CHAPTER LXVI.

THE FATHER’S HOUSE.

THE book of Isaiah concludes with a revelation concerning the temple of God, in relation to Isaiah’s time and to the the distant future of Messiah’s reign.

Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye buildunto me ? and where is the place of my rest ? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord (and so all these things came to be. R.V.) : but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word ” (Isa. lxvi. 1, 2).

Three things are before us in this brief but pregnant proclama-tion : God’s throne, the house that Israel built unto God, andGod’s “ house of many mansions ” that shall hereafter be revealed. The truth alone enables us rightly to discern them.

Heaven is God’s throne. It is the doctrine of Jesus, in harmony with that of the prophets in the Old Testament, that the Father dwells in heaven in light and glory unapproachable. “ Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place ” was Solomon’s prayer, and “ Our Father which art in heaven ” was the form of prayer given to the disciples by the Greater than Solomon. Many times in Israel’s history God had given proof of his possessorship of heaven and earth. He had controlled the powers of nature in the plagues of Egypt and upon other occasions, so that no reasonable doubt could be left. Heaven as “ God’s throne ” was, and is, inaccessible to man, as Jesus himself declared, “ No man hath ascended up to heaven.” And Peter afterwards said of David : “David is not ascended into the heavens.”

The Lord Jesus himself was afterwards the sole exception to the rule, as it had been

ISA. LXVI.] THE FATHER S HOUSE. 749

declared beforehand by the spirit in David: “ Yahweh saithunto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand unt i l I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Psa. cx.). This, as Peter testified, was fulfilled in the ascension of Jesus (Acts ii. 32-36). And Stephen afterwards, quoting the sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah (Acts vii. 49), had a vision of “ the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.” Afterwards, in Rev. iii. 21, the Lord Jesus from the throne of the Majesty on high, dictated this message to the church in Laodicea :“ To him that over-cometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” The throne of the Father is in heaven ; but the throne of the Lord Jesus is upon earth, for the Lord God hath given him the throne of his father David, and he is about to return to take possession.

At first sight it seems strange to find the' man of poor and contrite spirit, and who trembles at God’s word, placed in the same category as God’s throne, and the house that Israel built. But when we are sufficiently enlightened by the Word, we perceive the true relation. Both the movable tabernacle of Moses in the wilderness, and the immovable temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, were more than mere places of worship of the Father, either movable or fixed. As Stephen says, “ the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” These structures represented the dwelling-place of the Father in A MAN, who, in the language of inspiration, is called “ the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man ” (Heb. viii 2) ; and who said of his mortal body : “ Destroy th is temple, and in three days I will raise it up ” (John ii. 9).

CHRIST is the substance represented by the “ temples made with hands,” whether the tabernacle, or the temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel, Herod, or of Ezekiel’s visions. “ God was in Chr ist reconci l ing the world unto himsel f ." Much more gloriously will God be in Christ when the world is reconciled unto himself. It will be an immortal manifestation, not only in the Lord Jesus individually, but in a multitude of his brethren made “ like him.” This is “ the Father’s house of many mansions,” or abiding-

places, of which he spoke in promise to his disciples (John xiv.), and concerning which he said that he went away to prepare for them places therein, that he might come again and receive them unto himself in his everlasting inheritance.

All this is present beneath the surface in the opening of Isaiah lxvi., as becomes more obvious as we read on.

Then, after the allusion to the worship the Father seeks, “ in spirit and in truth,” follows another denunciation of the offensiveness of the sacrifice of those who chose their own ways. The language of verse 3 is almost exactly like that of ch. i. 11-15, which the higher critics assign to a different “ author.” Of course, the “ author ” is God in both cases—“ the word of the Lord ”—“ thus saith the Lord; ” and there is no real reason for supposing another prophet than Isaiah, especially in view of the sayings of Christ and the apostles, as has already been pointed out.

