Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of Jerusalem in God's eternal plan, drawing from Isaiah 65 and 66. He explains that the glory and judgment seen in Jerusalem will also reflect in cities around the world, urging believers to rejoice in what God is doing in Jerusalem. Bickle highlights the future transformation of Jerusalem into a city of truth and the center of God's reign, where peace and righteousness will prevail. He encourages believers to engage with and understand God's purpose for Jerusalem, as it will impact their lives now and in the age to come. The sermon concludes with a call to commit to rejoicing in Jerusalem and participating in God's plans.

Actually, that was excellent. Turn to Isaiah 65. Isaiah chapter 65. Father, we ask you to release the spirit of revelation. Lord, I ask you for inspiration on these two glorious chapters in the book of Isaiah. We thank you in Jesus' name, amen. Well, again, I want to continue one more session on the subject of God's purpose for the city of Jerusalem and how we are to relate to that purpose now in this age and how significant Jerusalem is to the Lord's heart and to the Lord's eternal plan. And today, tonight we're looking at Isaiah 65 and 66. One of the reasons we're going to work through it, not every verse, but some of the main verses is so that you can become familiar with these two chapters. These chapters go together. It's one message, it's one unit, and it's dynamic. And we need to be familiar with it so we can read it on our own and talk to the Lord about it. In 40 years of walking with the Lord, I've never heard a message on Isaiah 65 or 66 ever. I've heard maybe two or three of the verses commented on for two or three minutes, you know, as a sub-point in a message, but I've never heard a message on these two chapters. One of the principles I want to remind you of is this, that even in a practical way for our own city, it's this principle, whatever God does in fullness in Jerusalem in the age to come, He will do in part in the cities of the earth even now, because it gives us a revelation of what God's willing to do to cities of the earth. Now He does more to Jerusalem, the judgment is more severe, and the glory is a greater measure. But the same judgment and glory in a lesser degree will take place where there's disobedience in the cities of the earth or whether there's responsiveness and obedience. So we're studying these two chapters because God is so committed to Jerusalem and we want to be a part of it. But we're also gaining insight into how far God's willing to go in His glory or in His judgment when He looks at a city, because that applies to even our cities in part in this age. Now, the two practical exhortations, which we'll look at in a moment, is chapter 65, verse 18, you can jot that down if you want, 65, 18, and 66, 10, 65, 18, 66, 10, says the same thing, rejoice because of what God's doing in Jerusalem. That's an exhortation to believers in this age that we're to understand what God's doing and rejoice in it because it will affect our heart, it will affect our perspective about the kingdom because you can't rejoice in it until you understand it, and when you understand it, it changes our mindset of the kingdom. It is so awesome what God is going to do in Jerusalem and you're going to be a part of it forever, and to anchor into that even now will affect our lives. So again, 65, 18, the Lord says to Isaiah, rejoice in this, understand it and engage in it. Oh, friends of Jerusalem, Gentile believers, then in 66, 10, He says it again, He says it once in each chapter. And we want to do that. We want to be equipped to connect with understanding and with a heart of confidence in what God's doing in that city because we're going to be a part of it forever, and even again, we want to participate between now and then with what God's doing and the significance of that city. Well, let's look at a few passages that we looked at in the other sessions. Psalm 122.6, pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and God says, you will prosper if you love that city. There is a blessing that God identifies or connects with believers in this age that set their heart to love that city. I want that blessing. But it's more than that, Zechariah 8 tells us how Jesus feels about Jerusalem. He says in chapter 8, verse 2, I am zealous for Zion, that's the city of Jerusalem. Most of the times in the Bible where the term Zion is used, it means the natural city of Jerusalem, I mean the earthly city. This is the Lord talking with great zeal, with great fervor. I am zealous for you. I don't know how he could have said it in stronger terms than Zechariah chapter 8, verse 2. He goes, let me tell you how zealous I am for this city. Verse 3, I'm going to return to it. When I come back as the Messiah, I'm actually going to return to Jerusalem. I'm not just coming to the air, yes I'm coming on clouds, but I'm coming to an earthly destination, it's the city of Jerusalem. Well it's not just that I'm going to visit it when I return, I'm going to live there, I'm going to dwell there forever. The scripture makes clear many times, he will live there in that city on this earth forever. Beloved, that makes Jerusalem pretty special that Jesus is so zealous for it. Now because I love Jesus, I want to be zealous for anything he's zealous for. And as a Gentile believer, it took me a while to even be open to be interested in what Jerusalem was about. It seemed so far away and remote and unrelated to my life. Well I assure you that what God's doing in Jerusalem in this age and in the age to come is dynamically related to your life even as a Gentile believer. Then the Lord, he gives three prophetic names for that city. Number one, the city of Jerusalem will be called the city of truth. It will be the city that has more revelation of God and the ways of God than any other city on the earth. Matter of fact, when the Lord returns, the nations will go to that city to grow in revelation of God and to grow in revelation of all of his ways. And his ways will involve music, science, technology, relationships, geography, agriculture, I'm just talking about all of his ways in the millennial earth. They will learn the most dynamic information from the city of Jerusalem when they visit there. The second name is called the mountain of the Lord. And what we find from the New Testament is this term mountain of the Lord associates millennial Jerusalem with the New Jerusalem. Because when the Lord returns, most of you are familiar with the term the millennium, there will be a thousand years that Jesus will reign on this earth starting with his coming and he will rule from Jerusalem. But when he goes to Jerusalem, one of the most dynamic things imaginable, he is going to call down the New Jerusalem from out of heaven and the New Jerusalem will descend to the earth. And the millennial earthly Jerusalem and the new heavenly Jerusalem will be dynamically connected together and that will be the essence of why this city is called the mountain city. Because it won't be a hill, the New Jerusalem is 1,500 miles high, it will truly be a mountain city that will stun the citizens of the millennial earth. Then he goes on