Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Our Hope
The new creation is not an endless rest with nothing to do; it is the healing and renewal of all things. Scripture shows God dwelling with His people, every tear wiped away, the curse gone, and His people serving Him, reigning with Him, seeing His face, and living in a world of righteousness, abundance, and joy without end.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/what-will-we-do-in-the-new-creation · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Revelation 21:1-7
As you read: A new heaven and a new earth, God's dwelling with people, no more death, mourning, or pain, and the One on the throne making all things new.
1I 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.
2I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3I 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.
4He 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.”
5He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.”
6He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
7He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.
Revelation 22:1-7
As you read: No more curse, the servants of God serving Him and seeing His face, reigning forever, with the river and tree of life.
1He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
2in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
3There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants serve him.
4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
5There will be no night, and they need no lamp light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever.
6He said to me, “These words are faithful and true. The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to show to his bondservants the things which must happen soon.”
7“Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
Isaiah 65:17-25
As you read: The prophets' picture: no more weeping, people building and planting, and a renewed world where nothing hurts or destroys.
17“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
18But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
19I 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.
20“There shall be no more there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.
21They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
22They 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.
23They 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.
24It shall happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says Yahweh.
Revelation 7:9-17
As you read: A great multitude before the throne, serving God day and night, with every tear wiped from their eyes.
9After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
10They cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11All the angels were standing around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before his throne, and worshiped God,
12saying, “Amen! Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might, be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13One of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are arrayed in white robes, who are they, and from where did they come?”
14I told him, “My lord, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb’s blood.
15Therefore they are before the throne of God, they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them.
16They will never be hungry, neither thirsty any more; neither will the sun beat on them, nor any heat;
17for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shepherds them, and leads them to springs of waters of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
1 Corinthians 2:6-10
As you read: Eyes have not seen and ears have not heard what God has prepared for those who love Him: the new creation outruns our imagination.
6We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown; yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing.
7But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory,
8which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory.
9But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.”
10But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
John saw 'a new heaven and a new earth,' and the prophets pictured the same: God says, 'I create new heavens and a new earth,' and Peter says we look for a new heavens and earth 'in which righteousness dwells.' The earth is not to be discarded; it is to be renewed, the fallen world made whole and set free at last.
“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.”Revelation 21:1
““For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.”Isaiah 65:17
“But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”2 Peter 3:13
The center of the new creation is not a place but a presence: '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.' And He will wipe away every tear; there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain, for the first things have passed away. The One on the throne declares, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' The God we have loved from afar will at last be with us face to face.
“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.”Revelation 21:3
“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.””Revelation 21:4
“He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.””Revelation 21:5
The new creation is full of purpose, not of empty time. In the new Jerusalem there is 'no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants serve him,' and John says, 'They will reign forever and ever.' The great multitude is 'before the throne of God, they serve him day and night in his temple.' Our created purpose, to know God and serve Him, finds its full, unbroken expression there.
“There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants serve him.”Revelation 22:3
“There will be no night, and they need no lamp light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever.”Revelation 22:5
“Therefore they are before the throne of God, they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them.”Revelation 7:15
Scripture's highest promise is intimacy, not scenery: 'They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.' Where we now 'see in a mirror, dimly,' then we shall see face to face and know even as we are known. To see God, to be with Him, to bear His name: this is the deep rest and the deep joy that no earthly happiness can satisfy, and that the new creation will give fully.
“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”Revelation 22:4
“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.”1 Corinthians 13:12
“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.”Revelation 21:3
The prophets paint a renewed world of real life: people build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit, and 'the wolf and the lamb shall feed together... They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.' The river of the water of life flows from the throne, and the tree of life bears its fruit for the healing of the nations. Scripture says that no eye has seen and no ear has heard what God has prepared for those who love Him. We will work without exhaustion, delight without decay, and live in a world where nothing is broken anymore.
“They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.”Isaiah 65:21
“The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says Yahweh.”Isaiah 65:25
“He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”Revelation 22:1-2
“But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.””1 Corinthians 2:9