Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 65:23

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 65:23. They shall not labour in vain - "My chosen shall not labour in vain"] I remove בחירי bechirai, my elect, from the end of the twenty-second to the beginning of the twenty-third verse, on the authority of the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, and a MS.; contrary to the division in the Masoretic text. - L. The Septuagint is beautiful: My chosen shall not labour in vain, neither shall they beget children for the curse; for the seed is blessed of the Lord, and their posterity with them."

Nor bring forth for trouble - "Neither shall they generate a short-lived race"] לבהלה labbehalah, in festinationem, "what shall soon hasten away." Εις καταραν for a curse, Sept. They seem to have read לאלה lealah. - Grotius. But Psalms 78:33 both justifies and explains the word here: -

ימיהם בהבל ויכל

yemeyhem bahebel vayechal

בבהלה ושנותם

babbehalah ushenotham

"And he consumed their days in vanity;

And their years in haste."

μετα σπουδης, say the Septuagint. Jerome on this place of Isaiah explains it to the same purpose: "εις ανυπαρξιαν, hoc est, ut esse desistant."

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

A new creation (65:17-25)

Israel’s condition in the time of the prophet is then contrasted with conditions in the new Jerusalem, the kingdom of the Messiah. That kingdom is not an improved version of the old Israelite kingdom, but is something entirely new. It is a new creation, where the quality of life will be different from that of the present world. Sorrow will be replaced by rejoicing. Life will not be cut short except where God acts in judgment (17-20).
In the new creation people will have complete satisfaction. They will not experience the sufferings and frustrations that result from sin, but will enjoy life as God intended them to enjoy it (21-23). The absence of sin will mean that, above all, they will live in perfect fellowship with God. The world of nature also will benefit in this new era of genuine peace and harmony (24-25).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come to mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and there shall be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another inhabit: they shall not plant and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of Jehovah, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith Jehovah."

What is the meaning of this remarkable paragraph? We know that it cannot refer to that New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God (Revelation 21-22), because sinners here are represented as living to be a hundred years old! There shall be no sinners in heaven. Moreover, "It is not eternal life which is envisaged here, but longevity."T. K. Cheyne's Commentary, Vol. II, p. 120. Furthermore, the necessity of agricultural pursuits and for the continuation of the building industry for the purpose of feeding and housing mankind cannot be fitted into the picture of the New Jerusalem at the conclusion of the New Testament.

Many writers go overboard with their declarations that here is the promise of the Millennium. This can be true, only if the Millennium is properly understood as one of the names of the current Dispensation of the grace of God, not a literal thousand years, but embracing all of the time between the two advents of Jesus Christ.

Taking this chapter as a whole, the situation, first to last, must be identified with the current era of "the last times," as indicated by the apostle Peter on Pentecost (Acts 2:16); because it is the era in which the Gentiles are called to accept the gospel (cf. Romans 10:20), and it is the era when God's people are no longer Israelites but are called by "another name" (Isaiah 65:15). Therefore, we accept the designation of Douglas as correct. He designated these last nine verses as, "The Overflowing Blessings in the Messianic Age."George C. M. Douglas, p. 409.

The great difficulty of accepting this understanding of the passage lies in the first verse (Isaiah 65:17) where the "new heavens and the new earth" are promised; because the apostle Peter clearly identified this promise with the final judgment of mankind, the destruction of the earth with fire, in which "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:7-10).

Both sacred writers are obviously correct. The new heavens and the new earth mentioned by Isaiah here are indeed associated with the Messianic age, but coming at the end of it, its termination, rather than being identified with the period of probation, which constitutes the extended middle portion of the Messianic period, stretching from the first advent to the second advent. It will be remembered that Peter referred to the current dispensation as "the last days" (Acts 2:16-17); and it is a characteristic of all the prophets that events during the Messianic age are telescoped in the prophetic visions so that events, actually separated by millenniums of time, are often mentioned as if they occurred simultaneously. That is exactly what we believe to be evident here.

