Isaiah 66:18, commentary and pictures

God knows the works and thoughts of men and will gather people of every nation and tongue to come and see His glory in the new heavens and new earth when paradise is restored and sin and sinners are destroyed. There all flesh will worship from one Sabbath to another, proving the weekly Sabbath abides forever as the sign of His eternal power and faithfulness. This gathering harmonizes with the worldwide warning, the coming of Christ to raise the righteous dead and take the living to the Father's house, the desolation of the earth for a thousand years, and its final purifying to be the everlasting home of God's people. Those who held the gospel fulfillment taught that the gathering began in the gospel age through Paul and the apostles among the Gentiles, after Israel rejected the Saviour, with the messengers sent to declare His glory among the very countries of their labors. Its promise to Israel stands under the stated conditions for nations, that obedience brings the promised good while disobedience withdraws it, and those saved at His coming with fire will not be found sanctifying themselves while eating swine's flesh, mice and other abominable unclean things.

Context and Prophetic Timing

The gathering of all nations and tongues to see God's glory belongs to the gospel prophecy running from Isaiah 40 onward, which carries forward with little local coloring to the sufferings of Christ and the glory of His reign. It stands in a discursive prophecy that shifts rapidly from scene to scene like a panorama, with its scenes having only a general relation to each other, unlike the prophecies of Daniel and John and the prophetic discourses of Christ that follow each other and connect like links of a chain and are plainer and easier to follow, so because the transition is often very sudden the time of its application can be known only by comparing it with other plain texts of Scripture.

The weight of teaching places that gathering in the work among the Gentiles in the gospel age, when they come to see God's glory. The sending of messengers to distant lands and declaring of that glory among the Gentiles refers to the gospel work of Paul and the apostles, not to preaching in a future age. This fulfillment is proved by geography, because the countries named with it are the exact locality of the labors of Paul and the apostles, with Javan identified as Great Britain. The section running through verse 21 belongs primarily to the gospel dispensation, following the situation where the Jews reject the Saviour and the Gentiles accept the gospel, in which the Jews after being finally converted go out as successful missionaries among the Gentiles. This primary gospel application is distinct from its second fulfillment in the new heavens and new earth in the final sinless state without death.

The verse is one of the promises concerning Israel that cannot be read as an unconditional guarantee to the nation, since its fulfillment is governed by the stated conditions for nations including Israel, that obedience brings the promised good while disobedience can lead God to withdraw it. Those who held a fulfillment to living Israel placed the gathering to see God's glory among God's promises to Israel and the land of Israel fulfilled in the commencement of the day of the Lord before the resurrection of the just, harmonizing in time with Amos 9:8-12 and Ezekiel 36. In that teaching many of the remnant of literal Israel will be gathered and delivered in Jerusalem in Asia at the battle of the great day of the Lord just prior to the second appearing and the resurrection of the just. At that one and the same time all the Israel of God, all the living saints of every name in every nation, are delivered and receive the pouring out of God's Spirit, before being redeemed from their respective nations together with all the righteous dead.

Other teaching places the gathering of all nations and tongues to see God's glory among the scenes after the thousand years. There all nations and tongues are gathered to see Christ's glory, with Christ set as a sign among them, at the end of the thousand years when the wicked dead rise and Satan deceives them into gathering against the saints and the beloved city, and fire from God consumes them. Then Christ appears on the great white throne, and the wicked receive everlasting punishment in the second death. In this setting the verse belongs to a prophecy predicting the new earth and its capital city, the destruction of sin and sinners, and the everlasting dominion of God's children. It harmonizes with the signs showing the end is near, the worldwide proclamation warning of its nearness, the coming of Christ when the righteous dead are raised and the living are taken with the Lord to the Father's house, the great day of wrath when all the wicked are slain and the earth lies desolate for a thousand years, and the final melting and purifying of the earth to be the everlasting home of God's people, and does not conflict with any of these teachings.

Doctrine and New Earth

The gathering of every nation and language to see divine glory belongs to the setting of the new heavens and new earth, the restored creation and paradise renewed. In that renewed world the weekly Sabbath of the Lord still exists, and all flesh comes to worship from one Sabbath to another. Its continuance there proves its perpetuity, standing as a sign of eternal power and faithfulness.

Zion's children are not born until after the voice of the Lord roars from on high, at the day of recompense for His enemies and the second coming. Their birth is the resurrection of the dead in Christ or the change to immortality. Zion is the woman who gives birth to her children, and her children are those redeemed from the grave at the resurrection. At that time the remnant joins the resurrected dead, and together they go up to Zion.

The gathering to see glory describes the coming of Christ with fire, when the Lord will plead with all flesh by fire and by His sword. That coming is directly connected with the New Jerusalem and with the condition of the earth at that time. Then many will be eating swine's flesh and mice and other abominable unclean things. Those who sanctify and purify themselves while continuing in that diet shall be consumed together. Therefore those who are saved at His coming will not be found eating such food.