Isaiah 65-66
Isaiah 65:1-25 reinforces that the wicked will have no place with God’s
people (65:1-8; cf. 11:1-15). Instead of receiving an inheritance, they will
experience God’s righteous judgment (65:11-15).
Also in this chapter, the Lord proclaims that “the one who is blessed in
the land (בארץ) will bless himself (יתברך) in the God of truth, and the one who
takes an oath in the land (בארץ) will swear (ישׁבע) in the God of truth; because
the sorrows of the past have been forgotten and hidden from my eyes” (65:16).
This state is reserved for the servants o the Lord (65:15b). They are the ones
who will live in a land devoid of sorrows, which will be unlike anything they
have ever experienced. Moreover, since the verbs יתברך and ישׁבע carry a
futuristic sense, it is apparent that the Lord’s servants will inherit the land
in the future.
Subsequently, Isaiah 65:17-25 describes (כי) the future land inheritance
as the “new heavens and a new earth,” a place where “the former things shall
neither be remembered nor called to mind” (v. 17) and where God’s people will “be
glad and rejoice forever in that which [he] will create” (v. 18). It will be a
place where they will enjoy “the blessings of . . . security, longevity, and
the prosperity to enjoy one’s children and labors without fear” (vv. 19-25).
This will be a real, physical place, for people will build and inhabit houses
(v. 21), and plant and not labor in vain (vv. 22-23). This description of the
new heavens and new earth makes evident that the curse brought about in Genesis
will be reversed, for the former things, such as tragedy, pain, and death, will
be forgotten, and God’s people will experience gladness and prosperity forever.
In other words, it will be a return to life in Eden.
Isaiah 65:17-25 demonstrates that the land God’s people will inherit is
the new heavens and the new earth (cf. Rev 21-22). This underscores that the inheritance
is an eschatological concept, solely to be realized in the future. In addition,
Isaiah 66:22-23 goes on to mention that the new heavens and the new earth will
exist perpetually before the Lord and the offspring of Abraham will remain upon
it forever. These verses recall the promise to Abraham that his offspring will
inherit the land as their permanent, physical dwelling (Gen 17:1-8; 24:1-9;
26:1-3; 28:1-5; 35:9-12; Deut 12:10, 25; Num 13:28-9; Josh 22:4; 23:1). In view
of Psalm 2 and Isaiah 57:1-13, those who will dwell in the new heavens and the
new earth (i.e., the future reconstituted world, cf. Rom 8:18-25), and thereby
will be fellow heirs with God’s son, are those who trust in the Lord. Only such
people will dwell in the future inheritance and have no memory of the former
pains and troubles, for the curse will be reversed and mankind will live as in the
days Eden. (Miguel G. Echevarria Jr., The Future Inheritance of Land in the
Pauline Epistles [Eugene, Oreg. Pickwick Publications, 2019], 68-69)
