10–26–2020 65:1–25 Study Read Isaiah 65:1–25. I will print the Net–2 translation. THE LORD WILL DISTINGUISH BETWEEN SINNERS AND THE GODLY 65 “I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; I appeared to those who did not look for me. I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’ to a nation that did not invoke my name. 2 I spread out my hands all day long to my rebellious people, who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable and who did what they desired. 3 These people continually and blatantly offend me as they sacrifice in their sacred orchards and burn incense on brick altars. 4 They sit among the tombs and keep watch all night long. They eat pork and broth from unclean sacrificial meat is in their pans. 5 They say, ‘Keep to yourself! Don’t get near me, for I am holier than you!’ These people are like smoke in my nostrils, like a fire that keeps burning all day long. 6 Look, I have decreed: I will not keep silent, but will pay them back; I will pay them back exactly what they deserve, 7 for your sins and your ancestors’ sins,” says the Lord. “Because they burned incense on the mountains and offended me on the hills, I will punish them in full measure.” 8 This is what the Lord says: “When juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes, someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for it contains juice.’ So I will do for the sake of my servants— I will not destroy everyone. 9 I will bring forth descendants from and from people to take possession of my mountains. My chosen ones will take possession of the land; my servants will live there. 10 Sharon will become a pasture for sheep, and the Valley of Achor a place where cattle graze; they will belong to my people, who seek me. 11 But as for you who abandon the Lord and forget about worshiping at my holy mountain, who prepare a feast for the god called ‘Fortune,’ and fill up wine jugs for the god called ‘Destiny’— 12 I predestine you to die by the sword, all of you will kneel down at the slaughtering block, because I called to you, and you did not respond; I spoke and you did not listen. You did evil before me; you chose to do what displeases me.” 13 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry. Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated. 14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts. But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. 15 Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. The Sovereign Lord will kill you, but he will give his servants another name. 16 Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God; whoever makes an oath in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God. For past problems will be forgotten; I will no longer think about them. 17 For look, I am ready to create new heavens and a new earth! The former ones will not be remembered; no one will think about them anymore. 18 But be happy and rejoice forevermore over what I am about to create! For look, I am ready to create to be a source of joy, and her people to be a source of happiness. 19 Jerusalem will bring me joy, and my people will bring me happiness. The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow will never be heard in her again. 20 Never again will one of her infants live just a few days or an old man die before his time. Indeed, no one will die before the age of one hundred; anyone who fails to reach the age of one hundred will be considered cursed. 21 They will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, for my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. 23 They will not work in vain or give birth to children that will experience disaster. For the Lord will bless their children and their descendants. 24 Before they even call out, I will respond; while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 A wolf and a lamb will graze together; a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, and a snake’s food will be dirt. They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain,” says the Lord.

COMMENTS: A PATIENT AND COMPASSIONATE GOD (65:1-16) As the prophecy moves to its close it returns to themes that have been present from the opening chapters. The distinction continues to be made between the true servants of the Lord, and those who provoke him by their false sacrifices and blatant disregard for his laws. These concluding sections of the prophecy provide the answer to the people's prayer given in chapters 63 and 64. v. 1: God's revelation to was given. The people did not approach him with their requests, but God kept calling to them, ‘Here I am, here I am.” This clearly refers to nations. v. 2: God's mercy was such that he held out his hands continually to an obstinate people. This is a wonderful picture of God's forbearance. Paul quotes the first part of the verse along with verse 1 in :20-21 where he is dealing with Israel's rejection of God. Israel could not plead ignorance of God's demands, for she had received revelation. So far from influencing her to do what was right, she continued to walk in evil ways. vs. 3-5: These three verses provide a detailed description of 'the people', with a succession of participles defining its nature. They can be set out as follows following the ESV translation: A) a people who provoke me to my face continually B) sacrificing in gardens C) making offerings incense on brick D) who sit in tombs E) and spend the nights in secret places F) who eat pig’s flesh G) and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels H) who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” I) These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. Instead of living in obedience to the Lord, Israel sinned openly and in a provocative manner. Constantly she did what caused anger to God.

In place of true worship of the living God, Israel so often substituted idolatrous worship and sacrifice. They were also engaging in some cultic practices associated with the dead, sinfully transgressing the food laws by eating pig's meat and other ritually unclean food.