Another helpful factor in understanding what is written here is seen in the limitation of such promises as, "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain" (Isaiah 65:25), to conditions "within all God's holy mountain," that is, within the holy Church of Messiah, It is within that sacred fellowship that the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the wolf and the lamb shall lie down together, as stated in Isaiah's earlier reference to the Messianic Age (Isaiah 11:6-9). Of course, what is meant is that the changes in men's lives, due to their obedience of the gospel, will be "As great as if,"Albert Barnes' Commentary, Vol. II, p. 423. the nature of fierce animals should be so changed.

This reference to the lion and the wolf, along with its counterpart, has a number of utilities: (1) again we have an instance of "here a little and there a little," so often seen in Isaiah; (2) it identifies this passage as pertaining to the age of Messiah, as is the case in Isaiah 11:6-9; (3) and it serves to illustrate the unity of the prophecy and its authorship by Isaiah. See our notes on Isaiah 11:6-9, above.

The wonderful blessings pertaining to God's people which are cited in these verses, along with Isaiah 65:10 (above) refer to spiritual privileges, despite their being expressed here in the terms of material prosperity. Quite obviously in the passage, the natural laws of birth and death, and other conditions of our earth-life still prevail during the age of Messiah, in which we most assuredly live.

Of course, death itself shall finally be conquered; but when this finally occurs, Christ will render back to the Father the kingdom of heaven; and such shall mark the termination and not the beginning of the Messianic Age (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

"The new heavens and the new earth," like many other prophecies has an immediate and a remote fulfillment, the first being the creation of "an utterly new environment" in the first advent of Christ and the preaching of the Gospel to Jews and Gentiles alike. The remote and final fulfillment is yet to occur when God will shake the earth the second time, signifying its "removal" (Hebrews 12:27), when the present earth and the works within it are "burned up" (2 Peter 3:7-10), when the "elements shall melt with fervent heat," and when has arrived that final "day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." It is freely admitted that these sensational promises could all be interpreted figuratively; but this writer, along with many others, clings to the conviction that cosmic disturbances of the most tremendous and far-reaching nature are most surely associated with the final Judgment Day in the Word of God.

The word "new" is significant in these chapters. There is to be a"new" heaven and earth, a "new" nature in the people of God, and a "new" name. Is not all of this what Paul spoke of? when he wrote: "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away. Behold, they are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

On Isaiah 65:20. here, Rawlinson noted that, "The remarkable thing in this paragraph is that death and sin are represented as continuing."Pulpit Commentary, Vol. II, p. 373. Nevertheless, "Death was spoken of as being `swallowed up in victory' in one of Isaiah's earlier descriptions of Messiah's kingdom."Ibid. (See Isaiah 25:8 and my comment there). This harmonizes with what we have written above, namely, that both are correct. Sin and death prevail throughout the period of probation (the present dispensation) until the end of it, at which time the judgment and the new heaven and the new earth will appear. Death will be swallowed up in victory when the dead of all generations arise in the judgment to confront the Son of God upon the throne of his glory (Matthew 25). All of these are associated with the Messianic Age.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

They shall not labor in vain - That is, either because their land shall be unfruitful, or because others shall plunder them.

Nor bring forth for trouble - Lowth renders this, ‘Neither shall they generate a short-lived race.’ Noyes, ‘Nor bring forth children for an early death.’ The Septuagint renders it, Οὐδὲ τεκνοποιήσουσιν εἰς κατάραν Oude teknopoiēsousin eis kataran - ‘Nor shall they bring forth children for a curse.’ The Chaldee, ‘Nor shall they nourish them for death.’ There can be no doubt that this refers to their posterity, and that the sense is, that they should not be the parents of children who would be subject to an early death or to a curse. The word rendered here ‘bring forth’ (ילדוּ yēl^edû) is a word that uniformly means to bear, to bring forth as a mother, or to beget as a father. And the promise here is, that which would be so grateful to parental feelings, that their posterity would be long-lived and respected. The word rendered here ‘trouble’ (בהלה behâlâh) means properly “terror,” and then the effect of terror, or that which causes terror, sudden destruction. It is derived from בהל bâhal, to trouble, to shake, to be in trepidation, to flee, and then to punish suddenly; and the connection here seems to require the sense that their children should not be devoted to sudden destruction.

