Isaiah 65:8 - Meaning and Application

This is explained by Paul in Romans 11:1-5. There, when the rejection of the Jews is in view, the question is asked, “Has God cast away his people?” Paul answers, “No.” At that time, he says, there is a remnant chosen by grace. This prophecy points to that small, special remnant. When that false and stubborn nation is being destroyed, God will still set apart and keep some for himself. Some Jews will be brought to trust in Christ, joined to the church, and saved.

Jesus also told us that, for the sake of these chosen ones, the days of Jerusalem’s destruction would be shortened. Otherwise the ruin would have gone so far that no one would have survived (Matthew 24:22). This shows both God’s justice against sin and his mercy toward his own people.

The prophecy is pictured here with a simple comparison. When a vine has been so burned and shriveled that it seems dead, the vinedresser may be ready to pull it up or cut it down. But if even one cluster still has a little juice fit to make new wine, someone steps in and says, “Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it.” There is still life in the root, and hope that it may yet be useful.

In the same way, good people are a blessing to the places where they live. Often God spares whole cities and nations because of a few such people in them. We should want that honor, not just to stand apart from others, but to be useful to others.

The people who make up this saved remnant are then described. They are God’s servants. “For my servants’ sake,” he says, and “they are my servants” who will live there (Isaiah 65:8-9). God’s faithful servants, however little the world thinks of them, are often the best friends their country has. By serving God, they also serve the people around them.

They are also those who seek God, making it the aim of their lives to honor him and call on him. It is for “my people who have sought me.” Those who seek God will find him, and they will find that he rewards them generously.

God’s mercy for them is also described. The remnant that returns from captivity will be settled again in their own land in a happy way, and they will hold it by family right, as descendants of Jacob. Jacob here stands for the family line that is kept alive and passed on, like seed that grows into a larger harvest. In this, they also picture the remnant of Jacob who are brought into the gospel church by faith.

They will have a good share for themselves. They will inherit “my mountains,” the holy hills where Jerusalem and the temple stood, or the mountains of Canaan, the promised land. These point to the covenant of grace, the saving promise God gives to his people. All God’s servants, his chosen ones, live in that promise and inherit it. They make it their refuge, their rest, and their home, and they hold it as their lasting heritage, an inheritance that cannot fade.

God’s chosen people, the spiritual seed of praying Jacob, will inherit his mountains of blessing and joy, and he will carry them safely there through this life of sorrow. They will also have rich pasture for their flocks (Isaiah 65:10). Sharon and the valley of Achor will again be full of cattle as they once were. Sharon was to the west, near Joppa, and Achor was to the east, near the Jordan. This means they will recover the whole land, have enough to fill it, and enjoy it in peace, with no one to trouble or frighten them.

The gospel ordinances are like fields and valleys where Christ’s sheep go in and out and find pasture (John 10:9). There they are made to lie down in safety, like Israel’s herds in the valley of Achor (Psalm 23:2; Hosea 2:15).