Okay, once again a good morning to everyone. I would like again to begin by sending greetings. I receive a number of messages through WhatsApp the past week, and I’d just like to acknowledge that. So again I’m aware that we are gathered here this morning as a church. So there are people from around the Klang Valley, and there are people outside the Klang Valley. So I say people who messaged me like Doreen from Johor Bahru, and Kah Lee last week who called me. And so I’ll like to welcome all of you again to this morning’s worship service. So in our worship we sing the Word, we pray the Word, we read the Word, and we preach the Word. And so we now come to the time where we are going to look at again the Word of God and to look to the Lord, that He might open up our eyes to see this wondrous truth. So let me again begin with a word of prayer and seek the Lord for help as we study His Word. Now let us pray.

“Our Father, this morning again we pray that we might cry out like the psalmist. “O God, You are our God; Earnestly will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; and my flesh longs for You as in a dry and thirsty land.” Indeed Lord we pray that as we are gathered together this morning as a church, we pray that You’ll grant to our soul that sincere and genuine longing after You. And we pray Lord that You’ll grant to us that sense of our need, the need for God. The sense of our need, the need of our soul. Help us realize that we are sinful beings, that even though we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, that daily in our life we are so prone to wander away from the God we loved. And so Lord we pray once again that You might forgive us of our sins and iniquity, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

We want to thank You and praise You once again that this has been made available to us because of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us, O Lord to grow in affection for the Lord Jesus Christ, for all that He had done for us, though He being God Himself, but humble Himself and come down to this world to be like one of us, and even to suffer the death on the cross. Lord, help us never to forget this amazing mercy and love of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ for us. 

And Lord, we know that it’s been a while that we have not been able to partake of the Lord’s table. Lord, we pray that You’ll help us ever to keep the cross in mind, that we’ll always be looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we will live out our lives in appreciation of that love for us, that we loved only because You first loved us. And so we pray now as we study Your Word, we plead and pray that You might do good to our soul, that we will not just be hearers only but we will come to Your Word with humility. We’ll bow to authority of Your truth, be obedient to Your will. And so we pray for understanding. We pray that You’ll bless now our time together, for this we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Alright, this morning I would like to take another look at the book of Isaiah. So it’s printed, the text is printed alright, I think most of you have it. If not, you can refer that in your Bible. In fact, it will be good actually if you can open your Bible because I’m not only just looking at the text printed there but actually the whole of chapter 65 of Isaiah. So let me first read our text printed in your bulletin, and that is Isaiah chapter 65, reading from verse 17 through the end of the chapter. Isaiah 65, beginning in verse 17. 

Now, this is the Word of God. “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, And her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, And joy in My people; And the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, Nor the voice of crying. “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 

They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” says the Lord.”

Now, this is an amazing text. Now as I was reading it, I do not know what went through your mind, but there is something amazing, wonderful contained here in the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah. Now the prophet Isaiah in this chapter is prophesying about a new world coming, and he’s saying that this is going to be a totally new, whole new world. And we know that people do long for a new world. And that is reflected by the many songs that have been written. I’m sure you have heard of this song “A Whole New World”. And there’s where I have taken my title from. “A whole new world, A new fantastic view of point, No one to tell us, “No”, or where to go, or say we’re only dreaming. A whole new world, A dazzling place I never knew, but now from way up here, it’s crystal clear, that now I’m in a whole new world with you.” Isn’t that not the aspirations of many people? 

And we know that there are many such songs as I said. You might have even heard of a song like “There Is A New World Somewhere” alright or “This World Is Not My Home”. Yes, this is what Isaiah is talking about. There’ll come a time the people of God will be longing, longing for a different kind of world. Perhaps many people today have the same longing. Not a world filled with coronavirus, a world where we can’t go shopping, or a world where we can’t meet friends. A world where we can’t play sports, or we can’t travel. A world where we see many sufferings and death. A whole new world. That is what Isaiah is prophesying about. And so we are going to now look at the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah and to look at that world that he is talking about here. So let us look at the text, and I would like to consider two things here. Now first, what will that new world be like? What will that new world be like? And secondly, who will be there? 

