Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Isaiah 66: the Lord looks for one who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at His word

 In Isaiah 66 we read Jerusalem, a place where earth and heavens meet. It begins with:

1 This is what the Lord says:
“Heaven is My throne and the earth is the footstool for My feet.
Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that [a]I may rest?
2 For My hand made all these things,
So all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.

Is there a temple made by man that can house the Lord? The answer seems to be "no"; but  the Lord looks for a place, a person to live:

2 ... “But I will look to this one,
At one who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at My word.

However, the Lord is against hypocrisy. He is against people who claims to praise the Lord and make sacrifices but don't fear the Word of the Lord:

4 So I will choose their [c]punishments
And bring on them what they dread.
Because I called, but no one answered;
I spoke, but they did not listen.
Instead, they did evil in My sight
And chose that in which I did not delight.”

The Lord says from the temple:

8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things?
Can a land be [d]born in one day?
Can a nation be given birth all at once?
As soon as Zion was in labor, she also delivered her sons.
9 Shall I bring to the point of birth but not give delivery?” says the Lord.
“Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?” says your God.

I suppose that the Lord is talking about Zion giving birth to Christians in verses 8-9, but some say it refers to Jerusalem (perhaps because Jerusalem must be destroyed):

10-11 “Rejoice, Jerusalem,
    and all who love her, celebrate!
And all you who have shed tears over her,
    join in the happy singing.
You newborns can satisfy yourselves
    at her nurturing breasts.
Yes, delight yourselves and drink your fill
    at her ample bosom.”

I still think that the newborns from Jerusalem are Christians (as Christian faith began in Jerusalem according to the book of Acts).
Indeed Christians are people form other nations and languages that is gathered by the Lord:

18-21 “.... I’m going to come and then gather everyone—all nations, all languages. They’ll come and see my glory. I’ll set up a station at the center. I’ll send the survivors of judgment all over the world: Spain and Africa, Turkey and Greece, and the far-off islands that have never heard of me, who know nothing of what I’ve done nor who I am. I’ll send them out as missionaries to preach my glory among the nations. They’ll return with all your long-lost brothers and sisters from all over the world. They’ll bring them back and offer them in living worship to God. They’ll bring them on horses and wagons and carts, on mules and camels, straight to my holy mountain Jerusalem,” says God. “They’ll present them just as Israelites present their offerings in a ceremonial vessel in the Temple of God. I’ll even take some of them and make them priests and Levites,” says God.

The people that belongs to the Lord are winners that bow down before the Lord:

23 And it shall be from new moon to new moon
And from Sabbath to Sabbath,
All [n]mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the Lord.
24 “Then they will go out and look
At the corpses of the people
Who have rebelled against Me.
For their worm will not die
And their fire will not be extinguished;
And they will be an abhorrence to all [o]mankind.”

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