Isaiah 65:17-25 Theology Through Visions of the Future

Isaiah 65:17-25 contains a wonderful picture of the new world God will create for His people to inhabit. Your theology will probably lock you into either a millennium or eternal state understanding of the description. But do not let those systematic categories detract from Isaiah's purpose. Long before Peter urges Christians to holy living in light of God's return, Isaiah does the same. The description moves back and forth between the new creation and marred creation. God knows that His children will read this description and desperately want to inhabit His new world. Isaiah 65:23 describes the type of person who will live there. Cf. Genesis 17:7 and Isaiah 53:10. This person was described repeatedly as God's "servants" in Isaiah 65:13-14. Isaiah is ending as he began: urging all professing Believers to give proof of their faith through obedience to the Word of God (the opposite of rebellion). The Gospel is prefigured in Isaiah 65:20. On the cross our Savior was the accursed sinner, dying the death we should have died. His death and resurrection life opens the door into God's new world for all who genuinely believe.