In which we discuss more of Isaiah 65; what is forgotten in the New Heavens and Earth; thoughts on the post-exile Jews; the place of gladness and rejoicing.

Tim: Let’s read this section of Isaiah 65. We were looking at the concept of the former things that will not come to mind. We’ll start at v. 17:

“For behold, I create New Heavens and a New Earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come to [o]mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
And her people for gladness.
19 I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;
And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.
20 No longer will there be in it an infant who lives only a few days,
Or an old person who does not live out his days;
For the youth will die at the age of a hundred,
And the one who does not reach the age of a hundred
Will be thought accursed.
21 They will build houses and inhabit them;
They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They will not build and another inhabit,
They will not plant and another eat;
For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people,
And My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain,
Or give birth to children for disaster;
For they are the descendants of those blessed by the Lord,
And their descendants with them.

24 It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will listen. 25 The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm on all My holy mountain,” says the Lord.

In understanding the concept of the creation of a New Heavens and New Earth, this language reflects back to Genesis. Traditionally, the early chapters of genesis have been interpreted as God creating the physical universe. We have looked edit more from the aspect of God raising up a new people new community. He is raising up a people with whom he has a covenant relationship. That’s where we’re going with this.

He said that the “former things” would not be remembered or come to mind. What were these things that would not come to mind? There are clues in the previous verses since this word “former” is used three times in this chapter. The last lines of v. 16 are:

Because the former troubles are forgotten,
And because they are hidden from My sight!

If we go to the first few verses of this chapter, the description that the prophet gives regarding the relationship between God and his people is not a cheerful one.

“I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’
To a nation which did not call on My name.
2 I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts,
3 A people who continually provoke Me to My face,
Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks;
4 Who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places;
Who eat pig’s flesh,
And the broth of unclean meat is in their pots.
5 Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me,
For I am holier than you!’
These are smoke in My nostrils,
A fire that burns all the day.

This is not a pretty picture of the relationship between God and his people. It could also be descriptive of the religious leadership in the days of Jesus. They are the ones who keep to themselves and do not allow the tax collectors and the sinners to come near the holy place. It could also describe the temple system. Remember, in that system only the Levites were allowed in the temple courtyards within the walls of the holy place. The non-Levites, women, and Gentiles could not come near. They had a small area where the diseased and disabled could stand, but any evidence of uncleanness would bar you from coming near where God dwelt. In v. 6 and 7, God says:

Behold, it is written before Me:
I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will even repay into their laps,
7 Both your own wrongdoings and the wrongdoings of your fathers together,” says the Lord.
“Because they have burned incense on the mountains
And scorned Me on the hills,
Therefore I will measure their former work into their laps.

Notice in verse 7 that he refers to their “former” work. That is the same Hebrew word used to say that “the former things will no longer be remembered.” So, when describing the New Heavens and New Earth, we must ask, what are the “former things that will no longer be remembered?” I would argue that the former things were the attitude of God’s judgment toward their sins. Further, the judgmental attitude that the religious leaders had toward the tax collectors and sinners would not be a part of the New Heavens and the New Earth. The attitude that kept them from the presence of God was not going to be remembered any more.

Ron: The Jews didn’t have any compassion for people less fortunate, did they? It could be lack of money, poor health or disease? They would feel like the person is cursed. They wouldn’t be part of the religious elite or whatever you want to call it because of their afflictions.

Tim: I believe anyone who was committed to the temple institution might have that attitude toward the people. Part of Jesus’ mission was to change this attitude.

Ron: I guess the feeling was they were less fortunate because they had been judged by God and needed to be separated.

Tim: You still had practitioners of the law (since that was all they had) who did have compassion. There were those who recognized the weakness of the Old Covenant system and looked ahead to something better. There was the man named Simeon who was told he would not see death before he saw the Messiah. There were several like this who recognized the flaws of the Old Covenant system and saw the need for something new.

