Isaiah 66:23, commentary and pictures

Isaiah 66:23 foretells the glorified new earth when Eden blooms again, where all flesh, all the saved nations, will come regularly before the Lord to worship Him. That worship will be kept at its appointed times, from one Sabbath to another and from one new moon to another, in the city of God and in His sanctuary. The redeemed and the angels will keep it together forever in honor of the Creator, with heaven and earth united in praise. There they will assemble in joyful fellowship and rest to praise and thank God and the Lamb with loftier song forever. The Sabbath so kept is not for Israel merely but for the world and all people, made known and blessed as the seventh day at creation as a memorial of creation, and its holiness reaches into eternity as an imperishable obligation like the other precepts of the Decalogue.

Worship in the New Earth

The verse looks forward to the glorified new earth, the renewed world and the future glory of the saved when Eden blooms on earth again. It is the eternal home in the mansions prepared for those who love Him. There all flesh will come regularly before the Lord to worship Him — all people beneath the sun, all people, the saved nations, God's people. That coming will be from one Sabbath to another and from one new moon to another. It will be at the appointed weekly and monthly times. It will be in the city of God and in God's sanctuary, where God's subjects assemble.

The redeemed and the angels will keep the Sabbath together forever in honor of the Creator. Heaven and earth will share in that praise, in rest and rejoicing. They will assemble to praise and thank God and the Lamb. They will unite in loftier song in thanksgiving and praise to Him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever, in joyful fellowship.

Sabbath's Enduring Obligation

The verse shows that in the glorified new earth when Eden blooms again, all people beneath the sun will honor God's holy rest day by coming to worship before the Lord every Sabbath. The Sabbath was therefore not for Israel merely but for the world and for all people, and its observance is not limited to the Jewish people or to the present age. It was made known to man in Eden, established and blessed as the seventh day at creation before the fall, because God rested after creation. It remains God's holy day, the day He blessed and set apart as a memorial of creation and a sign of obedience and loyalty to Him.

Its sanctity and holiness reach into eternity in the earth made new, where God's subjects will come up to worship before Him at the appointed weekly and monthly times. It will be observed in the future world and perpetuated throughout eternity, kept forever by the redeemed and the angels in honor of the Creator. It remains holy after the redeemed are gathered to God, and it is the day God created for humanity to be kept until Christ comes and in the new earth. Like the other precepts of the Decalogue it is of imperishable obligation, continuing so long as the heavens and the earth endure as a sign of the Creator's power. It is the sign of the loyalty of God's people, placed at the center of the Ten Commandments written on stone and kept in the ark in heaven that are the foundation of God's government, and no effort to make that law of none effect can succeed.

The Sabbath on which Jesus rested in the tomb after completing the work of redemption will remain a day of rest and rejoicing in the restored creation, when the saved nations worship from one Sabbath to another with heaven and earth sharing in praise. Inhabitants of another planet meet every Sabbath holy to the Lord to worship before Him, keeping it exactly as given and never changed. The change of the Sabbath belongs to this earth, where the Pope changed it. Assembling now in God's house to worship in spirit and in truth and in the beauty of holiness, with songs of praise, fervent prayer, and lessons of God's wondrous works, cultivates perfect love and fits dwellers of earth for that eternal assembly in the sanctuary from Sabbath to Sabbath and from one new moon to another. Such worship drives back Satan and joins worshipers with angels in preparation for uniting in loftier song in thanksgiving and praise to Him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.