No. 54. >> Does Isaiah have anything to say about the future beyond our present age? >>DR. DANIEL L. GARD: The Old Testament prophet Isaiah was not only a visionary of the immediate future and the near future for his nation and a visionary of the coming of the Messiah. But also in terms of time itself was able to see into that end time. The final days. Let me read just one text for you from Isaiah 65. Beginning in Verse 17: Behold I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered. Nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. For I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people. The sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more. Never again will in it an infant who lives a few days. Or an old man who does not live out his years. He who dies at 100 will be thought a mere youth. He who fails to reach 100 will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them. They will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them or plants 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 works of their hands. They will not toil in vain. Or bear children doomed to misfortune. For they will be a people blessed by the Lord. They and their descendants with them. They will call. I will answer. While they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together. And the lion will eat straw like the ox. But dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain. What a beautiful image of the future. An image whose words are echoed, for example, by Saint John in the book of Revelation. A very similar common imagery. Isaiah begins by speaking of a new heaven and a new earth. And how the former things would be passed away. So does Saint John in Revelation 21. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Now, that's a beautiful, fantastic vision of the future. Sometimes we Christians forget to live eschatologically. What I mean by that, to live -- we sometimes want to live without a vision for God's future. We can look around at the world. And in fact, things can be pretty bad. And they are often in human history. Not only in our time. But in prior times. And they will be in all human time until Christ returns. But as we look at that, we can't forget what a beautiful future God has prepared for all of us. Some years ago in our chapel at the seminary there was a guest preacher. And he made the comment in a sermon that almost all the old Lutheran hymns have a final verse that talks about heaven and eternal life. Well, frankly, I had never noticed that. And as it happened, I was sitting in the chancel right behind the pulpit. So I had to be very discrete. But I still pulled my hymnal out and started flipping through it just to see if this guy was right. And it turns out he was. Take a look at those hymns. The very last verse almost always shows us a vision of that which is yet to come. It's not without coincidence that towards the end of Isaiah, Isaiah does the same thing. Here in the midst of all of these struggles, the struggles of Babylon, the struggles of the return, what the northern kingdom have already experienced in their destruction by the Assyrians. All of these things, the centuries that were to come under Persian and then Greek and then Roman dominion. All of these things were but transitory. There is a home that awaits God's people. There is a new heaven and a new earth. Isaiah continues in Verse 18: But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing. And her people for gladness. This is what God has created his church to be. It's a place of rejoicing her people for gladness. Now, that may not always be easy for us or for the people we serve. Because in this life we do have a veil of tears. There is a shadow of the valley of death. And there is a time for mourning. But even in the midst of our mourning, God comes to us with such words of peace and joy that we can find a reason to hope. All of us have experienced either death of somebody we love or we will experience that. And we certainly will walk with many people through that valley of death as pastors to help them find in the midst of their sorrow the great joy that really still belongs to them even in -- even in the face of death. And here this church, this thing that Isaiah -- or this bride that Isaiah foresees and the Christ won is this Jerusalem whom God has created for rejoicing. And her people for gladness. I remember many years ago when I was a parish pastor. I had an elderly lady in my congregation. She was a very devout Christian. Wonderful sweet spirited woman. Who had lived her life in communion with the church. Raised her family. And in her last days shared a room with another woman in the hospital. The other woman was very antagonistic towards Christianity. And particularly towards Lutheranism. I'm not sure exactly why that was. But when this woman faced death, my member and her family gathered around her. We held hands. Prayed the Lord's Prayer as she breathed her last. And she breathed her last with a sense of peace and joy about her. Because she knew where she was going. This other woman looked at me and she said: I don't know what just happened. But I want it, too. You see, no matter what we face, our God is with us. She's created us. Even in the midst of the most difficult moments of our life. He's created us for joy. And yes, there are tears. Those are normal. Those are human. But through the tears comes the joy of knowing to whom we long belong. Isaiah continues: I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. And they will no longer be hurt and heard the voice of weeping and the sound of crying. Does that sound like Revelation again? It certainly does. That in heaven all weeping and sorrow is gone. That's the blessed hope of the