Isaiah 66:22-24 - Choose your destiny carefully

In these last three verses, we come to the end of the book of Isaiah. What a fitting conclusion! Here Isaiah tells us that we can have a glorious or a chilling end. Briefly, he describes the two places that mankind will end up in. Here we see that each person can only end up in one of these places. One will either enjoy eternal life or suffer eternal death.  

At the beginning of Isaiah 66, the prophet differentiated between true and false worship, as well as genuine or spurious worshippers. Here in these last three verses, we catch a glimpse of the two destinies for these two groups of people. The former group of people, the true worshippers, will engage in endless worship. From month to month and sabbath to sabbath they will come and bow before God. Here the prophet envisions their destiny. The new heavens and the new earth will be the place where they will offer lasting worship and acknowledge God. It suggests that God's presence will be there with them.   

In verse 24 Isaiah envisioned another place. This time he saw the final destiny of the wicked. They will end up in this place called hell. It is the place prepared for those who have rebelled against God. There, Isaiah says, is an abhorrent place where the fire will not be quenched and those who end up there will be tormented eternally without end.

Here are two destinies. Going to either one is a choice we are all given. Everyone can choose the narrow road to eternal glory or the fool’s highway to eternal condemnation. It’s fitting for us to close by considering the illustration Jesus gave at the conclusion of His sermon on the mount. In Matthew 7:24-26, he said there are two ways we can build our lives. We can either build it upon His Word by obeying it or on sinking sand by ignoring it. The former will give us a strong foundation and the latter, a fragile one. Which will be our destiny must be decided now. The wise will choose to build their lives on the Rock and the foolish will choose to ignore building their lives. The end is clear, which end will we rather have? The choice is clear, so choose and act wisely!