66:1 Thus saith the LORD, The {a} heaven [is] my throne, and the earth [is] my footstool: where [is] the house that ye build to me? and where [is] the place of my rest?
(a) My majesty is so great, that it fills both heaven and earth, and therefore cannot be included in a temple like an idol, condemning by this their main confidence which trusted in the temple and sacrifices.
66:1 The heaven - The highest heaven, is the place where I shew myself in my majesty. So Psal 11:4 Psal 103:19 Matt 5:34. Hence we are taught to pray; our father which art in heaven. And the earth is my footstool - Or a place wherein I set my feet, Matt 5:35. The house - Can there be an house built, that will contain me? My rest - Or where is the place wherein I can be said to rest in a proper sense?
66:1-4 The Jews gloried much in their temple. But what satisfaction can the Eternal Mind take in a house made with men's hands? God has a heaven and an earth of his own making, and temples of man's making; but he overlooks them, that he may look with favour to him who is poor in spirit and serious, self-abasing and self-denying; whose heart truly sorrows for sin: such a heart is a living temple for God. The sacrifice of the wicked is not only unacceptable, but a great offence to God. And he that now offers a sacrifice after the law, does in effect set aside Christ's sacrifice. He that burns incense, puts contempt upon the incense of Christ's intercession, and is as if he blessed an idol. Men shall be deceived by the vain confidences with which they deceive themselves. Unbelieving hearts, and unpurified consciences, need no more to make them miserable, than to have their own fears brought upon them. Whatever men put in the place of the priesthood, atonement, and intercession of Christ, will be found hateful to God.