and he says it's not just going to be a mountain of grandeur and glory and height and magnitude, it's going to be a holy mountain. It's going to be absolutely pure. Every body and every activity and every conversation in that city will be absolutely pure. It's called the holy mountain. Now those are three names that the Lord gives the city when he declares he's going to come and live in that city and live there forever. Now Jesus will make this city the capital of the millennial earth in the age to come and then it will be the capital of the earth even in the eternal state after the millennium. That's why he calls it in Matthew 5 verse 35. He calls it the city of the great king, meaning his own city. That is the city of the great king. It's my city, that city Jerusalem is. And we know there's going to be a great battle in the realm of the spirit for the control of that city because Satan is more fixated on that city than any city of the earth. He wants to control it and he wants to completely defile it with darkness. He wants to hinder Jesus' purposes with that city. Jeremiah 3, just to say it again, at that time, that's the time of the second coming, Jerusalem will be called as a city the throne of the Lord and that's because Jesus' throne of glory will be there. I mean the city's going to be named by all the inhabitants of the earth the throne of the Lord because Jesus' throne of glory will be so massive, so spectacular, so powerful on the millennial Jerusalem and in its connectedness to the new Jerusalem because the new Jerusalem is coming down to connect with the millennial one and his throne will be in both places. It will be one throne with an expression on the earth and an expression in the new Jerusalem that's descended down to the earth and all the nations will be gathered to it. They'll be gathered to it. It will be the political capital and center. It will be the spiritual capital. It will be the economic center. It will be the educational center. All the nations will be regularly gathered, the leaders of the nations, to that city. That's what it says in Isaiah chapter 2 verse 2 to 4. One more passage and we're going to begin to look at chapter 65 and 66. Psalm 146.10, the Lord will reign forever in Zion or in Jerusalem. He'll reign forever there and I give you about eight or ten verses that highlight the fact that Jerusalem, I mean the very Jerusalem that's there now, in that location will last forever. Even after the millennial kingdom, when the Lord comes and cleanses the earth with fire, I believe it will still be this very earth. Theologians debate and it's a, they both have a good argument, the two extreme positions. It's the position of annihilation or renovation. After the millennium, does He annihilate the earth and start over or does He renovate and cleanse the earth, the very earth that He has now? And my, and both of them have some arguments. But there's again ten or fifteen verses that make it clear that this very Jerusalem that's on the earth now is eternal and will last forever. My position is that He will renovate the earth. He won't scrap it, throw it away and start over, but He will cleanse it in this very earth that He declared it is very good back in Genesis 1. It will be proved to be good and the devil did not win when he tried to defile the earth. He had a brief moment where he brought confusion and darkness for six thousand years, but for billions of years. That will be completely forgotten and out of the way, paragraph D. Now Isaiah, more than any other prophet, has much to say about the restoration of Jerusalem. But that theme comes to a head in these two chapters that again, they are one unit, Isaiah 65 and 66. We'll only look at a little bit of it, but hopefully enough to stir up your hunger and to give you confidence to go read that chapter and confidence that you can understand it. Now what's happening in context? Paragraph E. In Isaiah 63 and 64, Israel has offered a lament or a prayer, a prayer that's sorrowful prayer. Chapter 63 and 64, and they have been complaining to the Lord, Lord, you've hidden your face. Lord, you don't answer us. Lord, you're not zealous anymore for us. And in chapter 65 and 66, now God answers, and he tells them in essence, you've completely misunderstood what's going on. I am very responsive. I'm not hidden from you. Matter of fact, I was the one calling out to you and you were ignoring me. It was not the other way around. In this verse, and this, which we'll look at in a moment, this idea, even in our own spiritual lives, when we feel the lament of chapter 63 and 64, and you can read that on your own, Lord, you're distant, you're not listening, you're not responding. Where are you at? Are you even there? God answers in chapter 65 and 66, because that complaint that they had in Jerusalem is the same old complaint that the people who call on the name of the Lord have had for generations, Gentiles as well as Jewish believers. What the Lord answers, he goes, I was not silent and unresponsive. The real problem was, you were not responding to me on my terms. And you flipped it and made it as though I was not responding to you in your humility. You're wrong. You were not responding or living before me on my terms. Therefore, I was withholding my activity to wake you up, because I will only relate to people on my terms. Paragraph F, I give a little overview, just to help you be a little bit familiar with the chapter so you can read it on your own. You can read that later. I break down the two chapters. Let's turn to the top of page 2. So we begin, Isaiah 65, God's first response. Then in chapter 66, he continues to respond. And he's responding to the lament that God's not interested, he's not attentive, he's not responsive, he's not involved, he's not zealous. You say it any way that you want, and God says, I, my version of the story is very different than yours, which is good, because it's not that he's lost interest, it's that his people are not relating to him on his terms. Beloved, we know this, that if there's change in the relationship, he never changes. It has to be us who changes that relates to him on his terms. Well, he starts off answering the response, chapter 65, verse 1 and 2. He goes, so you say I'm not responsive. He goes, I'll prove it to you differently. An opposite story. Verse 1, I was sought by those who did not ask for me. He's talking about the Gentiles. And when he said I was sought, he means I had an ongoing relationship, and he's prophesying. He goes, I'm going to have an ongoing relationship with Gentile believers. And the truth is, I initiated the whole relationship. They had no interest in me, and I went after them, and I cornered them, and I ambushed them, and they woke up, and I started the conversation with them, but it was because I desired it. He goes, I was found by them. They were not even seeking me. It's like I got right in their face and said, here I am, here I am, wake up. Now that's really how each of us met the Lord. You know, we kind of remember, I was seeking the Lord for a few years, and then I found Him, and the Lord says, my story's different. You were completely disinterested. And I ambushed you, I hemmed you in, I took away a few options, I visited you, I said, here I am, here I am, here I am, and finally you went, wow, yes, I want salvation. And then we say, I found the Lord. Which is not exactly the way it happened. But the point here is this, here's the powerful point. He is saying, I am gracious in my response to my people, I am not ignoring my people. That's the point. I was, I even went out of my way to win the Gentiles, who had no interest in me. Verse 2, now he's talking to the Jewish. Well it's hard to call them believers, because a number of them were apostates, they completely denied the Lord. He goes, I stretched out my hand to you all day long. It's not like you were seeking me. You might have been involved in religious rituals, but you were not doing it on my terms. I was calling out to you day and night, and you ignored me, and now you've turned it on me and said that I've ignored you. Now there's a verse you need to add to your notes, Romans chapter 10, verse 20 and 21. And in Romans 10, verse 20 and 21, Paul interprets this, these two verses, and lets us know that verse 1 is about the Gentiles, and verse 2 is about the Jews. So that's how you can tell which nation he's talking to. Because Paul tells us, in Romans 10, verse 20 and 21. Well, we're going to skip verse 3 to 16, but I'll give you one sentence. That in verse 3 to 16, the Lord creates the contrast. He says, I just want to say it, I'm going to bless those who come to me on my terms, the righteous, the responsive, the humble. I am going to judge those who come to me on their terms, the wicked, and I'm not going to change. I am responsive. I'm going to respond to humility by giving greater grace, and I'm going to respond to stubbornness by judgment, but I won't be silent either way. Some of these people that were complaining said, you're silent. He goes, you're going to be surprised when I show myself not silent. I'm going to be active, but I'm going to judge you, but I won't be quiet about it. I will intervene in your life, and you won't like it. But I won't be quiet. So he's kind of turning the tables on them a bit. Okay, we're going to skip some verses, and we're going to go, paragraph B, to this dynamic declaration. Verse 17 of chapter 65, I will create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered. Things will be so much better, you will remember this age, because I will replace it with a situation so superior, you won't even remember this age. Now when he says, I will create a new heavens and new earth, the heavens, plural, means an atmosphere over the earth. Talking about the weather, the sky, he's not talking about, you know, the heavens where God lives, called the third heavens, he's talking about the sky above us. He goes, I'm going to completely renovate it. I'm going to cleanse it completely, the heavens, the weather, the atmosphere, all that's related to that, and I will completely cleanse and make new this current earth. And the point being, they said, God, you're silent, you're not zealous anymore, where's your zeal? Why are you hiding yourself? He goes, I'm so committed to you that I have taken the initiative to have a plan for you that is so dynamic, you won't even remember this earth when that plan comes to pass. You will be absolutely overwhelmed with the superior grandeur and glory of where you're going. I'm going to completely transform the whole world. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul addresses this reality, and he says, eye has not seen, nor has the ear heard. No one's ever told the story in a way that's even close to captures the whole glory of what's coming. He goes, as a matter of fact, it's not even entered in the heart of a man. You've never imagined it. You take your greatest imagination to the highest level you can, you haven't even scratched the surface of where this is going. Well, he summarizes it by calling the new heavens and the new earth. Now, from verse 17 to 25, which we'll look at now, it is mostly talking about the renovation of this current earth in the millennium. It's what it's talking about. It's talking about the thousand year reign of Jesus on the earth. We will have resurrected bodies, we'll live in the new Jerusalem, but the new Jerusalem will descend down to the earth. We'll live in the new Jerusalem, but we'll work on the earth. And the veil between the two realms will be lifted, so we'll come and go very easily like angels do even now. But we'll interact with people, with natural bodies on the earth, and we'll have a resurrected body. It's going to get real exciting. Paragraph C. Now, the new earth occurs in two stages, and that confuses some people. Stage one is the thousand year millennial earth. Millennium just means a thousand, that's what the word millennium means. The thousand year reign, that's stage one of the new earth. Stage two of the new earth is the eternal state. That's after the millennium, but I believe it's this very same earth. Now Isaiah, throughout his book in a number of places, he emphasized the millennial earth. Well, John came along about 700 years after Isaiah, and he had the open vision of Revelation 21 and 22, and he talked about the new earth, but he focused on stage two. He goes, Isaiah got it right, but Isaiah didn't even see but the beginning of the beginning of it. John saw much more than Isaiah saw. He saw stage two of the new earth, Isaiah saw stage one. Paragraph D. Now, you might say, what's this stage one, stage two thing? Paragraph D, well that's how many of the major end time prophecies are meant to be interpreted. Many of the main prophecies, I wouldn't say all of them, but the majority of them that come to my mind, they have two stages. It's God's way of communicating to the prophets. For instance, and I'm not going to go through all of these, I have about nine or ten examples. There's about twenty examples that I could put, but one of them is the Messiah's coming. Now Israel was only thinking of stage two, the Messiah coming in glory, but they found out there's a stage one, he comes in humility and he dies. They go, oh, we didn't know he came in two stages. The outpouring of the spirit from Joel 2. There was a down payment at the day of Pentecost, but when you read Joel 2, it's much more than the spirit poured out to 120 people in one room with 3,000 converts. The outpouring of the spirit is to go to all the nations of the earth with signs and wonders in the heaven, and everybody is responding. It's a whole different level, and that's going to happen, the fullness of that at the time of the Lord's return, in that time frame. Well the return of Elijah. We know in Malachi 4, he's coming back. Well stage one, he came back in the ministry of John the Baptist. Stage two, he's coming back as Elijah. I mean the actual man Elijah, he's two stages. The Gog and Magog battle. There's a Gog and Magog battle in the tribulation before Jesus returns, and there's a Gog and Magog battle at the end of the millennium. It goes on and on. The descent of this new Jerusalem, it comes first, not in the full sense, at the time of Jesus coming, it comes in proximity to the new Jerusalem on the earth. I believe it's dynamically connected, but it won't actually be resting on the earth, but there'll be