WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: “Ons sien uit na ‘n nuwe Hemel en ‘n nuwe Aarde”
Someone wrote to me as follows:
"Hello, Can you help me about the end times – And Armageddon battle.”
There are of course a wide range of opinions on these two events. Therefore, what I share with you is just one of the views – the one I believe is closest to it of what man can expect – but even in this view there are many things that I am not so sure about, as of the people who endorse it. Therefore, I share with you only that which I myself have no doubt about.
I have already shared with you on a previous occasion about 'Armageddon’, or 'The battle of Armageddon’.
Now I want to share with you about the end of the world as I understand it.
We read it as follows:
2 PET 3:7-18
7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Our Lord, who created creation as we know it, is going to completely destroy creation as we know it.
For the people who want to claim that the universe that is part of creation is just too big to be destroyed just like that, I just want to say:
This creation / universe that according to most scientists was created by “the big bang”, if I understand the Word correctly, will disappear with another “bigger bang”.
What I just wrote about ‘a bigger bang’ is just for those who believe in ‘the big bang’.
Some people believe in the ‘big bang’. I believe my God just spoke a Word.
The same God that created this creation/universe by speaking a word, shall also renew this creation/universe by just speaking a word – and then, how absolutely wonderful! Over and above wonderful! – A new Heaven and a new Earth will be created by our Lord, for all the people who have accepted Jesus as Saviour and Redeemer.
REVELATION 21:1-4
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."
Therefore, what will I conclude with for you who have already accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?
I will conclude by telling you – you who accepted Jesus as your Saviour and Redeemer – that as I have shown you from the Word on a previous occasion, none of the horrors of the end of this world await us, His children.
That is why Peter, who for about three years was informed by Jesus about these things, among other things, wrote to us:
2 PETER 3:12-13
12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
I will now suffice as far as this matter is concerned with Peter's closing words, having told us about the end of creation as we now know it:
2 PETER 3:17-18
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Greetings,
Sakkie