As an example of the uncertainty attaching to the critical views, the following remarks may be cited :—“ It is not easy to assign a satisfactory date to chapter lxvi. or to summarise it in a few sentences. If composed after the Return its statements would have been too glaringly opposed to what men’s eyes then beheld. It appears to us Isaianic, though probably ‘ worked over ’ by a later hand. It describes the glories of the Return, and the exclusion of the sinners from the congregation of the holy. The destruction of these ungodly is represented as taking place on earth. But the visions, though connected with the real, are concerned with matters beyond those of earth. Both in describing blessings and judgments there is no fixed line of demarcation between the things seen and those not seen.”

From this paragraph alone it is evident that the word is not, to the writer, “ a light that shineth in a dark place,” by which he can walk with sure and certain step.

It is otherwise with those who know the truth. It is not difficult to summarise the chapter in a few sentences, as is shown above. The “ satisfactory date ” is the opening of Manasseh’s reign, for he reinstated the idolatry which Hezekiah had excised, and even “set a graven image of the grove, asherah (idol, sent el , in 2

ISA. LXVI.] THE FATHER’S HOUSE. 751

Chron. xxxiii. 7), that he had made, in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever ” (2 Kings xxi. 7). The allusions of Isaiah lxvi. 3, 17 seem to connect naturally with this. As to the “ working over ” by later hands: it was not the custom ofthe Jews to treat the prophetic writings thus. As to “ the Return ” :

there are more Returns than one, and no onehaving the true “ hope of Israel ” could confound the return under Ezra and Nehemiah, with “ the regeneration ” and restitution of all things ’’ to come under Christ, and of which Isaiah, by the spirit, speaks so often and so eloquently. The visions concern the blessedness of the Millennial reign of Christ over all the earth. The line of demarcation between things seen and those not seen is quite easily drawn, as we shall see. Christ is the key, and the gospel of the kingdom which he preached. But where this “ key of knowledge ” has been taken away, what can men do ? They can only stand without in a quandary—-some wistfully, some defiantly, but all ignorantly.

Hezekiah had brought Israel back to God’s way, but now again they “ chose their own ways, and their soul delighted in their abominations.” Therefore, said God, “ I also will choose their delusions.” So God “ gave them over to a reprobate mind, “ because,” He said, “ when I called, none did answer ; when I spake they did not hear : but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.”

Those who know the apostolic writings and the history of Christianity, are well aware that this was not merely a rebuke applicable to that generation, but that it was at the same time the enunciation of a great principle that should find its application in every generation down to the present time and beyond. Paul forewarned the Thessalonians of the “ strong delusion ” that God would send upon disobedient professors “ who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness ” (2 Thess. ii. 12). Jew and Gentile have alike fallen into this condemnation. The Jews crucified Christ and have ever since wandered in darkness. And Christendom has crucified to itself the Son of God afresh,

and put him to an open shame. “ Strong delusion ” is the characteristic of the religious world to this day, and if we are to be saved from it it must be by choosing and holding fast the things in which God delights. The worship of the Father in spirit and in truth consists in the belief of His promises and the obedience to His commandments. Anything less than this must end in “ strong delusion,” and ultimately in death.

We can well understand how in Isaiah’s time the prophet and his brethren would be hated and excommunicated for God’s sake. What part or lot could they have in such idolatry as Manasseh reinstated ? How could they look upon the desecrated temple and take part in the profane worship ? They could not and would not, but protested against it with all their might, especially Isaiah by the spirit of God ; and according to tradition, apparently supported in Heb. xi. 37, the prophet was “ sawn asunder in the early part of Manasseh’s reign.

Under these circumstances we can appreciate the comfort of the divine message of verses 5-9 concerning the appearance of God to their joy, and the shame of their enemies who hated and excommunicated and even slew them : for " Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he filled Jerusalem from one end to another.”

The time of the Lord’s appearing and of the “ voice of noise from the city, even a voice from the temple,” is indicated enig-matically, and is quite hidden from “ the wise and prudent,” who declare that “ there is no fixed line of demarcation between the things seen and those not seen.” They should say, We can see no fixed line ; ” but, of course, this would be an admission of possible blindness. And when it comes to a question between the infallibility of the prophet and that of the critics, we must expect their decision to be adverse to the prophet.

