ENVIRONMENT | DAY 3
If you have ever been on a plane that has had a lengthy taxi time from the runway,
the pilot will remind you to, “Please stay seated with your seat buckles fastened
until we arrive at our final destination.” Of course, if you have a connecting flight to
catch, the crew will often say something like, “We wish you a safe and pleasant
journey to your final destination!”
Have you ever stopped to consider what our final destination is – according to the
Bible?
Most of us would answer that question, “Heaven.” And yet, Christians who keep on
talking about going to heaven - as if that were their last great hope – seem to have
missed the whole point of the way the Bible ends.
As we will see later in this study, the wonderful picture of Revelation 21-22 says
nothing about us going off to heaven or to anywhere else at all. Rather, it shows us
God coming down to earth, transforming the whole of creation into the new heaven
and new earth.[1] Take a moment to reflect.
Read Isaiah 65:17-25.
1. Up to this point in your life, have you spent much time thinking about life in
the new heavens and new earth? Why do you think this is the case?
2. How many times does this verse mention God being “with” us? What do you
think is significant about this?
The word Immanuel means “God with us,” and that is how the Bible ends. God
coming to be with us, not us going off to be with God. Revelation 21:3 says,
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "’Now the dwelling of God is with
men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with
them and be their God.’”
You cannot drive a car looking only in the rearview mirror. You have to look ahead
toward your destination. Likewise, the Bible teaches us to value creation, not only
because of where it came from (or rather, because of who it came from) but also
because of its ultimate destiny. One of the richest places in the Old Testament to
understand this is in the book of Isaiah. Much of what the New Testament says is
simply an explanation of Isaiah’s vision in light of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 11:1-9 and Isaiah 65 describe the just rule of Messiah will issue in harmony
and peace within the created order. This vision portrays God’s new creation as a
place that will be joyful, free from grief and tears, life-fulfilling, free from the curses
of frustrated labor, and environmentally safe! It’s a vision that puts most New Age
dreams in the dust!
“It is not just a matter of looking back to the initial creation but of looking forward to
the new creation.”[2]
Remember that we have tried to look at all of the topics in this series through the
matrix of Creation/Fall/Redemption. After God originally declared all of His creation
to be good, the choices of Adam and Eve became extremely toxic because they were
placed in the middle of a complex web of interaction and relationships with the
world God had made. When they sinned, their actions threw everything off balance
Our relationships to God and to each other, yes. But also weather, health, trees, oceans
– everything!
All of creation began to splinter and fracture. The whole thing began to crumble.
When one part fell out of harmony, everything was (and is) affected. As Romans
8:22 says, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of
childbirth right up to the present time.”
Will creation always be like this? Fractured? Chaotic?
The passages we have read are the foundation for our future hope that looks
forward to a new, redeemed creation (Romans 8:19-21) in which righteousness will
dwell (2 Peter 3:10-13) because God Himself will dwell there with His people
(Revelation 21:1-4).
3. Read Romans 8:19-22. Most commentators take “sons of God” in verse 19 to
means believers who have the rights of a child of God. What do you think
creation is waiting so eagerly for?
4. Read v. 22. Why do you think the Apostle Paul used the imagery of
childbirth as a comparison to what will happen with creation?
5. Read Revelation 21:1, 2 Peter 3:10-13, and Matthew 24:25. What do these
passages tell us about the future of the heavens and earth in which we
presently are living?
So, now we need to look forward. The role of a prophet in the Bible like Isaiah or
John, who wrote The Revelation, was not just to predict the future but to encourage
change and transformation in the world. The prophets had a way of talking about
this metamorphic movement of God’s. They spoke of a renewal for the earth,
restoring the world, and reconciling creation.
Look at what Jesus says about the end of the world in Matthew 19:28,
"I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his
glorious throne…”
Jesus uses an important word here: renewal.
Renewal / riˈ n(y)o͞oəl /
1. An instance of resuming an activity or state after an interruption
2. The replacing or repair of something that is worn out, run-down, or broken
He describes His return as a rebirth, a regeneration, a renewal.
