New Heavens and a New Earth

‘For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth…’ That’s how our text for this morning begins. It’s about a new beginning. There are all sorts of questions that can be – and have been – raised about this text. But the point that needs to be kept clearly in mind is simply this. The text is about hope. When sin entered the world lots of things changed; lots of things got really bad. Nothing was untouched from the heavens above to the earth below. And each day we see in others and feel in ourselves the consequences of that change. Broken bodies, broken dreams, broken lives. That would be utterly depressing if it were not for the Gospel. Jesus points us to a reason to hope, a reason to be optimistic. He tells us that He creates something different, something new. And nothing is untouched from the heavens above to the earth below. It is not possible to live without hope. Many try, but at some point or other it becomes clear that life that way doesn’t work. Our text offers hope. So, please listen as I read our text. I’ll begin at verse 17 of Isaiah 65.

Let’s start with a basic idea. In some sense, based on what I just read to you, everything – heaven and earth – is to be re-done so that it’s all new. So, consider the idea of ‘new’. What does that mean? It conjures up ideas of bright, clean, unused. Think: new car smell. But as something new is used it begins to show it. That new car needs to have some work done since the brakes squeal or the air conditioning isn’t working well. You notice a little dent and suspect someone in the parking lot at the store. As careful as you’ve been, you notice a tiny spot of rust. And the new car smell has vanished long ago. New things become used, and they show it. But Jesus talks about something different, a new heaven and a new earth, where everything is bright and new, where nothing will ever feel used. It will always be new. That’s the basic idea of the text. The rest of the passage simply fills in what this ‘new’ is all about. The rest of the passage is a series of sketches giving us the details. What we are going to do is work through those sketches to see more of the details.

The first sketch comes in two parts. The first part starts with a command. ‘But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create…’ What is this but a call for an emotional response to what Jesus has done in making these things new. And it’s not just about joy, rejoicing in what Jesus has done, but it is also about happiness. That’s what gladness is about. And while it’s a command it is one that is not difficult to obey. And the reason is clear because of what Jesus also says. ‘…for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.’ This joy and gladness is included in this new creation. Rejoicing and being happy are not things that we are to create from within ourselves. They are gifts given to us. It’s all a part of the new creation. And this is so helpful when you remember the obstacles to happiness and joy. Happiness is tied to the situation. Did something good just happen or something bad? That’s what determines whether we will be happy or not. And situations always seem to change. The good does not last, but fades away. But that won’t be the case in the new heavens and the new earth. The situation will not change. The good will not fade away. Happiness, though still tied to the situation, will continue. And the biggest obstacle to joy is obvious. It’s old fashioned unbelief. Joy is the response to the good things that Jesus is doing in the world. The failure to rejoice is simply the failure to believe that He is doing good. Where there is a simple trust in Jesus, there will be joy. He is, after all, doing good. Both obstacles are dealt with, done away with, in this new creation. Jesus makes joy and happiness real and lasting. We are commanded to rejoice and be glad because Jesus makes that possible. Because of Him, it is the natural response of His saints.

But there is a companion to this call for us to rejoice. This is the other half of the sketch. In addition to His commands to us, Jesus also says this. ‘I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people…’ It’s important that you see this part of the sketch. To be sure, the saints rejoice and are full of happiness, overwhelmed by the newness. But Jesus doesn’t stand off, calmly watching from a distance. He is also rejoicing and happy. He is emotionally involved not just with us but also because of us. ‘I will … be glad in my people.’ Just as we rejoice in Him, He rejoices in us. So, a key part of the picture of this new heavens and new earth is all of us, with Jesus, enjoying each other. He with us; we with Him; we with each other. The best picture of the new heavens and new earth is not a large lecture hall where learned essays are calmly read to a quiet audience. Not even close! The new heavens and new earth are much more like a hoedown where everyone is dancing and clapping to lively music, along with lots of laughter. And in the midst clapping and dancing and laughing is Jesus enjoying Himself immensely because of all the people who are there. I’m pretty sure that if word gets out that I just said all that, someone will be wondering about me. It just doesn’t sound very orthodox. But in response I have to ask: How else are we to understand the text? At the heart of the new heavens and new earth is joy and happiness, in us and in Jesus. And while some may have preferred sedate ballroom dancing as my illustration, I still think that a hoedown captures something of what the text is about. Don’t you agree?

That was the first sketch. Let’s look at the next. ‘No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.’ To really get this you have to have a clear and biblical idea of death. Death is this dark shadow that has loomed over everything, a shadow that has the power to crush life into nothingness. This death gets its power from sin. Since the fall into sin of Adam and Eve, all of creation, the heavens and the earth, have been under the shadow of death. There have been different ways people have tried to deal with it. Some have tried to glamorize death. So, you have the Vikings who glorified dying in battle. Others have simply surrendered to it, giving in to a deep and ongoing discouragement and hopelessness. Then there are others who try to hide from it. So, death becomes the new four-letter word not to be used in polite company; euphemisms only please. Different cultures have different ways of dealing with death. But it is always there, and it is always felt, to a greater or lesser extent. And that’s where our text gives us hope. It reminds us of Jesus who comes to create something new, something where death no longer has this power to crush life. A bright light comes to dispel the ugly shadow. As a result, it no longer looms over all things. The threat of death, the fear of death, is gone. So, Jesus says, ‘I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly.’ And the Apostle tries to drive this home when he writes, ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ Death is itself dealt a deathblow in the new heavens and new earth.