For they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord - (See the notes at Isaiah 59:21).

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

23.They shall not toil in vain. He enumerates other kinds of blessings which God promises to the kingdom of Christ; for, although God always blessed his people, yet the blessings were in some measure suspended till the coming of Christ, in whom was displayed full and complete happiness. In a word, both Jews and Gentiles shall be happy, in all respects, under the reign of Christ. Now, as it is a token of God’s wrath and curse when we obtain no advantage front our labor, so, on the other hand, it is a token of blessing when we clearly see the fruit of our labor. For this reason he says that they who shall have returned from captivity, in order that they may obtain a true and complete deliverance, shall not spend their labor in vain or lose their pains. The Law threatens the death of relatives, destructive wars, losses of property, and terror in their hearts. (Leviticus 26:22; Deuteronomy 28:48.) Here, on the contrary, are promised fertility, peace, the fruit of labor, and repose. And blessings of this kind ought to be carefully observed; for there are few who, amidst their labors, think of the blessing of God, so as to ascribe everything to him alone, and to be fully convinced that they will accomplish nothing whatever unless the Lord grant to them a prosperous result. Wherefore, as every blessing should be sought from God, so, when it has been received, thanksgiving should be rendered for it to God alone.

And they shall not bring forth in terror. When it is said that women “shall not bring forth in terror,” some explain it to mean, that they shall have no uneasiness or dread of childbirth, because they shall be free from pain. We know that this punishment was inflicted on the woman on account of sin, to bring forth with difficulty, and to be in danger of death. Children are brought into the world with fear and trembling, when there is any expectation of war; and it is probable that the Prophet rather looks to this, that there shall be such settled peace that neither women nor men shall have any reason to fear; for this must be viewed as relating to both parents, who will have no dread about their children, as commonly happens when any danger is threatened.

For they shall be the seed of the blessed of Jehovah. This reason is highly appropriate; for whence come fears and terrors, whence come alarms, but from the curse of God? When the curse has been removed, the Prophet therefore says justly that parents, together with their offspring, shall be free from dread and anxious solicitude; because they shall be convinced that they shall always be safe and sound through the favor of God.

And their offspring with them. This is contrasted with childlessness, which is reckoned in the number of the curses of God; and therefore it is the same as if he had said, “I will no longer deprive them of their children, but will cause them to enjoy them, along with the rest of the blessings which I shall bestow upon them.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 65

Now God answers the prayer offered by the remnant of the people and He said,

I am sought of them that asked not for me ( Isaiah 65:1 );

Here's the remnant of the Jewish people calling to God. "If You've forsaken us, won't You remember us?" and all this. And God answers them and He says, "I 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. I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, which walked in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; a people that provoked me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificed in gardens, and burned incense upon altars of brick; Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, and eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burned all the day ( Isaiah 65:1-5 ).

So God is declaring here now how that He stretched out His hands actually to the Gentiles. And Paul quotes this in Romans the tenth chapter as he shows how that God set the nation Israel aside that He might draw out from among the Gentiles a people for His name. And he quotes here in tenth chapter from this passage here in Isaiah where God speaks about how that He has been found really by them who did not seek Me. He turned to another nation that wasn't called by His name. "For all day long," He said, "I've stretched out my hands to a rebellious people which walked in their own ways and not after Me." Which had committed these abominable practices against the Lord. Who became as an irritant unto God. Smoke in His nostrils.

Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom, your 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. Thus 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 ( Isaiah 65:1-8 ).

Speaks now, "I'm going to bring forth the faithful remnant."

And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah the inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it ( Isaiah 65:9 ),

"Mine elect shall inherit it." God is going to gather together His elect, Matthew 24:1-51 , and bring them back that they might inherit it. And to try to interpret the elect there as the church is just poor biblical exposition. It is the denying of God's restoration of the nation Israel and it is anti-Semitic in its teaching and it breeds anti-Semitism. That identity of Israel as the church. Because they then deny that God is going to yet deal with Israel, that Israel is through. And they excuse their hatred against the Jews by the fact that God has cut them off and we are now the Israel and so forth. But that is poor biblical exposition.

Sharon [the valley of 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. But 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. Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that in which I did not delight. Therefore 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: Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and ye shall howl for the vexation of spirit. And 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 ( Isaiah 65:10-15 ):

What is the other name by which He calls His servants? And in Antioch they called them Christians. The servant of God called by the new name. As God is at the present time still working among the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled, which we are there. The days of God's grace and mercy and hand stretched out to the Gentiles is just about over. If you're going to become a part of the kingdom you'd better become a part of the kingdom in a hurry, because the opportunities will soon be over.

That 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 ( Isaiah 65:16 ).

Now in verse Isaiah 65:17 , it's sort of an isolated verse, for God goes out beyond, way out now, and He said,

Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind ( Isaiah 65:17 ).

Now this is out beyond the millennium, beyond the millennial age. He comes back in the next verse and deals with things of the millennium. But He goes out way to the end now that is described in Second Peter when God causes this whole universe to dissolve, to melt with a fervent heat. All of the works in it being dissolved, destroyed. And God said, "Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth." Now there are those who teach the eternity of the earth. In other words, the earth is going to go on forever and ever. Using some poetic verses out of Psalms and verses that are in poetic form out of the Psalms. "The earth abides forever" ( Ecclesiastes 1:4 ), and all. Yet the earth and all of its works are going to be destroyed. Second Peter goes into quite a bit of detail in describing the end of the physical universe. The molecular structure as we understand it and know it.

Now in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the Hebrew word for create is bara, which is a word that means to create something out of nothing. Now only God has that capacity. There is another Hebrew word translated create or made, and that is the word asah. And that word in the Hebrew has as a meaning to assemble existing materials. So some man created this pulpit. Now he didn't say, "Pulpit be!" And poof! Out of nothing here was a pulpit. That would be bara. But man can't do that. He took the wood and he cut it and he planed it and he glued it and he put it together and he assembled the pulpit. He created the pulpit out of existing materials. Now man does have that capacity. Only God, though, has capacity of creating out of nothing. When God said, "Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth" here in Isaiah, He again uses the Hebrew word bara. Out of nothing He's going to bring a whole new heaven and a new earth into existence. Now seeing then that the present earth and universe is to be dissolved, seeing then that all of these things are going to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be? If the whole material realm is going to be destroyed, then what kind of a person should I be?

Well, if I am a total materialist, I'm going to be totally wiped out. So what kind of a person should I be? I should be spiritual. I should put my value in spiritual things. I should lay up my treasures in heaven where moth doth not corrupt. Where thieves cannot break through and steal. I should be spiritual, and a spiritual man and mindful of spiritual things because the physical material universe is going to be destroyed.

So "Behold, I create," bara, out of nothing, "a new heaven and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, or called into mind." When we get into that final age, out at the end of the millennium in the new heaven and the earth, we won't be saying, "Oh, you remember that day we were surfing down in Huntington?" You won't be remembering that stuff anymore. It won't be even coming into mind.

Some people are worried, "I could never really enjoy heaven if my parents aren't there or my children aren't there or something." It won't even be... You'll have no memory of these things. It will never be brought into mind. That is, that horrible period of history when man rebelled against God. All of the sorrow that has been brought because of that rebellion will be wiped out. Never brought into mind again. Now during the millennial age...

