What is the new heaven and new earth?
At the end of the story, God does not abandon creation: He renews it. The new heaven and new earth are the redeemed creation where God dwells with His people, sin and death are gone, every tear is wiped away, and the dwelling of God is with man forever.
This question arose from studying What is the resurrection of the body?.
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What the Scripture says
God's plan is renewal, not abandonment
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. We look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. God does not scrap His creation; He restores it.
I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
God Himself will dwell with His people
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple, and the glory of God gives it light. The presence of God is the joy of the new creation.
I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. The city has no need for the sun, neither of the moon, to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one.
Every tear is wiped away
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things have passed away. The voice of weeping will be heard in it no more. The last enemy, death, is no more.
He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”
I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and there shall be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying.
The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
It is the home we were made for
They will build houses and inhabit them, and they will not labor in vain. The kings of the earth bring their glory into it. Creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay. This is our hope: not escape from creation, but the healing of creation.
They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor give birth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of Yahweh, and their offspring with them.
The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there), and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter.
that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
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Verses to meditate on
I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”
But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. The city has no need for the sun, neither of the moon, to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
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