So first, what will it be like? Now note in verse 17 of Isaiah 65, verse 17 of Isaiah 65. Now here the place that Isaiah is referring to is called new heavens and a new earth. He said: “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth”. Now the place, that is a place that Christians will go to- heaven. Now, this is heaven in the ultimate sense. This is the heaven that we should be longing to go to. The heavens, as we see described here in verse 17. Now often people ask the question: Where will a Christian go to when he dies? Where will a Christian go to when he dies? Well, not to heaven in the final or ultimate sense, but heaven as we see in Luke chapter 23. So it is important as we begin our study of heaven that the prophet prophesies to see the difference or the distinction between heaven in the final sense and heaven in the sense that is mentioned in Luke chapter 23.

So turn to Luke 23 and look at verse 43. Luke 23:43- “And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in” heaven, or He said here in “paradise”. Now that is the heaven or the paradise that a Christian will go to when he dies. So this thief, because he has come to faith in Jesus Christ on the cross, now Jesus promised him that he will go to be with Him in paradise. Isn’t that a wonderful truth that if you believe in Jesus Christ, repent of your sin like this thief on the cross, you shall be with Jesus in paradise? But remember as I say, what Jesus is referring to here is heaven or paradise in the intermediate sense. So when a Christian dies today, he goes to paradise. But that is the intermediate state or heaven in the intermediate sense, not in the final or ultimate sense. 

Now so when we come to Isaiah 65, when Isaiah speaks of heavens and a new earth, now he is here speaking of heaven in the ultimate sense, and that is the heaven that we all want to go to. And so let us now come back to the question. So what will that be like? What will that heaven in the ultimate sense be like? And here the prophet Isaiah described it in three ways. He describes it in three ways. So he says that the heaven in the final and ultimate sense, the heaven that we are all finally going to as Christians, as believers in Jesus Christ, is number one, he described it as a new creation. And number two, he describes it as a new city. And number three, he describes it as a new community. And so this is how the prophet described the heavens that we will all as Christians finally go to. So look at the three ways Isaiah described that heaven. 

So first, he says it will be a new creation. Now look again at verses 17 and 18. Verses 17 and 18. It says here, God says: “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, And her people a joy.”. Now what I want you to first of all notice is this, is the word ‘create’. Now the word ‘create’ is mentioned three times in these two verses. And that is what Isaiah wants us to see here, that the new world that we are going to, that the heaven that we are going to will be a new creations of God. God will create. It is something that God will create. And the word ‘create’ here in Isaiah is the same word used in Genesis chapter 1, in Genesis chapter 1. 

And so there is a compare and comparison here. So we look at this word ‘create’, we are in the sense to be reminded of the creation of God at the very beginning in Genesis chapter 1. And so first of all let us look at Genesis chapter 1 here. Genesis 1:1, and look at God’s first creation. Look at God’s first creation in Genesis 1:1, where the Bible says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”. So Isaiah has that in mind that in the very beginning, “God created the heavens and the earth”. And so it’s a similar expression here. And I want you to also note in the very beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, now there is a refrain. And we see the refrain or the repetition of a phrase in for example verses 16 to 18. It says here in verse 16: “Then God made two great lights: and the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.”. 

Now, this is a reference to the heavens. And remember the word ‘heavens’ in plural here refers to the universe. The universe. And then in verse 17, “God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.” And note: “And God saw that it was good.”. Now that is the phrase that is being repeated right all through in the creation account. You see that again in verse 21: “So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”. So it’s repeated. Again we see that in verse 25: “And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”. 

And then at the end of the creation in verse 31: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.”. Now like I said, this is repeated for emphasis. In other words, we are to be reminded of God’s first creation, that it was a perfect creation of God. Everything that God had made was very good. The earth that God had made was a perfect world. It was a good world. Now that is still the world that we are living in. That world that God had created in Genesis 1:1 is still the world that we are all living in, but not in the same condition. And that is the reason why we cannot perhaps understand why God said it was very good, that everything was good. When we look at the world around us today and we know that not everything is good, things have turned bad. This is a world in pain. This is a world filled with suffering. This is a world filled with evil. 

Why? What happened to the world that God had created in Genesis 1, that perfect, that good world that God had created? The world that we are living in is described here in Paul’s letter to the Romans in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, and listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans here in Romans 8:22. And verse 22, where Paul described the conditions of the world that we are living in today. He says in verse 22 of Romans 8: “For we know that the whole creation groans and labours with birth pangs together until now.”. In other words, the world today is a world under curse. The world is groaning, it’s groaning in pain. The world here is in a sense longing for something new, something better. And that’s why Paul, as he writes to the Romans and speaks of the hope of the believers, he says it’s not just we who are hoping for a new world but the whole of creation. 