If you want to sum up the message of prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah, it would be they are telling the people of Israel, “You are no better than the idolaters around you. You are a people who know better than to eat swine’s flesh, but you still do unclean things.” The point being that the Old Covenant to which they agreed to be obedient was ineffective to make them better people.

Remember a few months ago when we looked at Ezra and Nehemiah. That was a tremendous study! The people of Judah came back from captivity after 70 years and they decided they were not going to make the same mistakes they had made previously. They were not going to be in a position again where God’s judgment was upon them.

Upon their return, they found that many who had been left in the land had intermarried with foreign women. They had children and grandchildren, maybe even great grandchildren. The religious leaders were appalled! However, instead of showing compassion, they resumed their “I am holier than you” attitude and told the men who had taken foreign wives to get rid of them, to send them and the children away.

I’ve heard legalists applaud this action. They would argue that sacrifices have to be made to walk in holiness. Sending women and children off to fend for themselves is an act of cruelty! This is why they’re needed to be a New Heavens and New Earth because that former attitude of being holier than others should not be remembered.

In bringing the Gospel, Jesus would establish a community that would embrace foreigners (Gentiles) in compassion. Isaiah 65:1 is a prophecy of the Gospel ministry which said,

“I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’
To a nation which did not call on My name.”

Roger: So, this is God speaking?

Tim: Yes. If the religious leadership in Ezra and Nehemiah’s day had been listening to God and understood the prophets, they would have embraced the foreigners in compassion. They would have reached out to bring God to these nations, but instead they ran them off. They would have embraced what Jesus said to the Pharisees centuries later: “I desire compassion and not sacrifice.”

Roger: By rejecting the foreigners they were saying to God, “We are holier than you.” It’s almost like these rebellious people are saying to God, “I am holier than you, don’t touch me!”

Tim: This attitude persisted, not only with the religious leadership of Jesus’ day, but also showed up in the ministry of the apostles. Remember in Acts 22 where Paul was making a defense of his ministry after being arrested in the temple courtyards. He was accused of bringing a Gentile into the temple court. He was able to calm the crowds down and give testimony to his ministry.

During his speech, everyone was quiet and attentive to what he was saying when he described his encounter with Jesus and his conversion. The crowds were enthralled with what he was saying until he came to the part where Jesus said to him, “I am going to send you far away to the Gentiles.” Upon hearing this, the crowd exploded in fury, crying out that Paul was not fit to live. We could consider this to be the same spirit Isaiah described when he talked about those who felt they were holier than others. In the New Jerusalem, and the New Heavens and Earth, this is the “former” thing that will be forgotten.

Valori: It’s like they’re being stingy or possessive with God. They’re saying that they’re not going to share their God with anyone else beyond themselves.

Tim: It’s like they’re saying, “We are the only ones holy enough to represent God.”

Heather: So, the whole attitude of saying, “I’m better than you,” should just be thrown out the window?

Tim: Yes, I think that’s the gist of the prophet saying “the former things” are forgotten in the New Heavens and the New Earth. The Gospel itself is a rebuke to this attitude. We can’t say we’re better than others because we all possess the same glorious righteousness of Christ. If I am righteous in Christ, then I can’t be better than someone who is equally blessed with Christ’s righteousness.

Paul also rebuked this in Romans 10:3-6 where he talked about two kinds of righteousness. The righteousness that the Jews sought through works was to have a righteousness of their own through the law. This was destined to fail. In our study of Ezra and Nehemiah, we read where they reinstituted the animal sacrifices. They built altars and vigorously renewed the sacrificial system. They were very zealous about this, but several chapters later they are again in anguish and lamenting about the sin in their midst. If the animal sacrifices worked, should that have taken the sins away?

