“Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.”Isaiah 65:17-19 When God says that “the former things shall not be remembered” in the new heaven and the new earth, it does no...
Jun 27, 2024•3 min
“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."Isaiah 66:24 When Jesus spoke about hell, He used these words from Isaiah 66:24 to describe its awful reality: “Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:48). The fire speaks of God’s presence. People sometimes say that hell is being separate from God forever, but sinners in hell c...
Jun 26, 2024•3 min
Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame; behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit.”Isaiah 65:13-14 God Himself is speaking here, and He describes two groups of people: Some who are eating, drinking, rejoicing, and singing. Others who are hungry...
Jun 25, 2024•3 min
They shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD to my holy mountain Jerusalem.”Isaiah 66:20 What a marvellous picture: People from all the nations are gathering before the Lord. In Jesus Christ, they have become brothers and sisters. And the missionaries who proclaimed God’s glory in distant lands will have the joy of bringing these redeemed people from the nations in which they have served before the Lord. The New Testament takes up this picture. In Revelation...
Jun 24, 2024•3 min
“They shall declare my glory among the nations.”Isaiah 66:19 There is an old (but profoundly unhelpful) phrase that is often quoted: “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” How in all the world can you communicate the gospel without words? You can convey love without words, but love is not the gospel. You can bring hope without words, but hope is not the gospel. The gospel is that Jesus Christ died for your sins, and that He lives in the power of an endless life. He offers...
Jun 23, 2024•2 min
“And from them I will send survivors to the nations… to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory.”Isaiah 66:19 Notice that there are two descriptions of the people to whom God sends His missionaries. First, God sends His missionaries to those who “have not heard my fame.” We would call them “unreached” peoples. People who have never heard. God sends missionaries to communities where there is no viable church. We should focus missionary effort on unreached peoples and...
Jun 22, 2024•2 min
“They shall come and shall see my glory…And from them I will send survivors to the nations.Isaiah 66:18-19 Some years ago, John Piper coined a memorable phrase: Missions exist because worship doesn’t. That’s true. The reason we send missionaries is that across the world there are millions of people who do not see Christ’s glory. The great purpose of mission is that Jesus Christ should be worshipped in every nation as people see His glory. But thinking about this passage helps us to see that the ...
Jun 21, 2024•3 min
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.2 Corinthians 4:4 Every weekend in church, there are people who come to worship. They sing hymns, appreciate the music, stand for the Bible reading, and listen to the sermon. But they don’t see Christ’s glory. That is our natural fallen condition. So how is it that some people from every nation, tribe, and language will com...
Jun 20, 2024•3 min
“The time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory.”Isaiah 66:18 In heaven, everything you discover, everything you accomplish, and everything you enjoy will give you fresh glimpses of the glory of God. After a million ages in heaven, you will only have grasped the beginning of Christ’s glory. That’s why life in heaven will never be old or dull, but always fresh and new. Christ’s glory is inexhaustible. Here’s the point: Our worship now is a foretas...
Jun 19, 2024•3 min
I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”Isaiah 6:8 Worship and mission are bound up so tightly together that you cannot separate one from the other. When worship declines, mission follows. One sure sign of a church losing its way in worship is that it loses its interest in mission. If you want to evaluate a church’s worship, ask about its commitment to mission. When God restores worship, His people pursue mission. Isaia...
Jun 18, 2024•2 min
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”Luke 19:10 Jesus is the Son of Man who came to seek and save the lost. But how does He seek and save us? How God seeks people who ignore Him: This is why Jesus came into the world. God became man. The invisible God revealed Himself and made Himself known to us in Jesus Christ: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). When you come to know Jesus, you have come to know God. Jesus...
Jun 17, 2024•3 min
Thus says the LORD: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,’ so I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all.”Isaiah 65:8 You pick up a cluster of grapes. Some of the grapes have gone bad. But you don’t throw them all away because some grapes in the bunch are good. You sort out the good from the bad. God says, “That is what I will do with religious people who claim to know me.” Our Lord Jesus tells us that one day Go...
Jun 16, 2024•3 min
This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.Matthew 15:8 Religion is a mixed bag and much of it offends God, especially religion that is: Hypocritical (talking the talk but not walking the walk). Personalised (a projection of your own preferences and prejudices). Ritualistic (rites and disciplines that don’t change lives). Dark (seeking communication with spirits of the dead). Rebellious (pursuing what God has told us to forsake). Arrogant (religion that makes you feel...
Jun 15, 2024•2 min
A people who provoke me to my face continually… These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.Isaiah 65:3, 5 Here are several more forms of religion that Isaiah identifies as offensive to God. Dark religion: People “who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places” (65:4). This brand of religion takes a great interest in the dead, seeking communication with the spirits of people who are no longer with us. There’s a great upsurge of interest in this form of religion in our...
Jun 14, 2024•3 min
A people who provoke me to my face continually… These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.Isaiah 65:3, 5 Clearly there is a kind of religion that God does not like. It is not pleasing to Him; it actually provokes Him! Isaiah identifies several forms of religion that are offensive to God. Hypocritical religion: “A rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good” (65:2). Here are religious folks who talk the talk, but do not walk the walk. They claim to know God, but th...
