“Back
to the Garden”
Isaiah
66:5-14
August
20, 2023 YouTube
In the preceding section, we saw that God is most
interested in people having reverence for His Word. God spoke to Israel and told them that the
Temple is much less important than their reading God’s Word and hearing God’s
Word and having a deep respect for the Word of God because it is the Word of
God and coming humbly and repentantly because of God’s Word, asking that God
the Holy Spirt would cause them to be faithful and obedient to the Word of God.
Considering His Word, God says that out of those who return
from captivity in Babylon – and out of the whole world throughout time and
space – there will be people who are nurtured in the church, but never truly
believe, and there are those who hear the Word of God and fall on their faces
in obeisance and humility, thanking God for His Mercy.
We see first that those who mock the prophets, and the
promises of God will be put to shame.
“Hear
the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: ‘Your brothers who hate you
and cast you out for my name’s sake have said, “Let the LORD be glorified, that
we may see your joy”; but it is they who shall be put to shame. The sound of an
uproar from the city! A sound from the temple! The sound of the LORD, rendering
recompense to his enemies!’
God tells those who tremble at His
Word – who have reverence for His Word – that there are people in the church
who say they are brothers and sisters, but they are not. Rather, these are people who deny the Word of
God and throw the true believers out of the church in the Name of God. This is
the reverse case of what John records: “Children, it is the last hour, and as
you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come.
Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they
were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.
But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us (I
John 2:18-19, ESV).
There are those who look like
believers. Some will leave the church
because they never truly believed.
Others will stay in the church – as we see here in Isaiah – and work to
push out those who are the true believers – the elect of God. It is these
people who will say to the true believers who came out of Babylon, “Let the
Lord be glorified that we may see your joy.
Let’s see you glorify God for sending us into Babylon. Let’s see your joy when you lift Him up when
He could have prevented all of this. Do
you really think the Lord should be glorified just because we have come home to
a barren land and a destroyed Temple? Do
you think you will get joy? Show us.”
God says that the wicked will not get
away with their mockery – a day of judgement is coming. The day will come when
God puts them to shame. The day will
come when there is an uproar in the city of Jerusalem and God will come with
His holy angels against those who shall be put to shame. A sound from the Temple
– the Temple will be rebuilt and witness against the unbelievers. And the Lord Himself will call out in
judgment – giving those who are false believers what they deserve. God will reward His enemies – and the enemies
of His people – according to their sin. The
wicked will receive shame and the ultimate punishment.
We should not be surprised that there
are people in the church who say they are Christians but are not. There are people who look at the church as a
social club or a welfare organization.
They look at the Word of God and only see the idea that we should be
good people and help our neighbors – which we should – but the miss the point
that we are sinners in need of a Savior – the Servant Savior of Isaiah. No one has any hope otherwise. All those who never believe will find their
time in church vain and their recompence eternal suffering.
Second, God gives a vision of the
future restoration.
“Rejoice with Jerusalem ‘Before she
was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son.
Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things?’
The Psalmist writes, “When the LORD
restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was
filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among
the nations, ‘The LORD has done great things for them.’ The LORD has done great
things for us; we are glad. Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the
Negeb! Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out
weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing
his sheaves with him’” (Psalm 126:1-6, ESV).
I have had kidney stones, but I have
never given birth to a child. My
understanding is that childbirth is one of the most painful experiences a woman
can experience.
God says to rejoice – all of
Jerusalem rejoice – all of the people of God rejoice. The day is coming when pain will be removed
from us. Imagine a woman who gives birth
before she goes into labor. Imagine a
woman who gives birth before any of the pain comes upon her. This is unthinkable, isn’t it. How can a woman give birth without pain? Even as an example, how can we make sense of
this in the context of there being no pain?
We can understand – at least – that
women were not, initially – created to have pain in childbirth. It is only after the sin in the Garden that
God gives women the punishment of pain in childbirth. “To the woman he said, ‘I will surely
multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your
desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” (Genesis
3:16, ESV).
