Isaiah, Chapter 66
Isaiah 66:22-24 · Vern Peterman · Feb 25, 2007
Isaiah, No. 57
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926018346585

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're at a momentous time here. Reason being, we're at the finish line for our study of the book of Isaiah. And here we've gone through kind of sampling our way through 66 chapters. And now at the last three verses. And as Dean read it for us here, and you probably recognize, it's kind of almost a startling end to this book. And we'll see why in a minute here. So anyway, today we'll be looking at these last three verses of this 66 chapter long book.

And what a finish. All right. One of the things to point out, as we did last week, the last two chapters are what is known as a chiasm. That is, it's a mirror image in writing. And what we mean by that is, as you step through those two chapters, the middle portion of that is what we touched on last week. And we have boxed in red there. Today, we'll be looking at the last few verses, which stand as sort of an end cap or final conclusion to that chiasm, that mirror image in writing.

And so now, as we look at these verses, you look at these last You know, lines there. Verse 24, wow, what a way to end this book. Someone might say, ah, Haber, you know. Isn't it kind of weird for Isaiah, after writing this incredible prophetic anthology, to end up with this last verse the way it is?

I mean, isn't that kind of different, strange, odd? But as you think about it, isn't it classical for Jewish songs to have sort of a minor key, right? Quite often, you know, odd sense of humor that I have. Nancy can tell you this is something I don't reveal in public very often, but I get this odd sense of humor by taking happy songs and going around the place singing them in minor key. I won't do it this morning, but but anyway, just sort of that Jewish twist on things, OK? You may recall back in chapter 36, we talked about singing the blues for the Jews, okay? And kind of that na-na-na-na kind of thing, okay?

And so there's this kind of a downstroke that's a part of the Jewish mentality. And it turns out that a lot of the Old Testament books do actually end up with this downstroke in the last line. A little shocking, but let's take a look here. Here's the end of Genesis. Here's the very first book of the Bible. Here's the last line, embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

How's that? Good for a nice finish? Okay, how about that one? End of Lamentations. You have utterly rejected us and are exceedingly angry with us. How does that set with you? Okay? Nice finish? Okay. That didn't settle with you. Okay. End of Hosea. Transgression will stumble in them. Nobody's getting real excited about this. Let's try one more. Here's the end of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Okay? Come and smite the land with a curse. How about that? Isn't that something?

So really, it's not an across the board pattern, but fairly common throughout the Old Testament to have those Old Testament books, the last line or so, incredibly negative. It probably would not do well for any of our TV series or movies or anything like that in our era. But that's the way a number of them end. So we'll take a closer look at it here. Now, as we look at that, we'll find out that it ends very bad. Okay? All right? All right. Now, something old, something new. Last week, we talked about the Old Testament prophets.

They tend to give details to the people of Israel about the future. They would even say that there's a new heavens and new earth, but they tended not to say, here's the particular sequence in which it's going to happen. They tended to give more of a sort of sampling. Your future looks kind of like this. And that was the way they spelled it out.

As we get into the New Testament, we then have more revelation about the sequence, some specifics as to timing, and we're able to put those things in order. So the New Testament then actually lays it out that this present heavens and earth will have an end. and spells that out. Second Peter, we mentioned that also at the beginning of chapter 21 of the book of Revelation. So we're going to get details in the New Testament about time and sequence and particular events. Last week, and so this is not in your handout, but it's in last week's handout if you want to refer back to that at some point, we pointed out that the future spelled out in Scripture is that there is a coming seven-year tribulation period.

This follows the time when the Lord takes us up. It's called the rapture. It takes those who believe to be with Him. After that is a thousand-year period called the millennium, a time when the Lord will reign here on planet Earth. We will be here, but we'll be in resurrected bodies. Everyone who is a believer will come and be with the Lord during that time and following that eternity.

