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Isaiah 65: New Heavens & New Earth
Introduction: You will remember that chapter 63:7 – 64 was a prayer from those God placed on the wall (62:6) to call him into remembrance of his promises to restore Israel. Note the last words of 64:12. Therefore, let’s look carefully at God’s answer. It is both exciting and troubling.
The Rebellious House, 1-7
If you are Israel, verse one is a shocking beginning to God’s answer. His people have so openly and blatantly rejected him, that he is ready to be found by a nation who has not sought after him and has not been called by his name.
It is notable that God is calling the nation, the nation is not calling God. How beautiful that, in our sinful condition, God would call to us when we should be the ones calling to him.
God knows he will be found by the Gentiles. They will answer his call. How amazing! In Galatians 2:15, Paul contrasted “Jews by birth” with “Gentile sinners.” The wickedness of the Gentiles was renown and they were disdained by the Jews. But God would call to them and they were respond. Paul quotes this text in Romans 10: 20 to remind Israel that God had always planned to bring the Gentiles in to his Kingdom.
However in contrast God had been spreading his hands out “all the day” (that is, forever, endlessly) to a rebellious people. This is God’s answer to the prayer of 64:12. God has not kept silent! He has “held out his hands all the day to a rebellious people.”
In some ways the Gentiles were different than the Jews. Jesus talks about that in Matthew’s account:
- 11:21-24
- 12:41-42
The Jews had been blessed with far greater opportunities than the Gentiles. They had been directly given the oracles of God in order to bring salvation to the world. They had seen great signs/miracles but still rebelled. When Nineveh saw the sign of Jonah, they repented. But when Jesus showed greater signs to the Jews, they rebelled.
Consider also the picture God has given. Visualize God spreading out his hands, pleading for them to come to him. But no, they turn away and “walk in a way that is not good.”
2-7 gives an amazing description of their rebelliousness.
They have perverted God’s worship by sacrificing wherever they desire and combining it with idolatrous practices (still happening today!!).
God’s words in verse 3 are chilling: “a people who provoke me to my face continually.” This is how God sees people who think they can claim to worship him but ignore what he said about coming before him.
Verse 4 gives a picture of what Mark’s gospel later expands upon (Mark 5:1-20) as we are given a vivid picture of the condition of the nation when a legion of demons desire to go into the pigs and the people ask Jesus to depart.
Verse 5 As they are acting in these sinful ways, they are telling everyone how holy they are (the Pharisees: Luke 18:9-15). This is so disgusting to God that it smoke in his nostrils that burns all the day.
Therefore, God will pay them back. It is so sure that he will repay their wickedness that he has it “written before” him.
Verse 7, they insulted him as they worshiped on the hills and mountains. We can’t just worship God any way we desire!
A Remnant Will Remain, 8-16
Vs. 8: The Lord compares new wine found in the cluster and not destroying all Israel for the sake of those who are his servants. “New wine in the cluster” is wine made from the first drippings of the grapes before it is pressed or trodden. It is taken from grapes on the vine bursting with juice and thought to be the best, thus there is a blessing in it, therefore do not destroy it. Thus there is still a remnant who are a blessing within Israel. This is in contrast to 63:3 where the Lord trod the winepress of wrath.
Vs. 9: CSB: “I will produce offspring for Jacob, and heirs to my mountains from Judah.” This references the promises to Abraham. Though there is only a remnant from Israel, God will produce offspring from the nations (Gal. 3:29).
Vs. 10 is a picture of restoration. Sharon (to the west) was pictured as a desert in 33:9 and Achor (to the east) was known for the sin of Achan in Joshua 7. Now there is no threat and herds will lie down.
11-16 offers a contrast between those who are “servants” of the Lord and those who “forsake the Lord and forget his holy mountain.” Interesting way to refer to those who forsake the Lord – those who forget God’s holy mountain (they certainly ascended every other mountain to worship!). It is forgetting the presence of the Lord as Israel turned to idolatry at the foot of Mt. Sinai, right in God’s presence.
Fortune and Destiny were pagan gods that needed to wined and dined in order to control one’s fortune & destiny. But instead God would “destine” them for the sword and to be slaughtered.
The clear reason is because when God called (vs. 2), they did not answer. They chose what God did not delight in. This is the definition of evil, in context, evil worship. We need to know what God delights in and then do it.
Verses 13-14 show contrasts between the righteous servants and the wicked. Notice the blessing to God’s servants: they eat, drink, rejoice, and have gladness of heart. The opposite for the rebellious: hungry, thirsty, put to shame, pain of heart, and breaking of spirit.
Further their name will become a curse to those who are God’s chosen. But note that the chosen will be called by another name. Another name indicates a new character that is different from their former life and those who rebelled. We need to look at Israel’s failures and determine to have a new name.
New Heavens and New Earth, 17-25
Note the word “for” that begins this section. The reason the past is forgotten and God’s people are a blessing is because God is creating a whole new system, which is described in following verses. Paul uses similar words as well:
- Galatians 6:14-15 “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”
- 2 Cor. 5:16-17 “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh…Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Note the descriptions of the new creation:
- The past system does not come to mind. Hebrews speaks of all things “better” than the Levitical worship.
- God’s new kingdom will have gladness and rejoicing forever. God’s people will be a delight. So different from the physical nation.
- Again, it is God who is rejoicing and glad in his people. He does not see them weeping and crying as a result of their destruction for their sins. They truly are a godly people and God delights in them.
- Vs. 20 is another example of curse reversal from Deut. 28. The picture is that the power of death is removed as Paul speaks of in 1 Cor. 15:54-56. Death no longer has a sting because the curse has been removed.
- Vs. 21 reverses Deut 28:30 where they would build and plant but someone else would enjoy their labor. Again, Paul said, “Your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).
- Vs. 24: In chapter 59, their sins had separated them from God so he would not hear. But now he is ready to hear and even answers before they call because of his eagerness to care for them.
- Vs. 25: We have already seen the “wolf & the lamb” picture in chapter 11, which is marked when the Messiah arrives. Everything has changed. The power of the serpent has been crushed. There are no more enemies within God’s kingdom. Former enemies are at peace. God’s “holy mountain” in which all nations have come (2:2-3), are one people.
Therefore, “new heavens and new earth” are not literal descriptions of a new universe and a new earth, but a picture of a new system with the old system taken away. Isaiah 11 plainly told us that this would happen when the Messiah came. In Isaiah 51:6, speaking of the fall of the physical nation, “the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment.” But in 51:16 there is a reversal: “I covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.'” We are enjoying these blessings today, a reversal of the curses on physical Israel to the blessings on spiritual Israel. Will these blessings be enjoyed in an even greater way in our eternal home? Sure! Just as we are presently citizens in the Kingdom and will one day “inherit” the Kingdom (1 Cor. 15:50).
Berry Kercheville