New Heavens and a New Earth

Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

Isaiah 65:17

We try to hold on to this decaying earth as long as we can, but the hope of the world is the new life in Christ, not the old life of the world. The world left to its own desires is disintegrating, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17).

This verse speaks to three things: the nature of God, the ultimate victory, and how His love affects us today.

The nature of God is redemptive. He is One who heals the sick, who makes whole the broken, who resurrects the dead. When we see the fallenness of the world, when we have problems in this life, we are often discouraged, but we have no reason to lose hope because God is greater than all and He is active in our lives. The nature of God is not to abandon those who are hurting, even those who cause their own sickness and problems, rather His nature is to save. Yet in that saving He acts to create a better environment and a better condition of the heart of those who will live there.

The ultimate victory of God will come one day. We are spoiled in our thinking today, that every problem should be resolved quickly and cleanly. Our television shows and movies bring make-believe resolutions to make-believe problems within the hour, or two at the most. But the Lord of the universe works on a longer time frame than that. We may fear that the end will ever come, or we may imagine that God has forgotten His promises and has disappeared all together from the scene of human history. But God will in His way and in His time fulfill His promises to bring in the fullest expression of His kingdom. Repeatedly these promises are given in Scripture, “I making everything new!” (Rev. 21:5) will one day be inaugurated in real time.

The old things will not be remembered, the pain of the past, the failure and agony of sin, the sense of doom and defeat, will all be erased. He will wipe all tears out of our eyes, tears of remembrance, of sadness, of sorrow, of pain, of failure, of rejection, of abandonment, of judgment — all of these will be gone and we will live in the bright reality of His love and life.

God is making things new today in the lives of believers. The Kingdom is not yet inaugurated in its fullness, but already there are benefits to us. He renews us inwardly by His Spirit. Those who follow Christ follow the God of the future and our eyes turn away from the world and its desires and look upon Christ and His coming. Keep looking at Jesus and your life will always have a sense of newness about it.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace.