(9) Shall I bring to the birth . . .—The implied thought is that God will not leave His work of national restoration unfinished. There shall not be that frustration of hopes when they seem just on the point of being fulfilled which the history of the world so often records. (Comp. Isaiah 37:3.) read more
The Genesis of Delusions Isaiah 66:4 They will think it is the devil, but I am behind it all; they will ascribe it to some peculiar condition of the brain, and they will endeavour to trace that condition to indigestion, to the wrong food, to a mistake in choices and fancies; they will never suspect that I am in it. We are not worshippers of a limited Sovereign; the universe is not split up into sections, God presiding over, it may be, the larger section, and the devil presiding over the... read more
CHAPTER XXVA LAST INTERCESSION AND THE JUDGMENTIsaiah 63:7 through Isaiah 66:1-24WE might well have thought, that with the section we have been considering the prophecy of Israel’s Redemption had reached its summit and its end. The glory of Zion in sight, the full programme of prophecy owned, the arrival of the Divine Saviour hailed in the urgency of His feeling for His people, in the sufficiency of His might to save them, -what more, we ask, can the prophecy have to give us? Why does it not... read more
CHAPTER 66 The Finale: The Two Classes and the Prophecy of Isaiah in a Retrospect 1. The apostates and their wicked worship (Isaiah 66:1-4 ) 2. The remnant suffering and encouraged (Isaiah 66:5 ) 3. The sudden manifestation of the Lord (Isaiah 66:6 ) 4. The nation’s rebirth (Isaiah 66:7-9 ) 5. Jerusalem’s supremacy and glory (Isaiah 66:10-14 ) 6. The warning of judgment (Isaiah 66:15-18 ) 7. The regathering after judgment (Isaiah 66:19-21 ) 8. The blessings for the... read more
66:7 Before {h} she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a male child.(h) Meaning, that the restoration of the church would be so sudden and contrary to all men’s opinions as when a woman is delivered before she looked for it, and without pain in travail. read more
66:8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one {i} day? [or] shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.(i) This will pass the capacity of man to see such a multitude that will come up at once, meaning under the preaching of the gospel of which they who came out of Babylon were a sign. read more
66:9 Shall I {k} bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut [the womb]? saith thy God.(k) Declaring by this that as by his power and providence women travailed and delivered so he gives power to bring forth the Church at his appointed time. read more
MEETING OF THE AGES We are drawing to the end of the present, and the opening of the Millennial age. The prophet’s eye rests on the time when Israel is back in her land, the majority still unconverted to Christ and worshiping in a restored temple. There is a faithful remnant waiting for Him, though enduring the persecution of the false christ. This persecution may often be felt at the hands of their own brethren after the flesh. These facts must be assumed in the interpretation of these... read more
Perhaps the voice here spoken of, means the voice of the gospel: and the effects of it follow. Quick was the success, when the Holy Ghost came upon them that heard the voice. Jehovah inquireth whether such things were ever heard of before? And the Apostle Paul asserts, that when the Lord thus works by his word, and in his word, souls shall be constrained to confess, that God was in that word of a truth; 1 Corinthians 14:25 . read more
Get Bible verse every day in your inbox
Read on Mobile
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 66:8
(8) Shall the earth be made . . .—Better, Shall a land be made to travail. The usually slow processes of national development are contrasted with the supernatural rapidity of the birth and growth of the new Israel. read more