This may sound funny, since the NT authors were Jewish. However, after almost two-thousand years of Christians being told that their ultimate hope was heaven and not the restoration of God's good creation, it actually is surprising. The Old Testament prophets, such as Isaiah, had been sent primarily to the covenant people, Judah and/or Israel. Most if not all of their promises of future hope revolved around God's restoration of the Land, the Temple, and so on. Even Isaiah's "new heavens and earth" seem to revolve around the city of the people of God, Jerusalem.
"I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress..."
(Isaiah 65:19)
This passage, which begins with the words of Yahweh, "For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth," (verse 17), goes on. It speaks of there no longer being infants who die young (verses 20, 23) and the people of God being allowed to inhabit their own homes and live off their own vineyards without the worry of them being taken by another (verses 21-22). In other words, the promises are of a restored Israel that will never again face the calamity of exile or judgment. Such passages could never be viewed as having been fulfilled in the establishment of the modern-day nation of Israel in 1948. They look forward to a truly eschatological age, a fulfilled time. That is the Jewish hope.
When one enters the world of the Apostles, this language is picked up. Peter says that, "according to [God's] promise we are awaiting a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:13). This is a new heavens and earth that will come into being following the destruction of the old in fire (verses 10, 12) and judgment. This fire and judgment are apparently aspects of the parousia, the "Second Coming" of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. verse 10).
The Apostle John sees in his apocalyptic vision, "A new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away..." (Revelation 21:1). This new heavens and earth follow the great Day of Judgment (Rev. 20:11) in which One appears upon a throne from whose presence "earth and sky fled away." Of course this Day of Judgment, in John's vision, follows the mysterious thousand year reign (the "millenium" - Rev. 20:1-10) of the saints. However, the vision of the appearing of a Judge, the dissolution of the natural elements, and subsequent judgment, all followed by the establishment of a "new heavens and a new earth" follows the pattern of thought found in Peter perfectly. Add to this the choice of language used by both Peter and John, of this "new heavens and earth," which is obviously a direct borrowing from Old Testament hopes, particularly from Isaiah.
The requisite conclusion, from my perspective at least, is that all three of these men were speaking of the same hope. The "Jewish" hope of a restored, blessed, and righteous Israel and the "Christian" hope of the rule and reign of Jesus Christ belong, biblically, together. They are, or should be, the same hope. And they are not, by all appearances, going to be fulfilled either by human effort (even "Spirit-led" human effort), nor are they apparently going to be divided into separate epochs. Whatever we do with John's "millennium," we cannot relegate Isaiah's hopes into something other than what Peter and John spoke of. Though there is apparently still death in Isaiah's "new earth" we must interpret what the Old Testament says through the lens of the New Testament (cf. 1 Peter 1:10-12). What Isaiah was told was not essentially different from what John saw and Peter declared. The vision, now that Christ has come, was not changed but fulfilled and expanded by the one New Covenant of grace which is ours through the righteousness of Jesus. For Isaiah, death was a part even of life. Now that Christ has come, death and dying have been defeated and will one day be no more.
This passage, which begins with the words of Yahweh, "For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth," (verse 17), goes on. It speaks of there no longer being infants who die young (verses 20, 23) and the people of God being allowed to inhabit their own homes and live off their own vineyards without the worry of them being taken by another (verses 21-22). In other words, the promises are of a restored Israel that will never again face the calamity of exile or judgment. Such passages could never be viewed as having been fulfilled in the establishment of the modern-day nation of Israel in 1948. They look forward to a truly eschatological age, a fulfilled time. That is the Jewish hope.
When one enters the world of the Apostles, this language is picked up. Peter says that, "according to [God's] promise we are awaiting a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:13). This is a new heavens and earth that will come into being following the destruction of the old in fire (verses 10, 12) and judgment. This fire and judgment are apparently aspects of the parousia, the "Second Coming" of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. verse 10).
The Apostle John sees in his apocalyptic vision, "A new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away..." (Revelation 21:1). This new heavens and earth follow the great Day of Judgment (Rev. 20:11) in which One appears upon a throne from whose presence "earth and sky fled away." Of course this Day of Judgment, in John's vision, follows the mysterious thousand year reign (the "millenium" - Rev. 20:1-10) of the saints. However, the vision of the appearing of a Judge, the dissolution of the natural elements, and subsequent judgment, all followed by the establishment of a "new heavens and a new earth" follows the pattern of thought found in Peter perfectly. Add to this the choice of language used by both Peter and John, of this "new heavens and earth," which is obviously a direct borrowing from Old Testament hopes, particularly from Isaiah.
The requisite conclusion, from my perspective at least, is that all three of these men were speaking of the same hope. The "Jewish" hope of a restored, blessed, and righteous Israel and the "Christian" hope of the rule and reign of Jesus Christ belong, biblically, together. They are, or should be, the same hope. And they are not, by all appearances, going to be fulfilled either by human effort (even "Spirit-led" human effort), nor are they apparently going to be divided into separate epochs. Whatever we do with John's "millennium," we cannot relegate Isaiah's hopes into something other than what Peter and John spoke of. Though there is apparently still death in Isaiah's "new earth" we must interpret what the Old Testament says through the lens of the New Testament (cf. 1 Peter 1:10-12). What Isaiah was told was not essentially different from what John saw and Peter declared. The vision, now that Christ has come, was not changed but fulfilled and expanded by the one New Covenant of grace which is ours through the righteousness of Jesus. For Isaiah, death was a part even of life. Now that Christ has come, death and dying have been defeated and will one day be no more.
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