Isaiah 66:11
That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.
The verse pictures Zion or Jerusalem as a mother who nurses her children until they are satisfied, delighted and filled with the fullness of her consolations and glory as with a mother's milk. The mother is the holy Jerusalem which is above, the New Jerusalem, distinct from the old earthly city in bondage with her children, in whom the children dwell and enjoy her care, presence and blessings. Zion brings forth all her children at once when the dead are raised and the living are changed in a moment at the last trumpet, when at the Lord's voice the earth gives up the dead and they dwell in Jerusalem and are comforted there. This bringing forth is the resurrection morning and the change to immortality, which is the new birth, not conversion in this present life, when as newborn children they nurse and are satisfied with consolation and delighted with the abundance and brightness of glory. It describes the condition of God's people after they are received into the holy Jerusalem at the coming of Christ and the destruction of the wicked at the beginning of the thousand years, where peace is extended to her like a river and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream.
Mother's Nourishment and Glory
The verse pictures Zion or Jerusalem as a mother who nourishes her children, and to suck and to milk out and to drink there means to be satisfied and delighted and filled with the fullness of her consolations and glory as with a mother's milk. Her consolations satisfy like milk, her glory gives abundant joy, and nursing and drinking express comfort and spiritual abundance received from her.
The mother is the holy Jerusalem which is above, the New Jerusalem, distinct from the old earthly city in bondage with her children. In her the children dwell, delight in her care and presence, and enjoy her blessings after they are received into her at the coming of Christ, where the righteous go.
The delight is drawn from the abundance of her glory, where the children are comforted in Jerusalem because peace is extended to her like a river and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. There they are dandled upon her knees and nourished by the tree of life, nursed as newborn children and satisfied with consolation and delighted with abundance and brightness of glory.
The verse is one rapidly shifting scene in a discursive, panorama-like prophecy whose events have only a general relation to each other. It does not connect with what comes before and after it like links of a chain, unlike the chain-linked prophecies of Daniel and John and the prophetic discourses of Christ, which are plainer and easier to follow. Its time is therefore not learned from its place in the chapter, for the transition is often very sudden, but only by comparing it with other plain scriptures. It must be read in its connection in the chapter and in harmony with plain scriptures rather than used by itself to prove doctrine.
Its language belongs with Isaiah 65 and 66 on coming judgment by fire and the new creation, like the language of 2 Peter 3 and Psalm 97, and is to be read literally rather than spiritualized. This part of Isaiah looks forward to Christ's sufferings and the glory of his reign and presents God's comfort to his people in their sinful condition.
Resurrection Birth and Millennium
The verse describes the condition of God's people after they are received into the holy Jerusalem at the coming of Christ, where the righteous go, and it belongs to the scene of the Lord's coming and the destruction of the wicked at the beginning of the thousand years. Zion brings forth all her children when the dead are raised and the living are changed at the last trumpet in a moment, and they dwell in Jerusalem and are comforted there. That bringing forth comes after the Lord's voice roars from on high at His return, when the earth gives up the dead and the dead in Christ rise and a nation is born at once.
The children are Zion's children, the children of God, the redeemed raised from the grave and gathered to Zion, where they rejoice in her care. Having been begotten through the truth and sealed by the spirit of adoption, they are brought forth and not left in the womb, but born free of the free woman into the kingdom unto eternal life. This bringing forth is the resurrection morning and the change to immortality, which is the new birth, not conversion in this present life. Then as newborn children they nurse and are satisfied with consolation and delighted with the abundance and brightness of glory, dandled on Zion's knees and nourished by the tree of life, and comforted in Jerusalem because peace is extended to her like a river and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. For that reason all who love Jerusalem and mourn for her are called to rejoice and be glad with her, because after that birth they are satisfied with her consolations and delighted with the brightness of her glory.
The verse must be read in its connection in the chapter and in harmony with plain scriptures, not used by itself to prove doctrine, and it fully agrees with the signs showing the end is near, the final warning proclamation, the resurrection of the righteous dead and gathering of the living saints with the Lord to the Father's house at His coming, the wrath of God slaying all the wicked and leaving the earth desolate without a living man for a thousand years, and after the thousand years the coming of the city of God to earth, the raising and final destruction of the wicked by fire, and the purifying of the earth as the everlasting home of God's people. It shows that the weekly Sabbath still exists in paradise restored. The chapter supports patience under affliction, in keeping with the prophecy that godly people will suffer persecution in the last days.