The Prophet Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 65-17 something pretty incredible. In the new creation

he says, the former things, the experiences of this life it seems, the former things,

shall not be remembered or come to mind. And that raises a question about eternity in

the new creation, are we mind-wiped? Two listeners are asking this exact question, Pastor John,

who joins us today remotely over Zoom. Here's David who lives in San Antonio, Texas. Hello,

Pastor John. Praise God for you and for Tony and for your faithfulness to this podcast over

the years. I've searched the archive high and low and cannot find your take on Isaiah 65-17,

which is exactly true that the text has never appeared on the APJ, not until today. So does

this passage effectively say that we will be memory-wiped before we enter the new creation?

And then a listener named Rylin wants to know how Isaiah 65-17 jibes with Revelation 5-12,

which puts Christ sacrifice, the past tense was slain, the memorial of his crucifixion in this world,

front and center for all of eternity. Pastor John, what do you make of Isaiah 65-17? And are my

memories of this life deleted in the new creation? Well, here's the quote. Let's put Isaiah 65-17

right in front of us so that we can be specific. Behold, I create new heavens and new earth,

God is speaking, of course. And the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.

So David is asking, does that mean a complete quote, memory-wip?

Unquote, like assume the hard drive of our former life crashes and starts over as a totally blank slate.

And my response is there are numerous reasons why it does not mean that. And if we think about a few

of them, we will get a clearer picture of what the Christian eternal future will be like. So first,

in the immediately preceding verse, so verse 16 of Isaiah 65, God says of his servants,

he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles

are forgotten and are hidden from our eyes. So verse 17 says,

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