The Unquenchable Fire and the Abominable Picnic Text: Isaiah 66:15-17
Introduction: The God Who Is Not Tame
We live in an age of domesticated deities. Our generation has a peculiar talent for creating gods in its own image, gods who are affirming, therapeutic, and above all, manageable. They are mascot gods, cosmic butlers, deities who would never dream of offending our modern sensibilities. They are, in short, nothing like the God of the Bible. The God who reveals Himself in the Scriptures, and who speaks with finality here at the end of Isaiah’s prophecy, is a consuming fire. He is not safe, but He is good. And His goodness includes His wrath.
Many modern evangelicals are embarrassed by the wrath of God. They shuffle their feet, cough politely, and try to change the subject to something more palatable, like God’s love. But God’s love and God’s wrath are not contradictory attributes; they are two sides of the same coin of His holiness. Wrath is the holy revulsion of God's being against that which is the contradiction of His holiness. Because God is holy, He must hate sin. Because He is love, He must destroy that which destroys what He loves. To wish for a God without wrath is to wish for a God who does not love justice, who is indifferent to evil, and who ultimately does not love you enough to fight for you.
Isaiah 66 is the final chapter of a grand and sweeping prophecy. It began with a declaration of God's majesty and a condemnation of Israel's hollow worship. It has soared to the heights of messianic promise and plunged to the depths of human rebellion. And now, it concludes with a stark and non-negotiable division of all humanity into two camps: those who tremble at His Word and those who will be consumed by His fire. This passage is not a gentle suggestion. It is a declaration of how history will end. It is a vision of the final judgment, where God settles all accounts, and there is no middle ground.
We must therefore read this not as an angry outburst from an Old Testament deity whom Jesus later calmed down. No, this is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The same Jesus who spoke of green trees and still waters also spoke more of Hell than any other figure in the Bible. The final judgment described here is the very judgment that the Son will execute on behalf of the Father. This is not something to be explained away; it is something to be reckoned with.
The Text
For behold, Yahweh will come in fire And His chariots like the whirlwind, To return His anger with wrath, And His rebuke with flames of fire.
For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire And by His sword on all flesh, And those slain by Yahweh will be many.
“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens, Following one in the center, Who eat swine’s flesh, detestable things, and mice, Will come to an end altogether,” declares Yahweh.
(Isaiah 66:15-17 LSB)
The Theophany of Judgment (v. 15)
We begin with the terrifying majesty of God's final arrival on the scene of human history.
"For behold, Yahweh will come in fire And His chariots like the whirlwind, To return His anger with wrath, And His rebuke with flames of fire." (Isaiah 66:15)
The word "behold" is a summons to pay attention. This is not abstract theology; it is an impending reality. Yahweh Himself will come. History is not a random series of events aimlessly wandering toward nothing. It is a story, and the author is about to step onto the stage to deliver the final lines. And His entrance is not quiet. He comes "in fire."
Throughout Scripture, fire represents the presence of God in His unapproachable holiness and His purifying judgment. It was fire at the burning bush, fire on Mount Sinai, fire in the pillar that led Israel. Fire is what separates the holy from the profane. It is what consumes the unacceptable sacrifice and purifies the precious metal. Here, the fire is entirely judicial. It is the manifestation of His "anger with wrath" and His "rebuke with flames of fire." This is not a petulant outburst. This is the settled, righteous, and terrifying opposition of the Creator to all rebellion.
He comes with "His chariots like the whirlwind." This is the imagery of an ancient near-eastern suzerain, a great king arriving for war. His chariots are not slow and lumbering; they are like a whirlwind, irresistible, swift, and utterly devastating. This is a picture of overwhelming power. When God decides to act in judgment, there is no force in the universe that can stand against Him. Human armies, political institutions, rebellious ideologies, they are all chaff before this whirlwind.
The language is intense because the reality it describes is intense. This is the final answer to all the arrogant boasts of fallen men, to every fist shaken at heaven, to every law of God mocked in the public square. God's patience is not His permission, and His longsuffering is not His powerlessness. The day is coming when He will render His anger, and it will be with fire.
The Universal Execution (v. 16)
Verse 16 clarifies the nature and scope of this fiery arrival. It is a universal judgment.
"For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire And by His sword on all flesh, And those slain by Yahweh will be many." (Isaiah 66:16)
The instruments of judgment are specified: "by fire and by His sword." The fire consumes, and the sword divides. This is the great separation. The sword of the Lord is His Word (Hebrews 4:12), which discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. Here, it is the instrument of execution. This is the sword that proceeds from the mouth of the rider on the white horse in the book of Revelation (Rev. 19:15). It is the decisive, discriminating judgment of God.
