Can you please explain Isaiah 65:17?
Isaiah 65:17 reads, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” Now let’s read Revelation 21:1, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” On the surface, both of those verses seem to be describing the exact same thing, but are they? I would suggest that the former is referring to “a new heaven and a new earth during CHRIST’S MILLENNIUM KINGDOM,” and the latter is referring to “a new heaven and a new earth during the ETERNAL STATE.”
Isaiah 65:20 says, “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child SHALL DIE one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old SHALL BE ACCURSED” (NKJV). Let’s compare that with Revelation 21:4, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; THERE SHALL BE NO MORE DEATH.” During Christ’s 1,000 year reign SIN and DEATH are still present, but these are completely gone during the eternal state.
Having said that, it’s important to see that the conditions during the Millennium will be vastly different from what we are experiencing right now, even if they do fall short of the perfection that will exist in the Eternal State. Isaiah went on to say in verses 18-19, “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.” Has the world ever witnessed this Jerusalem before? Absolutely not! Even in the best of days (during Solomon’s reign) there was still failure from within and dangers from without, causing both God and His people to weep. But when Christ’s returns to Israel they will experience both a New Birth and deliverance from all of their enemies. Consider the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 11:26-27, “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” Paul is quoting from Isaiah 59:20 where God promised to send His Son to deliver Israel, not only from their enemies, but from their sins. This promise also refers to the covenant God will make with Israel. Let’s read about that in Jeremiah 31:33-34, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Israel will BORN AGAIN at that time (see also Ezekiel 36:25-27) and they will finally have true JOY in their hearts and bring joy to God’s heart too.
If you read the closing verses of Isaiah 65 (verses 21-25) you will see other blessings that help us to understand why God says He creates “a new heaven and a new earth.” In verses 21-23 we see that God will bless the labors of their hands and no one will ever rob them of this blessing again. In verse 24 we learn that every prayer will be answered before they even call upon God! And then in verse 25 we are told that “the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” The earth will undergo a wonderful transformation resulting in peace in the animal kingdom. Right now “the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs” (Romans 8:22) because of the curse that sin has brought, but when Christ rules over the earth “the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Isaiah speaks elsewhere of how “the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose” (35:1), so both the animal and the plant kingdom shall be a new creation. What a day that will be for Israel, and for the whole world as they enjoy Paradise on Earth under the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. (259.3) (DO)