Putting Me in My Place
The opening verses of this final chapter begin by putting mankind
in our place. The whole of the heavens
is God’s dwelling place. The earth is
merely His footstool. So what of this
little building that we might erect and consider it the perfect dwelling for
God? It is really nothing but a little
bump on His footstool. {Yeah, I’m not going to lie to you
here. I feel pretty small, now.}
Does God need a magnificent construction out of the stuff that He
Himself brought into existence? Not
likely. Verse 2 tells us what it is that
God actually does appreciate. God
appreciates the one who is humble and contrite in spirit. God appreciates the one who actually knows
enough to tremble at the word of the Lord.
This gives all the more reason to make sure to feel small after reading
verse 1.
The Truth About Sacrifices
Verses 3-6 can be easily misconstrued. At first glance, it seems as if God is saying
that offering up a sacrifice of an ox or grain is like killing or abusing
creation. If this is how we read it, it
naturally leads to the question, “Why would God tell His people to do it in the
first place?” After all, the idea of
sacrifice and obedience is one of the main themes of the Pentateuch.
However, there is a different way to read these words. God isn’t saying the act of giving a sacrifice
is like killing. God is saying that the people
who are offering up those sacrifices are no different than those who are
killing. You see, God isn’t comparing
act to act. God is comparing person to
person.
Anyone can bring a sacrifice to God. Anyone can give of themselves and make a
display before God. Since anyone can do
it, God isn’t really into the displays.
God is into what is at the heart of a person. God cares about the nature of our being. If I am an angry and bitter person and bring
an offering to the Lord while being angry and bitter, what good is my offering? If I am being swept away in sin yet I make a
good “show” of myself publically in church, what good is the show?
This is really the point behind Jesus’ teaching in Matthew
5:21-24. It’s not that offerings and
sacrifices are bad at all. But the
offering and the sacrifice of a person whose heart is unchanged is of absolutely
no use. It is never our sacrifices that
make us right with God. What God desires
is the rending of our heart. {See Joel 2:13, Hosea 6:6, Psalm 51:15-17} When our sacrifices are a true response of
the change in our heart then our sacrifices are good. But without the change of heart, our
sacrifices are really quite pointless.
That’s the point of Isaiah 66:3-6.
Future Promise
Now we turn to the conclusion of the book of Isaiah. We’ve heard the point of being humbled before
God. We’ve also see the potential
results. We’re left with a simple
challenge to the future. God promises
that the land will “give birth.” There
will be a remnant. There will be a
people who turn to God. Out of the pain
of childbirth (exile) the Lord will bring a faithful remnant. The choice on the table is whether or not to
be a part of that remnant.
God Himself says that the time is coming to gather all the nations
together. The nations will gather, and
the Lord will set Himself as a sign among them.
Out of those who come among Him the Lord will send people into the whole
world to proclaim His glory. Disciples
will be made. Followers will come. From among the nations priests and Levites
will be chosen.
What a cool ending to this book – especially in light of the
coming of Jesus. We do know that the
nations came to Jerusalem. The Persians
allowed Jerusalem to be rebuilt. Greece
came after the Persians. Then Rome
came. The Lord did set a sign among the
known world in His Son. Disciples were
made and they were sent out. Gentiles
have become priests. In fact, all those
in Christ are priests established to serve God!
Reading this passage is not done in the perspective of if it
happens. This passage is a read in the
perspective that it is happening as we speak.
We don’t have to look for it to come; we merely have to examine
ourselves and join in the movement of God’s hand that has already come. Do we or do we not desire to humble ourselves
before God and obey Him?
In case you need help answering, Isaiah leaves us with a pretty
important end to this chapter. “You
shall go out and look upon the bodies of those who have rebelled against
me. Their worm shall not die and their
fire shall not be quenched. They shall
be an abhorrence to all flesh.” That’s a
pretty bleak ending to a book of such promise.
To make sure we understand Isaiah, let’s remember the context in
which He writes. The Assyrians have been
turned back only by the hand of God. God
has told him that the Babylonians will come and there will be no stopping
them. He knows that only a small
faithful remnant will return from that exile.
It is as though Isaiah is seeing the vast stretch of humanity before Him
and realizing just how few people will genuinely turn to the Lord. He sees how few people will have what it
takes to be obedient. He wants to make
sure that the people who care to hear about the consequences can genuinely know
the consequences. He wants to put the
truth in everyone’s face. He does just
that.
As we end Isaiah, the question needs to be asked. For what am I living? Am I a part of the remnant? Am I a part of the faithful? Shall I live with God or shall I experience a
fire that shall not be quenched? Is
there any more important question in the world than this?
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