We left you with some scriptures in that handout that particularly describe each of those times. Isaiah wrote here in these last about 11 chapters, telling about the conditions during this millennial kingdom and the eternity to follow, but didn't detail, here's exactly the sequence, this will happen here, this will happen there, giving it more as about, this is what your future looks like with samplings. In the New Testament, then, that time of the Lord's reign upon this planet Earth, this present Earth, for a thousand years is then described and given. So, 2 Peter makes it clear, chapter 3, something we'll be looking at before long in our 1 and 2 Peter study in the elective.

This present heaven and earth will be burned up. Just flee away, as John describes it. Revelation 20-22 then gives us the insights about what's going to happen when, and gives us more of a sequence of that time. Alright, now, the other thing pointed out here in verse 23, it shall be from new moon to new moon, from Sabbath to Sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me. Think about it as we look at this passage.

The new heavens and the new earth is described in verse 22, because we've got three verses here, okay? Verse 1, verse 22, the new heavens and new earth is described, and that's used as the basis for the Lord giving a promise to the Jews, you will, you will be continued as a people. You won't be wiped out, okay? So he spells that out to them.

The Millennial Kingdom is described in the next verse, the time when the Lord Jesus will reign on planet Earth. We will be with him in resurrected bodies. And he describes what that will be like, describing particularly what it will be like those who are worshiping the Lord throughout the Earth. And finally, the last part talks about what will happen both in the Millennial Kingdom and on into eternity. And we'll look at that in detail, of course. The Millennial Kingdom lasting for a thousand years is the, then as we have it on the chart, and this is on your handout, page one, Isaiah 66, 23 and 24, the first half. And then in eternity, timeless, Isaiah 66, 22, and then 24, the last half. And there's one minor exception to that we'll point out. All right. Verse 22.

Here it is, just as the new heavens and new earth which I made will endure before me, declares the Lord, so your offspring and your name will endure. Here's the Lord speaking through Isaiah, and one of the things that he makes reference again, as we saw last week, is this new heavens and the new earth. And this is also, as we saw pointed out in 2 Peter and in the book of Revelation. He doesn't do so here just to restate the fact, certainly he does that, but beyond that, he does so to make a comparison. He says, I've already told you there's going to be new heavens and new earth. I want you to know, particularly you people who are Jews, you're not going to get wiped out. Are difficult times going to come? Yep. Are there going to be rough things? Are you going to wonder if we're going to survive? Yep.

He says, I just want you to know, you will not get wiped out. You will endure. I'll make certain of it. He does so, making a critical comparison based on God's character and God's promises. Just as I'm telling you, it's going to happen. There will be a new heavens and a new earth. There will be a people, you, that will continue on. Why? Because I've determined it to be so.

I am faithful, he says. Did He make promises to Abraham? Yes. He made promises to Abraham, but He didn't go partway through and say, whoops, guess that didn't work out like I thought. Right? No. The Lord does not work that way. Look at the comparisons that He makes here. God compared the nature of the creation of the new heavens and the new earth to the nature of His dealing with the people of Israel. In the same way, there's going to be this new heavens and new earth. They will be. They will endure on into eternity. So where your offspring in your name endure, continue on, you will not be wiped out.

We've had within the last century, a massive attempt to wipe out the Jews off the planet. And it certainly seems like it was the intent of the Hitler regime to take them all out. But in spite of the fact that a great number of them were wiped out, They were not eliminated and have now been substantially restored in numbers. Notice here the comparison.

Number one, both the new heavens and new earth and the people of Israel will endure into eternity. They will not be wiped out. They will be continued. And for both the new heavens and new earth and the people of Israel, who's going to pull it off? God will do it. It will not be because human beings make some determination. And imagine, I want you to try right now, real hard, I'm going to continue to exist. Can you do it? It's tough for us to pull it off. It's tough for us to assure that something is going to happen in eternity.

