And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
Isaiah 65:21 describes life in the earth made new when God renews the earth for lasting joy after the blight of sin is removed, not life in the present mortal world still under the curse. The inheritance it promises is a literal, real country and home where God's people find rest after long pilgrimage on peaceful plains beside living streams. There the redeemed themselves do real, active work, building their own houses to live in and planting vineyards to eat their fruit in the Eden life of garden and field. Their possession is permanent and secure, for they do not build for another to inhabit nor plant for another to eat, but long enjoy the work of their hands in peace without violence or sorrow. This comes after the thousand years are ended, when the righteous have been raised at the first resurrection and the wicked destroyed, and the great city comes down from God out of heaven with the saints' houses outside it.
The Promised New Earth
The verse describes life in the earth made new, in the renewed earth and in the Jerusalem God creates as a place of lasting joy. After the blight of sin is removed and the earth appears in beauty, the redeemed will build houses to live in themselves and plant vineyards to eat the fruit themselves. These are wholesome occupations and pleasures like those of Adam and Eve in Eden, a life in garden and field whose work brings happiness, and the work of their hands will not be taken over by another but long enjoyed. This picture belongs to that renewed earth, not to life in the present mortal world still under the curse, where even restored animals living peacefully in their proper places must be understood.
The inheritance of the saved shown here is a literal, real country and home, not only spiritual. After long pilgrimage and wandering, God's people find a home on peaceful plains beside living streams, with hills and mountains of beauty. This is part of their promised inheritance with Christ after the city of God comes to the earth, a lasting home with the joy of its fruits, part of the reward of the righteous that no human language can fully describe. There they do real work and keep its fruit, building their own houses to live in and planting vineyards to eat from.
Their possession is permanent and secure, for they do not build for another to inhabit and do not plant for another to eat, and no other takes their home or harvest. But as God's elect they long enjoy the work of their hands, as the following verse adds. They dwell in peaceable habitations and sure dwellings and quiet resting places, where violence, wasting, destruction and sorrow are gone, where violence is no more heard and walls are called Salvation and gates Praise.
This will take place after the 1000 years are ended. The righteous dead raised by the voice of the Son of God at the first resurrection are the ones who will do this building and planting, after the wicked dead have been raised and destroyed by devouring fire. After Jesus leads the saints down to a great mountain that parts to form a mighty plain, the great city with twelve foundations and twelve gates comes down from God out of heaven to settle there. On the renewed earth after the great city settles, the saints will build and live in real glorious houses outside the city and outside the New Jerusalem.
Those houses are most glorious and most beautiful, bright as silver and having the appearance of silver, held up and supported by four pillars set with pearls. Inside each is a golden shelf where the saints lay their glittering crowns, entering to lay them off and to inhabit the houses. By the houses are fields where the saints go out to work the earth and to do something with the earth, but the work is not toilsome labor as on this earth now. It is glorious and joyful and glorified, unlike toil here, done with a glorious light shining about their heads while continually shouting and offering praises to God, with Jesus at their head.
Life of the Redeemed
On the new earth the redeemed will do real, active work and keep its fruit, building houses to live in themselves and planting vineyards to eat the fruit themselves. That life will be the Eden life of Adam and Eve, a life in garden and field with wholesome occupations and pleasures that bring happiness. No human language can fully describe this part of the reward of the righteous, yet on peaceful plains beside living streams the people so long pilgrims and wanderers shall find a home and do this real work. Life there will not be inactive, for people will build and plant and will enjoy the results of their work.
The houses they build are real and most glorious, bright as silver with the appearance of silver. Each is held up by four pillars set with pearls, and inside each is a golden shelf where the saints lay their glittering crowns. By the houses are fields where the saints go out to work the earth, going into the houses to inhabit them and going out into the fields by the houses to do something with the earth. That work is not toilsome labor as on this earth now, but is glorious and joyful, done with a glorious light shining about their heads while continually shouting and offering praises to God, with Jesus at their head.
Their possession is permanent and secure, for they do not build for another to inhabit and do not plant for another to eat. No other takes their home or harvest, but as God's elect they long enjoy the work of their hands, as the following verse adds. The inheritance is real and permanent, a literal country and home where after long pilgrimage and wandering God's people find a home on peaceful plains beside living streams, with hills and mountains of beauty. There they dwell in peaceable habitations and sure dwellings and quiet resting places where violence, wasting, destruction and sorrow are gone, where walls are called Salvation and gates Praise, in a renewed community marked by joy, peace and long life.