a dynamic connection and convergence of those two cities. It will come near the earth, but not actually rest on the earth. But stage two, it will rest on the earth in the full sense of the word. Well he says, Isaiah says, there's a new heaven and a new earth. Now he tells us how to respond in verse 18. This is one of the verses I gave you in the introduction. He says now, about this new heaven and this new earth, rejoice forever in this. Well how can we rejoice in it if we don't understand it? Many believers, they say, well I'm not really into that stuff. It will all kind of figure itself out when I get there. Beloved, we are not to neglect these glorious truths because it anchors our heart and completely gives us a different perspective of how to live in this age. Truths about the age to come are critical part of the New Testament gospel. Most believers only think about this age and they're completely confused when things aren't working right because they're not anchored to the age to come. They are not rejoicing in what's coming because they don't think about it, because they don't understand it. I heard one preacher say, if you don't think rightly about heaven, then you will never think about heaven. And the right way to think about heaven is it's coming down to the earth and it's going to be a connection between the natural realm and the supernatural realm on the earth. That's what heaven's about. And you'll have a physical material body. You'll eat physical food. You will have real relationships and a real ministry on the earth, but all in context to the supernatural glory of the resurrection. Now when you think about that in the right way, it's exciting. I can endure anything for that. But if I think I'm going to float on a cloud and play a guitar or a harp all by myself and just kind of float forever, I go, huh. You know, I want to do that, I guess. But beloved, you're going to be on the earth with a physical material body with the full property of the resurrection. You'll be learning and teaching, relating, fellowshipping, singing, eating, coming and going just like you are now, but just in the most glorious condition of the full dimension of the physical and the resurrected realm together on this earth. It's exciting. He says in verse 18, he goes, now be rejoiced in this new heaven and new earth. But he goes, now more particularly, he's zeros in now. He goes, if you're going to rejoice in the new heaven and new earth, that's verse 17 and verse 18 says rejoice in it. He goes, more particularly, rejoice in Jerusalem, because if you get the Jerusalem picture right, you'll get the whole thing right. You don't get Jerusalem and how glorious and how significant it is and its impact upon the age to come and its impact on this age and how important it is, if you don't get the Jerusalem part right, you really won't end up rejoicing in the new heaven and the new earth in the way that you should be. As a matter of fact, God says this is so important, look at this, this is God speaking, I rejoice in Jerusalem. Whoa. If Jesus, well we know he's zealous for it, but if he is excited about Jerusalem, he goes, oh, Father, Jerusalem, this is so exciting, I go, I want to get with it. He goes, I don't just rejoice in what I'm going to do in the city, convergence of the heavenly dimension and the earthly dimension and that city to fill the whole earth with my glory, because when that city comes to full glory, it's going to be like a tidal wave of glory coming out of Jerusalem that will transform the whole millennial earth until the whole earth is in the perfect conditions of the Garden of Eden. And that will take a thousand years for it all to happen. And then when it happens, then the Father's throne comes down after a thousand years and his throne tabernacles on the earth with human beings. Could you imagine the Father? I mean we're crying, come Lord Jesus, and he's going to come one of these days, but for a thousand years we're going to cry, come Abba, because the Father's throne is coming a thousand years after Jesus' because he's coming to get the world ready for the Father's throne. And that means, the Father said it, I will tabernacle with men. He means on the earth. He goes, verse 19, I, the Lord, I am moved by millennial Jerusalem. I get it. I have joy in my people. I call them Hephzibah. I delight in them. I like them. And he goes, somebody might say, how happy are we going to be? I mean if God's happy about it, we're happy. How happy? God says, let me tell you how happy. There'll be no weeping or no crying. Sorrow will be completely removed from your human experience. The curse is totally reversed. Top of page 3. Well just those verses, that's enough for me to say, I want to know all about Jerusalem. I want to rejoice in it. God rejoicing in it. I want to get connected to it right now for a number of reasons. Now he's going to break down the glory of the millennial Jerusalem in the way that John breaks down the glory of the new Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22. But here is the millennial Jerusalem. Verse 20, no more will an infant live just a few days. Nor will an old man not fulfill his days. For the child that dies at a hundred years old will thought to be cursed. Like you know, they'll say, well how old did the little guy when he died? He was only about 120. Oh you're kidding. So young. Because life, I'm talking about people with natural bodies. You'll have a resurrected body, you'll live in the new Jerusalem, you'll work on the earth. You'll know these people, but they'll have physical bodies. They'll still have a sin nature. They have to become born again. And then, you know, at the end of their life, they'll live four, five, six, seven hundred years. The lifespan will go to where it was back before the flood. Because before Noah's flood, people lived, many people lived four, five, six, seven hundred years. So the lifespan's going to be reversed to those conditions. Now notice, this is talking about, there's a supernatural element of the curse being reversed, but people are being born, there are infants, there are babies, and people are dying. They still have natural bodies. So this is not the new Jerusalem, and this is not this age, it's the age to come in millennial Jerusalem. And it will be this way throughout the earth, but he's talking particularly about Jerusalem right now, and rejoicing in it. So the people that live in the area of Jerusalem, of course the same conditions will be true worldwide. You'll know these people, you'll be training them, you'll have a ministry to various number of these people. You'll be teaching them the ways of God. Verse 21, they'll build houses, because it's still the natural realm, and they'll inhabit them. They'll plant vineyards and eat their fruit, nobody will build and another inhabit. In other words, the point here, there'll be no war, and there'll be no oppression where one government or army invades and takes the fruit of your labors. That's the point. There's no war, there's no oppression, nobody's taking anything from anybody in a wrong way. That's the point here. Isaiah, he can't get over this, this longevity of life. He goes back to, he goes like the days of a tree. So