Isa. 65-66 are to considered as a continuation of a reality not realized because of the failure of Israel to heed her prophets following her restoration from captivity. The descriptions pointed to the universal changes IF Israel had fulfilled her divine mission. A spiritual renewal throughout earth could have been effected to embrace the birth of our Savior. This did not happen. To try to apply these verses to a future New Heaven and Earth results in severe dilemmas as you have noted. A person could try to twist a metaphorical sense out of it otherwise but I cannot. Isaiah ends on this sad lamentation of what could have been.
Peace be to you.
What a strangely bi-polar point of view. Are you saying that if Israel had heeded Isaiah’s prophecy that Christ would have arrived to an idealistic world, sort of like the Postmillennialists propose? And, what do you make of Paul applying Isaiah 65 directly to his ministry?
Isa 65:1 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name.
Isa 65:2 I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices;
Isa 65:3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks;
Isa 65:4 who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;
Isa 65:5 who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.
Isa 65:6 Behold, it is written before me: “I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their lap