Sermons on Isaiah 65:17

Isaiah 65:17 Interpretation:

Living Intentionally: Prioritizing God's Kingdom in Our Lives (Metro City Church) offers a unique, practical interpretation of Isaiah 65:17 by connecting the promise of “new heavens and a new earth” to the necessity of prioritizing the future over the past in the Christian life. The sermon uses the passage not only as a future eschatological hope but as a present call to let go of past hurts, failures, or even glories, and to embrace God’s forward-moving work. The preacher frames God as a “future-thinking God” who is “into making things new,” and interprets Isaiah 65:17 as God’s invitation to believers to stop being “stuck” in the past, whether that’s nostalgia for “glory days” or bondage to shame and trauma. The analogy of God not being “stuck in your past” but “bringing your past into the future” and making it “brand new” is a notable, pastoral application that moves beyond a strictly prophetic or apocalyptic reading.

Hope and Glory: The New Creation Revealed (Live Church) provides a detailed, theologically rich interpretation of Isaiah 65:17, emphasizing its literal and cosmic scope. The sermon highlights the Hebrew prophetic context, noting that “create” (bara’) in Isaiah 65:17 is the same verb used in Genesis 1, underscoring the radical, ex nihilo nature of God’s promise. The preacher stresses that the “new heavens and new earth” are not a mere renovation but a total un-creation and recreation, necessary because even heaven has been tainted by Satan’s presence. The sermon also explores the phrase “the former things will not be remembered,” interpreting it as a complete erasure of sin, pain, and even the memory of suffering, which is a unique psychological and existential angle. The preacher’s use of the Greek “skene” (tabernacle) in Revelation as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s vision further deepens the interpretation, showing how the new creation is about unmediated, direct fellowship with God.

Embracing New Beginnings Through Christ's Transformative Power (Spurgeon Sermon Series) offers a classic, covenantal interpretation of Isaiah 65:17, seeing it as the foundation for the entire gospel promise of regeneration and new creation. Spurgeon draws a direct line from Isaiah’s prophecy to the “new covenant” in Christ, arguing that the “new heavens and new earth” are not only a future reality but are inaugurated in the believer’s heart through conversion. He uses the metaphor of the “portal of the new year” to invite hearers to experience this transformation personally, emphasizing that “there is nothing so old that he cannot make it new, nothing so fixed and habitual that he cannot change it.” Spurgeon’s analogy of the “old gun” that needs not just mending but total remaking is a vivid, memorable way of expressing the radical nature of God’s renewing work as prophesied in Isaiah 65:17.

Embracing Suffering: Radical Acceptance in Advent (Become New) interprets Isaiah 65:17 as God’s promise to create a new reality that is not merely a restoration or repair of the old, but a fundamentally new order that only God can bring about. The sermon uniquely frames the exile of Israel as a necessary disruption that revealed the insufficiency of earthly hopes and kingdoms, making the people aware of their need for a new heaven and new earth. The analogy of “fixing up” Jerusalem, America, or any earthly place is contrasted with God’s creative act—emphasizing that true renewal is not a human project but a divine invasion, begun in Jesus. The sermon uses the metaphor of “invasion” and “beachhead” to describe the coming of Christ as the initial incursion of this new creation, and draws on the language of pilgrimage and exile to highlight the discontinuity between the old and the new. There is no explicit use of Hebrew or Greek, but the sermon’s focus on the exile as the context for the promise is a notable interpretive angle.

Selective Memory and Joy in the New Creation (Desiring God) offers a distinctive interpretation by directly addressing the question of whether Isaiah 65:17 implies a “memory wipe” in the new creation. The sermon carefully analyzes the immediate context (verse 16) to argue that the “former things” refers specifically to “former troubles,” not all memories. It introduces the concept of “selective memory,” where painful or sinful memories are not erased but transformed so that they no longer cause pain or hinder joy. The sermon uses the analogy of a “hard drive crash” to illustrate what a total memory wipe would mean, and then rejects this, arguing for continuity of personal identity and memory, but with a radically different, joy-filled perspective. The preacher also draws on the biblical motif of God “not remembering” sins—not as ignorance, but as a refusal to hold them against us. This nuanced approach to memory and identity in the new creation is a unique contribution.

