Investigation: New Heavens and the Disturbing Ending
Death swallowed up, death at a hundred, worship and corpses: Isaiah's pictures of the end beside Daniel, Mark, 2 Peter and Revelation
"He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces" (25:8). "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust" (26:19).
"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth… There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old" (65:17, 20).
"And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched" (66:23–24).
| Text | What is renewed | Death | Time and setting assumed | Judgment imagery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isaiah 24–27 | Zion, after the earth is emptied; a feast for all peoples (25:6) | "Swallowed up" (25:8); the dead rise (26:19) | "In that day"; a cosmic judgment centered on Jerusalem | Earth broken (24:19–20); the host of heaven punished (24:21); Leviathan slain (27:1) |
| Isaiah 35 | The desert blooms; a highway for the redeemed | Not mentioned | The return to Zion | "Your God will come with vengeance" (35:4) |
| Isaiah 65:17–25 | "New heavens and a new earth"; Jerusalem a joy; houses, vineyards, peace among animals | Present: a hundred-year-old who dies is young; sinners are cursed | An earthly Jerusalem with births, work and long life | Rebels destined for the sword (65:12) |
| Isaiah 66:22–24 | New heavens and earth that "remain"; seed and name endure | The rebels are corpses | Worship every new moon and sabbath in Jerusalem | Worm and fire that do not end; an abhorrence to all flesh |
| Daniel 12:2–3 (2nd century BC) | The wise shine like stars | Many who sleep in the dust awake | After a time of distress; resurrection to judgment | "Everlasting contempt" (dir'on, Isaiah 66:24's word) |
| Mark 9:43–48 (1st century AD) | "Life," "the kingdom of God" | Gehenna as the alternative to life | A warning to the hearers now | "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched" |
| 2 Peter 3:10–13 | "New heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" | Not discussed | After the heavens pass away and the elements melt with fire | The day of the Lord as fire |
| Revelation 21:1–5 | "A new heaven and a new earth"; the new Jerusalem comes down; God dwells with people | "There shall be no more death" | After the first heaven and earth pass away; "no more sea" | The lake of fire (20:14–15; 21:8) |
Not one description
The differences are real. Isaiah 25:8 abolishes death; 65:20 keeps it, at a hundred years; Revelation 21:4 abolishes it again. Isaiah 65 renews "heavens and earth" and then describes Jerusalem and its farms; 2 Peter 3 says the old heavens and elements will be dissolved by fire first; Revelation 21 says the first heaven and earth "passed away" and the sea is gone. Isaiah 66:24 shows dead bodies; Daniel 12:2 raises the dead to contempt; Mark 9 speaks of Gehenna; Revelation of a lake of fire. These texts come from different centuries and books, with different assumptions about time, the body and the world. They may be related as stages in a developing hope, or as distinct images that later readers combined. Either way, the site does not present them as identical descriptions with identical temporal assumptions.
Development within Isaiah
Many scholars think the "Isaiah Apocalypse" (24–27) and the end of the book (65–66) are among the latest parts of Isaiah, and that 66:22–24 was written to frame the book with chapter 1: both speak of "rebels" (posh'im, 1:2, 28; 66:24) and of fire that "none shall quench" (1:31; 66:24). Others read the whole as one composition. Either way, the book's final form ends with a picture of judgment and worship together, not with the new creation alone.
Harmonizations, and their costs
Readers who take all these texts as Scripture have harmonized them: 65:20 as a millennial kingdom before the final state (a common reading in Christian premillennialism); "death at a hundred" as poetry for life without untimely death; 66:24 as the final state of the wicked. Each harmonization chooses one text as the key to the others. The site sets the texts side by side so that readers can see what each says before choosing a framework.
The Isaiah texts were written for communities facing devastation (24–27), exile (35) and a difficult restoration (65–66). They hope for Zion's renewal and the defeat of oppressors, with images that move from the cosmic to the local.
Daniel 12:2 rereads 66:24 as resurrection to judgment; 1 Enoch and Jubilees speak of a new creation; the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 10:1) holds that "all Israel have a share in the world to come"; rabbinic sources distinguish the days of the messiah (where 65:20 may apply) from the world to come (where 25:8 applies) (reported). Synagogue reading repeats 66:23 after 66:24.
Mark 9:48 reports Jesus using 66:24 of Gehenna. Paul quotes 25:8 ("Death is swallowed up in victory," 1 Corinthians 15:54). Revelation 21 combines 25:8, 65:17–19 and 60:19–20. 2 Peter 3:13 waits for new heavens and earth "according to his promise," probably Isaiah 65:17; 66:22.
Christian eschatology has built doctrines of resurrection, millennium, new creation and hell partly from these texts, in many forms. Historians can describe how the images developed from Isaiah to Daniel to the New Testament; they cannot settle which later framework, if any, is the correct reading of Isaiah.
What the evidence shows
- Isaiah 25:8 says death will be swallowed up; 65:20 says death at a hundred will be early death.
- Revelation 21:4 says there will be no more death.
- Isaiah 65–66 and Revelation 21 describe the same new creation in the same terms.
- Daniel 12:2 rereads Isaiah 66:24. The shared rare word dera'on.
- Isaiah 66:22–24 was written to frame the book with chapter 1.
- Mark 9:48 quotes Isaiah 66:24.
Continue the journey
Journey of a PassageIsaiah 25:6–8: "He will swallow up death in victory""He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces." The Hebrew billa ha-mavet la-netsach means "he has swallowed death forever"; the Great Isaiah Scroll and 1QIsa-b agree.More from this lesson
Echoes Across Civilizations
Optional: how other ancient peoples told similar stories. Open one to compare, then come back to the lesson.
CreationBabylon · Egypt · India · K'iche' Maya
How did other ancient peoples tell the beginning of the world?
- Babylon: Enuma Elish Shared literary world
- Egypt: The Memphite Theology (Shabaka Stone) Resemblance only
- India: Rig Veda 10.129, the Hymn of Creation (Nāsadīya Sūkta) Resemblance only
- K'iche' Maya: Popol Vuh Resemblance only
Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- "Death is swallowed up in victory."
- Awaking to life and contempt.
- The new heaven and earth; the lake of fire.
- Elements melting; new heavens.