Hebrews is emphatic in saying that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins. After the exile, you would think their abundant sacrifices would have cleansed their consciousness of sin, yet the author continues to argue that the blood of bulls and goats through religious ritual failed to do this. In the New Heavens and the New Earth, this dependence on the blood of bulls and goats is something that would not be remembered or come to mind. These things are forgotten in Christ.

Ty: Why do the Jews allow this passage to be in the Old Testament if it’s in conflict with the law?

Tim: Are you talking particularly about the New Heavens and New Earth passage that we just looked at?

Ty: I’m talking generally about Isaiah, but when you look at this passage on the New Heavens and New Earth, it’s in contention with the law. Why would the Jews allow that to be included?

Tim: You would probably have to ask that question to the rabbis for a better answer than mine. Isaiah is a prophet of the 6th or 7th century. I imagine if you jumped ahead to the days of Ezra and Nehemiah and had a conversation with them, they would agree to the guilt of their fathers (see Ezra 9:7; Nehemiah 9:16-18). I’m thinking they would be of the mind since they revived the sacrificial system and then deported all the foreign wives and their children, then they would have argued that they returned to God and have cleansed themselves of the guilt of their fathers.

I don’t think it’s any different in the days of Jesus. The scribes and the Pharisees were more diligent in their attention to ritual. They did not hesitate to call out Jesus and his disciples for their failure to wash ceremonially before a meal (see Mark 7). Ironically, Jesus appeals to Isaiah in addressing their zeal for ritual (Isaiah 29:13):

“Because this people approaches Me with their words
And honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me,
And their reverence for Me consists of the commandment of men that is taught…”

The religious leaders of Jesus day would be very familiar with Isaiah’s words, but I don’t think they would feel that it applied to them. I would speculate that the religious leadership of Ezra’s day would define the New Heavens and New Earth as the people giving a perfect observance to the Torah.

Ty: I’m having difficulty as it seems that the teachings of Jesus are not in agreement with the law of Moses. There seems to be conflicts between the two. I’ve also noticed there are passages in Isaiah that agree with the teachings of Christ, but not with the laws of Moses. I wonder why the Jewish writings would include books that are in contention with one another. Isaiah seems to be in conflict with the first five books of Moses.

Roger: I think it’s because the Old Testament writings include both Old Covenant and the New Covenant. It’s like oil and water. There is a verdict on the Old Covenant that is guilty while the promises of Christ in the New Covenant are “yes and amen.” There is no guilty verdict in Christ.

We notice the same today when modern Christianity looks at the Old Testament, they say, “This is the word of God!” Then they wind up mixing the Old and New Covenants together. The first century Jews thought that when Messiah comes back, he’s just going to endorse everything they were doing. They thought it would be a continuation of their system.

Their belief was that the Messiah was going to set his Kingdom up on earth and they would be ruling with him. They didn’t separate the Old and New Covenants. Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees, “Go find out what this means, ‘I desire compassion and not sacrifice.’” The New Covenant was about sacrifices, but not their sacrifices. It’s about Jesus offering himself.

Paul said to Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). There are words of truth that apply to the Old Covenant and words of truth that apply to the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was operating in the time needed, but it was no longer applicable when the New Covenant arrived. Under the Gospel, it is only New Covenant truth that applies to us. It is a problem only when people try to push the two covenants together into one. We can’t do that!

Tim: We’ve discussed before about how difficult it is to strip away Old Covenant principles. In the first century, arguing the point that the Old Covenant was weak and useless could bring trouble to you. This is what got Stephen executed when he preached his sermon from Acts 7. Stephen recounts the history of Old Covenant Israel, and his main point is that their fathers failed in their efforts to keep it. This was an indictment on the Old Covenant in that it was weak and worthless to make them godly people.

The apostles preached that the people needed to be redeemed from the curse brought on by the law. This is why Stephen was accused of speaking against the law of Moses and the temple. They preached that the law was ineffectual in bringing righteousness.

