“LIVING AS IF…”: WHY FUTURE HEAVEN AND EARTH MATTERS TODAY
LIFEWAY QUARTERLY FALL 2020 SESSION 13
ISAIAH 65:17-25
In May of 1953 Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary became the first mountaineers to officially summit Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain on earth at 29, 029ft. The last 500 ft of the climb was the most dangerous with a 50 ft vertical wall of rock that had to be climbed while facing frigid 70 mph gusts of wind that came as offshoots from the Jet Stream which begins at 30,000 ft. The successful climbing of the wall placed the two men in the record books and established this last piece of the ascent as “The Hillary Step.” Twenty five years later Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler became the first mountaineers to face the Hillary Step and conquer it without the assistance of supplemental oxygen- climbing the vertical wall with only 60% of the oxygen level humans need to survive. Years later, a reporter asked Reinhold why he explored and climbed in such dangerous places… How did he find satisfaction in such dangerous exploits? Reinhold told him: “the top isn’t the satisfaction, it’s just ice and rock and most of the time you are stuck in a cloud or fog and you can see very little. No, it’s when you get down, get back- when you have come out of these dangerous places and realize feeling that survival is the key to life. When we go between the possible and the impossible we find the limit of our possibilities and existing there, if only for a brief time, is to be truly alive.”
When we examine and attempt to live as Believers under the perfect standard and commands of God we come to the limit of our possibilities and it is at this limit that we discover our failure and God’s grace; our impossibilities and God’s possibilities that He works for, in, and through us. It is at our limits that we come to the end of our “old selves” and the beginning of His New Creation and find our purpose and what it means to live abundantly by His command and through His power. If there is one thing our study of Isaiah has taught us it is that we serve a God of “wonders” (Isaiah 9:6); The God who is and does what only He can do. He is the God who is creating a new heaven and a new earth and ushering in His Kingdom that is near every man, woman and child that calls in faith upon His name, upon the name of Jesus. When we come to Isaiah 65 we are given a picture (though vaguely) of this “new heaven” and “new earth” and the New Jerusalem that is on it. The prophecy Isaiah gives here is a complete picture, “a wrap up” and a macrocosm of what is to come for Israel (the Southern Kingdom of Judah). It begins in chapter 61 with a picture of Messiah Jesus (61:1, see Luke 4:16-21), the restoration of Israel and judgment upon the nations that are enemies of Israel and God’s past faithfulness to His people till we come to this heavenly picture of “wholeness” completeness, and harmony; what the Hebrews’ mean by “peace” and shalom. So, is this a picture of the Eschaton (the end times when heaven and earth are made new or is it a “lesser picture” yet still descriptive of a coming blessed era in Israel’s history? And why was this prophecy and description so important for Judah, and why is it important for us today? What difference can a future “new heaven and new earth” make in an old, tired, frustrated world marred by sin and misery in a current place and season where we have been pushed to the limit of our possibilities and reminded of our current failures? Let’s take a look and find out…
ISAIAH 65:17-19
It is important to see this prophecy in the context of the complete prophecy of the book. The book of Isaiah in many ways is “a miniature Bible” that describes the sin problem, the fall, the remedy and plan of sacrifice through Messiah Jesus, the redemption and blessed state of God’s people living in harmony with Him and one another for eternity. Israel is about to experience severe suffering by God’s judgment for their sins (which Isaiah began with in chapter 1) but not everything is “doom and gloom” and their sufferings and the harsh judgments of God against Israel are not in vain but to bring them back to His side to make their redemption possible. The final prophesies of Isaiah are not ones of doom but of hope and gladness, and this is the greatest one in the book; the picture of peace (shalom) with God in His Kingdom. It is not that the people will be “forgetful” or dismiss their previous sufferings or struggles with God, but that the joy and gladness they experience through God’s re-creative power will overshadow their sorrows and hurts- letting them know it “was worth it.” Instead of focusing on past sorrows they will focus on current gladness and joy of heart in the New Creation. The gladness and joy they experience will make them a beacon of joy and gladness to the nations and to and for the Father as well. Which brings us to our main application; if we have the hope of a new heaven and new earth and confidence in the promise of experiencing complete newness and peace as His people then we can live with a manifest expectancy of His Kingdom here and now.
Let’s unpack this a bit… Jesus preached “the Good News of the Kingdom” that the “Kingdom of Heaven is near!” The night of Messiah’s birth, the angel declared “fear not for I bring you tidings of great joy that is for all the people. Today in the Town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the LORD… Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the Highest and on earth, peace, goodwill towards men (Luke 2:10-11, 13).” You see Jesus didn’t come to bring a generic or even heavenly peace to the earth (see Matthew 10:34) the peace Jesus brought to the earth was His peace (John 14:27) and He left it and the Kingdom of Heaven with His followers to be spread to the entire earth through His Spirit to bring His Kingdom near, and give us a deposit of what is to come (2 Co: 5). Is the Kingdom here yet? YES- it resides now with His followers. Is it completed and consummated? NO, the Kingdom is being established it is growing from the mustard seed of its start (Mark 4:30-32) to its finished state by the will, plans and actions of God which ultimately nothing can stop or thwart though sin, rebellion, satan, and our old “dying” fallen nature will try (and make us doubt sometimes).