That’s why in verse 19 of Romans 8, it says: “For the earnest expectation of creation earnestly waits for the revelations of the sons of God.”. In other words, it’s not just humans but everything in this world is in earnest expectation. We’re waiting for something new, something better because something has gone wrong with the world that we are living in. And Paul actually tells us what has gone wrong with the world that we are living in now because he had earlier on in his letter to the Romans in chapter 5, he says that this is why the world is in the condition as it is today. He says the reason is this: in Romans 5:12, he says: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned”. He said that is the reason why that we are what we are today, that the world is what it is today because of the sin of one man, the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. 

And that explains the sufferings, the pain, the diseases, and the death that we see in this world today. And so this is the world that God created in Genesis 1, but this is a world of suffering because of sin. This is therefore a world of pain, a world of death. Now then we come back to Isaiah 65. Isaiah 65. Now it’s in light of that, it’s in light of that, now we come to see what Isaiah is talking about here. Isaiah 65:17, therefore Isaiah says, “behold”, say here is an exclamation. He says look! Something new is coming! There is a new world coming. God is going to create something new. Now I want you to also to take note of the fact that when Isaiah wrote this prophecy of the promise of God that He will create a new earth. He will create a new world for the people of Judah. It is in the context of Isaiah’s prophesy to them that one day they shall be in captivity. 

They shall be in a very different world, a world of suffering. And they shall be longing for this world. But here is the hope of God’s people, hope for God’s people. Behold, the prophet Isaiah said. God is going to create again. He created in Genesis, but here he says one day, at the end of time, He is going to create again. Now how different, how different is that new world going to be from the world that we are living today? How different is that world? Well, we see that here in verse 17. He says: “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth”. Then he says that new world would be something like this: “the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.”. The ‘former’ here refers to the former things in some translations as the former things. 

Now the former here is a reference to the former mentioned in verse 16. So if you have your Bible opened to Isaiah chapter 65, now you look at verse 16, which says: “So he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; And he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; Because the former troubles are forgotten”. So the former things mentioned in verse 17 refers to the formal troubles mentioned in verse 16. In other words, this is the world that God will be creating. A whole new world, a world without the former trouble. In other words, the world without the pains and the problems and the sufferings of our present life, of the life that we are having now. 

And then he says in verse 18, but instead of having former troubles, former sufferings and pain, instead of having that he says in verse 18: “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create”. So instead of sadness in other words there shall be joy. There shall not be sadness anymore. Instead of tears, there shall be no more tears. Now I believe that that is what the Apostle John was talking about when he writes the last book of the Bible, in Revelation chapter 21. He that too comes to the Apostle John’s mind that that is what is coming. God is going to create something new, a new heaven and new earth. And he writes in Revelation 21:4 saying now this is what that new world will be like. “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” 

Perhaps the Apostle John was being reminded of Isaiah 65 here when he speaks of the former things, say the former things, the former trouble. Could he perhaps have quoted Isaiah 65:17 here? Probably he was, but he was speaking about the same thing. And so what will the new heavens and the new earth be like? It will be a new creation. It will be something totally, drastically, radically different from the world that we are living today. Isn’t that not wonderful news? Is that not something that we all are longing for? A better world, a better world, where there will be no more tears and suffering? 

Now the second way the prophet Isaiah speaks of the new world that God will be creating is to speak of it as Jerusalem. Or in other words, the second way Isaiah speaks of heaven in the ultimate sense is to speak of it as the New Jerusalem. Now look again in your Bible to Isaiah 65. Now, look at verses 18 now through 19. Verses 18 through 19. Now verse 18, remember he says that this new world will be filled with joy forever. Then he says: “Behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy.”. And verse 19: “I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people”. Now here he repeats the word ‘Jerusalem’. In other words, now he wants to bring in another concept or he wants to describe heaven in another way. As I say, he calls it Jerusalem. 

