Isaiah 65:17 - Meaning and Application

If these promises were partly fulfilled when the Jews returned from captivity and settled in peace in their own land, they had a fuller fulfillment in the gospel church, first in its struggle on earth and later in its glory. The Jerusalem that is from above is free, and she is the mother of all believers. In the grace and comfort believers receive from Christ, we are to look for this new heaven and new earth.

The gospel is where old things pass away and all things become new, and where those in Christ become new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). Isaiah 65:16 spoke of a great and happy change, where former troubles would be forgotten. Here the promise rises much higher, because even the former world will be forgotten and will no longer come to mind. Those converted to the Christian faith were so filled with its comfort that all they had known before seemed like nothing, not only their former sorrows, but even their former joys.

The glorified saints will forget this world because they will be fully occupied with the world to come. “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.” See how unlimited God’s power is. The same God who created one heaven and earth can create another. See also how complete the saints’ happiness will be. It will all fit together. With the new heavens, God will also create for them, if needed for their happiness, a new earth. The world is yours if you belong to Christ (1 Corinthians 3:22). When God is reconciled to us, which gives us a new heaven, the creatures are reconciled to us too, which gives us a new earth. The future glory of the saints will be so different from anything they have known that it is rightly called new heavens and a new earth (2 Peter 3:13). “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

There will be new joys. All the church’s friends, and all who belong to her, will rejoice: “You shall be glad and rejoice forever in what I create” (Isaiah 65:18). The new things God creates through his gospel are and will be lasting joy for all believers. “My servants shall rejoice” (Isaiah 65:13), and at last they will, though now they mourn. They will enter into their Lord’s joy.

The church herself will be the cause of their joy, because her condition will be so pleasant and so prosperous: “I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.” The church will not only rejoice, but be a joy to others. Those who have grieved with the church will rejoice with her. The prosperity of the church will also be a joy to God himself, who delights in the prosperity of his servants (Isaiah 65:19). “I will rejoice in Jerusalem’s joy, and delight in my people,” for in all their trouble he was troubled. God will not only rejoice in the church’s good, but will himself delight to do her good and rest in his love for her (Zephaniah 3:17). What God rejoices in should also make us rejoice.

This joy will have no loss or interruption. “The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her.” If this refers to any state of the church in this life, it means that former causes of grief will not return, and God’s people will enjoy long peace without interruption. But in heaven this promise will be fully completed, both in the perfection and the lasting nature of the promised joy. There all tears will be wiped away.

There will also be new life (Isaiah 65:20). Early deaths by sword or sickness will no longer be known as they have been, and so the voice of crying will also end (Isaiah 65:19). When there is no more death, there will be no more sorrow (Revelation 21:4). As death has ruled through sin, so life will rule through righteousness (Romans 5:14, Romans 5:21).

Believers through Christ will be content with life, even if it is very short on earth. If an infant’s days end quickly, that will not count as dying too soon, for the shorter the life, the longer the rest. Though death rules over those who have not sinned in the same way Adam did, those who die in the arms of Christ, the second Adam, and belong to his kingdom, are not to be called infants of days. Even a child will be counted as dying at a hundred years old, because he will rise again at full strength and rise to eternal life. Some understand this to mean children who, even in childhood, show unusual wisdom and grace, and are cut off in the bloom of life, so that they may be said to die a hundred years old.

As for old people, the promise is that they will fill out their days with the fruit of righteousness, which they will still bear in old age, showing that the Lord is upright. Then it is a truly good old age. An old man who is wise, good, and useful may truly be said to have filled his days. Old men whose hearts are set on the world never fill out their days, because they never have enough of this world and always want more time in it. But that man dies old, and full of days, who, like Simeon, has seen God’s salvation and now desires to depart in peace.

Unbelievers, on the other hand, will be unsatisfied and unhappy in life, even if they live a very long time. The sinner, even if he lives to a hundred, will still be cursed. His long life will not be a sign of God’s favor or blessing, and it will not protect him from God’s wrath and curse. The sentence over him will surely be carried out, and his long life is only a long delay before judgment. More than that, it is itself a curse, because the longer he lives, the more wrath he stores up for the day of wrath, and the more sins he will have to answer for. So it does not matter much whether our lives on earth are long or short, but whether we live as saints or as sinners.

