Isaiah 65King James Version
God answers. I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not. The old tension: my people of Jacob will be judged, but a new creation is coming. Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together.
God answers: I was found by those who did not seek me; I spread my hands to a rebellious people who sacrificed in gardens and ate swine's flesh. But for my servants' sake I will not destroy all. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. Before they call, I will answer. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together.
God's answer to the lament of chapter 64 distinguishes sharply between the rebellious and his servants. The new heavens and new earth are the inheritance of those who seek him, not a universal default.
verse: "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind", the new creation is not renovation but replacement, and it requires forgetting the former, not celebrating it.
God answers the lament directly, as if the prayer has just been heard. The garden-sacrificers are still visible. But behind them, the scene shifts to a new landscape: houses standing, vineyards planted and eaten by the same people, children born to no more trouble, nature rearranged around peace.
God, answering the lament of chapters 63-64. The rebellious people who sacrificed in gardens and ate abominations. The servants of God who will eat and sing while the others are hungry and weep. The new community in the new creation: builders, planters, parents of blessed children.
Isaiah 65 is the primary Old Testament source for the new heavens and new earth that Revelation 21-22 develops. The verse before-they-call-I-will-answer (v. 24) is one of the Bible's most direct statements about God's foreknowledge of prayer. The wolf-and-lamb image (v. 25) echoes chapter 11 but resets it in the context of the new creation.
For when you feel that the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be is unbridgeable. The new creation is not offered as comfort for accepting the present; it is a destination that makes endurance possible.
1I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
2I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
3A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
4Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
5Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
6Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
7Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
8Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
9And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
10And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
11But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
12Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.
13Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
14Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
15And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
16That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
17For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
18But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
19And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
20There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
21And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
22They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
24And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.