What does the Bible mean when it talks about a ‘new heaven and a new earth’?
This biblical concept is first seen by us in the prophet Isaiah. God promised to create “new heavens and a new earth,” We will look at several of many Isaiah text below.
This article will show that ‘new heaven and a new earth’ is fulfilled in the New Covenant! For Christians it is a present reality! Not something in the future. It is the passing of the old covenant system of the Mosaic era, the sacrificial system and the arrival of the new in AD 70.
Let’s turn first to the Old Testament where find many uses of the phrase in Isaiah.
First Isaiah 1:2-4 Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth! . . . . “The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me. . . . . but Israel doesn’t know its master. My people don’t recognize my care for them.” 4 Oh, what a sinful nation they are . . . .
This is a dramatic call, not mere poetic flourish—it invokes cosmic witnesses, a legal convention in ancient Near Eastern treaties where creation itself testifies to covenant violations (cf. Deut 32:1; Mic 6:2).
The use of parallelism—“heavens” and “earth”—frames the message as universal and irrevocable. The structure reflects a prophetic indictment: God presents His case before creation, emphasizing the gravity of Israel’s betrayal.
God’s lament draws on the intimate metaphor of divine parenthood. This father-child relationship underscores the depth of betrayal: Israel, as a privileged son (Ex 4:22; Hos 11:1), responds not with loyalty but rebellion. Not with mere boredom but with utter rejection. A profound spiritual blindness—a failure to acknowledge divine care and authority.
Next Isaiah 13:13. For I will shake the heavens. The earth will move from its place when the Lord of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath in the day of his fierce anger.”
Next Isaiah 65:17. “Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
(Note verse 8 in this context: For I still have true servants there. I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel and of Judah to possess my land. Those I choose will inherit it, and my servants will live there.)
Lastly Isaiah 66:22 “As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain, so will you always be my people, with a name that will never disappear,” says the Lord.
It is God’s new heaven and a new earth and is unlike what will pass away. True Israel will forever be his people, under the Lordship of Jesus.
Now let’s turn to the instances of the phrase in the New Testament.
Revelation 21:1: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away . . . . . . “
Believers whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev 20:15) dwell there eternally. They reign with Christ, enjoy God’s presence, and experience eternal joy—free from death, sorrow, crying, and pain (Rev 21:4). This happened 2000 years ago!
This is the culmination of God’s redemptive plan—reversing the Fall, fulfilling His promises to Abraham, and restoring creation to its original purpose of being filled, ruled, and cultivated by obedient image bearers.
It is the ultimate hope of the Christian faith, not a temporary state, but an eternal dwelling place. The phrase ‘new heaven and a new earth’ cannot be taken literally. Heaven is God’s home, thus will never change. The Bible is not about the physical universe or cosmology.
Jesus said I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. Mat 5:18
So even the smallest detail of God’s law has now disappeared because it’s purpose has been achieved and fulfilled by Jesus. We know that Jesus has brought to an end the entire Mosaic law, bringing the New Covenant. Why would any detail of the law still be in effect? We are in ‘the new heaven and a new earth’ now!
He also said Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear. Mat 24:35
Here, in the Olivet Discourse, Jesus was not talking about a literal heaven or a literal earth. He was not talking about the end of the physical world. He was talking about a spiritual condition. Relationship with God. Jesus put the context of the passing of heaven and earth alongside his second coming and the judgment of Israel in the generation then alive.
With Peter we see talk about the imminent coming of the ‘new heaven and a new earth’:
. . . . you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. 2 Peter 3:11-13
This is apocalyptic language. Peter does not envisage a literal “melting of elements” or “heavens on fire”. But Peter and his readers eagerly look forward to what is soon to come. This is not about the future far away.
Many writers try to shoehorn these passages into a hyper-creedal “end of world history” philosophy and tradition. They are wrong. This ‘world’ may not look like a world filled with God’s righteousness. But there is an enormous contrast between the old and the new covenant for the genuine believer, then and today. The old has gone, obsolete. Now we enjoy the new heavens and a new earth. We must believe it and live it and rejoice in its benefits.
Have confidence in the Lord.
Ian Thomson 