Isaiah 66:18-23 Scripture Study
By Pastor Chris Simmons – Trinity Lutheran Church, Paso Robles CA
A reinforcement/supplement study to our Sunday service meant for “Building up the body of Christ… the manifold Wisdom of God made known” (Ephesians 4+3)
For Sunday, December 14, 2025
When you look for Peace, how do you achieve it? Often, it’s by breaking things into “Pieces”. If two dogs are fighting and you want peace, you break them up. If your kids are having a disagreement, you break up the disagreement and send each child to their rooms. When a young couple are dating, and it’s not working out, they often break up. Certain people, when angry, break an object or smash something to release the tension to try and gain a sense of Peace…. As you see here, Peace by Pieces doesn’t work. The dogs will fight with other dogs, nothing is solved, just more broken. Your kids will fight again later, especially if they don’t find a way to love each other. Young couples leave with broken hearts, and if they never come to terms with how and why that relationship ended they are bound to repeat the same mistakes. And those who break objects or seek to break down others will never be satisfied. They will find the demands for their temporary peace to grow larger and larger, more and bigger things that they need to break in order to find temporary satisfaction if they don’t find ways to manage their anger. Peace by Pieces doesn’t work… the Israelites tried it as they separated themselves, a Northern and Southern Kingdom… only to fall apart. To have a lasting Peace, a real Peace, a Peace unlike the world gives, we need God to intervene. Jesus comes to unite God’s People through Himself, and in that forgiveness, we have a Home Unbroken.
Blessings on your study today.
-Pastor Chris Simmons
Discuss: What is the most valuable thing you’ve ever broken? A car? An antique? Who did it belong to and what did you do about it?
Isaiah 66:18-23 (ESV)
18 “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory…
Before getting much further, it’s good to establish some context of where we are in Isaiah.
Fun Fact: Isaiah is the 2nd longest book of the Old Testament when it comes to counting by Chapters with 66 (Psalms with 150… kinda cheating there though…). It is the 6th longest in the Old Testament in word count with 25,608 Hebrew Words (Jeremiah is the longest with 33, 002).
Why share that fun fact? Because just “plucking” a verse from such a long book of the Bible can come from a broad swath of topics, times, even perspectives.
Chapter 66 is the very last chapter in Isaiah, and our reading for this Sunday is among the very last verses of the entire book (We chose to exclude the final verse of this chapter this Sunday “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. “ Figured we’d leave that just for the kids to work through in Kids Church this week… ). In this final Chapter, we have a perspective tied to the book of Revelation, with even some direct quotations from Isaiah 66 featured in Revelation chapters 19-21. Isaiah is prophesying the end times here. These “works and thoughts” that God knows in verse 18 are mentioned throughout all the verses previous, but you get the gist from verse 17:
“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the Lord.”
The Lord will delight in those who are humble in heart and contrite in spirit. Those who pursue their own ways will be put to shame, even though they outwardly present that they are pure and “holy” the Lord will put an end to it…. For God knows their works and their thoughts.
Discuss: If you had the power to read minds, how would you use it for good? To know someone's works and thoughts as God does? (I think I would stand outside used car lots and yell out to people the lowest price they could get on each car…)
Isaiah 66
19 and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.
God will send out from among the survivors of His judgement of Israel to all the other nations. Again, sounding like a broken record over these few weeks I bet…
The Northern Kingdom of Israel (also called by the name Israel) fell during Isaiah’s time as Prophet in 722BC. He then warns the Southern Kingdom of Israel (Which goes by the name Kingdom of Judah) which also houses Jerusalem, they will meet a similar fate in the hands of Babylon. They indeed do in 586BC with the Babylonian Exile, the conquering of their Kingdom, and the destruction of Jerusalem. God’s people will be dispersed. First by the Assyrians, then by the Babylonians. Peace executed in a worldly style.. Peace by Pieces. As the Jews are dispersed across the land, with this end times prophecy, we see God’s people once again being united by this sign sent among them, “they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations” and this isn’t just to easily accessible neighboring countries when we read Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan Consider the distance from modern day Israel/Jerusalem to areas such as Spain, North Africa, Lydia/Asia Minor, Tubal/Asia Minor, and Greece. Even by today's standards that’s far, by ancient world standards, that’s unheard of. And still there is “to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory.” This means it will be a gathering of not only brothers meaning fellow Jews, but also those who aren’t even God’s People yet… meaning… Gentiles. And these Gentiles aren’t just tolerated, but brought into the family, even giving positions of prominence.
