Alicia's Bible Blog
Isaiah 66:22-23. "For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, says the Lord; so shall your descendants and your name remain ... all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord."
I had a reading from Isaiah before that I called a "mini-Revelation", and this, from the end of the Isaiah, has that same feel. In Revelation, John sees "a new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1), while a voice says "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them." (Revelation 21:3). These ending verses of Isaiah are describing something similar.
In Isaiah, God first says He sees what the wanton and the sinful are doing, and they will come to an end together (Isaiah 66:17). He knows their works and their thoughts, and He is coming "to gather all nations and tongues", and they shall see His glory. The ones who survive (that is, those who see His glory and turn to Him and are saved, rather than clinging to their sin and perishing) will be sent out to all nations, to declare God's glory among the whole world. They will bring back to His holy mountain people from every nation. All flesh will come to worship Him, and the new heaven and new earth will be made. These ones who survive and are sent out are known as the "remnant"; those who stay true to God through trials and difficulties, especially of the end times, and are then sent out to make disciples of all nations, just as the Apostles were sent out (there is another one of those iterations!)
In Revelation 12:17, the dragon goes to make war upon the remnant, but in the end, those who stay faithful through all of the trials of the "end times" find that they are really at the "beginning times" of the new heaven and new earth, where there will be no more tears or death or mourning or pain; where all those who are thirsty will drink from the fountain of the water of life. This, God says, is the heritage of he who conquers, but the sinful shall not enter, they cannot, as "nothing unclean shall enter it, or anyone who practices abomination or falsehood." (Revelation 21:27). Isaiah's prophecy says the same - the stubbornly sinful "shall come to an end together", while those who survive will be sent out to the nations.
But notice that God shows His glory to all - the sinful and the holy alike, and allows us to choose to turn to Him. The sinful experience His glory in a different way, they feel pain and shame due to their sin, but that is how they are called to turn to Him. He wants us to turn to Him. No one of us, except Mary, has ever been or will ever be sinless our whole lives. At some point in each of our lives we see God's glory, and we see and feel the shame of our sin. At that time, we can choose to repent and be His followers, we can choose to be part of the remnant. If we do, we will be welcomed with great joy and love, and we will have the heritage described in Revelation, gained by Christ, and offered to us all.
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