I.
Let’s look at two statements that begin and end this passage –

For I am about to create new heavens
     and a new earth;
…
They shall not hurt or destroy
     on all my holy mountain,
          says the Lord.

In this “new heavens” and “new earth” “hurt or destroy” have no part.

Look for what else describes this new creation.

What two or three characteristics stand out the most vividly.

II.
Isaiah 65:17-25 (NRSVue)

For I am about to create new heavens
     and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
     or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
     in what I am creating,
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy
     and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
     and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it
     or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
     an infant who lives but a few days
     or an old person who does not live out a lifetime,
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
     and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
     they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
     they shall not plant and another eat,
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
     and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain
     or bear children for calamity,
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
     and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
     while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together;
     the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
     but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
     on all my holy mountain,
          says the Lord.

III.
What caught your attention?

The joy and delight that come to the people? The richness of the harvest? The health that both infants and the elderly can enjoy? A peacefulness that extends to animals?

Or maybe even, “Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear.”

What in this “new heavens” and “new earth” do you look most forward to?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}