Now perhaps it is difficult for us to imagine or to understand what Jerusalem really meant for the Old Testament people, for the Old Testament saints. Now it was filled with significance. It meant a lot for the Old Testament people of God because Jerusalem was not just a city. In fact, it was not just a capital city. Jerusalem, for the people of God in the Old Testament, was the one and only place on earth where your sin could be dealt with, where your sin could be atoned for. Jerusalem was a religious center. It was a place of worship. It was where you find the presence of God. And so Jerusalem was filled with significance for the Jewish people in the Old Testament. And we see something of that in Psalm 137, in Psalm 137. Now here we read of the cry of the people of God in the Old Testament as they are reminded or being reminded of Jerusalem while they were in captivity in Babylon. 

Now listen to the words of this psalm, and here try to sense something of their feelings for Jerusalem, and what Jerusalem meant for them. Now I’d just like to read just the first six verses here, and you get the feel of how they thought of Jerusalem. In verse 1, it says: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yes, we wept when we remembered Zion.”. And that is a reference to Jerusalem. “We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! If I do not remember you, Jerusalem, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth— If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.”

You see, Jerusalem for them was their chief joy. It meant a lot for them. And remember what Isaiah told them would happen to Jerusalem, that city that meant so much to them. What would happen to that city? Now I mentioned in my past study of Isaiah, probably last week, that Isaiah had already in his prophecy warned the people of Judah if they were to remain stubborn, stiff-necked, and unrepentant, they shall be punished. And this is the punishment, that God would mete on these people in Isaiah chapter 39. 

Remember Isaiah told them in verse 5, in verses 5 through 7. Isaiah said to the then King Hezekiah. Verse 5: “Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and you shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”. 

Now that was a warning. And we know that by the time we read Psalm 137, they will already experience the chastisement of God in captivity in Babylon. Now when the Babylonians came, they ransacked the whole city. They set the city on fire, took everything away, all the treasures even from the temple, destroyed the temple, and take away the cream of the crop or the young men with them. And so Jerusalem would be destroyed, and it was destroyed. And so we can now understand the feeling of the Jewish people when Jerusalem was being destroyed. We can now understand their cry in Psalm 137 when they remembered Jerusalem that is now in ruin. And so here’s the promise in Isaiah 65. Isaiah says, look God is going to create something new, a new world. A new heaven and a new earth. And he described it in terms of Jerusalem. That is your New Jerusalem. That is your New Jerusalem. 

So heaven, what is it like? It would be like Jerusalem. It was like what it meant for the people of God in the Old Testament. It is where we find the presence of God. That is what heaven is about. It’s where we meet God. It’s where we are in the presence of God forever and ever. And so here’s the promise. So it is to be a new city alright- a new city. It will be a New Jerusalem. And what again will this city be like? Again we see there in verse 19 Isaiah 65, that there shall be no weeping. “I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard, nor the voice of crying.”. 

Now also we turn to Revelation and read what John had to say. See John is saying pretty much the same thing when he writes the book of Revelation. He is encouraging the believers in suffering, suffering in this world, that we have this hope. Cause a day will come, we shall experience this joy, be in a new heaven and new earth, be in this new place, a New Jerusalem. Now in the book of Revelation chapter 7, now this is how John described that place. It’s how John described that place. In Revelation 7:15-17- “Therefore they are before the throne of God”. That is the New Jerusalem, that is the place that we are going to. 

“They are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor heat; for the Lamb (that is Jesus) who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Can you not hear the echoes of the words of Scripture of that place that God is creating? The ‘new’ described here as a new city, as a new city, different city than all the cities that we have in this world today. 

Now thirdly, the prophet Isaiah described the new world as a new community. A new community. Remember the church is also described as a new community, a new society of God’s people. And that is what heaven is about. Heaven is about a place where a community of God’s people will be. Again what is the nature of this community? What is that new society like? What is a society like in the world that we live in today? There’s no perfect society. In fact, there is no society that we want to be in forever. We want a better society, a better world. And here the prophet Isaiah is now describing the new earth, new world, new heavens as a community, and he tells us three things about the nature of this community. First, he tells us that in that new world, it will be a place where we have a life of fulfilment rather than a life of frustration. A life of fulfilment rather than a life of frustration. 

Now look and consider the contrast we see in the Bible. Now in Isaiah 65 again in verses 21 and 22, now listen to what Isaiah says as he describes the new world that we are, that we will be in. In verses 21: “They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.”. Now note, he says, My people or My chosen one, they “shall long enjoy the works of their hands”. There is no frustration in the new heavens and a new earth. 