Paul indicates the “ fixed line of demarcation ” that is drawn inIsaiah lxvi. 7-8. The word of God said : “ Before she

travailed she brought forth; before herpain came she wasdelivered of a man-child. Who hath heard such a thing ? Who hath seen such things ? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day ? or shall a nation be born at once? For as soonas Zion travailed she brought forth her children.” Zion’s " man-

child ” is Christ ; and her “ children ” brought from the earth are “ the children of the resurrection.” And Paul draws “ the line of demarcation ” thus :—“ In Christ shall all be made alive ; but every man in his own order : Christ the first-fruits ; afterwards theythat are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father ” (1 Cor. xv. 22-24).

History has revealed the time of the birth of the “ man- child.” Now, nearly nineteen hundred years after, we are close upon the birth of “ the nation in a day ” ; and a thousand years from that (Rev. xx. 4), will come “ the end.” This is the “ demarcation ” plainly written in the word of God.

“ It is as little possible,” says Graetz, truly, in his History of the Jews, “ for an historical event to be evolved, as for a natural birth to occur, without labour. For a new historical phenomenon to struggle into existence, the comfortable aspect of things must be destroyed, indolent repose in cherished custom disturbed, and the power of habit broken. This inexorable upsetting of existing things, although at first painful, is eventually favourable to them, provided the new creatures are healthy and possessed of vitality ; for thereby all vagueness is dissipated, all semblances destroyed, and the dim unseen reality brought more clearly to light.”

It was " before " such an " inexorable upsetting of existing things ” that Zion’s man-child was to be bom. And so it came to pass. Christ was born in Bethlehem (Mic. v. 2, 3; Matt, ii. 1-16) about seventy years before the destruction of the Jewish State by the Romans and the passing away in blood of the old order under the Mosaic economy. And he was “ born of the spirit ” in resurrection and immortalization in Jerusalem about forty years before the same event. Then, at his resurrection and ascension, Paul says there was completely fulfilled the Psalm which says, “ Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee ” (Acts xiii. 33 ; Psa. ii.).

But then, as during his mortal lifetime, he made no " noise in the city ” ; nor was there any “ voice from the temple,” the " voice

of the Lord rendering recompence to his enemies.” Before that “ day of recompence ” another “ man-child ” had to be born-—the man-child not of Zion, but of Rome. And he was afterwards to develop into a Power called, by Paul, " that Man of Sin, and Son of Perdition ” (2 Thess. ii. 3).

About the end of the first century A.D., Zion’s “ man-child ” spoke in symbolic prophecy, revealed by his angel to his apostle John in Patmos, concerning this rival Power (Rev. xii.). Those who know the Apocalypse and the true historical unfolding of the visions (see Eureka, by Dr. Thomas) are aware that the individual progenitor of this dynasty was the Emperor CONSTANTINE, who, in the third century, became the champion of a thoroughly paganised “ Christianity,” as Manasseh, in Isaiah’s day, was the champion of the corrupted way of God, which He rebuked by the prophet. Out of this imperial dynasty there at length arose the Papal dynasty that still survives in its decrepitude as " that Wicked ” (the Lawless One), “ whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.”

The Pope is a rival Man in a rival temple, where he is worshipped as a god, and where he presides over a perverted system of iniquity. He has hated and excommunicated and slain the brethren of the prophets for ages, after the example of Manasseh of old. And they could only comfort themselves, like Isaiah before them, with the promise of divine intervention on their behalf, that is here and elsewhere on record. Christ himself was “ faithful unto death,” and it belongs to him to give “ the crown of life ” to those who suffer for his name’s sake (Rev. ii. 10).

Even in the days of his flesh, and before he was revealed as the Son of God with power by resurrection and change into the divine nature, he declared himself to be “ the resurrection and the life,” and gave proof of the validity of his claim in the raising of Larazus. And when he was himself raised and glorified God gaveassurance to all men ” that he was the Life-giver of His appointment. Hence we look with confidence for the birth of the nation in a day.

