The Final Chapter: Eternal Worship versus Eternal Torment

Isaiah 66

“For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will remain before me”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“so your offspring and your name will remain. All mankind will come to worship me.” (Isa 66:22-23)

Main Idea: This final chapter divides the human race into two categories: true versus false worshipers. It describes plainly the heart and behavior of both, as well as their eternal destinies: heaven and hell.

1. True Worshipers Are Delightful; False Worshipers Are Detestable (66:1-4).
   1. True worshipers tremble before the throne and God’s word (66:1-2).
   2. False worshipers make detestable sacrifices (66:3).
   3. False worshipers are judged for not heeding God’s word (66:4).
2. False Worshipers Persecute; True Worshipers Prosper (66:5-14a).
   1. False worshipers persecute the true (66:5).
   2. False worshipers are destroyed by the Lord (66:6).
   3. True worshipers are born instantly by the Lord (66:7-9).
   4. True worshipers prosper richly in Zion (66:10-14a).
3. False Worshipers Are Condemned; True Worshipers Are Commissioned (66:14b-21).
   1. False worshipers are condemned to the Lord’s wrath (66:14b-17).
   2. True worshipers are commissioned to bring in the nations (66:18-21).
4. True Worshipers Eternally Live; False Worshipers Eternally Die (66:22-24).
   1. The new heavens and new earth endure eternally (66:22).
   2. True worshipers will live eternally (66:22-23).
   3. False worshipers will die eternally (66:24).

True Worshipers Are Delightful; False Worshipers Are Detestable

Isaiah 66:1-4

We come at last to the end of our journey through this astonishing book, and what a fitting conclusion it is! This most visionary of prophets has given us a most fitting end to his work—a revelation of the eternal state of both the righteous and the wicked. The book of Isaiah ends with the new heavens and new earth, and with Zion, the new Jerusalem, eternally populated by true worshipers from every nation on earth. Yet also the book ends with a clear depiction of hell, the state of eternal death in which rebellious humanity will suffer in plain view of the redeemed. It is appropriate that the theme of worship—both true and false—unifies this final chapter, for the human race was created to worship and serve almighty God in spirit and in truth; but by our sinfulness, we “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever” (Rom 1:25). False worship (idolatry) has been front and center throughout this book, as has God’s work of redeeming his elect from idolatry into true worship. So worship is a suitable unifying theme for Isaiah 66.

The chapter opens with the infinite God humbling all human efforts at building a religious container for God and calling it a temple. He asserts his immensity in clear terms: “Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. Where could you possibly build a house for me?” (v. 1). God created everything in the universe; all of the building materials that any human worshipers could use to construct a temple came first from his own hand (v. 2). Solomon conceded this sentiment when dedicating his magnificent temple: “Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you, much less this temple I have built” (1 Kgs 8:27). There is no container for an infinite God. Now in saying this God is not rebuking the efforts of the Jewish people in rebuilding the temple after the exile, which he wanted done (Isa 44:28). But we must remember the revulsion God declared over the mindless religious machinery of the Jews in Isaiah 1:10-16 and 29:13.

The true worshiper is one who is “humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at [God’s] word” (66:2), and such a one attracts God’s regard and honors God truly. Few verses in the Bible are as powerful as this for teaching us what God wants. A truly humble sinner captivates God’s attention and delights his heart. Conversely, the false worshiper may outwardly obey the Levitical rituals, offering an ox, a lamb, a grain offering, or incense (v. 3); but to God, if they are offered by arrogant sinners, they are like killing a man, breaking a dog’s neck, offering pig’s blood, or praising an idol. These false worshipers (whether law-abiding Jews or utter pagans) basically make up their own religion, choosing their own ways (v. 3).

So, because they refused to tremble at God’s word, because they refused to listen to his commands, because he “called and no one answered,” God will bring down on them what they most dread—the terrors of his holy wrath (v. 4).