And upon whom does this judgment fall? "On all flesh." This is a staggering statement. "All flesh" refers to all of humanity in its natural, fallen, unredeemed state. It signifies the totality of the human race in rebellion against God. This is not just about the pagan nations outside of Israel. By this point in Isaiah's prophecy, it is abundantly clear that the covenant people themselves are deeply implicated in this rebellion. The judgment begins at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). This is a judgment on all who are merely "flesh," all who have not been born of the Spirit, all who have not taken refuge in the Messiah.
The result is grim and sobering: "And those slain by Yahweh will be many." Our sentimental age wants to believe in a God who would never do such a thing, a God for whom "many" would be an unthinkably large number. But the Scriptures are plain. Jesus Himself said the road to destruction is broad and many enter through it, while the gate to life is narrow and few find it (Matthew 7:13-14). This is not a failure of God's plan. It is the tragic success of man's rebellion. God will not force anyone into heaven against their will. Those who have spent their entire lives telling God to leave them alone will find that He honors their request, eternally.
The Essence of the Crime (v. 17)
After describing the awesome nature of the judgment, the Lord identifies the kind of people who will be judged. He gives us a specific snapshot of the rebellion that provokes this fiery response.
"Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens, Following one in the center, Who eat swine’s flesh, detestable things, and mice, Will come to an end altogether,” declares Yahweh." (Isaiah 66:17)
This verse is a polemic against syncretism, the blending of true worship with pagan idolatry. Notice the language. These people "sanctify and purify themselves." They are religious. They are going through rituals. But it is a self-sanctification, a DIY-holiness project. They are not coming to God on His terms, but on theirs. They are not receiving a righteousness from Him, but are attempting to generate their own.
And where do they go to perform these rituals? "To the gardens." This is a direct echo of the first rebellion in the Garden of Eden, and a reference to the pagan fertility cults that were often practiced in sacred groves and gardens. They are rejecting the Temple, the place God appointed for worship, in favor of their own chosen venues. This is the essence of all false religion: it is worship that we invent, in a place we choose, according to rules we devise.
They are "following one in the center." This points to some kind of guru or cult leader, the central figure in their idolatrous rites. They have rejected the one true God to follow a charismatic but false teacher. And what is the content of their worship? They "eat swine’s flesh, detestable things, and mice." These are all animals explicitly forbidden as unclean in the Mosaic law (Leviticus 11). Eating pork was a notorious sign of apostasy. It was a deliberate act of contempt for God's covenant distinctions. It was a way of saying, "We will not have God's lines and boundaries. We will define clean and unclean for ourselves."
This is not just about diet. It is about a fundamental rejection of God's authority to define reality. When God says something is unclean, He is establishing a created boundary. To deliberately cross that boundary is to spit in the Creator's face. This abominable picnic is a picture of a culture that has decided to erase all of God's distinctions. They are spiritual, but not biblical. They are religious, but not righteous. And the Lord's verdict is absolute: they "will come to an end altogether." There is no partial judgment, no second chance. Their self-made religion leads to total annihilation.
The Fire Escaped
This is a terrifying passage. And it should be. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If the prospect of a holy God arriving in flaming fire to execute judgment does not sober you, then you have not been paying attention. But this is not the last word for everyone. The whole point of a warning like this is so that men might flee the wrath to come.
How can anyone escape this fire? How can "all flesh," which is condemned, find mercy? The answer is that God has provided a way for the judgment of fire to fall, but not on us. On the cross, God the Son, Jesus Christ, entered into the fiery whirlwind of God's wrath. He became the one "slain by Yahweh." All the fury that our sin deserved, all the righteous anger against our idolatrous picnics, was poured out without mixture onto Him.
The New Testament tells us that our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). You either meet that fire in Christ, where it has already done its work of judgment and now becomes a purifying fire for you, or you meet it on your own, where it will consume you eternally. There is no third option.
The cross is God's answer to the idolatry in the gardens. We tried to sanctify ourselves, and failed. So He sent His Son to be our sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:30). We followed false leaders in the center, so He sent the true Center, the one in whom all things hold together (Colossians 1:17). We ate detestable things, flaunting our rebellion. So He gave us His own flesh and blood as true food and true drink, the only meal that brings life instead of death (John 6:55).
Therefore, the question this text puts to every one of us is this: When the Lord comes in fire, where will you be standing? Will you be standing on your own self-purification, in a garden of your own choosing, trusting in your own righteousness? If so, you will come to an end altogether. Or will you be found in Christ, having fled to Him for refuge, clothed in His righteousness, having already passed through the fire in Him? For those who tremble at His word, the day of His coming is not a day of terror, but a day of final vindication. It is the day when all the detestable things are finally consumed, and the new heavens and the new earth, the true Garden of God, are established forever.