11 ‘But as for you who forsake the Lord
    and forget my holy mountain,
who spread a table for Fortune
    and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
12 I will destine you for the sword,
    and all of you will fall in the slaughter;
for I called but you did not answer,
    I spoke but you did not listen.
You did evil in my sight
    and chose what displeases me.’

13 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

‘My servants will eat,
    but you will go hungry;
my servants will drink,
    but you will go thirsty;
my servants will rejoice,
    but you will be put to shame.
14 My servants will sing
    out of the joy of their hearts,
but you will cry out
    from anguish of heart
    and wail in brokenness of spirit.
15 You will leave your name
    for my chosen ones to use in their curses;
the Sovereign Lord will put you to death,
    but to his servants he will give another name.
16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land
    will do so by the one true God;
whoever takes an oath in the land
    will swear by the one true God.
For the past troubles will be forgotten
    and hidden from my eyes.

Although some people argue that in the end ‘everybody goes to heaven’, if we take the Bible at face value we must see that it doesn’t paint such a cosy picture. Rather, it points to a judgment that will bring about a great separation.

Barry Webb writes clearly and helpfully about this:

Isaiah ‘…is not a universalist. He does not believe that all will be saved. From verse 8 onwards the contrast between those who are God’s servants and those who are not is drawn ever more starkly. There are those who seek him and those who do not (10-11), and their destinies are as different as light and darkness (13-15). There are the saved and the lost in this chapter, there is heaven and there is hell…The door to the kingdom has been thrown open to all and sundry, but the sad fact is that many steadfastly refuse to go in. This chapter speaks of the final and irrevocable separation that will be made on the last day between them and God’s servants. But long before then, the choice that people have made becomes clear from the way they live…Hell, in the end, is God simply giving us what we have chosen. Isaiah is quite clear about this. To be servants of God or not is a personal decision that none of us can avoid, and the consequences are eternal. There will be a new world, but God will not force us into it. The choice is ours.’ ‘Isaiah’, pp.245/246.