IV.
As you spend time with this passage once more, keep in mind the question that closed the last post –
What in this “new heavens” and “new earth” do you look most forward to?
V.
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.
VI.
I seem to recall that John the Baptizer spoke of the Kingdom coming near. Likewise Rabbi Jesus spoke of the Kingdom being near, and of those who were not far from the Kingdom.
Take some time to read once again this passage and be on the alert for what speaks to you about the nearness of the Kingdom.
What aspects of the Kingdom of God do you already notice dawning or even actually present?
charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}