Rev. 21:1.
The first creation is like the vessel which Jeremiah saw marred in the hands of the potter. “So he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.” (Jer. 18:3, 4.)
This new creation, which God brings forth as it were out of the sepulchre of the old, does not appear until all the purposes that God has to fulfil in the old are accomplished.
Christ Jesus Himself, rising from the dead on the third day, is indeed “the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14), and if any man be in Christ, he too is “a new creation.” Thus, in the new covenant, there is a new man brought into a new creation to sing a new song, and inherit the new Jerusalem, the new heavens, and the new earth. Old things shall have passed away, and all things shall have become new.
Up till this present time evil is dominant, and righteousness suffers upon earth. “If any man will live godly in Christ Jesus he shall suffer persecution;” and as this age closes in the heavier will be the oppression brought to bear upon the truth. During the millennium order will be restored through the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. Evil shall then be repressed by judgment, and righteousness shall be dominant, as it is written, “In His days shall the righteous flourish.” (Ps. 72:7.)
But though righteousness may have the dominion, while evil, though repressed, is still present, the end to which God is working, and which alone can fully satisfy the soul that is in fellowship with Him, is not reached.
“We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Peter 3:13.)
There at last the conflict between light and darkness, between truth and error, between sin and righteousness, shall have ended. Righteousness will not suffer then, for “God shall be all in all;” neither shall it reign, for there will be no evil to be kept in subjugation; but righteousness shall find a dwelling-place—a home, a rest, never again to be disturbed.
Thus all things, even death itself, shall have been subdued under Christ, as the last Adam, the head of the new creation. “He must reign until He hath put all enemies under His feet.” Then, when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power, He shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father. “Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor. 15:24-28.) Blessed and glorious consummation of all things—” God all in all.” God is light, God is love. He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Such will be the new heavens and the new earth; dwelling in God, it shall be filled with light and with love for ever. Standing, not merely as creation, but as redeemed creation, it shall be the eternal witness of God’s infinite satisfaction with the work of His Son.
The long-past night of sorrow, the former creation with its groans and travail, shall not be remembered, nor come upon the heart.
Strangely are the finite and the infinite combined within us—circumscribed as to our powers of mind and body within out narrow limits. Yet is there that in man which even a millennium of blessing in prospect fails to satisfy. The mind in vain attempts to compass the thought of eternity, and yet nothing short of the eternal has power to fill the aching longing of the soul after satisfaction. God knew this, and hence that which He brings to us in Christ Jesus for our acceptance is all eternal. It is eternal redemption, everlasting righteousness, eternal life, eternal inheritance, eternal glory. Hence it is not merely in Old Testament prophecies, which so seldom take cognisance of anything beyond the millennial reign of Christ, that we find our true and ultimate expectation; but when, apart from the course of ages, upon earth, we are introduced into those counsels and purposes of God which run through and beyond all ages. Such is Eph. 3:21: “Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all the generations of eternal ages. Amen.” (See Alford.)
“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”