Now contrast that with life on earth now, with life on earth now as described by Solomon in Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Now Ecclesiastes chapter 2, and look at verses 17 through 20. Verses 17 through 20. Now Solomon here describes life as we find it in this present world. Verse 17 of Ecclesiastes chapter 2: “Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Then I hated all my labour in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labour in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labour in which I had toiled under the sun.”.

Now that is Solomon’s descriptions of life on earth. We work, and work, and work, but it is work with frustration. It is accumulating all, but only to give it to another person to enjoy. We cannot enjoy everything that we labour for. That is the contrast that Isaiah here is presenting in Isaiah 65. And so the new life, the new community will be a life of fulfilment rather than frustration. 

But second thing, he tells us about the nature of this new society is that it will be free from the trauma of pain and suffering. It will be free from the trauma of pain and suffering. And that is perhaps one of the things that we fear most: pain and suffering. Now again we note what Isaiah says in chapter 65 and verse 23. He says: “They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.”. Now what verse 23 is saying, Isaiah is now using a picture. He is helping us to imagine. Perhaps some of the greatest trials that we can go through is to see our children die. It’s to see our young ones suffer. And so that is what he’s saying here, to “bring forth children for trouble”. Now that is the world that we live in today. It will be filled with all kinds of troubles and pain. But the world that is coming will be different, will be free from heartache and sorrow. 

And the third thing about the nature of the new life in the new world is that it will be a life of perfect harmony with God and with God’s creation. A life of perfect harmony with God and God’s creation. In other words, there’ll be no discord. There’ll be no conflict. We will not be living in the world of woe and strife. Now he pictures that again using picture words in verses 24 and 25. Now that is what that world will be like, he says. “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer”. In other words, there will be this perfect relationship with God, that we will pray to Him. If you call upon Him and He will answer us. “And while they are still speaking, I will hear.”, here speaking about the relation between man and God in the new creation, in the new world.

Verse 25: “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain”. Of course, the holy mountain refers to the new world, refers to the new heavens and the new earth. You see in the heavens, the ultimate heaven, the final heavens that we are all going to, it will be a perfect place. It will be a perfect place. In other words, it will be back to Eden. It will be back to Eden in Genesis 1, that everything was good, everything was in harmony. No conflict, no strife, perfect harmony between man and God, and among his creation. And that is the picture here. In fact, the prophet Isaiah has already mentioned that earlier on in his prophecy in chapter 11, in Isaiah chapter 11. Now he described it this way.

Isaiah 11:6-9. Verses 6 through 9 of Isaiah chapter 11 says this: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; The lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”. 

So here is the same description as in Isaiah 65 about God’s holy mountain, about the new world that God will be creating, about heaven in its ultimate and final state. It will be a happy place. It will be a perfect place. It will be where there is perfect relationship between God and man, and between all of God’s creatures. Today as I say, we live in a world filled with suffering, and that perhaps makes us long for a new world, long for the world that Isaiah is describing here. For us, he’s at pain to try to help us see what a wonderful world that would be. 

But that comes to the second question that I want to ask as we look at this passage here, and that is who will be there? Who will be there? Now back to Isaiah 65. Isaiah 65. Now in Isaiah 65, he makes clear that the new world is not for everyone. The new world that is so wonderful and so amazing, so beautiful. That new world where there will be no former troubles, no tears, no pain, but that world is not for everyone. And here Isaiah speaks of two different groups of people with two different destinies.

Look at Isaiah 65 again in your Bible alright- look at it in your Bible. Look at verses 8 through 10. Verses 8 to 10. Now listen to what the prophet Isaiah says here: “Thus says the Lord: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it,’ So will I do for My servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all. I will bring”, verse 9, “forth descendants from Jacob, And from Judah an heir of My mountains; My elect (or My chosen ones) shall inherit it, and My servants shall dwell there. Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for My people who have sought Me.”.

Now there are two groups of people as I said that Isaiah is describing in this chapter. The first group is here in these few verses, verses 8 through 10. Those are the people who seek after God. Look at verse 10, the last part: “For My people who have sought Me”. Heaven belongs to people who seek after God. They are referred to as My servants in verse 8, the second last line: “So will I do for My servants’ sake”. They are referred to as My chosen people in verse 9: My chosen people, or “My elect shall inherit it”. They are described as My people. So we have a people who is called the people of God. They are the elects of God, they are the chosen of God, they are people. This is the characteristic: they are a people who seek after God, These are the people who will go to that heaven that Isaiah is speaking of here. 

