Redemption Accomplished and Applied: Kingdom Inauguration and New Creation in Isaiah 65

Redemption Accomplished and Applied: Kingdom Inauguration and New Creation in Isaiah 65–66

For the past 9 months I have been working on a paper that offers a redemptive-historical reading of Isaiah 65:17–25. After a few revisions based on reviewer comments, I am finally done, and I am quite happy with it. It is lengthy (28 pages/18k words), so it not suitable for publication with a journal. It is available on my Academia.edu page, and now I have made it available on my blog.

Below is the abstract, and here is the link to download it.

Abstract

This article offers a redemptive-historical reading of Isaiah 65:17–25, interpreting the promise of a “new heavens and a new earth” not as cosmic re-creation, but as covenantal renewal achieved through judgment and restoration. By tracing how Isaiah consistently intertwines Zion and creation motifs—casting renewed Jerusalem as the locus of divine presence, justice, and Edenic flourishing—this study situates Isaiah 65 within the prophet’s broader theological vision. Rather than presenting a blueprint for material renovation, the passage is best understood as the culmination of recurring prophetic patterns wherein judgment leads to redemptive transformation. The latter half of the paper examines how New Testament writers—particularly Luke, Paul, Hebrews, and 2 Peter—echo this vision, interpreting new creation in terms of Spirit-wrought renewal and inaugurated kingdom fulfillment. These authors do not impose later frameworks onto Isaiah but affirm the covenantal trajectory already embedded in his eschatological hope. The study thus recovers a coherent, canonically grounded reading of new creation as the unfolding of God’s redemptive purposes in history.

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