Isaiah 65 - Salvation for All

LINK: Isaiah 65

BACKGROUND 

This is the Lord's response to the remnant's prayer (63:7-64:12). It is a beautiful summation of what God has been saying through Isaiah the entire book:

65:1-7: Israel continually rejected God's outreach of love by disobeying His laws when they worshiped idols (Exodus 20:1-6), consulted spirits (Leviticus 19:31), and ate forbidden food (Leviticus 11). Judgment was necessary. This would come in the form of the Assyrian threat (Isaiah 1-37) and the Babylonian Exile (Isaiah 38-66). 

65:8-12: In judgment, He would preserve a faithful remnant (a few grapes). Jesus made the same point in Matthew 13:36-43.  

65:13-16: God contrasts the Lord's servants (eat, drink, rejoice, sing for joy, and given another name) with those who rejected Him (hunger, thirst, and be shamed, wail in anguish, be cursed, and put to death).  

65:17-25: God will establish His kingdom of righteousness and peace. 

The Scarlet Thread of Redemption

Many themes in Isaiah 63-66 will also be addressed in Revelation:

• New heaven and new earth (65:17; 66:22; Revelation 21:1)
• Judge in bloodstained garments (63:1-3; Revelation 19:11-13)
• No more weeping or crying (65:19; Revelation 7:17; 21:4)
• Peace like a river (66:12; Revelation 22:1-2)

REFLECTION 

You might recall that I have said God's intention has been for ALL peoples to come to know Him, both Jew and Gentile. Isaiah 65:1 gets at this point:

I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; 

I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. 

I said, "Here am I, here am I," 

To a nation which did not call on My name. 

Even though the Gentile nations did not seek the Lord or experience the blessings He gave to Israel, salvation would go to the Gentiles! 

As further confirmation, Paul quotes Isaiah 65:1 in Romans 10:19-20. If Israel was rejecting God's offer, then He would give it to the Gentiles. For further study about this, see Luke 14:16-24 and Acts 28:23-31. 

And believe it or not, most of us on this blog are GENTILES. So, that is truly GOOD NEWS!!

APPLICATION 

The GOOD NEWS is for every person on earth. Hope you can take that to heart today. You would be surprised to know how many people are sincerely searching for God. We just need to pray that God will lead you to those "people of peace" who really want to hear.

Three main responses (characteristics) that can be summarized about a “Person of Peace with the acronym WOOL:

• WELCOMES/HOSTS us – and often feeds us and wants us to stay in their home  

• OPENS their Oikos (Greek word for family/group/community/network) to the Good News 

• LISTENS to us as we share about God/a new spiritual message (does not necessarily receive the message, but willing to listen to it.) 

PRAYER

Lead us to those who are seeking and teach us to be bold to share the Good News! Amen.