Creation Care Is There Any Point New Heaven New Earth

Will God destroy the earth or renew it? A biblical case for creation care rooted in restoration, not annihilation.

Theological dictionaries reveal that the expression “heaven and earth” is a biblical way of designating the entire universe (cosmos). In Revelation 21:1 we hear about “a new heaven and a new earth” (see also Isaiah 65:17, 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13). As a Christian environmentalist living on planet Earth today, I am strongly interested in how the promised new earth will come about.

My grandfather liked charts, especially ones that depicted “the last days”. I recall his explaining one on the lounge wall which graphically portrayed stages in human history and beyond, including the eternal state. One glaring and frightening feature was an image of our planet engulfed in flames. It was an image that always bothered me. Will the new earth really be the result of God destroying the present material universe and starting all over again, or will it be the culmination of a more gradual restoration process which I may participate in and which God will ultimately complete?

For many people, the answer to this question significantly determines whether there is any point at all in seeking to care and conserve creation in the here and now, and whether contemporary Christians have any responsibility to exercise environmental stewardship. Why care for creation if it is to be destroyed eventually? In an article entitled “Rethinking Heaven”, Jon Meacham (2012:34) comments:

“If you believe that the earth will be destroyed at the last day while the blessed look down from a disembodied heaven, then you are most likely going to view the things of this world in a different light than someone who believes there will be a bodily resurrection on an earth that is to be, in the words of a great hymn, ‘our eternal home’. Accepting the latter can mean different priorities, conceivably putting issues like saving the environment up there with saving souls.”

In essence, when we see creation as temporary and even evil, we have no reason to care about what happens to it and are more prone to think it doesn’t matter if we wreck the planet in the meantime, a notion first expounded by the ancient Gnostics and subsequently refuted by such great theologians as Irenaeus, Jerome, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Thomas Aquinas.

Over the past 30 years, an increasing number of voices have echoed these church leaders of the past, asserting that the new earth will not be something totally different and divorced from the present one, but more like a renovation and restoration of it. They reject the concepts of annihilation of the present cosmos and of a sharp discontinuity between the old earth and the new. For them, the Bible portrays God purposing to redeem the earth and to invert the effects of the curse. Jesus comes to end history, to raise the dead and judge the world, to impart to God’s children their final glory and to usher in a reconstructed universe. Wayne Grudem, for example, states categorically:

“The Bible leads us to believe that the earth will be renewed, not recreated” (2009:166).

At the outset, it should be noted that our Christian responsibility to be stewards of God’s creation is based on God-given commissions early in Genesis, and does not ultimately rest on any particular view of the future. Alongside the instruction to make creation productive (1:26-28) is the charge to take care of it (2:15). Such an approach is motivated by love for the Creator and for our neighbours, whose well-being depends very much on a sound ecosystem (see Leviticus 25, Luke 10:25-37). Nevertheless, it is helpful to explore the reasons why modern thinkers increasingly struggle with the “do away with/start over” scenario…

The Real Problem

When God completed his work of creation he evaluated what he had made as “very good” (Genesis 1:31). The problem is not the materiality of the creation, from which we need to be released. The problem is sin and its ruinous consequences. When God sets out on the long road of redemption, his goal is to remove sin and its effects so that the good creation can again be his kingdom. His plan is to destroy the enemy of his good creation (Genesis 3:15; I John 3:8), not to destroy the creation itself. Anthony Hoekema (1979:281) makes a valid point when he says:

“If God would have to annihilate the present cosmos, Satan would have won a great victory. For then Satan would have succeeded in so devastatingly corrupting the present cosmos and the present earth that God could do nothing with it but to blot it totally out of existence. But Satan did not win such a victory. On the contrary, Satan has been decisively defeated. God will reveal the full dimensions of that defeat when he shall renew this very earth on which Satan deceived mankind and finally banish from it all the results of Satan’s evil machinations.”

The Word Used for “New”

Both in 2 Peter 3:13 and Revelation 21:1 the Greek word used to designate the newness of the cosmos is not neos but kainos. The word neos means new in time or origin, whereas the word kainos means new in nature or quality. The expression “a new heaven and a new earth” means, therefore, not the emergence of a cosmos totally other than the present one, but the creation of a universe which, though it has been gloriously renewed, stands in continuity with the present one. The same is true for the believer as a “new creation” in 2 Corinthians 5:17.

The Word Used for “Pass Away”

We may also observe that the word Paul uses to describe what happens to the old nature of the believer in 2 Corinthians 5:17 is the same word Peter uses in 2 Peter 3:10, and which John uses in Revelation 21:1, to refer to the fate of the old heavens, namely parerchomai. Like the old nature, the heavens will “pass away”. Again this does not have to mean that they go out of existence; rather, there will be such a change in them that their present condition passes away, somewhat like a caterpillar passes away, and a butterfly emerges. There is a real passing away, but also a real continuity and connection.

The Analogy Between the New Earth and the Resurrection Bodies of Believers

The Bible indicates that there will be both continuity and discontinuity between the present body and the resurrection body. The differences, wonderful as they are, do not take away the continuity: it is we who shall be raised and it is we who shall be always with the Lord. Those raised with Christ, will not be a totally new set of human beings but the people of God who have lived on this earth, apparently with our current personalities but devoid of sin. By analogy, we would expect that the new earth will not be totally different from the present one, but will be the present one wondrously renewed.

Paul’s Argument in Romans 8:20-21

When he tells us that the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, so that it may be set free from its bondage to decay, he is saying that it is the present creation that will be liberated, not some totally different creation. The basic ideal expressed is that the new earth will issue from God’s sovereign and redemptive work and will involve the renewal of all things, not the creation of all new things (Revelation 21:5). This is clearly the conclusion colourfully expressed by Edward Thurneysen (1931:209):

“The world into which we shall enter at the Parousia of Jesus Christ is therefore not another world; it is this world, this heaven, this earth; both, however, passed away and renewed. It is these forests, these fields, these cities, these streets, these people, that will be the scene of redemption. At present they are battlefields, full of the strife and sorrow of the not yet accomplished consummation; then they will be fields of victory, fields of harvest, where out of seed that was sown with tears the everlasting sheaves will be reaped and brought home.”

2 Peter 3:5-12: Purified Rather Than Burned Up

2 Peter 3:5-12 can be understood another way: purified rather than burned up.

The word translated “burned up” in the KJV does not appear in the oldest Greek manuscripts, which contain a word that means “found” or “shown.” Ever since the NIV, many recent translations prefer the term “laid bare” or “exposed”, which enjoys by far the earliest and best textual support. The Bauer Lexicon suggests a slight modification of this: be found as a “result of judicial investigation.” The meaning is apparently that everything will be removed so that humanity will stand naked before God. Theologian Cornelius Venema adds another shade of meaning:

“The word used in the older manuscripts conveys the idea of a process that does not so much destroy or burn up, but uncovers or lays open for discovery the creation, now in a renewed state of pristine purity.”

Peter alludes to the Flood, signifying cleansing without complete obliteration. God’s fire of judgment will consume the bad but refine the good, exposing things as they really are (compare Malachi 2:2-4, I Corinthians 3:13-15).

Anthony Hoekema (1979:73) sums up:

“In his redemptive activity, God does not destroy the works of his hands, but cleanses them from sin and perfects them, so that they may finally reach the goal for which he created them. Applied to the problem at hand, this principle means that the new earth to which we look forward will not be totally different from the present one, but will be a renewal and glorification of the earth on which we now live.”

A Closing Illustration

Imagine a child who is healthy in every way contracts some disease that begins to have a devastating effect on her body. The doctor diagnoses the disease and seeks to prescribe a remedy that will remove the disease and its debilitating effects from her body. The doctor that destroys the patient and proclaims victory over the disease would be a poor doctor indeed! Similarly, God’s redemptive remedy has the goal of destroying sin and its effects so that the creation can be healthy again, the way it was supposed to be. Salvation is the healing of the creation, not an escape out of it, or a doing away with it. God did not create matter just to throw it away. He will not wipe the slate clean and start again. If that were so, there would be no celebration, no conquest of death, and no long preparation now at last complete.

New Creation, Here and Now

The nature of Christian hope is that it plays back into the present life. In “Simply Christian” (2011: 99,186-202), Tom Wright puts forward the idea that Christ’s resurrection is a cogent incentive and inspiration for us “to go and make new creation happen in the world” (emphasis mine). He goes on to speak of “the launching of the new creation in the present”. Christians, he asserts, should be “practising in the present the tunes we shall sing in God’s new world”.

We are “called to be part of God’s new creation, called to be agents of that new creation here and now…called to model and display that new creation…new creation has already begun”.

A heaven that demands environmental stewardship now may well resonate more with the activist generation of my children and grandchildren, but it is surely also one that, in my opinion, urgently needs to resonate with God’s people of all ages around the globe.

Sources

Grudem, Wayne. 2009. Christian Beliefs Study Guide (Blackpool: Clear Cut Media).
Hoekema, Anthony. 1979. The Bible and the Future (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Meacham, Jon. 2012. “Heaven Can’t Wait: Why rethinking the hereafter could make the world a better place”, Time, April 16, pages 32-38.
Thurneysen, Edward. 1931. “Christus und seine Zukunft,” in Zwischen den Zeiten. Trans. by J.A. Schep in “The Nature of the Resurrection Body”, pp. 218-19.
Wright, Tom. 2011. Simply Christian (London: SPCK).

Phillip Donnell is the Director of New Creation New Zealand, which seeks to inspire and equip Christians to care for creation.

Questions for Study and Reflection

What frustrates you most about living in a fallen world? Do you agree with Hoekema that if God has to annihilate this present cosmos, Satan will have won a great victory?
According to 2 Corinthians 5:15-17, what are the implications of becoming a “new creation” in Christ? What passes away and what remains? Is such a transformation instant or gradual?
In what ways was Christ’s resurrection body the same or different from his pre-resurrection body? Does this give you any insight or hope about the future he has in mind for us and for the rest of creation?
In Romans 8:18-25, why do you think Paul enlarges the discussion to include not just God’s redeemed people but the entire creation? What does this tell us about the right way to view our earthly environment?
What would a world like ours be like if there was no decay or death? How is this a picture of glory?
How would you explain the relationship between hope and faith? How can the hope of Romans 8:22-25 help you during times of trial?
If you were in charge of the world’s clock, would you slow it down or speed it up? Why?
From what you see in 2 Peter 3:1-13, what should we be expecting, and what should we be looking forward to? How should this affect our daily lives?
What are the practical ramifications of what Tom Wright calls “launching the new creation in the present”?
Wright says: “new creation has already begun…” Do you agree? If so, in what ways has it begun?

Creation Care: Is There Any Point? Renewal, Not Annihilation