March 2026

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.  The former things will not be remembered,nor will they come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17).

“He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (Revelation 21:5).

As we move full-speed ahead into March, my thoughts always turn to the oncoming spring season.  So, even though the wind was so cold the past couple of days that I felt like I could feel it in my bones, the spring season is where my mind wandered as I sat down to write this month’s newsletter article.  And, spring is such a wonderful time of year, isn’t it?   The days get longer and sunnier, the flowers and other plants begin to bloom, the animals that hibernate for the winter are waking up, birds are returning from their journey south.  Springtime is a time of refreshing after a long, cold winter; it is a time of new life on our old planet.  

And, when I think about things being new, like they are in spring, I can’t help but reflect upon the verse from Revelation that I quoted above.  In this verse, God is speaking to the Apostle John, to whom he revealed this revelation, about the vision that His angel had shown John regarding the new heaven and the new earth; a new creation that was prophesied by Isaiah in Isaiah 65.  In verse 5, God is telling John that, in the ushering in of the new heaven and the new earth, He is completely going to do away with the old, broken order of things and is going to bring in a brand new, perfect creation, uniting heaven and earth together as one.

So, let’s take a moment together this month and think about what we are told of the new heaven and the new earth in Revelation 21.  And, as we think about these things, we need to first understand that the creation of the new heavens and the new earth is the moment that the entirety of the Bible has been pointing to; it is the culmination of history.  You see, when God created our current world, when He created our current reality, He created it to be perfectly good, it was sufficient and could have, perhaps should have, lasted forever.  However, with the fall of man in the original sin of Adam and Eve, this world was corrupted and began to decay due to sin.  So, God has to destroy this world to make room for it to be replaced.  The new heaven and the new earth, then, is the new reality that God is going to usher in; the perfect reality where we will get to live in His presence.

We also learn that, in this new heaven and new earth, there will be the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, that comes down out of heaven.  Jerusalem, as you know, plays a significant role in the history of God’s people.  It was the capital city that David established in the Promised Land, it was destroyed by enemies and rebuilt by God’s people, and, of course, it is the place where the death and resurrection of Christ took place.  However, Jerusalem was also a place that had profaned itself through the crucifixion of Jesus; it had become apostate and no longer was the wonderful and holy city that God had intended it to be.  But now, God is ushering in the New Jerusalem, making the “Holy City” that He intended it to be once again.  Therefore, in the descent of the New Jerusalem from heaven, we have heaven and earth finally uniting as one as the eternal home of God and of His people.

Finally, we learn that, not only will God dwell with His people in the new heaven and the new earth, but “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).  This means that the pain, suffering, sorrow, sadness, and death of this broken world we find ourselves living in are going to be destroyed along with our current sin-filled reality; there will be no room for them in the new heaven and the new earth.  Instead, the new heaven and the new earth will be filled completely and totally with the peace, joy, and love of God.  This idea of the end of all bad things and the perfection of God’s Kingdom, in fact, also builds upon the prophecy of Isaiah as it is mentioned in several places throughout that book.

This is the glorious hope that we have to look forward to: the perfect kingdom where we get to live in God’s presence and where we get to only experience good things.  However, I would be derelict in my duties if I didn’t take a minute to talk about how we should use this promise of the new heaven and the new earth in the here and now.  As I’ve talked about many times from the pulpit on Sunday, it seems that we Christians too often focus our attention on this future promise of the new heaven and the new earth, on the life to come, that we forget we have a purpose in this life now; and that purpose is to serve God in the world and spread the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.  So, seeing this promise of the new heaven and the new earth as an excuse to focus on the future to the detriment of the present is certainly the wrong approach.

So, what is the right approach to take regarding this promise of the new heaven and the new earth in Isaiah 65 and Revelation 21?  The right approach is, first of all, to use that promise as a motivator to follow God’s will and serve Him now.  Since God sent His Son to die for us, and since He has promised the day is going to come where He will usher in the absolutely perfect new heaven and new earth where we will live with Him in peace and love, our response should be one of gratitude; and that gratitude to God should be expressed outwardly by living our lives for Him in this world now…submitting to Him, serving Him, following Him.  And, secondly, the right approach is to use the promise of the new heaven and the new earth as a motivator for evangelism.  Since God is, in fact, going to usher in this kingdom of perfect peace, shouldn’t we want everyone to have the opportunity to join us there?  Well, the only way that they will be able to join us there is if they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and the only way they will have an opportunity to accept Jesus is if we tell them about Him.  Thus, the promised new heaven and new earth are also motivation to share the Gospel.

So, this spring, as you enjoy God’s creation coming back to life after the long, cold winter, also don’t forget to take time to enjoy the fact that God has promised the day is going to come when He is going to bring about an all-new creation…the perfect creation of the new heaven and the new earth.  Then, let that promise motivate you to live for God in the here and now.

May the blessings of the Father and the peace of the Son be with you,

Pastor Keith