God will create a new heaven and a new earth.

Thank you LORD for your promise that You will create a new heaven and a new earth.  There won;t be sin, pain, old age, crime,  sickness, hunger and want in that new earth. Thank you LORD that restored me, that You restored sinful men and women into righteousness-gifted children of God. Thank you LORD that You chose me to be a part of that Christian nation - the universal church. Thank you LORD that You will restore our earth, some day. I worship You, O Lord. 

Text:  Isaiah 65:16-22 New International Version

16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land

    will do so by the one true God; 

    whoever takes an oath in the land

    will swear by the one true God.

    For the past troubles will be forgotten

    and hidden from my eyes.

New Heavens and a New Earth

17 “See, I will create

    new heavens and a new earth.

    The former things will not be remembered,

    nor will they come to mind.

18  But be glad and rejoice forever

    in what I will create,

    for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight

    and its people a joy.

19  I will rejoice over Jerusalem

    and take delight in my people;

    the sound of weeping and of crying

    will be heard in it no more.

20 “Never again will there be in it

    an infant who lives but a few days,

    or an old man who does not live out his years;

    the one who dies at a hundred

    will be thought a mere child;

    the one who fails to reach a hundred

    will be considered accursed.  

21  They will build houses and dwell in them;

    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

22  No longer will they build houses and others live in them,

    or plant and others eat.

    For as the days of a tree,

    so will be the days of my people;

    my chosen ones will long enjoy

    the work of their hands.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

In his wonderful book Art + Faith: A Theology of Making, renowned artist Makoto Fujimura describes the ancient Japanese art form of Kintsugi. In it, the artist takes broken pottery (originally tea ware) and pieces the shards back together with lacquer, threading gold into the cracks. “Kintsugi,” Fujimura explains, “does not just ‘fix’ or repair a broken vessel; rather, the technique makes the broken pottery even more beautiful than the original.” Kintsugi, first implemented centuries ago when a warlord’s favorite cup was destroyed and then beautifully restored, became art that’s highly prized and desired. 

Isaiah describes God artfully enacting this kind of restoration with the world. Though we’re broken by our rebellion and shattered by our selfishness, God promises to “create new heavens and a new earth” (65:17). He plans not merely to repair the old world but to make it entirely new, to take our ruin and fashion a world shimmering with fresh beauty. This new creation will be so stunning that “past troubles will be forgotten” and “former things will not be remembered” (vv. 16–17). With this new creation, God won’t scramble to cover our mistakes but rather will unleash His creative energy—energy where ugly things become beautiful and dead things breathe anew.

As we survey our shattered lives, there’s no need for despair. God is working His beautiful restoration.  By Winn Collier

Commentary:  In the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, the apostle John writes of the certainty of “what must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1; see 22:6). At the conclusion of human history and the ushering in of eternity, God will say, “I am making everything new!” (21:5) and will gift us with “a new heaven and a new earth” (v. 1). 

This creation of a new heaven and new earth isn’t something revealed only to John. Seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, God, through the prophet Isaiah, had declared, “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17)—a world that “will endure” (66:22) and “where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).  by K. T. Sim

FROM ME: Thank you LORD for your promise that You will create a new heaven and a new earth.  There won;t be sin, pain, old age, crime,  sickness, hunger and want in that new earth. Thank you LORD that restored me, that You restored sinful men and women into righteousness-gifted children of God. Thank you LORD that You chose me to be a part of that Christian nation - the universal church. Thank you LORD that You will restore our earth, some day. I worship You, O Lord. 

Posted November 3, 2023