The Lord Will Distinguish Between Sinners and the Godly, 1-25

65:1 “I made myself available to those who did not ask for me;
I appeared to those who did not look for me.
I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’
to a nation that did not invoke my name.
65:2 I spread out my hands all day long
to my rebellious people,
who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable,
and who did what they desired.
65:3 These people continually and blatantly offend me
as they sacrifice in their sacred orchards
and burn incense on brick altars.
65:4 They sit among the tombs
and keep watch all night long.
They eat pork,
and broth from unclean sacrificial meat is in their pans.
65:5 They say, ‘Keep to yourself!
Don’t get near me, for I am holier than you!’
These people are like smoke in my nostrils,
like a fire that keeps burning all day long.
65:6 Look, I have decreed:
I will not keep silent, but will pay them back;
I will pay them back exactly what they deserve,
65:7 for your sins and your ancestors’ sins,” says the LORD.
“Because they burned incense on the mountains
and offended me on the hills,
I will punish them in full measure.”
65:8 This is what the LORD says:
“When juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes,
someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for it contains juice.’
So I will do for the sake of my servants—
I will not destroy everyone.

v8 AV – As the new wine is found in the cluster,
And one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it..

This verse (in the AV, but see also ESV, NASB, RSV, NRSV, and others) is thought by some to support the ‘two-wine’ theory, i.e. that ‘wine’ in the Bible is often unfermented.  No-one, after all, supposes that anything other than unfermented juice is found in a cluster of grapes.  The word translated ‘juice’ or ‘wine’ is tîrōš.  The verse here may indeed be suggesting that tîrōš in this instance in unfermented wine; or it may, by a simple figure of speech, be referring to the fact that fermented ‘wine’ was potentially found in the grapes.  It would quickly (in a few days) become so.  In the words of Matthew Henry, this was juice ‘fit to make wine’.

65:9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains.
My chosen ones will take possession of the land;
my servants will live there.
65:10 Sharon will become a pasture for sheep,
and the Valley of Achor a place where cattle graze;
they will belong to my people, who seek me.
65:11 But as for you who abandon the LORD
and forget about worshiping at my holy mountain,
who prepare a feast for the god called ‘Fortune,’
and fill up wine jugs for the god called ‘Destiny’—
65:12 I predestine you to die by the sword,
all of you will kneel down at the slaughtering block,
because I called to you, and you did not respond,
I spoke and you did not listen.
You did evil before me;
you chose to do what displeases me.”

65:13 So this is what the sovereign LORD says:
“Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry!
Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty!
Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!

v13 Observe ‘the dismal, deplorable condition of all you who are yet in a Christless state. You have seen a rich mine opened, but not a penny of this treasure comes to your share; a truth laden with incomparable comfort, but it is bound for another coast, it belongs to the saints, into whose bosom this truth unlades all her comfort. See God shutting the door upon you, when he sets his children to feast themselves with such dainties.’ (Gurnall)

65:14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts!
But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts;
you will wail because your spirits will be crushed.
65:15 Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones.
The sovereign LORD will kill you,
but he will give his servants another name.
65:16 Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth
will do so in the name of the faithful God;
whoever makes an oath in the earth
will do so in the name of the faithful God.
For past problems will be forgotten;
I will no longer think about them.
65:17 For look, I am ready to create
new heavens and a new earth!
The former ones will not be remembered;
no one will think about them anymore.

The former ones will not be remembered – not called to mind.

Does this mean that our memories will be ‘wiped’ in the age to come?  No!  For to lose all our memories would be to lose one’s self.  The resurrection of Jesus indicates that there is continuity between the present life and the life to come.  Also, we will sing the eternal praises of God, for what he has done for us in Christ.  How could we do so, if we had no recollection of that?

65:18 But be happy and rejoice forevermore
over what I am about to create!
For look, I am ready to create Jerusalem to be a source of joy,
and her people to be a source of happiness.
65:19 Jerusalem will bring me joy,
and my people will bring me happiness.
The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow
will never be heard in her again.
65:20 Never again will one of her infants live just a few days
or an old man die before his time.
Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred,
anyone who fails to reach the age of a hundred will be considered cursed.
65:21 They will build houses and live in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
65:22 No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it,
or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit,
for my people will live as long as trees,
and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced.
65:23 They will not work in vain,
or give birth to children that will experience disaster.
For the LORD will bless their children
and their descendants.
65:24 Before they even call out, I will respond;
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
65:25 A wolf and a lamb will graze together;
a lion, like an ox, will eat straw,
and a snake’s food will be dirt.
They will no longer injure or destroy
on my entire royal mountain,” says the LORD.

65:20 Never again will one of her infants live just a few days
or an old man die before his time.
Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred,
anyone who fails to reach the age of a hundred will be considered cursed.

How can it be that, in the new heavens and new earth (v17), death is still possible (even premature death a thing of the past)?  Cf. Rev 21:4 – ‘No more death’.

The solution favoured by Kaiser in Hard Sayings of the Bible is that vv20-25 form a distinct subparagraph.  They relate to the Jerusalem of the millennial kingdom, whereas vv17-19 relate to the Jerusalem of the new heavens and the new earth.

A similar view is taken by Wiersbe:

‘This is not the same as John’s “new heaven and new earth” (Rev. 21:1ff), because the characteristics Isaiah gives do not fit the eternal state. As far as we know, in the eternal state, people will not get old or die (Isa. 65:20), nor will there be any danger of losing anything to invaders (vv. 21–23).’

This seems to me to rely on the importing of a dispensational scheme that is alien to the text.  Better, I think, to understand this passage as representing, in language redolent of the early chapters of Genesis and of the covenant language of much of the OT, an anticipation (but not a like-for-like description) of the glorified life.

Here, then, is:

‘a word picture of the restoration of God’s creation, with some features drawn from the Bible’s description of conditions in Eden and humanity’s early history—long lifetimes, animals living together without being carnivorous (Gn 1:30; cp. 2:19), the serpent crawling in the dust (Gn 3:14). At the same time, the prophet incorporated terminology from Israel’s covenant structure. He referred to a new heaven and a new earth—the witnesses to the covenant (Dt 4:26; 30:19; 31:28). He described the undoing of the covenant curses—such as building a house but never living in it (Dt 28:30), planting vineyards but not enjoying the fruit (Dt 28:39), begetting children who will be taken as prisoners (Dt 28:41). This renewal of both creation and covenant centers in Jerusalem, to be created anew (Is 65:18), the site of God’s “holy mountain” (v. 25). Elements of Isaiah’s vision for the future are taken up in the NT, especially in the description of the Jerusalem from heaven, as “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rv 21:1–2).’ (Apologetics Study Bible for Students)

God’s salvation touches everything:

‘Isaiah’s glorious portrait must always remind us that God’s restorative salvation will ultimately touch everything, from the physical to the emotional, from the social to the psychological, from the wolf to the lamb (cf. Isa. 11:6–9).’ (Gospel Transformation Bible)