Isaiah 65:25

Another cause of present weeping that will end is nature, which is sometimes harmful. In the future, it will not be harmful because the effects of the Fall will have been erased. Nature will no longer be man’s enemy. The Lord’s curse on the snake, which has only been fulfilled figuratively so far-snakes do not literally feed on dust now but on plants and animals-will find complete fulfillment (cf. Genesis 3:14). Chisholm believed that Isaiah was not alluding to Genesis 3:14 here but was simply using the serpent as another illustration of an animal that formerly posed a danger but would not in the future. [Note: Chisholm, A Theology . . ., pp. 337-38, and Handbok on . . ., p. 136. See also the note on this verse in The NET (New English Translation) Bible.] This verse is a hint that the change will come because of the "seed of the woman" described earlier in Isaiah as the Servant, Messiah (cf. Isaiah 11:6-9).

"The only point in the whole of the new creation where there is no change (cf. Isaiah 65:20 fg [sic]) is in the curse pronounced on sin, which still stands (cf. Genesis 3:14)." [Note: Motyer, p. 531.]

No evil or harm will come to anyone or anything in all God’s holy kingdom (cf. Isaiah 66:22). Watts interpreted this change as indicating only the absence of violence that would follow the Jews’ return to their land after the Exile. [Note: Watts, Isaiah 34-66, p. 355.] However, this is hardly the picture of life in Jerusalem and Judah that the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah paint.

"But to what part of the history of salvation are we to look for a place for the fulfillment of such prophecies as these of the state of peace prevailing in nature around the church, except in the millennium?" [Note: Delitzsch, 2:491-92.]

Delitzsch believed in an earthly Millennium. He distinguished himself from "anti-millenarians" and "antichiliasts." [Note: Ibid., 2:492.] But he also believed that some of the prophecies regarding Israel’s future blessings have found fulfillment in the church, whereas some will yet find fulfillment in Israel.

Isaiah revealed several new things for Jerusalem in this section. Joy would replace weeping and crying (Isaiah 65:18-19). Longevity would replace sorrow and death (Isaiah 65:20-23). Answered prayer would replace God’s previous silence (Isaiah 65:24). And universal peace would replace violence (Isaiah 65:25). [Note: Dyer, in The Old . . ., p. 585.]

The kingdom in view in this passage, and in chapter 66, is not just the millennial kingdom. It is the kingdom that God will bring into existence through the redemptive work of His Servant. Since the King has come, some features of this kingdom are present in the world today. But since the King has yet to come to accomplish fully His work of redemption, many features described here will be seen after His second advent. Part of these changes will take place on this earth during the Millennium. Other changes will happen when the Lord creates completely new heavens and a new earth (Revelation 21:1). How do we know that all that Isaiah predicted is not fulfilled in the present age through the church, or in the Millennium, or in the eternal state? The New Testament provides a more specific description of which of these promises will be fulfilled when and in what ways.

"The prophet appears, therefore, to refer to that Jerusalem, which is represented in the Apocalypse as coming down from heaven to earth after the transformation of the globe. But to this it may be replied, that the Old Testament prophet was not yet able to distinguish from one another the things which the author of the Apocalypse separates into distinct periods." [Note: Delitzsch, 2:492-93.]