Are The New Heaven And New Earth Already Here? Part One

The apostle John, one of Jesus’ twelve earthly disciples, was given a vision from Jesus after Jesus ascended into heaven.

This vision is recorded in the Book of Revelation.

The vision contained the soon to take place events (Revelation 1:1-2) that would happen in the land of Israel with the destruction of the old physical, earthly temple of Jerusalem, which was the old testament of law, and the construction of the new spiritual, heavenly temple, which is the new testament of grace.

During Jesus’ time on earth, he spoke to his twelve disciples about the destruction of the temple (Matthew 24-25; Mark 13;Luke 19:41-44; Luke 21).

In his heavenly appearance to John, Jesus explained how the old physical temple would be destroyed and how the new new spiritual temple would be created.

This is recorded in Revelation.

This new spiritual temple would be the spiritual temple of grace, the new spiritual city of Jerusalem…the new city of grace (Revelation 21).

The new spiritual temple and new spiritual city, where God dwells by his spirit, would be the heart of the new heaven and new earth.

Let’s read the vision John was shown (Revelation 21:1-5).

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” [Isaiah 65:17-19] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ [Isaiah 25:8] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

These verses contain several references to the Jewish Scriptures, which means that we cannot correctly interpret these verses unless we understand the references to the Jewish Scriptures contained in these verses.

Let’s examine these references.

Reference #1: New Heaven and New Earth

Isaiah 65:17 (see also Revelation 21:1)

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

During the days of the Mosaic Law, (the old testament of law), Isaiah was a prophet of Yahweh to Israel from about 700 BC to 681 BC.

Yahweh spoke directly to the people of Israel/Judah through Isaiah concerning their rebellion to the law.

A major prophecy Yahweh spoke through Isaiah was the creation of a new heaven and earth, where the former things (of law) will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

In the context of Isaiah, the former things are the crying, mourning, and deaths arising from the judgments upon Israel for breaking the law of Moses (Isaiah 25:8; 65:19).

We see these judgments and the painful consequences of these judgments throughout the Jewish Scriptures.

In the new heaven and new earth, these judgments are not administered because the old testament of law has been replaced by the new testament of grace (We will examine this throughout this series of blogs).

Consequently, there is no mourning, crying, or death associated with the judgments of the law because the old testament of law has been replaced by the new testament of grace.

The law in the new heaven and earth is no more.

According to Jeremiah 31:31-34, the new testament of grace would replace the old testament of law (this occurred when Jesus established the new testament of grace in his blood - see Matthew 26:28; Luke 22:20)..

Isaiah spoke of the new testament to come.

The new testament would be the new way of relating to God that is by grace in contrast to the old testament which is by law.

In Isaiah 49:8, God spoke through Isaiah about the new testament to come.

This is what the Lord says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant [testament]for the people…

After teaching on the new testament of grace (2 Corinthians 3:1-5:21), Paul quoted Isaiah 49:8, when he wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:2:

As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive [hear about the the new testament of grace] God’s grace in vain [reject the new testament of grace and continue in the old testament of law]. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” [Isaiah 49:8]. I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation ]salvation through the new testament of grace that Paul explained in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21][.

In 2 Corinthians 3:1-6:2, Paul communicated that the new testament of grace has come and the old testament of law is gone (2 Corinthians 5:17).

In the new testament of grace, God remembers sins no more.

Why?

The author of Hebrews wrote that the old testament of law was replaced by the new testament of grace, and, as a result, God remembered the sins of Israel no more.

Then he adds: “Their sins []Israel under the law of Moses] and lawless acts I will remember no more.” [Jeremiah 31:34] And where these have been forgiven [through the one time death of Jesus], sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary [the Jewish people could stop sacrificing animals for the forgiveness of sins].

According to the writer of Hebrews, the reason God would remember their sins no more is because Jesus was the final, eternal sacrifice for their sins who established the eternal new testament in his blood.

Through faith in Jesus, Jewish people would receive the forgiveness of sins and rest from the works of the law (Hebrews 3-4).

Paul also taught about new testament of grace in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21.

He wrote,

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old [testament] has passed away. Behold, the new [testament] has come!

All this is from God, who reconciled [removed the barrier of sins] us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world [Jews and Gentiles] to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

There is so much about the new testament of grace in these verses.

But one important spiritual truth to see, among many, is the old testament of law is gone and the new testament of grace has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

In the new testament of grace, God has reconciled the world to himself through the death of Jesus.

This means the sin barrier existing between God and people has been removed in Jesus because our sins were nailed to Jesus on the cross.

Therefore, God is not counting our sins against us, as he did the people of Israel during the days of the old testament of law.

Jesus, because of his love for us all, died for us.

All of our sins were counted against Jesus.

Therefore, none are left to be counted against us.

Through faith in Jesus, people receive forgiveness (Acts 26:15-18) and are reconciled to God.

The forgiveness of sins is now received by faith (Acts 26:18).

This is the new testament of grace.

Through Jeremiah the prophet, Yahweh declared he would create a new testament that would be different than the old testament (Jeremiah 31:31-34; 2 Corinthians 3:1-6:2; Hebrews 8-10).

NOTE: By new testament, the Bible is not referring to 27 books of the Bible. And by old testament, the Bible is not referring to 39 books. Rather, the old testament of law is how God related to the people of Israel before the death of Jesus, and the new testament of grace is how God relates to everyone in the world after the death of Jesus. This is essential to understand if one is to understand Revelation 21-22 as well as the Book of Revelation. I have written extensively on this in my book Toxic Discipleship. (available on Amazon)

The new testament would be a testament where God would no longer remember the sins of the Jewish people relating to their rebellion to the law.

In addition, he would not count the sins of the Gentiles against them, because all sins of all people for all time have been counted against Jesus (1 John 2:1-2).

Let’s return to Isaiah 65:17 as we seek to understand if the new heaven and new earth have arrived.

Isaiah 65:17

”See, I will create new heavens [Revelation 21:1 uses heaven not heavens] and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

The former things is the judgment of the rebellion of the Jewish people when they were under the law of Moses that resulted in death, mourning, and crying.

So, what does this tell us about the new heaven and earth?

The new heaven and earth consists of God not counting the sins of the Jewish people against them for their rebellion to the law, nor does God count the sins of the Gentiles against them.

In the new heavens and earth, there are no more law-based judgments resulting in mourning, crying, and death.

With this understanding, let’s move to Part Two of: Are The New Heaven And New Earth Already Here? CLICK HERE to read Part Two