There will also be a new enjoyment of life’s comforts. Before, life had been uncertain and fragile. Enemies lived in the houses God’s people built and ate the fruit of the trees they planted. Now it will be different. They will build houses and live in them, and they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit (Isaiah 65:21, Isaiah 65:22). This shows that the work of their hands will be blessed and prosper. They will gain what they aimed for, and what they gain will be kept safe for them. They will enjoy it in peace, without bitterness, and they will live long enough to enjoy it.

Strangers will not break in to drive them out and take their place, as has sometimes happened before. “My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” What they earn honestly will last well. It is the work of their own hands, what they labored for themselves, and it is a great comfort to enjoy that, rather than to eat the bread of idleness or the bread of deceit.

If we have a heart to enjoy these blessings, that is itself a gift of God’s grace (Ecclesiastes 3:13). If we live long enough to enjoy them, that too is a gift of God’s providence, and that is what is promised here: “As the days of a tree are the days of my people.” The meaning is that God’s people will last a long time, like an oak (Isaiah 6:13), which keeps its strength inside even when its leaves fall. Though it is stripped in winter, it grows again and stands for many years. The Septuagint takes this to mean the tree of life. Christ is the tree of life for believers, and in him they enjoy the spiritual comforts that these earthly blessings point to.

It will not be in the power of their enemies to take these blessings away or disturb their enjoyment of them. There will also be a new generation rising up after them to inherit and enjoy the same blessings (Isaiah 65:23). They will not labor in vain, because they will enjoy the work of their hands themselves and leave it with joy to those who come after them. They will not have the sad outlook that Solomon had when he looked at what he would leave behind (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19). They will not have children only for trouble, because they themselves are the offspring of those whom the Lord has blessed, and that blessing will continue through their children as well.

They will not bring forth children for trouble. God will make their children a comfort to them, so that they can rejoice to see them walking in the truth. He will also make the later times good for their children. Since they themselves are good, it will go well with them. Their children will not be born for days of trouble, and it will never be said, “Blessed is the womb that did not bear.” In the gospel church, Christ’s name will be carried on through a line of descendants. “A seed shall serve him” (Psalm 22:30), the seed of the blessed of the Lord.

There will also be a good relationship between God and his people (Isaiah 65:24). “Before they call, I will answer.” God will go ahead of their prayers with the blessings of his goodness. David only said, “I will confess,” and God forgave him (Psalm 32:5). The father in the parable met the prodigal son while he was still coming back. “While they are yet speaking,” before they finish their prayer, God will give them what they ask for, or at least give them the promise and foretaste of it. These are great words showing how ready God is to hear prayer. We see this even more clearly in the grace of the gospel than under the law, and we owe that comfort to Christ, who speaks for us with the Father. In thankfulness, we should be quick to hear God when he calls us.

There will also be a good relationship between them and their neighbors (Isaiah 65:25). “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,” as they did in Noah’s ark. God’s people, though they are like sheep among wolves, will be safe and unharmed. God will not merely stop their enemies by force as often as before, he will also change their hearts by his grace. When Paul, who had once persecuted the disciples, joined them and became one of them, then the wolf and the lamb fed together. The same happened when the hostility between Jews and Gentiles was removed. Then all hostilities ended, and they fed together as one flock under Christ the great Shepherd (John 10:16).

The enemies of the church stopped doing the harm they once did, and church members also stopped being so quarrelsome and hurtful to one another. So there was no one from outside or from within to hurt or destroy, and nothing to disturb the church, much less ruin it, in all the holy mountain, as promised in Isaiah 11:9. This happens because people are changed: “The lion shall no more be a beast of prey.” He may never have been one if sin had not entered the world, but now he eats straw like the ox, knows his owner, and stays near his master’s crib. When those who once lived by plunder and greed, and tried to enrich themselves by any means, are brought by God’s grace to accept their condition, live by honest work, and be content with what they have, then this promise is fulfilled. When those who used to steal steal no more, but instead work with their hands what is good, the lion is eating straw like the bullock.

Satan will also be chained, the dragon bound, for “dust shall be the serpent’s food” again. That great enemy, when allowed to act, has fed on the precious blood of saints, whom he stirred up people to persecute, and on the precious souls of sinners, whom he stirred up to become persecutors and ruin themselves forever. But now he will be confined to dust, according to the sentence, “On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat” (Genesis 3:14). All the enemies of God’s church, sharp and poisonous as serpents, will be conquered and brought low, and made to lick the dust. Christ will reign as Zion’s King until all the enemies of his kingdom are made his footstool, and theirs too. Only in the holy mountain above will this promise be fully complete, there and nowhere else, where no one will hurt or destroy.