Isaiah 66:1-4 – God’s Dwelling Place
God is looking and telling the people of changes that will be happening in New Testament days, which has been the big context of Isaiah since chapter 40. God is emphasising that the Temple does not contain Him. God is everywhere. The Temple and its ceremonies were pointing forward to the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But once the real came, the pictures, the forms, and shadows and types, were not only unnecessary, but dangerous and were taken away. There is now a new High Priest. There is now a once and for all new sacrifice at the cross. There is a new Temple. It’s the true Church of Jesus Christ. The final Temple is now the place of God’s rest. The place of His rest is the Church for whom Jesus Christ has died.
All of creation is made by God. Creation shows God’s glory, majesty, wisdom, and power. All is maintained and worked together by His continuous care for His glory and the good of His people. God’s dwelling place is with the godly heart, the heart that once was dead but that He has made new. He who has this new heart that God gives, hates sin and fights against it. The new heart sees its entire inability to please God. Full dependence upon Jesus marks this one with whom God delights to dwell. He trembles at God’s Word, not in terror, but in awe, in joy and in desire for it. Is this your heart?
In verses 3 and 4 the picture is of people going through certain kinds of sacrifices. And God is obviously angry about that. These sacrifices and offerings were something that God Himself commanded. So we might think, what’s the problem? We see time and time again throughout the Scripture that the mere outward performance of these things is an abomination to God. These were always to be accompanied with faith. The sacrifices and the priests all pointed forward to the Person and work of Jesus Christ. But these people trusted the sacrifices instead of trusting the One of Whom these sacrifices pictured. At the same time, they continued on in their other sin. These people think everything is wonderful because they’ve killed a bull, but because their heart is not right with God, because they are still in their sin, it’s just as if they were a murderer of a person. We see here in the second part of verse three, and all through verse four, they wanted to go on and enjoy life. They rejected God. They loved to do evil. They would not listen!
Question
- What was wrong with the sacrifices the people offered?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks that God dwells with His people.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.