TheNew Earth is an expression used in theBook of Isaiah (65:17 &66:22),2 Peter (3:13), and theBook of Revelation (21:1) in theBible to describe the final state ofredeemed humanity. It is one of the central doctrines ofChristian eschatology and is referred to in theNicene Creed as theworld to come.
The twenty-first chapter of theBook of Revelation introduces the final state of perfection where, according to one commentator, "cosmic time has been turned into eternity."[1] In symbolic and visual language, God allows John to see the glory and beauty of the inheritance of His people. The first thing the reader notices about this vision is that it includes a "new heavens and a new earth" (21:1). To understand what the Bible teaches about eternity, the reader of the Apocalypse must understand the New Testament doctrine of the "New Heavens and the New Earth."[2]
The basic difference withthe promises of theOld Testament is that in Revelation they also have anontological value (Rev. 21:1;4: "Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth,' for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea...'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away") and no longer justgnosiological (Isaiah 65:17: "See, I will create/new heavens and a new earth./The former things will not be remembered,/nor will they come to mind").[3][4]
But, in accordance withhis promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home (2 Peter 3:13).
InKoine Greek, there were two words that are translated as "new" in the English Bible;neos andkainos. One Greek resource states:
As distinct from néos, "new in time," kainós means "new in nature" (with an implication of "better"). Both words suggest "unfamiliar," "unexpected," "wonderful," and the distinction fades with time.[5]
Thatkainos should not be taken as something totally new can be seen in a passage like the following:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV)
Here theApostle Paul useskainos in the expression "new creation." Paul did not intend to convey the idea that this is a completely different individual. There is continuity between the old person and the new person to such an extent that it remains the same person, but renovated. The person is the same, but the quality of that person has been transformed.
In the same way, the biblical concept of the New Earth is one of renovation and restoration. Either on this current earth or on a rebuilt new planet. This conclusion is supported by Peter's words in his public speech in the temple at Jerusalem.
19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.[6]
This earth, however, will be either cleansed or destroyed by a very hot temperature of heat or a great fire, for the purpose of restoration as expressed in the following passage:
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? (2 Peter 3:10-12 KJV)
TheRoman Catholic Church links New Earth withNew Creation (theology), seeing them both signified in Baptism.[7] Baptismal grace - in particular, thefruit of the Holy Spirit - is a foretaste ofeternal life inParadise,[8] which in turn is a foretaste of deified life in the New Earth onJudgment Day.[9]
On Judgment Day, Heaven will unite with the Universe via theSecond Coming, whereby the whole Universe and all angels and saints will be deified, just as Jesus' humanity was deified via his resurrection.[10] The Universe is unconditionally predestined fordeification,[11] while angels' and persons' respective predestinations are both conditioned on moral behavior.[12]
Despite being resurrected unto immortality along with the saints, the damned - along withSatan and the rest of the demons - will forever be prisoners inhell.[13] By rejecting God, they reject eternal deified life with God in the New Earth.[14]
The deified Universe, and all creatures therein, is collectively called the "New Jerusalem" or "Heavenly Jerusalem" because it is the definitive house and reign of God.[15]
SaintThomas Aquinas argues that the new heavens and the new earth will includematerial components as well as a spiritual ones.[16]But inSumma Contra Gentiles, he teaches that the New Earth will lack everything unnecessary: eating anddefecation, food and cooking, animals and plants, etc.[17]
This goodness theme is advanced most definitively through the promise of a renewal of all creation, a hope present in OT prophetic literature (Isaiah 65:17–25) but portrayed most strikingly through Revelation's vision of a "new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1). There the divine king of creation promises to renew all of reality: "See, I am making all things new" (Revelation 21:5).
By alluding to the new Creation prophecy of Isaiah John emphasizes the qualitatively new state of affairs that will exist at God's new creative act. In addition to the passing of the former heaven and earth, John also asserts that the sea was no more in 21:1c.
[...] St. Thomas thinks that the fundamental material bodies that he callselements, for example, instances of earth, fire, and water, will exists in the new heavens and the new earth, and this for two reasons.