The verse belongs to the prophetic description of the kingdom of Christ, whose government is like no earthly government because it is a representation of the characters of those who compose it. His court is one where holy love presides and whose offices and appointments are graced by charity. There His servants bring pity and lovingkindness, His own attributes, into all their work and find their happiness and satisfaction in reflecting the love and tender compassion of the divine nature on all with whom they associate.
Call to Prepare Now
The chapters from Isaiah 60 to 65 are to be studied, heeded, and accepted with thorough consecration to God by leaders in the cause and by those connected with institutions. Isaiah 60 and Isaiah 61 are to be understood, while Isaiah 62 through Isaiah 65 speak in a most decided manner to reprove neglected duties and to warn the people what is truth. When these words are taken and all complaining and every evil work are stopped, the Lord manifests His power in the conviction and conversion of souls, so that many now unwarned hear the reasons of faith. Isaiah 65 speaks in this decided way to those in high positions carrying great responsibilities, calling them to take its words, stop complaining and evil working, put away the evil of their works, come nigh, repent and be converted, because their ways are not accepted. When its words are taken in this way, a reformation goes through the congregation of Israel, and then the Lord appears for the conviction and conversion of souls.
The promise that they shall build houses and inhabit them and plant vineyards and eat their fruit belongs to the church's duty to seek after lost people and bring them into the fold. It stands as a rebuke to failure in that work and as a call to care for the lost sheep, including George Lay. That lasting home and the joy of its fruits will be possessed as an inheritance with Christ after the city of God comes to the earth in the purified earth made new. The prospect of that inheritance urges people now to repent, receive Christ's mercy, and obey God's law so they may share in it.
The picture of building and dwelling and of planting and enjoying the fruit shows that life in the earth made new will remain connected with the land. Agricultural work is therefore useful preparation for the Lord's farm in the earth made new. Practical education that trains children and youth in cultivating the soil prepares them for that future life.
Isaiah 65:21 describes life in the earth made new when God renews the earth for lasting joy after the blight of sin is removed, not life in the present mortal world still under the curse. The inheritance it promises is a literal, real country and home where God's people find rest after long pilgrimage on peaceful plains beside living streams. There the redeemed themselves do real, active work, building their own houses to live in and planting vineyards to eat their fruit in the Eden life of garden and field. Their possession is permanent and secure, for they do not build for another to inhabit nor plant for another to eat, but long enjoy the work of their hands in peace without violence or sorrow. This comes after the thousand years are ended, when the righteous have been raised at the first resurrection and the wicked destroyed, and the great city comes down from God out of heaven with the saints' houses outside it.
The Promised New Earth
The verse describes life in the earth made new, in the renewed earth and in the Jerusalem God creates as a place of lasting joy. After the blight of sin is removed and the earth appears in beauty, the redeemed will build houses to live in themselves and plant vineyards to eat the fruit themselves. These are wholesome occupations and pleasures like those of Adam and Eve in Eden, a life in garden and field whose work brings happiness, and the work of their hands will not be taken over by another but long enjoyed. This picture belongs to that renewed earth, not to life in the present mortal world still under the curse, where even restored animals living peacefully in their proper places must be understood.
The inheritance of the saved shown here is a literal, real country and home, not only spiritual. After long pilgrimage and wandering, God's people find a home on peaceful plains beside living streams, with hills and mountains of beauty. This is part of their promised inheritance with Christ after the city of God comes to the earth, a lasting home with the joy of its fruits, part of the reward of the righteous that no human language can fully describe. There they do real work and keep its fruit, building their own houses to live in and planting vineyards to eat from.
Their possession is permanent and secure, for they do not build for another to inhabit and do not plant for another to eat, and no other takes their home or harvest. But as God's elect they long enjoy the work of their hands, as the following verse adds. They dwell in peaceable habitations and sure dwellings and quiet resting places, where violence, wasting, destruction and sorrow are gone, where violence is no more heard and walls are called Salvation and gates Praise.
