Isaiah 65
I. (1-39) Condemnation
A. Chapters 1-12 - ”Prophecies against Israel and Judah
B. Chapters 13-23 - ”Prophecies against the Nations
C. Chapters 24-27 - ”Prophecies of the Day of the Lord
D. Chapters 28-35 - ”Prophecies of Judgment and Blessing
E. Chapters 36-39 - ”Historical accounts
II. (40-66) Consolation
A. Chapters 40-48 - Israel’s God
B. Chapters 49-54 - Israel’s Messiah
C. Chapters 55-66 - Israel’s Opportunity
1. \\#Isa 55:1-56:8\\ An Invitation
2. \\#Isa 56:9-12\\ A Condemnation
3. \\#Isa 57:1-14\\ A Warning
4. \\#Isa 58:1-14\\ A Possibility
5. \\#Isa 59:1-62:12\\ A Commitment
6. \\#Isa 63:1-64:12\\ A Psalm
7. \\#Isa 65:1-66:24\\ A Response - God tells the Jews why He refuses
to answer their prayer.
I. \\#Isa 65:1-25\\ A Response
A. \\#Isa 65:1-7\\ God explains His rejection of Israel’s prayer. In the last
chapter, Israel had asked for mercy. God rejected that plea and now
explains why.
1. \\#Isa 65:1-5\\ A contrast is given in these verses.
a. \\ #1\\ "I am sought of them that asked not for me"
(1) God speaks of an unnamed people coming to Him, but His own
people, Israel, will not come to Him.
(2) The unnamed people is the church, gathered of both Gentiles
and Jews. This is a prophecy which is being fulfilled in
this Age of Grace.
(a) The church ASKED NOT FOR God. Neither did it seek God.
(b) "I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was
not called by my name" - The church’s existence is due
to the fact that God sought it.
b. \\#2-5\\ But Israel has rebelled.
(1) \\#2\\ "I have spread out my hands all the day unto a
rebellious people" - While these strangers have come to God,
Israel has been REBELLIOUS and rejected the out-stretched
HANDS of their God for a long while.
(2) Israel "walketh in a way that was not good… after their
thoughts." This is another way of saying that everyone did
that which was right in their own eyes.
\\#Judges 17:6, Pro 30:12\\
(3) \\#3\\ "A people that provoketh me to anger continually" -
Israel’s false worship in sacrificing "in gardens, and"
burning "incense upon altars of brick" has provoked God to a
continuous ANGER.
(4) "to my face" - These sins were not done in secret but openly.
(5) \\#4\\ "Which remain among the graves" - Apparently Israel
practiced some type of communion with the dead.
(6) "lodge in the monuments" - And stayed in the night in some
type of tower, no doubt engaged in false worship.
(7) "which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things" -
They were not observing God’s dietary laws.
(8) \\#5\\ "Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me,
for I am holier than thou" - The verse does not say to whom
Israel is speaking, but it would appear they are speaking to
God. If so, this would be the height of blasphemy. Even if
Israel did not say these words to God, their actions did.
2. \\#Isa 65:5-7\\ And so God will not show them mercy.
a. \\#5\\ "These are smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all
day" - Both smoke in the nose and a trash fire which burns
all day are annoyances. Israel’s continuous sin bothered God.
b. \\#6\\ "It is written before me" - The book to which God is
referring is not for mankind’s reading. Until now, this phrase
does not appear to be in the Bible. Scripture does tell us
that God has books BEFORE HIM which are not ours to view.
Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the
books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works.
c. "I will not keep silence, but will recompense" - God has recorded
elements of His own character in this heavenly book. He had
noted of Himself that He will not allow sin to go unjudged.
d. \\#7\\ "Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers"
God has not forgotten the sins of that present-day nation or
of their forefathers.
e. "therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom"
Because of their "incense" to false gods and how they had
"blasphemed" God "upon the hills," God will not show Israel
mercy but justice.
B. \\#Isa 65:8-10, 17-25\\ A Promise Is Made to the Remnant
1. \\#Isa 65:8-10\\ Yet, Israel will have a future.
a. \\#8\\ "As the new wine is fund in the cluster" - As a grower
looks at the cluster of grapes on the vines and sees the juice
that he will one day harvest from it, so God sees the future of
Israel.
b. "Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it" - So God will not
destroy all of Israel. He will leave a remnant and that remnant
will be His.
c. \\#9\\ "And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob" - From the
judgments that come to Israel, God will collect a small seed which
He will plant for a great future harvest. This seed shall….
(1) …be "an inheritor of my mountains" - That would be all of
the mountains Israel sits upon but especially the mountains
that Jerusalem sits upon.
(2) "mine elect shall inherit it" - The people of Israel have been
chosen by God to be His. While individuals have a choice to
be His or not, God has chosen the nation and will keep
applying judgment to them until they choose Him.
(3) "my servants shall dwell there" - In that day, Israel will
serve God.
d. \\#10\\ "And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks" - The Plain of
Sharon runs from the Mediterranean Sea toward the west of
Jerusalem.
(1) It was used to feed the herds \\#1Chron 27:29\\.
(2) This verse prophecies that the people of Sharon will one day
seek the Lord.
(3) This was partially fulfilled \\#Acts 9:35\\, but will be
fulfilled to a much greater degree in the future.
e. "and the valley of Achor" - Achor was located somewhere near
Jericho.