What God says He does and what He will do He has already said- that is the ministry of hope that is established through the “forthtelling” of biblical prophecy both in the Old Testament and in the New. If Israel knows that God will accomplish blessing them by His grace in the future, and they know He has been faithful in the past then they can wait patiently as they deal with the troubles of the present and make real His coming peace in the way they live with each other now. The same was true as we see by the exhortations of Paul, John, James, Jude, and Peter to the early church and is true for our churches today. We do not merely wait expectantly for the coming Kingdom; we live it out with God’s help in the way we love and live at peace with each other and our neighbor. We live as if it is already here for when God makes a promise it is as if it has already been kept! In this way we make the expectancy of God’s perfect peace in a new heaven and new earth manifest- a very real, current, and growing presence in our lives and in our community.
When I was in Jr. High and High School I did school plays. We always had a “dress rehearsal” before the actual performance. Some of our directors treated the dress rehearsal as little more than another “practice” and they would interrupt or stop a scene, if we made a mistake, forgot a line, or needed to re-block. But the best directors treated the dress rehearsal as if it was an actual performance- there were no interruptions if we made a mistake the show kept going… The only thing missing was the audience. We had a lot more confidence and a lot less fear the opening night as a result- we were prepared for the “reality” of the actual show. Jesus has done the same for us. Are we prepared for the reality of the new heaven and new earth? Jesus has not only given us peace with God through His name by His first advent (coming), but peace of mind as we await and “live as if” for His second! We not only graciously have access to everything we need (all the heavenly treasures of the Kingdom) we can live courageously and confidently in troubled times because we know our troubles here are temporary (2 Corinthians 4:13-18) just like Israel knew. Crying and weeping will be heard no more, so as we weep (and Jesus wept over Jerusalem{and I think He weeps over us}) we weep, mourn and suffer but as those with hope, knowing there is redemption and meaning to our sorrow and it will not last forever (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)! Better days and greater things are coming! Jesus is coming! He keeps His promises and there will be NO END TO HIS KINGDOM OR HIS PEACE… (“Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over His Kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” Isaiah 9:7). We don’t have to be afraid anymore… Imagine that tomorrow today! It is no fantasy but a coming reality and let it be alive in you daily by the Spirit’s work!
ISAIAH 65:20-25
The last five verses of 65 Isaiah takes us from a “heavenly” and “ultimate” picture to a blessed but earthly and material one. We seem to move from an a minore ad maius (lesser to the greater) to a “greater to lesser” prophecy. The state of the people is still definitely one of blessing. Life in the ancient world was primitive, brutal, short and cruel. Bandits, clans, raiders, thieves etc. were always harassing the peasants- stealing crops, burning villages, looting and taking over. Plagues and pestilence destroyed and claimed thousands of lives especially among the very young and old (the Black Death wiped out one third of Europe’s population in the Middle Ages). So, the idea that Israel could live in houses they built, eat food, and drink from the vines they planted and their children could grow up to maturity, be free and parents could thrive and live to old age was a unique revelation and revolutionary not too different from our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
While the Declaration affirms the God-given Truth of these rights the endeavors for their fruition are implied contextually by the strivings of a free society against the tyranny of oppressors that would destroy them. Isaiah’s prophecy however, is not based on the actions and will of the people but the actions, grace, and will of God for His beloved- promises that will not fail. But, as New Testament Believers how are we to understand this prophecy? How do we justify (“square”) the permanent/eternal language in the first set of verses with the much more temporal and earthly language of the last verses? Are we talking about the “greatest things” of new heaven, new earth or just about “newer” things like the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the exile? The answer is- YES! Scholars have debated whether Isaiah’s prophecies are to be understood literally, spiritually, or with several layers of meaning. While these debates are good mental exercise the answer has been provided for us already, we simply interpret the prophecies the way the New Testament writers (as led by God) interpreted them. It is OK for us to read these prophecies as both pertaining to the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Exile or even some point or time in the future (as expressed by Paul in Romans) the lesser temporal blessings, AND to look to the greatest blessings of NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH that are progressively revealed from the pages of the Old Testament to the New Testament and one day our own faith becoming sight when we experience heaven for ourselves! How do we keep from under-interpreting and over-interpreting these prophecies? The answer lies in careful study, listening to the Spirit, and carefully looking at both near and far context of the prophecy: near in the surrounding pages of Isaiah and the Bible’s history of Israel, and far in the Gospel account of Jesus’ fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies, and the similarities between Revelation’s prophecies and Isaiah’s (see Revelation 21). The main thing we will find looking both near and far is that we serve a God who keeps His Word and His promises and that makes every difference temporal and eternal for us!.I hope you have enjoyed our study of Isaiah. We will begin in the Gospel of Luke next week. God is in control and sovereign. He loves you and He has a great future for His children, rest and live assured in His presence today! Know I am praying for you and looking forward to being together again with all of you soon! Because of Jesus, keep the Faith and share it with a lost world that desperately needs it as much as we do! Love in Christ, Darrin.