Let’s make an few points in Isaiah 64-65.
1. Isaiah points out that God’s redemptive purposes remained concealed from human cognition: “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him” (Isaiah 64:4 NKJV).
2. The apostle Paul subsequently appropriates this in 1 Corinthians 2:9 to establish its correlation with the revelation of “the mystery of God” to the elect recipients of divine disclosure.
3. Following his portrayal of the nation of Israel (Zion and Jerusalem) in a state of devastation, Isaiah presents a theological inquiry to the Almighty: “Will You restrain Yourself because of these things, O Lord? Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us very severely?” (Isaiah 64:12 NKJV).
4. This rhetorical question establishes the framework for God’s subsequent response in chapter 65, which unveils His redemptive plan for both Gentiles and Israel.
5. The Lord’s response articulates His intention to extend covenant privileges beyond ethnic Israel: “I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that was not called by My name” (Isaiah 65:1 NKJV).
6. This prophetic declaration anticipates the reality of Gentile inclusion within the covenant promises previously reserved for Israel.
7. God provides the rationale for His turn toward the Gentiles by delineating Israel’s persistent covenant violations: “I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts; a people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face” (Isaiah 65:2-3 NKJV).
8. Their syncretistic religious practices, including heterodox sacrificial rites in gardens and incense offerings on unauthorized altars, exemplified their fundamental rejection of covenantal fidelity.
9. The Lord announces His determination to execute covenant judgment: “Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silence, but will repay—even repay into their bosom—your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,” says the Lord (Isaiah 65:6-7 NKJV).
10. This vengeance had been prophetically documented approximately seven centuries earlier in Deuteronomy 32:34-43, where God promised to execute collective vengeance upon the entirety of the Israelite nation for their accumulated transgressions.
11. The motif of divine vengeance administered “into their bosom” establishes a direct theological connection to the eschatological judgment described in Revelation 18:20,24.
12. This intertextual relationship demonstrates the coherence of the biblical prophecy, illustrating how Isaiah’s oracles constitute an integral component of the comprehensive scriptural narrative spanning from Hebrew prophecy through New Testament apocalyptic eschatology.
