Sermon Tone Analysis

*Messages of Comfort in Isaiah (Inscription 53)*

*/A New Heaven and New Earth/*

*Isaiah 65:17-25*

*/June 26, 2011/*

 

*  *

Intro~/Communication card:

 

Prayer

 

*Scripture reading: Isaiah 65:17-25*

 

 

Jesus is coming!

Q   Do you remember the “Jesus is coming on *May* *21st*” thing?

Already we are forgetting it; they got their 15 minutes of fame.

He had the entire country talking about the End Times; I even remember hearing employees at *Ivar’s* in Seattle talking.

Q   But what did you feel at the time?

*Amusement*?

*Fear*?

*Pity*?

I felt a *wishfulness*, wishing they were right, knowing they almost certainly were not.

There was small chance they were, about the same as winning *Haggen’s* mortgage payoff game.

This hope is *fueled* as I study Isaiah 65.

After many chapters of warnings and encouragements, Isaiah looks to the *distant* *future* when God will not just *restore* *Jews*, but the entire *earth*.

It’s like this picture, in the same way that God will restore Judah from their *exile* from Jerusalem, God longs to restore the entire earth from its *exile* from *Eden*.

Heaven or Earth

 

I’ve read this passage many times, but it’s always bothered me; it seems to mix this life and the next:

 

*Isaiah 65:17-20 * 

 

So far this sounds familiar, in fact Revelation more or less quotes it.

But then:

 

 20

Q   Wait, I thought no one *died* in Heaven, what’s happening here?

There are different interpretations, but that’s not as important right now as the fact that this passage forces us to take *another* *look* at Heaven.

Christians in general kind of have this idea that the whole *point* of getting *saved* is to go to *Heaven*.

The afterlife is vaguely thought of as a *spiritual*, *disembodied* *state*.

Furthermore, at the end of time, when this *world* is *over*, God is going to *burn* up the entire *creation* and we will all live in *Heaven*.

The whole idea is to *escape* this *earthly*, *corrupted* life and go to *Heavenly* *spiritual* one.

Q   What on earth are we to makes of this whole “New Heavens and New *Earth*”?

To make it worse, “*heavens*” means the *sky*, not Heaven (“In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.”

·         This passage is actually meant to *echo* *Genesis* 1:1.

It gets worse: In *Revelation*, it actually speaks of the *New* *Jerusalem* coming down to earth.

According to Revelation, we don’t spend the afterlife in Heaven, we spend it on the new earth in the New Jerusalem.

·         I could have called this sermon “Everything you know about *Heaven* is *wrong*.”

That is of course an exaggeration, but this morning I want to make you *think* *differently* about Heaven, and that will make you think differently about this life.

·         I challenge how you think; I hope you had enough *coffee*.

platonic Heaven

 

 

We operate from a perspective that there is a spiritual world and a physical one, and the *physical* one *not* quite as *good* as the spiritual one.

Q   For example: Which glorifies God more, eating a *dinner* with friends or *praying* and *fasting*?

Neither, they both have their place and both can either honor or dishonor God.

Another example is “The *Practice* of the *Presence* of God” and it’s implication that time not mindful of God is less than good.

Q   Do you know where we got that idea?

It not from the Bible, it’s from *Plato*, where this world is a shadow, inferior one, the real life is the spiritual one.

Remember when I talked about the early church’s view of *sex* as being “less than holy” cf.

“Platonic Friendship”)?

This is the same platonic idea.

·         We carry that idea that spiritual things are better into *many* *areas*, including how we view Heaven and earth.

It was (and is) good

 

In contrast to that, Genesis tell us that God looked at all he created, the stars, the galaxies, the sun, the earth, the trees, the lions, the fish, and said it was *very* g*o*od (Gen.

1:31).

·         He has *never* *changed* his *mind* about that.

Certainly *sin* has messed up the picture quite a bit; he was grieved he made man when he saw our wickedness:

 

NIV *Genesis 6:6* The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.

But even if we had managed to *corrupt* the entire *earth* with sin, we still have barely reached beyond the limits of the solar system, and it is a really big universe out there (Lewis limited it to the moon’s orbit in The *Space* *Trilogy*).

Q   *BTW*: Where do we get the idea God made the *universe* for us?

That is nowhere in the Bible I know of.

Yes, we are the *highest* of his *creation*, but it’s the height of arrogance to say he only made for our home.

·         That’s like saying I built my *house* to house my *favorite* *book*.

Throughout the *OT*, creation is seen as a *good* thing, *glorifying* God by its very nature.

It is to be *enjoyed* and *cared* for (one of the reasons for the *exile* was *environmental* *abuses*).

·         There are things in the *NT* that *seem* to *devalue* *creation*, but that’s because the Church Fathers read with Greek minds.

And even more importantly, *Jesus* was *raised* with a physical body, not a spiritual, disembodied one.

He was raised with a real, not simply spiritual body; they could *touch* and *feel* him, he could *eat* a fish.

·         The teaching of the *early* *church* revolved around the fact that Jesus was physically raised, not simply spiritually.

*Not a rough draft*

 

Okay, that is interesting and all, but so *what*?

Q   Let me ask you a question: Do you think that God made this world as a *rough* *draft*?

This world was not God’ practice round.

This is not the rough draft and Heaven is the real thing.

This is the *forward* of the book and Isaiah 65 is describing the *first* *chapter*.

Q   How *differently* we will *treat* this life if we view it as the forward to the *Real* *Story* instead of a *rough* *draft*?

What has happened is that Christians, affected by *Plato*-*istic* view of the resurrection and “life after death,” tend to view this life as a rough draft and have developed a “it’s *all* *going* to *burn*” mentality.

(cf.

*Elizabeth’s* *e*-*mail*)

 

·         This is the exact *opposite* of what the *Bible* had in mind.

*First* *Corinthians* *15* is the clearest discussion of what the resurrection means for us, verse after verse talking about:

 

·         If there is no physical resurrection, we are to be *pitied*.

·         It is the reason we can face *trials* with *hope*.

·         *What* our *resurrected* *bodies* will be like.

Then he sums it all up by saying:

 

*1 Corinthians 15:58 *  

In other words, because you know that the *effects* of your *labor* are *eternal*, work all the harder.

It’s like the difference between decorating your *hotel* *room* and your *house*.

You are going to be in your hotel for one night, you don’t decorate it; you deal with the mass production art and the out-dated furniture.

·         You *leave* a *mess*, because someone else will take care of it.

But you take care of your house, you furnish it as best you can (perhaps too well) and clean up after yourself, at least if folks are coming over.

This world matters

 

Here is the *big* *point*: This world matters.

What you do in your body matters, what we do on this earth matters, what we do with this earth matters.

Let bring this down to very tangible ways that we take care of this house God has blessed us with:

 

 

*/1.

/**/What you do with your body matters/*

 

Let’s go back to 1 Corinthians 15:

 

*1 Corinthians 15:35-38 *  

 

In other words: There is a direct *connection* between the *seed* and the *plant*.

They are of the same *substance*, though very different in *form*.

Our best glimpse is of course *Jesus’* resurrection body.

As I said before, it was a *real* *body*, yet *greater* than this flesh – Jesus could walk through a *locked* *door*

 

This makes him seem ghost-like, but perhaps the door was the ghostly thing.