will be my people. I mean, Isaiah, he hits that again. I mean, you know, olive trees, they can live over 1,000, 2,000 years, an olive tree can last 1 or 2,000 years. Oak trees, cedars, they can live to be 1,000 years. Now the whole span of the millennium of 1,000 years will only be about two, three, four generations, because the people's lives, I'd guess three or four generations, because the lifespans will be so long. So there'll be, you know, great-granddad with his son who's grandpa, with his son who's dad who's the next one who's grandkid, they'll be, in some cases, they'll all be living together for a large part, or for a portion of that 1,000 year period together, or a long period of time. Okay, let's go on to verse 25. It talks about the animosity between the, and the animal kingdom will be solved, because the curse is reversed. The wolf and the lamb feed together instead of the wolf feeding on the lamb. The lion will eat straw instead of eating the ox. He'll be next to the ox with the straw, they'll be eating the straw, hey, how you doing, Mr. Ox? How you doing, Mr. Lion? Hey, things are cool. Are we okay? Yeah, we're okay. Everything's fine. Now, some theologians, they just can't deal with it and say, see, that's so ridiculous. No, it's not ridiculous. This is like God. He's answering the charge, I am not disengaged, I'm not hiding my face, I'm not unresponsive, I have a full plan that I'm taking full initiative in, and I'm fully occupied with this plan. I'm engaged with it, I'm rejoicing in it each step of the way. Well, Isaiah discussed these dynamics earlier on in the book of Isaiah, chapter 11, verse 6-9. The wolf will lay down with the lamb, the leopard with the goat, the young lion, etc. And even now, the little child is brought into the mix. So it's not just the wild and domesticated animals are now friends, now the little child is in the mix, playing with the pet lion. Verse 8, it gets more intense. The little one-year-old, the little nursing child, is playing by the cobra's hole. Billy, watch out for that snake. Don't worry, Mom, me and that snake are friends. Like what? I don't get how that works, and maybe I have that wrong, but he'll be playing by that cobra's hole and with no fear. Why? Verse 9, the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of God, and eventually the earth will have the conditions of blessing of the Garden of Eden worldwide. It starts in Jerusalem, and it works its way out over a thousand years and fills the whole earth with the glory of God and with these ideal conditions of, beloved, you're going to be there. This is your story. This isn't just a Bible teaching, this is your story. It's all connected with God doing it in Jerusalem first. Isaiah 51, verse 3, the Lord says, I'll comfort Zion. Right now, her wilderness, her deserts, her desolations are, you can see the brokenness of different parts of the land, I'll make that city like Eden. And there's several verses that back this up, so this is not just one verse. The full Deuteronomy 28 blessings, the full restoration of Eden in Jerusalem first, working its way out to the ends of the earth. Let's now move on, just for a brief time, to Isaiah 66. So now the Lord's still answering this charge that he's unresponsive, he's silent from chapter 63 and 64. And again, because we bring those very same charges in chapter 63 and 64, this is relevant to us even in our practical way now when we understand these chapters. We know 63 and 64, we can find our heart cry there and go, oh, you have ignored me. But we read 65 and 66 and the Lord says, no, no, that's not right. Not only have I not ignored you, I have an in-depth plan for you that I'm deeply engaged with and I want you a part of it. I've been thinking about you in detail. And I took the initiative, you didn't give me any ideas, I thought about you before you ever thought about me. That's the kind of God that we serve. Well in paragraph A, the Lord is speaking to these humble godly believers, he's encouraging them to believe what he just said. Because chapter 66, verse 1, is the verse right after those eight verses on the millennial Jerusalem. In other words, remove the chapter divide and the conversation is an unbroken conversation and dialogue. So one guy goes, oh, come on, the whole earth like this? Or this is too far-fetched? Or you know what, what if we sin and God loses interest in us? This is going to be bad. And God's answer is, I have had this plan as central to my long-term purposes from ages past. This plan of bringing the new Jerusalem to the earth and living on the earth has been key to my plan from the beginning. I'm not going to lose interest, it's not far-fetched, and it's not impossible for me to do. Therefore, it will come to pass, but only the humble will enter into it. If you say no to me, you won't be accepted into this glorious plan. So he starts off, he's still on the subject of heaven and earth. Because chapter 66, 1, he's continuing the same theme as chapter 65, verse 17 to 25. Again, remove the chapter divide, and the same conversation is going on. Now this is a little mysterious language. With the information of the New Testament, we can put it together. But in the Old Testament, it was a little bit hard to put this together. My throne is in heaven, okay, but my feet are on the earth, okay? How can your throne be in heaven and your feet be on earth? Oh, I know, it's symbolic. He goes, no, it's not symbolic. And that's how a lot of theologians, they just make it symbolic. No, it's not symbolic. Hmm, how is it that your throne is in the heavenly realm, but your physical body is in the earthly realm? Because the new Jerusalem is coming down and Jesus is going to reign on the earth. Now, we don't get all that in the same clarity in the Old Testament until we get to the New Testament. He goes, now I got a couple questions for you. Where is the house that you will build me? He goes, what kind of house do you plan to build me? Because they wanted to build the temple at various times in Israel's history when the temple was, had been destroyed, they wanted to rebuild it, which was a godly desire. But he goes, think about it all the way. What kind of house are you going to build for me? He goes, do you really grasp what kind of house I live in? The only one that ever saw it in the more complete way was John in Revelation 21 and 22. The new Jerusalem is his house. He goes, you're not going to really build that for me, you guys. I know you're going to build a little temple, a little baby temple, and you should. But just know, you don't really know the kind of house I live in. You couldn't build it if you did get it. The number two question, two very important questions, I have this in paragraph B, where will I rest? Now that's an interesting phrase. This concept of God resting, it means resting on the earth, number one. And number two, for God to rest means the, I don't have this verse, but the passage from Genesis 6, verse 3, where God complained, I have to strive with men all the time. I'm striving with them and striving against them. I want to rest. In other words, here's what God's saying to Isaiah. Where is the place where I can rest on the earth, where I'm in perfect agreement