A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.
The noise from the city and the voice from the temple is the Lord's own voice announcing judgment and rendering recompense to His enemies in the day of the Lord when He has a controversy with the nations. It is the Lord roaring from on high and uttering His voice from His holy habitation, out of Zion and Jerusalem, even the great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne. It is the voice heard in Revelation 16:17, and the noise like chariots in Joel 2:5 at the second coming of Christ with His angelic army, when He appears to the joy of His people and the shame of His enemies. It sounds at the coming of Christ and the destruction of the wicked at the beginning of the thousand years, when the dead in Christ rise and God's hidden people are released. It answers the cries of those suffering amid sin and the question of how long evil will triumph, assuring those who watch and wait that they must toil only a little longer, and it recompenses the enemies of those who in the last days hold the truth and suffer persecution for it.
Voice and Its Context
Isaiah 66:6 belongs to the portion beginning with Isaiah 40 onward, the Gospel prophecy that has little local coloring and carries forward to the sufferings of Christ and the glory of His reign. Within that prophecy it stands as one distinct scene in a rapidly shifting panoramic vision whose events have a general relation to each other but do not connect in order like links in a chain as in Daniel, John, and the Saviour's prophetic discourses. Its time and application cannot be fixed from its place in the chapter because the transition from one scene to another is often very sudden, but must be ascertained by comparing it with other plain texts of Scripture.
The noise from the city and the voice from the temple is the Lord's own voice announcing judgment and rendering recompense to His enemies in the day of the Lord. That is the day when He has a controversy with the nations and the wicked are given to the sword. It is the Lord roaring from on high and uttering His voice from His holy habitation, roaring out of Zion and uttering His voice from Jerusalem. It is also the great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying It is done.
The voice from the temple is the voice heard in Revelation 16:17. The noise like chariots in Joel 2:5 is this voice of the Lord rendering recompense to His enemies in the day of the Lord at the second coming of Christ with His angelic army. Then He appears to the joy of His people and to the shame of His enemies, and the voice of noise from the city and the voice from the temple is His voice of judgment against the wicked.
Time and Fulfillment
The tumult from the city and from the temple is the sounding of the Lord's voice at the coming of Christ and the destruction of the wicked at the beginning of the thousand years. He appears then with a voice from the temple, and that voice both marks the time of the event and brings recompense upon His enemies. It is the Lord roaring from on high and uttering His voice from His holy habitation, roaring out of Zion and uttering His voice from Jerusalem, and the great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying It is done, and this identity fixes its time to that event. That day is the second coming, when the earth releases God's people who are hidden in it and the dead in Christ rise.
It stands in harmony with the signs given to show the end is near, and with the proclamation and warning message given so that God's people are not in darkness. It stands with Christ's coming when the righteous dead are raised and the living are changed to go up with the Lord to the Father's house. It stands with the great day of God's wrath when all the wicked are slain and the earth lies utterly desolate without a living man for a thousand years. It stands with the coming down of the city of God after the thousand years, the raising of the wicked dead around the city, their total destruction by fire rained down, and the melting and purifying of the earth to be made the everlasting home of God's people. In this place it belongs to the prophecy of the destruction of sin and sinners and the everlasting dominion of God's children.
Its language belongs with the judgment and conflagration described in 2 Peter 3 and with Psalm 97, and with Isaiah 65. It bears on the literal pre-millennial advent, resurrection, judgment, and conflagration, so that denial of those doctrines requires spiritualizing its expressions. Zion is a mother who brings forth her children and comforts them in Jerusalem, which is their home and mother. They remain given up until the resurrection, when they are redeemed from the grave, and then the remnant joins the resurrected dead and together they go up to Zion to dwell with the Lord. The birth of her children, the new birth, is the resurrection or the change to immortality at Christ's return, not conversion in this life.
Doctrine and Encouragement
The tumult sounding from the city and from the temple declares that the Sabbath endures in paradise restored. The voice is the Lord's answer to the cries rising from a world of sin and pain and evil. It meets the anguished question of how long evil shall triumph with assurance to those who watch and wait that they must toil only a little longer. That nearness of His coming is the nearness of their redemption.
In the last days those who hold the truth of the commandments of God suffer persecution. That affliction calls for patience. To their enemies the Lord will render recompense in connection with the second coming of Christ.
The noise from the city and the voice from the temple is the Lord's own voice announcing judgment and rendering recompense to His enemies in the day of the Lord when He has a controversy with the nations. It is the Lord roaring from on high and uttering His voice from His holy habitation, out of Zion and Jerusalem, even the great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne. It is the voice heard in Revelation 16:17, and the noise like chariots in Joel 2:5 at the second coming of Christ with His angelic army, when He appears to the joy of His people and the shame of His enemies. It sounds at the coming of Christ and the destruction of the wicked at the beginning of the thousand years, when the dead in Christ rise and God's hidden people are released. It answers the cries of those suffering amid sin and the question of how long evil will triumph, assuring those who watch and wait that they must toil only a little longer, and it recompenses the enemies of those who in the last days hold the truth and suffer persecution for it.
Voice and Its Context
Isaiah 66:6 belongs to the portion beginning with Isaiah 40 onward, the Gospel prophecy that has little local coloring and carries forward to the sufferings of Christ and the glory of His reign. Within that prophecy it stands as one distinct scene in a rapidly shifting panoramic vision whose events have a general relation to each other but do not connect in order like links in a chain as in Daniel, John, and the Saviour's prophetic discourses. Its time and application cannot be fixed from its place in the chapter because the transition from one scene to another is often very sudden, but must be ascertained by comparing it with other plain texts of Scripture.
The noise from the city and the voice from the temple is the Lord's own voice announcing judgment and rendering recompense to His enemies in the day of the Lord. That is the day when He has a controversy with the nations and the wicked are given to the sword. It is the Lord roaring from on high and uttering His voice from His holy habitation, roaring out of Zion and uttering His voice from Jerusalem. It is also the great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying It is done.
The voice from the temple is the voice heard in Revelation 16:17. The noise like chariots in Joel 2:5 is this voice of the Lord rendering recompense to His enemies in the day of the Lord at the second coming of Christ with His angelic army. Then He appears to the joy of His people and to the shame of His enemies, and the voice of noise from the city and the voice from the temple is His voice of judgment against the wicked.
Time and Fulfillment
The tumult from the city and from the temple is the sounding of the Lord's voice at the coming of Christ and the destruction of the wicked at the beginning of the thousand years. He appears then with a voice from the temple, and that voice both marks the time of the event and brings recompense upon His enemies. It is the Lord roaring from on high and uttering His voice from His holy habitation, roaring out of Zion and uttering His voice from Jerusalem, and the great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying It is done, and this identity fixes its time to that event. That day is the second coming, when the earth releases God's people who are hidden in it and the dead in Christ rise.
It stands in harmony with the signs given to show the end is near, and with the proclamation and warning message given so that God's people are not in darkness. It stands with Christ's coming when the righteous dead are raised and the living are changed to go up with the Lord to the Father's house. It stands with the great day of God's wrath when all the wicked are slain and the earth lies utterly desolate without a living man for a thousand years. It stands with the coming down of the city of God after the thousand years, the raising of the wicked dead around the city, their total destruction by fire rained down, and the melting and purifying of the earth to be made the everlasting home of God's people. In this place it belongs to the prophecy of the destruction of sin and sinners and the everlasting dominion of God's children.
Its language belongs with the judgment and conflagration described in 2 Peter 3 and with Psalm 97, and with Isaiah 65. It bears on the literal pre-millennial advent, resurrection, judgment, and conflagration, so that denial of those doctrines requires spiritualizing its expressions. Zion is a mother who brings forth her children and comforts them in Jerusalem, which is their home and mother. They remain given up until the resurrection, when they are redeemed from the grave, and then the remnant joins the resurrected dead and together they go up to Zion to dwell with the Lord. The birth of her children, the new birth, is the resurrection or the change to immortality at Christ's return, not conversion in this life.
Doctrine and Encouragement
The tumult sounding from the city and from the temple declares that the Sabbath endures in paradise restored. The voice is the Lord's answer to the cries rising from a world of sin and pain and evil. It meets the anguished question of how long evil shall triumph with assurance to those who watch and wait that they must toil only a little longer. That nearness of His coming is the nearness of their redemption.
In the last days those who hold the truth of the commandments of God suffer persecution. That affliction calls for patience. To their enemies the Lord will render recompense in connection with the second coming of Christ.