21 And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.
Discuss: Any time in your life, who are family friends that are/were considered family? Who were they and how were they “brought into the family”?
For the Jews at that time to hear that Gentiles (meaning those of not Jewish culture), would be brought into God’s family was unthinkable. It was one thing for a Jew to worship idols, adopt pieces of other cultures and pursue desires. But, for other cultures to adopt their namesake and their birthright? That was too much, especially for their pride, to handle. Especially now, as the Northern Kingdom had been conquered, and its people dispersed. The Southern Kingdom would be defeated by Babylon and brought into exile, ruled over once again as they once were in Egypt. They preferred Piece by Peaces. But that is not the Peace that God has in mind.
John 14:23-24, 27
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me… 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
The word for Peace here in verse 27 is εἰρήνη- eirḗnē - (from eirō, "to join, tie together into a whole") – properly, wholeness, i.e. when all essential parts are joined together. It’s taken directly from the Hebrew greeting Shalom (שׁלום) which mean “complete wholeness with God”. In fact, you greet and say goodbye the same way, wishing complete wholeness with God upon the person as you see them and as they leave you.
That’s the Peace that Jesus brings. Unlike the world that seeks Peace by Pieces and separation, Jesus brings wholeness, repair, and forgiveness with God. Peace is something Made Whole, something that is Unbroken. You hear this earlier in the chapter
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans…
The Promise to not be separated from God again. That once Jesus has come, God will live in you and with you. Home is Unbroken.
Discuss: How do you understand “Peace”? How is it more than “being quiet” or things being separated?
Continued Discussion: How does “making things whole” or “repairing what is broken” bring a more effective Peace than “Peace by Pieces”?
As Jesus stated, in verse 27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” This Peace, this wholeness that God brings to us is not a Peace that the world. This to us is a Peace that is something new.
Isaiah 66
22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth
that I make
shall remain before me, says the Lord,
so shall your offspring and your name remain.
23 From new moon to new moon,
and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
declares the Lord.
Isaiah tells us this New Peace will not be fleeting, it will be constant "From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath" The new heavens and new Earth will be filled by His Peace. It will be constant and never ending, it is something truly Unbroken.
This new heavens and new earth… our Peaceful Home with God is now Unbroken because it was earned by Christ, not our own efforts. It’s His Peace that He brings to us, and Peace that is about uniting His people. It creates a Home Unbroken because Jesus brings His Peace which is Unbroken. It’s a Peace we see not only in our Godly family, but one day will bring Peace on earth… even to our immediate families…
Prayer
What is some “broken peace” in your life today? (note: It’s not about how we can repair it ourselves and for some we may not see these made whole again during our time on this earth). How can you lay that before God today, knowing His Peace makes things whole again?
In what ways do you feel your “peace” is broken? How can you lay that before God today, knowing His Peace makes things whole again? That Jesus came so that His Peace would make you whole again?
In the ways we see our Homes break as all things eventually do in this world, due to sin and death… with it we carry around heart break as well. How can you lay whatever heart break you carry before God today, knowing His Peace makes it whole again? That Jesus came to dwell in your heart richly, to make a Home Unbroken in it, so that your heart would be?
Lord God, we come before you in need of a Home Unbroken. When we look to this world for peace, all we experience is a peace in pieces. We do our best to separate from what causes fighting, tension, and pain, never attaining true wholeness again. Forgive us Lord, direct us to You, please direct us to a Peace only you can provide, one that is beyond our understanding as you give to us the gift of Your Son, so that our Home with you is now Unbroken. A Peace only You can provide. We pray this all in Your name Jesus. Amen.