with my people, with no striving at all between me and them? He goes, I don't want to rest in heaven, I want to rest on the earth. So where? And the answer is twofold, where geographically it's Jerusalem, where spiritually it's people who live in meekness and humility, and they tremble at his word. That's the place he will rest. That's what he's after, to bring this new Jerusalem to pass, he's looking for people that he will come in such agreement with him, even at this age, where he's resting in them even now. So he describes it, chapter 66, verse 2, to the poor and contrite of spirit, just put the word humility, they tremble at my word, they delight in my word, they make room for my word, they make time for it. They walk it out in their lifestyle. They respect my word. You know I know many believers who say, well I really don't have any time for the word. I go, are you kidding? Your heart can't be transformed without the word. Your mindset will be off, even if you love Jesus. Well, you know, I've got a lot going on, I'm not really, I'm a little ADD, and I kind of don't pay attention real well, I'm not really a word person. Beloved, I urge you to respect the word of God and tremble before it, and fill your life with it. It will anchor your understanding, your emotions in a whole other way. And it is the way that God causes us to be a resting place, a place, a people that he agrees with, that he's not arguing with and wrestling with and debating with all the time. That's the kind of people he's looking for. Now look at this phrase, he says on this one, will I look? Because back in the lament, chapter 63 and 64, they said, you don't look at us anymore. He goes, yes I do. You're not living in the way that I look on. This is the kind of person that I have attentiveness towards, a person who respects my word. So his physical foot is going to be on the earth one day, okay? He's giving us the hint here in verse 1. How? How is your throne in heaven and your feet on the earth going to come together? The new Jerusalem is going to descend, Revelation 20, verse 10. Nobody could put this together. Theologians were just stuck making it purely symbolic. It's literal. Top of page 4. You can read the rest of the bottom of page 3, where it talks about the resting place and the soles of his feet. Matter of fact, we've got to go back to one verse, because you might not get this one. This is so dynamic. Go to paragraph B, Ezekiel 43. This is such a dynamic passage. Ezekiel 43. The glory of the Lord came into the millennial temple. Ezekiel's having a vision. Ezekiel's 500 years BC about. He's looking 2,500 years, you know, 500 years to Christ and another 2,000 plus years, and he sees the millennial temple in Jerusalem. What a vision. My goodness. John saw the heavenly temple. Ezekiel saw the millennial temple. They were two parts of one reality. They would be deeply connected. They would both have the throne of Jesus in it. Wow. Well, the glory came into the temple. Verse 6, Ezekiel says, I heard Jesus speak to me. I heard the Messiah. He's talking to me. What's he say? Verse 7, Son of man, this temple in the millennium, this is the place of my throne. This is where my feet will touch the earth. My physical resurrected body with my physical feet will touch the physical earth right here. Get it clear. He goes, whoa. And he goes, I want you to understand, I'm going to live here forever. Wherever the millennial Jerusalem is, I will reign there forever. So paragraph C, it will be his final resting place on earth will be that city. You can read the rest of that. Top of page 4. Now in verse 5, the godly, those who tremble at his word, they are now being persecuted because they believe this stuff. They believe in the new heaven and the new earth. They are living by this new revelation, this new value system. They're trembling at the word of God. They're making room for the word of God in their life. It's the highest priority in their life. They're refusing the compromise of the other brothers and sisters in their day. They're captured by where this thing is going and their respect for the word of God. So the Lord, he encourages them because they're being resisted by others who claim relationship with God. So he says, verse 5, hear the word of the Lord, you people who devour my word and you tremble before it, you respect it so deeply. He goes, I want to tell you this. I can see your brethren, now he's talking to people in Jerusalem, he goes, I can see your brethren. They hate you. They don't like your mindset. They don't like the stand you take. They don't like you exposing their compromising lifestyle. And they've cast you out of the synagogues. They've cast you out of their gathering places. And here's what they said sarcastically. This is sarcastic. These wicked brethren, whatever, they go, oh, let the Lord be glorified and we'll see how happy you are since you're rejoicing in Jerusalem. Chapter 65, verse 18, since you have joy in this new plan and you, and we don't buy any of it, let the Lord be glorified. This is sarcastic. The Lord says, I see what they're saying to you, but they will be put to shame and you will be brought to full joy. Hold your place. Don't ever forsake that place of believing in this stuff. It's not too farfetched. It's not bizarre. It's the work of God. Paragraph E. Now God goes on to the next verse or two. He goes, it's going to be a supernatural work. I know it's going to, it looks farfetched. There could be such a thing as a new heavens and a new earth. That it would be on the millennial Jerusalem with people with natural bodies. Jewish believers who are deeply devoted to God, who are living in connection with God in Jerusalem as the epicenter of this revival touching the ends of the earth. That's what he's saying here. He goes, let me tell you, give you a little word picture here. Verse seven, before she was in labor, she gave birth. Now that's impossible. A woman can't give birth and skip labor. But Isaiah said, something unusual is going to happen. It's not going to be according to nature. There's going to be a little baby boy born and there's not going to be any labor pains. There's not going to be any labor at all. It's not contrary to nature. The idea is God is going to do a supernatural work that's above and beyond even the response and the ability of people. He's going to make a new heaven and a new earth. He's going to make the capital city Jerusalem. He's going to have Jewish believers in that day with natural bodies, all of them in the earth, fully converted, fully walking in righteousness, fully agreeing with the Lord based in the land of Israel. Verse eight, who has heard such a thing? He goes, it's impossible. This is not according to nature. Then the Lord declares, well, it's a question, but it becomes a prophetic declaration. Can the earth give birth in one day? Yes. Now we emphasize the next one. Can a nation be born at once? And we should. But beloved, there's more than one nation being born in one day. The entire millennial earth will be born in one day. Put this first if you want. Revelation 19 verse 21, all the kings of the earth will be executed at the same day at the city of Jerusalem by Jesus. He will gather all the