Eternal Perspectives: Embracing the New Heaven and Earth (SermonIndex.net) interprets Isaiah 65:17 as a prophetic declaration of a literal, cosmic renewal in which the entire created order—both the “first” and “second” heavens (atmosphere and universe)—will be dissolved and replaced by a new, radically different creation. The sermon provides a detailed linguistic analysis of the Hebrew word “bara” (create), emphasizing that the new heavens and earth are a unique, divine act of creation, not a mere renovation. The preacher also distinguishes between the “first,” “second,” and “third” heavens, arguing that only the created heavens (atmosphere and universe) will pass away, while God’s own heaven is eternal. The analogy of a garment being changed (from Psalms) is used to illustrate the total transformation. The sermon’s focus on the physical, scientific, and cosmic dimensions of the new creation, as well as its detailed breakdown of biblical cosmology, sets it apart from the other interpretations.

Isaiah 65:17 Theological Themes:

Living Intentionally: Prioritizing God's Kingdom in Our Lives (Metro City Church) introduces the theme of “prioritizing the future” as a spiritual discipline rooted in God’s own character as a creator of newness. The sermon uniquely applies Isaiah 65:17 to the psychological and spiritual need to “get past your past,” arguing that God’s promise to “not remember the former things” is an invitation for believers to do the same, thus making spiritual progress possible. This is not just about eschatology but about daily Christian living, where the “new heavens and new earth” become a metaphor for personal renewal and hope.

Hope and Glory: The New Creation Revealed (Live Church) develops the theme of total cosmic renewal, not just personal or spiritual, but material and existential. The preacher’s insistence that “none of the old universe will enter into the final eternal state” and that even heaven must be remade because of Satan’s presence is a distinctive theological assertion. The sermon also explores the theme of memory and identity, suggesting that in the new creation, not only will suffering end, but even the memory of suffering will be erased, which is a profound and somewhat rare theological claim about the nature of eternity and the psychology of redeemed humanity.

Embracing New Beginnings Through Christ's Transformative Power (Spurgeon Sermon Series) brings out the theme of the “new covenant” as the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah 65:17, arguing that the new creation is not only future but is already inaugurated in the believer’s life. Spurgeon’s focus on the impossibility of self-reformation (“mending the old gun”) and the necessity of total regeneration is a classic but still powerful theological motif, emphasizing grace over works and the radical nature of God’s creative power.

Embracing Suffering: Radical Acceptance in Advent (Become New) introduces the theme that suffering and exile are not merely obstacles but are the very context in which God reveals the need for a new creation. The sermon uniquely applies Isaiah 65:17 to personal and communal experiences of loss, arguing that the “death of one dream” (exile) is the soil from which God’s greater, surprising dream (new creation) emerges. This theme is developed through the lens of Advent, suggesting that Christian hope is fundamentally forward-looking, rooted in God’s promise to make all things new, rather than in nostalgia or attempts to repair the present order.

Selective Memory and Joy in the New Creation (Desiring God) presents the distinctive theological theme that the joy of the new creation is not based on ignorance or amnesia, but on the transformation of memory. The sermon argues that in the new heavens and new earth, all memories—including those of sin and suffering—will serve to magnify the grace of God, rather than diminish joy. This is a fresh angle on the doctrine of glorification, emphasizing that the continuity of personal identity and the memory of redemption are essential to eternal worship and joy.

Eternal Perspectives: Embracing the New Heaven and Earth (SermonIndex.net) develops the theme of radical discontinuity between the present creation and the new creation, emphasizing that nothing of the old will remain—not even a pebble. The sermon applies this to Christian living by urging believers to set their hope not on anything in this world, but on the coming reality of the new heavens and earth. The preacher also introduces the theme of humility before the immensity of God’s creative power, arguing that a true vision of the new creation should produce reverence, godly fear, and a longing for holiness.

Isaiah 65:17 Historical and Contextual Insights:

Hope and Glory: The New Creation Revealed (Live Church) provides significant historical and contextual background, explaining that Isaiah 65:17 was written in a time of deep national trauma and longing for restoration among the Israelites. The preacher notes that the Hebrew verb “bara’” (create) is the same as in Genesis 1, indicating a deliberate echo of the original creation narrative and signaling a promise of total, divine renewal. The sermon also discusses the ancient Jewish understanding of heaven and earth, and how the presence of Satan in heaven (as seen in Job and other texts) necessitates even heaven’s renewal, which is a less commonly discussed aspect of biblical cosmology.

