WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.679 Turn to Isaiah this morning. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:10.160 Isaiah chapter 65. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:15.519 It's page 661 if you're using the Pew Bible this morning. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:23.519 As we journey through this book, we're gonna take the last portion of Isaiah 65. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:29.839 The passage today covers verse 17 down through verse 25. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:33.439 This is what God's word says. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:40.079 For I will create new heavens and a new earth. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:43.840 The past events will not be remembered or come to mind. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:49.520 Then be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating. 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:54.719 For I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:58.799 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:03.280 The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:11.120 In her, a nursing infant will no longer live only a few days, or an old man not live out his days. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:15.200 Indeed, the one who dies a hundred years old will be mourned as a young man. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.319 And the one who misses a hundred years will be considered cursed. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:22.159 People will build houses and live in them. 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:25.359 They will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:27.920 They will not build and others live in them. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:30.719 They will not plant and others eat. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:35.280 For my people's lives will be like the lifetime of a tree. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:39.760 My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands. 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:50.560 They will not labor without success or bear children destined for disaster, for they will be a people blessed by the Lord along with their descendants. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:55.280 Even before they call, I will answer. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:59.120 While they are still speaking, I will hear. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:07.680 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like cattle, but the serpent's food will be dust. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:15.360 They will not do what is evil or destroy on my entire holy mountain, says the Lord. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:26.000 We need you always, but particularly we need you through your word. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:30.080 So help us, please, help me and help all of us to listen to it. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:31.439 In Jesus' name. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:32.080 Amen. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:40.400 If you visit Battery Park in Manhattan, you'll find there Castle Clinton, the remnants of an old fort. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:48.560 And one of the exhibits inside is a rendered display of New York City through the centuries. 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:55.280 So you can see a rendering of Manhattan when there's farmland and a few little settlements. 00:02:55.439 --> 00:03:00.319 You can see it with some small businesses and the Brooklyn Bridge and no skyscrapers. 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:05.919 And then you can see it like it is today, a skyline of granite and marble and lights. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:17.840 What would they say? 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:25.840 It's not all good, but it is a new city. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:34.240 Now, what if you asked them not just to predict what it would be like, but what they wanted it to be like? 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:39.680 What would their hopes and aspirations be for the future? 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:42.159 What about you? 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:52.879 If I asked you about the future, or when you think about the future, what's the dominant emotion of your heart? 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:54.560 Excitement? 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:55.599 Anxiety? 00:03:58.319 --> 00:03:58.879 Fear? 00:03:59.120 --> 00:03:59.599 Hope? 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:02.560 I don't mean about Manhattan specifically. 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:07.759 I know some of you like to travel there once in a while, some of you never, and that's fine. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:12.080 But I just mean your own future, your village, your home, your life. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:15.439 What would you want it to be? 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:23.120 In our passage this morning, Isaiah paints this picture of an incredible city to come. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:29.519 But it's not just a city, it's a whole new creation. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:38.879 Verse 18 and verse 19, if you look there, those verses speak about a Jerusalem to come that God's creating. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:44.560 But if you go back to verse 17, that's the heading for this whole section. 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:48.319 A new heaven and a new earth. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:53.839 It's the same exact progression we find in the book of Revelation, chapter 21. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:59.199 There's a new heaven, a new earth that John sees, and then a new Jerusalem. 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:03.199 Our passage has a lot of glory. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:03.920 We'll come to that. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.240 But there's one command in the passage. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:08.079 You find that in verse 18. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:15.040 Be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating. 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:18.879 That's our big takeaway for today. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:22.399 God wants us to rejoice in his new creation. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.560 He doesn't want us to simply acknowledge his future plans. 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:33.199 He wants us to rejoice in his new creation. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:41.920 We're all tempted to think about the future with anxious anticipation instead of joyful expectation. 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:48.959 Sometimes that's because we're maybe looking more on the inside than on the upside. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:06:02.800 And I don't mean just wishing something to be, but looking instead of in, looking up to the God who's spoken, to the God who can't break his word, to the God who can be trusted. 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:09.680 The title of the message this morning is Rejoicing in God's New Creation. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:12.959 Rejoicing in God's New Creation. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:20.000 As we look at this passage, we're going to consider four reasons to rejoice in God's new creation. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:21.519 Here's the first reason. 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:29.279 Rejoice in God's new creation because of what it doesn't have. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:35.439 That's a strange way to begin, but there's a lot of no longers and willnots in the passage. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:37.680 We'll consider a few of these. 00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:39.199 There's no more tears. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:40.879 Verse number 19, look there. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:44.800 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad of my people. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:51.120 The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:07.279 Sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly. 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:12.399 You remember Hannah in the temple praying and weeping? 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:14.480 Eli thinks that she's drunk. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:16.319 That's how moved she is. 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:20.000 Even our Lord experienced this. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:35.680 When he comes to Lazarus' tomb, and he sees the family and the neighbors, and he takes in the whole scene, and John 11, 35 tells us simply and poignantly, Jesus wept. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:41.360 So it's not wrong to weep in this life. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:45.439 In fact, God commands us at times to weep with those who weep. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:53.600 But we can take up the words of Paul, sorrowful yet always rejoicing. 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:58.000 Because there's coming a day when there's no more tears. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:03.199 No more unfulfilled lives. 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:04.480 Look at verse 20. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:16.240 In her, a nursing infant will no longer live only a few days, or an old man not live out his days. 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:25.759 Death is never welcome in this world, but sometimes death seems to intrude itself the most difficult times. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:28.480 Miscarriages, stillborn birth. 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:30.160 Some of you all have experienced that. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:35.120 That's one of the most harrowing things parents can go through. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:40.240 All of this expectation, and it seems like it's just snuffed out in a moment. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:47.919 In many societies throughout history, infant death has been even more common than it is today. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:53.919 In the 1600s, about one-third of children never lived to see their fifth birthday. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:01.919 John Owen is a Puritan known for his precise theology. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:07.519 What's not as well known about him is that he and his wife had 11 children. 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:10.879 Ten of them died in infancy. 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:19.679 And the daughter that survived grew up, was married, and shortly after her marriage, she died of tuberculosis. 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:22.559 No parent wants to bury their children. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:26.240 But it happens in this life. 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:30.320 No more unfulfilled lives in the new creation. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:37.200 It's not only at the beginning, sometimes in the middle of life, things seem to be cut short. 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:44.000 Some of you might remember Gary and Cheryl Glover, wonderful couple who was part of our church some years ago. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:49.039 I remember getting the call that Gary was at the hospital and had a heart attack. 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:55.039 Remember sitting there with Doug and Royal and Cheryl, his wife, and the doctor comes in and says, We did all we could. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:56.879 He passed away. 00:09:57.759 --> 00:09:59.600 Gary was in his late 50s. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:10.399 Not a young child, but from a human vantage point, you think he had more decades to give and to love his family and his church. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:12.320 And that wasn't God's plan. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:23.759 Wonderfully, Cheryl, his wife, who lives upstate, had such a response of faith and trust when the doctors went on to say he didn't suffer. 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:27.440 She said, Well, he's not suffering now, I can tell you that. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:35.840 No more tears, no more unfulfilled lives, no more frustrating work. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:38.320 Look at the beginning of verse 22. 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:45.759 They will not build and others live in them, they will not plant and others eat. 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:48.960 Now look down at the beginning of verse 23. 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:56.320 They will not labor without success or bear children destined for disaster. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:10:58.799 Labor, others eat. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:02.559 Isaiah's not extolling the virtues of selfishness here. 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:07.039 He's echoing the words of Ecclesiastes 2. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:14.480 I hated all my work that I labored at under the sun because I must leave it to the one who comes after me. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:18.720 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:22.960 Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:24.799 This too is futile. 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:30.720 So I began to give myself over to despair concerning all my work that I labored at under the sun. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:39.440 When there is a person whose work was done with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and he must give a portion to a person who has not worked for it. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:41.600 This is futile and a great wrong. 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:46.879 For what does a person get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors at under the sun? 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:51.279 All his days are filled with grief and his occupation is sorrowful. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:53.440 Even at night, his mind doesn't rest. