Commentary - Isaiah 66:1-4

Bird's-eye view

As the prophecy of Isaiah draws to its majestic close, God delivers a foundational lesson on the nature of true worship. This is not a new theme, but a final, powerful summation. God begins by reminding His people of His infinite transcendence; the Creator of the heavens and the earth cannot be contained in a man-made box, no matter how glorious that box might be. The temple in Jerusalem, which had become a source of nationalistic pride and superstitious confidence, is put in its proper place. It is not the building that God desires, but the heart of the worshipper. The central contrast of this passage is between the uncontainable, sovereign God and the specific kind of person He condescends to notice: the one who is humble, contrite, and who trembles at His word. This heart-attitude is everything. Without it, the entire sacrificial system, the very liturgy ordained by God Himself, becomes a grotesque and damnable abomination. The passage concludes with a terrifying principle of reciprocal justice: those who choose their own rebellious ways will find that God, in turn, will choose their punishments.

This is a permanent warning against all forms of external, hypocritical religion. It teaches that the prescribed elements of worship, when offered from a heart that delights in its own ways, are not just empty but are positively offensive to God. He equates such worship with murder, idolatry, and paganism. This is the logical and covenantal basis for the judgment that would eventually fall on the temple and the old covenant system, and it remains a searching word for the church today, lest we believe that our correct forms and orthodox statements can be a substitute for a broken and contrite heart.

Outline

Context In Isaiah

Isaiah 66 is the final chapter of this monumental prophecy. It serves as a capstone to the entire book, bringing together themes of judgment and restoration, the faithful remnant and the rebellious majority, and the nature of true worship. The preceding chapters have promised a glorious future, a new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17). But before this final restoration, God must make a sharp and final distinction between two types of people who claim to be His. This passage directly confronts the misplaced confidence of those in Jerusalem who trusted in the physical temple and its rituals for their standing with God. It echoes earlier critiques of hypocritical worship in Isaiah (e.g., Isa 1:11-15). This section functions as God's final declaration on what He requires as He prepares to dismantle the old order and establish the new covenant, where His presence will dwell not in a house of stone, but in the hearts of His people through the Holy Spirit.

Key Issues

The Uncontainable God and the Contrite Heart

One of the constant temptations for religious people is to try to manage God. We do this by building systems, structures, and buildings that give us a sense of control. We can come to think that God is "in" our church building, or that He is somehow bound to our rituals. We begin to think that if we just perform the right actions, we can put God in our debt. This was the deep-seated sin of the people of Judah. They had the temple, God's house, and they believed this gave them a special status, a kind of spiritual immunity. In these opening verses of the final chapter, God takes a sledgehammer to that entire way of thinking. He is not against the temple He commanded them to build, but He is most certainly against the arrogance that uses the temple as a substitute for a right heart.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Thus says Yahweh, “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is the footstool of My feet. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?

God begins by establishing His sheer magnitude. He is not a local deity who needs a house. His throne, the seat of His sovereign rule, is heaven itself. The entire created cosmos is His domain. The earth, the place where men build their proud little structures, is merely the footstool for His feet. The imagery is designed to create a sense of infinite distance between the Creator and the creature. Given this reality, the two questions He asks are devastatingly rhetorical. "Where then is a house you could build for Me?" The implied answer is nowhere. No building of stone and gold can possibly contain the one who made it all. "And where is a place that I may rest?" God is not a weary traveler looking for lodging. This is a direct rebuke to the idea that the temple was a place God needed. He condescended to place His name there, but He was never confined by it.

2 For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares Yahweh. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.

He reinforces the point by reminding them that He is the Creator. His hand made "all these things," which includes not just the heavens and the earth, but also the cedars of Lebanon, the gold of Ophir, and the skilled hands of the craftsmen who built the temple. The owner and maker of all things is in need of nothing. Then comes the great pivot of the passage, introduced by the word "But." This is where the gospel light breaks through. The infinite, transcendent God, who cannot be contained by the universe, declares that there is, in fact, something He will "look to." He will turn His favorable attention to a particular kind of person. This person is not defined by his wealth, his lineage, or his religious performance, but by his internal character. He is humble (or poor, afflicted), recognizing his utter dependence on God. He is contrite of spirit, literally "smitten in spirit," meaning he is broken and sorrowful over his own sin. And he trembles at My word, meaning he takes the commands and promises of God with the utmost seriousness. This is the true temple where God chooses to dwell.

3 “But he who slaughters an ox is the one who strikes down a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is the one who offers swine’s blood; He who offers a memorial offering of frankincense is the one who blesses wickedness. As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul takes pleasure in their detestable things,

This verse is intentionally shocking. God takes the four principal types of offerings from the Levitical system and equates them with the most heinous sins imaginable. An ox sacrifice, the highest form of worship, is equated with murder. A lamb sacrifice is like breaking a dog's neck, a profane and useless act with an unclean animal. A grain offering is no better than offering pig's blood, a supreme abomination to a Jew. And offering frankincense, a sweet-smelling aroma, is like blessing an idol or some other form of wickedness. How can this be? The second half of the verse gives the reason: "As they have chosen their own ways, and their soul takes pleasure in their detestable things." The heart of the worshipper is rotten. They are outwardly conforming to the liturgy while inwardly their soul delights in rebellion and sin. Their worship is a lie. It is a hypocritical performance designed to cloak a wicked heart. And God says that such worship is not just neutral or ineffective; it is positively damnable.

4 So I will choose their punishments And will bring on them what they dread, Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen. And they did what was evil in My eyes And chose that in which I did not take pleasure.”

The judgment is a perfect, terrifying mirror of the sin. The verse begins with a direct parallel: "As they have chosen their own ways... So I will choose their punishments." This is the principle of lex talionis, an eye for an eye, applied to the heart. You insisted on your choice, so I will now exercise My choice. You chose your sin; I will choose your sorrows. God will bring upon them the very things they dread. The reason for this severe judgment is their persistent, willful deafness to God's grace. He called, but they refused to answer. He spoke through His prophets, but they refused to listen. Instead, they deliberately did evil and chose what they knew displeased Him. Their hypocritical worship was not an unfortunate mistake; it was the capstone of a life of settled rebellion against their covenant Lord.

Application

It is very easy for us, as New Covenant believers, to read a passage like this and thank God that we are not like those Jews with their bloody sacrifices and their physical temple. But to do so is to miss the point entirely and fall into the very sin the passage condemns. The temptation to substitute external religious activity for a humble and contrite heart is a permanent feature of fallen human nature. We don't have a temple of stone, but we have our church services, our worship songs, our theological systems, our ministries, and our personal devotions. And every single one of these good things can be turned into an abomination if the heart is not right.

This passage forces us to ask the hard questions. Why do we come to church? Is it to be seen by others, to feel good about ourselves, to check a religious box? Or is it because we are poor in spirit, broken over our sin, and we tremble at the word of the living God? When we sing, are we just making noise, or is it the overflow of a heart captivated by the mercy of God? When we give our money, is it a proud payment for services rendered, or a grateful offering from a humble servant? God is not impressed by the size of our budget, the quality of our music, or the eloquence of our preaching if the people are not humble, contrite, and trembling before Him.

The only safeguard against this kind of hypocrisy is the gospel itself. The only man who ever perfectly fulfilled the requirements of this text was the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the truly humble one, the man of sorrows, who obeyed His Father's word even unto death. And it is only when we are clothed in His righteousness that our own faltering, imperfect worship can be made acceptable to God. True worship begins when we stop trusting in what we do for God and start trusting in what Christ has done for us. That is what produces a truly humble and contrite spirit.