But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And 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 ( Isaiah 65:18-19 ).

This is during the Kingdom Age. It's going to be glorious then.

There shall be no more an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old ( Isaiah 65:20 );

Now if a person dies when they're just a hundred, you'll say, "Oh, what a shame, young child died," because there will be a renewing of the earth during the millennial Kingdom Age back to the pre-flood conditions. Where again God will put a shield around the earth and we'll be protected from these cosmic radiations that cause the mutations and the aging process and so forth. And with this canopy that--and you'll be hearing all about this this week--the canopy that used to be around the earth and why men lived to be so long. Why lived so many years and why dinosaurs grew so big and why cockroaches were a foot long. You'll be finding all that out as we study this week of the world that was before the flood. It's interesting to look back and find out what the earth was like before the judgment of God in the flood. You'll be getting that this week.

"A child will die being a hundred years old."

but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed ( Isaiah 65:20 ).

So during the millennial age... now, we will not die. We're in our new bodies. We've moved out of our tents and we'll be in our new bodies during the Kingdom Age. But there will be people that will live through the time of the Great Tribulation who will also live through the judgment of the nations when Jesus returns and they will live into the Kingdom Age. And they are the one that will be bearing children and so forth during the Kingdom Age. But we will be here to reign with Christ as enforcers of righteousness. As a kingdom of priests upon the earth, representing Christ to the people and the people to Christ. And we will be here to rule and to reign upon the earth with Him during this millennial age in our new bodies. Now what will our new bodies be like? I really don't know. Vastly superior to the one I'm presently in.

Paul said, "Some of you will say, 'How are the dead raised and with what body will they come? What kind of a body will it be?'" ( 1 Corinthians 15:35 ) And he said nature teaches you that there is resurrection from the dead. When you plant a seed into the ground it doesn't come forth into new life until it first of all dies. And then the body that comes out of the ground isn't the body that you planted. So I'm not going to be in this body. But God gives it a body that pleases Him. My new body is going to please God. That's all that matters to me. I know if it pleases God, I'm going to be very pleased with it. What will be the capacities? These are things I oftentimes wonder about, the capacities of the new body. How will we be able to... the transporting of the new body around. And there's a lot of interesting aspects about. It will probably be of a different molecular structure than this body, which will make being on the earth very interesting if you're different molecular structure, because you're walking right into the buildings and everything else. Even as Jesus in His resurrected body. But that's all for conjecture and all to find out in the future.

And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of the people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands ( Isaiah 65:21-22 ).

Mine elect, the Jews.

They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear ( Isaiah 65:23-24 ).

Oh, the closeness of God and the rapport with the people.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together ( Isaiah 65:25 ),

Beautiful Kingdom Age.

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 ( Isaiah 65:25 ).

So the earth again being in harmony with God, and creation in harmony with God, and man in harmony with God. How glorious it must have been for Adam in harmony with the whole universe around him. Everything humming together in a glorious harmony with God. Oh, what a disastrous affect sin has had in putting man out of harmony with God and out of harmony with nature around him. I think of that song, "This is my Father's world. All nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres." But man is out of harmony so often with nature and with God. And nature even itself has suffered from the curse and is out of harmony with God. Even the animal kingdom. The ferociousness of the lion, the wolf and these things, out of harmony with God. They are suffering the result of man's sin. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

New heavens and a new earth 65:17-25

God not only will be faithful to His promises in spite of Israel’s unfaithfulness (Isaiah 63:1 to Isaiah 65:16), but He will demonstrate His ability and desire to provide righteousness for sinful humankind by creating new heavens and a new earth. Most of this section describes God’s renovation of creation during the Millennium.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Life will not be futile or frustrating, labor will amount to something, and children will be born for productive lives rather than for tragedy. This is true in one sense for the Christian now (cf. Romans 8:28; 1 Corinthians 15:58), but it will be true in a larger sense for all the redeemed in the future. Isaiah identified three generations of the blessed of the Lord in this glorious future state. This reflects the truth that the basic unit of society is the male and female couple, not the individual (cf. Genesis 2:18; Genesis 2:23-24).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

