The Joy of the Right Jerusalem Text: Isaiah 66:10-14
Introduction: A Tale of Two Mothers
The Bible is a story of two women, two cities, two families. From the very beginning, we have the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. We have Cain's city and Abel's altar. We have Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac. We have Babylon the Harlot and Jerusalem the Bride. Scripture is a great divorce story, a sorting out of two rival lineages that culminates in two final destinations: the New Jerusalem and the Lake of Fire. There is no middle ground, no third way. You are a child of one mother or the other.
Isaiah, standing at the end of his long prophecy, brings this great antithesis to a razor's edge. He is not speaking about a geographical location in the Middle East, but about two rival covenants, two ways of being the people of God. There is a Jerusalem that is apostate, a house left desolate, that has rejected her king. And there is a Jerusalem from above, which is the mother of us all. This passage is a command, a divine imperative, to choose your mother wisely. It is a call to align your affections, your loyalties, and your joys with the right Jerusalem.
We live in a time of great confusion in the church. We have a multitude of institutions that bear the name of Christ, but which offer the world's comforts, the world's philosophies, and the world's approval. They are a mother, of a sort, but their breasts offer the thin gruel of therapeutic deism, not the rich milk of the Word. This passage forces us to ask the question: Which Jerusalem do you love? The one that mourns over her sin and longs for the king, or the one that has made her peace with the king's enemies? Your answer to that question determines whether the contents of this passage are a promise of unimaginable comfort or a threat of terrible indignation.
The Text
"Be glad with Jerusalem and rejoice for her, all you who love her; Be exceedingly joyful with her, all you who mourn over her, That you may nurse and be satisfied with her comforting breasts, That you may suck and be delighted with her bountiful bosom." For thus says Yahweh, "Behold, I stretch out peace to her like a river, And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; And you will be nursed; you will be carried on the hip and played with on the knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; And you will be comforted in Jerusalem." Then you will see this, and your heart will be joyful, And your bones will flourish like the new grass; And the hand of Yahweh will be made known to His slaves, But He will be indignant toward His enemies.
(Isaiah 66:10-14 LSB)
Sorrow and Joy, Hand in Hand (v. 10)
The first thing we must see is who is being addressed. The command to rejoice is given to a very specific group of people.
"Be glad with Jerusalem and rejoice for her, all you who love her; Be exceedingly joyful with her, all you who mourn over her," (Isaiah 66:10)
Notice the two descriptions: "all you who love her" and "all you who mourn over her." These are not two different groups. They are the same people described from two different angles. This is the paradox of true Christian affection. To truly love the Church, the true Jerusalem, is necessarily to mourn over her. You mourn her unfaithfulness, her compromises with the world, her blemishes, her spots, and her lukewarm heart. A man who truly loves his wife is grieved by her sickness; he does not pretend it isn't there.
This cuts down two common errors. The first is the error of the professional cynic, the man who only ever mourns. He sees the problems in the church, and he is good at diagnosing them, but he has forgotten the promises of God. His mourning sours into a bitter and perpetual complaint. He has forgotten that the command is to be "exceedingly joyful." The second error is that of the sentimentalist, the happy-clappy booster who "loves" a church he never has to mourn for. His love is a cheap affection because it is blind. He loves an idealized institution of his own imagining, not the actual bride of Christ in her earthly pilgrimage. He refuses to mourn because he refuses to see the sin.
The true saint does both. He loves Jerusalem enough to weep over her sins, and he loves God enough to rejoice in the promises He has made to that same Jerusalem. The mourning is the necessary prerequisite for the joy. It is because you have mourned that you are now commanded to be exceedingly glad. God is about to act, and your sorrow is about to be turned into an overflowing joy.
The Comforting Mother (v. 11)
The reason for this joy is presented in the most intimate and tender of metaphors: the church as a nursing mother.
"That you may nurse and be satisfied with her comforting breasts, That you may suck and be delighted with her bountiful bosom." (Isaiah 66:11)
This is what the true Church, the heavenly Jerusalem, is meant to be for her children. She is a source of life, nourishment, comfort, and profound satisfaction. Where do we find these "comforting breasts"? We find them in the means of grace God has given to His people. The pure preaching of the Word is this nourishing milk. The sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper are this bountiful bosom, where we are assured of our union with Christ and fed by Him. The fellowship of the saints, the singing of psalms, the corporate prayers, these are the arms of our mother.
To be satisfied here means to be filled to the full. The world offers a thousand distractions, a thousand cheap thrills, but it can never satisfy the human heart. The apostate church offers a similar menu of spiritual junk food, entertainment, and self-help moralism that leaves the soul anemic and starving. But God promises that for those who come to the true mother, there is satisfaction. There is delight. It is in the house of God, in the assembly of the saints, that our deepest longings are met. This is why the psalmist would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of his God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. He knew where the feast was.
The Source of Her Fullness (v. 12)
But where does the mother get this inexhaustible supply? She is not the ultimate source. Verse 12 tells us that her bounty is a gift from God Himself.
"For thus says Yahweh, 'Behold, I stretch out peace to her like a river, And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; And you will be nursed; you will be carried on the hip and played with on the knees.'" (Isaiah 66:12)
Yahweh is the one who acts. He extends peace, shalom, to her like a river. Shalom is not just the absence of conflict; it is wholeness, health, prosperity, and right order in all things. It is the comprehensive blessing of God. And it is not a trickle; it is a river, constant and abundant.
And then, "the glory of the nations" comes like an overflowing stream. This is a picture of the success of the Great Commission. This is the New Covenant reality where the Gentiles are brought in, and they do not come empty-handed. They bring their wealth, their art, their wisdom, their strength, their "glory," and lay it all at the feet of King Jesus, consecrating it to the service of His church. This is not the picture of a defeated, retreating church, hiding in a bunker waiting for the rapture. This is a picture of a triumphant, expanding kingdom, a city on a hill whose light draws the nations in.
And the result for her children is intimate, covenantal love. "You will be nursed... carried on the hip... played with on the knees." This is the language of parental delight. God does not just tolerate His people. He delights in them. He carries them, He bounces them on His knee. This is the security and joy of being a child in the house of a loving and all-powerful Father.
God's Own Comfort (v. 13-14)
The analogy is now made explicit, and the promise culminates in a vision of renewal and vindication.
"As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; And you will be comforted in Jerusalem." (Isaiah 66:13)
God Himself takes on the role of the comforting mother. The comfort we receive through the church is ultimately comfort from Him. The tenderness, the intimacy, the reassurance, it is all from His hand. And notice again the location: "you will be comforted in Jerusalem." God's comfort is not a free-floating, individualistic experience. It is located, grounded, and mediated through the covenant community. To despise the church is to cut yourself off from the very place God has appointed to give you His comfort.
And what is the result of this divine action?
"Then you will see this, and your heart will be joyful, And your bones will flourish like the new grass; And the hand of Yahweh will be made known to His slaves, But He will be indignant toward His enemies." (Isaiah 66:14)
First, seeing leads to joy. When God's people see Him at work, restoring His church, their hearts will be joyful. This is not a joy we have to work up; it is the natural response to witnessing the faithfulness of God. Second, there is deep, systemic renewal. "Your bones will flourish like the new grass." This is an image of resurrection life. It is the opposite of the "dryness" of bones that comes from despair (Prov. 17:22). It is a picture of a people revitalized from the inside out, healthy and vigorous.
Finally, the great division is made plain. The "hand of Yahweh," His power in action, will be revealed in two ways simultaneously. To His slaves, His loyal covenant servants, it will be made known as a hand of salvation, comfort, and blessing. But to His enemies, that very same hand will be known as a hand of indignation and wrath. God's grace and His judgment flow from the same character. The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay. The coming of God's kingdom is the best news in the world for those who love Jerusalem, and it is the worst possible news for those who have set themselves against her.
Conclusion: Come Home to Mother
This passage is a glorious promise, but it is also a sharp-edged warning. It commands us to rejoice, but only with the true Jerusalem. It calls us to find our comfort and satisfaction, but only at the breast of the true mother.
So the question comes to each one of us. Where are you seeking your comfort? Are you trying to nurse from the dry breast of a compromised, worldly church? Are you trying to find satisfaction in the broken cisterns of your own autonomy? God's invitation is to come home. Come home to the Jerusalem that is defined by faithfulness to His Word. Come home to the mother who will feed you the truth, even when it is hard.
Be one of those who loves her enough to mourn for her. And because you mourn, God gives you this glorious command: Be exceedingly joyful. Rejoice, because her king is not dead. He is reigning, and He is extending peace to her like a river. He is building His church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. He will comfort His people, He will renew their bones, and He will show His strong right hand on their behalf. This is our promised future, and therefore it is our present joy.