Isaiah 66:15 - Exposition

Behold, the Lord will come with fire. "Fire" is a usual accompaniment of a "theophany." God descended on Sinai "in fire" ( Exodus 19:18 ), and led the Israelites through the wilderness by the pillar of the cloud and of fire ( Exodus 13:21 , Exodus 13:22 ), and filled the tabernacle with a glory as of fire ( Exodus 40:34 ), and "answered David from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering'' ( 1 Chronicles 21:26 ), and in the same way answered Solomon ( 2 Chronicles 7:1 ) and Elijah ( 1 Kings 18:38 ). Isaiah almost always describes a theophany as a "coming with fire" (see Isaiah 10:16-18 ; Isaiah 27:4 ; Isaiah 29:6 ; Isaiah 30:27 , Isaiah 30:30 ; Isaiah 33:12 , Isaiah 33:14 , etc.). The agency of fire in the judgment that will overtake the wicked simultaneously with Christ's second coming, appears in 2 Thessalonians 1:8 ; 2 Peter 3:7-10 . With his chariots (comp. Psalms 68:17 ; Habakkuk 3:8 ). "Chariots," in the plural, may be regarded as symbolizing the "hosts" of natural and supernatural forces that God has at his command (Cheyne). Like a whirlwind. The whirring of the wheels of chariots, their noise, the swiftness of their pace, and the destruction that they cause, make this simile most appropriate. To render his anger; or, to expend his anger—to vent it.