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Friday 9-22-23 6th. Day Of The Weekly Cycle, Tishri 6 5784, 94th. Summer Day
Read: Isaiah 65:16–22 | Bible in a Year: Ecclesiastes 10–12; Galatians 1
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The past troubles will be forgotten . . . . See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. Isaiah 65:16–17
In his wonderful book Art + Faith: A Theology of Making, renowned artist Makoto Fujimura describes the ancient Japanese art form of Kintsugi. In it, the artist takes broken pottery (originally tea ware) and pieces the shards back together with lacquer, threading gold into the cracks. “Kintsugi,” Fujimura explains, “does not just ‘fix’ or repair a broken vessel; rather, the technique makes the broken pottery even more beautiful than the original.” Kintsugi, first implemented centuries ago when a warlord’s favorite cup was destroyed and then beautifully restored, became art that’s highly prized and desired.
Isaiah describes God artfully enacting this kind of restoration with the world. Though we’re broken by our rebellion and shattered by our selfishness, God promises to “create new heavens and a new earth” (65:17). He plans not merely to repair the old world but to make it entirely new, to take our ruin and fashion a world shimmering with fresh beauty.
This new creation will be so stunning that “past troubles will be forgotten” and “former things will not be remembered” (vv. 16–17). With this new creation, God won’t scramble to cover our mistakes but rather will unleash His creative energy—energy where ugly things become beautiful and dead things breathe anew.
As we survey our shattered lives, there’s no need for despair. God is working His beautiful restoration.
What needs beautiful restoration? How does this imagery of “new creation” stir hope in you?
Dear God, please restore me and make my world new.
This creation of a new heaven and new earth isn’t something revealed only to John. Seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, God, through the prophet Isaiah, had declared, “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17)—a world that “will endure” (66:22) and “where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).
By Winn Collier|September 22nd, 2023
Humanity Isaiah Sixty Five:16-22
16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Love, Walter And Debbie
Read: Isaiah 65:16–22 | Bible in a Year: Ecclesiastes 10–12; Galatians 1
Download MP3
Subscribe to iTunes
The past troubles will be forgotten . . . . See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. Isaiah 65:16–17
In his wonderful book Art + Faith: A Theology of Making, renowned artist Makoto Fujimura describes the ancient Japanese art form of Kintsugi. In it, the artist takes broken pottery (originally tea ware) and pieces the shards back together with lacquer, threading gold into the cracks. “Kintsugi,” Fujimura explains, “does not just ‘fix’ or repair a broken vessel; rather, the technique makes the broken pottery even more beautiful than the original.” Kintsugi, first implemented centuries ago when a warlord’s favorite cup was destroyed and then beautifully restored, became art that’s highly prized and desired.
Isaiah describes God artfully enacting this kind of restoration with the world. Though we’re broken by our rebellion and shattered by our selfishness, God promises to “create new heavens and a new earth” (65:17). He plans not merely to repair the old world but to make it entirely new, to take our ruin and fashion a world shimmering with fresh beauty.
This new creation will be so stunning that “past troubles will be forgotten” and “former things will not be remembered” (vv. 16–17). With this new creation, God won’t scramble to cover our mistakes but rather will unleash His creative energy—energy where ugly things become beautiful and dead things breathe anew.
As we survey our shattered lives, there’s no need for despair. God is working His beautiful restoration.
What needs beautiful restoration? How does this imagery of “new creation” stir hope in you?
Dear God, please restore me and make my world new.
INSIGHT
In the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, the apostle John writes of the certainty of “what must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1; see 22:6). At the conclusion of human history and the ushering in of eternity, God will say, “I am making everything new!” (21:5) and will gift us with “a new heaven and a new earth” (v. 1).This creation of a new heaven and new earth isn’t something revealed only to John. Seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, God, through the prophet Isaiah, had declared, “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17)—a world that “will endure” (66:22) and “where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).
By Winn Collier|September 22nd, 2023
Humanity Isaiah Sixty Five:16-22
16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Love, Walter And Debbie
