God's Kingdom of Peace

June 11, 2023 Background Scripture: Isaiah 65:17 - 25 Lesson Passage: Isaiah 65:17 - 25 Isaiah is considered the greatest of the writing prophets because of the extensiveness of his writings. His prophecy occurred during the reign of four of Judah's kings. Isaiah's prophecy bears many similarities with the bible. Its sixty-six chapters are comparable to the sixty-six books of the Bible. The transition that occurs in Isaiah's prophecy beginning with the fortieth chapter compares with the transition from the Old Testament writings to the New Testament writings with the fortieth book of the Bible. There are many other similarities, including today's narrative. Today's lesson is best understood by starting at the beginning. In the beginning, God created a perfect world. Then God created a perfect person and placed him in His perfect world. Later, God created a perfect companion for the person and placed her with him in His perfect world, God's perfect person rebelled against God's instructions and caused sin to enter God's perfect world. With sin, came death, destruction and turmoil. God's world was no longer perfect. The persons God placed in the world had to adapt to the imperfect environment that was marred by sin. Thankfully, God created humans to be incredibly adaptive. People find a way to live in extreme conditions and climates for extended periods of time. We adjust our behavior to adapt to different situations. We adjust our diets to the sustenance we find in our environment. In short, we adapt to the environment we live in. That's not always a good thing. We become comfortable with imperfections too easily. We tolerate many ills in our environment because we have the capacity to adapt. We also have the capacity to improve many situations around us. We seek to change, or avoid, situations and circumstances that make us uncomfortable. And when we cannot avoid or change them, God has given us the gift of hope! Hope encourages us to look beyond our situations to something better. Indeed, we are encouraged to strive for something better. God's promises stir up hope in us. That's one of the reasons the promises of God are so precious to us. God created this world as a Paradise for people to live in. Sin and its horrible consequences have marred this world. Life as we know it is no more than adapting to a sin-marred environment. This is not life as God created it to be for the creature that was made in His image and according to His likeness. Mankind allowed sin to come into the world. The good news is our present condition is not the end of humanity's story. God has promised a better future. God promised to create a new world for mankind to live in. The new world will not have sin in it. It will be a world where peace will prevail as it was in the beginning. Our lesson today discusses this promised new world. Even better, the invitation to be a part of this new world is extended to everyone. God used the prophet Isaiah to tell His people, Israel, about the future world He planned for them. The timeframe addressed in Isaiah's prophecy extends well into a future eternity, Isaiah prophesied about God's promise of a new heaven and a new earth. God promises a glorious future to His people. Isaiah primarily addressed Jerusalem and Judah. Likewise, the Bible presents a New Jerusalem and the twelve tribes of Israel. In addition to these, the Bible describes the people of God in the end times as coming from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue. God's promised Kingdom is a place for all people. It will be a Kingdom of Peace. Robert C. Hudson May 25, 2023