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It's always an amazing thing to me the preparation that is done through the Holy Spirit in the sermon this morning, as I hope you'll see as we get into this, in the last song, just all of it, and the amazing pertinence and relevance to what we're going to speak on.

Isaiah chapter 66, and I'm going to start right off with a confession that your bulletins and what I told them to put into that bulletin is an absolute lie. Because we will not be reading Isaiah 66, 17 through 24. We will start in 15 instead. Because, and we will read through 24, but the primary focus will be more or less in the middle, in verse 18 and 19.

But read with me, Isaiah chapter 66, starting in verse 15 through the end of the chapter. 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. For by fire and by his sword, the Lord will judge all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many.

Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens after an idol in the midst of eating swine's flesh and the abomination in the mouse shall be consumed. Together, says the Lord. For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come to see my glory.

And I will set a sign among them, and those among them who escape, I will send to the nations, to Tarshus, to Pul, to Lud, and to those who draw the bow, and to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off, who have not heard of my fame nor seen my glory.

And they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, on mules, and on camels, to my holy mountain, Jerusalem, says the Lord. As the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.

And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites, says the Lord. For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord.

And they shall go and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against me, for their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. Flesh. So there's an obvious reason. I went here. So you'll recall last Sunday, Pastor Tom started us out in the beginning of the book of Isaiah.

He continued over the week in Route 66 to expound on all the beginnings of Isaiah, and then I finished up the book. And now I'm giving to you the last few thoughts as I understand them from the book. And to remind you of some of the context that he already gave you to read from the material that we used, God will punish the wicked, but will remain faithful to his covenant.

And I'll add in here, which is particular to the Jewish people, but now includes us. For those of you who want to see quite an amazing thing particular to us as Gentiles, read chapter 49 and 56. By preserving a godly remnant and promising salvation through Christ. If I could use my own words to summarize the book of Isaiah the best I know how, it is an extended commentary on Deuteronomy, specifically Deuteronomy chapter 30.

And I missed my cue there. I was going to have a young adult mention that because I've been harping on this particular chapter. Chapter 30 of Deuteronomy, which is The culmination of the section on curses and blessings. If you obey me, if you obey my law, in Deuteronomy it says, then you will be blessed.

If, however, you fail to keep my commandments, you will be cursed. And then in Deuteronomy 30, having experienced these curses and these blessings, he's going to bring them back, give them a new heart, and will give them the blessings. A beautiful chapter, largely experienced and seen through the book of Isaiah in great detail, both in the curses and in the blessings.

I will note here that sin against God brings a curse, no matter who you are. This applies to us in this room right now. No, we are not living by the Mosaic law, but yes, we can and will experience the curse if we reject God. Read Romans 1 through 2.

The Gentiles have sinned, and the Jews have sinned. Everyone has sinned, and because of that, ultimately later you see death to all mankind. A curse brought on by a broken law, humanity is insistent on breaking, a curse we brought on ourselves, separation from God. But those who enjoy The justification, who are made right, they enjoy blessings.

And what blessings will be enjoyed is in large part the topic of tonight, although both the curse and the blessing is in mind. I will point out further that the entirety of this section, in my opinion, is future, the future coming of the judgment of God. I'll point you to the first part, and this is why I included it in verse 15 and 16.

The Lord will come, and he will render his anger. And who will he render his anger against? All flesh, verse 16, he will judge all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many. This is a coming judgment. I think it is tied with the day of the Lord and the judgments which myself and the Yags have been and will continue studying.

Verse 18, however, takes all this into mind, and this is where I really want to start focusing in. Verse 18 and 19. 17, we're talking about people who are serving idols. We are speaking of people who are being judged, all flesh. I think this is not particular to one people group.

All flesh who are sanctifying themselves to idols. I know their Works, verse 18, and their thoughts, these people, with these in mind who are about to be judged for what they have done. I know their thoughts and their works. He's speaking of the lost. He's speaking of those under the curse.

He is speaking of those who have done wrong. But note that it's not just those who have done wrong. It's not just those who have done bad things. See, you and I, the only thing we have to judge on is works. Go back and look, even inside the church.

