ISAIAH SIXTY-SIX by George I. Butler

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 5, 1878

ISAIAH SIXTY-SIX.

By George I. Butler

BY ELD GEO. I. BUTLER.

[Republished by request.]

In order to understand Isa. 66:20–22, we must examine the connection in which these verses occur, and they must be shown to harmonize with other plain scriptures. Any pretended explanation of an obscure passage that would conflict with scriptures that are clear and plain, would not only be a waste of time, but would lead to endless confusion. We do not appeal to such scriptures as these verses, which are admitted to be obscure by reasonable commentators, to prove our positions correct. All we shall attempt to do is to show that they do not conflict with the positions we hold as a people, but harmonize with them.

We hold, 1. That there will be signs given to show when the coming of the end is nigh. Matt. 24:3, 29–33; Luke 21:25–28; Rev. 6:12–17, and many others.

2. That a warning message will be proclaimed to the world, and that God’s people will not be in darkness as to the nearness of the end. Rev. 14:6–16; Joel 2:1; Matt. 24:33, 37; 1 Thess. 5:1–6.

3. That at the coming of Christ the righteous dead will be raised, the living changed, and all together will go up with the Lord to the Father’s house on high. 1 Thess. 4:16, 17; Matt. 3:12; John 13:36; 14:1–3; Rev. 15:2; 4:2–6.

4. That at the coming of the Lord, the great day of God’s wrath will come, in which all the wicked will be slain, and the earth will lie utterly desolate without a living man upon it, and remain so for a thousand years. Rev. 6:14–17; Isa. 13:6–14; 24; 34; Jer. 25:15–33; Zeph. 1:14–18; Rev. 19:11–21; Jer. 4:23–26; Rev. 20:1–6. The word here translated “bottomless pit” is the same word in the original that we find in Gen. 1:2, of the Septuagint version, which is there rendered “deep,” and is used to describe the state of our earth before it was brought into a condition of order.

5. At the close of the thousand years, the city of God is seen on our earth, having come down from God out of Heaven, and all the saints are in it; and then the wicked dead are raised to life, they come around the city, and are totally destroyed by fire rained down upon them; by which agency the earth is melted and purified, and is made the everlasting abode of God’s people. Rev. 20:9; 3:12; 21:2, 9, 10; 20:5, 6; 2 Pet. 3:7–13; Mal. 4:1; Matt. 5:5; Ps. 37.

We think these scriptures fully sustain the positions taken, though many others might be adduced; and we claim that there is nothing in Isa. 66 that conflicts with them, but on the contrary, that there is perfect harmony between this chapter and the texts here presented.

In noticing this chapter, we should state our conviction that all of it applies this side of the commencement of the gospel dispensation, and much of it to the last days. The first four verses seem to apply near the first advent of Christ, when the Jews had such confidence in the temple and the worship connected with it that they rejected Christ, neglected the most obvious duties of justice and mercy, and caused the wrath of God to fall upon them. The Lord showed that their “house” was of no importance to him; that he looked with far more interest to those who were “poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembled at his word;” and that the practice of making offerings of “oxen,” “lambs,” or oblations, which seemed to them so important as to comprehend almost the whole of religion, was no more pleasing to God than it would have been had they “offered swine’s blood,” sacrificed a “dog,” or “blessed an idol,”—things which they recognized as abominable to him,—for the simple reason that Christ had come and shed his blood on the cross, and they had rejected the only offering which God could accept, turned away from the offer of salvation, and persecuted him and his followers, and then tried to please God by practicing those rites which had terminated at the cross.

The same principle applies at any time to those who go through the outward forms of religion, but neglect the great principles of justice and mercy. God will not accept such worship. He hates it.

Verse 5 evidently refers to the last days. A class are brought to view who are hated and cast out of the society of their former brethren, who claim to be doing this for the Lord’s sake. The time when this will occur is just before the appearing of the Lord; for both classes see that appearing. The prophet says, “He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.” Who will see that appearing with joy? Isaiah says in another place that certain ones will say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.” Chap. 25:9. They could not wait for anything they did not expect.

