Call me
biased, but I don’t understand why some people can’t appreciate the beauty of
Kansas. People who say, “there’s nothing to look at,” just don’t get it! When
you can see for miles around you in every direction, there’s too much to look at, and that’s part of
the beauty—being able to take in so much at once.
Honestly,
we can see beauty all over our planet—awe-inspiring, breath-taking beauty! But
let’s pause and remember that our planet is under a curse from God. The same
sky that gives us sunsets gives us tornadoes. How amazing is it that we still
see such beauty in our planet even after it has been blemished because of
mankind’s sin!
As we have
worked through the book of Isaiah, we have read numerous prophecies about a
future kingdom in this world in which the effects of The Curse will be almost
completely scaled back. Mankind will once again live at peace with God, each
other, and the even the animal world, and we will behold this planet in all of
the glory which God created for it. How amazing to think that the beauty of
this world could get even better!
As we close
our study of Isaiah today, we will read one more prophecy about this extreme
makeover along with one final warning about embracing God by faith before it is
too late.
1. What’s the purpose of a kingdom of peace in this world?
Before we
jump into the text this morning, I’d like to briefly follow a rabbit trail and
answer a question that may have come to your mind as we’ve been studying
Isaiah. Over and over again, we have read prophecies about a time of blessing
which I have interpreted to refer to a future kingdom that will be established
in this world. We often refer to this kingdom as the “Millennium,” or the
“1,000-year kingdom of Christ.” But not all Christians have interpreted these
prophecies in the same way. Some groups and denominations have interpreted
these prophecies as metaphors which refer to the spiritual blessings that we
enjoy through Jesus Christ. So for example, they might interpret prophecies
about peace among the nations to refer to peace among Christians today, or a
prophecy about Israel being re-gathered to the Promised Land might be
interpreted as a prophecy of God’s people being taken to their home in heaven.
And so, some people have questioned what the purpose of a Millennium in this
world would be. I would like to briefly give two answers to that question.
A. To
prevent Satan from having the final victory over Planet Earth
As history
stands today, Satan has delivered quite a blow to God’s creation by introducing
sin into this world through mankind, which caused God to place a curse upon
humanity and the planet in which we live. Now, if the history of our planet
were to end this way, then Satan would have scored a final victory over Planet
Earth by permanently disrupting God’s original plan for it.
I don’t
think the Lord has any intention of giving Satan the last laugh over this
planet. That is part of the reason that I think these prophecies that we have
read should be interpreted literally and not as metaphors. By establishing a
kingdom of peace and righteousness in this world, God will fulfill His original
plan for it and prevent Satan from having the final victory.
B. To demonstrate
God’s faithfulness to keep His word
There can
be little doubt that believers in the Old Testament expected God’s promises of
blessing to be fulfilled literally. Thus, they were looking forward to a
kingdom of peace and righteousness in this world. This was their hope for the
future, but if the Old Testament prophecies were actually metaphors, then we
must conclude that God allowed Old Testament believers to persist in believing
something that was actually a false hope.
In my
opinion, this idea casts doubt upon God’s New Testament promises as well. If
the Old Testament prophecies were metaphors, what guarantee do we have that New
Testament prophecies are not actually metaphors as well? How would we know that
statements about heaven aren’t really metaphors for simply ceasing to exist
after we die?
For the
sake of God’s faithfulness to keep His word, I believe that the hope of Old
Testament believers will be fulfilled literally; thus, there will be a kingdom
of peace and righteousness in this world. Moreover, when we look at the
prophecies of Jesus’ first coming into this world, we find that they were
fulfilled literally. I believe this observation gives us every reason to think
that prophecies about Jesus’ second coming will be fulfilled literally as well.
So with those thoughts in mind, I believe the
description that we read in the latter half of chapter 65 is a description of a
time that will literally come to pass in this world. Let’s take a look at this description.
2. God will roll back the effects of The Curse in almost
every way (65:17-25)
The Lord
begins v. 17 by saying, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.”
That phrase might sound familiar, especially if you have read the book of
Revelation. The apostle John uses the same phrase in Revelation 21:1 as he
starts to describe our eternal home with God. However, John and Isaiah must be
describing two different points in the future because in Isaiah’s description,
as we’ll see, there is still the life cycle of people being born and people
dying. Birth and death will not occur in our eternal home with God, so Isaiah
is apparently describing “phase one” of a two-part reconstruction of our world.
