Missionaries and Worship Leaders (Isa. 66:19–21)
What is the meaning of survivors bringing people from the nations as an offering to the Lord? (Isa. 66:19, 20.)
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God sends survivors of His destruction out to the ends of the earth,
to people who do not know about God, “and they shall declare my
glory among the nations” (Isa. 66:19, NRSV). This is one of the clearest Old Testament statements on the theme of missionary outreach.
In other words, not only are people to be drawn to the Hebrew nation
but also some of the Hebrew people will go to other nations and teach
them about the true God—a paradigm that is explicit in the New
Testament. Though there was Jewish missionary outreach between the
time of return from exile and the time of Christ (Matt. 23:15), the early
Christians spread the gospel rapidly and on a massive scale (Col. 1:23).
Just as the Israelites brought grain offerings to the Lord at His
temple, so the missionaries would bring an offering to Him. But their
offering would be “all your kindred from all the nations” (Isa. 66:20,
NRSV). Just as grain offerings were gifts to God that were not slaughtered, the converts brought to the Lord would be presented to Him as “living sacrifices” (compare Rom. 12:1). For the idea that people could be presented as a kind of offering to God, note the much earlier dedication of Levites “as an elevation offering from the Israelites, that they may do the service of the Lord” (Num. 8:11, NRSV).
What is the significance of God’s promise to “take some of them as priests and as Levites” (Isa. 66:21, NRSV)?
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The “them” in verse 21 refers to “your kindred from all the nations”
(NRSV) in the previous verse. These are Gentiles, some of whom God
would choose as worship leaders, along with the priests and Levites.
This is a revolutionary change. God previously had authorized only
descendants of Aaron to serve as priests and only other members of the tribe of Levi to assist them. Gentiles could not literally become descendants of Aaron or Levi, but God would authorize some to serve in these capacities, which had previously been forbidden even to most Jews.
Read 1 Peter 2:9, 10. To whom is Peter writing? What is he saying? What message does he have for each of us, as members of a “holy nation” today? Are we doing any better than the original people? (Exod. 19:6.)
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