And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
Isaiah 65 ends with a promise about a coming age. God will answer His people as they speak, and even before they open their mouths. That raises two questions. When does it take effect? Can anyone taste it sooner?
The Setting: A Renewed Earth
The verse sits in a picture of the coming kingdom. Ordinary life there — houses, vineyards, harvests — is free of loss. One writer puts this promise above all the rest, and finds two gifts in it.
So they will enjoy earthly blessings to the full: houses, vineyards, fruit. Above all, they will be in close touch with Jehovah their God. So much so, that He will not only hear them while they are still speaking to Him. He will answer their desires even before they express them by calling on Him. This shows that a place of remarkable nearness to Him will be theirs.
The "new heavens and a new earth" of verse 17 are not the final eternal state. The details of the passage show why.
When Isaiah speaks of "New heavens and a new earth" (Isa. 65:17), he means the renewed millennial earth. Even a quick reading of the passage proves it. It speaks of Jerusalem in a very distinct way. It speaks of the possibility of death: "The child shall die a hundred years old." It speaks of sin too: "The sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed."
The Reversal
Earlier in the chapter God speaks of calling and answering too. There the roles are reversed, and the words are a charge against the people. God also divides the nation as a whole from the faithful few within it.
"Therefore I will destine you to the sword… because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not hear… So the Lord God says: Behold, My servants (the remnant) shall eat, but you (the nation) shall be hungry."
One chapter holds both: a people who would not answer God, and a people He answers before they speak.
Answers Already in Motion
The promise is future. Yet one writer argues God is already at work on the answer, ahead of the cry that will ask for it.
Isaiah 65:24 is a wonderful verse, and it is being fulfilled under our very eyes. The Jew does not know how God is preparing the answer to their bitter, urgent cry. That cry will come in a future day, when as a nation they will realise their awful sin in refusing their Messiah and murdering the Son of God.
Tasted Ahead of Time
One man knew this long before the age it belongs to. Elijah stood alone among enemies, and his answer came at once.
Elijah proved the truth of Isa. 65:24. Israel must wait for this blessing until the glorious age when "the wolf and the lamb shall feed together." Elijah had it while facing a whole pack of wolves with their teeth still sharp! It is good to have to do with God. His answer to the lonely man's prayer was prompt and decisive.
Commentators also apply the verse to answers that come late. God hears at once, even when the reply takes time to arrive. Daniel prayed for three weeks before the answer reached him.
You may not get the answer at the moment. Yet you can be sure that He hears you every time you speak (Isa. 65:24). For three whole weeks Daniel humbled himself and prayed to God, but the answer came only when the three weeks were finished. Yet God's messenger tells him that from the first day he set his heart to understand and to humble himself before God, God heard his words. God sent out the answer, but the power of the enemy held it back for twenty-one days.
What It Settles About Prayer
The verse gives no method to follow. It shows what God is like toward His own.
Such is God's disposition towards His children. We can and should feel completely sure of it. Prayer is the expression of dependence; it is also the expression of confidence. There must be faith in it, and faith is confidence. When we have God's word that He will hear and answer, who among His people would dare to doubt it? That is why we are urged to "pray without ceasing."
Summary
- Nearness — the promise is about closeness more than speed. God answers His people's desires before they voice them. That shows how near to Him they will stand.
- Nearness restored — earlier in this chapter the nation would not answer when God called. The closing promise reverses that failure in the remnant He spares.
- Nearness dated — the setting is the renewed earth of the coming kingdom. Death and sin are still possible there, so this is not the final eternal state.
- Nearness previewed — Elijah and Daniel show the principle at work ahead of that age. God answered Elijah at once. He heard Daniel on day one, but the answer took twenty-one days to arrive.
- Nearness relied on — the verse shows God's settled attitude to His own. So prayer is an act of dependence and confidence, and it never has to stop.