Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 65:17

"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." — Isaiah 65:17 (ASV)

For behold - The idea in this verse is that there will be a state of glory as great as if a new heaven and a new earth were made.

I create new heavens - Calamity and punishment in the Bible are often represented by the heavens growing dark and being rolled up like a scroll, or passing away (see the notes at Isaiah 13:10; Isaiah 34:4). On the contrary, prosperity, happiness, and the divine favor are represented by the clearing up of a cloudy sky, by the restoration of the serene and pure light of the sun, or, as here, by the creation of new heavens (compare the notes at Isaiah 51:16). The figure of great transformations in material things is often employed in the Scriptures, and especially in Isaiah, to denote great spiritual changes (Isaiah 51:3; Isaiah 35:1–2, Isaiah 35:7; Isaiah 60:13, Isaiah 60:17). In the New Testament, the phrase used here is employed to denote the future state of the righteous, but whether on earth, after it has been purified by fire, or in heaven, has been a subject of great difference of opinion (see 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1).

The passage before us is highly poetical, and we are not required to understand it literally.

So far as the language is concerned, there is no more reason to understand this literally than there is to understand the numerous declarations affirming that the brute creation will undergo a change in its very nature on the introduction of the gospel (Isaiah 11:0).

All that the language necessarily implies is that there would be changes in the condition of God's people as great as if the heavens, overcast with clouds and subject to storms, were recreated to become always mild and serene, or as if the earth, so barren in many places, were to become universally fertile and beautiful.

The immediate reference here is, doubtless, to the land of Palestine and the important changes that would be produced there on the return of the exiles.

However, it cannot be doubted that, under this imagery, it also alluded to far more important changes and blessings in future times under the Messiah—changes as great as if a barren and sterile world were to become universally beautiful and fertile.

For the former shall not be remembered - That is, what will be created will be so superior in beauty as to eclipse the former entirely. The sense is that the future condition of God's people would be as superior to what it was in ancient times as a newly created earth and heaven would be superior in beauty to this one—where the heavens are so often obscured by clouds, and where the earth is so extensively desolate or barren.

Nor come into mind - Margin, as Hebrew, ‘Upon the heart.’ That is, it will not be thought of; it will be wholly forgotten. On this verse, compare the notes at Isaiah 51:16.