Isaiah 65:17-23 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. (18) But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, And her people a joy. (19) I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, Nor the voice of crying. (20) "No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. (21) They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. (22) They shall not build, and another inhabit; They shall not plant, and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. (23) They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord, And their offspring with them.”
The above passage of scripture, which again refers to the age to come on God’s new earth, confirms the truth for us that the children of God that will inhabit the new earth, will also multiply in the earth. For in this passage, God speaks about them bringing forth children, and He speaks about their offspring. Some have become a bit confused about this passage, when it mentions the child dying one hundred years old. And so, they have thought that people will still die in the age to come. But we know that there will be no more dying in the age to come, for God has said so (Revelation 21:4). And we know that the last enemy, Death, would have been destroyed in the lake of fire by that time (Revelation 20:14). So, what does the scripture mean then, when it says that the child in the age to come will die one hundred years old? It simply means what Paul said about his own life, i.e. that when he was a child he thought like a child, but when he became a man, he put away childish things (1 Corinthians 13:11). And so, we see another truth from this passage, and that is that whereas children become men at the age of thirteen in the current age, they will only become men at the age of one hundred, in the age to come. The reason for that is because God will slow the growth process down, just as He did when men walked on the earth between the time of Adam and Noah. For during that time, the book of Genesis records for us that man only began to marry long after their one hundredth birthday. And so, there will be no reason for growth to take place quickly in the age to come, because every child born will continue to live for all eternity.
Michael E.B. Maher
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