Visions of redemption

Dr Iain Jamieson November 16, 2025 2 1

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Isaiah 65: 17-25 (NIVUK)

17 ‘See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
    nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice for ever
    in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
    and its people a joy.
19 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.

20 ‘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;
the one who dies at a hundred
    will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach a hundred
    will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them;
    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 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 work of their hands.
23 They will not labour in vain,
    nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
    they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer;
    while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
    and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,’
says the Lord.

The thing about punk is that it figured large in my brain growing up as a young teen in Largs – it spoke to that rebelliousness inside which (I’m afraid) abides with me to this day. The message was ‘out with the old – in with the new’. Anarchy – it’s just another word for don’t be tied down by establishments or the old rules. Old in the context of today’s verse taken to mean, well, anything before yesterday. With its counter-cultural and no holds barred vibe it was about propelling into the future. It never came across to me as nihilistic as some might think. The future was to be unshackled, free to be who you really are. I believe this is what God wants and for us to truly be in harmony with him. Embrace the Holy Spirit as a guide – you won’t go down any wrong routes — just occasionally some unexpected ones. But you’ll always end up exactly where you’re meant to be.

No doubt at all this is something for us to consider in our churches, our lives and our faith. All things are made new every morning that you open your eyes. The past is (in physics) a collapsed waveform so why let it control us? We can’t revisit it, we can’t change it, what we can do is learn from it. Being controlled and trapped by it seems immensely silly when you think about it. The factoid is that tomorrow has a 50% chance of being better than today. Guess what, Isaiah teaches us exactly that and he goes further (and it's this that keeps me going through the hard times). You, he says, will be blessed by the Lord and being in Harmony with the creator leads you to where you’re meant to be. ‘Where’ is often not a place but a state of being. It is viewing your world through “Jesus goggles” and seeing the beauty in the very great and the very small and appreciating it all and the miracle it is.

Prayer:

Lord, remind me to let go of the weight of the past.

Remind me that some rules need to be broken to reach a freedom that lasts.

Freedom from pain, freedom from the fear

Remind me this land is not broken

It is waiting and expectant.

Excited for a change that you promise will come.

Help me to be excited about tomorrow

Tomorrow could be the best day of my life.

And, if I live my life with you, it will be.

And the next.

And the next.