Day 29 — Isaiah 65:1-25 Judgement Answered, New Creation Promised
Opening prayer
Sovereign Lord, help me to hear your answer to Isaiah’s prayer with humility and hope. Show me the danger of following my own imagination, and give me faith to seek you, serve you, and live as a citizen of your new creation. Amen.
Headline
God answers Isaiah’s prayer by exposing rebellious hearts, preserving his servants, and promising a new creation filled with joy, security, fellowship, and peace.
Isaiah 65:1-25
65 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
2 All day long I have held out my hands
to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations—
3 a people who continually provoke me
to my very face,
offering sacrifices in gardens
and burning incense on altars of brick;
4 who sit among the graves
and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;
who eat the flesh of pigs,
and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;
5 who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me,
for I am too sacred for you!’
Such people are smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that keeps burning all day.
6 “See, it stands written before me:
I will not keep silent but will pay back in full;
I will pay it back into their laps—
7 both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,”
says the Lord.
“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains
and defied me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
the full payment for their former deeds.”
8 This is what the Lord says:
“As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes
and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it,
there is still a blessing in it,’
so will I do in behalf of my servants;
I will not destroy them all.
9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and from Judah those who will possess my mountains;
my chosen people will inherit them,
and there will my servants live.
10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks,
and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds,
for my people who seek me.
11 “But as for you who forsake the Lord
and forget my holy mountain,
who spread a table for Fortune
and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
12 I will destine you for the sword,
and all of you will fall in the slaughter;
for I called but you did not answer,
I spoke but you did not listen.
You did evil in my sight
and chose what displeases me.”
13 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“My servants will eat,
but you will go hungry;
my servants will drink,
but you will go thirsty;
my servants will rejoice,
but you will be put to shame.
14 My servants will sing
out of the joy of their hearts,
but you will cry out
from anguish of heart
and wail in brokenness of spirit.
15 You will leave your name
for my chosen ones to use in their curses;
the Sovereign Lord will put you to death,
but to his servants he will give another name.
16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land
will do so by the one true God;
whoever takes an oath in the land
will swear by the one true God.
For the past troubles will be forgotten
and hidden from my eyes.
17 “See, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.
20 “Never again will there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach a hundred
will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain,
nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer;
while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
Comment
Isaiah’s prayer ended with a desperate question: “After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back?” (64:12). Will God remain silent? Will he keep punishing his people forever?
Chapter 65 gives the answer. God has not been silent at all.
“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me” (v.1). Astonishingly, God is extending his saving presence beyond Israel to people who had not previously called on his name. The gates of the faithful city are opening to the nations.
But God has also been calling Israel. “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people” (v.2). The problem is not that God has hidden himself, but that people have refused him.
Isaiah describes the old problem: the rebellious human heart. God’s people “walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations” (v.2). That phrase is painfully contemporary. We may say, “I like to think God is…” or “I cannot believe in a God who…” as though our preferences determine reality. But sin begins when we place our imagination above God’s revelation.
The outward evidence is damning: false worship, pagan practices, deliberate disobedience, and religious elitism (vv.3–7). The people provoke God “to my very face” (v.3), yet still imagine themselves spiritually superior.
God’s answer is judgment: “I will not keep silent but will pay back in full” (v.6). A God who never judged evil would not be good. But judgment is not the whole answer.
God also promises a remnant remedy. “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,’ so will I do in behalf of my servants” (v.8).
The whole vineyard deserves judgment, yet God preserves a remnant. He calls them “my servants” and “my chosen” (v.9). They are the people who seek him (v.10). Their hope is not in their moral superiority but in God’s mercy and in the work of the Servant who has borne their sin.
From Isaiah 54 onwards, the “servants” are those who belong to the suffering Servant. That is us, if our faith is in Jesus. He suffered the judgment we deserve so that we might become citizens of the city God delights in.
The contrast is stark. “My servants will eat…but you will go hungry; my servants will drink…but you will go thirsty; my servants will rejoice…but you will be put to shame” (v.13). There are ultimately two ways to live, two peoples, two cities, and two destinies.
Then comes one of the most glorious promises in Isaiah:
“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth” (v.17).
God’s final answer to sin is not merely repair, but new creation. The former troubles will no longer be remembered. Jerusalem will be a delight, and her people a joy (vv.18–19). Weeping will give way to rejoicing. Frustration will give way to fruitful work. Insecurity will give way to settled peace. Distance from God will give way to immediate fellowship: “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear” (v.24).
Even creation itself will be transformed: “The wolf and the lamb will feed together” (v.25). Old hostilities will disappear. The curse will be undone. God’s holy mountain will be filled with shalom.
Revelation 21 takes up this vision and shows its fulfilment in the new Jerusalem, where God dwells with his people and wipes away every tear. Jesus’ resurrection is the proof and pledge of that future. Already, those in Christ are a new creation. One day, all things will be made new.
Why does God want me to hear this today? Because I stand between two cities. I can follow my own imagination, ignore God’s call, and remain on the road to judgment. Or I can seek the Lord, trust the Servant, and live even now as a citizen of the new Jerusalem. God has not been silent. He has spoken in his Son. He has opened the door to his kingdom. He calls me to answer, listen, and live in hope of the new creation.
Reflect
Where am I tempted to follow my own imagination rather than submit to God’s word?
What evidence is there in my life that I am seeking the Lord and living as one of his servants?
How does the promise of the new creation reshape my use of time, money, gifts, and energy today?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you that you are the suffering Servant who bore judgment for sinners and opened the way into the faithful city. Forgive me for the times I follow my own imagination rather than your word. Make me one of your faithful servants, seeking you and listening to your voice. Help me to live now as a citizen of the new Jerusalem, until the day when you make all things new. Amen.
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