“A New Heaven and New Earth” ~ A (Partial) Preterist Reading of Isaiah 65:17

“A New Heaven and New Earth” ~ A (Partial) Preterist Reading of Isaiah 65:17–25

When God says he will create a new heaven and a new earth, what will this new heaven and earth be like? Is it describing an obliteration of the material world, with a new material heaven and earth to follow? Early Church Father Jerome did not see a destruction of the elements; instead, he saw newness, a change into something better. Commenting on this passage, he writes, “The Apostle Paul said, ‘for the form of this world is perishing’ [1Co 7:31]. Notice that he said ‘form,’ not ‘substance.’”[1] Thomas Aquinas sees the new heavens and earth to be “the restoration of goods, for behold I create a new heavens, with new help from heaven, and a new earth, new benefits from the earth; this refers to the day of judgment, when the world will be renewed to the glory of the saints: the former things have passed away (Re 21:4).”[2] Closer to the immediate historical context, another understanding sees this as “a hyperbolic expression of the future restoration of the people of Judah after the captivity.”[3] Modern Evangelical commentator, John Oswalt does not press the language too far—writing, “the point is that the God who made this world and sustains it to the present moment is not locked in by anything that has happened up to now. He is not part of the system. He is the Creator! And that means that the destructive power of sin can be broken, beginning now, and forever at the last day.”[4]
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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