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65. Judgment and Salvation

¹ “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
   I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
   I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
² All day long I have held out my hands
   to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
   pursuing their own imaginations—
³ a people who continually provoke me
   to my very face,
offering sacrifices in gardens
   and burning incense on altars of brick;
⁴ who sit among the graves
   and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;
who eat the flesh of pigs,
   and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;
⁵ who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me,
   for I am too sacred for you!’
Such people are smoke in my nostrils,
   a fire that keeps burning all day.

    ⁶ “See, it stands written before me:
   I will not keep silent but will pay back in full;
   I will pay it back into their laps—
⁷ both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,”
   says the LORD.
“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains
   and defied me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
   the full payment for their former deeds.”

⁸ This is what the LORD says:

   “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes
   and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it,
   there is still a blessing in it,’
so will I do in behalf of my servants;
   I will not destroy them all.
⁹ I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
   and from Judah those who will possess my mountains;
my chosen people will inherit them,
   and there will my servants live.
¹⁰ Sharon will become a pasture for flocks,
   and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds,
   for my people who seek me.

    ¹¹ “But as for you who forsake the LORD
   and forget my holy mountain,
who spread a table for Fortune
   and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
¹² I will destine you for the sword,
   and all of you will fall in the slaughter;
for I called but you did not answer,
   I spoke but you did not listen.
You did evil in my sight
   and chose what displeases me.”

¹³ Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

   “My servants will eat,
   but you will go hungry;
my servants will drink,
   but you will go thirsty;
my servants will rejoice,
   but you will be put to shame.
¹⁴ My servants will sing
   out of the joy of their hearts,
but you will cry out
   from anguish of heart
   and wail in brokenness of spirit.
¹⁵ You will leave your name
   for my chosen ones to use in their curses;
the Sovereign LORD will put you to death,
   but to his servants he will give another name.
¹⁶ Whoever invokes a blessing in the land
   will do so by the one true God;
whoever takes an oath in the land
   will swear by the one true God.
For the past troubles will be forgotten
   and hidden from my eyes.

New Heavens and a New Earth

    ¹⁷ “See, I will create
   new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
   nor will they come to mind.
¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever
   in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
   and its people a joy.
¹⁹ I will rejoice over Jerusalem
   and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
   will be heard in it no more.

    ²⁰ “Never again will there be in it
   an infant who lives but a few days,
   or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
   will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach Or the sinner who reaches a hundred
   will be considered accursed.
²¹ They will build houses and dwell in them;
   they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
   or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
   so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
   the work of their hands.
²³ They will not labor in vain,
   nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the LORD,
   they and their descendants with them.
²⁴ Before they call I will answer;
   while they are still speaking I will hear.
²⁵ The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
   and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
   and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
   on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.

20. There shall be no more thence an infant of days. Some think that this points out the difference between the Law and the Gospel; because “the Law, as a schoolmaster,” (Galatians 3:24,) kept scholars in the first elements, but the Gospel leads us on to mature age. Others suppose it to mean that there will no longer be any distinction of age; because, where life is eternal, no line is drawn between the child and the old man. But I interpret the words of the Prophet in this manner, “Whether they are children or old men, they shall arrive at mature age so as to be always vigorous, like persons in the prime of life; and, in short, they shall always be healthful and robust;” for it is on account of our sins that we grow old and lose our strength. “All our days,” saith Moses, “pass away when thou art angry: we close our years quicker than a word. The days of our years in which we live are seventy years, or, at the utmost, eighty: what goeth beyond this in the strongest is toil and vexation; our strength passeth swiftly, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90:9, 10.) But Christ comes to repair our strength, and to restore and preserve our original condition.

For the son of a hundred years shall die young. It is proper to distinguish between the two clauses; for, after having said that the citizens of the Church shall be long-lived, so that no one shall be taken out of the world till he has reached mature age and fully completed his course, he likewise adds that, even in old age, they shall be robust. Although the greater part of believers hardly support themselves through weakness, and the strength of others decays even before the time, yet that promise is not made void; for, if Christ reigned truly and perfectly in us, his strength would undoubtedly flourish in us, and would invigorate both body and soul. To our sins, therefore, it ought to be imputed, that we are liable to diseases, pains, old age, and other inconveniences; for we do not permit Christ to possess us fully, and have not advanced so far in newness of life as to lay aside all that is old. ²¹⁴²¹⁴ “Tout le vieil homme.” “All the old man.”

Here it ought also to be observed, that blessings either of soul or body are found only in the kingdom of Christ, that is, in the Church, apart from which there is nothing but cursing. Hence it follows that all who have no share in that kingdom are wretched and unhappy; and, however fresh and vigorous they may appear to be, they are, nevertheless, in the sight of God, rotten and stinking corpses.