A New Start for the Age of the Church (Isaiah 66:15-19)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
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.
Introduction
I read a news article and it was about the time during the Napoleon reign in France. Napoleon and two of his secretaries walked around a rural town and walked into an inn. While he was having a meal in the inn, they were about to check out but he forgot his wallet in his hotel room so the man apologized to the employee at checkout, and said that he will pay him back in an hour. The employee didn’t know who this man was and said that he couldn’t believe in this man. But Napoleon promised to the employee that he would pay him back. But the employee kept yelling at this man demanding the money. But another employee who was a waiter saw what was happening and told the employee that he should try to believe in this man. But the employee still demanded that this man pay so the waiter said that he would pay on the behalf of Napoleon. After an hour, Napoleon came back and gave the waiter who paid for him a great amount of money for paying for him. The secretaries of Napoleon asked how much this inn cost and they said to sell this inn to this man. So, they sold the inn to Napoleon and sent a note to the waiter. Napoleon said that since you believed in me, Napoleon was very pleased with this waiter so he gave a great amount of money to this waiter. This waiter ended up earning a great sum of money that he couldn’t even imagine because he believed in this man. This is the love of God. We may think that our small amount of faith is nothing but God said that He will give us the entire universe to us. If we just give God just a little bit of faith then God will give us unimaginable blessings.
1. God's Judgment
1) The judgment of the persecutors
Verses 15-16 - God came to the world and many interpret this where God is coming for the second coming. But I don’t see it that way. Many other people don’t interpret it that way either. The content of this verse the Lord will come like a whirlwind. This is talking about a war. It is talking about a war because it says that God’s anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire. Jesus is talking about people who were persecuting Him and the church as we spoke about last week. It is talking about those who persecuted Jesus and persecuted those who were testifying of the gospel. God will lay His judgment to those who persecuted Him and His people. God’s great fury came upon them with His judgment.
Verse 16 - The people who persecute Jesus and His gospel, God will lay His judgment on all of them.
God’s judgment was fulfilled in Luke 21:24 “And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” - When Jesus was dying on the cross, women were crying by His side. But Jesus tells them not to cry for Him but cry for their children. This scripture is speaking about that. As we know that 70-80AD, many Jews died and were captured as slaves by Titus. This was what God was saying.
2) Those who fail in worship
Verse 17 - These people would call themselves as God’s people and deemed themselves righteous. Instead of going to the temple, they would go to the gardens where the idols were. They weren’t going to give worship to God but they were going to worship idols. They were worshiping a powerful idol, Asherah. She was known as the god of fertility and the mother of all gods. They worshiped Asherah as the wife of Yahweh. As they worshiped idols, they were feasting on swines and mice. These were the foods that God commanded them not to consume. But these were the foods that were offered to idols. The problem with this was why did the Israelites keep worshiping idols and not God?
Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:3 “Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” - They worshiped idols to fulfill their physical desires and needs. In order to fulfill their greed, God was not enough for them. God tells them that all of them will fall into destruction and will be slayed by fire.
2. A New Beginning
1) The Age of the Church
Verse 18 - God knew why the Israelites were giving the wrong worship and why they were worshiping idols. They should’ve given worship to God with all of their heart, mind, and soul but they were worshiping idols to fulfill their worldly desires. That is why God said that they will face judgment in the end. This verse may sound like the last days but seeing God’s glory means God’s judgment. After the temple was destroyed, all nations and tongues will gather and they will give glory to God. All Gentiles will come and give glory to God through the church, not through the temple. All nations and tongues will gather, and the Gentiles give glory and worship to God. God will demolish the temple and He will build the church where all people can gather and give worship to Him. They will all come together and give worship to God through the spiritual church.
Romans 10:13 “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” - Whoever calls on the name of the Lord and gives worship to God will give glory to God. This is the spiritual church. God will be the head and we will be the body.
Acts 17:3 “Explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,' he said.” - Apostle Paul entered the age of church and wherever he went, he proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ. He continued to go around and preach that Jesus was the Christ. Paul was talking about what a church should be. When this happened, great works arose. Wherever Paul went, God’s glory was shining. When a church is raised, God’s glory is shone. This was the start of the church.
2) The new people
Verse 19 - God is saying that He will raise all of this. They were escaping because there will be trials and tribulations. A crisis arose where people of God had to flee. But this was how God allowed evangelism to occur.
Acts 11:19-20 “Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. 20 But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.” - Many people had to flee because of the persecution of Stephen but the gospel ended up spreading everywhere. This was the fall of Jerusalem. All the remaining ones had to be scattered all around. They were scattered to all nations such as nations like Turkey, Italy, Greece, and other nations. Because of the persecutions, people had no choice but to scatter. But this was all part of God’s plan. This was God’s plan to share the gospel to all of the world.
Mark 16:20 “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.” - What did the disciples testify of? They testified that Jesus was the Christ and He is the answer to all problems. When this happened, the word was working and they were able to see signs. This is all we have to do. This was the method that God used.
3. The Start of the World Missions
1) The day of crisis is when fate can change
Genesis 39:20 “Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.” - God sent Joseph to Egypt and then into prison. A prison was not a place where it destroyed Joseph but it was an opportunity for Joseph’s fate to be changed. Our crises can change into opportunities.
2) The day of crisis can change the field
Genesis 39:23 “The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.” - God will send the remaining ones. The paths of the remaining ones, nonbelievers will see us and see the great works of God. Even a nonbeliever confessed that God was with Joseph. This changed the field.
3) The day of crisis can change the future
Genesis 40:4 “And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; so they were in custody for a while.” - Potiphar was the one who made the final sentence for Joseph and sent him to prison. The captain of the guard came to Joseph and told him to be in charge of two officials of Pharaoh. Potiphar knew that Joseph was innocent but why did he still send Joseph to prison? But what is absolute is that when Joseph was sent to prison, it wasn’t Potiphar who sent him there but it was God. God allowed Joseph to stay in prison for a reason. There was God’s plan here. During the time of Joseph in prison, that time and past didn’t matter because later on, Joseph was able to become governor of Egypt. Joseph knew that all of this was all part of God’s plan. That was why Joseph confessed to his brothers that his brothers didn’t send him to Egypt but it was all God. God will guide our future. Do you have a problem? God allowed it. God did that to give you blessings and to change your future. God wants to change your future and your field. God wants to use you. Hold onto God’s covenant with your whole life.
Conclusion
Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” - We were called according to God’s purpose. We believe that Jesus is the Christ and the answer to all of our problems. Just like a mother carries and loves her newborn, God will take care of us. We must confess that Jesus is our master and we need to confess that our life is God’s. Pray that God will bless you. May my life be for the sake of God’s glory. If we do this, then God will use us.
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