Moreover, those who were engaging in these practices considered themselves holier than others and tried to prevent them from coming near. God's attitude to these people is that they are smoke in his nostrils, a fire that burns all day. The meaning appears to be that God's anger is hot just like a continuously burning fire. vs. 6-7: The direct response to the prayer of 64:12 is now given by the Lord. The forthcoming judgment on the people has already been decreed, and it stands sure. The Lord intimates that he will not keep silent any longer but will repay in full their sins. This idea is stressed by the repetition of the Hebrew word ‘I will repay’, with the added words, ‘into their bosoms’. This is a Hebrew idiom used here and twice elsewhere (Ps. 79:12; Jer. 32:18).

The use of this language appropriate to the payment of a debt points to the exact nature of God's judgment. In these passages it is best to keep the word ‘bosom’ in the translation. The switch to the personal (‘your bosom’) brings home the coming judgment in a very personal way. It is not just the sins of that generation that invite God's judgment, but the cumulative sins of the past generations as well.

Their fathers had committed such sins, and they had continued with them, and now recompense will come. The idea is not that one generation has to be punished for the sins of past generations, but rather that the former sins have been consistently committed by the present generation who face God's wrath for their idolatrous actions. They continue to sacrifice on the mountains to Baal, and so defile the Lord by their syncretistic worship. v. 8: God now reveals the distinction within the nation he will in his execution of judgment. On the one hand there is a believing remnant, for God will not destroy all the people (v. 8). He makes promises to his chosen people (v. 9) and will bless those who seek him (v. 10). Those who forsake the Lord and disobey him (v. 11) will be subjected to judgment (v. 12).

A formal declaration of blessing and cursing is now made in verse 8. An illustration is given from the vineyard, a particularly fitting one, for early in this book Israel was compared to a vineyard that had produced bad grapes (5:2, 4, 7). The point is made that there may be juice remaining in a bunch of grapes there is also the prospect of a remnant the Lord calls ‘my servants’. This will be the holy seed that will be the stump in the land (Isa. 6:13). v. 9: The promise is made that God's true servants, the chosen people, will come from both Jacob (Israel) and from Judah. The old division will no longer be in force in the restored community, for as the Lord later said through Ezekiel, his purpose will be to 'make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel' (Ezek. 37:22). 'Mountains' here and in Ezekiel 37 is just a synonym for the land of . v. 10: Two areas in Canaan are chosen as reference points. Sharon was the rich coastal plain extending from about the present day Jaffa for about 50 miles (83 km) to the north, while Achor was the valley near Jericho where Achan was executed (Josh. 7:24-26).

They probably represent the extent of the land, and their lush vegetation (‘a pasture for flocks’ and ‘a resting place for herds’ respectively) denotes the abundant provision that will be made for the remnant, ‘my people who seek me’ as the Lord describes them. In Hosea 2:15 the prospect is given that the valley of Achor (which means ‘trouble’) will be so transformed that it will become ‘a door of hope’. vs. 11-12: Now a word is addressed to the unbelieving community. Those who belong to it are characterized as being ‘those who forsake the Lord’, a term used over a hundred times in the of covenant breaking (for examples, see Deuteronomy 29:25[24]; Jeremiah 2:13, 17, 19; Daniel 11:30).

They also do not keep the land of promise in their thoughts and affections (contrast the unnamed author of Psalm 137 who calls down curses upon himself if he forgot Jerusalem). Moreover, they are also charged with being involved in worship relating to Fortune and Destiny. They seem to refer to two deities, but no certain identification can be made. To these deities they made offerings of food and drink.

The same judgment that God's enemies will face (‘the sword’) will be destined for unbelieving Israel. It was not that they were unaware of God's claims on them, but they did not heed his messages and persisted in doing wrong. They did not return to God or listen when he spoke. They chose what did not please God. vs. 13-14: The final words in this section announce the doom of unbelieving Israel, with the terms of the coming judgment echoing the passages in the Pentateuch containing the covenant curses (Lev. 26, Deut. 28). Four times the expression ‘behold my servants’ occurs in succession (preserved in some English translations such as the ESV, NASB and NKJV).

God's servants, already spoken of in verses 11 and 12, will have full satisfaction, whereas the unbelievers will lack the very necessities of life. While 'the chosen people' will rejoice, the unfaithful ones will be put to shame and cry out in anguish of heart. v. 15: The curse of death is to come upon the rebels, and all that will remain will be their name and it will serve as a curse. Often in the Old Testament 'oath' and 'curse' are closely related (see Genesis 26:28; 1 Samuel 14:24; Nehemiah 10:30; Daniel 9:11).