False Worshipers Persecute; True Worshipers Prosper

Isaiah 66:5-14a

For the rest of the chapter God addresses the true worshipers, bringing them comfort and encouragement. Certainly the false worshipers are much in view, but they are always referred to in the third person, their punishment clear for his elect children to see. The false “brothers” mock and expel those who tremble at God’s word (v. 5). This mockery (essentially, “Let us see your joy in the Lord now!”) is exceptionally evil and brings the vengeance of God on the city and their corrupt temple (v. 6). This hatred and expulsion were immediately fulfilled by the unbelieving Jewish nation, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also persecuted the apostles (1 Thess 2:15). Jesus predicted this would occur, saying there would come a time when the Jews would drive the true worshipers of God out of their synagogues, and they would even think that in killing Christians they were offering service to God (John 16:2). The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Romans in AD 70 is a direct fulfillment of Isaiah 66:6.

Yet the explosive expansion of the church of Jesus Christ by the gospel the apostles preached was likewise a direct fulfillment of Isaiah 66:7-14. These verses predict the instant birth of children of Zion—“a land [was] born in one day [and] a nation [was] delivered in an instant” (v. 8). The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost resulted in both Jews and Gentiles from all around the Roman world coming instantly to faith in Christ. And in a stunningly short time the gospel spread like wildfire throughout Asia, Macedonia, Achaia, Greece, and even to Rome and beyond. The true worshipers delight in the building of the heavenly Jerusalem in the church age and the new Jerusalem in eternity. They will rejoice greatly in her beauty and drink deeply from her abundant streams of blessing (vv. 10-11). The wealth of nations will flow into Zion like a flood (v. 12; cf. 2:2). God’s grace will carry the true worshipers into eternal habitation in the new Jerusalem, and there they will richly flourish in joy for all eternity (vv. 13-14).

False Worshipers Are Condemned; True Worshipers Are Commissioned

Isaiah 66:14b-21

It is also clear that the enemies of the gospel will fight Christ every step of the way. So God reminds his children that he will most certainly visit his wrath on all his enemies. Verses 15-16 give a powerful depiction of God’s judgment with a fiery sword, promising that the Lord will slay his enemies. Their repulsive worship habits are exposed in verse 17, those who “dedicate and purify themselves” by “eating meat from pigs, vermin, and rats.” The phrase “dedicate and purify” is strongly religious, implying that these actually believe that their religion has made them pure in God’s sight. Ironically, this might include “law-abiding” Jews, in their self-righteous, Christless worship (reestablishing animal sacrifice after the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; Matt 27:51), as well as pagans, who follow satanic rituals in their bizarre religions. As a matter of fact, Paul warned the Gentile Christians of Galatia that to embrace the false gospel of the Judaizers was to go back to “weak and worthless elements” and to be “enslaved to them all over again” (Gal 4:9). That is amazing! Legalistic, Christless Judaism is as demonic as overt paganism. So even the Jews who offered oxen, lambs, and sheep in the temple after Christ had abolished animal sacrifice were seeking to “dedicate and purify” themselves by effectively washing in pig’s blood and eating rat meat. God decrees in verse 17 that they are condemned to perish together.

Conversely, in verses 18-21 God reveals to his children his plan to gather true worshipers from every tribe, language, people, and nation. God promises to gather all nations and languages to come and see his glory (v. 18). He will dispatch some of his “survivors” (the remnant of the Jews chosen by grace; Rom 11:5) to the nations who had not yet heard his fame or seen his glory. A small sampling of those nations is listed in verse 19: Tarshish (distant Spain); Put and Lud (northern Africa); Tubal (north, in the Caucasus); Javan (Greece); and the Mediterranean maritime regions. The inhabitants of Put and Lud are described as archers, warlike, and terrifying, but some will be elect, ready to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. The missionaries will proclaim God’s glory in Christ to these nations, and many will begin spiritual pilgrimages to Zion (“my holy mountain,” the new Jerusalem) by Christ, who is the “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), the only pathway to heaven. The language is fascinating, for they will come “on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels” (Isa 66:20). People will “come” to the new Jerusalem in an amazingly wide variety of ways, but the destination is the same. And the elect from every nation are called “brothers” with the Jews who trusted in Christ (v. 20); not one of them will be missing, for “all” the brothers will come, and they will themselves become offerings to the Lord in his house. The apostle Paul’s ministry was a direct fulfillment of this, for he was called to a priestly ministry among the nations so the Gentiles might themselves be an offering acceptable to the Lord, sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Rom 15:16). And even these Gentile believers can immediately serve as “priests and Levites” to the Lord, for the old order of priestly divisions is superseded.

