V.17.
For behold, I create
new heavens and a new earth.
Former things shall no more be remembered
nor shall they be called to mind.
NLT.  "Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth - so wonderful that no one will even think about the old one any more

Isaiah has just been warning the Israelites that God is looking to people apart from the Israelites (to gentiles) who are searching for him and whose minds and hearts are open to him.  For those who belong to him - both from the Jews and Gentiles - God will  create a new earth - so much better than the present one that no one will even remember the old.  We will all be enjoying the new so much.

When God transforms any part of our lives, we should not look back and live in the past.  We can look forward to life with him in charge.  That's exciting!

Quest Study Bible note p 1033.  It's possible Isaiah was thinking of the end of this present heaven and earth, with God beginning all over again.  But it's much more likely that he was using the word create to mean transform.  If so, he was saying that when God brings salvation to his people everything will be completely transformed.

V 18, 19
Rejoice and be filled with delight,
you boundless realms which I create;
for I create Jerusalem to be a delight
and her people a joy;
I will take delight in Jerusalem and rejoice in my people;
weeping and cries for help
shall never be heard in her.
NLT.  Be glad; rejoice for ever in my creation!  And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.  Her people will be a source of joy.  I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people.  And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more.

Here, God is telling those who believe in him - and who trust in him - to be joyful and to enjoy what he has created for us.  He delights in it - so should we.  If God thinks his creation and his people are a source of joy to him, who are we to take an opposite view?

V 20 - 23.
There no child shall ever again die an infant,
no old man fail to live out his life;
every boy shall live his hundred years before he dies,
whoever falls short of a hundred shall be despised.
Men shall build houses and live to inhabit them,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit;
they shall not build for others to inhabit
nor plant for others to eat.
My people shall live the long life of a tree,
and my chosen shall enjoy the fruit of their labour.
They shall not toil in vain or raise children for misfortune.
For they are the offspring of the blessed of the Lord
and their issue after them;

NLT.  No longer will babies die when only a few days old.  No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life.  No longer will people be considered old at one hunderd!  Only sinners will die that young!  In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards. It will not be like the past, when invaders took the houses and confiscated the vineyards.  For my people will live as long as trees and will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.  They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune.  For they are people blessed by the Lord, and their children, too, will be blessed.

This new world that God has planned will be an ideal world - the kind we all dream of.  We will all live to ripe old ages, enjoying the benefits of the things we have enjoyed building and growing.    I note that in this wonderful world of God's dreams, he is not going to hand things to us on a golden platter!  We will still work for our living, but it will be work we love doing. It will be without the frustrations we so often encounter in this world and we will be able to enjoy the end result and feel great satisfaction in helping God provide for us. God will never allow us to get bored!

V 24.
before they call to me, I will answer,
and while they are still speaking I will listen.
NLT. I will answer them before they even call to me.  While they are still talking to me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!

Here is the best promise of all: the promise of a perfect relationship with God himself.  So often now, we pray and pray and wonder if God is listening, because we don't see the answers to our prayers as quickly as we would like - or the answers aren't what we think they should be and we don't recognise them.  But in God's new world, the answers will come even before we ask!  This can only come about when we are so closely in tune with God that our prayers will be totally in accordance with his will that he can answer them immediately.  What  a wonderful prospect.

V 25.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together
and the lion shall eat straw like cattle
and the food of the snake shall be dust.
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.

This is a similar picture to the one Isaiah paints in Isaiah 11: 6 - 9. It is a picture of perfect peace in God's creation - not even animals preying on each other, but everyone, human and animal alike, living in complete harmony with each other and with God.
God's 'dream world' is one that we often dream about too - not surprising when we're made in God's image and likeness!  But this wonderful perfect world will not be brought about by the efforts of human beings, hard as we try to work for peace and justice for all.  It can only come into being through the transforming work of God himself - another gift from him to his creation.

New Bible Commentary, p 669.  The wicked will no longer flourish, not the strong prey upon the weak, not the tempter escape his sentence (compare this verse with Genesis 3: 14 -15: