With all that we see in our world today, we can grow tired and weary of the heaven and earth we experience. The thought of new heavens and a new earth seems enticing. In fact, I wonder whether what we see in our world is an effort for some to try to create a new existence using their own powers. Sometimes human desires come at the expense of persons around them and may require military intervention.

Today is Veterans Day in the United States. While Isaiah prophesies that the former things will not be remembered nor will they come to mind, those living in the United States do remember. We remember those from among our families and neighbors and towns and cities who have felt compelled to do what they could to defend our nation and its allies. We remember them and are thankful.

Many Americans want to believe that what our veterans spent their energy and time doing was in support of Isaiah’s vision of joy and delight manifest in the here and now—a place where God’s creation would be honored and nurtured; a place where crying, remorse, and regret would be no more; a place where unexpected and untimely death would not inflict its sting.

American veterans, as brave and courageous as they have been, could not usher in the paradise Isaiah tells us will come. That can only be left to the Divine, to the God that reigns over all creation, who understands the kind of joy and delight that will exist in God’s heaven and earth. As part of God’s created, we have much to anticipate!