Jun 13, 2024•3 min
I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices.Isaiah 65:2 The rebellious people described here in verse 2 are different from the people who did not ask for or seek God in verse 1. We know that because in the New Testament Paul quotes these verses and tells us that they refer to different people: “‘I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.’ But of Israel he says, ...
Jun 12, 2024•3 min
I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name.Isaiah 65:1 What do you think God would have to say to people who don’t ask for Him and don’t seek after Him? You might expect Him to say: “There are many people in this world who completely ignore Me. They don’t call on My name. These people don’t have faith. They don’t pray. These people really aren’t interest...
Jun 11, 2024•2 min
I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name.Isaiah 65:1 Notice who Isaiah is describing here—people who do not ask for or seek God. We might call these secular people today. In Isaiah’s time, this group of people were known as the Gentiles. In the Old Testament, God had made Himself known to Moses and the people of Israel. But the other nations didn’t kno...
Jun 10, 2024•2 min
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down…Isaiah 64:1 Here is prayer that you could pray: O, that You would rend the heavens and come down. Come down and make Your name known. Even among your own people many have such a vague grasp of Your glory. To many You seem distant. Let us see with fresh clarity, who You really are. By Your Holy Spirit, show us Your love, that we may know the love by which Your Son gave Himself for us. By Your Holy Spirit, show us Your power, that we may know the po...
Jun 09, 2024•2 min
O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.Isaiah 64:8 Why would God listen to an unclean, unrighteous, dried out, and unstable person? Isaiah gives us two reasons here in Isaiah 64: First, plead the relationship you have with God (your Father): Notice Isaiah appeals to the covenant relationship he has with God: “O LORD, you are our Father” (64:8). That’s the relationship we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Father. ...
Jun 08, 2024•3 min
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.Isaiah 64:6 When you pray, you will feel your unworthiness. We all do. Coming into a holy place makes you feel how unholy you are. Isaiah knew about this too, and he describes it using four pictures: A leper: “We have all become like one who is unclean.” The leper was outside the camp of Israel. He could not approach the pres...
Jun 07, 2024•3 min
I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.Isaiah 63:7 How do you prepare to pray? One way is to fill your mind with the goodness of God. When you read the context of Isaiah 64, you will see this clearly. It’s like watching an athlete taking a run-up to the long jump: she ga...
Jun 06, 2024•3 min
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence-as when ire kindles brushwood and the ire causes water to boil-to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!Isaiah 64:1-2 When Isaiah asks God to "come down and make your name known", he is asking for God to come down and make His power known. We may believe that God is able to bring us into heaven when we die, but, at the same time, we sometimes f...
Jun 05, 2024•2 min
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down ... to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!Isaiah 64:1-2 God’s name is a way of speaking about His character. So, when Isaiah prays that God would “come down… to make your name known,” what he is asking is that God would “come down and let us know who you really are.” Isaiah wants even God’s enemies to know Him: “Make your name known to your adversaries” (64:2). But God’s name becomes known...
Jun 04, 2024•3 min
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence.Isaiah 64:1 Isaiah’s prayer was formed by the Bible and by his own experience. Isaiah knew from the Bible that God’s presence had come down to Mount Sinai, and when that happened, the whole mountain shook (Ex. 19:17-19). But this wasn’t just history to Isaiah. He had seen the earth-shaking glory of God himself (Isa. 6:1-4). Isaiah felt the weight of the glory of God. He saw it in Scripture. He exper...
Jun 03, 2024•3 min
“Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”Matthew 21:22 Would you consider making it your goal this year to grow in the areas of faith and prayer? That may sound like two goals, but it is really one. For where faith grows, prayer follows. The greater our confidence in God, the more we will ask of Him. Our prayers are the clearest indication of what we really think about God. If you don’t think your king is great, you won’t ask much of him. But if you have a great king, yo...
Jun 02, 2024•3 min
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down...Isaiah 64:1 The Bible records some marvellous prayers and Isaiah 64 is one of the greatest. It is a prayer for revival and because it is in the Bible, we know it was breathed out by the Holy Spirit of God. It is often said that the best way of learning prayer is to pray with other people. There is some truth in that, but there is also this limitation: If you learn to pray only from other people, you will never pray better than the people from wh...
Jun 01, 2024•3 min
“If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the aflicted. then shall your light rise in the darkness.”Isaiah 58:10 There is a story of a monk who had given himself to prayer. All his life, he longed that just once, Christ would appear to him. He had prayed this for years, and then one day it happened. The monk was praying, and as he looked up, there he was: the Lord Jesus Christ standing right there in his cell. The monk was completely overwhelmed. This was the moment he h...
May 31, 2024•3 min
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant.Philippians 2:4-7 God’s purpose in sending His Son was to create a people who would become like Him, that we should be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29). He was rich, but He became poor...
May 30, 2024•3 min
The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.Isaiah 59:15-16 Do you see what Isaiah is saying? God is going to fight for our salvation. He comes to us and He stands with us as our Champion, when we could not break through to Him because of our sin. He comes to deal with the dark powers that lie behind sin and evil. God is get...
May 29, 2024•3 min