If we jump ahead another 15 years in Acts 15, we still have Judaizers coming into the church in Galatia and insisting that the Gentiles keep the customs of Moses and be circumcised. While these Judaizers came up with a message of guilty guilty guilty, the apostles upheld Christ in whom believers were righteous righteous righteous! The council at that time determined that the demands of the Judaizers were a burden and should not be put upon the Gentiles.

Roger: So, the Gentiles did not have to submit to the customs of Moses to be saved. The early church was operating under the belief that the circumcised and uncircumcised had been joined together in Christ to become one new man. This was a different group of people than described in the Old Covenant.

Tim: This had to be a struggle with the early church in preaching that there were some things about their tradition that had to be forgotten and should not come to mind again. This is what Isaiah means in describing the New Heavens and the New Earth. The former things, which were not beneficial to the people, had to be forgotten and remembered no more.

I think Paul is thinking about this when he speaks of the things he could boast about in Philippians 3. He lists a bunch of things that look good on a resumé. “…circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.”

Yet, when he compares these things to Christ, declares they are worthy of being in the local landfill, right into the trash can. Is he adopting the words of Isaiah in saying these things will be remembered no more? This is a principle of the New Heavens and New Earth that is missed when Christians attempt to meld the two covenants into a religion and call it Christianity. This Gospel doesn’t work if you were unwilling to forget some traditions that you formerly loved.

Ron: When Paul was converted, God struck him down on the road to Damascus. He thought he was the perfect Jew so it must have been difficult for him to be struck down.

Tim: It’s an ironic thought that a man who describes himself as having a clear vision of who God is would be struck down blind by him. Interesting thought.

Roger: Not remembering the former things is a journey for us, but more powerful is what our Lord says about our sins that he will remember them no more, that he will separate them as far as the east is from the west. If you start at the North Pole and start walking south, you will eventually come to an end and be walking north again, but if someone starts walking to the east and another to the west, they will pass each other and keep on going forever.

I heard one preacher say that God throws our sins into the ocean and puts up a “No Fishing” sign. Even God does not fish there and does not remember our sins when he looks at us! Whatever the former things may be, he sees only his son. That is a powerful message and benefit we have of Christ in the New Covenant!

Tim: Absolutely! This is the great part of living in the Gospel community. When we get together, it’s a time to remind one another that there are just certain things from our past that need not be brought up anymore. We don’t bring up things we could be judged for. These things were burned up on the final day of the legalistic, self-righteous religion.

I read one post from a guy on social media who lamented about being burdened under his sins and disgusted with him itself. I recommended to him that dwell on the righteousness of Christ, that beautiful gift from the father. This is what our gatherings are supposed to be. We’re not supposed to gather to remind each other of their sins or call people out on what we think they’re doing wrong. We remind one another of Christ. This is the New Heavens and the New Earth.

Roger: We sing that one song, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning.” It is not Gospel to wake up in the morning and feel like we are a lowly, dirty worm. We can focus on that mercy of God and find joy!

Tim: Exactly! These are things we should be regularly reminding ourselves about when we gather. If the church lets itself return to the old ways that should have been forgotten, then it seems inevitable that contention will grow. Let’s look at the next section of Isaiah.

But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
And her people for gladness.
19 I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;
And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.

Remember in Hebrews 12:18-19, the author reminds his readers: “For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words, which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them.”

He is saying that Mt. Sinai theology is not descriptive of the Gospel life. This scenario of terror is not to be the outcome of coming to Christ. Isaiah describes the New Heavens and Earth as gladness and rejoicing forever. Those who still see New Jerusalem as something still in the future need to address this. Is the life of joy and gladness deferred to some future date when Jesus comes back (or we die), or do we experience this exceeding great joy because of the work of Christ in the Gospel?

The apostles certainly were not looking for a future event to find their joy. We read in the book of Acts where they were regularly beaten and persecuted, but their response was rejoicing. When Peter and John were warned that they must not speak in the name of Jesus anymore, they went away rejoicing. They were like this because they found their citizenship in the New Jerusalem and not the Jerusalem which was still in slavery. The New Jerusalem was a place of rejoicing and gladness!