The idea is that in future when a curse is pronounced it will contain the names of unbelieving Israel as an illustration (cf. the similar case of the names of Zedekiah and Ahab in Jer. 29:22). However, to the faithful he will give 'another name', most probably the 'new name' of 62:2 (see comment on that verse). v. 16: In contrast to cursing there are those who are going to bless themselves. When they bless or take an oath it is to be by ‘the God of the Amen’, a phrase that is unique to this verse. The word ‘amen’ comes from a root that means ‘confirm’, ‘support, or ‘be established’. You pronounce your ‘amen’ over what God has said expressing your faith that it will be as God has promised. Invoking a blessing or taking an oath had to be done with fitting solemnity for they were done using the name of the God of the Amen. The final sentence of this verse asserts that God is able to set aside former sins so that they no longer come into his reckoning.

THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH (65:17-25) v. 17 The announcement is prefaced with the words ‘behold, I’, a form that often occurs when the speaker is the subject of the following verb. The previous use of 'behold' in verses 13 and 14 calls for attention, but then focuses on God's servants. Here the focus is on the creator God who is forming a new heaven and a new earth.

This is the climax in a succession of newness of which Isaiah speaks (see 'new things', 42:9; 'a new song', 42:10; 'a new thing', 43:19; 'new things', 48:6; 'a new name', 62:2). When the new heaven and earth are realized, then ‘the former’, i.e. the previous order in the first creation, will not be remembered, nor will it trouble human hearts. vs. 18-19: The stress on God's creative work continues with a double mention of what he is going to do. The new creation will call forth intense joy, and the new Jerusalem and its inhabitants will elicit praise. Not only will humans note the entirely changed Jerusalem, but the Lord himself will take delight in his own new creative work and the inhabitants of the new Jerusalem.

No longer will weeping and crying be part of the experience of the people of God. Revelation 21:4 picks up this feature of the new order and describes a day when there will be no more weeping or cries of distress. v. 20: The altered conditions in the new Jerusalem are illustrated by two examples. No longer will infants die young, while adults dying at a hundred years of age will be considered mere youths. Anyone who fails to reach a hundred years must be under some form of curse. v. 21-22: The removal of covenant curses will mean that the people will be able to build houses and plant vineyards, knowing that they will have permanent dwellings and secure food supplies. In accordance with the curses given through Moses (Lev. 26:14-17; Deut. 28:30), the experience of the people was that they were uprooted from their own homes and consequently were unable to profit from the vineyards they had planted.

Just as a tree is used elsewhere to denote endurance and permanence (cf. Ps. 1:3; Jer. 17:8), so is it here employed to characterize the enduring kingdom prepared for God's people. These, called here by God 'my people' and 'my chosen ones', will fully enjoy the fruits of their labor. v. 23: Constant toil will not bring weariness, nor will their children have to endure ‘calamity or sudden terror.’ This word is rare, occurring only four times in the Old Testament. In all the occurrences God is the agent who brings 'sudden terror'. Once more the picture is of the reversal of a covenant curse in the world, for instead blessing extends to the people and their descendants. v. 24: In the previous chapter the people had complained that God did not hear them when they called on him. How different will the situation be in the eternal kingdom! Even before the people call, God will hear, and his answer will come so quickly that it finds them still speaking. The use of the first person singular pronoun twice, emphasizes the fact that God is pledging himself to be attentive to the needs of his people. v. 25 The language of :6–9 is called on to provide the final words of this section. The words, “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain’ are quoted. The imagery is that of an idyllic situation in which there is no disharmony at all in nature, and animals such as the wolf and the lamb and the lion and the ox, will be able to coexist without strife.

The reference to the serpent is based on the curse of Genesis 3:14, where eating the dust is a way of expressing the abject humiliation awaiting Satan. No destructive forces will prevail in the Lord's eternal kingdom.

REFLECTION QUESTION: One of the foolish arguments people have is whether the focus is on our going to heaven to live with God or if the new earth that God will create will be our residence when Jesus returns. Both are word pictures to describe being somewhere where sin does not touch us or break our relationship with one another or anything in creation. Streets paved with gold, city gates make out of one pearl, etc. all describe that it will be more wonderful than we can imagine. Whether it is living in a fruitful garden where everything that grows is a blessing or if we are walking and talking with God in the garden. When people ask me what will it be like my simple reply is: God promises you are going to like it. He describes it as something beyond our wildest imagination, wonderful beyond our dreams. What more do you need to know??