11/17/24 Isaiah 65:17-25 “Perfect in Perfectness!”

14 Nov 11/17/24 Isaiah 65:17-25 “Perfect in Perfectness!”

11/17/24      Isaiah 65:17-25         “Perfect in Perfectness!”

Hopefully, you all know me well enough to know that I’m not the type of person who dwells too much on the past.  I’m like everyone else in that I have learned many things from my past but then I try to put most things behind me.  As far as I’m concerned this is a good way to live, looking forward.  Now don’t get me wrong, it is always good to have memories of long ago.  These memories help to shape our personality.  I have fond memories of my mother’s cooking.  She made the best meatballs in the world and of course, she had no recipe.  She made a rhubarb dessert that was unequaled and also cherry pie with just cherries and not modern pie filling.  I also remember going to a friend’s house for supper and then coming back to our house for a second supper.  Yes, I was one of those teenage boys who couldn’t be filled up.  I’m sure that you all have some memories of long ago even though for some of you it isn’t that long ago.  These are all good memories for me but I don’t think that it is good for us to dwell on them too much.  We need to be looking forward in all that we do so that when we get there, we will know we are there.  Hopefully, people will be able to put this last election behind them and move on to better things.  Today’s reading from Isaiah sounds a lot like what we read in Revelation.  Let’s see what is in store for us in the future.

Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson tells the story of a bishop reporting on a conference he attended.   He told of three speakers at this conference.  The first one taught at a seminary and gave an excellent talk on Biblical studies.  The 2^nd speaker was theologian and talked of our heritage from past to present.  Then the bishop got excited when he talked of the 3^rd speaker who was a gifted lay woman that worked in the field of applied science.  She talked about what was going on in science, how the future of applied science is so uncertain and how she loved being on the cutting edge of that future.  Then the bishop made this observation.  Isn’t it funny how the two church speakers focused on the past and how things used to be?  The speaker on applied science talked about the future and how bright it might be with the use of applied science.  Wouldn’t it be something if our learned people of the church would take what they know and applied it to the future?  Last week we talked of Haggai and how that passage was talking about Jesus and what He will do for us now and into the future.  Hopefully, we can do the same with Isaiah today.    Before we begin, I would like to say a little about Isaiah.  The first 39 chapters deal almost exclusively with judgment for sin.  Some say Isaiah wrote these chapters and someone else wrote the rest in his name.  This doesn’t matter to us.  What matters is that we should be preaching this same thing today.  In our broken world we need to know that there will be consequences for sinful behavior.  I just talked to someone this past week who thinks that they don’t sin.  Everyone sins.  Plus, everyone will not get to heaven.  I think we all know what I’m talking about here.  Then the last 27 chapters of Isaiah talk about forgiveness, comfort and hope.  If we are going to look to the future, we need to know that there will be judgment for our past sins.  We also need to know that we will be forgiven if we just ask Jesus for forgiveness.  Jesus will comfort us and give us hope for our future.  This reading gives us that comfort and hope as he is talking about everyone’s future, everyone who loves Jesus, that is.

First of all, Isaiah is trying to help them see a bright future.  However, they don’t seem to see the need.  Things had been going rather well.  There seemed to be enough food on the table.  The government was a bit oppressive but then that is what a government does.  It oppressed its people and I think that we can attest to that even today.  Actually, the people thought they had no need for God.  They surely didn’t have a need for a prophet who is telling them that they will be overrun and exiled.  And they absolutely did not think that they were wicked.  Maybe they thought they did not sin.  Then they should get rid of this so-called prophet because he isn’t saying nice things.

The truth was that they were falling apart.  Isaiah wasn’t popular because he did and said what God told him to say and this upset the leaders because it was the truth.  There were people who could see that there was a problem and they did listen to Isaiah, but they would usually just walk away and not do anything about it.

This really sounds like our modern-day dilemma.  It makes me ill to think of all the shootings we have been having at our schools.  What in the world is wrong with us?  There are shootings everywhere, every day.  I would guess that none of them make any sense.  If you remember a few weeks ago I told you that approximately 1 of every 7 people in the world are extremely hungry.  We send food to places and the governments won’t allow the food to go to the hungry.  What in the world is wrong with us?  A few years ago, North Korea executed 80 people for owning Bibles or for watching foreign movies.  No one has said a word about this.  What in the world is wrong with us?  I could go on and on here but I hope you get the idea.  We are living in very perilous times.  We are no different than the Jewish people who heard Isaiah as he prophesized that they would be conquered.  His listeners heard, nodded their heads and went about their business as if they hadn’t heard a word.  Today, for the most part, we cannot even get people to nod their heads in agreement.  Today, no one is listening.

But let us not despair.  I know that you folks are listening.  I know that you folks care and try to do something about changing our world.  So, this message is for you.  This is a message of a bright future even though we are living in very dark times.  God tells the people that ‘behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.’

I’ve tried to imagine this many times.  What will a new earth look like?  Will we still have winter?  Will the climate always be perfect?  I guess maybe a better question would be, ‘what will the world be like without all this senseless killing and other bad things that are always plaguing us?’  I don’t know how this will all work out but I’m assured that it will all be good because God will not allow evil in the new heaven and new earth.

Now I’m pretty sure that we will still have to work because no where are we told otherwise.  The work that we do in heaven will be work that will further the kingdom.  You see, when we get to heaven, all isn’t over.  There will be lots to do.  We will be different than we are now.  God tells us that we will not remember many things of this world.  They won’t even come to mind so all the bad things won’t even be a memory.  They will be gone.  But woe to those who don’t believe because it will be far worse than anything we can imagine.

