Isaiah 65:1-13
Isa 65:1
I am sought of them that asked not for me;
I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto
a nation that was not called by my name.
In this verse we have the calling of the Gentiles unto
salvation. The LORD was being
sought or searched for by those that did not ask for the LORD.
Then he states that he was found of them who did not search for him.
This is the essence of true salvation in that those who are called and
saved by the LORD were not the ones seeking him because of the spiritual
deadness of the seeker. When the
LORD begins to open the spiritual ears and eyes of someone, they will become
saved and will have the desire to seek him.
This could not happen when a person is in state of spiritual deadness.
Then those believers who came out of all the countries of the world were
the ones who were not called by his name.
The only country that was called of God was Israel from the line of
Abraham because they were to bring forth the Messiah.
The true believers in those countries will behold the LORD because even
though they were in a country that was not in covenant with God as Israel was,
the individual believers are in covenant relationship with God through the Lord
Jesus Christ which is the covenant of grace.
This principle is taught in the New Testament.
But Esaias is very bold, and
saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. (Romans 10:20)
Isa 65:2
I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious
people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own
thoughts;
Then the LORD states that all day which means all the
while they were in rebellion to him, he had his hands opened which means he
would welcome them back if they forsook their evil ways and returned to him.
They would not return until their eyes were opened while in captivity and
seeing that the fruit of their idolatrous rebellion brought about the
destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
Sometimes we must suffer some kind of loss before we realize we have
walked opposite the ways of the LORD.
For example, someone has a good paying job and they dedicate all their
time to the job neglecting their spiritual life and they continue on this path
until the LORD causes them to lose their job and then maybe they will come to
their spiritual senses and realign their spiritual life.
Isa 65:3
A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my
face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
These people had adopted the ways of idolatry and they
practiced their false religions incessantly before the LORD as if he did not
matter and that caused the anger of the LORD to be provoked and to place them in
a position of being judged for their actions.
They had altars in gardens and in groves where they sacrificed to false
gods.
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks
which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have
chosen. (Isaiah 1:29) They also
made and fashioned altars out of brick after the pagan altars of the foreign
countries. The people of Israel
were not to follow the methods of the false religions.
24 An altar of earth
thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and
thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my
name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. 25 And if thou
wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if
thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. (Exodus 20:24-25)
They were to build their altar out of earth and they were not to use hewn
stone because God would consider that a polluted altar because it was after the
manner of the pagan religions.
Isa 65:4
Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the
monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in
their vessels;
They would remain among the graves in hopes they would
receive some kind of messages from those whom had died.
They were hoping for visions or dreams
which they would allow to guide them.
Now here is a very evil parallel being practiced by the church today and
it is called “grave sucking” where a Christian lays on top of the grave of a
famous Christian in hopes to have an anointing from the dead person.
It is very occultic and no true Christian should ever partake of that or
even endorse it. They also lodged
in the monuments which can be the pagan temples or even the dens and caves where
they practiced their idolatry. They
also ate swine’s flesh which was considered an unclean animal under the law of
God.
And the swine, because it divideth the
hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is
unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.
(Deuteronomy 14:8) Then swine
was not the only thing they ate but made broth out of the other unclean animals
which the LORD forbade them to eat.
So making a broth would give them a justification that they weren’t eating the
unclean animals just tasting them through a broth.
Isa 65:5
Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I
am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth
all the day.
Then because of their attitudes thinking that they have
achieved some kind of super spiritual status because of their positions in the
false religions, they chose to stay aloof from the people who were not partaking
of the false religions and had the idea that they were holier than them.
Now there is a truth to what these false teachers were claiming.
The word “holy” carries a meaning of “dedicate” which means they were
more dedicated to their false worship than the other people and thought they
were above the people. The word
“holy” can be used in a negative context to and not just describing the
Christian as holy unto the Lord.
Their attitudes of being superior was nothing more than smoke in the nostril of
God which means they irritated him and because they continually practiced it and
became as if a fire of evil was burning in the LORD’s nose all day without
respite. This is how they treated
the LORD as he was the one who brought them through so many things in their
history.
Isa 65:6
Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep
silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
It is like God has kept a book and in that book he has
written every sin which the nation and the individuals have committed against
him. David understood it very well.
Against thee, thee only, have I
sinned, and done this evil in
thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest,
and be clear when thou judgest.
(Psalm 51:4) Judah had sinned
mightily against the LORD and now it was time for them to face the consequences
of their actions.
Thou shewest lovingkindness unto
thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their
children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts,
is his name, (Jeremiah 32:18)
There will be serious personal consequences coming their way for their
adoption of false gods and religions.
Isa 65:7
Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers
together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and
blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into
their bosom.
The present generation and the ones preceding it were
made up of many who committed iniquity in the sight of the LORD and passed those
evil ways down to the succeeding generations.
Their burning of incense on the mountains was done as they worshipped the
false gods. Within those ceremonies
they exalted the false gods and then blasphemed the name of the LORD thus
causing people to think falsely about him.
This is how they passed their evil to their children.
The former work which the fathers committed was idolatry and because of
this they would go into captivity for their sins.
