From: Isaiah 65:17-21
New heavens and a new earth
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(Thus says the LORD,)
[17] "For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth;
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
[18] But be glad and rejoice for ever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing,
and her people a joy.
[19] 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.
[20] No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the child shall die a hundred years old,
and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
[21] They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit."
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Commentary:
65:17-18 Here we have a clear and succinct description of the new state of af-
fairs at the end of time -- "new heavens and a new earth". As at the Creation,
God in person, and he alone, will create them; but now they will have a heavenly
form, for joy and gladness will be unceasing and eternal. This wording became
very influential in Jewish religious thinking as can be seen from apocryphal texts
(cf. 2 Ezra 6:16), and even more so in Christian tradition: in the Revelation to
John, these are the opening words of the vision about the definitive and full estab-
lishment of the kingdom of God (Rev 21:1-22:5). And the Second Letter of Peter
urges the faithful to transform this world in preparation for the coming of "new
heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells" (2 Pet 3:13). "At the
end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. After the universal judg-
ment, the righteous will reign for ever with Christ, glorified in body and soul. The
universe itself will be renewed: 'The Church ... will receive her perfection only in
the glory of heaven, when will come the time of the renewal of all things. At that
time, together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely rela-
ted to man and which attains its destiny through him, will be perfectly re-estab-
lished in Christ' ("Lumen Gentium", 48).
Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal, which will transform humanity
and the world, 'new heavens and a new earth' (2 Pet 13; cf. Rev 21:1). It will be
the definitive realization of God's plan to bring under a single head 'all things in
[Christ], things in heaven and things on earth' (Eph 1:10). In this new universe,
the heavenly Jerusalem, God will have his dwelling among men. He will wipe a-
way every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more, neither shall there be
mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away'
(Rev 21:4)." [...] The visible universe, then, is itself destined to be transformed,
'so that the world itself, restored to its original state, facing no further obstacles,
should be at the service of the just' (St Irenaeus, "Adv. Haer." 5, 32, 1), sharing
their glorification in the risen Jesus Christ" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church",
1042-1044 and 1047).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.