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© October 30th, 2022 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Isaiah
One of the things that I think most of us have come to appreciate about the internet is the fact that there are reviews of most anything online.
So if you are planning to make a purchase, you can read the reviews of others who have spent time with the product.
If you’re planning a trip, you can read reviews of others who have been there to get an idea of what’s worth visiting and what’s not.
If you’re planning to go out to eat or hire a contractor of some sort, often there are reviews of these things to help you get an idea of what to expect.
The best reviews are specific; after reading them you feel like you have a pretty good understanding of what you can expect.
In a sense, I see our passage this morning as a bit like these online reviews.
The Lord, speaking through Isaiah, gives us a glimpse of a place we’ve never been before and helps us to understand what it will be like.
He uses vivid imagery to help us have some sense of the place before we ever go.
In these verses, the Lord gives us a glimpse of heaven—and the picture we see ought to make us eager to go there.
New Heavens and Earth
The first thing the Lord tells us is that He is going to remake our world.
17 “Look!
I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
(Isaiah 65:17, NLT)
These words echo the words of John in Revelation when he said,
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.
And the sea was also gone.
(Revelation 21:1, NLT)
John was reporting what he saw in a vision given to him by the Lord.
In Isaiah, we have the Lord himself speaking, telling us what He is going to do.
Both passages tell us that God is going to remake our world.
Why would God remake the world?
Because it has been tainted by sin.
Every aspect of creation was affected when Adam and Eve sinned.
Because sin has corrupted our world, it is unsuitable for an eternal home.
So, God must restore, renew, and recreate our world sinless.
And not only will the heavens and earth be remade, 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that the Lord will remake our bodies sinless and incorruptible as well.
These verses tell us that some things about Heaven will be very familiar because it will be on a restored earth.
But it will also be vastly different, because all we have ever experienced is the earth after sin had entered the world.
In this opening verse the Lord gives us a sense of how much better the new earth will be—He says that no one will even think about the old earth anymore!
I don’t think He is saying our memories will be erased, but rather that we will be so consumed with the wonder of this new creation that we won’t even take time to think about the world we had previously inhabited.
Things like cancer, war, terrorism, fighting—these things will be so foreign to us in Heaven that they will completely pass from our minds.
The closest analog that I can think of (recognizing that it pales in comparison) is when you take a good vacation.
Even when we’re on vacation far away, many of us still start wondering about how things are back at home, or at work, or we still worry about the challenges in our lives.
But on the ideal vacation, you are so engaged in something you enjoy that you completely forget about your life back home.
It just never even enters your mind.
I believe the Lord is telling us that this is what heaven will be like—only we will never have to go back to the life we left.
It will be our experience for all of eternity.
The Purpose of Heaven
God also tells us what the point of all this will be,
18 Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!
And look!
I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.
Her people will be a source of joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people.
And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more.
(Isaiah 65:18-19, NLT)
God’s purpose in recreating the world and redeeming us is to bring joy.
This new creation will bring joy to us, but also to the Lord.
Much like a parent wants to give their children good things, the Lord desires to give us, His children, good things.
He desires to give us things that He knows will bring us great joy.
Maybe you have had a time when you’ve felt like you got someone the perfect gift.
You watch with eager expectation as they open it.
Why?
Because you love them and want them to enjoy what you’ve gotten for them.
You find joy in their joy.
You do this to demonstrate your love for them.
I think that’s part of what God will do with the new creation.
He finds joy in bringing us joy.
But God doesn’t just find joy in seeing us enjoy His creation.
He finds joy in His restored relationship with His people.
Sin has created separation between us and God, but in Heaven, sin will be abolished, and we will be free to have the relationship God always intended for us to have with Him.
A big part of this restored relationship will center around us understanding just how much God loves us.
As we realize how much better this new world is, we will understand just how much our sin messed things up.
I think we will also understand how it is only by God’s grace that we have been redeemed.
And that will fuel our worship for Him.
We will finally understand how much He loves us—and we will enjoy a relationship with God that is richer than we could imagine.
And that brings joy to the Lord.
A Heavenly Preview
The Lord then turns His attention to telling us how different the new earth will be from the earth we currently inhabit.
There are lots of changes that will be a part of this new world.
20 “No longer will babies die when only a few days old.
No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life.
No longer will people be considered old at one hundred!
Only the cursed will die that young!
21 In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.
22 Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses and confiscate their vineyards.
For my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.
23 They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune.
For they are people blessed by the Lord, and their children, too, will be blessed.
24 I will answer them before they even call to me.
While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
But the snakes will eat dust.
In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”
(Isaiah 65:20-25, NLT)
The Lord uses lots of images that help to show us just how thoroughly different Heaven will be from the life we have known so far.
Let’s enumerate some of the differences God mentions.
First, there will no longer be death.
He says no longer will babies die at a few days old.
Throughout most of history, infant mortality has been much higher than it is in 21st century America.
The death of a child was a common experience to most people.
He is not necessarily saying that there will be babies or that we will reproduce, only that this kind of experience will be gone.
Similarly, He says adults won’t die before they have lived a full life.
No longer will we have to mourn that someone “died too soon.”
He says people won’t be considered old at 100—because everyone will live far longer than that.
The statement that “only the cursed will die that young” seems confusing.
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