The New Heavens and Earth I. Questions II. Base Text: Isaiah 65:16-25, 66:22-24 III. Context A. "Second" vs. "Third" Isaiah 1. In "higher" textual criticism of Isaiah it has become apparent that there are at least two major portions of Isaiah: Isaiah 1-39 and Isaiah 40-66 2. Most scholars today posit a threefold authorship and division of Isaiah: "First" Isaiah, an edited version of what the 8th century prophet said, in Isaiah 1-39; "Second" Isaiah (or Deutero-Isaiah), an anonymous prophet writing toward the end of the exile ca. 550 BCE, in Isaiah 40-55; "Third" Isaiah (or Trito-Isaiah), another anonymous prophet writing immediately after the exile, ca. 520 BCE, in Isaiah 56-66 3. It should be noted that a serious scholarly case is also made for considering "Deutero-Isaiah" and "Trito-Isaiah" to be the same person 4. We do not need to suggest multiple prophets: Isaiah was told to "seal up" at least part of his message in Isaiah 8:16, which might be what would become Isaiah 40-66 5. Nevertheless, we do well to recognize that Isaiah's audience in Isaiah 40-66 comes well after the eighth century BCE; the audience of Isaiah 65-66 is most likely postexilic 6. Thus, what Isaiah has to say in Isaiah 65-66 is his final message to Israel, directed to Israel after they have experienced exile and likely return, continuing to sustain them in hope B. Isaiah has simultaneously condemned the wicked who did not call upon God and promised restoration and renewal for those who did trust in Him (Isaiah 65:1-15) C. Isaiah then set forth a new image for the hope of what God would accomplish for His people IV. Interpretation A. The New Heavens and the New Earth (Isaiah 65:16-25) 1. "Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God; whoever makes an oath in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God. For past problems will be forgotten; I will no longer think about them. For look, I am ready to create new heavens and a new earth! The former ones will not be remembered; no one will think about them anymore. But be happy and rejoice forevermore over what I am about to create! For look, I am ready to create Jerusalem to be a source of joy, and her people to be a source of happiness. Jerusalem will bring me joy, and my people will bring me happiness. The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow will never be heard in her again. Never again will one of her infants live just a few days or an old man die before his time. Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred, anyone who fails to reach the age of a hundred will be considered cursed. They will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, for my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. They will not work in vain, or give birth to children that will experience disaster. For YHWH will bless their children and their descendants. Before they even call out, I will respond; while they are still speaking, I will hear. A wolf and a lamb will graze together; a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, and a snake's food will be dirt. They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain," says YHWH (Isaiah 65:16-25) 2. Isaiah embarked on a long running and glorious view of a new creation, very deliberately evoking the creation narrative of Genesis 1:1-31 3. The trials and distress of the previous creation will no longer infringe on the new 4. Jerusalem will rejoice and be glad; its inhabitants will live for a long time 5. They will dwell in security and not experience the risk of having enemies enjoy the fruit of their labor 6. The new creation will not experience futility; children will not endure disaster 7. YHWH will know and answer them before they will speak 8. Isaiah again evoked the image of predator and prey dwelling together in security, all eating plants, as in Isaiah 11:7, 9 9. Snake's food as dirt: maybe some allusion to Genesis 3:15, and thus could be interpreted as Satan's humiliation; in more concrete terms, snakes as no longer attacking and eating prey, but being sustained by dirt 10. For a people who had endured powerful enemies for generations, exile, and return in weakness, a glorious picture! B. Isaiah then exalted the humble and contrite, for they would see YHWH's salvation and vindication, while judgment and condemnation would come against the arrogant; God would gather His people from all places they had been scattered (Isaiah 66:1-21) C. God's Deliverance and Judgment (Isaiah 66:22-24) 1. "For just as the new heavens and the new earth I am about to make will remain standing before me,” says YHWH, "so your descendants and your name will remain. From one month to the next and from one Sabbath to the next, all people will come to worship me," says YHWH. "They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, and the fire that consumes them will not die out. All people will find the sight abhorrent" (Isaiah 66:22-24) 2. As Isaiah concludes his message for Israel, he returns to the image of the new heavens and new earth: as they will stand, so the descendants of the humble and contrite Israelites will remain, and all people will come to prostrate before YHWH weekly and monthly 3. Yet this time the message concludes with a dark image: all the people will see the corpses of those who rebelled against YHWH, maggot infested and on fire forever, an abhorrent sight D. Thus YHWH spoke through Isaiah of a new heavens and new earth, of judgment and deliverance V. Application A. History of Interpretation 1. What are we to make of Isaiah's prophetic hope regarding a new heavens and a new earth? 