BRIEF EXAMINATION OF ISAIAH 65.
By G. I. Butler
"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 a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed." Isa. 65:20. The prophecy of Isaiah, Chap. 65, has occasioned much comment. Those who believe in the doctrine called "Age to Come," rely upon this scripture to prove that after Christ's personal return to this earth, and the commencement of his reign of one thousand years, death will prevail. We propose briefly to examine this chapter and see if any thing in it contradicts our view. We believe that at the second coming of Christ all the living wicked will be slain and all the righteous be made immortal. The righteous will ascend to the New Jerusalem, and there reign with Christ during one thousand years, and then the saints, with Christ and the holy city, shall descend to this earth which has lain desolate. The wicked dead shall be raised, and with Satan shall come up around the holy city, and shall be utterly destroyed by fire rained upon them from heaven; this earth shall then be one vast lake of fire, from which God shall bring a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. A few of the scriptures upon which we rely to prove these positions are as follows: Rev. 19:12-21; 20; 21:1-10; Jer. 25:15-33; 4:19-27; Isa. 24:34; 1 Thess. 4:15-17; Matt. 5:12; John 13:36, with 14:1-3; 2 Pet. 3:7-13. Is there anything in Isa. 65:17-25, that disproves these positions? It reads as follows: "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come upon the heart [margin]. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 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. 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 a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the days of a tree [the tree of life the septuagint reads] are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord." All will admit that this scripture is intimately connected throughout. It commences with a prophecy of the new heavens and new earth. It next speaks of Jerusalem. From the expression used, it is evident that it is the same Jerusalem brought to view in the last chapters of Revelation. The voice of weeping and crying is no more to be heard. So the beloved disciple says, "Sorrow and crying" shall be no more. Rev. 21:4. The holy mountain of God is in it; verse 25. So we learn in many other scriptures that Mount Zion is in New Jerusalem. It takes place when the people of God have their "rejoicing." This can but refer to the time when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the people of God, are safe in that "city which hath foundations," for which they looked, Heb. 11:10, when the "children" rejoice with their "mother." Gal. 4:26. The sudden change in the first verse of this prophecy, from the new heavens and earth to the New Jerusalem, is suggestive, and helps us to understand the point of time when it meets its fulfillment. Let us go then, to another scripture, where the same events are recorded with additional particulars. Rev. 21:1, brings to view the new heavens and earth. But previous to this, in chap. 20:9, the apostle sees the holy city and the saints on the earth, when it is very evident the new heavens and earth had not yet come. They are on the earth in connection with the final punishment of the wicked, after the second resurrection has taken place, at the close of the one thousand years. Verses 5, 8, and 9. The presence of the "beloved city," in which are the saints of God on the earth during the punishment of the wicked and before the new heavens and earth are ushered in, is made necessary, that many scriptures may be fulfilled. Thus, the Saviour says, "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and ye yourselves thrust out." Luke 13:28. Also in that remarkable prophecy in Isa. 33:10, speaking of the time when the Lord shall rise up, he speaks of the wicked being as the burnings of lime, and as thorns cut up which are burned in the fire. That class would utterly perish. But, in the 14th verse, he asks the question, "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" and answers immediately, "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil." "His place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty." "Thine heart shall meditate terror." To my mind it seems very clear that this scripture meets its fulfillment at the same time of which the Saviour speaks, when the wicked see the reward of the righteous and the righteous see the reward of the wicked. The righteous are in a "place of defense." From what? From the terrible punishment rained upon the heads of the wicked. When they shall be as "thorns cut up," which shall be "burned in the fire." "When the sinners in Zion are afraid" "and fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites." The righteous at this time contemplate two things: "Their eyes see the King in his beauty," their heart "meditates terror." In the city, Jesus is in his glory; without, is a world on fire. Oh! my soul, what a contrast. Wicked men are consuming as the fat of lambs. Then are the words of the Psalmist fulfilled, "When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it." Ps. 37:34. How plain, then, that the righteous are on the earth within the holy city at a point of time before the destruction of the wicked, and in immediate connection with it, where they can fully behold it. And it is at this point of time that Isa. 65:20, has its fulfillment. The prophet's mind is first directed to the glorious fact that there is to be a "new heaven and new earth" created. It is next called to the point of time just previous, when the sinner, even though he may be an "hundred years old, shall be accursed." When does the curse of God come upon the sinner? Just previous, as we have seen, to the creation of the new heavens and new earth. Peter, in his second epistle, third chapter, makes this very plain. "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition [destruction] of ungodly men." "The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." "Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Where does Peter find his "promise"? In the very scripture we have under examination. Isa. 65:17. And it is remarkable how beautifully these two scriptures harmonize and explain each other. Peter gives us an inspired comment upon Isa. 65:17. He tells us plainly that the "perdition of ungodly men" comes just before the new heavens and new earth. That the great burning day results in the new creation; from the ashes of the old creation the new springs forth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. The career of the wicked closes with the old creation. We have seen from other scriptures that the righteous are on the earth and see this result during its accomplishment. When, then, does the "child die an hundred years old"? Both the righteous and the wicked are on the earth when the curse of God falls on the sinner. "The wages of sin is death." Here are gathered the sinners of all ages and the saints of all ages. The antediluvians are here. Of those who died natural deaths, who lived the main portion of their lives before the flood, we have left on record in Genesis the ages of nine persons, including Noah. Their ages are respectively, Adam, nine hundred and thirty; Seth, nine hundred and twelve; Enos, nine hundred and five; Cainan, nine hundred and ten; Mahalaleel, eight hundred and ninety-five; Jared, nine hundred and sixty-two; Methuselah nine hundred and sixty-nine; Lamech, seven hundred and seventy-seven; Noah nine hundred and fifty. The average of these is almost nine hundred and twelve years. The case of Lamech seems a remarkable exception. He did not live so long as the average into one hundred and thirty-five years. It would seem to show that it was not God's design that he should live till the flood. We are not informed that this average of life was anything remarkable for that age of the world. In most of these instances there seems to be a remarkable uniformity. All but two of the instances given of the antediluvians, and in fact the only record existing in the world of the age of man before the flood, makes the average of life then, over nine hundred years. What a contrast with the present. Now, the average length of life is not far from thirty years. It is customary to call persons children at the age of five or six years, or even older. In Gen. 21:15, 16, Ishmael is called a child, while it is evident from the circumstances and chronology, he must have been eighteen or twenty years old. The average of human life, then, must have been as high as one hundred and fifty years. By the same rule it would be proper to call one a child at one hundred years of age when the average was upwards of nine hundred years, as it was before the flood. Persons at that age would be morally accountable of course. Therefore their cases would come into the Judgment, and if they died without repentance, they would come up in the second resurrection, and be among the immense throng outside the holy city, and would suffer the pains of the second death, with the sinners upon whom the curse of God then falls. All the circumstances of the case, and the scriptures which speak of the punishment of the wicked at that point of time, clearly prove that antediluvian children of a hundred years old will then and there die. To suppose, as some do, that these deaths occur in the city of God and after the new heavens and earth are created, plainly contradicts, not only other scriptures, but this very one which is supposed to teach it. Verse 19 says, "The voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her; nor the voice of crying." Will people in the city of God care so little for their children that they will not manifest as much affection at their death after being with them a hundred years, as people do now? It would seem they had lost natural affection. But the Revelator, when speaking of this same city, Rev. 21:4, says that there will be no death nor pain, and the Saviour says they shall be "as the angels," neither shall they "die any more." The prophet, in verse 20, plainly speaks of a particular point of time, after which there shall neither be births nor deaths, nor becoming old. "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, or an old man that hath not filled his days." The word "thence," means from this point onward. From this point of time, then, there will never be an infant of days. Of course there never could be another birth then. God's plan of gathering out of all nations "a people for his name," that the earth may be "inhabited," is now accomplished, and from this point onward there never is to be "an old man that hath not filled his days," none who are prematurely old. "They shall not plant, and another eat." How plain, then, that there will be no death among those who are inside the city of God, for, of course, if there was death among them, those who succeeded would eat of what their predecessors had planted. "For as the days of the tree of life [Septuagint] are the days of my people; this is the reason why one shall not plant and another eat. Those who are there will live forever. Oh, blessed thought! In the last verse of the prophecy, the reference to the beasts and their diet and habits, shows very plainly that it is the new creation. The nature of these animals has been changed. It would be a natural impossibility that the lion could be made to eat straw like the bullock before he had been created anew. Thus our view of the events taking place in connection with the punishment of the wicked and the new creation, agrees with Isaiah and Peter, and makes a beautiful harmony; and this very scripture which is relied upon to prove the contrary, can only be harmonized by adopting it as it stands written in King James' version. But99taking Pagnini's version there is not even a seeming contradiction. This is as follows: "There shall not be any more carried out from thence to burial an infant of days, or a youth, or an old man who hath not filled his time; for the man of a hundred years shall be a youth." How beautifully harmonious is truth.