Embracing Suffering: Radical Acceptance in Advent (Become New) provides historical context by situating Isaiah 65:17 in the aftermath of the Babylonian exile. The sermon explains that the exile was an unprecedented catastrophe for Israel, shattering their expectations of national greatness and prompting a radical rethinking of God’s purposes. The preacher argues that the promise of a new heaven and new earth would not have been conceivable without the experience of exile, which exposed the limitations of earthly hopes and prepared the way for a new, non-earthly kingdom inaugurated by Christ.

Finding Strength and Hope in God's Promises (Ligonier Ministries) offers historical context by describing Isaiah’s prophetic ministry as spanning both the immediate threat of Assyrian invasion and the future Babylonian exile. The sermon notes that Isaiah’s audience was living in a time of national crisis and apparent abandonment by God, and that the promise of a new heavens and new earth in chapters 65–66 is addressed to a people who have experienced profound loss and are in need of reassurance that God’s covenant promises will ultimately be fulfilled.

Isaiah 65:17 Cross-References in the Bible:

Living Intentionally: Prioritizing God's Kingdom in Our Lives (Metro City Church) cross-references Ezekiel’s vision of the heart of stone being replaced with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), connecting it to Isaiah 65:17 as evidence of God’s ongoing work of making things new. The sermon also references Revelation 21, where Jesus declares, “I am making everything new,” and uses this as a direct fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Additionally, the preacher cites Matthew 6:33 (“seek first the kingdom of God”) as a practical outworking of prioritizing the future and the eternal, tying it back to the hope of new creation.

Hope and Glory: The New Creation Revealed (Live Church) offers an extensive network of cross-references: Isaiah 66:22 (new heavens and new earth), 2 Peter 3:13 (promise of new heavens and earth where righteousness dwells), Luke 21:33 (Jesus’ words about heaven and earth passing away), Revelation 21–22 (the new Jerusalem and the new creation), Philippians 3:20 (citizenship in heaven), Colossians 3:1–2 (setting minds on things above), 1 John 3:2 (we shall be like him), Isaiah 25:8 (God will wipe away tears), Ezekiel 37:27 (God’s dwelling with his people), and others. Each reference is used to show the continuity and fulfillment of Isaiah 65:17 throughout the biblical canon, culminating in the vision of Revelation.

Embracing New Beginnings Through Christ's Transformative Power (Spurgeon Sermon Series) references Isaiah 65:17 directly, then links it to Revelation 21:5 (“Behold, I make all things new”), and to the new covenant language in Hebrews and the Pauline epistles (e.g., “the just shall live by faith,” “accepted in the Beloved,” “by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many”). Spurgeon also alludes to Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones and the new heart, as well as to the “old covenant” and “new covenant” themes in Romans and Galatians, showing how Isaiah’s prophecy is foundational for the entire biblical story of redemption.

Selective Memory and Joy in the New Creation (Desiring God) references several biblical passages to support and expand on Isaiah 65:17. The sermon cites Isaiah 65:16 to argue that the “former things” refers to “former troubles,” and then draws on Ephesians 1:6 (“to the praise of the glory of his grace”) to emphasize that the purpose of history is the eternal praise of God’s grace. Psalm 111:4 (“He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered”) and Isaiah 63:7 (“cause to be remembered the steadfast love of the Lord”) are used to show that God intends for his redemptive acts to be eternally remembered. Revelation 5:12 (“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain”) is referenced to argue that the memory of Christ’s sacrifice will be central to eternal worship. The sermon also cites Psalm 79:8, Ezekiel 18:22, and Isaiah 43:25 to explain the biblical concept of God “not remembering” sins—not as erasure, but as not holding them against us. 1 Corinthians 13:12 is used to suggest that our knowledge and memory in the new creation will be transformed, allowing us to remember sin without pain or shame, but only as a cause for joy in God’s grace.