They shall not labour in vain,.... As they do, who build houses, and enemies come and turn them out of them, and dwell in them themselves; or who plant vineyards, and sow their fields, and strangers come and devour them; or they are smitten with blasting and mildew:

nor bring forth for trouble; for death, as the Targum; or for a curse, as the Septuagint: the tense is, they shall not beget and bring forth children, that shall immediately die by some distemper or another, or be taken off by famine, sword, or pestilence, to the great grief and trouble of their parents; but these shall live, and outlive their parents, so that their death will never be a trouble to them:

for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them; or, "they are a seed, the blessed of the Lord" i; or, "they are the seed blessed of God", or "the Lord", as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; or, as the Targum,

"a seed whom the Lord hath blessed;''

a spiritual seed of the church, a seed raised up to serve the Lord, whom he blesses with temporal and spiritual blessings; and their offspring also, being made a spiritual seed by the grace of God, and succeeding them in the church, and treading in their steps.

i כי זרע ברוכי יהוה המה "quia [sunt] semens, benedicti Domini ipsi"; which tension is most agreeable to the accents.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.   18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.   19 And 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.   20 There 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 a hundred years old shall be accursed.   21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.   22 They 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.   23 They 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.   24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.   25 The 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.

      If these promises were in part fulfilled when the Jews, after their return out of captivity, were settled in peace in their own land and brought as it were into a new world, yet they were to have their full accomplishment in the gospel church, militant first and at length triumphant. The Jerusalem that is from above is free and is the mother of us all. In the graces and comforts which believers have in and from Christ we are to look for this new heaven and new earth. It is in the gospel that old things have passed away and all things have become new, and by it that those who are in Christ are new creatures,2 Corinthians 5:17. It was a mighty and happy change that was described Isaiah 65:16; Isaiah 65:16, that the former troubles were forgotten; but here it rises much higher: even the former world shall be forgotten and shall no more come into mind. Those that were converted to the Christian faith were so transported with the comforts of it that all the comforts they were before acquainted with became as nothing to them; not only their foregoing griefs, but their foregoing joys, were lost and swallowed up in this. The glorified saints will therefore have forgotten this world, because they will be entirely taken up with the other: For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. See how inexhaustible the divine power is; the same God that created one heaven and earth can create another. See how entire the happiness of the saints is; it shall be all of a piece; with the new heavens God will create them (if they have occasion for it to make them happy) a new earth too. The world is yours if you be Christ's, 1 Corinthians 3:22. When God is reconciled to us, which gives us a new heaven, the creatures too are reconciled to us, which gives us a new earth. The future glory of the saints will be so entirely different from what they ever knew before that it may well be called new heavens and a new earth,2 Peter 3:13. Behold, I make all things new,Revelation 21:5.

      I. There shall be new joys. For, 1. All the church's friends, and all that belong to her, shall rejoice (Isaiah 65:18; Isaiah 65:18): You shall be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create. The new things which God creates in and by his gospel are and shall be matter of everlasting joy to all believers. My servants shall rejoice (Isaiah 65:13; Isaiah 65:13), at last they shall, though now they mourn. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. 2. The church shall be the matter of their joy, so pleasant, so prosperous, shall her condition be: I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy. The church shall not only rejoice but be rejoiced in. Those that have sorrowed with the church shall rejoice with her. 3. The prosperity of the church shall be a rejoicing to God himself, who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servants (Isaiah 65:19; Isaiah 65:19): I will rejoice in Jerusalem's joy, and will joy in my people; for in all their affliction he was afflicted. God will not only rejoice in the church's well-doing, but will himself rejoice to do her good and rest in his love to her, Zephaniah 3:17. What God rejoices in it becomes us to rejoice in. 4. There shall be no allay of this joy, nor any alteration of this happy condition of the church: The voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her. If this relate to any state of the church in this life, it means no more than that the former occasions of grief shall not return, but God's people shall long enjoy an uninterrupted tranquillity. But in heaven it shall have a full accomplishment, in respect both of the perfection and the perpetuity of the promised joy; there all tears shall be wiped away.

