In Isaiah chapter 66, we have just an incredible opportunity to wrap this up, to see the end of the matter here with Isaiah. And as we wrap it up, we want to remind you of some things that we learned in the very beginning of it. In the very beginning of Isaiah, when we were going about introductory kind of stuff, we saw the book of Isaiah is not strictly chronological. It's somewhat chronological, but it's not really chronological, as we would write a modern account of something, as we would see a journal of somebody laid out. But we also saw that it's definitely not random. It is arranged thematically, and here at the end in chapter 66, as we would expect, things are somewhat wrapped up. And we get to see what are the conclusions that we came to along the way, and are those affirmed here at the end, and what can we say at the end summing all this up? Some more important questions might be along these lines, though. How can something that was written 700 years before Christ came be relevant to us today? But what we're going to see is we're going to see that many of these things in Isaiah actually lend evidence to the Bible, to the reality of Jesus Christ. And all these things show themselves to be thoroughly relevant to our faith to this very day, over 2,000 years later. Now in Isaiah chapter 66, Oddly enough, the chapter 66 is roughly chronological. It's all future to Isaiah. Some of it is past to us, some of it is present, some of it is future to us. So this becomes exceedingly relevant that we have perspective of the past, we have an awareness of the present age that we're in and the purposes of it and the importance of it, and then we have a glimpse yet of the future to come. And the point that we're gonna see today is this, that God is moving forward a plan. to gather to himself a people to know him and enjoy him forever. You'll say, well, that sounds familiar. Well, it's been a recurring theme throughout all of Isaiah, and we're gonna see it summed up here at the very end. Some of this that we find in chapter 66 here, we can confirm from history. Some of it, the New Testament enlightens us as to its meaning, and the rest of it, we see our future, our destiny. And therefore, we can know with certainty of the God who moved empires to prepare people for himself to enjoy forever. So let's take this just a piece at a time as we'll take a look on the scriptures here beginning at the beginning of chapter 66. We'll look at the first six verses at first. He says, Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What is the house that you would build for me? And what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man. He who sacrifices a lamb like one who breaks a dog's neck. He who presents a grain offering like one who offers pigs blood. He who makes a memorial offering of frankincense like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways and their soul delights in their abominations. I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one 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. 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 that we may see your joy. but it is they who will be put to shame. The sound of an uproar from the city, a sound from the temple, the sound of the Lord rendering recompense to his enemies. Let's pray. Father God, we pray as we move through this chapter that you'll give us understanding. We understand that your word is to be spiritually discerned, for it was written down as the Spirit moved the men of old, and so let it as we take it up. let it have understanding in us by the power of your spirit we thank you in jesus name all right so we have here a glimpse of isaiah's nearer future see isaiah sees ahead to a time when the temple is rebuilt and that is implied of course in verse one there when he says what is the house that you would build for me and you might think to yourself okay in isaiah's time they already had a temple Isaiah was well familiar with the temple. He had been to the temple. And so why is the Lord at this point asking, what is the house that you would build for me? Well, in the chapters leading up to this, the Lord made it very plain. I'm bringing judgment upon Israel, specifically Judah and Jerusalem. And he has already revealed that the temple would be destroyed. if we look just back in chapter sixty three at the end of sixty three we become like those over whom you have never ruled like those who are not called by your name in other words the Lord was forsaking the people and look what it says in chapter sixty four verse eleven our holy and beautiful house where our fathers praised you has been burned by fire and all our pleasant places have become ruins. In other words, the temple, Isaiah knew that at one point the temple would be destroyed. All the way back to chapter 39, this became clear that there was a great crisis coming. The first 37 chapters or so of the book of Isaiah kind of dealt primarily with the Assyrian crisis. And we know that the nation of Assyria came down. They attacked the southern kingdom, Judah. They completely destroyed the northern kingdom. They attacked the southern kingdom right up to Jerusalem. and destroyed all their cities except jerusalem they get through that crisis and the next one begins and that is the one where babylon is going to be brought and when babylon is going to come they're going to face exile here's what he was revealed to king hezekiah behold the days are coming when all that is in your house and and that which your fathers have stored up to this day shall be carried to babylon nothing shall be left says the lord And some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." So this became very obvious to Isaiah and to the people he was ministering to that the Lord is saying, we're eventually out of here. We're eventually in Babylon, and that's going to include the destruction of this city that you think is impregnable, and the destruction of this temple which you think is so valuable to God that he wouldn't destroy it. But the message of Isaiah is, no, this is a