Wolves and Lions Going Vegan

Background to passage: Closing two chapters of Isa, an end for the book which reflects the biblical timeline itself. From 39 on, the testimony of the coming messiah is much clearer, and it is mingled with justice and mercy. Finally, now toward the end of the book, but like Revelation, we get to the creation of the New Heaven and New Earth.

Isaiah 65:17–25 ESV

17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. 20 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

Opening illustration: Like it to the moment that Willy Wonka introduced them to the main room in the chocolate factory.

Main thought: I want God to expand our minds on what the New Earth will be like as in union with Christ the new heaven and earth become one.

1) Cursed earth will be recreated (v. 17)

Isaiah 65:17 ESV

17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.

1) Cursed earth will be recreated (v. 17)

Explanation: in this verse God uses the word for create used in Genesis 1:1. We know that Earth was created perfect, and this earth is hard to visualize, but we usually just think about it as our Earth just before Adam ate the fruit. We also know Paul said that eye has not seen, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared, but it is not as though we have no clues.

God calls it a new “earth.” We know what earth looks like. Not Mars or Saturn or the sun. It is called a city. It is called a country. We know what those things are. The new earth will be like ours, but better. Think of it in two ways: 1) all the things (events, crime, corruption, waste, smog, floods, storms, etc) will not be there. 2) the full glory of the original is regained/restored.

Argumentation:

Illustration: “We shouldn’t close our eyes and try to imagine the unimaginable. We should open our eyes, because the present Earth is as much a valid reference point for envisioning the New Earth as our present bodies are a valid reference point for envisioning our new bodies” -Alcorn, we go through at least one watermelon a week, sometimes two in the summer. One that we got this week was really really sweet. It might have been the best one I’ve had all year; perfect ripeness, firm, not soft, no seeds...

Application: It’s not just that wars will cease and peace with reign, and all bad things will be gone, but have you ever thought that the watermelon, or peach, or peanut M&Ms that you ate this week were cursed?

Romans 8:20–22 ESV

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

Can you now wonder what the watermelon from the Garden of Eden might have tasted like? What do uncursed M&Ms taste like? The beauty of a bouquet of cursed roses vs. the uncursed rose? The grandeur of a cursed Redwood tree in CA vs an uncursed one? Birds with cursed color, canyons with cursed layers, mountains with cursed peaks, sunsets with cursed horizons. All will be made new. Realized that nothing you have seen is displayed in it’s full glory and potential, but there it will.

2) Recreated you will dwell on recreated earth (v. 21)

Isaiah 65:21 ESV

21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

2) Recreated you will dwell on recreated earth (v. 21)

Explanation: Think back to Genesis again. The world and all its fullness was created in five days, and on the sixth day, land animals and mankind were created. The man was created to live on the earth. God didn’t put man on Mars. Don’t extrapolate that too far. So, first we think about our falleness. Not simply that our bodies are broken and we are guilty, but in respect again to Eden.

We will have resurrected bodies. If you are in Jesus Christ, the bible says that his resurrection guarantees yours/ours. He is the firstfruits, we are coming behind him. When the New Earth is created, our eternal home, we will live in a recreated way.

Argumentation:

Illustration: “Under the Curse, human culture has not been eliminated, but it has been severely hampered by sin, death, and decay. Before the Fall, food was readily available with minimal labor. Time was available to pursue thoughtful aesthetic ideas, to work for the sheer pleasure of it, to please and glorify God by developing skills and abilities. Since the Fall, generations have lived and died after spending most of their productive years eking out an existence in the pursuit of food, shelter, and protection against theft and war. Mankind has been distracted and debilitated by sickness and sin.”

Application: What would the perfect man or perfect woman be like? What were Adam and Eve like before the serpent? You who have 20/20 vision, it will be better. You who have a much learning compacted in your brain, it will be more realized. The ways the our bodies move imperfectly, will never be known again. You ear sounds like you have never heard them before. Your now perfect taste buds will taste that perfect watermelon.

There will be beautiful skylines with no crime, no sin down amongest the buildings. Sin will be done with, covered by the blood. Perfect housing according to this text. Perfect gardens. No death. Animals and people become vegan. Perfect government. Adam was told to rule the earth and put it in subjection. Perfectly living with billions of people in harmony, perfectly working, and loving it.

Even as I thought and wrote this, it is so hard to avoid thinking, “just like our world, only better.” On this earth, we have never truly lived our best life now. On the new one, we will…everyday.

Closing illustration: Heaven, as the eternal home of the divine Man and of all the redeemed members of the human race, must necessarily be thoroughly human in its structure, conditions, and activities. Its joys and activities must all be rational, moral, emotional, voluntary and active. There must be the exercise of all the faculties, the gratification of all tastes, the development of all talent capacities, the realization of all ideals. The reason, the intellectual curiosity, the imagination, the aesthetic instincts, the holy affections, the social affinities, the inexhaustible resources of strength and power native to the human soul must all find in heaven exercise and satisfaction. Then there must always be a goal of endeavor before us, ever future. . . . Heaven will prove the consummate flower and fruit of the whole creation and of all the history of the universe. -A. A. Hodge

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