I recently heard a sermon by an Indian missionary Evg. John P. Thomas. It was part of a 10-day long Bible Study on Death and the Afterlife. The sermon itself isn’t in English but is linked below in case you want to hear it.
This is part 2 of the notes from the last day of the Bible Study where the New Heaven, New Earth, and the New Jerusalem were discussed.
God will create a new heaven, new earth, and a new Jerusalem. This is seen not only in Revelation but in the Old Testament.
Revelation 21:1,2 - Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Isaiah 65:17 - “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.
Isaiah 66:22 - “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, “So shall your descendants and your name remain.
In this post, I will be summarizing the information about the New Earth.
NEW EARTH
The Bible makes many mentions of the earth abiding forever and that the foundations of the earth would never be removed because God established it. See verses below.
Ecclesiastes 1:4 - One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever.
Psalm 104:5 - You who laid the foundations of the earth, So that it should not be moved forever,
Psalm 119:90 - Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides.
So, what does Revelation mean by the creation of new earth? This new earth that God is talking about here is earth that’s being remade. The New Earth is the 7th earth.
There are 7 ‘earths’ that are mentioned in the Bible. This new earth mentioned in Revelation is the last one.
#1) Original Earth
Found in Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Isaiah 45:18 shows us that the earth was not created in vain, but it was made to be inhabited
For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.
#2) Chaotic Earth
Found in Genesis 1:2
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Darkness was in the earth and this is indicative of sin. This was before man was created. We don’t know who’s sin caused that darkness. But this would have been the dinosaur age. Because of the sin, the earth because void.
#3) Adamic Earth
Found in Genesis 1:28
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God creates the earth in 6 days. After each day, God calls His creation good. But, after the creation of a family, God called His creation “very good”.
#4) Fallen Earth
Found in Genesis 3:14-19
So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
This earth is after the fall of man. The whole landscape changed due to the curse of sin. This is not the Adamic earth that God created. Due to sin, many things changed for mankind - he was cursed and his lifespan changed.
#5) Earth after the Flood
Found in Genesis 7:11,12
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
When the windows of heaven opened, that was a veil that was between the earth and the sun which helped to filter out the sun’s UV rays. And because of this, the age of man decreased. The atmosphere and landscape of the earth changed after the flood. This is the age that we’re currently living in.
Genesis 6:3 - And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
#6) Millennial Earth
This earth is for the 1,000-year reign. God restored the earth one by one to the way that it was before.
Found in Revelation 20:1-10
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prisonand will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
#7) New Earth
This is the seventh stage of earth. The foundations of the earth are the same, but the old landscape was changed and destroyed by the flood.
Found in 2 Peter 3: 7,10
(vs. 7) But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
(vs. 10) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
