Isaiah 65:20

20 There will never be a baby from that city who lives only a few days. And there will never be an older person who doesn't have a long life. A person who lives a hundred years will be called young, and a person who dies before he is a hundred will be thought of as a sinner.

Isaiah 65:20 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 65:20

There shall be no more thence an infant of days
That is, there shall no more be carried out from thence, from Jerusalem, or any other place where the church of God is, to the grave, in order to be interred, an infant that has lived but a few days, a very common thing now; but, in the latter day, such instances will be rare, or rather there will be none at all; every child born will live to the age of man, and not be cut off by any premature death, either by any natural disease, or by famine, or sword, or any other calamity, which will now have no place: nor an old man that hath not filled his days;
who, though he may in some sense, or in comparison of others, be said to be old, yet has not arrived to the full term of man's life, threescore years and ten, or more; for it seems, by what follows, as if the term of human life will be lengthened in the latter day, and reach in common to a hundred years; so that as long life is always reckoned a temporal happiness, among the rest that shall be enjoyed, this will be one in the latter day; and which is to be understood not of the Millennium state, in which there will be no death, ( Revelation 21:4 ) , which yet will be in this, as the following words show; but of the state preceding that, even the spiritual reign of Christ: for the child shall die an hundred years old;
not that that shall be reckoned a child that shall die at a hundred years of age F8, the life of man being now, in these days of the Messiah, as long as they were before the flood, as the Jewish interpreters imagine; but the child that is now born, or he that is now a child, shall live to the age of a hundred years, and not die before: but lest this outward happiness should be trusted to, and a man should imagine that therefore he is in a happy state for eternity, being blessed with such a long life, it follows, "but" or though the sinner, being an hundred years old; shall be accursed;
for though this shall be common in this state to good men and bad men, to live a hundred years, yet their death will not be alike; the good man will be blessed, and enter into a happy state of joy and peace; but the wicked man, though he lives as long as the other in this world, shall be accursed at death, and to all eternity; see ( Ecclesiastes 8:12 Ecclesiastes 8:13 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F8 Vid. Gloss. in T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 91. 2.

Isaiah 65:20 In-Context

18 My people will be happy forever because of the things I will make. I will make a Jerusalem that is full of joy, and I will make her people a delight.
19 Then I will rejoice over Jerusalem and be delighted with my people. There will never again be heard in that city the sounds of crying and sadness.
20 There will never be a baby from that city who lives only a few days. And there will never be an older person who doesn't have a long life. A person who lives a hundred years will be called young, and a person who dies before he is a hundred will be thought of as a sinner.
21 In that city those who build houses will live there. Those who plant vineyards will get to eat their grapes.
22 No more will one person build a house and someone else live there. One person will not plant a garden and someone else eat its fruit. My people will live a long time, as trees live long. My chosen people will live there and enjoy the things they make.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.