But God can do it, and He will. That's the promise He's making. Here we have underscored the new earth which I make will endure before me, declares the Lord. What we have here is words from the Lord Himself. These are the Lord's own words. He is speaking through the prophet Isaiah and making these promises, basically underscoring it in triplicate here.

This isn't just a human opinion. I think it's going to happen this way. If I were to guess, it's going to come off this way. That's kind of my hunch, gut feel. No. The Lord says, this is most certainly going to happen. He will be faithful to what He has promised. He will be faithful to what He has promised. Notice that there is this willing on God's part. He says it's going to happen. It will take place. Not just I guess. He makes reference to your offspring and your name. And it's important for us to recognize that these are things that struck a chord in the Jewish mind. Things that were long standing in Biblical history. What do we mean by that?

Here's Genesis 35.10, and what do we read? God said to them, your name, speaking to Jacob, is Jacob, and you shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name. He thus called him Israel. So it's one of the patterns we see in the Bible of double names. Peter was also called Simon, right? Paul was also called Saul, etc. But your name, He keeps focusing on here.

Here's 1 Kings 18. This is a time when Elijah is confronting the 450 prophets of Baal. How's that for odds? Is that a little lopsided? No, because the Lord is in the mix. Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob. By the way, that panoramic scene is the scene of the where Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of Baal.

According to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, Israel shall be your name. Repeating what was given to Jacob. And finally, here in Isaiah that we saw in some chapters back, the Lord, the God of Israel who calls you by your name. For the sake of Jacob, My servant, and Israel, My chosen one, I have also called you by your name." It is not incidental and it's not just a sound handle. It is a matter of the Lord's identifying these people as ones He has chosen.

Here's in Genesis 48, 3-6, Then Jacob said to Joseph, and he refers to your descendants and your offspring, It is a pattern so that when Isaiah wrote these words, they were already well entrenched in people's minds. They understood what these words meant. And now, we saw in a prior chapter in this last section of Isaiah, as for me, this is my covenant with them. Who?

The people of Israel, says the Lord, my spirit which is upon you, my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring, your descendants, says the Lord, from now on forever. It turns out that your descendants, that word pair is more common as you go through the Old Testament, but both are used, and as we've seen here, sometimes used together. You can look more about Israel's New Covenant in Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel, in the chapters we have listed there. As we look at Isaiah 44, 3 through 5, and we're going to look here at, this is the last time we're going to look at Isaiah for this Hebrew poetry pattern here.

This one will say, I am the Lord's, recognizing I belong to the Lord, right? and that one will call upon the name of Jacob. Another will write on his hand." Now notice the manner of speaking here. To say is to speak it. To write on the hand means to do it. The things that he does will say, I belong to the Lord. And will name Israel's name with honor. So now we see our last set of Hebrew poetry patterns. These are longer ways of telling the people of Israel about your name, the name the Lord gave you.

Okay, so what's the point? Why are we going through this? Alright. God made promises to Abraham and to Jacob. Is He going to keep them? Yes. He will keep them. As a matter of fact, one reason you could ask, well, why doesn't the Lord just kind of call it all quits? I mean, I'm a believer and that's good enough for me. And why doesn't the Lord just kind of call an end to this whole thing and call us all home and say we're done? You know why?

He's going to keep His promise to Abraham. You know that? Isn't that amazing? There was this guy who lived 4,000 years ago. He promised him some things. He's not going to stop until he's done. He is faithful. He is faithful. He's going to keep His promises to these guys. And He won't stop until He's fulfilled them. He is the promise keeper.

Israel will not be cut off as a people. Key point, human beings may put forth every effort possible to wipe out God's people that he chose, the people of Israel. Hitler tried. There will be a time in the tribulation when all the satanic forces under the Antichrist will try again to wipe them out. But they will be preserved.

Now, see that little picture in the corner there with the camels in it and all that? I just got to point something out here. You see this guy and he's talking to the other fellow, he's got something in his hand. You know what he's saying to him? Look, I've got the remote and I picked the channel. No, I guess it's for fun.

