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New Heavens (and New Earth)
See also New Heavens and New Earth
HEAVENS, NEW (AND EARTH, NEW). A technical term in the eschatological language of the Bible to define and describe the final, perfected state of the created universe.
The conception of a re-created universe has its origin in the Biblical account of creation: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (
God is the source of this new universe.
“Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth” (
God will bring the new universe into existence in the end of history.
The divine revelation concerning the new heaven and new earth is closely related to the theme of the new Jerusalem
(
The continuity between the present universe and the new universe is underscored in the light of the rabbinic teaching that the new heavens and new earth were created at the end of creation week of
Bibliography
G. Vos, “Heavens, New (and Earth, New),” ISBE, II (1929), 1353f.; Midrash Rabbah, Genesis I, I. Epstein, ed. (1939), 12; K. Schilder, Heaven, What Is It? (1950), 69-71, 113-118; U. Simon, Heaven in the Christian Tradition (1958), 46-51, 221-227; J. C. DeYoung, Jerusalem in the New Testament (1960), 152ff.