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:55.600 This too is futile. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:59.519 Not the whole of Ecclesiastes, that's a portion of it. 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:04.320 God designed us as humans for satisfying labor. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:08.879 You can come back to our image of God series, shameless plug for Sunday nights. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:10.240 Not tonight, but in the future. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:11.840 We'll talk more about that. 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:16.960 But we don't really know to what extent our work's gonna last. 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:19.440 We don't know who's gonna carry on our legacy. 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:24.879 We don't even know if our children or our children's children will take the wise road or the foolish road. 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:26.240 That's a burden. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:32.639 And it's a burden that's entirely lifted in God's new creation. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:43.519 So there's so much hope here of what God's new creation doesn't have, no more tears, no more unfulfilled lives, no more frustrating work. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:50.559 The people of Isaiah's day, how could they grab hold of this? 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:55.679 Lost soon to be in Babylon, in exile. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:13:02.399 There had to be one coming, a servant who could actually make this possible. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:04.720 And a servant was coming. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:09.200 Rejoice in God's new creation. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:13.840 Here's the second reason because of what it does have. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:18.080 Not only because of what it doesn't have, because of what it does have. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:20.080 It has permanent flourishing. 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:22.960 Look at verse 22 in the middle of verse 22. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:26.879 My people's lives will be like the lifetime of a tree. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:30.639 My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands. 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:32.240 Trees always seem to last. 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:37.840 Sure, a storm could uproot it, but normal conditions, trees keep coming back year after year. 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:39.200 They get thicker and thicker. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:43.759 The oldest tree in the world, they think, is in California, actually. 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:47.519 4,800 years old is what they date it as. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:49.279 It's called Methuselah. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:51.840 Let the reader understand, right? 00:13:53.600 --> 00:14:01.039 God is saying that his people will be able to experience this kind of flourishing in longevity. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:04.879 No more volatility, no more withering, just flourishing. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:07.440 It's like Psalm 1. 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:11.840 How happy is the one who doesn't walk in the advice of the wicked. 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:14.960 His delight is in the Lord's instruction. 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:17.919 He meditates on it day and night. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:23.840 He's like a tree planted by rivers of water that brings forth fruit. 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:27.519 There's flourishing coming. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:33.120 There's a blessed man who abides in the Lord's presence and brings it to pass. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:39.519 The new creation also has complete harmony. 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:41.759 Look at the end of verse 23. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:49.840 They will be a people blessed by the Lord along with their descendants. 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:54.320 There's inner personal conflict in this world, even among families. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:56.240 Children can rebel against parents. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:04.240 Imagine a place where you only ever always got along perfectly with all of your coworkers. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:05.600 Can you imagine that? 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:09.440 I saw a few eyes rolled in this life. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:14.000 Perfect harmony. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:16.960 Some of you say, wow, I love coming here on Sunday. 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:18.639 It's like a haven of rest. 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:20.879 And I go out in the world, it's just turmoil. 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:25.519 The new creation is not one day of rest and six days of turmoil. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:30.000 The new creation is rest and joy and harmony. 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:31.200 24-7. 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:36.399 Not just for the redeemed humanity, it's the whole created order. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:38.080 Look at verse 25. 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:48.399 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like a cattle. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.159 The safari plains will become a petting zoo. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:56.159 Think about that. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:59.440 The safari plains will be a petting zoo. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:05.039 You'll never have to walk out into your backyard and see a baby rabbit shredded by a hawk. 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:10.720 There won't be tsunamis wrecking lives and beautiful geography. 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:16.879 It's all of creation, the whole of it singing with a complete wholeness. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:18.480 It's composed by God. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:19.919 Hallelujah. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:26.240 There's perfect intimacy in the new creation. 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:27.279 Verse 24. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:32.720 Even before they call, I will answer. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:36.879 While they are still speaking, I will hear. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:50.399 What if there was someone who always anticipated exactly what was in your heart and responded perfectly and immediately before you could ever even ask them? 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:53.840 That just doesn't happen in this life. 00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:58.639 Even among some of our best relationships. