65:16
The people had taken to invoking blessings in the name of Baal or some other false god. We do the same today when we think the land is blessed because we enhance “abortion rights” or because we celebrate LGBT stuff. A time will come when blessings are invoked only in the name of the one true God, when everything is done in the name of the Lord. And at that time past troubles will be forgotten forever. It is a theme of the direction of the Bible that one day every tear will be wiped away, suffering will be gone forever.
65:17
There is another feature of God’s plans that is echoed in Revelation (21:1). What is God’s response? It is to make a new heaven and a new earth. It is obvious why a new earth is a good idea, but why a new heavens? If heaven is where God rules, where His will is done (thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven), it is far from obvious why a new heaven is required. Maybe it is because the demonic forces will be banished forever? Or maybe “heavens” is just referring here to the heavens in the sense of “not the earth”. The new earth is required because of our sin. We should also note that the new heavens and earth may not be cosmically new (though they may be), it is the change in our relationship with God, and our moral transformation, and all that follows on from that, that are the crucial features. The former things will be gone forever, we will not be haunted by our history.
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