The New Earth | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 7, 1874

The New Earth.

THE following extract respecting the New Earth is from a Catholic work, published about 1776. It is valuable, as containing the opinions of some ancient writers.

Rev. 21:1: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and first earth was gone, and the sea is now no more.” Here is a total change in our system of nature. The earth that was, the heaven or sky, with its atmosphere, its clouds, &c., had passed away and vanished; but now a “new heaven and a new earth” appear. The same we are taught by St. Peter: “We look for new heavens and a new earth, according to his promises in which justice dwelleth.” 2 Pet. 3:13. This new heaven and new earth are not of new creation, but the former heaven and earth, purified by fire, renewed by the hand of God, and made much more perfect, “not other heavens and another earth,” says St. Jerome, “but the former ones changed into better.” Isa. 45. And St. Gregory the Great, speaking of the same, says: “Others are not to be created, but these same renewed.” Lib. 17 Moral in Job, c. 2. This sentiment is founded on Scripture. The psalmist represents the heavens and the earth growing old and wearing away like a garment, and then to be changed. “In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth: and the heavens are the works of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest: and all of them shall grow old like a garment: and as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed.” Ps. 101:26, &c. Solomon also seems to assure us that everything shall remain that has been created: “I have learned that all the works which God has made, continue for ever.” Eccl. 3:14. Upon which St. Gregory the Great’s comment is: “They will pass, as to their present figure or appearance, but as to their substance they will remain forever.” Lib. 17 Moral. in Job c. 5. St Austin tells us, that “by the change of things the world will not entirely perish or be annihilated. Its form or external appearance will be changed, but not its substance.” Lib. 20 de Civ. c. 14. And again more amply: “The figure of this world will pass away by the general conflagration. The qualities of the corruptible elements, of which our world is composed, which were proportioned to our corruptible bodies, will be entirely destroyed by the fire: and the substance of those elements will acquire new qualities which will be suitable to our immortal bodies: and thus the world, by becoming more perfect, will be proportioned to the then improved state of the human body.” Ibid. c. 16. After the same manner speak St. Justin, St. Basil, and other holy fathers. Hence we may conclude that our new world, as to its substance, will be the same as the old; but its qualities will be totally altered, so as to be no more pernicious to the human body, offensive to the senses, or obnoxious to unseasonable vicissitudes. Every part will then appear bright, glorious, pleasing to the senses, and inspiring happiness. They will form as it were a paradise. Whether the superior heavens, that contain the sun, moon, and stars, will undergo the same change, is uncertain; and the writers on this subject are divided in their opinions.