How are we to judge one another? How are we to hold each other up? What are we to look for in one another? Our fruit. That's the only thing, as a human being, you or I can go on. It is not perfect, but it is what we have.

I cannot read your mind. You cannot read mine. But God is altogether different. He knows their works. He also knows their thoughts, or judges their thoughts. He is not mistaken. He doesn't get anything wrong. He doesn't misconstrue or misunderstand what they have done. He knows exactly why they have done what they have done and who they really are, such as the God we serve.

And knowing their thoughts, knowing who they are and what they have done. Next, he will gather them together, all of them, all the nations and all the tongues. And here, you see the beginning of something interesting, fascinating to me. It takes us all the way back to Genesis chapter 11 and the Tower of Babel.

In the Tower of Babel, you had mankind scattered, and that's the word most typically used. They were thrown out, they were cast out across the globe by their tongues that were divided, that were mixed, they were given different languages. Here, however, while we have been seeking for all of our existence as a race, as a people, to unite, to try to overcome that idea of utopia, of peace, Babel itself being the ultimate example of our ambitions, God will accomplish it instantly.

We have been seeking for millennia to unite. We have a like cause, and yet notice in our reading, as Pastor Tom has gone over, they have a similar way of thinking, and yet, even in the end, if you'll recall in Revelation, Babylon and the beast, what happens? They turn on one another.

They cannot accomplish. A gathering together. God is going to get everyone's attention immediately. God will undo what he instituted in the first place. He will dismantle what he put in place. Except this time it will not be mankind bringing themselves together in opposition. It will be God Himself bringing us together.

God will bring us together, and He will do so in a way that encompasses all families. That word nation, if you look it up, in the Hebrews, it can be also peoples, but even in English, the word nations is a group of people. That's what the word means.

And if you go back to Genesis 10:20, you see this idea of nations and tongues again. This is not, as some scholars would say, something unique to later books and post-exilic writers. This is something throughout Scripture. Families. We are not races of individual evolutionary products, different completely different, unassociated scientific byproducts.

We are, in fact, family, different branches of families, people, who are given different tongues, but nonetheless came from the same family tree that was divided up. And we have this example of all the nations that came from these families, and they will again be brought back together. He will undo the hubris that mankind brought upon themselves at Babel, and he will also regather those who were split up by family, and it will include all.

Finally, I will point out to you in this gathering of the nations and tongues, this is battle language. This is not just peaceful, interesting language. This has undertones. If you look at Ezekiel 16:37, Zechariah 14, 2 and following, and Joel 3:2. Joel 3:2, I will read to you, I will also gather all nations and enter judgment with them.

Remember, in our text, verse 15 and 16, he's bringing them together, but he is bringing them for the purpose of this judgment. This is not going to be a happy family reunion. This is going to be a family reunion full of heartache. This is going to be a hard time.

And then we get to what I really want to focus on: the next phrase. At the end of verse 18, he's gathered all these people who have rebelled against him. He has pulled them back in. He has left no one out. And they shall come and see my glory.

First of all, they shall. Let there be no misconstruing or doubt on what he is saying here. He is not saying, I am offering, I am once again extending the gospel, they have a chance to come see my glory. He is not saying, I'm here, you know, come to me if you want.

No, he is gathering them, and they will come, and they will see. In fact, the way it is written, although it would be hard to, it wouldn't quite flow in English, they came and they saw, if translated woodenly, it is a completed action. It is so sure, it's as if it has already happened.

Mostly translated as shall, they shall come and they shall see. It is certain I have declared it. That is what is being said here. I'm going to gather everyone from everywhere, no matter who they are and no matter who they worship, and they will see me. And they will see what?

They will see my glory. What is glory? And I've talked about this also with our young adults a good bit. And this is an endless talk. This is, in fact, I would argue, the point of every sermon, bar none. The point of every gospel message, bar none. This is what we do.

We share the glory of God. So we had better know what it is we are sharing. The heavens declare the glory of God. Man's purpose is to glorify God. Everything is about the glory of God. And those who have refused will one day be face to face with reality, to God Himself.