Eternal Perspectives: Embracing the New Heaven and Earth (SermonIndex.net) provides an extensive array of cross-references to support its interpretation of Isaiah 65:17. The sermon cites Genesis 1:1 (“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”) to establish the original creation, and then references Psalm 102:24–26 (“the heavens… shall perish… like a garment… thou shalt change them”) to illustrate the total transformation of creation. Isaiah 66:22 is used to affirm the permanence of the new creation. Revelation 21:1 is quoted as the New Testament fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. 2 Peter 3:10–13 is referenced to describe the final dissolution of the present heavens and earth by fire and the promise of a new creation “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Hebrews 12:27–28 is cited to contrast the shakable created order with the unshakable kingdom of God. The sermon also references numerous other passages (e.g., Deuteronomy 11:1, Job 38:37, 1 Kings 8:27, Isaiah 57:15, Exodus 20:22, 1 Thessalonians 4:17, Ephesians 2:2) to develop its biblical cosmology and theology of the new creation.

Isaiah 65:17 Christian References outside the Bible:

Living Intentionally: Prioritizing God's Kingdom in Our Lives (Metro City Church) explicitly references several Christian and secular authors in the context of priorities, but not specifically in relation to Isaiah 65:17. Therefore, no bullet is included here.

Embracing God's Love Amidst Suffering and Glory (Quail Lakes Baptist Church) references C.S. Lewis’s sermon “The Weight of Glory” when discussing the concept of glory, but this is not directly tied to Isaiah 65:17, so it is not included here.

Embracing New Beginnings Through Christ's Transformative Power (Spurgeon Sermon Series) is itself a sermon by C.H. Spurgeon, a major Christian figure, but does not cite other non-biblical Christian authors in its discussion of Isaiah 65:17.

Embracing Suffering: Radical Acceptance in Advent (Become New) explicitly references several Christian authors and thinkers in its discussion of Isaiah 65:17. Fleming Rutledge is cited for her work on Advent, particularly her argument that the season is primarily about looking forward to Christ’s return and the hope of new creation, rather than backward to the first coming. Eugene Peterson is referenced for his book “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction,” which draws on Nietzsche’s phrase but reinterprets it in a Christian context as a pilgrimage toward God’s ultimate renewal. The sermon also mentions Esau McCaulley, an African American New Testament scholar, and his book “Reading While Black,” highlighting McCaulley’s reflections on suffering as a context for hope and the formation of Christian character. These references are used to reinforce the sermon's themes of hope, suffering, and the forward-looking nature of Christian faith.

Isaiah 65:17 Illustrations from Secular Sources:

Living Intentionally: Prioritizing God's Kingdom in Our Lives (Metro City Church) uses several secular illustrations to illuminate the meaning of Isaiah 65:17. The preacher references the movie “Napoleon Dynamite,” specifically the character Uncle Rico, as an example of someone stuck in the past and unable to move forward, paralleling the spiritual danger of living in “the former things” rather than embracing God’s newness. The sermon also mentions Jim Collins’s business book “Good to Great” and the phrase “good is the enemy of great,” using it as an analogy for how clinging to the past or to lesser priorities can prevent believers from experiencing the “great” future God has in store. Additionally, the preacher references Mark Twain’s quote, “To change your life, you need to change your priorities,” to reinforce the need for embracing newness. The sermon also humorously references the treadmill of life, social media statistics, and Netflix binge-watching as metaphors for being stuck in old patterns and missing out on God’s new creation, making the biblical promise of Isaiah 65:17 tangible and relatable for a modern audience.

Embracing Suffering: Radical Acceptance in Advent (Become New) uses several secular illustrations to illuminate Isaiah 65:17. The sermon references the New York Times, describing two opinion articles—one critiqued for a misguided view of Christian hope as political triumphalism, and another by Esau McCaulley reflecting on the formative power of suffering in African American experience. The preacher also discusses Eugene Peterson’s use of a phrase from Friedrich Nietzsche (“a long obedience in the same direction”) to contrast the secular ideal of self-determined achievement with the Christian vision of pilgrimage toward God’s new creation. Additionally, the sermon mentions the rejection of Peterson’s book by 17 publishers as an example of perseverance in hope. These secular references are woven into the sermon's argument that true hope is not found in earthly success or nostalgia, but in God’s promise of a new reality inaugurated through suffering and fulfilled in Christ.