Let’s move on. The next sketch is about work: ‘They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity…’ Work was not intended to be frustrating and a struggle. This is another effect of sin. Before the fall, work was a means of satisfaction, something to be excited about and rewarded by. But after sin, Adam was told that he would be frustrated by his work. Instead of satisfaction and reward, there would be thorns and thistles and sweat. Adam would work and work and work, but it would not be a joy. Work would be drudgery. I recently read an intriguing article somewhere. The author was making the point that people today work, but it’s not because they really enjoy the job. They work so that they can get money to do something that they do enjoy. The job is not a source of enjoyment. It’s a source of money to be enjoyed elsewhere. And while there are exceptions – there are exceptions to everything – the basic point is too true to ignore. The hope of so many is to work hard so that they can retire and finally enjoy the fruit of their labors. But what too many are finding when they do retire is that the golden years they had hoped in are not what they expected. For some there are anxieties over health or finances. For others life is just boring. These are finding that their idol has lied to them. That sounds dark, and it is, but I say it that way to make Jesus’ point clear. The promise of the new heavens and new earth is a life that is no longer frustrated by accursed work. Work is renewed and thus a joy once again. Those who are a part of this new creation are not disappointed by hopes that never materialize. It will be so very different. And that’s why Jesus says:

They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 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. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them.

This is a picture of life and work and more, as it was intended. Here is work that is enjoyed, labor that produces fruitfulness that can be tasted and relished. No more thorns and thistles and sweat. This is a new heaven and new earth.

Another sketch. ‘Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.’ The greatest evil of sin – I think I can say this – is that people do not call on their Creator. Humanity was created as needy and dependant. We were created to depend on the God who made us. We were made to call out to Him so that He could meet our needs. The result of this would be praise and wonder at the many different ways that God revealed His beauty to us as He met our needs. That’s the way that it’s supposed to be. But what has been happening since Adam? Instead of calling out to the true God, people look to their idols. They feel their needs, and they call out to some god that offers to respond. But what good is calling to idols? What would they say, if they could speak? How can they help? And Jesus is robbed of an opportunity to be honored for how He gloriously meets needs. So, these idolaters are also thieves. Then, there is the flip side to this. There comes a point, as an act of justice, when Jesus will refuse to answer, even if some might call. ‘Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.’

But what do we see in the new heaven and new earth? Here, there is an eagerness on Jesus’ part to commune with His saints, to answer their questions, to remind them that He is near. ‘Before they call, I will answer…’ He reaches out to us. And this will be matched by a desire among the saints to call out to Him. They do this because they know that while they speak, before they finish, He will hear them and act. We reach out to Him. The original intent of creation will be restored. Our needs will be met by Him and we will respond with awestruck worship for the beauty of Jesus revealed.

Here’s the last verse. It pictures one-time enemies as friends. ‘The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain…’ This might sound familiar. The same language of wolf and lamb, and lion and ox is found much earlier in Isaiah. It’s back in Isaiah 11. But listen to how that chapter begins.

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. … The wolf shall dwell with the lamb…

and on it goes. Isaiah was writing about the coming of the Messiah. He was describing the reign of Jesus.

So, why repeat here in today’s text what was already written there? I think that one reason is to make clear that this new heaven and new earth is tied to Jesus. This renewal is part of the Gospel and because of the Gospel. Jesus does it. He creates it. Jesus is the hero of the story. He’s always the hero of the story. And so, this is a part of what it means for Him to come to save the world. He has come not just to deal with hell and the wrath of God – though that is certainly true. He has also come to change all of this. The goal is not escape but renewal, the renewal of all of you and everything else. The goal includes things like restored relationships, being able to enjoy each other because we enjoy Jesus, and being able to enjoy each part of life, including the work we are called to do. A new heavens and a new earth. Out of that comes joy and happiness. And that’s a far cry from the Gospel as fire insurance.

Now we’re ready for a question. This is a question that the smart people have some interesting debates about. Is this new creation something for this age now or does it happens in the age to come, after Jesus returns? And the answer, of course, is yes. I’m not going to get into the debate that the smart people are having. Each side has its points. But I think that it is clear that the full experience of what we’ve just looked at, the rejoicing with each other, the intimacy with Jesus, work as pure joy with no frustration – all of that is yet future. It’s waiting for you in the age to come. All of that is why you get up each morning ready and willing to live that day as best you can as a disciple of Jesus. Faithfulness now will lead to reward later. Faithlessness now forfeits reward later. A new heaven and a new earth await you. Believe Jesus and fight for it.

But I also want to say that you have all enjoyed a taste of these things, at least a taste, now. You have tasted of that lasting joy and happiness because of Jesus – now. You can just make out the music of the hoedown and, at times, you feel your body swaying to it, even just a little, now. A sense of vocation, being called by Jesus to a task, is replacing the merely monetary idea of a job. And Jesus is near, ready to answer when you cry out to Him. All of that is now. It is the taste of that fullness that helps us to continue to believe Jesus and continue the fight.

So, yes, here is hard. Jesus told us that it would be. But we are more than just here. There is a sense in which we are already enjoying there.