Isa. 66 God is served with the Spirit, and not by ceremonies, Isa. 66:1–4, the wonderful birth and benefits of the gospel church, Isa. 66:5–14. Severe judgments against the wicked, Isa. 66:15–18. The Gentiles shall be a holy church, Isa. 66:19–23. The eternal punishment of the wicked, Isa. 66:24.

The heaven is my throne; the heaven, that is, the highest heavens, are the place where I most manifest my power and glory, and show myself in my majesty. Ps. 11:4, Ps. 103:19, Matt. 5:34. Hence we are taught to pray, Our Father which art in heaven.

For all those things hath my hand made; the heavens and the earth are the work of my hands, Gen. 1:1, John 1:3. (Some expound it of the temple and the sacrifices.) All those things have been; they were not only made by God, but subsisted and were kept in being by him.

Solomon, Prov. 15:8, gives us a short but full commentary on the whole verse, The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. He that killeth an ox, that is, for sacrifice, as it is expounded by the next words, he that sacrificeth a lamb.

They had made their choice, they chose not the ways of God, but their own ways, that which God delighted not in, as in the latter part of this verse; therefore (saith God) I will also choose their delusions, or illusions, or devices.

The prophet turneth his discourse from denouncing judgment against the idolaters and formalists amongst the Jews to such as feared God, whose religion is described by a trembling at his word, as Isa. 66:2; such a turning of the prophet’s discourse was Isa. 1:10, Isa. 51:1, Isa. 51:7.

A voice of noise from the city; the expression of a prophetical ecstasy, as much as, Methinks I already hear a voice of noise, rather a sad and affrighting noise, than the noise of triumphers (as some think); yea, it comes not from the city only, but from the temple, wherein these formalists have…

The whole verse is expressive of a great and sudden salvation, which God would work for his church, like the delivery of a woman, and that of a man child, before her travail, and without pain.

The prophet calls either to the whole world, or to such as feared God amongst the Jews, to admire God in his stupendous works of providence, either in the easy manner of the deliverance of the Jews out of the captivity of Babylon, without any pain, without so much as one throe; or else in the…

The work before spoken of seemeth not after the manner of men, who do things that are great gradually, nor in an ordinary course of nature, whose motions also bring things by degrees to their perfection; but you must consider who it is that speaketh, saith the Lord; now as is the God, so is his…

There is nothing more ordinary amongst men, than for friends and neighbours to meet together with their friends recovered from affliction, or brought into a better state, to rejoice with them, especially such friends as in their afflictions have mourned with them.

Jerusalem is here set out as the mother of us all, as indeed she was; for out of Zion went forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, Isa. 2:3. Christ was of the seed of Abraham, he was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and is called, Rom.

That this promise respects the times of the Messias seems plain, not only from the consideration that no history giveth us any account of any great or long peace or prosperity the Jews had before that time, nor indeed then, if we understand it not of a spiritual gospel peace, which Christ preached…

That is, in the most tender and compassionating way imaginable; the husband doth not comfort his wife with that tenderness and those bowels that the mother comforteth the child after it hath received some fall or mischief.

The peace and tranquillity of the church, and the propagation of the kingdom of Christ, is always the cause of a heart-rejoicing to such as fear God, Ps.

Here the prophet comes more particularly to expound what indignation should be showed towards his enemies. The Lord will come with fire; that is, with terrible judgments, nothing being more terrible and wasting than fire; or with fire in a proper sense, understanding it of the fire with which…

This kind of rebuking is also called a pleading with them; so he threatens to plead against Gog with pestilence and blood, Ezek. 38:22. God at first pleads with sinners by words; but if he cannot so prevail, he will plead with them in a way by which he will overcome by fire, pestilence, and blood.

That the Jews might not think that the judgments threatened concerned only the heathen, he tells them they concerned them, the idol worshippers amongst them; and not idolaters only, but such as broke his laws about meats, which he had prohibited them to eat.

The Hebrew is thus word for word. And I their works, and their thoughts, coming together all nations and languages, and they shall come and see my glory. So that it is necessary for interpreters to supply some words to make out the sense.

It is on all hands agreed that this verse is a prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles. I will set a sign: by sign here some understand an ensign, as the word signifies, Ps. 74:4, which is a military sign to gather people together; by this may be understood Christ, Luke 2:34, Isa. 11:10.

Those who are the children of Abraham (not considered as the father of the Jewish nation only, but considered as the father of many nations, and as the father of the faithful, or who are the children of God, being believers, and receiving Christ, and so are your brethren, how contemptible soever…

Lest the Jews, being assured that the tribe of Levi, which God anciently chose to minister before him, was among them, should say, Alas, if the Gentiles should be brought in, where would they have priests or Levites? God here by his prophet tells them he would provide priests, he would take of…

This whole verse is only a promise of the perpetuity of the gospel church, and the not failing of the additions to it of such as shall be saved till the world shall have an end. The new heavens and the new earth; the new state of the church to be raised up under the Messias.

In the gospel church there shall be as constant and settled a course of worship (though of another nature) as ever was in the Jewish church. Christians are not bound to keep the Jewish sabbath or new moons, Gal. 4:10–11, Col.

Either the Gentiles, or the sincerer part of the Jews, shall go forth from their places, or from Jerusalem, or go out of their graves, at the last day, and look upon the vengeance I have taken upon these vile idolaters and formalists, for their satisfaction, Ps.