2. We normally want to figure out when it would be fulfilled, but with this particular prophecy no one moment fits perfectly 3. 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1-2: Peter and John both draw from Isaiah's vision and see it recognized in the post-resurrection future 4. Yet even as early Christian commentators could see, many aspects of what Isaiah saw find its fulfillment in Christ and His church and in the rest given after death but before the resurrection (e.g. Revelation 7:9-17) 5. Isaiah 65:25 very much evokes Isaiah 11:7, 9, and all of Isaiah 11:1-9 finds its satisfaction in Jesus' Lordship 6. A lot of the details would be more incongruent with the resurrection: no one dying before the age of one hundred; women still giving birth 7. Likewise, there remains a tension within the prophecy itself: there is no remembrance of the former things in Isaiah 65:17, yet all the nations will see the corpses of those God has judged in Isaiah 66:24 8. At the same time, while we can make spiritual applications of the prophecy and see them fulfilled in Jesus' Kingdom presently, we understand why Peter and John understand the tenor of the prophecy as still looking for its ultimate fulfillment in the future: a time and place of no more misery, pain, distress, and one of prosperity and peace B. Cosmology 1. One of the largest bones of contention about the "new heavens and the new earth" imagery of Isaiah and as used by Peter and John involves one's cosmological presumptions 2. Many have understood Isaiah to be expecting a complete annihilation of what has come before: such would seem to gain strength from Peter's expectations and even the way John speaks of it in Revelation 21:1-2 3. Yet Greek expositors hasten to remind us that "new" as used by Peter and John is not the term for "new" in quality more than time: more of a renewal or transformation 4. The way Isaiah and Peter understand cosmology is not the same as we do today 5. Note how Peter speaks in 2 Peter 3:1-13: in 2 Peter 3:5-6 he envisioned the creation before the Flood as having perished, and considered the "present" heavens and earth to be awaiting fire 6. We today would not suggest that the creation before the Flood was a different creation than that which came after the Flood; to us it is the same creation that went through a major crisis but endured 7. Thus we must be open to seeing how Peter might well be expecting the purging by fire to be akin to the purging by flood: the creation will go through a major crisis/transformation, but will endure 8. Consider what Jerome has to say about Isaiah 65-66: "Those who interpret the new heaven and earth to be a change for the better, rather than the destruction of the elements cite this passage: 'You founded the earth in the beginning, Lord, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure; they will grow old like a garment, and you will roll them up like cloth, and they will be changed' [Psalm 102:25-26 (101:26-27 LXX, Vg)]. In this psalm is demonstrated clearly a perdition and destruction that is not an annihilation but a transformation for the better. Neither does what is written elsewhere indicate that there will be a complete destruction of what was there at the beginning, but rather a transformation: 'The moon will shine like the sun, and the sun's light will be strengthened sevenfold' (Isaiah 30:26). And that this may be better understood, let us use an example from our own human condition: when an infant grows into a boy, and a boy into an adolescent, and an adolescent into a man and a man into an old man, the same person continues to exist throughout his succession of ages. For he remains the same man as he was, even though it can be said that he has changed a little and that the previous ages have passed away. Understanding this truth, the apostle Paul said, 'for the form of this world is perishing' (1 Corinthians 7:31). Notice that he said 'form,' not 'substance'" (Commentary on Isaiah 18.13) 9. Thus the "newness" of the new heavens and the new earth may be more of transformation than the result of annihilation; we must allow the prophetic and apostolic cosmology inform how we understand these passages C. The New Heavens and the New Earth in Dynamic Movement 1. Perhaps we do best to put it all together in terms of more dynamic movement: understanding Isaiah's prophetic hope in the "now and not yet" paradigm 2. Since we presume a post-exilic audience for the message, we presume the hope of fulfillment begins with Jesus and His Lordship: in Christ Jerusalem becomes a place of happiness, a place where all come to prostrate before God, where God's eternal purpose in Christ is manifest (cf. Ephesians 3:1-12) a. In Christ the work of the believer is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58); the