In a nearby city not too far from where we live, there used to be a large, old building. Nearly one hundred years old, this building had become rather costly to upkeep, repair, and heat during our cold winters, and the decision was made to tear it down. It was no longer suitable for use due to it’s decrepit state and one day excavators and dump trucks were hauled in and within a short time the entire building had been leveled, and hauled away, leaving just a barren dirt plot of land. It had been destroyed, just like how this Earth is going to be someday.
2 Peter 3:10-13 “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
This world was originally created to be a perfect place. Pure, undefiled, and free from sin, but at the start of “the Fall” (the first sin), sin began to spread like wildfire throughout the world and it’s inhabitants. Lying, fornication, covetousness, deceit- all of these things and more were passed down through the generations and polluted this Earth. People began to construct idols, creating “gods” for themselves to worship. For thousands of years, this has gone on. Sin, after sin, after sin, corrupting the world.
The building I wrote of above had a beginning, just like the Earth. And just as how that building eventually got old and needed to be torn down, this Earth will too, someday, be destroyed.
It has been several years since that building was torn down, and when we pass by that empty lot you would never have guessed that there was anything there at all. It is like this passage in Isaiah 65.
Isaiah 65:17-20 “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.”
Once again, a new heaven and a new earth are being created. Before Jesus left this Earth to be with His Father, he left us this promise, that He is going to be preparing a place for us, and that when He comes again He will take us there.
John 14:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
Jesus is preparing a place for us, and is coming again to bring us back with Him to that place.
There is going to be a new Jerusalem. “New” meaning that it has never been seen before, because this Jerusalem is going to be destroyed, along with the rest of the Earth. He is going to take us away, on that day of His second coming. The dead in Christ will be raised up first (1 Thess. 4:16) and those who are alive when Jesus returns will altogether be raised up to meet our Lord in the air as He takes us to our new home.
A new heaven and a new earth. A new Jerusalem. How wonderful does that sound!
In Christ,
Andrew
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