A Vision Of The New Earth

A Vision of the New Earth

Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations—their kings led in triumphal procession. . . . I will make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all generations.

— Isaiah 60:11, 15

Over and over again the Scriptures make this plain: the political power which has been so corrupted and twisted in the hands and hearts of sinful rulers must be returned to its rightful source.^a

— RICHARD MOUW

Isaiah 60 is a wonderful portrait of life on the New Earth. Though some of it appears to refer to the millennial kingdom— containing some things inconsistent with life on the New Earth—much of it foresees an eternal earthly kingdom, which could refer only to the New Earth.

Although Isaiah 60 doesn’t contain the term New Earth (unlike Isaiah 65 and 66), we can be certain that Isaiah had the New Earth in mind, because John uses the exact language of Isaiah 60 in his depiction of the New Earth in Revelation 21–22. Thus, Isaiah 60 serves as a biblical commentary on John’s portrayal of the New Earth. It is not, as a whole, restricted to the millennial kingdom.

At the beginning of Isaiah’s remarkable, prophetic message, God says to his people in Jerusalem, “The LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (vv. 2-3). God’s people will have a glorious future in which the earth’s nations and kings will participate in and benefit from a renewed and glorious Jerusalem. It won’t be only some nations, but all of them: “All assemble and come to you” (v. 4).

This will be a time of unprecedented rejoicing: “Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy” (v. 5). On the renewed Earth, the nations will bring their greatest treasures into this glorified city: “The wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come” (v. 5).

There will be animals on the New Earth, from various nations: “Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah” (v. 6). Redeemed people will travel from far places to the glorified Jerusalem: “And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD” (v. 6).

People who dwell on islands will worship God, and ships will come from “Tarshish, bringing your sons from afar, with their silver and gold, to the honor of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor” (v. 9).

Most of us are unaccustomed to thinking of nations, rulers, civilizations, and cultures in Heaven, but Isaiah 60 is one of many passages that demonstrate that the New Earth will in fact be earthly.

In verse 11, Isaiah speaks words that John (in Revelation 21:25-26) later applies directly to the New Jerusalem: “Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations—their kings led in triumphal procession.”

The magnificence of nations will be welcomed into the King’s great city: “The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the pine, the fir and the cypress together” (v. 13). The hearts of the nations will be transformed in their attitudes toward God, his people, and his city: “The sons of your oppressors will come bowing before you; all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the LORD” (v. 14).

God assures the New Jerusalem, “I will make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all generations” (v. 15). This is not a temporary period of fleeting prosperity, but an everlasting condition. It will not be limited to one time period but will be for “all generations.”

God promises something that has never yet been true of the earthly Jerusalem: “I will make peace your governor and righteousness your ruler. No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise” (vv. 17-18).

Isaiah then tells us, “The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end” (vv. 19-20). In Revelation 21:23 and 22:5, John uses much of the same wording, connecting Isaiah’s prophecy directly to the New Earth.

Of the New Jerusalem, we’re told that “nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27). Isaiah tells us the same thing, using inclusive language that could not apply to Earth under the Curse:

“Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land [Earth] forever” (Isaiah 60:21). The earth will be theirs, not for a glorious decade or century or millennium, but forever.^b There is no reason to believe that the descriptions of the New Earth in Isaiah will be fulfilled any less literally than the prophecies about the Messiah in Isaiah 52–53. Because Isaiah’s words about the Messiah’s first coming were so meticulously fulfilled, down to specific physical details, shouldn’t we assume that his subsequent prophecies concerning life on the New Earth will likewise be literally fulfilled?

Christ’s millennial reign on the old Earth may anticipate the fulfillment of God’s promises about Jerusalem’s future. But we will see the ultimate fulfillment of these promises only in the New Jerusalem on the New Earth, when the Curse is gone, death is no more, and God’s people are living on the earth forever.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam” (Psalm 46:1-3).

Even if you feel cast about in turbulent waters, can you see in your mind’s eye the shores of a New Earth, one that will never give way?

Father, your promises for our lives in this world are overwhelmingly wonderful. Help us not to spiritualize them and think they pertain only to another world, distant and fundamentally unlike our own. We long to live on Earth as you intended it to be, in bodies forever delivered from suffering, in a culture full of righteousness. We long to live according to your plan, doing work that is fulfilling, rewarding, and delightful. We long for the joy of learning, discovery, and adventures full of surprises. Thank you for the promise of the New Earth. Thank you that you are our primary joy and that drawing closer to you will be the highlight of every adventure. But we don’t want to wait until we die to know you better and see you more clearly. Help us to do that right now, today.