Isaiah · Old Testament · Isaiah 66:15–24
Final Judgment and Glory
The Story
Isaiah closes his great prophecy with one of its most sobering and majestic passages, beginning with a declaration that the Lord is coming with fire and with his swift chariots of destruction to pour out his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire. By fire and by his sword he will judge all people, and those he slays will be many — including those who have been engaged in pagan rituals and practices that he finds detestable, eating forbidden foods and participating in abominable worship. God then turns to a sweeping and astonishing promise — he will gather people from all nations and languages, and they will come and see his glory. He will send survivors from among his people out to the nations as his messengers, to distant coastlines that have never heard of him or seen his glory, and these messengers will proclaim his glory among the nations. People from every nation will be brought as an offering to the Lord from all over the world — on horses, chariots, wagons, mules, and camels — to his holy mountain in Jerusalem. God declares that he will select some of these as priests and Levites, a remarkable statement about the inclusion of the nations in his service. Isaiah closes the entire book with a word of stark and permanent contrast — the new creation will endure as long as the new heavens and new earth, with all humanity coming to worship before God, while outside the gate the rebels will face a judgment that does not end.
The Message
Isaiah's closing vision holds the fullness of God's character in one final frame — the consuming fire of his judgment against all that is rebellious and defiled, and the breathtaking width of his salvation reaching to every nation and language on earth. The sending of survivors as messengers to the nations is a picture of mission that flows directly out of God's redemptive purposes — those who have seen his glory are sent to declare it to those who have not.