But why is it going backwards? Because you say it is? That's my point, would it really be going backwards for Christ to spiritually reign on the earth? This is the opposite of when Jesus says, "You see me and you believe, blessed are those who do not see, and yet believe." So if our Lord and Savior comes and is King on the earth you will say, "Jesus, I really miss the good old days when I didn't see you, when it was just a spiritual kingdom, but now that it's physical and spiritual, it just feels less to me." This is my problem with your argument. You think I'm making a future kingdom less than what this present kingdom is. And I think you're making a mockery of what a future physical and spiritual kingdom could be.
17“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
18“But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem
for rejoicing
And her people
for gladness.
19“I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;
And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.
20“No longer will there be in it an infant
who lives but a few days,
Or an old man who does not live out his days;
For the youth will die at the age of one hundred
And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred
Will be
thought accursed.
21“They will build houses and inhabit
them;
They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22“They will not build and another inhabit,
They will not plant and another eat;
For as the lifetime of a tree,
so will be the days of My people,
And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.
23“They will not labor in vain,
Or bear
children for calamity;
For they are the offspring of those blessed by the L
ORD,
And their descendants with them.
24“It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.
25“The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the L
ORD.
This sure seems like a physical, earthly kingdom.
Yes, it says new heavens and new earth as a prophetic culmination typical in viewing the future, but while the ultimate picture is of everything made knew, Isaiah also pictures the type of that fulfillment in long life, economic prosperity, social stability, biological peacefulness and spiritual blessing that is a beautiful picture of a physical, earthly kingdom.