I think what Isaiah is trying to tell us is that God is saving the best for last.  When we leave this world, we will enter a world where God’s joy abounds.  I have always said that one of the things that the world hates about us Christians is that we are always joyful, at least compared to the unbelieving world.  You can knock us down; you can beat us up and you can cast us aside. And we will still find a bright spot.  This really irks those who want to control us.  This leads to severe persecution in some countries.  Here, it is getting so they are telling us that we have to believe as they tell us to believe or they will close us down or soon they may put us in jail.  But don’t worry about any of those things.  We have Jesus.  That is all we need.  Jesus will help us, guide us, take care of us if we just obey Him.

No matter what our unbelieving friends and neighbors do to us, no matter how much they try to wipe that smile off our faces, we will win in the end.   We will be in a place where all is good.  We will be in a place where hunger has never happened.  We will be in a place where there will be no more crying or weeping.  In Revelation we are told there will be no more pain and no more death.  There will only be good and we can only praise the Lord for this wonderful plan He has for you and me.

Now I got a little confused here so I would like to explain that I think that when Isaiah is referring to the New Jerusalem in verses 17-19, he is referring to heaven.  Then there seems to be a shift as he tells of great things but there will still be death.  I tried to look this up in the so-called expert’s commentary and they are confusing also.  So, this was the conclusion I drew and you can sure have another.  Verses17-19 are referring to heaven, period.  Verses 20-25 are talking about the “Millennium Kingdom.”  This is the 1000-year reign when we shall live as we are supposed to live.

During this period, we will no longer have to worry about our babies dying.  Never again will we have to read about the senseless slaughtering that seems to be an everyday event in our world today.  And when our babies get to be 100 years old, they will still be considered to be quite young.  It sounds to me that as far as life span goes, we will be going back to the times before the flood when people lived for almost 1000 years.  When we are part of God’s family, we all know that He can do anything.  Praise the Lord for that! If you can’t live a measly 100 years then you will be considered to be accursed.  In other words, you aren’t living to God’s standards.  You would have lapsed into sin and it won’t be tolerated in this new world.

It also tells us here that you will not have a dead-end job.  You will have a job that you will love and you will be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor.  There have to be some people here today that aren’t totally satisfied with their jobs or how they make their livelihood.  I know that I spent 25 years at the Post Office and I really never liked my job very much.  I loved some of the people but not the job.  We will never have to worry about this again because we will love our jobs.

And I think the best part is where the wolf and the lamb will dine together.  The lion will eat straw like an ox.  There will be no more eating crow.  The Democrats and Republicans will love each other instead of hating each other.  You will love the person who you have never really liked and we will love people of every race and religion.  There will be no more making fun of the Jews or Catholics or even the Lutherans.

This millennium time will be something to look forward to because there will be no evil or at least it will be at a much smaller scale.  This is a concept that is very hard for me to imagine.  We are so permeated with evil at every turn that we make in this world that it’s hard to know when or if we are ever in a place where there is little or no evil.  I think that we have had services here where the Holy Spirit has chased all evil out of our lives for a few moments, but then we have to go out our doors to the real world, the real evil world.  In the new place we will have those wonderful feelings of good all the time and we won’t have to return to a world of bad things.

We will be God’s people and He will be our God.  There will be no one who says they don’t believe.  We will be able to pray in school.  We will be able to pray in our government because Jesus will be our government.  There will be no more restrictions telling us that Jesus is wrong because He is always right.  He is always just and He is always loving you.  We will feel this love like we have never felt it before.  Things are going to be so great that I cannot even begin to tell you.  It will be greatness like we have never known before and that is a promise.  It will be perfect in perfectness.  Praise the Lord!

S.M. Lockridge tells us this same thing and I will paraphrase a little.  He says, “He is enduringly strong, entirely sincere, steadfast, graceful and all powerful.  He’s merciful, a sinner’s savior, the centerpiece of civilization.  He stands alone.  He’s unparalleled, unprecedented, supreme and preeminent.  He sympathizes and saves, guards and guides, heals the sick, cleans the lepers and forgives sinners.  Do you know Him?”

My King is the king of all knowledge and all wisdom.  He is the doorway of deliverance, the pathway of peace, roadway of righteousness, the highway of holiness and the gateway of glory. He’s the master of the mighty, He’s the captain of the conquerors, He’s the head of the heroes, He’s the leader of the legislators, He’s the overseer of the overcomers, He’s the governor of governors, He’s the prince of princes, He’s the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
He’s matchless, limitless, and everlasting.  His yoke is easy and His burden is light.  He’s indescribable, incomprehensible, invincible and irresistible.  Heavens cannot contain Him and man cannot explain Him. You can’t get Him out of your mind. You can’t get Him off of your hands. You can’t outlive Him, and you can’t live without Him. Well. The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him, but they found out they couldn’t stop Him. Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him. Herod couldn’t kill Him. Death couldn’t handle Him and the grave couldn’t hold Him. That is my king!

He always has been and He always will be. We try to get prestige and honor and glory to ourselves, but the glory is all His. Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, and ever, and ever, and ever. How long is that? And ever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and when you get through with all of the forevers, then ‘Amen’.” “Oh, how I wish I could describe Him to you.”      He is the perfect being and He has invited you to live in the most perfect place.  Your future is perfect because His love never ends.  Oh, how He loves you and me.  And thank you, Jesus for first loving us.  Let us pray.