‘Joy unending’ (Isaiah 65:17-25)

 

I was talking to the Youth Group and I asked them about their favourite holidays.  I think I can say that there were three features to their replies.

1.      Abundance:  I think two of them mentioned all-you-can-eat buffets.

2.      Refreshing activities:  I prompted this one.  The point I wanted them to realise that the best holidays don’t just involve sleeping in, but doing things we enjoy.

3.      Great relationships:  more than one of the young people said how they loved spending time with grandparents and cousins.

The book of Revelation tells us that when Jesus returns at the end of time He will establish a New Heaven and a New Earth.  In Isaiah we get a description of what this glorious recreation will be like.

An abundance of Joy

One of the things that can spoil our joy is regret.  We look back over our past and we might feel ashamed of certain things.  However, in the New heaven and the New Earth it will be impossible to feel regret.  For behold, I create new heavens and new earth, and the formed things shall not be remembered or come to mind (17).  Never again will anything from your past haunt you.  God will not allow anything to spoil your joy.

In this New Heaven and New Earth, we will have resurrected bodies.  These bodies will have an increased capacity for joy.  In particular we will experience an increased capacity for rejoicing in Jesus.  No longer will we get bored when we worship.  No longer will we be tempted to look to those things that do not satisfy to find the satisfaction that is to be found in God alone.

Not only will we rejoice in the love of God, but in love God will rejoice over us.  But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for behold I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.  I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard the sound of weeping and the cry of distress (18-19).  We will sing about Him, and He will sing over us.

One of the saddest things in this life is when a life is cut short.  In the New Heaven and the New Earth such tragedy will never grieve us again.  No more in it shall there be an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed (20).  I believe that there is poetic licence here, for we know from Revelation that there is no death in the New Heaven and the New Earth.  Never again will the life of one of God’s people be cut short!

Refreshing activities 

Before Adam and Eve fell into sin they had work to do.  It was satisfying work.  After they rebelled against their loving creator work become backbreaking and frustrating.  In the New Heaven and the New Earth there will be work with purpose.  We all love the occasional sleep in.  But a really good holiday includes doing refreshing activities.  The work we do in heaven will bring great satisfaction.

They will build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.  They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall be the days of my people be, and my chosen shall enjoy the work of their hands.  They shall not labour in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them (21-23).  There will be no more exploitation.  No more taking advantage of the work of others.  No one steeling what you have done.  Two things that I fear more than almost anything else is boredom and loneliness.  The work will be enjoyable and rewarding, never pointless and dull.  As we will see there will be no chance of loneliness.

Great relationships

I realized that I had a reservation about heaven.  You see we have pictures of great multitude worshiping Jesus.  But that looks a little impersonal.  Will we just be one of a vast nameless crowd.  I think that is the danger of forming your understanding of the afterlife with just one image.  We will rejoice together in Jesus but we will also know Him personally. 

God uses relationship language when He promises, before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear (24).  Speaking of Jesus’ return, the apostle Paul writes, ‘for now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known’ (1 Corinthians 13:12).  On the night before the crucifixion Jesus promised His disciples, ‘I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am’ (John 14:3).  He wants us to be where He is.

Once a dying patient told the Bible teacher, Jack Miller, that she wasn’t interested in going to heaven because it would be boring.  Jack asked her, ‘What was the most happy moment in your life?’  She said, ‘the best and happiest times of my life came when I was with someone I really loved.’  Jack replied, ‘That is what makes heaven so very special.  Jesus is my very best friend.  And the greatest thing about heaven is being there for ever with your greatest and truest friend.’

Finally, we read of great peace in this New Heaven and New Earth.  Nature will be at harmony and there will be no threat.  The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food.  They shall not hurt or destroy in my holy mountain (25).

Conclusion

I have to point out that in contrast to the joy of the New Heaven and the New Earth this great chapter in Isaiah begins with a warning to those who refuse to seek their joy in God.  I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.  I said, “Here I am, here I am.”  I spread out my hands to a rebellious people …’ (1-2a).  But they were not willing to be swallowed up in His love. 

Jesus died that we might be forgiven.  He came that we could become beloved children of God.  He invites us to know His friendship.  He wants to give us life with purpose.  He desires that we would have hope.  But if we refuse His life transforming grace we will get what we have asked for.  Instead of knowing His forgiveness we will experience His righteous condemnation.  Instead of the New Heaven and New Earth eternity will be spent apart from Him.  When He returns He will not come as your Saviour but only as your judge.

To end on a positive note, I want to point out for those who are living in Jesus there are aspects of the New Heaven and the New Earth that we enjoy already.

Although our joy is not what it will be then, we have joy now.  Although God does not promise that life for His people will be easy we are ‘sorrowful yet always rejoicing’ (2 Corinthians 6:10).  We know that we are forgiven.  We know that we are loved by God.  We know that He is with us.  Indeed, He rejoices over us, even now in our imperfect state (Zephaniah 3:17).  The Lord takes delight in His people (Psalm 149:7).

Even though work can be stressful in this life, it is still a gift.  Our boss might not appreciate what we do but we serve wholeheartedly knowing that we serve not just people but the Lord (Ephesians 6:7).  One of my favourite verses tells us that we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).  Even serving a cup of water for His sake does not go unnoticed or unrewarded (Matthew 10:42).

While there are many things that are greater in the New Heaven and the New Earth than under this heaven and in this earth, one thing that won’t be greater then is the strength of God’s love for those who are trusting in Jesus.  We will experience Jesus with more intimacy, we will see Him face to face a fully know Him, but He loves us now as much as He will love we then.  So we pray, ‘I pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit you would show me more of the length and breadth and height of God’s love for those who are in Christ Jesus, so that I might know more of the New Heaven and New Earth even as I wait the day of Christ’s returning.’  Amen.