(1) This is the location where Achan took of the forbidden items
and caused Israel to be cursed \\#Jos 7:24,26\\
(2) God is promising to fill that place with people who seek Him.
2. \\#Isa 65:11-16\\ The promises of future blessings are interrupted by
some promises of present judgment. Those verses will be looked at in
a moment.
3. \\#Isa 65:17-25\\ More promises of Israel’s future.
a. \\#17\\ "For, behold I create new heavens and new earth"
(1) This appears to be an Old Testament equivalent to Rev. 21:1.
Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
(a) Rev. 21:1 is describing eternity; that is, the time
beyond the millennium after Satan and the Great White
Throne Judgment.
(b) If Isa. 65:17 is also describing eternity, Isaiah will
jump backward in time in the remaining verses to
describe the millennial. That is obvious because he
mentions death \\#Isa 65:20\\ which will not exist
after the new heaven and earth are created
\\#Rev 21:4\\.
(c) However, it could also be possible that Isaiah’s
reference to the new heavens and earth is the renovation
of the existing earth and heavens which takes place
at the beginning of the millennium.
(d) There are several Bible passages which refer to this
"renovation." \\#Isa 35:1-2. 35:7, 55:13\\
\\#Eze 36:35, 47:8-12, Joel 2:24, 3:18, Amos 9:13\\
(e) There is little doubt that both the heavens and the
earth will require a "total remake" after the effects
of the tribulation.
(2) "the former shall not be remembered, nor come to mind"
God is making a new world because it is a new time. Sin,
sin’s curse, and sin’s problems will be forgotten.
b. \\#Isa 65:18\\ "I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a
joy"
(1) As God will create a new world, so God will create a new
city of Jerusalem.
(a) Although there will be a New Jerusalem in eternity, as
described in \\#Rev 21:2\\, this is most probably a
reference to the millennial Jerusalem.
(b) The millennial Jerusalem also have to be rebuilt after
the anti-Christ’s destruction of that city.
(c) That Jerusalem will be a place of joy, filled with a
people of joy.
(2) \\#Isa 65:19\\ "And I will rejoice in Jerusalem" - Even more,
God will rejoice in Jerusalem. That prophecy will be
literally fulfilled as Jesus Christ sits upon the throne of
Jerusalem to rule the nations.
c. \\#Isa 65:20\\ Death, although present, will be greatly reduced.
(1) "There will be no more thence an infant of days… for the
child shall die an hundred years old" - That is not to mean
there will be no more infants, but that no infant will die
having lived mere days.
(2) "nor an old man that hath not filled his days" - The adults
will live to an old age.
(3) "the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed"
Even the unregenerated sinner seems to be granted a long
life in the millennium. Apparently, it will not be uncommon
for him to live to be 100 years old; yet when he does, he
will be ACCURSED.
d. \\#Isa 65:21-23\\ Israel will inhabit the land.
(1) \\#21\\ "they shall build houses, and inhabit them"
(2) \\#22\\ "as the days of a tree are the days of my people"
They will live long lives.
(3) "and… enjoy the work of their hands"
(4) \\#23\\ "They shall not… bring forth trouble" - What
they do, God will cause to be blessed.
e. \\#Isa 65:24\\ "before they call, I will answer" - Israel will have
God’s ear.
f. \\#Isa 65:25\\ There will be peace throughout the land.
(1) "wolf and the lamb… lion shall eat straw" - Animals that
were once carnivorous will no longer be so.
(2) "and dust shall be the serpent’s meat" - The serpent,
although still under the curse of the fall, will no longer
be deadly to others.
(3) "They shall not hurt nor destroy" - Throughout all of God’s
kingdom, no one and nothing will hurt another.
C. \\#Isa 65:11-16\\ A Promise Is Made to the Present Generation
1. \\#Isa 65:11\\ "But" - The present generation followed a different
path.
a. "ye are they that forsake the Lord" - The present generation would
not inherit all the blessings pronounced because they had turned
from God.
b. "they… that prepare a table… and that furnish the drink
offering unto that number" - That generation had helped those who
were against God.
2. \\#Isa 65:12-16\\ "Therefore" - The present generation will have a
different destination.
a. \\#12\\ "I will number you to the sword… to the slaughter" -
They will die with cruelty, conquest, and shortly. Why?
(1) "because when I called, ye did not answer"
(2) "but did evil before mine eyes"
(3) "and did choose that where I delighted not"
b. \\#13-14\\ "my servants…, but ye;… my servants…, but ye…."
Yet God will protect His own. This protection was probably
accomplished by God removing the godly before the worst of the
attacks were accomplished.
Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful
men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the
evil to come.
c. \\#14-15\\ "but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl…
for the Lord God shall slay thee" - The wicked shall suffer
greatly… and then die.
d. \\#15\\ "ye shall leave your name for a curse" - After death, the
wicked shall be remembered only as the instrument of a curse.
e. "and call his servants by another name" - This is either a
reference to the church or else God has another name to give to
Israel in the future.
(1) This is the second reference to God separating the righteous
from the wicked, even during earthly judgment \\#13-14\\.
(2) \\#16\\ God does this so that those who want to be
"blesseth… in the earth shall bless… in the God of
truth." That is, so that those who want to be blessed
will know they can trust in the Lord.
(3) "because the former troubles are forgotten" - And because
there is coming a day when those righteous people who have
been spared will be the remnant of which God builds a new
tomorrow.
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