The remaking of the world
I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory. I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyan and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations. They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord. They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord. “And I will appoint some of them to be my priests and Levites. I, the Lord, have spoken! Isaiah 66:14-16 NLT
Isaiah has been highlighting from his book the difference it makes when one understands the need to surrender one’s life to God rather than to trust one’s own abilities to obtain salvation. The one surrendered to God will offer true worship and the other who trusted self for salvation will engage in false worship. God will come in a theophany in grandiose display of His majesty and power to reveal to all His magnificent glory. When this happens, those that rejected His offer of salvation will receive judgment and destruction but those that surrendered their lives to Him will experience His glory. This is what Isaiah was declaring from the text. “I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory.” Faithful followers who proclaimed the message of salvation will see the fruit of their labor when all those who responded to the gospel from every tongue and nation will be gathered together to see the coming of the Lord. God will provide every opportunity for people to hear the message of salvation and when all the places in the world has been reached by the proclamation of the gospel, then the end will come. “And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). Those of us who placed our trust in Him should take part in declaring the wondrous work of God reconciling people back to God. “‘...all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him...And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). Isaiah reminded the people before and this is also God’s reminder to us: “Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6).
Blessings,
