1.
He’s
risen, He’s risen, Christ Jesus, the Lord. He opened death’s prison, the incarnate,
true Word. O, where is your sting,
death? We fear you no more. Christ rose,
and now open is fair Eden’s door. For
all our transgressions His blood does atone.
Redeemed and forgiven, we now are His own. The message from God’s Word this glorious
Easter morning is taken from Isaiah 65:17-25 and is entitled, “Jesus Makes All Things New,” dear
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. At 9:40am on Nov. 1, 1755, Lisbon
was struck by an earthquake. It was All Saints’ Day and the churches of Lisbon
were filled with worshipers. 30 churches were destroyed. Within 6 minutes
15,000 people died. Survivors ran down to the waterfront and got on ships in
the harbor to escape the aftershocks, only to be hit by 3 tsunami waves that
swept over the city. Thousands more died. Lamps, candles, and cooking fires
were upset in homes all over the city and started uncontrollable fires that burned
for days. Within a week 30,000 people were dead, and one of Europe’s great
cities lay in ruins.
3. The French philosopher Voltaire
saw this tragedy as proof that no reasonable person can believe in God. How can a good and all-powerful God create a
world like this? Voltaire mocked the optimism of Alexander Pope in England
who had affirmed, “Whatever is, is right.”
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the German scholar, had proposed that we live in “the best of all possible worlds.” Voltaire
despised that way of thinking. Isn’t it obvious that this world is not right and not the best of all possible worlds? Voltaire reasoned, “If this is the best of all possible worlds,
what can the rest be?”
4. God agrees with Voltaire. This
world isn’t what he had in mind at the creation. But he’s doing something about
it. And he’s not just patching up this broken world. He’s out to renew it. Here in Isaiah 65 is
God’s ultimate answer to our longings for his help. His answer is nothing less
than “a new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17).
5. In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It was perfect. Then we ruined
it. We were deceived into thinking that we’d be better off defining for
ourselves what our existence should be. With
our sinful act of defiance against God came death—not only death to mankind but
also death to the entire universe. Disease, death, and decay replaced the life,
harmony, and order God had created. We
didn’t realize we were pulling a lever to make God’s perfect creation into our
perfect hell. But, God knew this before
He began His work of creation. God knew that we would bring death upon
ourselves. So what did God do at that
point that man fell into sin? Two things. On the one hand, he sealed off our
evil so that it couldn’t have its fully devastating impact. He judged us—but in
mercy. On the other hand, he gave us a promise that, through Christ, he would
reverse all the damage we’ve done in Gen. 3:15. God, the Creator of all, would become a man
and die the death people had brought upon themselves in order that they could
once again live. God sent His Son Jesus into the world in human flesh to bring
about this new creation. In effect God
said, “It’s your fault, but it’s my responsibility.
I’m taking you on as my personal project. You need a Savior, and I’m providing
him. In Christ the world has hope.”
6. When Jesus’ work was completed on
the sixth day of the week, He cried out, “It
is finished,” and then He rested in His tomb on the Sabbath. On Easter
Sunday, the first day of the new creation, the God-man Jesus who had died arose
victorious over death and the grave to usher in the new creation, “in which those who die shall live and those
who live shall never die” (Jn 11:25–26). God provided Isaiah a glimpse of
this new creation more than 700 years before God became flesh in Christ.
7. Isaiah 65:17-18 says, 17“For behold, I create new
heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come
into mind. 18But 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.” About 5 seconds into this new world, you and
I will turn to one another and say, “Cancer,
terrorism—what were they? Hmmm. Can’t seem to remember. No matter. Here we go!”
As Isaiah paints a picture of the new heavens and the new earth, to which
God has been leading his people for so long, the prophet uses images from life
as we know it now to communicate life as we’ll know it then (vv. 19–25). For
example, “The young man shall die a
hundred years old” (v. 20). But Isaiah doesn’t mean that people will live a
very long time before they die. There will be no death (Revelation 21:1–4).
Isaiah is saying to us, “The life you’ve
always longed for but has always eluded you, always kept just out of reach—that
life is what God is preparing for his servants.” The place of heaven to
which God taking us is the human experience that defines the very meaning of
joy. Jesus
makes all things new for you through His death and resurrection from the dead!
8. Isaiah recorded God’s plan of
creating a new heavens and a new earth so unique and so beautiful that the “former things shall not be remembered”
(Is 65:17). In this new creation, neither the sound of weeping nor cries of
distress will be heard (v 19). The glorious new life in Christ would never be
cut short by death. Predator and prey will dwell together in harmony: “the wolf and the lamb shall graze together” (v
25). Carnivores would once again be herbivores: “the lion shall eat straw like the ox” (v 25). Once again, animals
would live together in peace. People would live in peace. People and animals
would once again walk together without fear of the other. Just as God had
created the original creation, so there would be no destruction or violence in
this new world. There would be no crime or terrorism. “ ‘They shall not hurt or destroy in all My
holy mountain,’ says the Lord”
(v 25). In this creation, God would preserve mankind and angels from falling
into sin. Never again would sin, Satan, or death stalk God’s creatures. All
this because our Lord Jesus’ death and resurrection has made all things new!
9. Isaiah 65:24-25 says, 24Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25The 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.” This isn’t what happens today, my friends.
The skeptic and atheist will be quick to point this out. If the wolf and the lamb lie down together,
it’s the wolf feeding on the lamb. A wolf likes lamb chops. But in that day
they will be together, and the lion will eat straw. There was a young man who
publicly questioned Dr. George Gill in a meeting, saying, “Who ever heard of a lion eating straw? Anyone knows that a lion never
eats straw!” Dr. Gill, in an easygoing manner, said, “Young man, if you can make a lion, then I will make him eat straw. The
One who created the lion will equip him to eat straw when He wants him to do
it.” In other words, in that day the sharp fang and the bloody claw will no
longer rule animal life. The law of the jungle will be changed to conform to
the rule of the King. There will be nothing to hurt or harm or make afraid in
the whole world. It will be a new
world.
10. And this new creation, this new
world, through Jesus’ death and resurrection isn’t merely a future hope. It’s
also a present reality. Christ completed the work of the new creation on the
cross. Already, now, you are a new creation. No longer are you bound by sin and
death. With new life created by the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacrament, the
old has passed away for you. St Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has
passed away; behold, the new has come” (2Co 5:17).
11. You live in the time of “now, but not yet.” God’s new creation is
a present reality (your new life in Christ is the evidence), but the totality
of this creation hasn’t yet been revealed. As a result, the old Adam lives
alongside the new man in constant daily struggle. We live in a world full of
the consequences of sin, a world engulfed with the suffering that will be
absent in the new world. Though we suffer these consequences of sin—sickness,
suffering, pain, and death—all of creation groans with us as we await the
redemption of our bodies (Rm 8:22–23).
12. We don’t know all the details of
the new creation, such as how old our bodies will be or what daily life will be
like, but this we know: the reality will exceed our expectations and “the former things shall not be remembered”
(Is 65:17). As you await with all of
creation the redemption of your body, read Is 65:17–25 again. On this day we
celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead close your
eyes and ponder this new creation God has made for you. “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things
shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in
that which I create” (Is 65:17–18).
Amen.
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