Those, then, who are expecting the coming of the Lord will be joyful when they see his appearing. Have any of this class been cast out by their brethren, who all the while seemed to think that they were seeking the glory of God? We all know this has characterized the Advent movement. A faith in the soon-coming of Christ has been enough to cause individuals of unexceptionable moral character to be disfellowshipped by our modern churches. It is said that fifty thousand Adventists left the churches in 1844, because in those churches they were not free to speak of their belief that the coming of their Lord was near. And the work of driving them out of the churches has been going on ever since. We think it is a matter of no small encouragement to this unpopular people that the prophet of God says the Lord shall finally “appear to their joy.” They can afford to be patient till that time.

Verse 7 evidently refers to the birth of Christ; verses 8 and 9 to the first resurrection, when a nation will be born at once, in one day.

Verses 10–14 give us a most beautiful description of the condition of the people of God after they are received into the holy Jerusalem. The language brings to view the same thoughts that are suggested by Paul in Gal. 4:26, where he declares that Jerusalem which is above is the mother of us all. The old city is in “bondage with her children.” There is another in existence with which we are interested. This is “above.” When we get to that, the prophet says in these verses we shall be “delighted with the abundance of her glory.” No one can read the description of it in the last part of the Bible, with faith in his heart, and not come to the same conclusion. As I proved in the first of this article, that is the very place where the righteous go at the coming of Christ.

In verses 15–18, Isaiah brings to view the coming of Christ, and the condition of things in the earth at that time; thus connecting the event with the New Jerusalem. “For, behold, the Lord will come with fire;” “for by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh.” “They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens, one after another [margin], eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord.” Will there be such classes alive on the earth when the Lord comes? Most certainly. A large part of the human family eat the articles mentioned. The Chinese, the largest nation numerically in our world, eat rats, mice, etc. And there is scarcely any insect, reptile, or abominable thing but that is eaten by some of the besotted inhabitants of our earth, while frogs and oysters have come to be esteemed great delicacies by some of those that call themselves the most enlightened; and the flesh of filthy swine, which is especially referred to by the prophet, is one of the most common articles of diet throughout the whole Gentile world.

We leave it to those who prize this kind of food so highly, and who persist in eating it even when it is plainly shown to be most unwholesome, to explain the prophet’s meaning when he says such “shall be consumed together.” It appears to us that those who will be saved in that day will not be found eating it.

Probably the expression, “Those that sanctify themselves and purify themselves,” refers to the lustrations and purifications so common among the heathen nations. When the prophet says in verse 18, “I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory,” he evidently refers to the same time the Saviour speaks of in Luke 13:28: “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.”

The prophets plainly teach that the righteous will see the reward of the wicked, and the wicked will see the reward of the righteous. Ps. 37:34; 52:5–7; Isa. 33:13–19. When will this occur? We reply, When the city of God stands on the earth and all the wicked come up on its breadth and surround the city. Rev. 20:9. Here is where they will “see God’s glory,” and know that the Lord has told them the truth.

The prophecy of Isaiah is discursive; that is, it changes from one scene to another, at times, rapidly. And although the events brought to view may have a general relation to each other, yet they pass before the mind of the prophet in vision like a panorama. They differ, in this respect, from the prophecy of Daniel or of John, or the prophetic discourses of the Saviour, which seem, many times, to come after one another, and to connect like the links of a chain. Of course the latter are plainer and easier to follow than the former. No man can explain the prophecy of Isaiah on any other hypothesis. Commentators admit this. See closing note of Dr. Scott on this chapter. The only way we can ascertain when these different scenes apply, is to compare them with other plain texts of scripture; for the transition is often very sudden.

Verse 19: “I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.”

Smith, in his large Bible dictionary, takes the position that these names represent the Gentile world (see note on Javan), as these were the names by which they were known at the time the prophet wrote. This is undoubtedly correct.

The prophet tells us, then, that a “sign” shall be set among the Gentiles, and that those who “escape” of these nations shall go among them and declare the glory of God among them. Who are those that escape? Evidently the righteous who are saved at the coming of Christ. When are they to go unto the nations? Evidently before the coming of Christ and not after; for by the scriptures quoted at the beginning of this article it is positively proved that all the nations of the earth shall be destroyed at the coming of Christ; and verse 16 declares that God will “plead with all flesh by fire and sword.” Here, then, we see evident reference made to the warning message to go to the world previous to the Saviour’s advent.

