This paper argues that new-heavens-and-a-new-earth[5] language is transformative language, first of humanity (spiritual heart-change), then of this world (the presence of the glory of God in Zion with his people). Elements of the perspectives noted above find continuity with such a view. Those who might see new heavens and a new earth language as indicative of God destroying the world would be in error, as that is not what Isaiah has in mind when he speaks of the new creation. We must see new creation as the manifestation of the Kingdom of God, which transforms, not destroys, the world.
To read the essay in full, click here: “A New Heaven and New Earth” ~ Preterist Reading of Isaiah 65:17–25
[1] M. W. Elliott and Thomas C. Oden, Isaiah 40-66, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Old Testament (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2007), 273–4.
[2] St Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah (Emmaus Academic, 2021), 582.
[3] Daniel K. Bediako, “Isaiah’s ‘New Heaven and New Earth’ (Isa 65:17; 66:22),” Journal of Asia Adventist Seminary 11, no. 1 (2008): 1.
[4] John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66 (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998), 656.
[5] Throughout this essay, phrases such as “new-heavens-and-a-new earth language,” “creation language,” and “metaphorical creation language” have the same meaning and are used interchangeably.
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