ISAIAH 66 – The Past, Present, and Future of Israel – Part 3
We have already covered Isaiah 66:1-5 in Parts 1 and 2. Even though we covered verse 5 in Part 2, I would like to continue with it as I continue expositing on Isaiah 66.
ISAIAH 66:5 – Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word; your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
Written some 700 years before the birth of Messiah, this chapter extends itself through his resurrection into his Millennial Reign, and mentions the Heaven Age which is to follow. The future disciples of Messiah were the ones who were to be hated, and the “brethren” who were to hate them were the Jewish leaders who were going to reject him. These leaders thought their action of leading the people to demand his crucifixion for his blasphemous claim to be God, would cause the Lord they worshipped to be glorified, as they said, “Let the Lord be glorified.” And, in a quite different way from what they expected, it did. The fulfillment of what I just stated in this paragraph is graphically described long before it happened throughout the Book of Acts. And Jesus also described it before it happened in Luke 21:12-17.
(See Archive Prophecy Update Number 106)
Luke 21:12-17
But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. [13] And it shall turn to you for a testimony. [14] Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: [15] For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. [16] And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. [17] And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. And, indeed, the Lord was glorified in a quite different way from what the Pharisee and scribes expected.
John 17:1-5
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: [2] As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. [3] And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. [4] I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. [5] And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
But the Lord’s glory will also be manifested to all at his Second Advent – Those who rejected him will be very ashamed, but those who received him will filled with joy as Isaiah wrote: “Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.” Paul wrote of this in II Thessalonians.
II Thessalonians 1:7-12
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, [8] In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: [9] Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; [10] When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. [11] Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: [12] That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
ISAIAH 66:5 – Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word; your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
Israel had no excuse for rejecting him. Isaiah told them 700 years before his birth he would be born of a woman of Israel, a virgin, and that he would be God with them.
Isaiah 7:14 – Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
They had no excuse for rejecting him. Isaiah told Israel what God was sending Messiah to do if was accepted by them as the Messiah – He would bring in the Kingdom as its King. He preached it to them, but they would not believe him, nor John or the Prophets.
Isaiah 9:6,7 –For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. [7] Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Matthew 4:17
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Micah also prophesied some 700 years before Messiah’s birth, named his birthplace, and told what he would do, but they still rejected him. So God temporarily gave them up as his chosen people, but with a promise he would return.
Micah 5:2-4
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. [3] Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
“Therefore” is a conclusion to Micah 5:1,2 that explains why the Messiah of Israel gave “them up.” Because they beat him and rejected him as their judge, they came under judgment because they would not let him judge them. God’s judgment has been on them for some two thousand years. Without their God to deliver them, they have become the most persecuted, prosecuted, and rejected people on this earth. The Nazi burning, torturing, and butchering of some six million Jews was beyond belief. And yet I love them tenaciously. Why? Because their Messiah, who forgave them on the cross, is alive in me, and in the near future he will return to be their Messiah, their God with them.
The word “until,” in the second phrase of this verse, makes the point that he has not forsaken them forever, but only “until” they have passed through the final judgment for having judged him, which consists of the last 1260 days of travail in the tribulation period. Christ will come forth at his Second Advent as the Lion of Judah to rule over the remnant of Israel that survives the tribulation period, and will bring a remnant of his brethren with him.
In verse three he rejected them with “therefore,” then told them they would suffer travail “until” he came back to the earth and “then,” that is, at his Second Advent, all of the remnant of his “brethren” would return to live on the same planet with him.
Matthew 23:38,39
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. [39] For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Revelation 1:7
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
Zechariah 13:8,9
And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. [9] And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.
Zechariah 14:5
And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
Hebrews 2:11
For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
Romans 11:5
Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Romans 2:29
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in he spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.