      II. There shall be new life, Isaiah 65:20; Isaiah 65:20. Untimely deaths by the sword or sickness shall be no more known as they have been, and by this means there shall be no more the voice of crying,Isaiah 65:19; Isaiah 65:19. When there shall be no more death there shall be no more sorrow,Revelation 21:4. As death has reigned by sin, so life shall reign by righteousness, Romans 5:14; Romans 5:21. 1. Believers through Christ shall be satisfied with life, though it be ever so short on earth. If an infant end its days quickly, yet it shall not be reckoned to die untimely; for the shorter its life is the longer will its rest be. Though death reign over those that have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, yet they, dying in the arms of Christ, the second Adam, and belonging to his kingdom, are not to be called infants of days, but even the child shall be reckoned to die a hundred years old, for he shall rise again at full age, shall rise to eternal life. Some understand it of children who in their childhood are so eminent for wisdom and grace, and by death nipped in the blossom, that they may be said to die a hundred years old. And, as for old men, it is promised that they shall fill their days with the fruits of righteousness, which they shall still bring forth in old age, to show that the Lord is upright, and then it is a good old age. An old man who is wise, and good, and useful, may truly be said to have filled his days. Old men who have their hearts upon the world have never filled their days, never have enough of this world, but would still continue longer in it. But that man dies old, and satur dierum--full of days, who, with Simeon, having seen God's salvation, desires now to depart in peace. 2. Unbelievers shall be unsatisfied and unhappy in life, though it be ever so long. The sinner, though he live to a hundred years old, shall be accursed. His living so long shall be no token to him of the divine favour and blessing, nor shall it be any shelter to him from the divine wrath and curse. The sentence he lies under will certainly be executed, and his long life is but a long reprieve; nay, it is itself a curse to him, for the longer he lives the more wrath he treasures up against the day of wrath and the more sins he will have to answer for. So that the matter is not great whether our lives on earth be long or short, but whether we live the lives of saints or the lives of sinners.

      III. There shall be a new enjoyment of the comforts of life. Whereas before it was very uncertain and precarious, their enemies inhabited the houses which they built and ate the fruit of the trees which they planted, now it shall be otherwise; they shall build houses and inhabit them, shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them,Isaiah 65:21; Isaiah 65:22. Their intimates that the labour of their hands shall be blessed and be made to prosper; they shall gain what they aimed at, and what they have gained shall be preserved and secured to them; they shall enjoy it comfortably, and nothing shall embitter it to them, and they shall live to enjoy it long. Strangers shall not break in upon them, to expel them, and plant themselves in their room, as sometimes they have done: My elect shall wear out, or long enjoy, the work of their hands; it is honestly got, and it will wear well; it is the work of their hands, which they themselves have laboured for, and it is most comfortable to enjoy that, and not to eat the bread of idleness, or bread of deceit. If we have a heart to enjoy it, that is the gift of God's grace (Ecclesiastes 3:13); and, if we live to enjoy it long, it is the gift of God's providence, for that is here promised: As the days of a tree are the days of my people; as the days of an oak (Isaiah 6:13; Isaiah 6:13), whose substance is in it, though it cast its leaves; though it be stripped every winter, it recovers itself again, and lasts many ages; as the days of the tree of life; so the LXX. Christ is to them the tree of life, and in him believers enjoy all those spiritual comforts which are typified by the abundance of temporal blessings here promised; and it shall not be in the power of their enemies to deprive them of these blessings or disturb them in the enjoyment of them.

      IV. There shall be a new generation rising up in their stead to inherit and enjoy these blessings (Isaiah 65:23; Isaiah 65:23): They shall not labour in vain, for they shall not only enjoy the work of their hands themselves, but they shall leave it with satisfaction to those that shall come after them, and not with such a melancholy prospect as Solomon did, Ecclesiastes 2:18; Ecclesiastes 2:19. They shall not beget and bring forth children for trouble; for they are themselves the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and there is a blessing entailed upon them by descent from their ancestors which their offspring with them shall partake of, and shall be, as well as they, the seed of the blessed of the Lord. They shall not bring forth for trouble; for, 1. God will make their children that rise up comforts to them; they shall have the joy of seeing them walk in the truth. 2. He will make the times that come after comfortable to their children. As they shall be good, so it shall be well with them; they shall not be brought forth to days of trouble; nor shall it ever be said, Blessed is the womb that bore not. In the gospel church Christ's name shall be borne up by a succession. A seed shall serve him (Psalms 22:30), the seed of the blessed of the Lord.

      V. There shall be a good correspondence between them and their God (Isaiah 65:24; Isaiah 65:24): Even before they call, I will answer. God will anticipate their prayers with the blessings of his goodness. David did but say, I will confess, and God forgave,Psalms 32:5. The father of the prodigal met him in his return. While they are yet speaking, before they have finished their prayer, I will give them the thing they pray for, or the assurances and earnests of it. These are high expressions of God's readiness to hear prayer; and this appears much more in the grace of the gospel than it did under the law; we owe the comfort of it to the mediation of Christ as our advocate with the Father and are obliged in gratitude to give a ready ear to God's calls.

      VI. There shall be a good correspondence between them and their neighbours (Isaiah 65:25; Isaiah 65:25): The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, as they did in Noah's ark. God's people, though they are as sheep in the midst of wolves, shall be safe and unhurt; for God will not so much break the power and tie the hands of their enemies as formerly, but he will turn their hearts, will alter their dispositions by his grace. When Paul, who had been a persecutor of the disciples (and who, being of the tribe of Benjamin, ravened as a wolf,Genesis 49:27) joined himself to them and became one of them, then the wolf and the lamb fed together. So also when the enmity between Jews and Gentiles was slain, all hostilities ceased, and they fed together as one sheepfold under Christ the great Shepherd, John 10:16. The enemies of the church ceased to do the mischief they had done, and its members ceased to be so quarrelsome with and injurious to one another as they had been, so that there was none either from without or from within to hurt or destroy, none to disturb it, much less to ruin it, in all the holy mountain; as was promised, Isaiah 11:8; Isaiah 11:8. For, 1. Men shall be changed: The lion shall no more be a beast of prey, as perhaps he never would have been if sin had not entered, but shall eat straw like the bullock, shall know his owner, and his master's crib, as the ox does. When those that lived by spoil and rapine, and coveted to enrich themselves, right or wrong, are brought by the grace of God to accommodate themselves to their condition, to live by honest labour, and to be content with such things as they have--when those that stole steal no more, but work with their hands the thing that is good--then this is fulfilled, that the lion shall eat straw like the bullock. 2. Satan shall be chained, the dragon bound; for dust shall be the serpent's meat again. That great enemy, when he has been let loose, has glutted and regaled himself with the precious blood of saints, who by his instigation have been persecuted, and with the precious souls of sinners, who by his instigation have become persecutors and have ruined themselves for ever; but now he shall be confined to dust, according to the sentence, On thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat,Genesis 3:14. All the enemies of God's church, that are subtle and venomous as serpents, shall be conquered and subdued, and be made to lick the dust, Christ shall reign as Zion's King till all the enemies of his kingdom be made his footstool, and theirs too. In the holy mountain above, and there only, shall this promise have its full accomplishment, that there shall be none to hurt nor destroy.