Although Israel had so provoked the Lord that it would have been but a

just compensation if they had been forever set aside, such was not His action

or attitude.

'Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one

saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for My

servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all' (Isa. 65:8).

This figure has received many interpretations, but

the suggestion made by T.R. Birks in his commentary commends itself:

'The contrast lies, perhaps, between an unripe cluster, and the same

when fully ripened.  New wine found in the cluster, belongs to it as

the usual result, when vintage comes.  "And one saith", even while it

is unripe, and the grapes are sour and worthless, "Destroy it not, for

a blessing is in it".  The wise vine dresser restrains every rash hand

that would destroy the cluster, because at present worthless, by

reminding them of the blessing when the full ripeness is come'.

The Hebrew word translated 'cluster' is eshcol, a word that gave its

name to the brook 'because of the cluster of grapes' which the spies brought

back from the land of promise (Num. 13:23,24).  This most surely has a

bearing upon this passage.  Although directly after 'Eshcol' Israel were

condemned to their long wandering in the wilderness, where all that came out

of Egypt above twenty years of age, perished, yet 'a blessing was in it'.  In

due time that rebellious people would repent and the Vintage be gathered, the

days of their wandering draw to a close:

'Because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid

from Mine eyes' (Isa. 65:16).

And by so many devious ways, advancing and retreating, just as did

Abraham their father, who though at last he stood upon Mount Moriah and

received the Divine attestation, nevertheless knew what it was to turn aside

to Egypt, just as did Moses or David; or to come closer and speak of lowlier

yet more intimate acquaintances, just as you and I, dear reader, have passed

along a similar path.  At last, however, the goal is reached:

'For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former

shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.  But be ye glad and

rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create

Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.  And I will rejoice in

Jerusalem, and joy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be no

more heard in her, nor the voice of crying' (Isa. 65:17 -19).

Glorious and blessed as all this may be, we must

not imagine that at this point we have reached the consummation.  Every

reader can see the parallel between the New Jerusalem of Isaiah 65 and the

New Jerusalem of Revelation 21.  In the prophecy of Isaiah the new creation

is focused on Jerusalem on earth, and its blessings do not immediately cover

the earth, they are first of all realized 'in all My holy mountain' (Isa.

Not only may we gather from Isaiah 65:20 that we have not arrived at

the perfect day, Isaiah 66:22 -24 shows that nations will still go up to

Jerusalem to worship, and what is more, they will find awaiting them a

terrible object lesson: