Isaic Imagination

"All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations."-Isaiah 65:2.

"Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years,
he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth;
he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
No longer will they build houses and others live in them;
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.
They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune,
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
they and their descendants with them.
Before they call, I will answer;
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
but dust will be the serpent's food.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain.'
says the Lord."
-Isaiah 65:17-25

I really love the end of this book and its messages of hope and holy justice. There is such poetry and promise in God's assurances, and it's the beauty of the prospects not simply the eloquent phrasing that evokes such a sense of joy. A sense of calm that trivializes all the passing things in life and magnifies the significance of eternity to its proper infinity. Suddenly the stresses of daily life melt temporarily away and I feel the warm caress of a Father who makes life truly worth living. Gone are the insecurities, the fears, the uncertainties. In their stead is a peace that transcends the understanding of a mere soul. A mere, insignificant, unworthy soul somehow graced with the freedom and promise of a glorious forever. Mmm. Thank you, Jesus.