wicked kings of the earth, all of them. He will gather them into one place. He will execute them and change all the governments of the earth in one day at the time of his coming. The whole earth, the governments of the earth will be born in one day anew. Whoa. Well, now he gets personal about Israel. He goes, it's not just the millennial earth that's going to have new leadership in one day and all that goes with that. Israel is going to be born in the fullness of her glory, spiritually, politically, in every way in one day. Now like the other prophecies, this has two stages. There's a 1948 stage where Israel was born as a nation in one day. That is just a miracle of such great proportion. When you think of the geopolitical dimension, no nation has ever been without a homeland for 40 years and retained its nationhood. Israel was 2000 years without a homeland one day, May 14, 1948. She's born as a nation, but beloved that stage one only there's a stage two because God has a bigger vision than her coming into statehood in one day. He wants to have the full glory in the nation, have Israel lead the whole earth and every one of its citizens be born again and fully righteous and radically committed to God. So there's a more full birthing that's coming as well. So the 1948 birthing gives us courage that the spiritual full glory birthing is sure to come as well. But so will it happen to all the earth. The Lord says, verse 9, shall I bring Israel as well as all the earth through the stage of this detailed master plan that unfolds through history and then at the right critical time just abandon my plan? No. He goes, I've been working methodically with great detail for 6000 years since the guard of Eden, preparing a master plan where the whole earth could be made new and Israel's the centerpiece of it and Jerusalem's the center city of it. He goes, well, I go through all this time and then at the last moment, abandon my plan. He goes, there's not a chance, not a chance. Paragraph G, now he goes on to this second exhortation to rejoice with Jerusalem. He said it back in chapter 65, 18. Now he says it in 66, 10, rejoice with Jerusalem. In other words, don't be disengaged. A lot of believers love Jesus, but they don't really buy into Jesus's zeal for Jerusalem. They're uninformed. They're disengaged. They're not praying for it. They don't think about it. They're not standing with Jerusalem. Others are critical. They look at Jerusalem and they see the work of God in Jerusalem. They go, well, you know, it is a nation and there is a messianic community there, but the nation makes a lot of bad choices and the messianic community isn't that strong. The Lord says, don't go there. It's a lot stronger than it used to be. Rejoice every step of the way, because this, my people on that land will be the chief city of the earth, filled with glory, all of them walking in righteousness, all of them saved. But every step of the way rejoice. I don't want a critical spirit and I don't want you to minimize what I'm doing there. I don't want you envious of it either. Why does this Jerusalem thing? What about my city? The Lord says, I got a plan for you and your city, but don't get into a negative attitude towards Jerusalem. Verse 10, rejoice with her. If you love her, jump in and engage at the heart level. He says, well, I'm mourning for her. He says, I know you're mourning. You're crying out an intercession. You see the crisis in the land politically. You see the nations mounting up. You see the sin in Jerusalem in their own choices. Yes, you're mourning in a biblical way, but don't mourn with a critical spirit. Still keep a grid of a positive tone of rejoicing. Even while you're filling the burden of the weight of her troubles and even her compromise, stay with the right spirits. What he's saying. Verse 11, if you do that, you'll feed and be satisfied with her comforts. If you will stay rightly related, old friends of Jerusalem, then the blessing I'm bringing to her, I will touch your life with it and you will be satisfied and fed and strengthened by what I'm doing in that city. But I want you involved in it before the breakthrough. I want you rejoicing. Now this is really strange passage, but it's glorious. Verse 18 to 22, look what he says here. And there's two different ways to view this passage. I'll just tell you the two ways. It's either God sending surviving Gentiles, they're surviving the great tribulation. I'll tell you what it is and then we'll read through it real quick. To the nations to lead the Jews to the Lord and to escort them home. That's version one. Version two, it's the other way around. Because he doesn't tell us who the them is. It's God sending surviving Jews to the ends of the earth to convert all the Gentiles to bring them and escort them back to Jerusalem. Well it seems like it's the Gentiles going out to bring the Jews back. But there's some other verses where it's the Jews going out bringing the Gentiles back. I like both of them. Both of them are biblical ideas. So let's read it. This is after Jesus returns. He's in Jerusalem on his throne. Look at verse 18. I'll gather all the nations. That's why I believe it's the Gentiles. There's that ethnicity. All the ethnic groups and all the tongues, all the linguistic groups. So all the ethnic groups and all the language bases of them, linguistics. They will come to Jerusalem and see my glory. I'm going to gather them. Okay. So the Gentiles are all coming and they go to Jerusalem. And they go, whoa! They're seeing the throne of glory. They're seeing the new Jerusalem that's come down. They're seeing Jesus, the splendor and the power in this city. They're going, oh my goodness. Look at this. They're seeing more than that. More like worthy is the Lamb. But anyway, verse 19. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to set a supernatural sign among them. Now I'm thinking that them are Gentiles from the verse before. That seems most logical, though some commentators say that them are Jewish survivors of the tribulation. I could go either way, but I think it's Gentiles. He goes, I'm going to give a supernatural sign to them. Now who are they? These are the ones who escaped. They escaped. They survived the great tribulation. And there's about 10 or 15 verses about the group that survives the great tribulation. Jews and Gentiles. Some of them are talking to Jewish people. Some are talking to Gentile people. Those that survive the great tribulation. A well-known one I don't have in the notes is Zechariah 14 verse 16. Talk about the nations, the Gentiles that survived. He goes, what I'm going to do. I'm going to put a supernatural sign. I'm going to gather those that escaped or survived. Then I'm going to turn them into an apostolic missions movement. I'm going to send them, that's an apostolic function, I'm going to send them to the earth. This is after the Lord returns. They're going to go to Tarshish and these other countries that some of them we can identify and some of them the scholars cannot identify. Now here's the strange part, verse 19, these Gentiles, I assume, they might be the Jewish believers that are being sent, but I think it's the Gentile ones. They will go to those far away nations