And they will see the glory of God. Something very few have seen up to now. The big example I'd point out, Moses, if you remember, he was shown the glory of God. But it was such an incredible thing, he had to be put into a rock and then covered by the Lord as the glory passed by.

The glory of God throughout the Old Testament, up into the second temple, was in the Holy of Holies, protected by a veil. The glory of God is an awesome thing. It is not something to be taken for granted. It is the manifestation of who God is. And they're going to see his glory.

I'd like to read for you Ezekiel 38, 22 and 23. With pestilence and bloodshed, I will enter into judgment with him, referring to Gog. And I will rain upon him and his hordes, and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire, and sulfur. So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations.

And they will know that I am the Lord. I am Yahweh. This is what the glory of God is. It is to know the Lord. It is He Himself. The glory is who God is. You do not have glory without God or God without glory. He will be there in person.

He will be there in all of his splendor. So you have these people, all the people. They're coming before the Lord. They are brought together out of their idolatry, and they are faced with his glory. And what do you think happens? Verse 19. I will set a sign among them.

We'll stop there for a second. Good bit of debate over what this sign is. I have my own opinion here. I'll give that in just a second, but let me point out first of all: no matter who is right on this interpretation, what is the purpose of a sign?

It is to give a message. A sign declares something. A sign is saying something and communicating an idea. If nothing else, he is going to set something which communicates to them. He is showing his glory and communicating. I will venture further, however. Isaiah chapter 7 speaks of this sign.

Talking to Ahaz, the Lord says, ask for any sign whatever. You can ask for any sign you want. And Ahaz is playing coy. If you've read the kings and the narratives, he's not a very good king and refuses to ask for signs. So the Lord says, Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. You see, almost every sign throughout the Old Testament is pointing towards Jesus and the work of Jesus. And Jesus Himself is ultimately the sign. He is a sign. Jesus. Christ himself is a sign.

If you look in Mark chapter 1, verses 14 and 15, what did he come to do? To declare the gospel and the coming of the kingdom, to declare that they are to be believing and be repenting. He is giving a message, he is communicating, just as a sign does.

All these signs are pointing to what the Lord accomplishes through Christ, and Christ himself is a sign pointing to what can be done through his sacrifice. This sign is going to come, and this is the glory of God seen among the people, as it was once. I used to know an individual.

I've talked about him before. He would challenge me. He really got a kick out of blaspheming. And he would go on some tirade right in front of me, cursing out the Lord, and say, and nope, I didn't get struck. There is no God. And we've been going through 2 Peter, and it talks about these scoffers and those who will act this way.

But we already had a sign, the ultimate sign, God Himself. And he was not believed. The Jews asked for a sign. And the funny thing is, they would ask Jesus to his face for a sign when he was the ultimate sign, the Son. Of God, just as the vine dresser would send his son, and what did they do?

They killed the son, they killed Jesus, they rejected the sign, they rejected the message. Just as those here, these idolaters gathered, will come, they will see, they will reject, which makes a lot of sense of the next phrase in verse 19. And those among them who escape. If you just read that, and you're just reading along, what do you mean?

He sets a sign, and those among them who escape, what kind of sign? They have to escape the sign? Well, yes, because remember 15 and 16. God is coming to judge, and he will judge. He has set his sign among them in person. Zechariah 8:2, I will return to Zion, I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, 14:4, and that day his feet, Yahweh's feet, will stand on the Mount of Olives.

And those who escape. That same section, Zechariah 14, verse 16, and it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem. Does that sound like it might fit? Does that sound slightly familiar? It shall come to pass that everyone who is Left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts.

They will see the glory of God, and those who insist on rejecting will pay the price. They will be wiped out. But that's not the end of the story. That's the curse. The glory as a curse to some. But then there's the other half. The rest. We continue.

As he sends out these who have escaped, those who are not killed, to the nations. If you look at each of these locations, it's quite interesting. Tarshish, Spain, Pulan Lud, possibly most likely Libya, Tubal, the Georgia-Armenia, Turkey area, Javan, Greece. He's just encircled the entirety of the Mediterranean.

