Isaiah 66: The Birth of an Age: Chapter 22: The Sign of the Son of Man

In speaking of the sons of God, the children of the New Jerusalem (i.e., Sarah), the Lord also speaks of executing judgment upon those who eat unclean spiritual food. The contrast between the two groups is apparent in Isaiah 66:16 and 17. But then the word is once again directed toward the sons of God and their mission in the earth.

Isaiah 66:18 says,

¹⁸ For I knew their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.

The first phrase properly belongs to the previous verse, for “their works and their thoughts” refer to the people eating swine’s flesh and mice. The rest of the verse opens a new paragraph that speaks of the end of the age when God’s glory is to be revealed in a greater way, so that the nations as a whole “shall come and see My glory.”

It is likely that the prophet’s thoughts would have turned to the time of Moses when the nation of Israel was gathered at the Mount to see the glory of God. The future glory, however, was to be shown to all nations, and the sons of God were called to gather them together, as we see in the next verse.

The Sign

Isaiah 66:19 says,

¹⁹ “I will set a sign [oth] among them and will send survivors [palit] from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal, and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations.”

This is probably the sign that Jesus talked about in Matt. 24:30, 31,

³⁰ And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory, ³¹ And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds and from one end of the sky to the other.

The timing of this “sign” is given in the previous verse, “immediately after the tribulation of those days.” This refers to the tribulation of Jerusalem itself. At the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., there were many signs in the heavens, recorded by Josephus, an eyewitness. Some argue that these signs fulfilled the prophecy before the city was destroyed.

However, Jerusalem was later rebuilt, making it necessary to fulfill the prophecy more completely. Hence, this sign must come again in our time.

As for the actual nature of the sign, Isaiah uses the Hebrew word oth, “a sign or mark.” It is the meaning of the tav, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which was originally written as a cross or X. This tav is the “mark” that was put on the protected ones in Ezekiel 9:6. In other words, it is the sign of the cross and is—at least on one level—the sign of the Son of Man.

Such a sign already existed in the constellation known as the Southern Cross. This was still visible to Isaiah, for it did not slip below the horizon until about the time of Christ. So Isaiah may have pictured in his mind the Southern Cross when this sign was revealed to him.

Whatever the sign will be, the crucifixion scene itself was the first fulfillment. When the Son of Man was lifted up between heaven and earth (John 12:32), it paved the way for the apostles to be sent out to gather all nations to Christ. Yet there is certainly a greater fulfillment yet to come. In the past, the people were gathered to Jesus the King of Judah, but in His second coming, He comes of Joseph with His robe dipped in blood (Rev. 19:13).

In the past, only a remnant was gathered, but in the future, all nations will gather, rallying around him. This was prophesied in Gen. 49:10, where Judah was to steward the Dominion Mandate “until Shiloh comes,” at which time the Mandate would pass to Joseph. Recall that Joseph dreamed that all of his brethren would bow down to him. Hence, the sign of the Son of Man is better associated with the second coming of Christ.

The Gathering of Nations

Isaiah says that God will “send survivors from them to the nations.” The Hebrew word translated “survivors” is palit, which, I believe, is synonymous with she’ar, the “surviving remnant” (Isaiah 37:31). One of Isaiah’s great themes, depicted in the name of his son, was she’ar-jashub, “the remnant will return.” In Isaiah 66 we see this remnant not only returning to God but also being sent out as apostles to declare and show the nations the glory of God.

This occurred with the original apostles, as we read in the book of Acts, but it must occur again at the end of the age. These apostles will be full of God’s glory, so that if you see them, you will see Christ in them.

A sampling of the nations who see the glory of God in them are listed in Isaiah 66:19. These include some interesting names including Meshech and Tubal, who are the enemies of Israel in Ezekiel 38, 39.

Isaiah 66:20 then says,

²⁰ “Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the Lord, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.

Who are these “brethren” being gathered? The only clue given here is that they are brought “as a grain offering.” They are acceptable offerings to God, because they are brought “in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.” Grain offerings were described in Lev. 2:1,

¹ Now when anyone presents a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it.

In other words, grain offerings were to be anointed with oil and frankincense. The oil signifies the Holy Spirit, and the frankincense (lebonaw, “white”) signifies the glorified body. These “brethren,” then, are those of the body of Christ who are called out of all nations.

John describes this group in Rev. 5:9, 10,

⁹ And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. ¹⁰ You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.

These are the overcomers and are distinct from the rest of humanity who will also be reconciled to God (Rev. 5:11-13). The overcomers, then, will be brought to the New Jerusalem. The prophet pictures them coming with many forms of transportation known in that day. We need not take this too literally.

True Worship Restored

Isaiah 66:21 says,

²¹ “I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites,” says the Lord.

The priesthood has changed since Isaiah’s day. Old Covenant priests and Levites were disqualified by their rejection of Jesus Christ. Hence, they have been replaced by the greater (and earlier) Order of Melchizedek.

These are the priests who “will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years” (Rev. 20:6).

Isaiah 66:22, 23 says,

²² “For just as the new heavens and new earth which I make will endure before Me,” declares the Lord, “So your offspring and your name will endure. ²³ And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from sabbath to sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the Lord.

All mankind will worship the true God in that day. The reference to “new heavens and new earth” attributes this worship to the time after the great White Throne judgment. Likewise, only after this judgment does John speak of the new heaven and new earth (in Rev. 21:1). Even so, this is a process, not a singular event. The main point is that Isaiah was seeing far into the future.

Isaiah 66:24 concludes,

²⁴ “Then they will go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched; and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”

This is not the equivalent of the “lake of fire” in Rev. 20:15. It is rather a description of the final battle just prior to the great White Throne judgment in Rev. 20:9,

⁹ And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city [New Jerusalem], and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

Not long afterward, all of these men will be raised from the dead and summoned to the great White Throne for the final judgment. All those who were disobedient and did not believe the gospel will be cast into the “lake of fire,” that is, the “fiery law” in Deut. 33:2, KJV. There they will learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9) in submission to the authority of the overcomers, until finally the great Creation Jubilee arrives, when all of creation is “set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21).

Then the promise of God will be fulfilled, not only in the few but in all of mankind, as we read in Heb. 2:8,

⁸ You have put all things in subjection under His feet. For in subjecting all things to Him, He left nothing that is not subject to Him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to Him.

And again, Paul writes in 1 Cor. 15:27, 28,

²⁷ For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. ²⁸ When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.

Then Isaiah’s prophetic name will be fulfilled. The prophecies of the Prophet of Universal Salvation will then be fulfilled completely. That is the destiny of mankind and the end of the story.