What is the meaning of Isaiah 66:13? As a mother comforts her son The opening picture is warm, familiar, and deeply personal. • A mother’s embrace is instinctive, tender, and constant; it calms fear and dries tears (compare Isaiah 49:15 and Hosea 11:3-4). • Scripture regularly uses parental imagery to convey God’s character—see Psalm 103:13, where a father’s compassion mirrors the Lord’s. • Paul adopts the same tone when he says, “We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother caring for her children” (1 Thessalonians 2:7). By choosing a mother’s comfort, God highlights not raw strength but nurturing closeness, assuring us that His care is never distant or formal. So will I comfort you The comparison shifts from illustration to promise. • The Lord Himself—not merely circumstances or human helpers—takes the role of Comforter (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 calls Him “the God of all comfort”). • This comfort is comprehensive, addressing grief, fear, and loss (Psalm 23:4; John 14:16 where Jesus speaks of “another Helper,” the Spirit). • It is also covenantal: because God’s word is sure, His comfort is guaranteed to all who belong to Him (Isaiah 51:3). Just as a mother does not ration consolation, neither does God offer partial relief; He pledges full, ongoing restoration. And you will be consoled over Jerusalem The promise lands in a specific place and time. • Jerusalem had known siege, exile, and ruin; God declares those sorrows temporary (Isaiah 40:1-2; 66:10-14). • The phrase points forward to the city’s physical renewal after captivity (Nehemiah 12:43 records great joy at the rebuilt walls). • Ultimately it stretches to the messianic and eternal hope, when “the New Jerusalem” descends and “He will wipe away every tear” (Revelation 21:2-4). • For believers today, Jerusalem stands as a sign that God finishes what He starts, transforming places of pain into centers of praise (Psalm 122:6-9). summary Isaiah 66:13 paints God’s comfort in three strokes: the tenderness of a mother, the direct promise of the Lord Himself, and the future healing of Jerusalem. Taken literally, the verse assures every child of God that His compassionate heart, personal involvement, and redemptive plan will turn mourning into everlasting joy. |
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