Isaiah — Chapter 65

Quaesierunt me qui ante non interrogabant, invenerunt qui non quaerebant me

I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me — Paul (Rom 10:20) applies this to the Gentiles who received the Gospel though they had not sought God as Israel had. Lapide: the Gentile mission is the supreme expression of divine grace — not reward for seeking but pure gift to those who were not looking. Applied to individual conversion: the most dramatic conversions (Paul himself, Augustine) are of those who were not seeking God when God found them. The paradox of grace: God's initiative always precedes human response.

Ecce enim ego creo caelos novos et terram novam

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. Applied by Peter (2 Pet 3:13) and John (Apoc 21:1) to the eschatological renewal of creation. Lapide: the 'new creation' is not the annihilation of the present cosmos but its transformation — as a body is glorified in the resurrection (same body, transfigured), so the cosmos will be the same physical world radically renewed and perfected, freed from all corruption (Rom 8:21: 'the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption'). The 'new Jerusalem' of v.18 = the Church in its eschatological fullness = the heavenly city of Apoc 21.

Lupus et agnus pascentur simul

The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox — the return of Edenic peace in the new creation. Echoing ch.11:6-9, this verse confirms the eschatological scope of that earlier vision. Lapide: the predatory animals represent the violent and sinful human character transformed by grace — in the new creation, every form of aggression, exploitation, and violence will be definitively abolished. 'They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain' = the universal peace of the heavenly Jerusalem, where no creature can harm another because all are in perfect harmony with God.