Translation: ESV
Thus says the LORD: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?
God cannot be confined within any building.
▸'Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool'—the cosmic scale of God.
'Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool'—the cosmic scale of God. No temple built by human hands can contain this God. This is a challenge to templeism—the idea that the temple guarantees salvation.
All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
God values the humble and contrite heart far above any magnificent temple.
▸The one God looks to: 'he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her;
Those who have wept for Zion rejoice most greatly at Zion's restoration.
▸An invitation to rejoice over the restoration of Jerusalem.
For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory,
At the end all nations will see the glory of God together.
▸At the end of days all nations and tongues are gathered.
For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain.
Like the new creation, God's people also endure forever.
▸'As the new heavens and the new earth shall remain'—the repetition of the new creation promise from 65:17.
From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD.
The purpose of the new creation is the eternal worship of all creatures.
▸The restoration of worship in the new creation.
And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.
Those who reject God's salvation face judgment.
▸The final verse of Isaiah.