coming crisis. Right on the heels of the Assyrian crisis, the Babylonian crisis. Now the interesting thing about this is that this is all according to the covenant that God had with Israel. He is simply doing what he said he would do if they were unfaithful. And when you read the end, particularly the end of the book of Deuteronomy, you begin to understand, OK, the Lord knows that exile is coming for them. And he says it right up front. If you still won't listen to me, eventually I'll take you out of here. You'll be in a land that's not your own. But then I'll bring you back. And so we find all through scriptures the predictions of the destruction of the temple, the accounts of the destruction of the temple, then the reflections upon the destruction of the temple. It affects much of what we read in the scriptures. Many of the Psalms, many of the prophets are working with this theme. And honestly, that's a major theme of the book of Isaiah, even though he ministered over a hundred years before it was destroyed. It's almost like he was writing a survival manual for the people that were in Babylon. to reflect upon what has happened and why and how to get through it by trusting in the promises that they will indeed through it so here in sixty-six verse one what is the house that you'll build for me this implication that there's going to be a restoration of this temple there's going to be another one made back we know the man the name of the man of persia prophesied before he existed. Isaiah says, the Lord says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, he shall fulfill all my purpose, saying of Jerusalem, she shall be built, and of the temple your foundation shall be laid. And that's another theme you can trace through the prophets and even in the Psalms. This idea of the rebuilding of the temple, the restoration of worship there in Jerusalem. But that's not entirely the end of their problems. When we go back to chapter 66, we see there's another issue here. Because he challenges them. What is this house you're going to make for me? And he says, I'm really interested in the humble and contrite in spirit. And then he talks about some false religion or empty religion here, as we might say. There's this contrast in verse 2. You know, who is it that he's interested in? You know, of all the offerings people bring, of the temple that he has, of all the arrangements that the people of Israel had with God, he can confidently say, I made all this. I don't need you to bring me oxen. I made all the oxen. I own them all. It's not something that's going to help me. What I'm looking for is he who is humble and contrite in spirit. Now if you think about that logically, those Israelites that were humble and contrite in spirit, are they not going to obey God in what he has prescribed for them to do in the temple worship and the sacrifices? Of course they are, because they're humble and contrite in spirit. He's talking about the ones, the ones that he has no tolerance of, are these who just are doing the rote repetition of religion. And he compares good things of their religion, slaughtering an ox, that was commanded by him in certain situations in their law code. He says it's like murder. Sacrificing a lamb, that was prescribed in many of their offerings. He says that's like one who breaks a dog's neck. And so he goes through these things and he goes, when you bring these things before me, you're not of these humble and contrite spirit, then this is like garbage to me. This is an abomination to me. It's as bad as idolatry. Now the reason why he brings that up, if you look at this, he says, he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, and this is assuming someone who's not humble in contrite spirit, and yet they're bringing an offering, he's like one who blesses an idol. He brings that up because their chief problem in Isaiah's day was idolatry. That's given as a chief among the issues that sent them into exile. And when they come back from exile, that kind of idolatry is gone. The exile somewhat cured them of idolatry. That's the good news. The bad news is now there's all kinds of other problems. now there's all kinds of other problems and there are other problems include things like empty religion legalism and that's why they get compared to idolatry it's no better than a false religion if you're simply doing following the lord's commands out of habit out of repetition with no real faith in him what he's doing in no acknowledgement of the reality that these things represent that it's no better than a false religion And sure enough, after the exile, what happens to people that are dedicated to their religion but not dedicated to God? What happens to people that are dedicated to religion more than God is that they began to split into factions. They began to fall into either legalism or either licentious compromise with the world. And that broke them into all kinds of groups, and that is the world that Jesus stepped into. where he had Pharisees, and he had Sadducees, and he had Essenes, and he had Zealots, and all these different groups among the Jews, all disagreeing on things, and none of them wholeheartedly embracing Jesus. Matter of fact, those that followed him were kind of the exceptions. They were kind of the outsiders. Yeah, there are a few from each of those other groups that followed him, but by and large, these were the people that were unexpected, the unlearned fishermen of Galilee. And so Jesus steps into that, and I hope you can see from these first few verses the immediate application that when people get focused on their religion more than God, when they're more devoted to the showing up at church and the traditions and things that they have, but they're not as devoted to the time alone with God and His Word and in prayer and in fellowship and in loving one another, then they're going to fall into this automatically. And there's going to be division, and there's going to be difficulty. But in verses five and six, something happens. He condemns this hollow religion, this empty religion, and then he says this, hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his words. This is a message to the faithful. You who tremble at his word, your brothers who hate you and cast you out for your namesake, and it's always been true, those who really love the Lord, tremble at his word, they're usually persecuted by the others. And then there's this taunt they were saying to the people. Let the Lord be glorified that we may see your joy. Maybe this was said to Isaiah and his disciples and others at the time. It's kind of a taunt that other people would give the less faithful. But he says, but it's they who will be put to shame. And then all of a sudden, there's a sound of an uproar from the city, a sound from the temple, the sound of the Lord rendering recompense to his enemies. see how in poetic language all of a sudden yeah all this is happening but that something comes the lord comes he comes to the temple and there's judgment there what is it this is what i call the inflection point this is what i call the inflection point i want to show you this just momentarily here we have an outline here and uh... and i want you to see what's on the right there the inflection point something happens in verses five and six. Because you notice, and think about the history of Israel, it kind of started off with a bang, the Exodus, right? Really great stuff happening, all these miracles, and then, you know, it was kind of a low point in the wilderness wandering, but then they come in, and they conquer the Promised Land, and that was miraculous, that was incredible. God really showed up, they conquered all these cities, and then they kind of went through this time of stagnation. And this time of the judges where things were mostly bad, and things were mostly, people were doing what was right in their own eyes, and it began to really level off. And then they're like, we need a king, and they got a bad king, and then they got a good king, and things were looked up a little bit. But by and large, after the king started, then everything started to really kind of go downhill, to level off, like the kingdom's not really making any progress. But then there's a sound of uproar from the city, as it says there in the scriptures, a sound from the temple. What is this? Let's read on and see. Before she was in labor, she gave birth. OK, that's poetic language, because that doesn't make any sense, right? And some of you are like, I wish that would happen. But before she was in labor, she gave birth. In other words, this happened so quickly, it's like we didn't even notice the labor. Before her pain came upon her, she delivered a son. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Now that is a good question. Who has heard such a thing? Have you heard such a thing? As someone being in labor and bearing forth a son? In the near context of maybe the book of Isaiah? you remember it's in isaiah where we hear that there will be a son born a child given child born a son given that's how it goes way back there in chapter seven keep that in mind because we know that had its ultimate fulfillment christ right well let's go on shall a land be born in one day shall a nation be brought forth in one moment for as far 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? In other words, he's been working on something. Is he not gonna finish it? Is he not gonna bring this to fruition? Is it not going to happen? And then he says, rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her. Rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her, that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast, that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance. See, Zion, Jerusalem is portrayed here as being pregnant, as bringing forth something, a son. But then it's more than a son. It's an abundance. Be glad for this, you know, and that there'd be this great abundance. And the Lord says, I'm going to bring this to be. The inflection point is the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then the subsequent beginning of the church. See, an inflection point in mathematics is when something's leveling off and it's really not making progress. It gets to a certain critical point where some of the variables of the equation become less important, and other variables become more important, and that line then begins to curve the other direction. And the inflection point is the Lord Jesus Christ. And think about it in terms of the history of Israel. Here we have hundreds of years, centuries going by, of them just kind of fizzling out. And then there's exile. And then they come back from exile. And it's really not that big a deal. They're looking at their temple. They're weeping over it because this is pitiful compared to what Solomon built. And they never have this grandiose visible coming of the glory of God to rest upon it. And then they spend the next few hundred years back and forth, different empires, a little period of independence, but that wasn't much better. But then all of a sudden, Jesus comes. Here comes John the Baptist. He's preaching in the wilderness. This is the first prophet they'd had for 300 or 400 years. And all of a sudden, hey, there's a prophet. And who's the prophet talking? What's the prophet doing? Oh, he's introducing this guy, calling him the Lamb of God. And this guy comes, and he's reported his door and all these miracles, and he's gathering thousands, and he's really making an uproar, and things really seem to be progressing and happening. And then they killed him. But then the rumors began. No, no, no, he rose. All his disciples saw it, hundreds of them saw him. He rose and now, all of a sudden, comes a holiday, the day of Pentecost. And look what it says there in the scriptures. Very interesting. Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? Yes. The day of Pentecost comes, and all of a sudden, in this very short period of time, in a matter of a few years, when John the Baptist shows up, and then Jesus comes on the scene, and then he's crucified and resurrected, a few weeks after that comes the day of Pentecost, thousands of people begin the church, and by the time you get halfway through the book of Acts, they're described as turning the world upside down. in less time than they wandered in the wilderness. From the time that Jesus came on the scene until the time that the temple was destroyed is roughly the same amount of time that they wandered in the wilderness. A mere few decades compared to the centuries and centuries they languished in the land until that happened. And from that point forward, the world has never been the same. This is the Lord. This is the inflection point. This is the one of whom Isaiah said in chapter seven. Therefore, the Lord will give you a sign. Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son shall call his name, Emmanuel. God with us. Now again, this description of giving birth, this description of bringing forth one who is going to be significant, a son that is born, a nation born in a moment, this is Jesus Christ, this is the birth of the church. You ever really think about that? Do you ever think about the fact that Jesus Christ is described in Revelation chapter 12 as being brought forth? There was a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. Sounds a lot like Joseph's dream. She was pregnant, was crying out in birth pains in the agony of giving birth, and another sign appeared in heaven, and that's the dragon and all that. We're not gonna talk about that. We're gonna go down to verse five. She gave birth to a male child. One who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God. Says the church, she's still in the world. She's being protected by God. And Satan, of course, pursues her, but she is protected. Do you see the relevance of Isaiah now? because Isaiah is seeing forth, he's seeing the future, he's seeing, okay, we're going to come back, there's going to be some legalism issues, but then something's going to happen in Jerusalem. Something's going to happen in the temple. And what happened there? Jesus happened there. He came and he turned the city into chaos. And it happened early on. Remember when the wise men came in to Jerusalem, they're looking, they're following whatever sign it was, the star that they had, and they're looking for him who's born king of the Jews. Well, the whole city's upset by their arrival. This is that sound in Jerusalem. This is that upset going on there. And then he comes and he's turning over tables in the temple. And he's pronouncing woe upon the Pharisees in his last week before being crucified. and making one final call to the people to repent and to follow the truth. It all turns on him, all of history. We number our years by it. So how did this happen? How did this inflection point occur? What turned it all around? Because that would be the logical question of the people in Isaiah's day. Because Isaiah's looking forward to the future, and he's like, gee, you brought Assyria upon us, and we didn't learn our lesson. You took us into exile in Babylon, and we came back, and we learned our lesson about idolatry, but it really wasn't much better. What could possibly turn this around? What's going to work? And sometimes if you read the scriptures, you can read it this way. You can read it as, this is God proving that man is utterly incapable of doing anything right. But God, two of the greatest words in the Bible, but God will make it happen. So we've seen this, and we wanna look then at the further context here, starting in verse 12. All we have seen through the book of Isaiah concerning this new Jerusalem is going to come into play here. And it's starting now. For thus says the Lord, behold, I will extend peace to her like a river. This is to Jerusalem. And I want to remind you, as we study Jerusalem and Zion imagery through the book of Isaiah, we know this is connected to the church. and it says as much at the end of the book of revelation we see the the new jerusalem come down out of heaven and it is the church for that says the lord i will extend peace to her like a river and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream and you shall nurse and you shall be carried upon her hip and bounced upon her knees as one whom his mother comforts so i will comfort you you shall be comforted jerusalem He's telling the faithful, remember his message in this chapter is primarily to the faithful, and he's telling the faithful, you're going to find comfort. Don't you worry about those that persecute you. Don't you worry about those who go back and forth to temple just out of habit or just out of some kind of legalism. Don't worry about their false worship. You're going to find comfort in Jerusalem. only you don't need to travel to the city to find it. He said, 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. Remember how Jesus defined eternal life, and remember how he defined the hand in the book of Isaiah. The hand of the Lord seems to be Jesus in most instances. And Jesus defined eternal life in this way, this is eternal life that they may know you as he speaks to the Father, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. And the faithful are told by the Lord here in the book of Isaiah right at the end, you'll see, your heart will rejoice, your bones shall flourish like the grass, the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, and he shall show his indignation against his enemies. For behold, the Lord will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind to render his anger and fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire, for by fire will the Lord enter into judgment, and by his sword with all flesh, and those slain by the Lord shall be many. Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pigs' flesh, and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end altogether, declares the Lord." In other words, those people of the false worship he mentioned earlier in the chapter. and idolaters. They're going to come to an end. And it's all wrapped up in this at the same time. And you're like, oh yeah, that's later. That judgment's later. Judgment's coming. It is. But it's coming sooner than you think. Indeed, it's already here. First, I want to talk about this comfort for Jerusalem a little bit. Let's go back to the book of Revelation. What is this comfort that we're talking about? Well, in the book of Revelation, John has the visions of heaven and things like that. And he says, then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me saying, come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. So he's speaking of the church. In the New Testament, it's unmistakable. And he says, and he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. If you don't understand that the bride of Christ is the Jerusalem, you're saying, okay, he said, I'm gonna show you the bride, I'm gonna show you the wife of the Lamb, and oh, here's the city. And you're gonna be really confused. But it's clear from Isaiah that he is speaking the things that belong to believers in Jesus Christ upon this Jerusalem. And this Jerusalem, it has the glory of God. It's radiance like a most rare jewel, like Jasper Clear's crystal. And it goes on about the walls and things. It describes it basically as really, really big and huge and square, made out of precious things. And the 12 gates were 12 pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. This is all recognizable, familiar to you, right? And I saw no temple in the city. For its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it." This is what he's speaking of. He spoke of the new heavens and new earth just a couple chapters back. And Isaiah is speaking of it once again. Powerful imagery. And this is the comfort for Jerusalem. Peace like a river. Peace with God. Inner peace to the believer. They're going to be nourished. They're going to be fed the Word of God. They're going to be given eternal life. They're going to be comforted. But judgments coming at the same time? Yeah, when we looked at the divine warrior last time, we saw indeed it is. The words that Jesus said is what will judge the world. The judgment's beginning now. The sorting out is happening right now. And this is something that Isaiah spoke of too, that those with false religion are going to perish. It's a time of judgment right now, but also a time gathering. Let's look at this last bit at the gathering of the nation starting in verse 18 here. This has been a major theme in Isaiah, and we're going to see it unfold here at the end. He says, for I know their works and their thoughts, and a time is coming to gather all nations in tongues. And they shall come and see my glory, and I will set a sign among them, 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 and they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord." On horses and in chariots and litters and on mules and on dromedaries and you're like, I didn't come to Jesus on a dromedary. I came in automobiles. Is that going to make any sense to Isaiah and his people? No. They're going to come from all over the world in all kinds of ways. They're going to come to the Lord. Through my holy mountain, Jerusalem, says the Lord. And you're like, we're not going to Jerusalem. Again, it's not the physical, literal city. Just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. And some of them also I will take for priests and Levites. This is a radical idea. You remember priests and Levites, they were sanctioned the only ones who could minister in the temple. And there was even a division among them. The Levites were allowed to minister to the temple and everything, but only the priests could go into the holy place and minister there. Descendants of Aaron, the high priests, And now he's saying, I'm going to go out to the nations, I'm going to find priests and Levites out there. And here comes the New Testament and declares that we are a royal priesthood. For as a new heavens and a 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. And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me, for their worms shall not die, their fires shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. interesting way to leave the book isn't it specially the last two verses you like i say it was going great till then and then he ended his sermon on this down note those not a down note this is a clue when jesus came he kept talking about judgment coming upon everyone and kept talking about the judgment of those who do not get in line with the kingdom who did not get in line with the king himself that their worm shall not die their fire shall not be quenched And he says it over and over as if directing people, go read that last bit of Isaiah again, and then try to understand what I'm doing here and why I'm here. He's the inflection point. He's where everything changes. He's where we went from struggling to bring forth the people of God, struggling to make God's name known in the world, to the launching of the church where the Spirit of God indwells believers and has taken it to all the nations, tribes, tongues, languages. God is right now gathering all the nations together. And they are coming and presenting themselves before the Lord. It says, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord. And you and I together are worshiping the Lord today. And millions upon millions of people all around the world right now today engaged in worshiping the Lord. And how does that compare to a few faithful wringing their hands in the city of jerusalem because most of the place is disobedient to god and and their political situation is tenuous in their outlook is not good and many are discouraged and i say this is not always will be like that there's going to be a noise in jerusalem there's going to be a sound at the temple and it's going to ring throughout the world and it is going to go and is going to gather all kinds together to worship the lord God is restoring Eden. When he made the earth and he placed mankind there in the garden to tend it, to grow it, apparently around the earth, what he desired was a multitude of people, a multitude of human beings to worship with him throughout all eternity. And Satan fell. Then mankind sinned. But those didn't stop him. Mankind went their own way, did whatever was right in their own eyes to the point that there was nothing left worth saving except for one family. He didn't let that stop him. Then mankind got together and said, we're going to make a great name for ourselves. We're going to make our own way to heaven. We're going to build this great city. We're going to build a great tower. And yet the Lord told us to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it. We're going to ignore that. We're happy right here in the plain of Shinar. The Lord didn't let that stop him. The Lord chose a man named Abram, called him out of a land to go to a land he didn't know. Abram had his shortcomings. He had his lapses of faith. He occasionally lied to a king of Egypt because of his fear of the king. He took matters into his own hands at one point, so to speak. The Lord didn't let that stop him. He eventually brought forth Isaac. And then Jacob. And Jacob's sons acted wickedly. earned themselves an exile into Egypt, but he didn't let that stop him. They came into the Promised Land. What were there? There were giants, there were all kinds of horrible things in the Promised Land. There were all these obstacles to come in. He didn't let that stop him. The people didn't do what was right in the Lord's eyes. He didn't let that stop. every step of the way everything that seemed to be an obstacle he turned he made it its own little inflection point that he would push forth his plan and not the plan of the world and not the plan of the evil forces that were arrayed against his people the world's empires and their leaders and their false religions and wars and famines and yet the human race keeps growing and God keeps harvesting faithful remnant of people. My question for you is, what can stop him? What can stop this one who has moved empires to accomplish his will? Who has, against all odds, against all opposition, has put forth his word into the world and it has lasted to this day, and it has been resisted in every place and in every age in which it has been presented. What will stop him? And the option that we have left here, we have left in chapter 66 here, a contrast, a challenge, if you would. You look at verses 15 and 16, the Lord's going to come in fire and things like this. And remember, John the Baptist said of Jesus, He'll come baptizing with the Spirit and with fire? There's going to come this judgment of fire to render His angry and fury. By fire will the Lord enter into judgment, and by His sword with all flesh. And so what's laid out to you is, do you want this verse 15 and 16, eternity? Do you want the verse 24 eternity where the worm doesn't die? Fires not quenched? Or would you prefer the verses 22 and 23 eternity? The new heavens and the new earth that remain before him, and the offspring and the names all remain, even given a new name, to worship before the Lord forever. These final words in these last few verses leave us an invitation, a contrast. And it's played out through the Old Testament like a tale of two cities, where this one city, this Jerusalem, is going to be blessed in the presence of the Lord forever. But this other city, the worldly city, the Babylon, is going to be condemned. Which will it be for you? Which will it be for those who know you? Because I've got a couple of encouragements for you. And they are basically this. First of all, worship God. Look what He has done. Because all along the way, we think, oh, this has been easy for God. And He just stands up there and points His finger and directs things. You read the prophets, and you tell me this is easy for Him. Now, I'm not saying it's a challenge to him, like it's almost beyond his power. I'm saying it's painful. Jesus came and wept. He wept over what? Well, the death of his friend. He takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked. He doesn't enjoy those that reject him. He doesn't enjoy the suffering of his people. He is there with them. And in fact, he came and he suffered more than any of them. Worship Him. He's worthy of it. He's worthy of all of our attention. And then secondly, be part of this gathering of the nation, because this is all that really matters. When you read Isaiah chapter 66 and you look through here, you know, it's held up as like, this is it. There's two categories. Everybody's going one or the other, and this is the work of the Lord to gather in the nations. Let us join Him in His work. and let us share with others the good news. Let's close with a word of prayer. Father God, we praise you and thank you for bringing us together today. We thank you for the opportunity to serve you here today with prayer, with song, with the proclamation of your word. Lord Isaiah has laid on us many, many heavy messages, many strong words from you. Lord, I pray that you would just drive these into our heart. I pray that we would be those of humble and contrite spirit, those who will indeed be part of your new Jerusalem forever and ever. Pray that we would be part of your ministering to the nations. For as you always have, you always work through people. You give your word through people. You brought forth Jesus Christ through people. You bring all to know you through the proclamation of the word. Lord, how will they know? How will they have faith if they have not heard the message? Send us, Lord. Give us the beautiful feet of the evangelists who take the good news into all the world. For indeed, it is good news, and it is moving forward, and your plans are happening. Though for a time it might seem stagnant to us, Lord, we know that in a moment that can change. We thank you, Lord, for your ministry by your prophet Isaiah. We thank you for giving us some understanding of these things in these past weeks. And we pray, Lord, that you are known and glorified through it all. We ask you to be with us today and convict our hearts of how we must respond to you this day. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.