This first phase will occur during Christ’s kingdom on earth as virtually all
of the effects of The Curse will be removed. Let’s highlight a few parts of
this description.
A. Humanity
will enjoy peace and gladness (65:18-19, 21-23)
Human
beings were not created to be at odds with each other, and we see here that
peace will prevail during this time [READ 65:18-19, 21-23].
B. Long
life spans will be the norm (65:20)
This future
kingdom will present an interesting situation. We will live in this kingdom,
but we will already have our heavenly bodies—the same kind of body that Jesus
had after He rose from the grave. If you remember our study from a few weeks
ago, we noted that we will be taken out of the world at the Rapture and given
our heavenly bodies at that time. Later, we will come back to the world with
Jesus to live here with Him during this kingdom.
So we will
no longer face death, but there will be some people who have lived on earth
right up to the start of Jesus’ kingdom. These people will still have their
earthly bodies, so they will continue to have children and they will continue
to die. But apparently, long life spans will once again be the norm, as they
were in the early chapters of Genesis [READ 65:20].
C. People
will enjoy close communication and fellowship with God (65:24)
In Genesis
1-2, we read about Adam and Eve enjoying unhindered fellowship with God. This
kind of intimacy will exist between God and man once again [READ 65:24].
D. Peace
will reign among animals and between animals and men (65:25)
We read a
virtually identical prophecy back in chapter 11, and now the Lord restates it
through Isaiah here at the end of the book [READ 65:25].
Once again, we find so much to look forward to
as we contemplate this future kingdom which Christ will establish in this
world. We will bask in all that is good
about this world with virtually none of these things which are bad! This time
will be a thorough foretaste of our eternal home with God, but as the Lord has
repeatedly warned us, we must embrace Him from the heart by faith if we want to
enjoy these blessings. The fate of those who reject Him will be far different,
so in chapter 66…
3. God issues a final warning and promise of blessing
(66:1-24)
In the
first part of this chapter, the Lord issues a final warning against the
idolatry and hypocritical worship of some of the people. He warns them that
they better not think of Him the way they think about their idols [READ
66:1-2a]. These verses are a subtle jab against the mindset of idolatry. Idol
worshipers approached worship with the idea that they were doing favors for
their god. It was an “I’ll scratch your back, you scratch my back” kind of
mindset. But God goes on to stress that such a mindset doesn’t fly in true
worship of Him [READ 66:2b].
The Hebrew
term for “humble” in this verse conveys the idea of spiritual poverty. This is
the humility that acknowledges that I have absolutely nothing I could use to
gain God’s favor. This attitude says, “I am spiritually bankrupt;” I have no
spiritual “currency,” so to speak, that would allow me to get anything from
God. This is the attitude of the person who truly embraces God by faith. As the
hymnwriter put it, “nothing in my hands I bring; simply to Thy cross I cling.”
God makes
it clear that anyone who would worship Him with the attitude that he is doing
God a favor which God must then repay is actually offering God something that
is offensive to Him [READ 66:3-4].
My friends,
we must understand that God is not fooled by hypocritical worship. If we think
that we are doing God a favor by showing up at church or putting Him under
obligation to us by putting some money in the offering plate, we better think
again! True worship of God flows from the understanding that I am in complete
spiritual poverty, yet through Christ, God has lavished upon me the riches of
His grace.
So much
more could be said about this marvelous book of Scripture. Even in this long
series of sermons, we have barely scratched the surface of the depths of
insight in this book. Perhaps the central lesson that we should take with us
from this study is that a vastly different fate awaits those who embrace God
through Jesus by faith and those who do not. Some of the people in Israel
thought they were okay with God because they were born in the right family or
because they did the right religious activities. We must not fall into the same
error! Being born into a Christian family does not make you right with God;
attending church every Sunday does not make you right with God. We can only
become right with God by confessing that we are sinners who deserve His wrath,
and expressing our faith in Him by believing that Jesus paid the full price for
our sins through His death on the cross and proved it by rising from the grave.
We must each personally embrace that gift of salvation in order to be right
with God. I urge you to do so today!
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