And no wonder, no wonder he pleads with the people, with the nation of Judah: “Seek the LORD while He may be found”. Now that is what we all must do if we were to find ourselves in that wonderful new place that God will create, to seek after God. Now then there is another group of people that Isaiah mentioned here in this chapter, and that we find in verse 11. In verse 11, he says: “But you are those who forsake the LORD”. The second group of people are those who forsake the Lord. “you are those who forsake the LORD, who forget My holy mountain”. 

You don’t care. There are people who are not interested. God is going to build His holy mountain. He’s gonna build a new creation, a new heaven and new earth. But there are people who do not care, people “who prepare a table for Gad, and who furnish a drink offering for Meni.”. Gad and Meni here are referring to the foreign gods. These are people who do not seek after God but they go after other gods. They are idolaters, they go for idols.

Now, what does forsake mean? Isaiah says there’s this other group, they will not be found in heaven. They are those who forsake the Lord. What does forsake mean? Forsake means to forget, because verse 11 Isaiah repeat that “those who forsake the LORD”, they are those who forget God. Who are those who forsake? Forsake are those who seek after other gods, as we also find in verse 11. Who are those who forsake the Lord? Verse 12: “Therefore I will number you for the sword”. You are not going to heaven, you will be punished. “I will number you for the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter.” You shall be punished. Why? Because you are those “when I called, you did not answer.” You are those when I speak to you, you did not listen, “but did evil before My eyes”.

And so here is a description. These are the characteristics of those second group of people. People who forsake the Lord, they do no seek God. They go after other gods. They will not answer when God calls. Don’t you hear the call of God today? Have you ever heard of the call of Jesus to “come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, for I shall give you rest”? Have you not heard Jesus calling in the Bible? That He is the Bread of Life, if you would come to Him, you shall be filled. That He is the Living Water, if you would come to Him, you shall never thirst again. That He is the resurrection and the life, that if you come and believe in Jesus Christ, you shall never die.

But here the second group of people, they did not listen. “When I spoke”, God says, “you did not listen”. “When I call, you did not answer.” Now, which of the two groups of people are you this morning? Are you those people who seek after God called God servant, God’s people? Or are you those who still forsake the Lord and do not seek after Him? Now remember there are two groups of people mentioned here in this chapter by the prophet Isaiah, and there are two different destinations. They are not going to the same place. What are the two destinations? Verse 13 and 14: “Thus said the Lord GOD: Behold, My servants shall eat, but you are hungry; Behold, My servants shall drink, but you are thirsty; Behold, My servants shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed. Behold”, verse 14, “My servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and wail for grief of spirit.”.

Can you not see the great contrast between these two destinies, between these two places? There will be a place called heaven, as we learned this morning. A wonderful place, a marvellous place, place whereby there’s no suffering, only joy. But remember there is another place mentioned again and again in the Bible because if you do not go to the place that the prophet Isaiah describes here in our text, you will go to the other place. There you shall be hungry. There you shall be thirsty. There you shall wail and cry in sorrow, in pain, more than you are experiencing now in this world. You will not be going to a better world, but you will be going to death, cursed, worse world, where the prophet described as hell.

In fact, as the prophet Isaiah ends his prophecy, he actually ends it in this way. He warns of that place that Jesus also warned of in the very last verse of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 66:24- “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. And they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”. Prophet Isaiah warns if you do not go to this place called heaven, there is another place that you will be going to. That is a terrible place, a place where the “worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched”. 

Didn’t you hear the Lord Jesus Christ saying those words, using the same words of the prophet Isaiah to warn the people of His time? Listen to Jesus. Listen to Jesus. And He tells the people of His time. He says: “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. For it is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, or to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched”.

Perhaps you might say the prophet Isaiah didn’t use the word ‘hell’, but Jesus uses the word ‘hell’ to describe what Isaiah was talking, to refer to what Isaiah was talking about in Isaiah 66. And Jesus says, quoting Isaiah, “where ‘their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’”. And He warns again: “if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, and be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where ‘their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’”. There will be a whole new world. Now that is the promise of God. God says: “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth”. Question is: Will you be there?

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.