The Unexpected Priests

Isaiah 66:7–8 (ESV) “Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son. 8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children.

Amazingly, Isaiah ends on a euphoric note of hope. God will bring a miraculous resurrection to Israel and one day she will be born. Now I happen to believe the fulfillment of that text happened on May 14, 1948, when Israel declared itself a state, and the U.S. President recognized her sovereignty moments later against the wishes of his cabinet. Biblical History was made and the world changed forever. 

Isaiah does what a lot of prophets in the Bible do. They spoke of things to happen in their generation and the ultimate things to happen much later. The fact is, God was so gracious to His people, that He fulfilled their comeback prophecy twice, separated by 2400 years of history. Unreal!

And how are we to take this? With joy! For if God does not fail Israel, He will not fail those who trust in His Son! For Israel's often rebellious ways have cost them dearly yet God preserved them to today. And that means your failures cannot be the defining quality about you. No, it is God's faithfulness toward you. This is what I think Isaiah means by the next few verses regarding her capital city.

Isaiah 66:10–11 (ESV) “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; 11 that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.”

But there is more. In the last portion of this wonderful book, God promises that distant lands will hear of His glory and become His emissaries. Look. 

Isaiah 66:18–19 (ESV) “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19 and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations.

To "draw the bow" is to make battle. But this sort of battle is different. It will be a battle for the glory of the Lord. 

Listen to how the MESSAGE translation puts it:

Isaiah 66:19 (MSG) I’ll set up a station at the center. I’ll send the survivors of judgment all over the world: Spain and Africa, Turkey and Greece, and the far-off islands that have never heard of me, who know nothing of what I’ve done nor who I am. I’ll send them out as missionaries to preach my glory among the nations.

Not only that, but they will be priests of God. 

Isaiah 66:21 (ESV) And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.

Foreigners will be "priests" when even most Israelites could not be. Why? Because of the promise of the New Covenant of grace. We are that royal priesthood. 

In the end, a new creation comes to fruition in language obviously picked up by John the Apostle in Revelation. 

Isaiah 66:22–23 (ESV) “For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain. 23 From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD.

Isaiah correctly predicted the virgin birth, suffering death, resurrection, missionary expansion, and glorious hope of Christ and His Gospel. The fact that Israel is alive as a nation should fuel the Church's heart toward doing God's work for we know His Word is true, and His Word is alive. We should work the field before us trusting in the power of the prophetic witness of scripture. We should make disciples. We should worship the Lord. 

I took my time going through Isaiah. I started January 1st and now it is complete. What a wonderful book. So much more could be said, but we leave this section of the blog behind with hearts full of God's glorious promise.