When I moved from the farm to the corporate world, we had to buy a house. I find it quite funny that your taste is always just outside your budget. We fell in love with a house that was not so new anymore. 

Over the years we saved and bit by bit we worked hard to renovate the house. We redid the bathrooms. The yellow kitchen cabinets were removed and given away and beautiful brand-new and shiny cabinets took their place. 

Walls were knocked down and it became a pleasant place to visit and live. All the walls got a new coat of paint. Even the garden got a new irrigation system and soon the plants showed their satisfaction and started growing well. 

Now we are living in a brand-new house for which we cannot be thankful enough. When I think back to what the house we bought looked like and compare it to the one we now work and play in, it’s like chalk and cheese. Totally different. 

New is just so much more enjoyable. A new car smells different, and you enjoy all the new buttons and things if you’re a man. Women enjoy new clothes. 

New is best. And there is also a new earth and heaven on the way. So much more than we can ever think of or imagine. So much more than a new car or dress or ring. 

 13We’ll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness.  

In his time, Isaiah predicted that God was going to make a new heaven and earth where everything, yes everything, was going to be new. People won’t even think about the old one anymore and even less want to return to it. 

The people who accepted Jesus as Saviour will live on the new earth and it will be the new heaven for us. The new Jerusalem will already be built there, and we will walk on streets that look like gold. 

Revelations teach that we will live in glorified bodies in perfect joy and peace. No, we won’t be floating around in the clouds somewhere as spirits. Everything will be perfect, without any flaws. 

Why? Something big will be missing. Sin. Sin will be no more. Sin will not come to break and steal as it did on the old earth. Sickness, hardship, financial problems, and even death, will be things of the past. 

It’s a true utopia where God alone rules. Why then would we think back or long for the old earth with its shortcomings and hard times? Definitely not! 

We can look forward to this and, yes, what a prospect it is. Let this future expectation give us fuel to push through today. Let it untie and take away the baggage that holds us back and let us run at full speed so that the world can follow us and one day play with us in peace and joy on the new earth. 

Scripture
2 Peter 3:8-13 

Reflection
Do you believe in the new heaven and earth?
Are you heading there?
How can this help you through today?? 

Prayer
Father, thank you that we can look forward to the new heaven and earth. You always keep Your promises, so we never have to doubt that it will happen. Jesus, we look forward to Your return. Amen.