Scripture: Isaiah 65:18 – “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.” (NRSV)
What would your perfect world look like? Would it be one where humans found peace and bounty with nature? Would it be a world filled with beauty, with art and self-expression for its own sake? Would it be one filled with justice and world peace? Would it be one where all were satisfied, and no one suffered from hunger or want?
This is the kind of world that the Book of Isaiah invites us to imagine. Scholars believe that this section of Isaiah comes from the aftermath of the Babylonian Exile, a time when the Jews were trying to rebuild from spiritual and literal rubble all around them. The prophet tells the people that God will not let them simply mere exist in a meagerness. Instead, the prophet promises the people that God will create a new beginning. God will create a new heavens and a new earth, a new Jerusalem. People will see a world where no body dies before they reach old age and where there is no infant mortality, which was common in the prophet’s time. People will see a world where they will enjoy the fruits of their labor, and not have it seized by tyrannical kings, greedy elites, or invading armies. The prophet says, “They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord— and their descendants as well.” All human endeavors will be fruitful and no one’s life will be wasted or empty. Even nature itself will find peace, for as the prophet famously states, “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust!”
Of course, this did not happen to the Jews. They continued to live under the thumb of the relatively kind Persian Empire, before being subject to the less kind Greek and Roman Empires before being scattered to the four winds in a diaspora of almost two thousand years. But that does not mean that their lives were wasted. Oracles like this inspire hope, hope that the future will be better than it is now, that the pain we suffer will have a purpose. At its best, God’s promises lead not to bitterness, but to joy, in recognizing the good things in life that we already have rather than the perfection we still lack.
We still can honor those who do live long lives, delight in the children around us, and enjoy the pleasures of life and the beauty of nature. As we soak in these joys, we find ourselves closer to God and to each other. It may be impossibly slow, but with each kind word and sigh of contentment, God’s new heavens and new earth come one step closer to reality.
Prayer: Lord of love and majesty, help us to see the good things you have planned for us and the joy in everyday living. Amen.
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