Isa 66:11-12 | KingComments | STEP | With the return of Christ, the nations are judged and the believing remnant of Israel is redeemed. It is now time for the Person of Christ to be revealed to the people. In view of this, mentions the future time of Jacob’s distress – “travail” over the people through the antichrist – and the fact of the coming of Christ in the flesh. This experience of the people contrasts with the circumstances of a natural birth. There first come the travail and then the birth. Here the order is reversed and that provokes the question of . There is a clear connection with the first verses of Revelation 12 ( ). There the people are presented as a woman and are said to have given birth to a male Child. That refers to the Lord Jesus. The Roman power, under the inspiration of satan, has been ready to devour the Child, as is written in Revelation 12 ( ), and thereby fulfilled what is written there. Herod would have killed the Child, as soon as the woman had given birth to it, if he had been able to do so. But the male Child was caught up to God and His throne. This refers to the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, which have already taken place. The death and resurrection of Christ are passed over here. The ascension is the result of the rejection of Christ by the people of Israel. So, the people have met Christ before. The era of Christendom is hidden in the Old Testament and is therefore passed over here. The great tribulation is still future and is presented here as a direct result of the rejection of Christ. This explains the reversal of the natural order of the circumstances of birth as Isaiah suggests, that the birth is there before the travail comes. The following questions in point to the consequence and outcome of the people’s travails. These two questions should be answered positively, while the first two questions should be answered in the negative. The answer is given at the end of the verse. Then there is first travail and then birth. That is a difference with the foregoing, where it was about Christ. In agreement with travail and birth we see that the result of the great tribulation is: God’s earthly people as a nation in peace, joy and justice under the mighty hand of his Messiah and Deliverer. That is why the Lord Jesus calls this era “the regeneration” ( ). It is not about the national restoration of the people of Israel, but about the spiritual restoration of these people. The people must be distinguished from the “boy” in . In summary we find here two births and one travail. The first birth is of Christ and the second of the faithful remnant. Between these two births we find the one travail, that is the great tribulation. The period of two thousand years between the ascension of Christ and the great tribulation is not included here. gives the certainty that the LORD will finish His work. After the travail, the birth will follow. He will complete the birth of the people. In view of that birth which takes place when He delivers His people from their time of unprecedented tribulation, there follows a call of the LORD to all who rejoice in Him and His purpose. All who love His earthly people may rejoice with Jerusalem and rejoice over her ( ). Those who mourn her wretched condition, deprived of children, are invited to rejoice with her. Those who are so concerned with her in the time to come will have the benefit of it when she is established on earth. In Jerusalem is presented as a mother who brings forth children and nurses them personally. Thereby there is left enough for others, so that she is also a source of blessing for all those outside Jerusalem who come to her. She is not the source of blessing herself, but derives all blessing from the LORD.

‏ Isaiah 66:11-12

A New Birth and Joy

With the return of Christ, the nations are judged and the believing remnant of Israel is redeemed. It is now time for the Person of Christ to be revealed to the people.

In view of this, Isa 66:7 mentions the future time of Jacob’s distress – “travail” over the people through the antichrist – and the fact of the coming of Christ in the flesh. This experience of the people contrasts with the circumstances of a natural birth. There first come the travail and then the birth. Here the order is reversed and that provokes the question of Isa 66:8.

There is a clear connection with the first verses of Revelation 12 (Rev 12:1-6). There the people are presented as a woman and are said to have given birth to a male Child. That refers to the Lord Jesus. The Roman power, under the inspiration of satan, has been ready to devour the Child, as is written in Revelation 12 (Rev 12:4), and thereby fulfilled what is written there. Herod would have killed the Child, as soon as the woman had given birth to it, if he had been able to do so. But the male Child was caught up to God and His throne. This refers to the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, which have already taken place.

The death and resurrection of Christ are passed over here. The ascension is the result of the rejection of Christ by the people of Israel. So, the people have met Christ before. The era of Christendom is hidden in the Old Testament and is therefore passed over here. The great tribulation is still future and is presented here as a direct result of the rejection of Christ. This explains the reversal of the natural order of the circumstances of birth as Isaiah suggests, that the birth is there before the travail comes.

The following questions in Isa 66:8 point to the consequence and outcome of the people’s travails. These two questions should be answered positively, while the first two questions should be answered in the negative. The answer is given at the end of the verse. Then there is first travail and then birth. That is a difference with the foregoing, where it was about Christ. In agreement with travail and birth we see that the result of the great tribulation is: God’s earthly people as a nation in peace, joy and justice under the mighty hand of his Messiah and Deliverer.

That is why the Lord Jesus calls this era “the regeneration” (Mt 19:28). It is not about the national restoration of the people of Israel, but about the spiritual restoration of these people. The people must be distinguished from the “boy” in Isa 66:7.

In summary we find here two births and one travail. The first birth is of Christ and the second of the faithful remnant. Between these two births we find the one travail, that is the great tribulation. The period of two thousand years between the ascension of Christ and the great tribulation is not included here.

Isa 66:9 gives the certainty that the LORD will finish His work. After the travail, the birth will follow. He will complete the birth of the people. In view of that birth which takes place when He delivers His people from their time of unprecedented tribulation, there follows a call of the LORD to all who rejoice in Him and His purpose. All who love His earthly people may rejoice with Jerusalem and rejoice over her (Isa 66:10). Those who mourn her wretched condition, deprived of children, are invited to rejoice with her. Those who are so concerned with her in the time to come will have the benefit of it when she is established on earth.

In Isa 66:11 Jerusalem is presented as a mother who brings forth children and nurses them personally. Thereby there is left enough for others, so that she is also a source of blessing for all those outside Jerusalem who come to her. She is not the source of blessing herself, but derives all blessing from the LORD.

Jerusalem, Source of Comfort and Growth

The LORD declares that He will extend peace to her like a river (Isa 66:12). Israel will receive the riches of the nations who will take care of the people with the greatest devotion and attentiveness (cf. Isa 49:23 ; Isa 60:4). Jerusalem was destroyed by the king of the North, but now the Lord Jesus comes to Jerusalem with the believing remnant. Thus begins the restoration of the land, the full fulfillment of the year of jubilee (Lev 25:8-13), or the “period of restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21).

In Isa 66:13 the LORD explains how He Himself will care for His people in Jerusalem with motherly care. God is father and mother at the same time. The result of that care is that their hearts will rejoice and their bones (body) will flourish like young grass (Isa 66:14). This is a vivid description of the prosperous state of Israel when the LORD rules over the earth. It is a state of perfect peace (Isa 32:17-18).

The last part of Isa 66:14 makes it clear that no power of the enemy will be able to threaten this peace, for His indignation is public toward His enemies.