God’s Wrath of Judgment and His Eternal Reign

Isaiah 66:14-24 

14 When you see this, your heart shall rejoice,
And your bones shall flourish like grass;
The hand of the LORD shall be known to His servants,
And His indignation to His enemies.

15 For behold, the LORD will come with fire
And with His chariots, like a whirlwind,
To render His anger with fury,
And His rebuke with flames of fire.

16 For by fire and by His sword
The LORD will judge all flesh;
And the slain of the LORD shall be many.

17 "Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves,
To go to the gardens
After an idol in the midst,
Eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse,
Shall be consumed together," says the LORD.

18 "For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory. 19 I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. 20 Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the LORD out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says the LORD, "as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. 21 And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites," says the LORD.

22 "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.
23 And it shall come to pass
That from one New Moon to another,
And from one Sabbath to another,
All flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the LORD.

24 "And they shall go forth and look
Upon the corpses of the men
Who have transgressed against Me.
For their worm does not die,
And their fire is not quenched.
They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."

Here in the culmination of God’s word through Isaiah is His wrath of judgment on sin and His eternal sovereign reign laid out for all His people to hear and take to heart.  After true worship is vindicated and the peace of God is realized among the elect at last, we see His works and rejoice even as His enemies and ours realize His eternal wrath.  His wrath will come as a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, Hebrews 12:29) in the final judgment and as a sword to gain victory through His Anointed (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, 2 Peter 3:7, Revelation 19:15).  By these things He will judge everyone (Romans 2:6-8).  Only those who have trusted His atoning grace in Christ will escape this certain wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10).  Many will fall under that sword of judgment because they have rejected the grace of God in disbelief and continued disobedience.  Many hear the good news calling out, but few among these are chosen (Matthew 22:14) and obey the eternal gospel told from the beginning (2 Thessalonians 1:8, 1 Peter 4:17).  Idolaters who worship any other than our God through Jesus Christ will find their vain efforts to do good works in attempts to be righteous as eternally ineffective.  God has promised from the beginning for His people to trust and follow Him, knowing our sinful thoughts and therefore providing us salvation by His work and His righteousness.  He calls us from our of all nations by faith as promised to Abraham and channeled through Israel that many may be delivered from His just wrath to come.  He is more than fair, for fairness would condemn us all to judgment apart from this goodness of grace.  He will therefore gather all His chosen people from all over the nations throughout time to worship as His priests in that kingdom in the New Jerusalem to come on earth (1 Peter 2:9-10, Revelation 1:6, 21:2).  This new heavens and earth which He creates will no longer fade away as the present ones which are winding down over time already since their creation and corruption (Romans 8:21) by our sin.  We will then worship in spirit and truth without fail and without end.  Yes, we who are the redeemed will see those who rejected Him and His Anointed as the only way (Acts 4:12) and observe the result of never ending judgment on unrepentant sin of rejection which is the hell of the lake of fire where “their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched,”  and be eternally thankful for our rescue.  God’s eternal and sovereign reign necessitates this judgment on sin and removal of its presence among His people and the new creation to avoid the destruction in the Garden again from the adversary and enemy of God’s good creation (Genesis 3:1, 2 Corinthians 11:3, Revelation 20:10).  We will then stand before our Lord day and night in true worship without sin and with great joy in the eternal consummation of our reconciliation and redemption that we may have hope and joy in His work through Christ on our behalf.  Amen.