We too, because we want to take this personally, we too can count upon... the things that God has said that He will do in our lives. What He has said that He will do, He will remain faithful. If He promised something to Abraham 4,000 years ago, and he's not ready to pull the plug on planet earth because he hasn't yet fulfilled every single promise down to the dotting the i and crossing the t, and hopefully not crossing your i's, right? God has not completed and pulled the plug on everything because He will fulfill His promise. Will He fulfill everything He has promised to do in your life?

Yes. That's the thing that is wonderful we can count upon. If He has a 4,000 year plus memory for this guy Abraham, certainly He will not forget any detail in your life. He will fulfill every promise. We can count upon the things that He has said. Regardless of what we feel, regardless of what we see, regardless of what we experience, we can count upon what He has said. We can trust by faith in what He has laid out and said that He will do.

He Himself has said, Hebrews 13, 5 and 6, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you. Can we count on it? Yep. You can count on it. Not ever will He forsake us. Those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son. Can you count on it? Yes. Sometimes you might think, heaven's sake, after I just blew it, He's still going to do it. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him. That's something we can count on. We can count on the Lord to do what He has said He's going to do. The next verse here, 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 Lord. Alright, what's that about?

Among the Jews, they had new moon and Sabbath festivals and periods of rest and celebration. They were given to the people of Israel. And the Old Testament law gave all the details about how that was to be done. Of course, what did the Jews do? They went and added to what that means, right? That's why Orthodox Jews today, they've added extra rules to what that means.

Things like, if it's Sabbath, you don't push the elevator buttons. That's work. Okay? You don't break off the toilet paper pieces on a Sabbath. You have to do that before then. Things like that. That's work. He's not getting all hung up on that. He's saying, look, these things are intended to point to me. I gave them to you for that purpose. Not so you get all hung up about elevator buttons. Nonetheless, what is going on here?

The Jews, during the millennial kingdom time, the law will be written on their hearts. And they will keep the new moons during this millennium time, and they will keep the Sabbaths during this millennium time, continuing in their obedience to the law, pointing to Christ. Even the sacrifices will be memorial sacrifices to Christ's sacrifice for us. So these will continue. So that's why verse 23 would say, it shall be, future, in this time, new moon, Sabbath, those will all continue into that millennium time. During that time, what will happen?

All mankind will come to bow before me. Remember the reference to your offspring? These are the ones, the Jews, who will keep the new moons and the Sabbath. Now, all mankind. Let's think about that. Wait a minute. You'll have the Jews who are promised, you will continue on into this millennium time and beyond. And during this time when the Jews are keeping the new moons and the Sabbaths, all mankind. Well, what does that mean? It indicates that it points to the Gentiles. The Gentiles will come and bow down before me. You're going to continue, and you will keep the new moons and the Sabbaths. You will even keep the memorial sacrifices. During that time, the Gentiles will all come bow down before me.

You and I will see this in our new bodies. We'll see this taking place. Verse 22 is written to and about the people of Israel. And the first half of verse 23 was written in Jewish perspective, that is, the Jews would continue to look to the New Moons and the Sabbaths, but it focuses upon the Gentiles. All mankind, all the Gentiles of every tribe and tongue and nation will bow down before me. How about this, will come and bow down before me?

What does that mean? You have on your handout, this is on page 2, Isaiah 49, 5-7. And we point out there at the beginning of that passage, it says, And now, says the Lord, who formed me from the womb to be a servant. When did the Lord do that? Notice that the me there and servant are capitalized. This is the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the time when the Lord was formed in Mary by the Lord's doing. And then, to the despised one, the one abhorred by the nation, we saw in Isaiah 53, how the Lord Jesus was rejected by the people.

So, the beginning of His life here on planet Earth and His first coming to His time on the cross, towards the end. That's when this servant, that he's referring to came the first time. But then, kings will see and arise. Princes will come and bow down. Then, verse 24, this is the tough one, right?

This is the one where you say, wow, what a way to end a book. They will go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against me. and their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched, and they will be an abhorrence for all mankind." Would you end a book that way? You probably wouldn't pick that, would you? Wow. But there's some reason for this. We've got to ask the question, what does he mean by this? What's this talking about?

Here in the last verse of the book of Isaiah, the words are really intense. You notice how intense the word, corpses, that's a kind of a heavy word, right? For their worm, wow, their worm will not die. A fire that won't be quenched. These are incredible words. Not only are they intense, but they're strongly negative. The abhorrence of all mankind. Really intense words. And you're wondering, what am I going to do to pull this one out of the fire? Okay. The last verse of the book of Isaiah here has these intense words. Why did Isaiah end the book with this? Why would he do such a thing? And why would Verne choose to teach on this out of all the verses he could have chosen? Alright. Remember we said that first of all, this was a pattern for a number of Old Testament books. Beyond that, We'll take a look at the rest of this verse, and then I think it'll become a little clearer why Isaiah would finish this way.

There's a word pair, then they will go forth. One thing to look at is the words go forth might not seem like potent words in our own culture, but as you look at the pattern of how they're used in Scripture, been revealed as words out of the Israelite culture, it meant to move in an action that was momentous and critical and pivotal. So going forth doesn't just happen to stroll out, but it means to go forth with purpose, to go forth in a momentous action, to go forth and do something that's exceedingly important. It was not, to use our phrase, small potatoes.

It may also point, because there's a pattern here we see in the book of Isaiah, to going forth from Jerusalem, like we would say, hey, let's go downtown. I don't have to tell you which downtown because of where we're at. He may have been pointing just kind of as a matter of his manner of speaking to going out from Jerusalem, especially because Jerusalem is spelled out as an end-time place of judgment.

So when does this happen? You may have heard of the Battle of Armageddon, and actually what scripture lays out is not a battle, but a campaign of Armageddon. This is not in your handout in the lower right there. There is an S, and that means it's a special handout. There are copies of this map available in the cabinet as you exit this room.

It lays out the major places of the campaign of Armageddon that scripture describes. This Armageddon, Armageddon is the way it comes across to us, is centered around the valley that meets the Mediterranean today in the city of Haifa. The town of Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, is at the north side of that valley. This is a critical place. This book, however, focuses much on Jerusalem, and I think that's where Isaiah is pointing to. This is referring to the time of the second coming of our Lord.

There will be not the last battle, but the last battles, as we put these together here. Especially this number seven, the end of the fighting of the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Ever hear about jumping Jehoshaphat? I have no idea where that jumping idea came, but that's a word we're going to look at here. Let's take a look at it. Zechariah 14, 2-9. This is on page 3 of your handout. This is what the Lord says will happen right near Jerusalem in the last day. For I will gather all the nations, that's Gentiles, against Jerusalem to battle. You think things are tough in Jerusalem now?

You ain't seen nothing yet. Then the Lord will go fight against these nations as when He fights in a day of battle, and that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives." Now, we're not talking something figurative. His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. Is that not a reversal of Acts 1, 6-12? When the disciples were told, do you know how He departed? Exactly the reverse of that is the way He'll return. His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east. Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with Him. Who are the holy ones? Angels, Old Testament saints, Jewish and Gentile. Tribulation saints, Jewish and Gentile, and you. Okay?

You will be with us. So what we're reading about right here, you're going to see it. And the Lord will be King over all the earth. All bow down. Right? And that day the Lord will be the only one in His name, the only one. He will be the total focus of everything. Everyone will focus on Him. So Bruce Willis will not be the hero of Armageddon.

Okay? God's going to do it. Not Bruce Willis. Just so you know. It will be the Lord coming and all the saints and angels with Him, including you and me. We'll come with him. That'll be the cloud coming in the heavens. As we look at this passage here, looking at this map may be fine, but right in here, here's a topographic map. You do have this on page three of your handout.

And Mount Moriah, that's the name for the mount where the Temple Mount is now, right now is where the Dome of the Rock is. Here's Mount Zion, which is the other kind of rise in Jerusalem. By the way, that's also the area of Jerusalem where it seems quite probable that the Lord gathered for the Last Supper. Here's the Mount of Olives off to the east, as we've seen described there.

And here's the Kidron Valley, also known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat. That will be the valley where a great slaughter of the enemies of the Jews will take place. The Valley of Hinnom, also known as Gehenna. is there. Now, in case maps don't do it for you, here's a picture.

This is from the wall, the eastern wall of Jerusalem, out overlooking that Kidron Valley. It's that valley right there where this judgment will take place. Part of the campaign of Armageddon. Here, taking a look from another viewpoint, this looks towards Jerusalem. You can see Jerusalem there in the center left. The Valley of Jehoshaphat or the Kidron Valley, just off more towards the center and then the Mount of Olives. Off to the very left hand side place we'll take a closer look at in just a minute.

That's the Valley of Hinnom in the Old Testament, Gehenna in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, it was a place of child sacrifice. It is where under pagan even the Jews would be involved in sacrificing their children. In New Testament times, it was turned into a garbage dump and the bodies of those who had been crucified would be dumped there as well.

Now, here's the verse. The first sentence, then they will go forth, ending with against me, that sentence is about the time right after the end of the tribulation period, right after this time of slaughter that we talked about, when the bodies of people who opposed the people of Israel under the Antichrist will litter the terrain. It will be like, whoa, awesome. The saved survivors, the surviving remnant, will look upon those who foolishly opposed God. and stood with the Antichrist against the people of Israel.

The second sentence, this is the part here that says, for their worm will not die, and ends with an abhorrence to all mankind. That second sentence is generally about the eternal destiny of those same people who have stood against the Lord. It is Isaiah's potent description, as we put it here, of those who have chosen hell as their eternal home. I say generally because, and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind, that will not be forever, but right after the time of the tribulation.

Okay. Daniel 12, 2 puts it this way, these will go to disgrace and everlasting contempt. And by the way, that word contempt is the same word as abhorrence in the Hebrew there in that sentence. If there's any doubt about it, the Lord Himself made it perfectly clear that this passage is about hell. Here is Isaiah 66, 24 quoted by our Lord in Mark 9, 47 and 48.

If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out, He says. And I won't exegete this, but please keep your eyes, okay? It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes be cast into hell, that's Gehenna, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

That's the word Gehenna that we pointed out and we'll point out again shortly here. Remember, here's the Valley of Hinnom, the lowest place that we have on that map here that's also on page 3 of your handout. That is hell. That's the word that translates hell. That's this place here, the Valley of Hinnom, as it was called in the Old Testament, or Gehenna in the New Testament.

They've cleaned it up pretty good. That's it today. Nonetheless, this is the place that our Lord referred to. Let's step through that last half. Look at it line by line. For their worm will not die. That sounds pretty strange. Why do you say worm? The worm won't die. That's a Hebrew way of saying that the wretched souls of those in hell will not die. They won't end. Continue to exist for all eternity, spiritually separated from God's glory and presence.

This Hebrew word for worm is an interesting one because it is elsewhere and most often translated crimson, sometimes scarlet. And why is that? It's because it's a worm that was used in its egg form for a crimson dye, a red dye. And what happens is these worms, if you see the red in color, This is the place in Isaiah 118, that your sins are as crimson, they will be white as snow.

What happens to those who don't fall upon the grace of the Lord, the sins remain with them. They're still crimson. The sins are there. The Lord has not washed that person white as snow because they haven't believed. So here's this crimson dye was made from the eggs of this crimson worm that infested the oak trees there. Their fire will not be quenched.

The connection between hell and fire is made often in scripture. It's interesting, I was talking with Nancy about it, a lot of the books that tried to write as if they were scripture, extra biblical books, pseudepigrapha some of them are called, A lot of them describe hell in great detail. Scripture does not do so. But this is one rather consistent connection, Old Testament to New Testament, all the way to the very last part of the Bible in Revelation chapter 20.

The connection continues to be made. Our Lord said that hell is a place that has already been prepared. Perfect tense, it means it's already been done, it has a completed action, it's waiting for the future time. It's prepared for Satan and his angels. In this time, there is the opportunity for people to fall upon the grace of the Lord, to call upon the grace of the Lord. upon God's gracious provision through Christ and so avoid that unquenchable fire.

Just wondering, this is one I say just wondering because I know the answer. You have family and friends whose eternal destiny is in question? I do. And it can be tough. It is neat to think back at times where the Lord has changed someone and you've seen radical changes and you know that they're saved. And sometimes it's right towards the end. My own grandmother on my dad's side who just didn't respond to the Gospel at all. She would close her mouth tight any time you brought up anything spiritual. She did become a believer three weeks of her death, and so went to be with the Lord.

I remember years ago, I met a fellow in the East Bay, San Francisco Bay Area. His name was Rick, and he had been a Hell's Angel. And he said, it's tough for me, having been a Hell's Angel, because I was seriously among them. And anyway, I met Rick, and a week later they did him in. So he went home.

And it's neat to know those stories, but then it's tough when you've got family and friends sometimes for years seem resistant to the gospel. And it can cause a lot of concern. How do we deal with that? How do you handle that? People that you see regularly, you don't see them as often, but they're on your mind and your heart. People you love and care about. How do you deal with that as a Christian?

The thought of this, which door of faith they walk through, because really it's a door of faith either way, isn't it? It's just a question of where they're putting their trust. We human beings are made so that we put our trust one way or the other, in the Lord or not.

That decision can easily weigh on us, recognizing that we have a loved one that needs to make that decision. And how exactly that's going to end up can easily be heavy on our hearts. A few perspectives I'd like to share that might be helpful here. One thing is to recognize that the conviction of heart in that person is the Lord's doing. That's the Holy Spirit's special assignment.

In my grandmother, I was kind of amazed. The family members kept telling her, myself included. The extended family members, we kept coming to her and saying, you've got a spiritual decision to make. We knew that her days were short. And we kept praying for her, and the Lord brought neighbors we didn't even know about to present the Gospel, and she responded to that.

But ultimately, While it weighed upon our hearts, it's the Lord's responsibility in a situation like that, isn't it? The Lord is the one who does the convicting, not us. So that's one thing that's important to recognize and of course continue to trust and pray for, for the Lord's work in their heart. We can indeed pray for the spirits working in their hearts and lives. That's a perfectly valid thing and it's a ministry that the Holy Spirit is to carry out. It's interesting as you examine the New Testament especially, what you see, however, is that when we see Scriptures addressing prayer and dealing with those who don't know the Lord, an interesting focus is prayer for the believers to testify.

Isn't that something? Prayer for the believers to testify. And so there's an opportunity for us. If we have people we know, we love them, but they just haven't responded. We can pray that believers would testify. And I can say with my own grandmother's situation, here we all prayed that believers would testify, and believers we didn't even know of were the ones that the Lord used. And so our prayers were answered, even though it wasn't something we had anticipated. And we can have a place in preaching by the reality of Christ in our lives. As we see in this first Peter passage in a couple of places there, the reality of Christ in our lives preaches even when words don't. And that speaks volumes. That speaks volumes. Some more things there. On one hand, we have a biblically valid concern for their present lives. Have you ever been in a situation where you see, man, these people are a mess. They need the Lord.

Sometimes it's more apparent to us than others. We have a concern for their present lives, and then we get concerned about their eternal destinies. People we love. People we care about. We care about what's happening to them now. We care about where they will spend eternity. When we get to the other side, we want them to be there, don't we? And it's valid for us to have a concern.

It is also, I think, comforting to know that the Lord loves them far greater still. It is our Lord who would pay the price willingly for their sins. On the other hand, while it is valid for us to have a concern for these people, we also have an assurance. that there's no more mourning or crying or pain in this new heavens and new earth. Those people for whom we have a burden and we hope and pray with every fiber of our being that they will come to know the Lord.

In the end, the Lord will not allow that to weigh on us for eternity. So isn't it interesting? It's a valid concern now. It's a thing for which we can trust the Lord now, but the Lord will not continue to bring that burden upon us for eternity. In ways that I can't answer now, the Lord will provide comfort and perhaps draw our focus so fully on Him that what might be an agony, a heartache for eternity, will not be. The last part, they will be in abhorrence to all mankind. Awareness of these things, and they can be unpleasant to think about, will go away.

For those saved into this millennium reign of Christ, however, on this present earth, those who survived the tribulation, it's hard to even begin to comprehend. Here they see these people who chose against the Lord. and they were slaughtered. How could they walk away from the Lord and choose this eternity? Knowing the Lord's grace, how could they possibly choose that?

All mankind at the beginning of the millennium time will be entirely all those who are saved, Jew and Gentile. So all mankind will look upon them, they will all be saved at that point. All of them, everyone. Those who populate the Millennial Kingdom, who see that pattern, that use of all mankind, including the Gentiles.

This abhorrence here is a Hebrew word that shows up in Daniel 12 too, as we pointed out before. And it's interesting, it's a word that seems reserved for those who are condemned to eternity apart from God. So why does Isaiah end his book? By writing about those in hell? Why does he do that? We've seen, of course, that it's not atypical to end the Old Testament books that way. But it was also a part of assuring Israel, the people of Israel, of God's unchanging and infinite character. What's that?

He will preserve the people. Those bodies are there because I preserved you. I am faithful to my promise to you. All of them who survive to the end of that tribulation period will be saved. The other is, He is a God of justice. Those bent on destroying His people will find justice. They will also get to maintain their choice. Separation from God forever. They didn't want God here on planet Earth. That's what they're going to continue to get. You want separation from God? You got it. You don't want to fall upon His grace? You got it.

God will show that He's been gracious and merciful to Israel, preserving people that this world was determined to wipe out. Even though they had a history of refusing and rejecting the Savior. As believers we have this, in Him we have, we have it now. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. According to the what? Riches of His grace, which He lavished on us.

You see, sins are sins. Scripture lays those out as if they were a debt. Either we pay for sins ourselves. Any volunteers? You want to pay for your sins yourself? Or we allow, by faith, Christ's payment for them. It's that simple. My payment or Christ's payment? It's a pay-here deal. Who's going to pay? Is it already paid? Are you going to call upon Christ's payment? What a difference, huh? What a difference. Ephesians 1, 7 and 8.

In Him we have the redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. Not skimpy grace. Not wimpy grace. Not just barely enough. Rich is a wealth of grace. This world measures wealth in its own way, of course. That's how God measures wealth. A wealth of grace for you and me.

Ephesians 2, 4-7 God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, for by grace you've been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come, and we just read about one of them, in the ages to come and come and come and come and come, He might show, and that word means to demonstrate so that we see it, He might show the surpassing riches, unfathomable wealth of grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

You're ready for eternal kindness? You're ready for surpassing riches? Ready to have it demonstrated? That's exactly what God has in mind. Let's pray. Lord, as we look on this passage here, there's certainly immensity in it, things that could easily weigh on our heart, and yet in the end, your character, your faithfulness, your love is what comes through. We thank you for that and praise you. In Jesus' name, Amen.