ISA. LXVI.] THE FATHER’S HOUSE. 755

It is Jerusalem the exalted, hereafter to be revealed, that is the subject of the prophecy, when it says, “ Rejoice ye with Jerusalem all ye that love her ; rejoice for joy with her all ye that mourn for her.” This we have already seen from ch. liv. interpreted by Paul in Gal. iv. 26. She is “ the mother of us all, says the apostle, that is, of the true “ children of promise ” who alone are counted for the seed. The rival city, Rome, is a mother also, and has her children (Rev. xvii.), whose rejoicing terminates where the other begins. When this rival city is destroyed with her children, there is great rejoicing among the “ children of promise,” as it is written : “ Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets ; for God hath avenged you on her ” (Rev. xviii. 20).

Roman Babylon has made Christendom drunk with her doctrine just as ancient Babylon made the nations mad of old (Jer. li. 7), so that even some of the kings of Judah were transformed into bloodthirsty maniacs. But the day seen afar off by Isaiah and the prophets draws on, and great will be the sobering the world will get.

The nature of the salvation that the “ holy apostles and prophets ” and all their brethren will enjoy is here alluded to in these words : "And when ye see this your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb ” (v. 14). This is too much for Babylon, ancient or modern. They have no faith in so tangible a salvation, but go mumbling on in their cups about “ shades," and " immortal souls,” and “ hades,” and “ paradise ” of their inventions. But against all this there stands the example of the Lord Jesus himself, whose heart rejoiced in the day of resurrection, and whose bones flourished like an herb, and who said to his astonished disciples : “ Why are ye troubled ? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts ? Behold my hands and my feet that it is I MYSELF : handle me and see ; for a spirit hath not flesh and hones as ye see me have ” (Luke xxiv. 39).

When the children of the resurrection are made “ like him,” then judgment will be given to these “ saints of the most high," and they will “ execute the judgments written ; ” for “ this honour have al l h is saints ” (Psa. cxlix. 9). By these fiery judgments the

apostasy will at length be destroyed out of the earth, " For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many.”

They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens behind one (tree) in the midst, eating swines’ flesh and the abomination and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord. For I know their works and their thoughts : it shall come and I will gather all nations and tongues ; and they shall come and see my glory ” (v. 17, 18).

The allusion is to the current idolatry copied from the nations. The R.V. margin says “ One tree or Asherah, see Deut. xvi. 21.” The commandment in this passage runs as follows : “ Thou shalt not plant thee an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set thee up a pillar (marg. obel isk ) ; which the Lord thy God hateth.” In the preface the R.V. explains that " The Hebrew word Asherah, which is uniformly and wrongly rendered ' grove ’ in the Authorised Version, most probably denotes the wooden symbol of a goddess. Thus we understand how Gideon cut down the “ grove ” by night (Judges vi. 27) ; and how Manasseh transgressed as before stated.

The fashions change, but the principle remains. The Lord Jesus, who takes up the divine proclamation, “ I know thy works,” in each of the epistles to the seven churches in Asia (Rev. ii., iii.), rebukes in Pergamos and Thyatira the “ doctrine of Balaam ” and that of “ Jezebel,” i .e . , the idolatry and abomination that was the perpetuation of these ancient principles and practices. The modem equivalents of the ancient “ groves ” and “ pillars ” are crucifixes and crosses, and pictures of the Madonna, who is Christendom s goddess or “ Queen of Heaven.” It is on record beforehand that the crimes of the Roman apostasy “ reach unto heaven ; and that in “ Great Babylon ” “ was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth (Rev. xviii.). And every student of history is well aware that there never could have been in Israel or elsewhere in human form, greater devils than were some of the Popes of Rome. If there be a little more liberty in the earth now, it

is because the time is up for the most effective “ practice ” of the Power. The Temporal Power fell in 1870, since which time there has been a little breathing space. But the principles remain, and although a wave of anticlericalism is sweeping over Europe, Satan cannot cast out Satan, and it remains for the Lord to do it as he has promised he will.

Isaiah does not here detail the incidents of the struggle. He passes over that in general terms, and speaks of God s message from Zion by the hands of a remnant that escapes :“ I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations to Tarshish, Pul and Lud that draw the bow, to Tubal (LXX., and Mosoch and to Thobel), and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.”