This is a way of telling us clearly that although we are heading for a new reality, it is
not a fundamentally different reality. We are not leaving the created order for some
other “spiritual” order. Rather, we will be leaving the old sinful order of things and
will find ourselves in a renewed, restored, and redeemed creation. To repeat, the
Bible does not promise us that someday we can leave the earth and “go to heaven”
instead. Rather, it promises us a whole new creation that includes the earth.
Take a moment to reflect on Revelation 21:4-5. Read the verses slowly. Read them
one more time.
6. Write down what this makes you want to do. Is this something that you
could set aside time each day this week to do? Why?
Notice what Peter says in Act 3:21, “He must remain in heaven until the time comes
for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.”
Peter talks about God’s plan to restore.
To restore is to make things how they once were. To renovate, to rebuild, to put
back together the parts that are broken.
The thrust of the New Testament is that we are called to live now in the light of the
future, by the standards of the kingdom of God, which has already invaded this
world through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. This produces a familiar
tension that all Christians experience between the standards of the kingdom of God
and the realities of the present age. But it is a tension we cannot and should not try
to escape.
God intends to bring about change in the present – change of action, or attitude, or
both. So what the Bible clearly reveals to us about the new creation should govern
how we strive to live now.
7. Read Revelation 21:7-8. What does the “new creation” include and what
does it exclude? Why would this be an important point for us to consider?
As Paul put it in Colossians, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in
him (the reference is to Christ) and through him to reconcile to himself all things,
whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood,
shed on the cross.” (1:19-20)
Paul uses another significant word here: reconcile.
To make peace where it has been lacking. To bring back together. To mend what is
torn and to fix what is broken.
He uses the phrase “all things, whether on earth or things in heaven” because he
wants us to see that this is all of creation. “All things” really means everything- every
bird and tree and mountain and star and every single square inch of the physical
creation. In Jesus, God is putting it all back together.
One last thing to consider. God isn't just interested in reclaiming His original dream
for creation. He wants to take it further. Have you ever noticed that the Bible begins
in a garden and ends in a city? At the beginning of the Bible story (Genesis 1-2), God
puts the human beings He has made in a garden in Eden that He had prepared for
them. At the end of the story (Revelation 21-22), God comes to live with His whole
redeemed humanity in the city of God.
In history, humans build cities for security; we try to create enough space for
everybody; and we try to add some beauty to the city- in its architecture and
gardens, and so on. In reality, of course, for many urban millions from ancient to
modern times, life in the city is far from secure, spacious, and beautiful. For the
urban poor, cities are places of vulnerability and violence, unimaginable
overcrowding, and soul-destroying ugliness.
So, by putting the garden and the city together in its final imagery, the Bible
combines the restoration of all that God originally made and intended His creation
to become with the redemption of all that human beings have created- however
flawed and filled with sin that creation has been.
It is a wonderful picture that John gives us of the “garden city.” It will have total
security (Revelation 21:12-14), infinite spaciousness (Revelation 21:16), and
breathtaking beauty (Revelation 21:11, Revelation 18-21). The new creation will be
rich in all the things we long for in our cities, while all the things we want gone will
be wiped away forever.[3]
8. What do you think about the reality of entering and living in the heavenly
city? What, if any, expectations do you now have about the life to come?
9. Why do you think it might be important to understand that a new heaven
and a new earth will be real places?
Lord, may I remember that from the beginning of time to the end of it, Your promise
and desire has always been that You will be with me. Thank You for the renewal and
reconciliation offered to us through Your Son, Jesus that will bring all things together
in a place where Your will and reign is unchallenged and enjoyed forever. Amen.
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[1] Christopher J.H. Wright, The God I Don’t Understand: Reflections on Tough
Questions of Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 193-194.
[2] Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand
Narrative (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 409.
[3] Christopher J.H. Wright, The God I Don’t Understand: Reflections on Tough
Questions of Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 198.