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Question

Good Morning,

I have asked myself the meaning of these verses from Isaiah 65,17-21 that I only partly understand, let me explain: I understand the first part will happen in the new world that the Lord will prepare for us, this new world where there will be no more suffering, but I wonder why Isaiah then goes on and says “one who dies at a hundred years shall be considered a youth and one who falls short of a hundred shall be thought accursed. They shall build houses and live in them, they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.” 

Doesn’t it  seem as if  in this other world we will go back to death and human suffering?Basically, they seem to me like two different topics.


Answer

Dearest,

  1. In these verses Isaiah describes the peace in the future life where God will create new heavens and a new land . Here is the text : “ See I am creating new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered nor come to mind. Instead shout for joy and be glad forever in what I am creating. Indeed, I am creating Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people. No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there, or the sound of crying; no longer shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, nor anyone who does not live a full lifetime; one who dies at a hundred years shall be considered a youth and one who falls short of a hundred shall be thought accursed. They shall build houses and live in them, they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.” (Is 65, 17-21).
  1. This paragraph is parallel to what Isaiah had already announced : “ Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat. The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them” (Is 11,6).
  1. Some ( e.g. Lactantius, Institutiones Divinae “ The Divine Institutes”, 7, 24) tried to interpret literally what the prophet says. According to St. Jerome these people, though, “are in a deep slumber” (Commentary on Isaiah 11,6).
  1. Always according to St. Jerome, the messianic peace will be established initially with the coming of Jesus Christ: in those days the barbaric and savage nations, having deposed their natural ferocity , they will become mellow and collaborate to the unity of the faith and the Church, together with the lambs, that is with the meek and humble Christians. So it was for  St. Paul before his conversion “ still breathing threats and murders” against Christians.But, after his conversion, he became meek and lived with the lambs: St. Peter and St. John.
  2. Similarly, the great variety of moods and natures that human beings display, for which some resemble lions for their arrogance and others resemble lambs for their meekness, will not prevent the fact that they will all form one heart and one soul: because the grace will fight in each and everyone of them the bad inclinations and God’s spirit will make them feel as part of one another. Isaiah, therefore, meant that the grace brought by Christ will bring unity and harmony among the individuals and the nations, and consequently prosperity and peace.
  1. The messianic peace will fully happen, instead, in a complete manner in the future life and it’s described like a return to the happiness of the Garden of Eden. We speak, therefore,  about new heavens and new earth where joy and the splendour of things will be so great that we will forget about the past “the former things shall not be remembered nor come to mind”.
  1. Even longevity, aforementioned, is not intended in a material way, but allegorically: it will be an extremely happy and joyful life in which God HImself will be our longevity, our eternity. Moses had already promised it “ I call heaven and earth today to witness against you. I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, obeying His voice, and holding fast to Him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the Lord swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them” (Dt. 30,19-20).
  1. Same goes for the building of the houses and the planting of the vineyards, it does not mean a return to the previous labors, but the fulfillment of the promise of prosperity. Moses told his people: “ Be careful, therefore, to do as the Lord, your God, has commanded you, not turning aside to the right or to the left, but following exactly, the way that the Lord, your God, commanded you that you may live and prosper, and may have long life in the land which you are to possess”. (Dt. 5, 32-33).
  1. As you can see, there is also for us, as St. Jerome said, a risk of falling into a “deep slumber” if we wanted to see the realization of God’s promise in a material expectation. In the new creation, we will forever live in peace and perfect communion. And we will be laborious without any effort, as is currently the case  for the inhabitants of Heaven. 

With the hope that all this will happen to you as well, I assure you of my prayers and I bless you.

Father Angelo