God! Maybe you do not feel like you are confident or perfect — that is ok. If you are aware of your sin and that awareness causes you grieve, and you love Him and are grateful that He has died for your sins, and desire to live for Him and to know Him more, and want holiness and to be prepared for eternity to live in His presence — friends, you did not generate this desire.
To confess sins and believe that your life is deserving of hell and Jesus went to hell for you in your place, and therefore trustworthy enough to give Him your new life, praise God! There is now a “new you” living in your “old you” — a new set of desires that’s pushing against the old desires to live for self. These competing desires are a daily struggle, but one day, this will cease. We will be fully our new selves. This is how the lion and the lamb can sit together — because God makes all things new.
This is such a great hope and it is no wonder that John writes, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
We go back to the hymn we started off with. The promises of God are not about the Christian’s own life and unleashing one’s personal potential. Rather, it is a corporate hope that we seek together. This is what C.S. Lewis calls a country we long for that we have never been. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity puts it this way == "Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise [...] If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
He continues, "Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same."
What is God saying to you through His word today?