The “sign” that is set among them is evidently a glorious truth around which those will rally who “escape” of these nations in the last day, the same, we think, as the warning message of Rev. 14:9–12, which brings to view God’s commandments and brings into prominence the Sabbath of the Lord as the one especially trampled upon. And when we take into consideration the fact that is stated in Ex. 31:13 and Eze. 20:12, that the seventh-day Sabbath is a “sign” between God and his people, it seems very reasonable, to say the least, that this is the very thing referred to in the verse before us. This warning message is to go to the world with a loud voice, and gather out those that fear God.

Verse 20: “And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in coaches [margin], and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.”

Those who shall bring their “brethren for an offering to the Lord” are probably the ones referred to in verse 5, to whom the Lord will appear with joy, while those who cast them out will be ashamed. In other words, they are believers in the soon-coming of Christ, who will be proclaiming to the world this last message, which is designed to gather out a people for God. These servants of God will go to all the nations with this truth, searching after all the precious jewels, to present them to the Lord. The horses, chariots, coaches, etc., spoken of, are the means used by them to convey this truth to different peoples and places, which will finally accomplish the desired result,—the bringing of a people to Mount Zion; not that these individuals will be carried there by them as we ride in a wagon, but they are a necessary means to gain the desired end. And how could this truth be proclaimed to all the nations without just such means? It would be impossible. In this manner every honest soul, every true member of spiritual Israel, will be sought out, and by faith will come to Mount Zion, as Paul says in Heb. 12:22, and finally will come there in fact when Christ comes after them and takes them up to the Father’s house.

I believe this to be the most reasonable view that can be taken of this passage. There are those who hold that after Christ comes this work will be literally accomplished, and that the saints will ride on mules, horses, etc., from America, Europe, and all parts of the world, over to old Jerusalem. If that is true, the Lord takes a very slow way to get his people together. We should suppose he would use the cars and steamboats rather than those animals; and we fear that some of our age-to-come friends who are accustomed to riding forty miles an hour on the cars would get tired jogging along on mules and wish they had means of conveyance as good as they had before Christ came.

The whole idea is preposterous, and we may be sure that He whom Heaven and earth obey will not be confined to such means to accomplish his work. The scene is laid before the coming of Christ, when human agencies employ such means to carry forward the work of God.

Those who are thus gathered out are represented as being an acceptable offering to God. As Paul says, “We are unto God a sweet savor in Christ.” And the servants of God are represented often as offering those whom they have brought out to the Lord.

Verse 21: “I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord.” As these classes were most closely related to the service of God in Isaiah’s time, we understand he takes these terms to represent similar classes in the future state. And that such will be there, we have the positive evidence of the Bible. Rev. 20:6: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” These

are the resurrected saints. What their peculiar office is, we know not, but Isaiah and John evidently refer to the same thing.

Verses 22 and 23: “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Here we have a description of the world in which those will live who have escaped out of the nations, as described above. Here is the eternal state, if there is any brought to view in the Bible, and not an age in which death occurs, as some would have us believe. They are to live as long as the new heavens and the new earth exist. And moreover the Sabbath is to be kept there. Let those who believe the Sabbath has been abolished remember this fact, that it is going to be kept in the eternal state. That does not look much as though God is sick of it already, as some tell us. We also learn that God’s people will come together every month. In the last chapter in the Bible we have the reason given. The tree of life yields its fruit once a month; and all the redeemed host come up to partake of it.

Verse 24: “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” We have the scene introduced here that is brought to view in Rev. 20:9. While the wicked gather around the “beloved city,” fire comes down and devours them. All the righteous are in the city. They are immortal. The wicked are being burned “like thorns in the fire.” The righteous are no more affected by the fire than the three worthies in the “burning fiery furnace.” The Son of God was there also. He is master of the elements, and his people have no fear. In this condition the righteous “see the reward of the wicked.” As this fire is not “quenched,” that is, put out, it will utterly consume the carcasses of all those outside of the city; for there is no “carcass,” or dead body, that can exist in such a fire. Here we have the “day” that shall “burn as an oven,” of the prophet Malachi, which shall bring all the proud to ashes; and the day of God which Peter speaks of, when the “elements shall melt with fervent heat.” From this fire shall the new earth come forth, in which the righteous shall dwell. May God grant us all a place among them.