“But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.”
My Notes
What Does Isaiah 65:18 Mean?
God commands eternal gladness — and names the reason: "I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy." God creates the city as rejoicing. He creates the people as joy. The gladness isn't a mood. It's a creation. God makes the joy the same way He made the world: by divine creative act.
The word "create" (bara — the same word used in Genesis 1:1 for creating the heavens and the earth) means the new Jerusalem isn't renovated or repaired. It's created. Brand new. The same creative power that made the universe from nothing makes the rejoicing city from desolation. Creation-level power applied to restoration.
"For ever" (ad) means the rejoicing isn't temporary. The joy God creates in Jerusalem is permanent. The gladness isn't a season. It's a state. The new creation that produces joy doesn't cycle back to grief. The forever is structural.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Does 'I create Jerusalem a rejoicing' (new creation, not renovation) change your expectations for what God is building?
- 2.How does the Genesis 1 word (bara) elevate this restoration from repair to new creation?
- 3.Can you taste the new creation in moments of genuine joy — and does that taste make you hungrier for the full thing?
- 4.Does 'forever' (the joy doesn't expire) address the fear that good seasons always end?
Devotional
Be glad forever. Because I'm creating something. Jerusalem — a rejoicing. Her people — a joy. New creation. Permanent.
God doesn't restore the old Jerusalem. He creates. Bara. The Genesis 1 word. The power that made something from nothing is now making joy from desolation. The creation isn't repair. It's replacement. The old Jerusalem (ruins, exile, grief) is superseded by a Jerusalem that IS rejoicing. Not contains rejoicing. IS rejoicing. The city's identity is joy.
"Her people a joy" — the people themselves are created as joy. Not people who experience joy occasionally. People who ARE joy. The identity is the creation. What God makes, He makes completely. The people aren't improved into happiness. They're created as joy — the way light was created as light and water was created as water. Joy is their substance.
"For ever" — the joy doesn't expire. The creation doesn't degrade. The Genesis-level creative power that makes this Jerusalem produces something permanent. The rejoicing isn't a revival that fades. It's a new creation that lasts. Forever means: the joy never cycles back to grief. The celebration never reverts to mourning. What God creates in the new Jerusalem is as permanent as the word that creates it.
This is what you were made for: the city of rejoicing. The community of joy. Not the broken version you're living in now. The created version that God is making. And the making is already underway — in every moment of genuine joy you experience, you're tasting the new creation.
Be glad. Forever. Because what God is creating is worth forever's gladness.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
But be you glad, and rejoice for ever in that which I create,.... This may refer either to persons converted, both at…
But be ye glad and rejoice - (See the notes at Isa 51:11). Forever - It is not to be momentary happiness - like a bright…
Rejoice for ever in that which I create "Exult in the age to come which I create" - So in Isa 9:5 אבי עד abi ad, πατηρ…
If these promises were in part fulfilled when the Jews, after their return out of captivity, were settled in peace in…
I create Jerusalem a rejoicing &c. i.e. either an object in which one may rejoice (Isa 65:65, ch. Isa 60:15) or an abode…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture