Inhabiting the New Creation—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 23C (Isaiah 65)

Isaiah 65:17-25 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹⁷ For I am about to create new heavens
    and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
    or come to mind.
¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I am creating,
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy
    and its people as a delight.
¹⁹ I will rejoice in Jerusalem
    and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it
    or the cry of distress.
²⁰ No more shall there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days
    or an old person who does not live out a lifetime,
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
    and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
²¹ They shall build houses and inhabit them;
    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² They shall not build and another inhabit;
    they shall not plant and another eat,
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
    and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
²³ They shall not labor in vain
    or bear children for calamity,
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
    and their descendants as well.
²⁴ Before they call I will answer,
    while they are yet speaking I will hear.
²⁵ The wolf and the lamb shall feed together;
    the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
    but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
            says the Lord.

                **************

                As we near the end of the liturgical year, with one more Sunday yet to go, and that is often celebrated as Christ the King Sunday, we have this reading from Isaiah 65 that also appears in the lectionary as the first reading for Easter Sunday (Year C). The concept of new creation resonates with Easter, which celebrates the resurrection. When we think of the new creation, it is easy to think of the resurrection, which marks a new beginning. The reading itself appears in what is known by many scholars as Third Isaiah. This portion of Isaiah is believed to have been written shortly after the end of the Babylonian exile. For the exiles, the opportunity to return home and start life anew would feel like entering a new creation. Since Jerusalem had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, everything, including the Temple, would have to be rebuilt.

                The reading from Isaiah 65, which begins with these words:

¹⁷ For I am about to create new heavens
    and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
    or come to mind.
¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I am creating,
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy
    and its people as a delight.

While the prophet, whose name and identity we don’t know, speaks the words, the message is understood to be coming from God. Therefore, God is letting the people of Jerusalem know that God is going to create new heavens and a new earth. When we hear heaven and earth together, it is good to remember the prayer Jesus taught his disciples. What happens on earth mirrors what happens in heaven. That is what we have here. The imagery depicts a return to Eden, to paradise, where the people can live without fear, while enjoying the abundance that comes with living in this place.

                Now, when the exiles returned home, they discovered that their homeland was still suffering from the devastation brought on by the Babylonian invasion. Nevertheless, the prophet brings them a word of hope. What exists at the moment is not what will be. So, forget what was and start imagining what will be. That’s because God will create Jerusalem to be a place of joy and the people a delight. Yes, God will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in God’s people because the sound of weeping will not be heard nor a cry of distress. What we read here is similar to what we hear at the end of the book of Revelation. After John sees the emergence of the new heaven and new earth (Rev. 21:1), he hears a voice from the throne of heaven declare:

“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them and be their God;
⁴ he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.” [Rev. 21:3-4].

In Revelation, we hear the promise that God will dwell among the people, and it almost seems like the same promise is implied in Isaiah. At the very least, God is deeply involved in bringing about the new heavens and new earth.  While Revelation 21 states that death will be no more, Isaiah doesn’t go quite so far as to make that promise. Nonetheless, there is the promise here that infant mortality will be a thing of the past, while there is the promise that the old person will live a full life. In fact, a person who dies at one hundred will be considered a youth and falling short of that would be seen as a curse. In other words, in this new heavens and new earth, this new creation, longevity is a marker of divine blessing.

                Jeremiah told the exiles in Babylon to settle in for the long haul by building houses, getting married, and having children who themselves should get married. As they do this, Jeremiah wants the exiles to seek the welfare of the city where they live, for they will share in the welfare of the city (Jer. 29:5-7). The situation has changed, so Third Isaiah has a different word. While the people are told to build houses and inhabit them, while planting vineyards and partaking of its fruit, they will no longer worry that others will come and take what they have. They won’t labor in vain but rather enjoy the fruit of the land. Everyone will be blessed. It’s a wonderful promise, but of course, things on the ground are not quite so rosy. Nevertheless, the prophet wants the people to forget what once was and what they had experienced before and commit themselves to building what comes next, knowing that God is involved in the effort. In creating the new heavens and new earth, God creates the environment so the people can enjoy the bounty of their efforts.

                The final word in this passage is truly eschatological. It is a word that promises true and lasting peace. The words found here in Isaiah 65, which speak of the wolf and lamb feeding together, echo an earlier word from Isaiah 11:

 ⁶ The wolf shall live with the lamb;
    the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together,
    and a little child shall lead them.
⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze;
    their young shall lie down together;
    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
    and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
⁹ They will not hurt or destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9)

What we find in verse 25 is an abridgment of this passage, but the message is the same: the people will live in safety. What is intriguing about the version we find in Isaiah 65 is the word about the serpent. In Isaiah 11, we see the picture of a nursing child playing over the den of a asp, and a weaned child putting its hand in the adder’s den (a parallel construction) that speaks of safety. However, here in Isaiah 65, we hear this word about the serpent eating dust. That is a reference to the fate of the serpent in Genesis 3:14-15.  What Isaiah has in mind here is intriguing and has apocalyptic dimensions. I’m tempted to read this reference through the lens of Revelation 12, where the dragon is cast out of heaven, since that passage has connections with Genesis 3.

                The promise is clear. When the new heavens and new earth emerge, something promised in Revelation 21, something akin to paradise or maybe a utopia, will emerge. Now, the recipients of this vision were a bit skeptical. It looks good on paper, but things don’t look too promising. Building houses and planting fields is one thing, but the city of Jerusalem was still rubble. The Temple still didn’t exist. Nevertheless, the prophet brought this word to the people as a sign of hope. A time is coming when everything will be new. So, stay faithful.

                For us, the promise may sit differently, but it still offers a word of hope. When things have been going poorly, as seems true at the moment, we need to hear words of hope. We may be skeptical when we hear hopeful words, but we need them so we can keep going. Jürgen Moltmann is one who offered us a theology of hope. It is eschatological, even apocalyptic in nature. In his book The Coming of God, he connects the promises of Revelation 21 with the message of Isaiah 65, where this promise of new heavens and a new earth is lifted up. It’s not a pie-in-the-sky, escape to another world kind of hope. It is a promise that has earthly possibilities. Isaiah doesn’t have immortality in mind, as does John of Patmos; rather, he is thinking in terms of “blessed longevity.” He writes:

It is a golden Shalom age in the history of humanity and on this earth that is meant, not a world beyond. But that presupposes that this earth is good, and that in this promised age it will simply have to flower into a new undreamed-of fertility. It will not be annihilated and created anew. The pre-apocalyptic apocalyptic prophets saw a threat to Israel's life and existence, but not to the cosmos. Their visions of the blessed life presuppose a profound trust in the earth. [Moltmann, The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology (Kindle Locations 3916-3919). Kindle Edition.]

The message of Revelation is more cosmic in nature than Isaiah 65, but they are connected. What Isaiah shares feeds into what John offers, and that is the promise of real peace and security.

                When it comes to the message offered by Isaiah at a time of deep concern about the future, where democracy seems threatened, authoritarianism is on the rise, immigrants, people of color, and LGBTQ persons are under threat, we need to hear a hopeful word so we can keep moving forward. That Temple still needs to be built! The promise of new beginnings that is present here is offered as a word of divine grace. Yes, we have this promise that God is at work in our midst, so let us join in the work by settling in and embracing the possibilities.