December 30th

There will be ‘a new heaven and a new earth’, but Christ says, ‘I make all things new’ (v.5, NKJV) – not, ‘I make all new things’. This is an indication of the continuity with this creation. That is why Martin Luther said, ‘If I knew the world was ending tomorrow, I would plant a tree today.’ This has huge implications for our understanding of the resurrection (and also for how we treat the environment now).

The Earth will continue, we need to look after it as it is our inheritance, even after the second coming

Jesus will satisfy your thirst for God: ‘He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To those who are thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.”’ (v.6).

There will be a new relationship with God. You experience a foretaste of this today through the indwelling presence of God in the church by his Spirit. On this great day you will be brought into a place of complete intimacy with Jesus. Take the most beautiful relationship you have ever seen, multiply it a million times, and you will get some idea of the sheer beauty of the relationship you will experience with God in eternity.

St Augustine explains how we should respond to this hope for the future: ‘He who loves the coming of the Lord is not he who affirms that it is far off, nor is it he who says it is near, but rather he who, whether it be far off or near, awaits it with sincere faith, steadfast hope, and fervent love.’