“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more” (Revelation 21:1). A reader asked about the meaning of the Greek word translated “new,” “kainos.” The standard dictionary for New Testament Greek explains new “in the sense that what is old has become obsolete, and should be replaced by what is new” (“A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature,” 497). This sense of “new” is often used in passages about the end of the world.
Since I’m in full professorial mode, here’s a long quotation from “Confessing the Gospel: A Lutheran Approach to Systematic Theology.”
“The Gospels describe heaven and earth as passing away (Matt 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33). Saint Paul writes: ‘The present form of this world is passing away’ (1 Cor 7:31). Again, ‘The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God’ (Rom 8:21). The apostle Peter states: ‘The heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed’ (2 Pete 3:10; see also vv. 7, 12). The book of Hebrews adds that the earth and the heavens will perish, ‘like a garment they will be changed’ (Heb 1:10-12). Scripture stops short of stating that this world will be totally annihilated. Whether the destruction of this world will be total annihilation or renovation is debatable. It is certain, however, that the world as it now exists, bearing the marks of sin and ‘subjected to futility’ and decay, will cease to exist (Rom 8:20).
“After the destruction of this world, God will create a new heaven and a new earth to serve as the dwelling place of God with his people (Isaiah 65:17; Rev 21:1). There in God’s presence will be freedom from sin and all its consequences (Rev 21:27; Large Catechism II, 57), fullness of joy, and, at his right hand, pleasures forevermore. ‘I shall be satisfied with your likeness’ (Ps 17:15; see also 16:11).” (II, 1160-1161).
Wanna bet this academic stuff doesn’t get many “likes” on Facebook?
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