ISAIAH - CHAPTER 66 - THE NEW MAN
ISAIAH 66 – THE NEW MAN
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
May 18, 2015, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
In the NEW JERUSALEM, we have a NEW CITY, in a NEW ORDER of people in whom God has found a place of rest. The Lord is well pleased in His work on which He rests; and abides where He rests. This glorified community of God has entered into His rest. “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream…”
The Spirit of the Lord asks the question, “Where is the place of My rest?”
Isa. 66: 1-2: “Thus says the Lord, the heaven is my Throne, and the earth is My footstool; where is the house that you build to Me? And where is the place of My rest?
For all those things has My hand made, and all those things have been, says the Lord; but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at My word.”
1 Peter 4:14: “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you; for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you…”
This closing chapter describes the immensity and the eternalness of God. He is immense and omnipresent. There is no place in the universe where He is not.
From Genesis to Revelation, God comes to dwell with man. God does not dwell in man-made buildings. He dwells in the hearts of a people. The NEW CREATION MAN is described in verse 2. Even though God has made all things and all men, He will not regard all men equally, but favor those who are of a humble and contrite spirit, and who have a high regard for His Word.
The Lord is speaking to us that he is clothing us with new garments and blessing the remnant in this hour with a greater glory for the NEW MAN. I had a dream on May 8th about the NEW GARMENTS on our men. Then the words came forth on Sunday of the Holy Spirit’s work of restoration to birth and bring to maturity the NEW MAN. Then Henry Johnson had a confirming dream Sunday afternoon.
I am listening!
Eph. 2:15: “Having abolished in His flesh (The Son of Man) the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; to make in Himself of two one NEW MAN, so making peace.”
Col. 3:10: “…put on the NEW MAN, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.”
He first of all rebukes the ungodly exiles about to return from captivity for intending to rebuild the Temple and restore its worship without any intention on their part to turn from their sinful ways.
66: 3-4: “He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man. He that sacrifices a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offers an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burns incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations. I will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer. When I spoke, they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.”
God rebukes them for making religious sacrifices with an irreligious heart and without heeding His requirements.
Then he addresses the Godly exiles who revere His Word and encourages them to rejoice in their approaching peace and comfort in the restored Jerusalem.
66: 5-6: “Hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble at His word: “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. A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that renders recompense to His enemies.”
Isaiah 40 opened with three voices:
- (vs.3) The voice of Him that cries in the wilderness.
- (vs.6) The Voice said “cry”---and He said what shall I “cry”
- (vs.9) Lift up your voice with strength…say…Behold your God!
In 66:6, there are again three voices:
- A voice from the city (Holy Place – realm of Pentecost).
- A voice from the temple (Zion – the Most Holy Place – His full grown sons). The New Man. It is the voice of the righteous remnant who have been raised up to minister His righteous judgment.
- A VOICE of the Lord who cleansed the Temple at the beginning and end of His public ministry.
I have been experiencing an interesting phenomenon in my life. The Lord has been setting a table for me in the presence of my enemies. Our enemies are those who wish us harm, tried to harm us, tried to abort the ministry within us; and worse tried to abort the ministry the Holy Spirit is working through us.
The Holy Spirit rests on His work. Here we are promised that as we continue to be led by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit will render recompense to His enemies. We must continually walk in love trusting the Lord to render His recompense.
If our enemies are walking and living in the love of God and the fullness of their callings, they will no longer be enemies of God’s servants or enemies of the Holy Spirit. “Your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like a herb; and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants…” (Isa. 66:14)
66: 7-9: “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? Says the Lord: shall I cease to bring forth, and shut the womb? Says your God.
There are multiple ways this verse is being fulfilled, has been fulfilled and will be fulfilled:
- These verses have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He brought the vengeance of God and was born of a woman (Gal. 4). When He arose from the dead, a whole nation (The Kingdom of God) was born in a day. Because of the immutable oath of Heb. 6: 16-20, He received His PRIESTHOOD and KINGSHIP and was the FIRSTBEGOTTEN from the dead. He was BEGOTTEN on the morning of the Third Day/
- These verses are being and will be fulfilled in the Man-child Company of Revelation 12, the overcomer of Rev. 2-3, and His brethren of Rom 8:29; Heb. 2: 6-13. “What is man that you are mindful of him? ...you crowned him with glory and honor…you set him over the work of your hands…”
Note there is a multiple birth in this passage, “She brought forth her children”(vs.8). (Heb. 2:13) I had a vision of the man child being birthed in 1989. I believe this vision represented the first fruits (Rev. 14) of the residue of men (the nations of Isa. 66:10-24) gathered unto Himself through His sickle (Joseph ministry)! “For by fire and by His sword shall the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many.” (Vs.16).
