Making All Things New—As Foretold!

[Bible Speaks]

Making All Things New—As Foretold

“The One seated on the throne said: ‘Look! I am making all things new.’ Also, he says: . . . ‘These words are faithful and true.’”—REVELATION 21:5.

Why are many people rightly hesitant to consider what the future holds?

HAVE you said or thought, ‘Who knows what tomorrow will bring?’ You can understand why people hesitate to guess what the future will bring or to trust in those who might brashly claim to foretell what lies ahead. Humans simply do not have the ability to predict accurately what will occur in the months or years to come.

We read at Isaiah 65:17-19: “Here I am creating new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be called to mind, neither will they come up into the heart. But exult, you people, and be joyful forever in what I am creating. For here I am creating Jerusalem a cause for joyfulness and her people a cause for exultation. And I will be joyful in Jerusalem and exult in my people; and no more will there be heard in her the sound of weeping or the sound of a plaintive cry.” 

Certainly, Isaiah described conditions that were far better than those the Jews had lived under in Babylon. He foretold joyfulness and rejoicing. Now look at the expression “new heavens and a new earth.” This is the first of four occurrences of that phrase in the Bible, and these four passages can have a direct bearing on our future, even foretelling it. 

Revelation 21 verses 4, 5: “He [Jehovah] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former thingshave passed away. And the One seated on the throne said: ‘Look! I am making all thingsnew.’ Also, he says: ‘Write, because these words are faithful and true.’” What an uplifting prophecy!

You would no doubt agree that mourning and outcry would decrease with the removal of death, old age, and disease. Yet, what about grinding poverty, child abuse, and oppressive discrimination based on background or skin color? Were such things—common today—to continue, we would not be rid of mourning and outcry. 

Thus, life under “a new heaven and a new earth” will not be marred by these present causes of sorrow. What a change! We have, though, considered so far only three of the four occurrences in the Bible of the phrase “new heavens and a new earth.” 

Similarly, those faithful to God as part of the new earth, the society of true worshipers in the new world, will keep standing individually because they will be rendering pure worship to the Creator of all things. That will not be occasional or haphazard worship. God’s Law, provided to Israel through Moses, called for certain acts of worship each month, as marked by the new moon, and each week, as marked by the Sabbath day. (Leviticus 24:5-9; Numbers 10:10; 28:9, 10; 2 Chronicles 2:4) 

Isaiah 66:24 assures us that the peace and righteousness of the new earth will never be in danger. Wicked people will not ruin it. Recall that 2 Peter 3:7 says that ahead of us is “the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.” Those coming to their end will be ungodly. No harm will come to innocents, unlike what often happens in human wars, where civilian casualties outnumber military ones. The Great Judge guarantees us that his day will be a destruction of the ungodly.

Isaiah 11:9 says: “They will not do any harm or cause any ruin in all my holy mountain; because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.”

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2000283

2 pictures, 1 moving and 1 GIF 

IMG_3140.mov