This is the beauty of the Gospel! We don’t have to wait for some future cataclysm to experience the joy of the New Heavens and New Earth. We don’t have to die before we can know this happiness. The New Jerusalem is not the Jerusalem of the days of Jesus and the apostles. Jesus lamented that that Jerusalem was the place that kills the prophets and stones those who had been sent to her.

It’s baffling why a lot of Christians today are so enamored by modern Jerusalem. There are commercials on Fox News where they are urging support for Israel, but this is not the Israel of the Bible. First century Israel which killed the prophets and crucified Jesus is hardly a place of gladness and rejoicing. That was the Jerusalem that Paul describes in Galatians 4:25 as a place of slavery.

Ty: That is a reminder of Matthew 23 where Christ brings up that they had stoned and killed the prophets. He pointed out that the prophets God had sent to them spoke God’s word. They lived in contention with the words of the prophets and they had rejected the law of Moses as it spoke about Christ. They couldn’t obey the law, it was too difficult so he sent the prophets to proclaim a new way. By murdering the prophets, they were expressing their rejection of God’s new way.

Tim: Very good! It’s interesting how people immersed in traditions can get upset when they are told there is something better than their traditions. Seeing the truth of all things fulfilled makes tremendous sense and answers a lot of questions. If you present this to the Baptists and express how liberating it is, they will still push back because it is not part of the Baptist Faith and Message.

Ron: I guess the wolf in sheep’s clothing will try to keep anything you found out because they’re protecting what they built up.

Tim: I suppose they think that anyone disagreeing with the tradition is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. That turned out to be me, I guess.

Ty: That just shows that they did not know the writings of Paul very well. Paul pushed back against the Judaizers who were trying to reestablish the law of Moses. He taught that the spirit of Christ is replacing the established mosaic law and everything that goes with it. The things the Judaizers valued, such as the sacrifices and the temple worship, were going away and they were having trouble dealing with it.

Roger: The New Heavens and the New Earth have to be considered spiritual in nature to be understood. When he talks about establishing peace in our lifetime, we need to regard some of our own history. We’ve had the conflicts like the two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle East. All of these wars cannot nullify the peace under the New Covenant. Peace under the New Covenant has nothing to do with whether we’re at peace between nations. It means we have peace with our heavenly Father and creator.

Tim: Yes, this is illustrated when we remember Peter and John after being beaten and released and told not to speak in the name of Jesus. They went away rejoicing! This grew out of the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell upon them had they received power from on high. This gave them the power to rejoice during hard times and persecution.

Their rejoicing did not happen because Jesus raptured them out or came back and wiped out their enemies. They did not rejoice because Jesus returned and destroyed the planet and established a new planet. They had this indescribable joy even when their persecutors were putting scars on their backs. This is quite different from today from those who are disappointed in the way things are and look for something else in the future.

Roger: Those beatings they took did not mean that God was displeased with them. In fact, their proclamation of the Gospel was very pleasing to the father!

Ty: From the time of Christ’s death until AD 70, the world of the Jews was deteriorating. Because of the conflict between them and the Romans, the times were growing worse for the Jews. The disciples were told by Christ that when they see the armies surrounding Jerusalem, it’s time to flee. We know the story where the city was surrounded and then the Romans suddenly pulled away giving the Christians time to leave the city.

I find it interesting that the Christians were taught to not be tied to the temple system any longer as something that would protect them or to revere it in such a way that they ought to stay. For the Jews, that building in Jerusalem was a holy place and was sacred to them. The Christians, having come to Christ, have a spiritual understanding of the Kingdom and were no longer tied to the temple. They no longer felt attached to the temple because God’s blessing is the temple of living stones in Christ.

Tim: We’ll call this good for today and pick up our study next week.