This will take place after the 1000 years are ended. The righteous dead raised by the voice of the Son of God at the first resurrection are the ones who will do this building and planting, after the wicked dead have been raised and destroyed by devouring fire. After Jesus leads the saints down to a great mountain that parts to form a mighty plain, the great city with twelve foundations and twelve gates comes down from God out of heaven to settle there. On the renewed earth after the great city settles, the saints will build and live in real glorious houses outside the city and outside the New Jerusalem.
Those houses are most glorious and most beautiful, bright as silver and having the appearance of silver, held up and supported by four pillars set with pearls. Inside each is a golden shelf where the saints lay their glittering crowns, entering to lay them off and to inhabit the houses. By the houses are fields where the saints go out to work the earth and to do something with the earth, but the work is not toilsome labor as on this earth now. It is glorious and joyful and glorified, unlike toil here, done with a glorious light shining about their heads while continually shouting and offering praises to God, with Jesus at their head.
Life of the Redeemed
On the new earth the redeemed will do real, active work and keep its fruit, building houses to live in themselves and planting vineyards to eat the fruit themselves. That life will be the Eden life of Adam and Eve, a life in garden and field with wholesome occupations and pleasures that bring happiness. No human language can fully describe this part of the reward of the righteous, yet on peaceful plains beside living streams the people so long pilgrims and wanderers shall find a home and do this real work. Life there will not be inactive, for people will build and plant and will enjoy the results of their work.
The houses they build are real and most glorious, bright as silver with the appearance of silver. Each is held up by four pillars set with pearls, and inside each is a golden shelf where the saints lay their glittering crowns. By the houses are fields where the saints go out to work the earth, going into the houses to inhabit them and going out into the fields by the houses to do something with the earth. That work is not toilsome labor as on this earth now, but is glorious and joyful, done with a glorious light shining about their heads while continually shouting and offering praises to God, with Jesus at their head.
Their possession is permanent and secure, for they do not build for another to inhabit and do not plant for another to eat. No other takes their home or harvest, but as God's elect they long enjoy the work of their hands, as the following verse adds. The inheritance is real and permanent, a literal country and home where after long pilgrimage and wandering God's people find a home on peaceful plains beside living streams, with hills and mountains of beauty. There they dwell in peaceable habitations and sure dwellings and quiet resting places where violence, wasting, destruction and sorrow are gone, where walls are called Salvation and gates Praise, in a renewed community marked by joy, peace and long life.
The verse belongs to the prophetic description of the kingdom of Christ, whose government is like no earthly government because it is a representation of the characters of those who compose it. His court is one where holy love presides and whose offices and appointments are graced by charity. There His servants bring pity and lovingkindness, His own attributes, into all their work and find their happiness and satisfaction in reflecting the love and tender compassion of the divine nature on all with whom they associate.
Call to Prepare Now
The chapters from Isaiah 60 to 65 are to be studied, heeded, and accepted with thorough consecration to God by leaders in the cause and by those connected with institutions. Isaiah 60 and Isaiah 61 are to be understood, while Isaiah 62 through Isaiah 65 speak in a most decided manner to reprove neglected duties and to warn the people what is truth. When these words are taken and all complaining and every evil work are stopped, the Lord manifests His power in the conviction and conversion of souls, so that many now unwarned hear the reasons of faith. Isaiah 65 speaks in this decided way to those in high positions carrying great responsibilities, calling them to take its words, stop complaining and evil working, put away the evil of their works, come nigh, repent and be converted, because their ways are not accepted. When its words are taken in this way, a reformation goes through the congregation of Israel, and then the Lord appears for the conviction and conversion of souls.
The promise that they shall build houses and inhabit them and plant vineyards and eat their fruit belongs to the church's duty to seek after lost people and bring them into the fold. It stands as a rebuke to failure in that work and as a call to care for the lost sheep, including George Lay. That lasting home and the joy of its fruits will be possessed as an inheritance with Christ after the city of God comes to the earth in the purified earth made new. The prospect of that inheritance urges people now to repent, receive Christ's mercy, and obey God's law so they may share in it.
The picture of building and dwelling and of planting and enjoying the fruit shows that life in the earth made new will remain connected with the land. Agricultural work is therefore useful preparation for the Lord's farm in the earth made new. Practical education that trains children and youth in cultivating the soil prepares them for that future life.