True Worshipers Eternally Live; False Worshipers Eternally Die

Isaiah 66:22-24

The final paragraph depicts the new heavens and new earth as the final destination of this amazing journey of missions. That new universe will endure forever and ever. And so will its holy inhabitants, the redeemed from every nation on earth. They will worship God in spirit and truth forever. Isaiah uses one final image from the old covenant and the old order of things: “from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another” (v. 23). But Revelation 21:23 tells us that the new Jerusalem will not need the light of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God will illuminate it.

The book of Isaiah ends with a clear view also of the fate of the rebels, those who worshiped created things and refused to repent and trust Christ. They will be burning in an eternal fire, tormented by eternal worms, a horror to all mankind. They will be in full view of the redeemed, for verse 24 tells us that the redeemed will be able to see their dead bodies as they leave the city. This verse was the basis of Jesus’s powerful warning about the eternal nature of hell’s torments in Mark 9:48. The fact that the redeemed can see the “smoke of their torment [going] up forever and ever” (Rev 14:11) shows us that God will not hide their fate from his children. Actually, their torment is a clear reminder of the grace God has shown to the elect, who deserved the exact same punishment and whose sins were propitiated only by the Lamb’s blood. God uses the righteous suffering of these rebels eternally to “make known the riches of his glory on objects of mercy” (Rom 9:23). Only by the grace of God in Christ did any of us escape.

Applications

The first two verses of this chapter teach us to abase ourselves in humility before the infinite God of the universe. Heaven is his throne; the earth is his footstool. There is nothing that we can offer in worship that he did not first give us. And we could never erect a container, building, or structure that could hold such a God. So we must learn to be completely humble before him, falling on our faces, trembling at his word. We must learn to have absolute reverence for the Bible, the Word of God. We should despise nominal religion, no matter how “biblical” it is. Hypocritical Christians today can deceive themselves, following the outward worship patterns of the New Testament by going through the motions every Sunday at church.

We should also embrace the clear teaching of the terrifying fate of unbelievers and idolaters in this chapter. God is patently clear in this chapter that his wrath will burn for eternity against all false worshipers who do not find the truth in Christ. We should not shrink back from the doctrine of hell as a place of eternal, conscious torment but should clearly warn lost people as Jesus did in Mark 9.

We should also rededicate ourselves to the glorious work of worldwide evangelization in Jesus’s name. Isaiah 66:18-21 clearly predicts the spread of the gospel to the distant shores of this planet. Twenty centuries of fulfillment should give us a tremendous sense of confidence that God’s power is fulfilling this prophecy before our very eyes. So let all Christians have a passion for missions, displayed in prayer, effort, finances, and sacrifice. Many of our best and brightest will be called on to go to terrifying, warlike people (who maybe do not fight as archers but who are powerful with the weapons of our day) and win some of them to Christ.

Finally, let us long for the day when the new heavens and new earth will shine with the glory of God in Christ! Let us thank God for the blood of the Lamb, who purified us so that we may worship his name forever! To God alone be the glory!

Reflect and Discuss

1. How do the words of verse 1 humble you when you consider God’s infinite majesty and greatness?
2. Why is it vital to consider that God’s hand made everything we could ever give to him as a sacrifice or from which we could ever build a temple?
3. What kind of people does God “look favorably on” in verse 2? What does it mean to tremble at his word? Why do you think God so highly esteems such a person?
4. What elements of false worship and wicked idolatry are revealed in this chapter?
5. What is the connection between verse 5 and 1 John 3:12?
6. How did the three thousand who were baptized into the church of Jesus Christ on Pentecost begin the fulfillment of a nation being born in an instant in Isaiah 66:8?
7. How does the concept of the new Jerusalem bring you comfort and joy?
8. How do verses 18-21 predict the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ to distant nations? How do you personally desire to be involved in the work yet to be accomplished? What do you think God wants you to do about unreached people groups?
9. What do verses 22-23 teach you about the future world, the new heavens and new earth?
10. Why is it vital to embrace the biblical concept of eternal conscious torment in hell? How could that doctrine help us to worship God for his grace to us? How could it motivate us to evangelize the lost?