New Heavens And New Earth Series

INTRODUCTION

Good morning church! Welcome to our final week in our foundations for faith series in the Bible engagement project. Over the last several weeks we've been looking at the end times and what the Bible talks about is coming in our future starting with the rapture which is called in the assemblies of the blessed hope, the millennial reign of Christ, and then the final judgment. After all this is done the Bible talks about there being a new heaven and new earth.

Illustration

A preacher and a song leader were both avid baseball fans. These guys didn't just like baseball; they lived, breathed and ate baseball. What time they weren't about church duties, they were attending a game, watching a game on the tube, or coaching a little league game in the park.

One day, one of them mused about whether there would be baseball in heaven and quite a conversation ensued. "Everything is perfect in heaven, isn't it? We will want for nothing in heaven, will we? Surely there will be baseball in heaven!" They finally made a pact that whichever one got to heaven first would somehow try to contact the other and let him know for a fact whether they had baseball.

As it turned out, the preacher died first. A week later he appeared to the song leader in a dream and said, "Well, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is, there is indeed baseball in heaven. The bad news is you are scheduled to pitch this Saturday. "

This morning, we are talking about Heaven, the New Heavens and New Earth.

Turn with me to 2 Peter 3:9-12

Like many of the other end time doctrines there are numerous ways that people interpret these scriptures. Some believe that instead of there being a new heaven and new earth that the earth is renovated and made new like that in the garden of Eden but when we look at the language here in Peter we can see that Peter is clearly talking about the old being destroyed.

1. This Current Earth must be destroyed

In verse 10 we see Peter saying, “the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise” The NIV translates this as the heavens will disappear with a roar. The Greek word here is ?a?e?e?s??ta? (dictionary form: pa?ep??µa?) Which translates to pass away, disappear or come to an end. This definitive language shows that there will be a point where the heavens will cease to exist.

In the three synoptic gospels during the sermon on the mount Jesus says that the law Of Moses will not be done away with until heaven and earth disappear, (Matthew 5:17-18) Using the very same word as was used in 2 Peter. Jesus’ indication that heaven and earth will pass away or disappear or come to an end seems pretty clear that this earth and this heaven will one day cease to exist.

In his letter Peter continues saying that everything around us the earth is going to be destroyed heaven will be set on fire and the elements will melt away. The word for destroyed and melt away is the Greek word ???µ???? (Dictionary form: ???) Which literally translates to unloose to untie or to break. It is used in the Bible as breaking ships or ships being destroyed or doing away with other things, In this context we see the literal translation of to dissolve or to destroy.

Peter goes further in his prophecy that the Saint of the judgment would be by fire and that the very elements of the universe would “melt away in the flames.” This really goes a step further in the miraculous of what God is doing here.

Illustration

In modern physics with the roots going back to the 1700s but formulated by Einstein is the law of conservation of mass and energy in which Einstein creates his well-known formula E=mc2. This law of physics talks about how matter can either be created or destroyed it can only change form. The total mass of the system therefore must stay the same both before and after any physical or chemical change happens. Peter however is witnessing God melt the elements with fire completely destroying this old earth. The God of the universe who wrote the laws of physics is the only one who is able to change those laws.

In revelation 20:11, at the final white throne judgment the earth seems to know that it's time to end has come because the scripture says that “the earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide.” This again seems to indicate an early forewarning of the destruction because the earth itself is recognizing that its time has come.

This concept of the earth being destroyed as even talked about in the Old Testament.