We are over a quarter of the way through the twenty-first century, and let's be honest, in some ways it’s been a bit disappointing. Despite the predictions of Jules Verne, Walt Disney, and every World’s Fair held in the last hundred years, we’re not quite living in the future we imagined. No moon colonies. Not yet. No underwater cities. No flying cars. And I believe we were all promised jetpacks by now. As the great philosopher and Hall of Fame New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra once put it, “When it comes to the future, one word sums it up: You never know.”
More to the point, as we consider how to look at the future of our species and our planet, Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, wrote that “any sufficiently advanced technology is, from our own vantage point in time, indistinguishable from magic.” This seems true. For instance, if we could go back in time a hundred years with our iPhones and the artificial intelligence we now have at our fingertips, we’d be feted as wizards. We could say to any expert in almost any field, ask me anything, and I’ll respond with a good answer.
By the same token, if someone traveled back to us from a hundred years in the future, we would almost certainly be awed, if not a little bit fearful of their nearly unbelievable capabilities and capacities. In the realms of health and longevity, travel and climate adaptation, education and scientific discovery, to name just a few areas, we would surely be astonished. Undoubtedly, this traveler from a hundred years hence would seem like a completely magical personage to us.
Many see the prophetic text of Isaiah as three books in one. It’s a collection of predictions, it appears, of three different authors with three different themes written in three different eras, all speaking from a particular vantage point in time about another time off in the future.
What’s often called First Isaiah, chapters 1-39, is set largely in the 8th century BC. It focuses on the idea of a coming judgment, with the Prophet trying (unsuccessfully) to call God’s wayward people back into relationship using a series of dire warnings about the future.
Second Isaiah, chapters 40-55, seems to be addressed to the Jewish exiles living in Babylon around the 6th century BC. This section, conversely, takes as its theme the idea of comfort for God’s people. It proclaims God’s forgiveness, offering the consolation of an imminent return to their unique covenant with God in the land of their ancestors.
Finally, Third Isaiah, chapters 56-66, narrates this return to Jerusalem, then looks forward, far forward. It’s infused with powerful imagery of not just a durable hope, but an eternal one. Third Isaiah in general, and chapter 65 in particular, lays out a vital prophecy about the days ahead, one which includes not only the Israelites but all of humankind. It looks ahead to the advent of a cosmic new creation, one to which everyone—the forgotten, the foreigner, the outcast—are all invited.
Third, Isaiah urges us to grasp the idea of a God-envisioned tomorrow that’s not only entirely different from the past we’ve experienced but one which, from our present vantage point, might seem fully indistinguishable from pure magic.
See, 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.
This image of a new heaven, a new earth, all this gladness, all this rejoicing, a total end to weeping, crying, and sorrow might seem fantastical, just an instance of magical or wishful thinking, but then recall Arthur C. Clarke’s observation about the future: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is, from our own vantage point in time, indistinguishable from magic.”
If Third Isaiah’s prophecies seem fantastical to us from where we stand, that’s to be expected. Our imaginations just aren’t big enough to conjure it. However, the fact that it’s nearly impossible for us to imagine is wholly beside the point. We can’t even imagine what humans can bring about in a hundred years, much less what a future fully in God’s holy and omnipotent hands will be like.
Nevertheless, this is it, Isaiah is saying. It’s your future, whether you can imagine it or not.
God, guide us into the very future You’ve set out...New heavens. New earth. Amen.