He's just encircled the entirety of the known world, as we sometimes call it. Yes, there's more of the globe, but speaking in symbolism, he's covered everybody everywhere. And if that wasn't enough, he gives us one little thing here at the end. He speaks after Javan to the coastlands afar off, who have, and that word coastlands, some of your translations will say islands.

There's, again, a lot of talk on exactly what this means. But I maintain it, it's a generic term. All the places over there across the seas. You've got Israel, and you've got the water, and he's just encircled all the trade routes back and forth in the Mediterranean. And he says, and the coastlands.

All that stuff way out there. Guess where we are? We're the coastlands way out there. Everybody, everywhere. He's going to send these people to them. And what are they going to do? What is the purpose of these sent to these places? They are going to the ones who have not heard my fame nor seen my glory.

You say, wait a second. Hold on. I thought that you said, I'm going to pull all of these people and they will all come and see. And I say, yes, absolutely. Yes, absolutely. They will come and they will. See, I'll give you two things on this as far as those who have not heard and those who have not seen.

First of all, you have some who have eyes and yet have not seen, Mark 8:18. If you have not read the Chronicles of Narnia, I'd highly encourage it. Having read it through just recently, well, that's not quite right. I had it read to me, audiobooks. But anyway, the last battle, I don't think this is a spoiler, it's been out long enough.

There's this group in the last battle, the dwarves. And this group is rather interesting because they make it into Aslan's country or the doorway to Aslan's country, and yet they're all sitting around with their eyes closed, refusing to see anything. They're pretending they're not there, so much so that they will not even acknowledge that they can see anything.

They're saying it's total blackness and they can't see anything. And they're willing to get knocked around a little bit in order to make this point. And I think this is one option here, one idea here. Yes, they have seen the glory of God, but there are many who, having seen the glory of God, will.

Refuse. And again, I'd encourage you to look at Zechariah. There's going to be repercussions for these, strong repercussions. The curse is not over. It will be seen through for all of those who refuse. However, there's also another point here. These missionaries sent out by the Lord who have escaped the battle are carrying the news of the battle.

They are the means by which that force by which they are forced to see. They are the heralds. They are going out and showing exactly what has happened. If this is an army that has come out against the Lord that is defeated, then there are people at home who have just lost their loved ones.

And now they are carrying the news of defeat to these nations that gathered and ultimately perished. They will force them to realize and see what has happened, understanding the glory of God. And that is exactly what they will declare to these people. Declare my glory among the nations.

We'll get back to that in a little bit. Because now I'd like to talk a little bit about what we are to do with this. You have God coming in His glory, all will see. You have those going out and telling of the glory of God that all will hear.

What is our response tonight to this? I've got three quick things for you. First one, just an obvious, just to get it out of the way: evangelism is not about numbers. We are not about recruiting people to a society or club. We are not about increasing our building size, although that might be needed and maintenance is fine.

That's not our purpose. We are not about increasing our revenues or our programs. Evangelism is not about numbers, it is about declaring the glory of God. You cannot tell people of a glory you have not seen. If you have not seen the glory of God, then how are you going to explain it to people?

If you do not understand what it means that God is glorious, if you do Not understand who God is because he is not in your life, you have no business telling anyone else. Let me tell you, you're the one that needs to hear about it. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, if you do not know who God is in a personal way, come talk to me after this or one of the elders.

Because we aren't here yet, and therefore you still, at least for the moment, have time. The invitation has been given to know the glory, to see it. If you have seen the glory of God, you must tell of it. Yes, this is of a future event, and yes, it is descriptive.

But throughout Scripture, is this not always the pattern? We have and serve a glorious God, a God of might, a God of love. And if you have experienced something as changing and altering and earth-shattering as this, how can you just go home at the end of each day and be silent?

The only way that's possible is if you haven't changed. And a glorious God such as this is a God who changes, who gives a new heart. So, evangelism is not about numbers, it is about telling of a glory that we have and that we must share. Then, I have two more responses to the glory of God.

