Chapter 65
God speaks directly in this chapter
The first 7 verses are God's statement that He must do something. He will no longer forbear.
vs 1, MSB confirms that this is about how Israel did not really seek God, though He waited for them to do so. Then at the end, God makes Himself available to the Gentiles.
He lists some things that Judah is doing that cannot go unpunished. He cannot keep silent about these things, and consequences are coming. Here are a few verses that stood out to me - first the charges, then the sentence:
3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; 4 who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig's flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; 5 who say, "Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you." These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. ... 7 both your iniquities and your fathers' iniquities together, says the LORD; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their lap payment for their former deeds." [Isa 65:3-5, 7 ESV]
Really this section starts in vs 2. The people are rebellious and disdain God's offer to be their God and watch over them supernaturally. Instead, they invent/craft/mold idols and worship and offer sacrifices to these things they themselves have made. The sitting in tombs and secret places...could be occult practices. They seek to communicate with the dead and to find and use secret powers. And then the references to food. We could see this as their violation of the dietary laws meant to separate them from those around them, but the wording seems like there is more to it than that. More along the lines of them polluting themselves with what they eat. They disregard even their own bodies in their rebellion against God and indulge in self-destructive practices like eating unwholesome foods.
2024 - Look at this verse, which explains so much:
7 both your iniquities and your fathers' iniquities together, says the LORD; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their lap payment for their former deeds." [Isa 65:7 ESV]. I have often asked how it is that Manasseh didn't have to suffer God's punishment, even though he caused it, and I questioned Hezekiah's "escape" from the consequences of his revelation of all the wealth of Israel to the Babylonian ambassadors, but here is the answer. The generations subsequent to Manasseh and Hezekiah did not better than them. The abominable practices, the rebellion, the "sitting in tombs", the idolatry...these continued. Had God punished those two kings directly it might have gotten their attention, but not the attention of the subsequent generations. They deserved God's punishment just as much, and here is the key phrase to keep in mind: "...both YOUR iniquities and YOUR FATHER'S together..." I wish I had the kind of mind that could remember - in the heat of battle - where this verse is found, but I know I can't. I see it when I read it, but I'll never remember where it was. But I will know it's there!
In the second section, starting in vs 8, He says again that though what is coming might be terrible, He will not destroy them all. He will keep some for Himself.
These verses:
10 Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me. 11 But you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny, 12 I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because, when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in." [Isa 65:10-12 ESV]
Those that God keeps are not arbitrarily chosen. He doesn't take some from the good and some from the bad to preserve through the coming consequences. He will preserve those who follow Him with all their heart, suffering great punishment with those who have brought this on them all, yet continuing to worship and praise God right through it. We need to be prepared for this - to be ready to praise God even as we are caught up in the punishment he brings on a nation. (Just like that verse yesterday I saw about the good suffering right along with the bad...that was 9/25 third time. Find it and maybe use it also if this is posted. I was thinking of these: 1 The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity; 2 he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness. [Isa 57:1-2 ESV]) The ones who won't survive, who's offspring won't survive, and who's heritage will be wiped from the earth in the coming devastation and its aftermath, are ones in vs 12. They didn't answer the call, they didn't listen, they did the wrong things, and they themselves CHOSE to do evil. God did not make them do so. Good verses for FB.
Third section, vs 13, starts with "Therefore..."
First two verses are a series of contrasts between what is coming for those who follow God, vs those who follow evil. Stark contrasts. Last two verses are about what things will look like when they come out on the other side. To the evil He says "...you will leave your name to my chosen for a curse."
vs 17 takes us to very near the end of the Revelation when it says this:
17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. [Isa 65:17 ESV] Wording is very similar to the first few verses of Rev 21. The wording here is interesting. It talks about how things will be during the Millennial Reign of Christ. Former things will not be remembered. I suspect this refers not only to the former way of life, but also to the wrath poured out during the immediately preceding Tribulation period. Further, it likely refers to the people who "did not make it" into the Millennial. People in the new heaven and earth won't weep for those who are not present. They will see and understand the justice of God's work through His wrath, and will not despair that justice was done. It says infants won't die after a few days...but there will be infants. It says old men will live out their days...and the young men will die 100 years old...but they will die, they shall build houses and plant vineyards and eat...These things are a lot like what we have now, except with all the bad things gone. Cause and effect will exist again, as in Eden, but God's people in this time will never do the wrong thing, so all effects will be positive. Things will work as they are supposed to work. MSB says these parts refer to the Millennial on the earth, BEFORE that final, eternal kingdom. Things will be "almost perfect".
2024 - I think this has to be about the Millennial rather than post-GWT because people will still die. This is clear in vs 20. Vs 23 says children will still be born. These have to be in the Millennial. Hmm...only those living at the second coming will go into the Millennial. I do not think the raptured church will live on earth in their perfected bodies. They may come WITH Jesus, but they will return to heaven. Earth in the Millennial is for the fulfillment of the promises to the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is they who will rule and reign over all the nations of the earth - who will continue to resent God's people, and who will grow increasingly "anti-Semitic" until that very last ever battle.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain," says the LORD. [Isa 65:25 ESV]
This language is about the Millennial. The lion will lie down with the lamb.
2021, This is a very detailed description of life in the Millennial. How could a huge rebellious army willing to follow Satan a d overthrow such a place possibly arise?