God continues, “’Shall a land be born
in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion
was in labor she brought forth her children.’
God switches the example to the
restoration of the land – the nation of Israel – Zion. God tells the remnant that He will restore. God will see that the children of Zion are
born. He will restore the land and raise up New Jerusalem for His people in the
days to come.
“’Shall I bring to the point of birth
and not cause to bring forth?’ says the LORD; ‘shall I, who cause to bring
forth, shut the womb?’ says your God.”
God promises that all the people of
Zion – all of the believers throughout time and space – will come to faith –
believing in the Savior. God will not
neglect to bring everyone He intends to save into Zion. And there will be a
great increase in the people of God.
Paul writes, “And not only the
creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan
inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who
hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it
with patience” (Romans 8:23-25, ESV).
And Jesus says, “While I was with
them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them,
and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the
Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12, ESV).
Third, the glory of the nations shall
be a mother to the people of God.
“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad
for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over
her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you
may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.”
The elect of God are called to
rejoice with Jerusalem – to look forward to the joy of coming back to the land
after Babylon – and, ultimately, to the new heavens and new earth – rejoicing
with joy in the hopes of seeing the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven. Now there is still sin for us to mourn –
among the returning remnant and among we of the Church now, but the day will come
when the wretched state of the Church will be turned to joy.
As we wait, the true Church of God nurses
and satisfies us. In her we drink deeply
and with delight for her glorious abundance, because the true Church and the
true believers reverence the Word of God which is an eternally deep well. We are forever consoled because we never
plumb all the depths of God’s Word.
“For thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I
will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing
stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced
upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you
shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your
bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the LORD shall be known to
his servants, and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.’”
Are you at peace? God promises peace to the Church – to Zion. All
true believers – Jews and Gentiles – are given peace like a river by God
through the Church – we are given peace that gives us true prosperity in God
and welfare in Him. In the Church, we
nurse – we gain sustenance and growth through feeding on the Word. And so, we are
treated fondly with a remarkable condescension in which believers are carried
on the hip and bounced in the Church as a child on his mother’s knee.
We who believe are the children of
God, and He bears with our sins and weaknesses knowing that the Servant Savior
has paid the debt for our sins, so we will be brought into the Kingdom – which
will be a return to the Garden. God will
take away sin and the punishment for sin for all we who believe, so all the
effects of sin will be removed – forever, in the City of God. We shall rejoice, and there shall no longer
be a weakening of bones – no failing of the body – we will be raised and
perfected, never more to experience the effects of sin.
We will know the fatherly hand of God
Who delivers us and the remnant out of Babylon. He will comfort us and bring us
into the fulness of the Kingdom – according to His Will and by the salvation
His Son has earned.
And still, the wicked will mock. These who never believe – even if they spend
their whole lives in the church doing good works, but never believing in Jesus
for salvation – they are dried up. They
do not have peace like a river, and they do not have a mother to feed them and
comfort them.
The wicked superficially look like
believers for a time, but God will reveal Himself and rescue His people. And
God will show His indignation against His enemies. God will unleash His Anger
in disgust against His enemies, and they will be gone from our sight.
Don’t be dismayed by the enemies of
God in the land and in the Church who pretend to be peart of the people of God.
God knows who they are, and they will be dealt with by God,
Focus on the promise that we will all go
back to the Garden – to all the people who are the elect of God being brought
into the land – being brought into the New Jerusalem – glorified – without sin
or pain or suffering – just as we shall be forever. Be comforted in God being our Father and the
Church being our mother and let us reverence the Word of God.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank you for the
vision that the remnant from Babylon was given – that God has chosen a people
to be the True Church, and we will be brought into the Kingdom – a return to
the Garden. For now, we live among and
even have in our churches the wicked – the mockers whom the Lord will
recompence. Thank You for giving us Your Son to save us and for the Church that
we could be cared for in the Christian community. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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