Will There Really Be A New Heaven and A New Earth?
Good Morning Friends,
As a child, I had a telescope and enjoyed looking at the planets and stars and even another galaxy. Then one day I met Howard Menzel the head of the Harvard observatory who introduced me to comets. Dr. Menzel was one of the first astrophysicists in the United States. He was smart and as a child made his own ham radio before you could buy kits. As an adult, he designed the Space Needle in Seattle and the Atomic clock using the oscillation of Cesium atom to more precisely calculate time. Dr. Menzel was one of the first people to work on the discovery of black holes and let me tell you, the mathematics in that calculation is way out of my league. Star Chart Books are named in his honor. In my conversations with him I began to realize just how much I did not know about the universe or would ever likely know, but in some strange way that unknown quality made it more fascinating. Interestingly that kind of allure in the mysteries of life compelled Dr. Menzel to seek an understanding about the universe’s beginnings and endings using mathematics but also his intuition because so much is still mystery. Today there are lots of theories about how things began and how they will end too. Undoubtedly you have heard about the big bang. There are also theories of the big crush, the big rip, the big bounce and the big branes, and other ideas out there too seeking data to support them. Interestingly the Bible has stories about beginnings and endings, and though it is not a science text, its truths may guide us in the ways things work in more than emotional and spiritual ways. It is undoubtedly best to begin there, addressing the problems of evil and suffering when trying to tackle of solution to the problem of creation. Then, with that evidence we might be better able to answer today’s question. Will There Really Be A New Heaven and A New Earth?
Scripture: Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 (NRSV)
But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish;
2 Peter 3:8-14 (NRSV)
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Mark 1:1-8 (NRSV)
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given; they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow servants and of their brothers and sisters, who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed.
Revelation 6:9-11 (NRSV)
Message: Now people may scoff at the idea of heaven and earth being made new but Peter reminds us that in the last days we can expect just that and worse. From the very beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, God knew the end game. God undoubtedly knows about how the universe was created and will be made new in ways we cannot comprehend yet. Surely God knows about everything in the universe from black holes to the number of hairs on our head. And God must know how the universe retains knowledge for our abundant life now, as well as for the benefit of the new creation. Friends, when Jesus Christ was raised from the dead that was the first instalment on the new heaven and the new earth. For sure it is a bit of a mystery that Christ came down from heaven and so too the rest of heaven will come down upon His return. Great that the resurrection of Jesus was, the Word coming down in the incarnation of God into human history was only the beginning of the transformation. Jesus is the first installment of heaven coming down to earth to heal the material world. For if we do not have a right relationship with God our relationship with nature and others will be broken. When our relationship with God is right all things become right…even our thinking. So, we must change the way we think about this idea of a new heaven and a new earth as not just a hope but a reality. Friends, if we do not take this idea of a new heaven and a new earth literally it is not really hope. For the early Christian Church, this hope helped Christians to endure being thrown to lions and put in slavery. The hope is that all the evil, which is undoubtedly less substantial than we face, will pass and even our deaths will be transformed. So, perhaps astrophysicists may want to consider the claims of the Bible about beginnings and endings and work back from the assumption that they are true. Isaiah, Peter and John in Revelation all speak about today’s question with a strong vision of it happening. Maybe this is more than the newness, it is the belief that God is interested in transformation on a grand scale and Jesus’s birth, life, death and resurrection was only the beginning.
Pray we believe in the resurrection, for more may be resting on that belief than we can realize. Pray therefore that we have a living hope. Pray we believe in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus as the beginning of what is to come. Pray for the City of God to come down. Pray for the water of life to bring new life. Pray we realize that the longings of our soul matter. Pray for the time when we live in the loving presence of God. Pray we understand the nature and need for the hope in something new that leads us and comforts us. Pray we understand the power of a life-giving hope that helps to shape the future. Pray we realize that what we believe about our future makes a difference in the way we live now. Pray the cosmic thirst and hopelessness of Christ on the cross absorb all our suffering as well as sin. Pray we believe in a future that helps us to live in a way that makes us right with God. Pray our belief in the resurrection of Jesus fashions a hope of a future for our souls that cannot be crushed or ripped apart. Pray we believe in a time when all things are made new and put right. Pray for spiritual and moral newness. Pray we realize that the best is yet to come. Pray we have more than an abstract reality of the future in our head but a hope that transforms. Pray we have sympathetic resonance with the divine. Pray we never ever give up hope.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 