spiritual prosperity and wealth of believers is held securely and will not be enjoyed by another (Matthew 6:19-20, 1 Timothy 6:17-19) b. God knows what we need before we ask, and His Spirit intercedes for us in prayer even when we are not aware of it (Matthew 6:8, Romans 8:26-27) c. Isaiah 11:7-9 finds its spiritual fulfillment in people of "predator" and "prey" nations both coming together in Christ and sharing in the faith of Christ, no longer doing violence in Zion, and so with Isaiah 65:25 (Ephesians 2:11-22) 3. But while we have victory in Christ, we remain beset by foes and distress; we are still subject to death and decay; we remain in the "former things" 4. And so, as Peter and John envisioned, when Jesus returns in judgment we will see the full transformation and manifestation of the new heavens and the new earth in the resurrection (2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1) a. At that point the former things will indeed be done away, for we will all be transformed for immortality, and the creation set free from its bondage to death and decay (Romans 8:17-25, 1 Corinthians 15:51-57, Revelation 21:4) b. Isaiah's portrayal of long life for people might well be a figure for immortality in the resurrection c. People will no longer suffer under the curses of the creation as presently constituted (Revelation 22:3) d. John very much evoked the prophetic hope of Isaiah 65:16ff in Revelation 21:4: the former things passing away, no more pain e. Even the viscerally disgusting imagery of Isaiah 66:24 has its place: it might well help undergird Jesus' continual reference to Gehenna, and a similar fate for the wicked is explained in Revelation 21:8, 22:15 5. Thus we can see that many of the hang-ups with understanding Isaiah's prophetic hope of the new heavens and the new earth stem from a failure of imagination, an expectation of some kind of static one to one fulfillment, as opposed to seeing how God is dynamically bringing to pass all that He has promised in Jesus D. Thus the King reigns on the throne; we can have spiritual life in Him now, participate in the joy of Zion, and all serve God: the ways of the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells was embodied by Jesus and ought to be embodied by His people E. Yet we also await the complete satisfaction and embodiment of Isaiah's prophetic hope in the new heavens and the new earth: the transformation and redemption of the people of God and God's creation; eternal life in the resurrection; no more need for remembering the former things, relief from the curse and pain, and joy in the presence of God for eternity F. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can have access to the tree of life and can enter into the city by the gates! G. Invitation Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: "For look, I am ready to create new heavens and a new earth! The former ones will not be remembered; no one will think about them anymore" (Isaiah 65:17). Isaiah's final prophetic hope featured a new heavens and a new earth. In this new heavens and earth there will be great peace, prosperity, happiness, and glory, so that none need dwell anymore on what happened beforehand. The "newness" is of quality, not time; Peter and John looked forward to its final realization in Christ. How would Israel find a hope of a new heavens and earth encouraging? 2: "Jerusalem will bring me joy, and my people will bring me happiness. The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow will never be heard in her again" (Isaiah 65:19). Isaiah portrayed a beautiful picture of a new world. Jerusalem would cause great joy. The people would experience long life, peace, prosperity, and security. There would be no more weeping or sorrow because there would be no more corruption or pain. We get a glimpse of this hope in the joy of salvation we have in Christ. We look forward to its ultimate fulfillment on the day of resurrection. Why do we yearn for the time when we will not weep or sorrow? 3: "A wolf and a lamb will graze together; a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, and a snake's food will be dirt. They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain," says YHWH (Isaiah 65:25). Isaiah returned to the image of "predators" and "prey" dwelling in security and peace, as in Isaiah 11:7-9. Such would find its fulfillment in Jesus, in whom people of all nations, whether "predator" or "prey" nations, would become one and dwell in peace. Yet we await for complete peace in the resurrection of life. Can violence be reconciled with the ways of God in Christ? 4: "They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, and the fire that consumes them will not die out. All people will find the sight abhorrent" (Isaiah 66:24). Isaiah's final image is less than pleasant. The people of God would be able to see the maggot infested and burning corpses of those who had rebelled against God. They would see God's judgment against those who resisted His purposes. This aspect of judgment remains in Christ, who will condemn those who did not do the will of His Father. How can we reconcile judgment of the wicked and the hope of the righteous?