who have not heard of the fame or seen the glory. Say what? How could somebody not have ever heard of the fame or seen the glory? I don't think it means they've never ever heard the name of Jesus because the whole earth is captured with who He is. I think they've not seen the fullness of the throne of glory. They don't have a testimony of the new Jerusalem and all that's involved in that Psalm 48 city that's come. Well, these Gentiles are going to declare my glory in the nations. Now when it says declare my glory among the Gentiles, the word Gentiles and nations are interchangeable. So what I'm going to do is, verse 19, I'm going to set aside among them all that have survived the tribulation. I'm going to send this apostolic initiative to send them to the nations. They're going to go to the places that don't know the fullness of what my storyline really is and what's really happening in Jerusalem. And they're going to declare, they're going to tell the story of my glory in the nations. Okay, it doesn't end there. Verse 20, then these Gentiles will bring your brethren. So I think it's Jewish converts is what it looks like to me. They're going to bring them from the nations saying, listen, the story that you've heard, the whispers, the rumors of it's true. A Jewish man came from heaven. Yes, he lived 2,000 years ago. Jesus of Nazareth, he came back and he brought a throne of glory and he called the new Jerusalem down and the whole earth is being captured by him. You got to see him because he is your part of your bloodline. They go, whoa. They bring all the brethren back, all the Jews now come to Israel, not one of them left because some of the Jews are out in the nations when Jesus returns. Some of them are in the nations against their will because they were deported. Others are in the nations because they lived in the nations and never, ever came to Jerusalem. They never made Aliyah, ever. Others of them are hiding in the nations to be protected. So there's different reasons. There's different reasons they're out there, but there's many Jews that are in the nations. Now look at this. These Gentiles are going to bring these Jewish converts and they're going to offer them to Jesus as an offering, a gift from the nations. He's going to offer the people who want to love him. Now look at this. This is strange because the transportation systems right after the great tribulation are going to be broken. It's going to be hard to get a good train or a good bus ride or, you know, even a good airplane trip. They're going to come on horses, mules, camels, every mode of transportation. There's urgency to get to Jerusalem to be offered to the Lord because that's where your inheritance, that's where it's at. Verse 22, God says, let me tell you how permanent this is. Let me tell you how dependable this promise is. For as sure as the new heavens and the earth are that I'm really going to make them and they will remain forever, as sure as they will remain forever, I tell you, the Jewish descendants, they will remain forever. They will never pass away. They will never be annihilated. They will never be exterminated and done away with like the devil has wanted to do. Verse 23, then from Sabbath to Sabbath. I don't understand how this works. Every week is what Sabbath to Sabbath is. Every week, all flesh will worship before Jesus. I mean, there's going to be a couple billion people on the earth. I mean, they're not all going to fit in the 10-mile area of Jerusalem to worship. I don't know how they're going to do it. They're going to worship before Him. So maybe that's spiritual that they're worshiping before Him because you can't get billions of people all in a 10-mile area. I don't know how that works. But I like it. I like thinking about it. It's exciting. They'll worship continually. Verse 24, it doesn't end there. When they come to Jerusalem, they'll go over to the way over there, wherever it's at. They'll look upon the corpses of the wicked men that were struck dead under the judgment of God. What? There'll be a whole valley there of these wicked men. Their corpses will be rotting, and they'll come worship Jesus, and they will see the consequence of rebuilding against Him. And then this strange verse that Jesus quotes in Mark 9, verse 43 to 48, Jesus quotes this verse. He says, now these corpses and these men, these wicked men that are all piled up over here, their worm does not die. And what that means is their consciousness, their alert, their spirit man never ever ceases to exist. Their worm, which means their consciousness, does not die, and the fire that's touching them will never be quenched. So there's this element of people come to Jerusalem, and they go over to the way, wherever that is, and they see the corpses, but they see more than the dead flesh of the corpse. They see those that are under judgment in some way, those that are waiting for that time where they're cast into the lake of fire after the thousand years of the Millennial Kingdom. That's a bizarre, terrifying, not bizarre, I don't want to say bizarre and talk about the Bible. I want to say it's unusual. I'm the one who's bizarre. If I don't get it, it's because I'm off, not because the Bible's off, that there will be actual an ability to view in some capacity the judgment of the wicked, and it will remind the people that worship how gracious the salvation of God has been to them. And there's several other points related to that, but we're out of time. Amen. Let's stand. Isaiah 65 and 66. I think we bit off too much for one night, but my goal is to have the worship team come up that you would have confidence to go read these chapters now and go, hey, I want to, I mean, confidence meaning you think, I think I can understand it. I may not get every point, but I'm not going to relegate these two chapters to the part of the Bible I don't get. I'm going to start reading it. I'm going to start rejoicing in Jerusalem. Father, we thank you for your word. I thank you that you rejoice in that city. I want to invite anybody to come up that's saying, you know, I'm really new with this Jerusalem thing, but I want to make a commitment tonight in a new way, or for the first time, I want to start rejoicing in Jerusalem. I want to engage with this. I want to get informed. I want to engage my heart and get involved in what God's involved in with this city. That's you. I'm going to invite you to come up, and I'm going to pray for you, because we need to see this. I tell you, this changes my life. I view the future so different because of studying Jerusalem and where it's going. I want to be a part of it, and I don't mean just a part of it then. That's what I really want to. I want to be a part of it now, of the whole journey and the battle around Jerusalem and calling forth her destiny. I want to be involved in it right now. Lord, we say yes to you. Lord, we don't understand so well. I don't. But I want to know more. I want to know more. I want to ask anyone in the room here that says, I don't get it that much, but I am committed to God's purpose for Jerusalem. I want to invite you to come up and pray with me. I want to come down and pray for folks. I want to ask the Lord to mark their spirit with revelation.