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:02.399 Another pastor posted this recently. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:06.160 Maybe some of you who are couples can relate to this post. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:14.720 He said, Over coffee this morning, my wife said, Did you hear anything I just said? 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:19.200 I thought to myself, well, that's an odd way to start a conversation. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:22.640 Think about that. 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:24.240 It'll come to you, alright? 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:25.200 Think about it. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:33.519 I don't recommend Facebook, I really don't, but sometimes a gem like that comes along and think it's it's worthwhile after all. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:38.079 God's a God of perfect knowledge. 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:47.039 God already knows immediately and intimately all of our thoughts and heart and prayers. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.240 God's never sleeping, he's never grouchy. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:56.160 God is not going to be some kind of new and improved version of Himself in the new creation. 00:17:58.160 --> 00:17:59.039 But we will be. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:06.559 And the sin that clouds and constricts our relationship with God will be gone. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:11.680 The problem is not that God doesn't listen. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:14.720 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:28.319 And in the new creation, God will undo the sin from the beginning and remove every barrier so that we can only have unrestrained, perfect communion with Him forever. 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.839 That's the intimacy that awaits us in the new creation. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:39.440 And that brings us to the third reason we should rejoice in God's new creation. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:43.440 Because of what it doesn't have, because of what it does have. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:48.400 We should also rejoice in God's new creation because of what it shows us. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:19:00.640 What Isaiah is doing in our passage today is not just giving us a Norman Rockwell painting of a great scene that's going to be nice. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:11.920 He's helping us see how God's story from creation to redemption all the way into eternity fits and progresses perfectly together. 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:16.160 There's a movie called Lion. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:18.240 I think it's based on a true story. 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:31.839 And in this movie, there's an Indian boy who gets on a train with his brother when he's very young, less than five years old, and he gets lost and stuck on this train and ends up after several days in Calcutta in an orphanage. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:34.880 He gets adopted by an Australian couple, goes to Australia. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:40.160 And the movie fast forwards to when he's away for school in Melbourne. 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:43.519 And one night he's at a party with some friends. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:45.279 And they're talking about where they're from. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:47.039 He doesn't really like to talk about that. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:49.680 Just says, I'm from Calcutta, I was adopted. 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:51.599 And then he smells something. 00:19:52.960 --> 00:20:02.319 And he goes, he leaves the living area and he goes into the kitchen and he sees gelabies frying up on the stove. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:04.400 That's some of you are smiling. 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:06.400 That's like an Indian funnel cake. 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:10.319 Although I'm sure it's much more glorious than our Staten Island funnel cakes. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:12.400 So like a fried dough treat. 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:26.559 He sees it in the frying pan and it calls to his mind a memory of when he was a little boy back in his original home before he got on the train, before with his mother frying those treats. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:28.960 And he's kind of shaken. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:33.519 And his friends come in and they see him disturbed. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:34.480 And it's very moving. 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:35.920 They ask him what's going on. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:40.640 And he finally says, I'm not from Calcutta. 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:42.000 I'm lost. 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:46.000 That's what Isaiah is doing here. 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:55.039 He's invoking the very beginning of God's story to show what was lost and how God restores and fits it all together. 00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:00.960 The Bible begins, we began our service this way this morning. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:08.240 In the beginning, God created heavens and earth. 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:18.240 Here in verse 17, God speaks again and says he will create new heavens, new earth. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:21.519 In the middle of the garden, there's this tree of life. 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:26.880 Here in verse 22, Isaiah compares the people to a tree that will endure. 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:34.319 After the fall, in God's mercy, Adam and Eve can still bear children, but their son Cain kills Abel. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:40.799 Here in verse 23, God says his people will not bear children destined for disaster. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:46.079 In the beginning, God comes and calls out, Where are you? 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:48.880 They're hiding, their separation and distance. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:55.680 But here in Isaiah verse 24, God's people call and there's an immediate answer. 00:21:57.599 --> 00:22:05.119 There's really only one thing in the Entire passage that we have for today that sounds like it could be even negative at all. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:12.640 In verse 25, the lion is happily munching on straw by the cattle and the and the lambs. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:18.400 And then verse 25 says, but the serpent's food will be dust. 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:22.240 Eating dirt doesn't sound too great to me. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.960 The serpent's food, but the serpent's food will be dust. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:31.920 So it's contrasting the serpent's lot from these other animals. 