One, we are to love him, and two, we are to enjoy him. First, that we are to love him, we are to love a glorious God. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with our soul, with all our strength.

That is the response we are to have. I'm convinced this is a better way of expressing salvation than any other. Not that there is no other way to speak of being a Christian or being saved or being a believer. But the question is, do you love him? Even the demons believe, but then what's their response to that belief?

They shudder. If we believe, we are to be in love. We serve a glorious God who has come back. And he has come back not just to judge. There is a leftover people, a remnant after the judgment. And he sends out his missionaries that all can share in his glory and serve him with gladness.

What does it mean to love? You know what we like practical. What can we do with this message? Don't talk to me in abstracts. Okay, fine, fair enough. What does it mean to love God? First of all, I'll point out you don't really ask that question when I say you should love your spouse.

Like, it's not abstract when we speak of our spouse. Suddenly, it's abstract when you say, well, what does it mean to love God? Well, you don't ask that question in other contexts, but sure. One, no other gods. You have one God. Verse 17. It's God or it's the abominable.

It's God or the idols. It's God or. If you love God, there is no or. Two, obedience and submission. When he comes and he sends, they go. Ephesians chapter 5. If you read through that, that is primarily, although a wonderful illustration of marriage, that particular passage is primarily about the church, as explicitly stated in the text.

Who are we in that analogy? With the bride of Christ. Submit and obey your Lord. And second of all, third of all, it's the sacrifice of yourself. Love him because he has loved you. And then my last point on our response to the glory of God, and the one before it sounds like, well, I thought this was going to be, you know, nice.

You just beat up on us. Well, enjoy him. Because there's a verse I didn't really go into details on. And I still won't go into details, but I'll hit the highlights on. Verse 20. Then they, stop, who's they? You know, and I always like the pronouns because that's all the rage now.

So who's they? They shall bring your brethren. They, the Gentiles. Look at the last sentence before 20. And they, the missionaries, shall declare my glory among the Gentiles, and then they, the Gentiles, shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of the nations. The Gentiles are bringing an offering.

The idea here is of a defeated people, which they are, those who were previously opposed to God, bringing tribute, as any suzerain would. They're bringing tribute of God's people, that is their offering, bringing God's people back. And verse 23 shows that the compulsory worship, as in Zechariah 14, 16, will include all these people.

But then note at the end of this verse, the Gentiles or the nations will bring your brethren, in context, the Jews, back to the land, back to the holy mountain. And look at the last phrase here. As the children of Israel bring an offering and a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.

Now that might not hit you right off the bat, but it should. You see, up until now, it's all been judgment, compulsion, and mightiness. Here we see something different. We can talk a good deal. Is this offering the Israelites themselves, or is it an offering they bring with them?

For my point tonight, that doesn't make a whole lot of difference. They are coming willingly, even though the Gentiles and nations are bringing them. They are coming gladly, and they are presenting themselves or presenting what they bring as a sacrifice to the Lord to participate with God. Finally, after all this time, however long it is at this point, the blessings that were promised in Deuteronomy 30 are finally experienced.

The blessings that we are grafted into in Romans 11 and here in Isaiah 56 are experienced. The possession of the land, the return of the king in dominion, a fruitful land, and they bring their gifts. It's like Christmas. Really, not symbolically. It is Christmas. Jesus has come again, and his people have come to him, and they come bearing gifts.

Is this not amazing? Enjoy him. Look forward to this time when a good God will bring you back and bless you. When a God who has given us promises of salvation will realize that salvation in your life, in our life, when our good God is demonstrating his goodness to us, and we can enjoy it.

This is the response to seeing. The glory of God. We run to Him and we glorify Him and we lift Him up and we weep. This is the call on each of us. A future time, but a present call. Love Him, enjoy Him, because He is a God who shows His glory.

You can either reject what He shows you and be cursed, or you can love Him in response and be blessed. And what a blessing. That is the call for each of us tonight. Let us pray, Dear Lord, come quickly. Use each of us to hasten that day. Allow each of us to be a worthy servant and allow us to enjoy you always.

In Jesus' name, amen.