Easter · The Resurrection of Our Lord (Easter Sunday) · Year C
Isaiah 65:17-25
New Heavens and a New Earth
April 16, 2028
Overview & Insights
“Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered.” (Isaiah 65:17)
In these last two chapters of the book, once more we cannot discern an order or structure. The succession of phrases that look like introductions to prophecies (65:8, 13, 25; 66:1, 5, 12, 22) and the movement between verse and prose suggest that here it is not because a prophet let a stream of consciousness have its way. It is, rather, because a number of separate prophecies have been accumulated at the end of the book. These different prophecies have overlapping themes, and this has presumably contributed to the arrangement. The prophecies also have a number of points of contact with 56:1–59:8, and this may have contributed to their placement here in the chiasm that comprises chapters 56–66 as a whole. Further, the way they rework images such as heavens and earth and the servants of Yahweh may have contributed to their location at the close of the book. The chapters form a conclusion to the book as a whole.
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Commentary
Isaiah 65 Commentaries BibleHub
Multiple classic commentaries side by side on the new-creation oracle.
Isaiah 65 Commentary: The LORD Answers the Prayer Enduring Word · David Guzik
Guzik's plain-language walk through God's answer and the new-heavens promise.
Isaiah 65 (Barnes' Notes) StudyLight
Barnes' historical-grammatical notes on the extent and meaning of the new creation language.
Commentary on Isaiah 65:17-25 Working Preacher
Traces the motifs of former-and-latter things and Zion's glorification through the passage.
Isaiah 65:17-25 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching
A preaching-focused reading of the passage as an Easter do-over text of hope.
Background & Word Study
Isaiah 65 Interlinear BibleHub
Hebrew text with parsing for word study on bara (create) and the new-earth vocabulary.
Isaiah 65:17-25 Sefaria
The Hebrew Masoretic text alongside classical Jewish commentators such as Rashi and Radak.
Isaiah Enter the Bible
Luther Seminary background on the book's three-part structure and its themes of judgment and hope.
Against Heresies, Book V, Chapter 35 New Advent · Catholic Encyclopedia
Irenaeus quotes Isaiah 65:17-25 at length as proof of God's renewal of creation.
Questions preachers ask
What is the new creation?
God promises new heavens and a new earth, Jerusalem a joy and no more weeping; the wolf and the lamb feed together, and none shall hurt or destroy on his holy mountain (Isaiah 65:17–25).
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