The sword is now drawn in the nations and fire is burning in our cities.
Note that all this happens before her pain (before tribulation).
- The immediate historical application: The remnant of God’s people returning from Babylon and its bondage, and coming into the land at once (together). A strange event without precedence.
- The restoration of the nation Israel in May 1948.
To paraphrase verse 9, “Should I arrange all the necessary circumstances for this event and then not complete it?” The godly exiles are assured of the Lord’s vengeance upon His enemies who also shall behold His glory.
66: 10:13: “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad with her, all you that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her. That you may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that you may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus says the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream; then shall you suck, you shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. As one, whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
As Isaiah began in this section beginning in chapter 40, he ends in this last chapter with words of comfort. The love a mother is God-given affection. The Lord affirms to us that he is all that to us amid the sorrow of life, hard lessons, toilsome tasks, hours of loneliness and solitude, illness, and grief. I will be near to lay my hands upon you, and to say, “Fear not.”
66:14: “When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like a herb; and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants, and His indignation toward His enemies.”
The best of earthly mothers must leave, and must sooner or latter “forsake” the hand they lovingly rocked and comforted in infancy. Yet, the Lord says, He will never forsake us.
We know as mothers if our child is sick and suffering, we will go to that weak and fragile child. The ninety and nine are left by the shepherd to roam at will, untended on the mountain-side; but the one sick or wounded will be carried back in the arms of the Good Shepherd.
When we are battered, wounded, sorrowing, God lavishes on us His deepest, profound sympathy. He who is better, fonder, truer than the best and fondest of parents, “covers your head in the day of battle”---“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble”.
66:15-17: “For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, says the Lord.”
This describes Christ’s judgment toward the enemies of God’s kingdom. Christ did come once and will come again in judgment. The Jews who persisted in infidelity were cut off by fire and by his sword. The Lord pleads with all flesh. Idolaters will especially be contended with in the day of wrath. The prophecy refers to all those judgments which God will bring upon sinners, who are devoted to the world and the flesh. They shall be consumed together. God knows both what men do and their motives and methods.
He will appear to the comfort and joy of all who are faithful to him in the setting up of the Kingdom of grace, the first-fruits of the Kingdom of glory. The time will come when he will gather all nations and tongues to Himself, that they may come and see His glory as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ.
66:18-20: “I know their works and their thoughts. It shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory. I will set a sign among them. I will send those that escape of them to 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. They shall bring all your brethren for an offering to 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, says the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.”
In our generations, we have seen the remnant of nations come to Jesus Christ and experience His glory. Since this was prophesied by Isaiah, the restored children of Abraham became the great Apostles and Missionaries of the world. From Jerusalem the metropolis and mother-city of Christendom, they did go forth and will go forth as bearers of the glad tidings.
The Evangelists will thus say not to “the cities of Judah” only, but to the cities and kingdoms of the world, “Behold your God”. What God? Who other than “the God of Amen”. He, who will then be owned, and rejoiced in, by those who so long disowned Him, as “the Amen, the Faithful and True witness” (Rev. 2:14); In whom all the promises of God “are yea, and in Him Amen” (2 Cor. 1:20).
“Glorious things” (future as well as past) “are spoken of thee, “O City of God!”
66:21-23: “I will take of them for priests and for Levites, say the Lord. For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, says the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. It shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from on Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says the Lord.”
The apostle says that all true Christians have come to Mount Zion, and the heavenly Jerusalem shall be brought into the church by the grace of God and we are in heavenly Jerusalem. A gospel ministry shall be set up in the church. In gospel times God takes of the converted Gentiles to minister, to teach the people, to be the stewards of the mysteries of God as the priests and Levites were under the law.
The apostles were all Jews, and so were the seventy disciples. The great apostle of the Gentiles was himself
“a Hebrew of the Hebrews”, but when
churches were planted among the Gentiles, they had ministers who were of
themselves, elders in every church.
The church and ministry shall remain from generation to generation. The Kingdom of the Messiah shall be a new world. “Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new”. (2 Cor. 5:17).
Christ is our temple and through the indwelling Holy Spirit we are the temple of God. It is fit that there should be a certain time appointed, of communion of Christian assembly with each other by faith, hope and holy love. Here the Lord’s Day is set to be weekly sanctified, and duly attended.
66:24: “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 to all flesh.”
The wicked are men who have transgressed against God, broken his laws and broken covenant with him. Their eternal misery is represented by the spectacle of a field of battle covered with the carcasses of the slain.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of Principles of Present Truth by: Kelly Varner. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of Rev. Varner. (1949-2009).