Single lesson
Isaiah 65: Judgments and Promises
Isaiah 65:1–16; Isaiah 65:17–25
Isaiah 65:1–16 sets rebellion beside promise. Yahweh describes people who refused him, then distinguishes his servants and the future he keeps for those who seek him. This lesson also brings together A New Heaven and a New Earth.
Before you teach
In these verses, Yahweh speaks about his own actions, the people’s provoking behaviour, coming repayment, and mercy toward his servants. The passage moves from accusation to a preserved remnant, then to a strong contrast between those who forsake Yahweh and those who belong to him.
Explain the central teaching of Isaiah 65: Judgments and Promises, using two details from the reading. Isaiah 65:1–16 teaches that Yahweh judges rebellion and preserves blessing for his servants. This passage teaches that Yahweh promises a future he creates with joy, lasting security, and peace, while also including a sober warning that “the sinner being one hundred years old will be accursed.”
Welcome: Isaiah 65: Judgments and Promises
5 minIntroduce “Judgments and Promises”, “A New Heaven and a New Earth” and locate Isaiah 65:1–16; Isaiah 65:17–25. Isaiah 65:1–16 teaches that Yahweh judges rebellion and preserves blessing for his servants. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Isaiah 65:1, Isaiah 65:9, Isaiah 65:16
Read and explain the passage
12 minJudgments and Promises (Isaiah 65:1–16): Yahweh says he was found by people who did not seek him and called out, “See me, see me.” At the same time, he spread out his hands all day to a rebellious people. Their way is “not good” because they follow “their own thoughts” instead of him.
A New Heaven and a New Earth (Isaiah 65:17–25): The passage opens with Yahweh’s declaration, “I create new heavens and a new earth.” The “former things” will not be remembered or come to mind. Then he calls for gladness and rejoicing because what he creates includes Jerusalem as “a delight” and her people as “a joy.”
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “Judgments and Promises”, “A New Heaven and a New Earth”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Isaiah 65:1, Isaiah 65:2, Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 65:18
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “How does Yahweh describe his own initiative before calling the people rebellious?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. This passage teaches that Yahweh promises a future he creates with joy, lasting security, and peace, while also including a sober warning that “the sinner being one hundred years old will be accursed.” Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Isaiah 65:1, Isaiah 65:2, Isaiah 65:3, Isaiah 65:4, Isaiah 65:5, Isaiah 65:25
Make and respond: Vision and message evidence map
12 minWork on “Isaiah 65: Judgments and Promises: Vision and message evidence map”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “Judgments and Promises”, “A New Heaven and a New Earth” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Isaiah 65:1, Isaiah 65:13, Isaiah 65:25
Closing: return to A New Heaven and a New Earth
3 minRevisit Isaiah 65:17–25. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about A New Heaven and a New Earth and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 65:21, Isaiah 65:25
Questions to explore
How does Yahweh describe his own initiative before calling the people rebellious?
Notice both his call, “See me, see me,” and the image of his hands spread out all day.
Isaiah 65:1, Isaiah 65:2
What kinds of things show rebellion in this passage?
Look for both the listed practices and the proud claim, “I am holier than you.”
Isaiah 65:3, Isaiah 65:4, Isaiah 65:5
How does the final verse picture peace without leaving out any image?
Include all the details named in the verse, including the wolf and lamb, the lion eating straw, the serpent’s food, and the statement about no hurt or destruction.
Isaiah 65:25
Make, think or respond
Isaiah 65: Judgments and Promises: Vision and message evidence map
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “What the passage describes”, “What is explained in the text”, “What question remains”.
- Read Isaiah 65:1–16; Isaiah 65:17–25. Use “Judgments and Promises”, “A New Heaven and a New Earth” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Circle an explanation the passage itself provides. Leave unexplained details as questions for further reading.
The finished sheet keeps the details of Isaiah 65: Judgments and Promises connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “Judgments and Promises”, “A New Heaven and a New Earth” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Isaiah 65:1–16; Isaiah 65:17–25. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Isaiah 65:1–16; Isaiah 65:17–25. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Isaiah 65
1 “I am inquired of by those who didn’t ask. I am found by those who didn’t seek me. I said, ‘See me, see me,’ to a nation that was not called by my name.
2 I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;
3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks;
4 who sit among the graves, and spend nights in secret places; who eat pig’s meat, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
5 who say, ‘Stay by yourself, don’t come near to me, for I am holier than you.’ These are smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all day.
6 “Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will repay, yes, I will repay into their bosom
7 your own iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together”, says Yahweh, “who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills. Therefore I will first measure their work into their bosom.”
8 Yahweh says, “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for a blessing is in it:’ so I will do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all.
9 I will bring offspring out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains. My chosen will inherit it, and my servants will dwell there.
10 Sharon will be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me.
11 “But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny;
12 I will destine you to the sword, and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you didn’t answer. When I spoke, you didn’t listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn’t delight.”
13 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry; behold, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, but you will be disappointed.
14 Behold, my servants will sing for joy of heart, but you will cry for sorrow of heart, and will wail for anguish of spirit.
15 You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen, and the Lord Yahweh will kill you. He will call his servants by another name,
16 so that he who blesses himself on the earth will bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears on the earth will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.
17 “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem to be a delight, and her people a joy.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; and the voice of weeping and the voice of crying will be heard in her no more.
20 “No more will there be an infant who only lives a few days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child will die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old will be accursed.
21 They will build houses and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They will not build and another inhabit. They will not plant and another eat; for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain nor give birth for calamity; for they are the offspring of Yahweh’s blessed and their descendants with them.
24 It will happen that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. Dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says Yahweh.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.