New Heavens and New Earth
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:10-13 NKJV)
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.” (Revelation 21:1 NKJV)
New Things that Make Life Exciting
Recently, a young lady at the front desk at the gym I have been using, asked me if I had seen her new car. A couple of days before she had asked my opinion on several makes and models of cars and I had given her my “well-informed” opinion. She had apparently taken my advice seriously, and had bought a car just like I had bought 7 years ago. She was excited about the car. It was new, and it had all the bells and whistles. What I didn’t tell her was that the car she had bought was now a used car. But I suspect apart from an accident, that car will do her good for at least ten years.
Now she was excited about a new car and I was excited for her. But by faith I look forward to something much more exciting and that is a new heaven and a new earth. There is some difficulty in knowing if these last two chapters in the Book of Revelation refer to the righteous thousand year reign of Christ or to the eternal state. Our passage, however, must refer to the eternal state since there is no more sea. Our present natural order of things cannot survive without the sea and it appears to me according to Zecharian 9:9-10, that the 1000 year reign of Christ is over a world that has seas.
For those of us who are saved, we are going to have ages upon ages to enjoy the presence of the Lord and to rejoice in our salvation. We get to experience New Jerusalem and (at least as I understand it) a new heaven and a new earth after that. The Day of the Lord (which usually has to do with judgments) will culminate in the Day of God which I believe to be the eternal day.
God likes to Make Things New
In the New Testament, God tells us of a new birth, of a new thing called the church that He has created out of Jews and Gentiles, and of a new covenant. In this life new things get old, in the spiritual realm old things are made new.
Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 1:9 that there is nothing new under the sun (that is on this earth which is under the sun). I am not quite sure how his statement squares with electricity, airplanes, space travel, missiles and with the internet and social media. I have often wondered just what people accomplished with their long lives and obvious intelligence before the flood. Could they have harnessed nuclear energy and space travel back then? Maybe there was nothing new under the sun for Solomon to discover, but maybe that would not be true now. However, mankind has made great technological advances and some of them are used for good like the vaccine for polio, and like the technological advances in food production. But many of these technological advances are used by evil people for evil purposes. This will all culminate during the time the Lord calls the “great tribulation.” See Matthew 24:21 NKJV.
The new heavens and the new earth are going to be marked by righteousness. I think that means that people will be doing that which is right. That sure doesn’t mark our day. The apostle Paul says, “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Timothy 3:13 NKJV).”
The New World Order
People talk about a new world order and for most of us who read the Bible, that term is scary and ominous because during the tribulation period a man will arise who will establish a new world order. He will establish a new religion (he will be worshiped as a god), he will establish a new political system (he will be a dictator and will have a Jewish 2nd lieutenant) and he will establish a new economy (buying and selling will require his mark of identification). He is described in Revelation 13. It sort of sounds like we are headed in that direction in the world today.
I am glad that I have been delivered from the day of God’s wrath. See John 3:36 and 1 Thessalonians 1:10. I have believed God and am one of those who have been born again. No matter what happens on this old earth, I get to look forward to a new heaven and new earth where righteousness dwells. The lies will be over, the wars will be over, disease will be a thing of the past, there will be no famine and people will not be murdering each other.
I don’t think the new heavens and the new earth will ever get old. I hope all of my readers are delivered from the wrath to come by faith in the sacrifice of the Lord on the cross on our behalf. I would love to have you find me and introduce yourself in that new heaven and new earth.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of January 28, 2024
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