Isaiah's prophecy closes with the promise that God's Word will go out to the ends of the earth (v. 19). As a result, the kingdom of God will be filled with both the people of Israel and with those from the Gentile nations. Though in the past these idolatrous nations have attacked God and his people, they will one day come to worship and glorify their true King.
But there will also be those who do not come, those who do not receive God's Word in repentance and faith. Isaiah's prophecy closes with a vision of judgment, looking upon a scene filled with the corpses of rebels (v. 24). Jesus quoted this verse in picturing a grisly image of hell (Mk 9:48). These two descriptions define two alternatives for those who hear the message. They can either trust in the Lord and claim the salvation that comes through his servant Jesus and live, or they can continue in rebellion and die. The stark reality of these two alternatives shows people not only the greatness of the salvation that can only come through Jesus, but also the urgency with which believers must join Isaiah in proclaiming the message of God.
Jesus, thank you for gifting us with free will. Please send your Holy Spirit ahead of me to prepare hearts, and then please send me to proclaim your good news. Amen.
Isaiah 66:18-24 NASB
18 "For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory. 19 I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations. 20 Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the L ord , on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says the L ord , "just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the L ord . 21 I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites," says the L ord . 22 "For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me," declares the L ord , "So your offspring and your name will endure. 23 "And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me," says the L ord . 24"Then they will go forth and look
Mark 9:48 NASB
48 where their worm does not die , and the fire is not quenched .
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