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:35.839 It's almost as though the snake is still under a curse. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:37.119 Ah. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:40.720 Genesis 3.14. 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:45.839 God says the serpent's going to eat dust all the days of his life. 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:50.720 The judgment in the beginning carries on to the end. 00:22:51.599 --> 00:23:00.880 That's the appropriate end to the story, that there's actually judgment for those that oppose God, including even the great serpent and snake himself. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:03.279 That's the right end to the story. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:12.799 I don't mean to make light of it, but at the end of Jaws, if the shark is like a performer at SeaWorld, that's not the right end to Jaws. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:16.799 You know, it's it's it's a serious thing when people defy God. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:22.319 And here's the Lord saying, All will be made right, even the appropriate judgment will come. 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:28.400 There's also, and this is a little harder to see, but just think with me for a moment here. 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:37.119 In the Garden of Eden, it said that a river flowed out from the Garden of Eden. 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:42.400 Rivers don't flow up, they flow down. 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:48.960 Ezekiel 28 speaks of the Garden of Eden on the mountain of God. 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:56.480 So the original garden was on this elevated mountain-like place in some basic way. 00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:10.000 And look how Isaiah says in verse 25 the conclusion, they will not do what is evil or destroy on my entire holy mountain. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:22.160 The garden mountain that brought sin is once again going to become this garden mountain of perfect worship. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:28.400 And when we come to Revelation, we see a new heavens and a new earth. 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:30.079 We see a new Jerusalem. 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:31.680 We see no more tears. 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:37.839 We see the presence of God perfectly illuminating everything, seeing God and being known by Him. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:51.279 It's all part of the masterful plan of God who was at work in Eden, who is at work in Isaiah's day with this prophecy, who is at work into the very future of eternity to make all things new. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:53.759 It's this glorious symphony. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:24:59.839 Isn't that amazing? 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:03.200 Look at verse 22. 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:10.319 My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands. 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:13.920 God's chosen us to be part of this. 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:17.039 If God is for us, who can be against us? 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:23.200 He who didn't spare his own son, but freely gave him up for us all, how will he not with him freely give us all things? 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:27.119 Who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? 00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:28.640 It's God who justifies. 00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:35.519 It's no wonder Paul can say in Romans, oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. 00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:41.039 How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out who has known the mind of the Lord? 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:42.480 Who's been his counselor? 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:47.759 Of him and through him and to him are all things. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:49.519 To him be glory forever and ever. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:04.400 That's what he shows us. 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:05.440 Rejoice. 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:11.440 Last reason for us to rejoice in God's new creation. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:17.279 Because of who it points us to. 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:20.720 Because of who it points us to. 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:27.519 Now, this has been implied as we've been going along here, but I've been giving you a lot of what from the passage. 00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:31.759 What it doesn't have, what it does have, what it shows us. 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:37.599 But the deepest glory of the new creation is not a what, it's a who. 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:47.200 The fuel of our joy is not an environment or an object, first and foremost, it's a person. 00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:49.680 It's the very person of God. 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:53.920 Verse 18, look at this carefully. 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:59.920 Then be glad and rejoice forever in what I'm creating. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:01.839 There's our command, there's our takeaway. 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:06.000 For, here's the immediate reason. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:13.519 For I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:21.599 If you happen to be reading the English Standard Version or the King James this morning, they add a helpful word for this Hebrew phrase. 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:24.160 They add in the word behold. 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:27.119 Rejoice and be glad. 00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:29.039 Why? 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:31.039 Behold. 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:32.799 Take a look at this. 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:34.880 God is creating it. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:37.680 He's the architect and builder. 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:41.440 That's the reason to rejoice first and foremost. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:46.400 And he even says here, he's going to create his people to be a delight. 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:51.440 Doesn't that give us hope for those that struggle to rejoice? 00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:54.160 We know that we should rejoice evermore. 00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:57.200 It's there, but it's hard for us to do that. 00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:58.960 For some people, it's especially hard. 00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:14.640 God in the future is going to apply to his own who have trusted in the Savior all of his unstoppable creative force to make you perfectly delighted in him forever. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:17.440 He's going to do it. 00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:25.359 Before this passage ever gets to the they wills and the they will nots, there's this series of I will, I will, I will. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:26.720 It's God's work. 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:33.759 Sometimes you hear people say, we're helping bring in the new Jerusalem. 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:38.880 Yes, we're ambassadors. 00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:40.960 Uh yes, we're we're servants. 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:42.480 We bear witness to Christ. 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:44.319 Yes, we have work to do for God. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:48.160 But here in this passage, God's the one creating it. 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:51.359 We're not like with him with the hammers. 00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:55.839 And in Revelation, the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven. 00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:59.359 We don't pull it down with a rope and you know set it up. 00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:00.799 It's God's doing. 00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:05.039 It's all his and he gets the glory. 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:17.359 So if God is going to do it, and he says rejoice, and it's all his work, it's sure to happen, why is it hard for us to rejoice? 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:20.799 Let me ask you a question. 00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:23.279 Don't answer it too quickly, but think about this question. 00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:27.279 But do you believe that God wants you to be joyful? 00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:38.000 Not just that he has commanded you to rejoice, do you believe that he deeply delights in your rejoicing? 00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:48.000 When the family's at Disney World and there's a teenage son who's complaining, they're like, I'm too old for this. 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:49.920 Dad, can we can we go somewhere else? 00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:52.160 Finally, Dad snaps. 00:29:53.920 --> 00:29:57.119 I paid a lot of money for this vacation, and you're gonna have a good time. 00:29:57.519 --> 00:29:59.759 He's like, Alright, okay, I'm gonna have a good time. 00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:01.119 Yeah, it's this is great. 00:30:02.079 --> 00:30:03.519 Is that how you view God? 00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:12.559 Like he's just always waiting to snap, and he wants you to be joyful, and then the son and the spirit come along and try to calm him down. 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:15.920 That's not accurate. 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:26.480 Father, son, and spirit are all perfectly united in one essence and one superabounding joy. 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:36.559 And maybe you don't think God really deeply delights in you being joyful because you don't think of God as a joyful God. 00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:43.680 Friends, God is more joyful than any of us could ever be or imagine. 00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:47.759 Look carefully at the beginning of verse 19. 00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:54.640 I will rejoice in Jerusalem. 00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:57.759 This isn't Isaiah speaking, this is God speaking. 00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:02.240 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. 00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:04.960 God is leading the rejoicing charge. 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:08.960 God is a God of vengeance and wrath, yes. 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:18.160 But if we think of him only as a dark thundercloud waiting to strike, we aren't thinking of him rightly. 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:21.920 Nehemiah 8.10, the joy of the Lord is your strength. 00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:26.480 Matthew 25, 21, enter into the joy of your Lord. 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:30.880 Psalm 16, 11, in your presence is abundant joy. 00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:39.680 Some of you might not have thought a lot about this theme of a delighting and joyful God. 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:45.920 I'll give you here's two resources you might look at later that'll help you think about this theme in scripture. 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:50.480 One is a little longer book by John Piper called The Pleasures of God. 00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:55.119 And then the second is a little shorter book by Michael Reeves called Delighting in the Trinity. 00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:57.119 I'll give you one quote from each book. 00:31:57.279 --> 00:31:58.160 This is what Piper writes. 00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:05.039 God is not constrained by any inner deficiency or unhappiness. 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:08.559 This is what distinguishes us from God. 00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:18.400 We have an immense void that craves satisfaction from powers and persons and pleasures outside ourselves. 00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:20.319 But God is not like that. 00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:25.839 He has been complete and overflowing with satisfaction from all eternity. 00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:43.279 And then Michael Reeves writes, In the Triune God is the love behind all love, the life behind all life, the music behind all music, and the joy behind all joy. 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:55.680 When we think about the new creation, the first and greatest topic we should think about is God Himself. 00:32:56.640 --> 00:32:59.759 He's the ground and goal of our rejoicing. 00:33:01.039 --> 00:33:10.400 If when you think about God's new creation, you first and only think new body, that's gonna be nice. 00:33:11.039 --> 00:33:13.759 Pleasant environment, that's gonna be really nice. 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:20.240 And you you don't think at all about delighting in God and experiencing a relationship with Him? 00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:23.039 If that's not in your heart at all, you might not be saved. 00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:28.480 I say that, and I do say that to scare you, because many deceive themselves, Scripture says. 00:33:28.559 --> 00:33:30.079 We don't want anyone to be deceived. 00:33:30.799 --> 00:33:42.799 But I say that because is there some opening in your heart to a depth of delight in the all-joyful God that you haven't experienced yet, that you you could experience? 00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:45.039 Come to Christ. 00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:54.960 He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, acquainted with sorrows for us, for our sins, that we might delight and rejoice in God forever. 00:33:55.839 --> 00:34:01.440 And for all of us, God is going to increase our capacity for joy. 00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:11.760