This meant that not only the fathers would face consequences for their
sins but also those children who adopted those false religions and departed from
the LORD.
Isa 65:8
Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the
cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it:
so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
Here we have a picture of a great separation.
In some vineyards which did not produce an abundance of grapes, there
would be some vines that would yield some smaller clusters of grapes which would
be useful for wine or for food. Yet
one might say that since the vineyard did not produce the amount of grapes it
was supposed to that the whole vineyard should be destroyed and a new planting
should take place. So the word
comes down that they are not to destroy this vineyard because they could harvest
the smaller amounts found on some of the vines.
What we have here is a picture of the remnant of true believers in Israel
among the nation and because of them the nation will not suffer a full end.
Even so then at this present time
also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. (Romans 11:5)
From ancient Israel came the Messiah and that is why it could not be
fully destroyed yet. It will be
totally destroyed in 70 A.D. after the Lord Jesus Christ has come and gone back
to Heaven and Israel was still living in apostasy.
God would withhold any total destruction for the sake of his Elect within
Israel.
Isa 65:9
And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of
Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my
servants shall dwell there.
The first part of this verse carries a double teaching.
The seed which will come out of the lineage of Jacob will be the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Now to Abraham and his seed were the
promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy
seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)
Then the second teaching is the seed which is the remnant of God.
And as Esaias said before, Except
the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made
like unto Gomorrha. (Romans 9:29)
The LORD made a complete end of Sodom and Gomorrah and if it wasn’t for
the fact that God had his Elect within Israel, he could have destroyed them
completely. It reveals another
amazing fact that as long as the LORD has his Elect within the nations, there
will be a preservation of that nation until the last day when they are removed
and then the judgment of all the nations commences.
Then the inheritor out of Judah is also the Lord Jesus
Christ who was born in Bethlehem of Judah and has become the inheritor of all
things.
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by
his Son, whom he hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; (Hebrews 1:2)
Then for the time of Isaiah the mountains could refer to those mountains
which surround Jerusalem. As
the mountains are round about
Jerusalem, so the LORD is round
about his people from henceforth even for ever. (Psalm 125:2)
Then the Elect who are in Israel will inherit the mountain or the kingdom
of God and the redeemed servants of God will dwell there.
This applies to all the Elect in the world when they shall be brought
into the kingdom of God and will be joint-heirs with Christ in the kingdom of
God for eternity.
And if children, then heirs; heirs of
God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be also
glorified together. (Romans 8:17)
Isa 65:10
And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of
Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
Sharon was a place near Lydda and Joppa which were some
of the best grazing lands in Israel.
It was known as the Champaign country.
There would lie a fold of flocks which would graze in splendor.
The valley of Achor was where Achan was stoned after he disobeyed the
LORD and took the treasure from Jericho when the LORD commanded them not to.
There the herds will lie down in peace.
When animals lie down, they are not in defense or offense mode sensing a
threat. The valley of Achor will go
from being a place of death to a place of life.
Both Sharon and Achor are metaphors for the body of true believers as the
ending phrase refers to the people of God who have sought the LORD.
If you recall the LORD is the one who regenerates the dead soul in his
Elect and that regeneration allows them to seek the LORD because they are now
spiritually alive.
Isa 65:11
But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget
my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the
drink offering unto that number.
Then the LORD turns to the fact that the wicked among the
house of Israel will be punished for their sins.
They had forsaken the LORD by adopting idolatry and the false religions
of the surrounding nations. They
forgot his holy mountain which was mount Zion where the LORD placed his name.
But ye are come unto mount Sion,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an
innumerable company of angels, (Hebrews 12:22) The true believer has come to
Mount Zion which is where God has placed his name for eternity within the body
of believers. The idolaters in
Judah had made provisions for the troop who are the ones who bring the false
gospels. The table means that they
are welcome and that the people who prepared the table for them were in
agreement with their false religion.
One of the Hebrew words behind “that troop” is “gad” which may be
pointing to a Babylonian deity of fortune.
Today we would call it luck.
So today, when people play the lottery or gamble and say to someone “good luck”
they are in essence invoking a false Babylonian deity.
Who said we are more educated today than the ancients?
When you really get down and study these things, they reveal what ties we
still have to the ancient world.
Solomon knew it well.
The thing that hath been, it
is that which shall be; and
that which is done is that
which shall be done: and there is
no new thing under the sun.
(Ecclesiastes 1:9)
Isa 65:12
Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall
all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I
spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that
wherein I delighted not.
Then the LORD lays out the consequences of their actions.
They will face the sword of the enemy which means many of them will die
when the Babylonians invade Judah.
They will bow down meaning that they will be unable to resist the onslaught.
This coming of the Babylonians will be the punishment for Judah because
the LORD reached out to them with open hands and even when he spoke to them
through the prophets telling of their coming doom, they just ignored the
warnings and went about their evil lifestyles and lived opposite what the LORD
had forbid them to partake of. They
remained rebellious and paid no attention to what the LORD had warned them about
and now their stiff necked rebellion will yield the consequences.
Furthermore the LORD spake unto
me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it
is a stiffnecked people:
(Deuteronomy 9:13)
Isa 65:13
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants
shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall
be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: