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66. Judgment and Hope

¹ This is what the LORD says:

   “Heaven is my throne,
   and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
   Where will my resting place be?
² Has not my hand made all these things,
   and so they came into being?” declares the LORD.

   “These are the ones I look on with favor:
   those who are humble and contrite in spirit,
   and who tremble at my word.
³ But whoever sacrifices a bull
   is like one who kills a person,
and whoever offers a lamb
   is like one who breaks a dog’s neck;
whoever makes a grain offering
   is like one who presents pig’s blood,
and whoever burns memorial incense
   is like one who worships an idol.
They have chosen their own ways,
   and they delight in their abominations;
⁴ so I also will choose harsh treatment for them
   and will bring on them what they dread.
For when I called, no one answered,
   when I spoke, no one listened.
They did evil in my sight
   and chose what displeases me.”

    ⁵ Hear the word of the LORD,
   you who tremble at his word:
“Your own people who hate you,
   and exclude you because of my name, have said,
‘Let the LORD be glorified,
   that we may see your joy!’
   Yet they will be put to shame.
⁶ Hear that uproar from the city,
   hear that noise from the temple!
It is the sound of the LORD
   repaying his enemies all they deserve.

    ⁷ “Before she goes into labor,
   she gives birth;
before the pains come upon her,
   she delivers a son.
⁸ Who has ever heard of such things?
   Who has ever seen things like this?
Can a country be born in a day
   or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Yet no sooner is Zion in labor
   than she gives birth to her children.
⁹ Do I bring to the moment of birth
   and not give delivery?” says the LORD.
“Do I close up the womb
   when I bring to delivery?” says your God.
¹⁰ “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
   all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with her,
   all you who mourn over her.
¹¹ For you will nurse and be satisfied
   at her comforting breasts;
you will drink deeply
   and delight in her overflowing abundance.”

¹² For this is what the LORD says:

   “I will extend peace to her like a river,
   and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm
   and dandled on her knees.
¹³ As a mother comforts her child,
   so will I comfort you;
   and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”

    ¹⁴ When you see this, your heart will rejoice
   and you will flourish like grass;
the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants,
   but his fury will be shown to his foes.
¹⁵ See, the LORD is coming with fire,
   and his chariots are like a whirlwind;
he will bring down his anger with fury,
   and his rebuke with flames of fire.
¹⁶ For with fire and with his sword
   the LORD will execute judgment on all people,
   and many will be those slain by the LORD.

¹⁷ “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs, rats and other unclean things—they will meet their end together with the one they follow,” declares the LORD.

¹⁸ “And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain. and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory.

¹⁹ “I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans Some Septuagint manuscripts Put (Libyans); Hebrew Pul and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. ²⁰ And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the LORD. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the LORD in ceremonially clean vessels. ²¹ And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the LORD.

²² “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure. ²³ From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD. ²⁴ “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

22. For as the new heavens. Here he promises that the restoration of the Church shall be of such a nature that it shall last for ever. Many might be afraid that it would be ruined a second time; and therefore he declares that henceforth, after having been restored by God, its condition shall be permanent. Accordingly, he mentions here two benefits of surpassing excellence, restoration and eternity. When he speaks of “new heavens” and a “new earth,” he looks to the reign of Christ, by whom all things have been renewed, as the Apostle teaches in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Now the design of this newness is, that the condition of the Church may always continue to be prosperous and happy. What is old tends to decay; what is restored and renewed must be of longer continuance. (Hebrews 8:13.)

So shall your seed and your name remain. God had promised that “the sun and moon,” so long as they remained in heaven, should be witnesses of the eternal succession, that the posterity of David might not be cut off. But because some interruption arose from the treachery and ingratitude of the people, the restoration effected by Christ actually confirmed that prediction. Justly, therefore, does Isaiah say, “Your sons shall succeed to you, and your grandsons shall succeed to your sons;” and as God will establish the world, that it may never perish, so the succession of the Church shall be perpetual, that it may be prolonged through all ages.

In a word, he explains what he had formerly said about renewing the world, that none may think that this relates to trees, or beasts, or the order of the stars; for it must be referred to the inward renewal of man. The ancients were mistaken when they thought that these things related absolutely to the last judgment; and they had not sufficiently weighed the context of the Prophet or the authority of the Apostle. Yet I do not deny that they extend as far as to that judgment, because we must not hope for a perfect restoration before Christ, who is the life of the world, shall appear; but we must begin higher, even with that deliverance by which Christ regenerates his people, that they may be new creatures. (2 Corinthians 7:1.)