John Calvin 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, lo, I will create new heavens and a new earth. By these metaphors, he promises a remarkable change of affairs; as if God had said that he has both the inclination and the power not only to restore his Church, but to restore it in such a manner that it will appear to gain new life and to dwell in a new world. These are exaggerated modes of expression; but the greatness of such a blessing, which was to be manifested at the coming of Christ, could not be described in any other way. Nor does he mean only the first coming, but the whole reign, which must be extended as far as to the last coming, as we have already said in explaining other passages.

Thus the world is, so to speak, renewed by Christ; and thus also the Apostle (Hebrews 2:5) calls it “a new age,” and undoubtedly alludes to this statement of the Prophet. Yet the Prophet speaks of the restoration of the Church after the return from Babylon. This is undoubtedly true, but that restoration is imperfect if it is not extended as far as to Christ. Even now we are in the progress and accomplishment of it, and those things will not be fulfilled until the last resurrection, which has been prescribed as our limit.

The former things shall not be remembered. Some refer these words to heaven and earth, as if he had said that from now on they will have no celebrity and no name. But I choose rather to refer them to the former times, for he means that the joy at being restored will be so great that they will no longer remember their miseries. Or perhaps it will be thought preferable to view them as relating to benefits which, though they were worthy of being recorded, lost their name when God’s amazing grace shone forth. In this sense the Prophet said elsewhere, Remember ye not the former things (Isaiah 43:18). Not that God wished the first deliverance to be set aside or blotted out of the hearts of believers, but because by comparison the one brought a kind of forgetfulness over the other, just as the sun, when it rises, deprives the stars of their brightness.

Let us remember that these things take place in us insofar as we are renewed. But we are only partly renewed, and therefore we do not yet see a new heaven and a new earth. We need not wonder, therefore, that we continue to mourn and weep, since we have not entirely laid aside the old man, but many remains are still left.

It is with us also that the renovation ought to begin, because we hold the first rank, and it is through our sin that the creatures groan, and are subject to vanity, as Paul shows (Romans 8:20). But when we are perfectly renewed, heaven and earth will also be fully renewed, and will regain their former state.

And therefore it ought to be inferred, as we have frequently remarked, that the Prophet has in his view the whole reign of Christ, down to its final close, which is also called “the day of renovation and restoration” (Acts 3:21).