Revealed
Isaiah 65: 17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor comee into mind. [1]
I. Renew
A. Furnish
B. Forever
II. Remember
A. Former
B. Fortune
III. Remind
A. Fortified
B. Fulfilled
Introduction: If anyone wants to know what God’s will for us, His creation, we need to only look into the first two chapters of the Bible. Genesis chapters one and two introduce us to new heavens and a new earth where God walked with His creation in a perfect place.
It was not to last though. Mankind decided that since we have a mind we should be able to make is up ourselves. The adversary was there to persuade but it was our choice to change our minds away from God’s will. Then everything started getting old. This stuff is really getting old now.
The first thing that came after we decided was guilt. Where is God? Do you hear His steps? Hide from Him because we didn’t believe Him. We’ll cover ourselves with some leaves. The first thing God did was to spill blood and cover our sins with the death of an innocent. Since then, many see killing and feel the guilt of the death of those who die so that we can live and they want to look away from that. Others have no problem at all with innocent ones dying as they don’t want anyone to get in their way of self.
God did the hardest thing so that we might do the easiest thing to renew the relationship. The hardest thing is God’s part in giving His Only Begotten Son. The easiest thing is our part of believing upon Him. If we do that, He makes things new and they will never be old again.
When we read through and studied The Revelation, we heard as John spoke these words in Revelation 21: 1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” [2]
We are in the season of thanksgiving. We are reminded of God’s providence when the pilgrims survived in this new land with new neighbors here. We are still pilgrims living in a different place because we are Christians waiting for that promised place and one day we will arrive to behold that which John saw.
Isaiah also saw what God will do. Isaiah saw even those many years before Christ came. Today we are preparing ourselves for what we call here at Merry Oaks Baptist, “Old Fashioned Day.” Let us remember that which God fashioned for us, that which will never be old when He makes it new again.
Scripture: The scripture is Isaiah 65:17. When you have found it please rise to your feet for the reading of God’s written word.
Prayer: Please be seated
Message: Behold! That is what God wants us to do. He does not want to hide that which He can do from us. He has revealed it many times and one day we shall hear that word again. Behold!
God revealed to Isaiah during a time that the Jews were in exile. God had allowed the nation to be split into two and then He allowed others to plunder all that Solomon had accumulated including the royal palace and even the temple. The people needed to have their faith renewed. They needed to be reminded of that which God had furnished them in the past and they needed to know what God intended for us to have and hold forever. What kind of a life would we have if only we might finally one day to learn to trust God!
God created it all in the beginning. God can and will do it again. When He made it new, we made it old and one day it will wear out. The children of Israel never had need of new shoes or clothes when they walked those forty years in the wilderness.
Do you remember all the shoes you had growing up? I remember that some of mine were hand me downs from cousins. Momma would make me a new shirt and I would be angry because others had store bought shirts. I’d like to have some of those shirts now. Remember? Do you ever remember not being satisfied with what you have?
Next Sunday as we wear the clothes like the ones worn by those who used to come here, I know thoughts will be on the “Good Old Days.” In this particular verse from Isaiah 65, it seems that God is encouraging those then to not remember but that is not so. God wants us to look back a lot further and reflect on what we could have had.
Follow as we read verse eighteen, “18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.” [3]
God intended Israel to be His chosen people who would be a sign of what could be if we would only love and follow Him. It really matters what your perception of the past is. How far back do you want to remember? What former times are fond to you? If those in exile remembered why they were in exile, they probably didn’t want to remember what caused their exile. They only wanted to remember the fortune and not their infortune of where they had come from to be where they were as Isaiah was revealing to them.
Look closely here in the middle of our focal verse. And yes, ask The Holy spirit to help you make up your own minds here because some folks get a different idea here than this preacher. The former shall not be remembered by whom? If you believe that God forgets, you must throw out of the Bible that part about the Great White Throne Judgement and the Judgement Seat of Christ. God is omniscient! He knows it all forward and backwards. From Alpha to Omega. When Jesus came here He emptied Himself so that He would experience what we experience. When God forgives, the dissolution of the relationship is forgotten. The divide is done away with. The penalty of our sin to want to rule ourselves has been erased and forgotten but God does not forget. If God could forget, Jesus would not have had to die for our sin.