Christian. Yes, there are struggles in this life. And yes, we do walk through a valley of the shadow of death. But as Isaiah foresees and as all of the saints who have gone before us now realize that there is an end to all weeping, all sorrow, all pain. And as we lose loved ones, as they leave this life, we do not, in fact, truly lose them. For they go to be with the Lord. And to enjoy that incredible heavenly vision that Isaiah saw and that later Saint John the revelator would also see. That's your future and mine. It's the future we point people to. There's nothing wrong with the old Lutheran hymns. And that wonderful promise at the end that we lift up this heaven that God has promised to us all no matter what the trials are that we might go through in this life. When we go to be with him, it's all joy. And he rejoices with us and over us. No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days. Or an old man who does not live out his days. For the youth will die at the age of 100 and the one who does not reach the age of 100 should be thought accursed. The whole thing of death is over. Death is the great and final enemy. I once when I was a new professor referred to death in a sermon as a friend. I don't know what I was really thinking. I was strongly corrected by a beloved elder professor who since then has gone on himself to be with the Lord. And he reminded me, no, that death is not a friend. Death is the enemy. But it's an enemy that has been defeated. They shall not build and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat. For as the lifetime of a tree, so shall the days of my people. And my chosen ones shall wear out the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain. Or bear children for calamity. For they are the offspring of the blessed Lord. And their descendants with them. It will also 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 graze together. And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall do no evil or harm in all my holy mountain says the Lord. Again, this wonderful vision that Isaiah gives to those who are about to face the agony of destruction much and the agony of being taken into captivity in Babylon. And yet far beyond them, pointing them beyond those days of suffering. And even beyond the days of the restoration of their land. To this great and final eschatological vision where death is gone. And all of its manifestations. We live in a creation even now that groans. A creation that is affected and destroyed not in and of itself but through the sin of human beings. When God created this world, he created a perfect place. There was no death in the Garden. There was no suffering. There was no pain. But when our first parents chose to disobey and enter into sin, then death came in. And the world became corrupted. Now in this great vision of Isaiah we see the new creation that he spoke of, a new heavens and a new earth. And in this new heavens and this new earth, all the stuff that was lost in Genesis 1 and 2 because of the sin in Genesis 3, the fall of man, now this is restored. And so we look forward to this heaven. Because it's paradise again. Paradise was lost. And paradise has been regained. There is no more destruction. There is no evil, no harm in all of its holy mountain. Look at the wolf and the lamb. Mortal enemies much and now they lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. There will be no carnivorous animals, including us. But all death is gone. But notice, also, this last sentence. And dust shall be the serpent's food. Remember Genesis 3? And the serpent who tempted Eve. And through her Adam. And through them brought about the destruction of the human race. And God's curse upon the serpent that he would eat dust. Even in eternity, the devil will eat that dust. And that is a great thing for the people of God. Because as we walk through this world and as we face death, as we face sorrow in this world, Satan will use those things to tempt you and to tempt me and to tempt the people of God to turn their back on the Lord. Or to give up. Or to say: If all of this stuff is happening to me, then perhaps somehow I'm not really God's child. That is the great lie of Satan. I don't think Satan is real busy in this world today at tempting to get the attention of those who are not in Christ. And the reason why is because he already has them. Those that he will attack are those who are baptized into Jesus. That's you. That's me. And the people we serve. Because they are ones who don't belong to him. And he has no other desire other than to reclaim them for his kingdom. His kingdom of darkness and death. And of the people of God, I believe firmly the ones he most wants to tackle are the pastors of the church. And those preparing to become pastors. Because if he can destroy one of those, then he can damage a whole lot of Christians and cause great havoc in the church. Satan is very active. And I know that in our modern culture the idea of the serpent, of Satan, is basically reduced to that old exorcist movie. And it becomes something as ridiculous as a little girl turning her head all the way around and spewing out pea soup. That's not how Satan operates. He comes in in the darkest moments of our lives. He finds that secret place that we want to hide from others, particularly hide from God. And he'll use that to tempt us to turn away from this great salvation. But in the end guess what? He is still eating dust. Nothing changes. He was given that curse in the Garden. And that curse will continue. And as we bring this message of salvation to God's people, we also bring a vision. A vision of the future. Not a vision that's tied to this world. But a vision that goes beyond this world. A vision that goes on for eternity.