The Birth Of The Nation Results In Rejoicing For God's New Jerusalem (Isaiah 66:11-13).
‘Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
All you who love her,
Rejoice for joy with her,
All you who mourn over her.
That you may suck and be satisfied,
With her consoling breasts, (‘the breasts of her consolations')
That you may draw out her milk, and be delighted,
With the abundance of her glory (‘the nipple of her glory').'
So those who love Jerusalem and who mourn over her, can now be glad and rejoice over her because of her coming transformation. They can rejoice because she will be reborn, and reborn as something even more wonderful, as a mother who fully satisfies her children. What the old Jerusalem represented in thought, the new Jerusalem will represent in fact. Yes, they will now be able to come to her and suck at her breasts and be satisfied. For this new Jerusalem is the place where God is highly exalted (Isaiah 66:1; compare Isaiah 2:2-4). It is connected with heaven in a new way (Isaiah 2:2). And from this Jerusalem will issue forth God's Instruction (Isaiah 2:3) and the nations will drink of it. As a result of the birth of the new nation, the new Jerusalem, the heavenly city, from which all His people receive their sustenance, will become a blessing and a rejoicing, and a satisfier of the needs of all.
The picture is of the contented baby seeking out, sucking and finding comfort at its mother's breasts, drawing from her abundant sustenance. Here the mother's own overflowing supply is called ‘her glory'.
Initially the faithful among the Dispersion (the scattered exiles and refugees of Israel), provided this sustenance to seekers, but more especially it came through the coming of Jesus and the resulting birth of the early church, His Temple, through whom the Good Tidings went out from Jerusalem to the nations (Acts 1:8). Both Israel and the nations sucked at her breasts. We must not forget that all began in Jerusalem with the birth of a new nation of Israel in the Jewish followers of Christ, and then expanded to the Gentiles who were incorporated into the new Israel of God (Galatians 6:16) and themselves became true sons of Abraham (Galatians 3:29), and participants in the new Jerusalem (Galatians 4:26). But in the end all points to the final consummation.
‘For thus says Yahweh,
“Behold I will extend peace to her like a river,
And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream,
And you will suck, you will be borne on the side,
And will be dandled on the knees.
As one whom his mother comforts,
So will I comfort you,
And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.
Yahweh promises that like a great flowing river He will cause peace to flow to the new heavenly Jerusalem He has created, and He will cause the best of what is in the nations, ‘their glory', to flow to her, like an overflowing stream. Compare Isaiah 48:18. They do not come as second best, they bring their glory. We are reminded here of Isaiah 2:2 where the nations were seen as flowing up to the exalted temple of Yahweh. This is the Jerusalem that is above (Galatians 4:26), to which God's true people belong, and which represents them. It is the new spiritual realm, the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3), the place of succour for all who are His.
And from God's provision in this Jerusalem will His people find sustenance, and will be borne in a sling on her side, and will be dandled on her knees as one comforted by a mother. For this one is the mother of us all (Galatians 4:26), and our part in it guarantees God's protection and care. This is the heavenly Jerusalem whose representative on earth is the church of Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20) the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16-18).
The river would remind all of the great river that flowed through Eden, indicating the restoration of Paradise, and is a constant theme in Isaiah (e.g. Isaiah 32:2; Isaiah 33:21; Isaiah 41:18; Isaiah 65:25). It finds a different perspective in Ezekiel 47 (where be it noted it is not from the earthly Jerusalem but from the heavenly temple well away from Jerusalem. It is not limited to the literal Jerusalem), where it flows out giving life wherever it goes. Jesus offers a similar thought where the springs and rivers of water flow from Himself (John 3:5; John 4:10-14; John 7:37-39) and are linked with Pentecost.
Thus the new born people of God will find the source of full blessing in God's provision in the heavenly places. All who come to them to drink will find solace. And through them God will supply His comfort, indeed He will comfort them Himself.