Redemption will forever destroy the work of the devil by removing his hold on creation and by reversing the consequences. Far from destroying the world, God’s plan is to keep it from being destroyed by Satan. God’s plan is to remove the destruction that has already been inflicted on it. His plan is to redeem the world.

The entire physical universe was created for God’s glory. When we rebelled, the universe fell under the weight of our sin. Yet God did not give up on us.

The serpent’s seduction of Adam and Eve did not catch God by surprise. He had in place a plan by which He would redeem mankind—and all creation—from sin, corruption, and death. Just as He promises to make men and women new, He promises to renew the earth itself.

“‘As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,’ declares the Lord, ‘so will your name and descendants endure’” (Isaiah 66:22).

“In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).

“I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1).

Many other passages allude to the new heavens and New Earth without using those terms. God’s redemptive plan culminates not at the return of Christ, nor in the millennial kingdom, but on the New Earth. Only then will all wrongs be made right. Only then will there be no more death, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:1-4).

Consider this: If God’s plan were merely to take mankind to the intermediate Heaven, or to a Heaven that was the dwelling place of spirit beings, there would be no need for new heavens and a New Earth. Why refashion the stars of the heavens and the continents of the earth? God could simply destroy His original creation and put it all behind Him. But He doesn’t do that. Upon creating the heavens and the earth, He called it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Not once has He renounced His claim on what He made.

God isn’t going to abandon His creation. He’s going to restore it. Earth’s destruction will not be permanent but temporary. Just as our destroyed bodies will be raised as new bodies, the destroyed Earth will be raised as a New Earth. We won’t go to Heaven and leave Earth behind. Rather, God will bring Heaven and Earth together into the same dimension, with no wall of separation, no armed angels to guard Heaven’s perfection from sinful mankind (Genesis 3:24). God’s perfect plan is “to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Ephesians 1:10).

God has never given up on His original creation. Yet somehow we’ve managed to overlook an entire biblical vocabulary that makes this point clear.

Read More