God said through Isaiah that those in exile will be so glad that they will not remember the punishment they went through but instead would rejoice forever in that which God will create. “21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” [4]
Jerusalem will be a rejoicing city and her people will be a rejoicing people. God goes on to say in verse nineteen that He also will rejoice in that day, “19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.” [5]
Yes we could live fortunate lives but that does not mean what some believe fortune means. This is what Isaiah heard, “20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.” [6]
God is reminding even us today that when the time comes here in this life that we will finally trust only Him, things will change. He will not allow things to go so wrong. Children will not die young anymore. There is that phrase there that some take as a promise of living one hundred years. I don’t know because I have not lived in an age where we fully trust God. So therefore I haven’t seen many folks make it to one hundred years. The ones who cause hurt, if they to live to be one hundred, they will go through torment all their lives so they probably will not want to live one hundred years. Now it seems if you have enough money, the younger ones wait for organ transplants while the rich seem to have plenty of spare parts. It wouldn’t be that way if we gave God our full faith.
When we live to our full potential to trust God, He will fortify us so that others will not take from us that which He wants us to have. No this is not a follow God and get rich sermon. If you want that you want a different kind of preacher. He is telling us how He defines justice. “21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” [7] Nowhere in those two verses does God say anything about taking from one who has worked for something to give it to someone who hasn’t been faithful to His will.
We are studying Solomon’s words from his latter days of his kingship in the evening services. We learn from Ecclesiastes that the richest most wise man who ever lived was beside himself with dread of what he did not want. No this is not a get God and get rich message. This is a get God and find contentment message. This is a message of God’s fulfilling His promise if we would only listen and have faith in Him.
In verse 22 there is that word elect again. God elects those whom He knows will fulfill that which He intends for us. Those who refuse are not the elect. This is a message of a God who wants to give. This is a message of what could have been for Israel before Judah was split apart from them. This is a message of what could be for any people who want to be His people. It was a message for Israel and it is a message for His Church. Are we ready to receive that which we could have?
When we receive that which God gives, the reminder, that old deceiver, that devil cannot take away our joy anymore. We have good days and we think maybe it’s going to be OK from now on. That’s when the devil strikes and puts into our mind the thing that we did in the past that surely is too much for God to forgive, but there is that last blessing in our focal verse today. God does not forget yet He gives us that wonderful fortification of guarding our minds. Those old things that haunt us now will not be allowed to come into our minds when He fulfills for us that which He planned for us. Walking once again in His presence. Together with our Lord.
Prayer:
Invitation: We can go back to Israel to see what happens to God’s elect when we decide to take our own path. We find ourselves exiled in a place where we never thought we would wind up. Try as hard as we can and things keep getting worse; at least that’s what we think.
This life could have been what God intended but we decided to walk our own path. The home we had once is not the place to where we can return just now. We get so impatient and forget that the good parent is that one who disciplines their child.
God is giving His discipline to make us fit for His kingdom. He elects some to do His will and often like Jonah back then, we go off in our own direction. Same wrong things happen all over again and we wonder why.
Are you ready to finally understand that because He created you, He has the right path for you? If you are, forget the past when you walked away from His will and get over it. If you are ready to follow, get in step and do that which you know He has for you to do. It’s not easy. To see how difficult it is to walk in this world while being obedient to God The Father, you must look to Jesus. Nobody else could do it. But Jesus left us, his elect, with The Holy Spirit that can take us to that place where He has planned for you here and now so that one day we will never ever leave His will again. His plan has been revealed many times before. Are you ready to open your eyes and see what He has for you?
Consider as we sing…
e come...: Heb. come upon the heart
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (1995). (electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version., Is 65:17). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[2] ibid., Re 21:1–5
[3] ibid., Is 65:18
[4] ibid., Is 65:18–22
[5] ibid., Is 65:19
[6] ibid., Is 65:20
[7] ibid., Is 65:18–22