Dr. Thomas treats the phrase “ that draw the bow ” as a metaphor, equivalent to “ that sound the truth,” or sounders of the truth,” after the examples of 2 Sam. i. 18 ; Psa. lxiv. 3 ; Jer. ix. 3 ; Hab. iii. 9 ; Rev. vi. 2—Eureka, vol. ii., p. 130. It may be so. Or, if the Septuagint be right, the original text must have been somewhat different, and Moschi should be a proper name, Meshech, which is one of the nations mentioned in Ezek. xxxviii., xxxix. In any case the meaning is clear, only in the latter the geographical area seems to be more extended, even unto the remote dominions of the King of the North. But however we may construe it, it is certain, as is here revealed in another verse (18), that all nations shall come and see God’s glory.”

And they then do what they would not dream of doing at present, namely, bring the scattered Jews, the national “ brethren ” of the prophets, out of all nations by many routes and various means, to God’s holy mountain Jerusalem, “ for an offering to the Lord.” This is what Isaiah had already described in ch. xviii. as “ a present to the Lord of Hosts ” in the morning of Messiahs day. This is the end of the present Zionist movement. The Jews themselves do not and cannot bring it about. They can only providentially pave the way for divine interference, as in the days

of the exodus. They are frightened of offending the nations ; but God is not. If only they could see what the prophets saw! But they will not till they see the Lord with his wounded hands and feet (Zech. xiii. 6). Then they will mourn and repent.

“ And I will also take of them for priests, for Levites, saith the Lord. For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.” This “also" implies another class of priests and Levites who have already been spoken of in chapter lxi. They are the saints who, in the day of Christ, are made “ kings and priests ” with him (Rev. v. 10). They " reign with him a thousand years ” in immortal honour and glory. Under them is the mortal order of priesthood more particularly defined in Ezekiel xliv. They are the representatives of the class that ministered unto the house of Israel before their idols (v. 12). Therefore they are degraded from the highest service of the temple in the day of Christ. They " bear their shame ” in that they are not permitted to “ come near ” to God “ in the most holy.” They minister unto the people. Like the people, they marry and die. “ But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok,” who were faithful in ages past when Israel went astray, and in the day of Christ, are like him “ clothed with salvation ” —-these come near unto God to minister (Ezek. xliv. 15, 16). Thus in the order of the temple service there is memorialised in a striking way the faithfulness of those who “ endured unto the end ” in obedience like their Lord in times of great apostasy ; and the unfaithfulness of those who took the broad way to destruction, and who, having been “ turned into sheol ” (many of them perhaps a second time), leave behind them only this memorial in their surviving representatives of later generations.

And so all flesh comes to worship before the Lord. “ And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me : for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” A visible Gehenna tempers the goodness of God with the severity necessary, as all experience shows, to uphold the lesson

of His divine supremacy. The Lord Jesus refers to this in the much misunderstood language of Mark ix. 43-50. His doctrine is that any cause of stumbling should be removed—hand, or foot, or eye—so that one might enter into life rather than “ into Gehenna fire where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” The fire takes hold of “ carcases,” not “ immortal souls,” and the alternatives are life and death (ye. , the second death). It is not a contrast between the life of an immortal soul in the bliss of heaven and that of an immortal soul in the eternal agonies of the traditional “ hell.” In the Apocalypse, where the Lord again reproduces the figure, he says that all transgressors “ shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death ” (Rev. xxi. 8). There is a pre-millennial " lake of fire,” and a post millennial, but the principle is the same. And there is a special “ judgment of Gehenna,” indicated in Isaiah’s prophecy, of which perhaps the case of Achan may be taken as an illustration, as well as those of Nadab and Abihu, and Ananias and Sapphira. It will be terrible enough. All the judgments enumerated struck terror into the survivors ; and so it will be again ; but the aim is beneficent. God delights not in the death of the wicked. He declares He has no pleasure at all in the death of him that dieth (Ezek. xviii. 23, 32), much less in their supposed eternal tormentation. And the severity illustrated in the object lesson of the fallen carcases of the transgressors has only correction and life as its object. It is really what earth is crying for without knowing it. “ When thy judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”

ISA. LXVI.] THE FATHER S HOUSE. 759