“Mercy
Received, Part 2”
Isaiah
65:11-25
August
6, 2023 YouTube
We continue with our look at the mercy received by the
elect of Israel as they face the Babylonian exile. God promised to bring a remnant back from
Babylon, and He promised that there is a chosen remnant that would be His
forever in His Kingdom. God separates
them from the wicked.
Our text this morning begins with God condemning the
worship of the wicked. We will remember
that worship is the proclaiming or affirming the worth of something. There is,
of course, only One worthy of this worship.
“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, 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.”
God says the wicked have abandoned God and they have
abandoned Jerusalem – the place of Temple worship. They have abandoned the only God worthy of
worship and the place where He commanded He be worshipped. Rather, they have engaged in pagan worship –
offering food offerings of bread and wine to the gods – the idols – of Fortune
and Destiny.
Therefore, they will not receive mercy. God will put them under the sword and
slaughter them for their sin – in this life and/or the next. God will slaughter them for bowing down to
false gods because God called them to repentance and belief, but they didn’t
answer – they stayed steadfast in their idolatry. Even when God spoke and people heard His
Word, they did not listen to Him. In
fact, they purposely did what God said is evil and they purposely chose those
things that God hates.
God will not stand for idolatry – for pagan – false
worship. God has told us that He Alone
is to be worshipped and He has told us how He is to be worshipped, but we have
better ideas. God will not tolerate
worship of idols or in way that He has not approved.
They will not receive mercy.
God already told the remnant of believers to call to mind
all the good things God did for them in the past that they would see the mercy of
God all along in their lives.
“Therefore
thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be
hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my
servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame; behold, my servants
shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and
shall wail for breaking of spirit. You shall leave your name to my chosen for a
curse, and the Lord GOD will put you to death, but his servants he will call by
another name,’
God goes on to parallel the fates of the wicked and the elect
in the next section of text.
The wicked will be left hungry and thirsty by God. They will be put to shame and cry out in
emotional pain and in the breaking of their spirit, so they have no hope. Their name will be known as a curse, and God
will kill them. They will be forgotten
by God and never appear before His eyes again.
This is the future for all those who never believe in the
Savior God sent. Their idols cannot save them.
But to the believers – the believing remnant – God has
readied for them a place of joy to live. They will have drink and food. They will rejoice and sing with gladness of
heart, and they will be given a new name by God.
Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in
God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not
so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that
where I am you may be also. (John 14:1-3, ESV)
“’so
that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of
truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth;
because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.’”
The believing remnant who have a new name will have their
former suffering and evils removed from their sight and memory. When they bless themselves, it will be by the
God Who blesses, and any oath that is take in the land God gives them with be
as swearing by the God of Truth Himself.
The mercy received from God will – in the end – change
everything for and about the elect. The
fulness of God’s Mercy will be known in the Kingdom of God.
God describes what this will be like for all we who believe
– the elect remnant out of Babylon – and all who believe throughout time and
space. (Of course, this is only in part
as the elect return from Babylon and rebuild under the blessed hand of
God. The fulness of the restoration
comes at the end of the age.):
“For behold, I
create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be
remembered or come into mind.”
Just as God created the heavens and the earth back in
Genesis, God will create new heavens and a new earth. The former earth and heavens which were
cursed after the fall will no longer be remembered. The devastation all of Creation endured will
not be remembered. We will know and
rejoice in the new heavens and the new earth where we will spend eternity.
“But
be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create
Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.”
God
creates and restores everything which ever was and received the corruption of
sin. The earth will be new, and the
skies will be new. Jerusalem will be new
and Jerusalem will be her people, and her people will be gladness to each other
and to God. Jerusalem – the City of Peace
– will be the people of God – saved in mercy – and – with all sorrow and sin
behind us – all in us and from us and to others will be gladness.
“I
will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in
it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.”
It
is the joy of God to make a people for Himself and to save a people for Himself
out of all the world. We will be His
people, and there will be no more weeping or crying. We’ve heard this before:
John
records this vision of what we have just heard, “Then I saw a new heaven and a
new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the
sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a
loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with
man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will
be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and
death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain
anymore, for the former things have passed away.’
“And
he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’
Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ And
he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the
end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without
payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God
and he will be my son’” (Revelation 21:1-7, ESV).
In
making the new heavens and a new earth, God will make all things new, and
nothing will fall short of godliness.
Looking
back to the Garden and the longevity that Adam and Eve and all humans would
have had since the beginning – if there had been no sin – God says His people
will be returned to that status in the Kingdom.
“No
more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who
does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and
the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.”
Now,
in the sinless Kingdom, there is no sin, so there is no death, so no one will
die in the Kingdom. What is being said
here is that no matter how old a person might live on earth, or whether a person’s
life is cut short by one means or another, such a thing will never happen in
the Kingdom. Age will be an irrelevancy. The age of all people will be fulfilled and
eternal.
“They
shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their
fruit.”
To
Israel returning out of Babylon, they are told that they will have their homes
and vineyards again. The desolate land
will not be forever. As they work it, it
will be restored, and it will be a blessing to the people again.
Looking
forward, God has provided a place for His people to live, and He has provided
fruit for them to eat throughout the year.
All are sheltered and there is no lack of food. As John describes, “Then
the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing
from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the
city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds
of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the
healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1-2, ESV).
“They
shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for
like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall
long enjoy the work of their hands.”
God
promises in the days to come, Israel will no longer be conquered. Jerusalem will stand forever. No one will steal from her. Age will be like a tree, and labor will not
be in vain.
“They
shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the
offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them.”
Again,
this is in the return of the remnant from Babylon. In the Kingdom, there will be no bearing of
children. As Jesus says of humans, “For
in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like
angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30, ESV).
Still,
in the Kingdom, there will be generations of the elect and they will all be
blessed of the Father.
In
Isaiah chapter 64, Israel complains that God doesn’t hear them. This is not true. God hears everyone and answers according to
His will. Here God says He will hear
them before they speak and that He will answer before they call out to Him.
“Before
they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.”
Finally,
God tells them – and us – that in the Kingdom, all will surpass the perfection
of Paradise in the Garden:
“’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.”
We
have already seen this beautiful picture of all of Creation living in harmony
and joy with each other back in Isaiah 11:
“The
wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the
fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the
bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat
straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and
the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or
destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge
of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who
shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and
his resting place shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:6-10 ESV).
The
mercy that has been received through Jesus – the Servant Savior of Isaiah –
brings a remnant back from Babylon – a believing people for Himself. God provides for them and prepares them – all
we who believe through time and space – to be received into the Kingdom – the
new heavens and the new earth where we will live with God and all of the
restored Creation in a superior Paradise.
We
have much to be thankful for. We have
much to remember that has already come to us in the mercy of God. We have much to hope for. If we have
believed, we have received eternal mercy.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, as we look at the world around us, it is hard to imagine the heavens and
earth being perfected and at peace – with no evil or sin – ever-glorifying
You. Help us to believe and hold fast to
the hope that just as we have received mercy from You in the past, we will
continue to do so, and we will be received into the superior Paradise that
Isaiah records. For it is in Jesus’ Name
we pray, Amen.
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