According to the modern church, God’s people are awaiting a New Heavens and Earth. Many say that this is to be a renewed planet, ‘cleansed of sin and pollution.’
However, was this what the Bible writers were speaking of? Let us consider these brief points.
Jesus understood the Heavens and Earth as the Sinai Covenant World
The Hebrew understanding of the Heavens and the Earth was unlike our western concept. According to Jesus, Israel’s obligations to the Jots and Tittles of the Torah (Law of Moses) would be binding until the Heavens and Earth passed away. See Matthew 5:18.
He also said that the prophecies in both the Torah and the Prophets must be fulfilled. At that fulfillment, the Heavens and Earth would pass away. See Matthew 5:17-18.
He also said that all things written (in the Torah and the Prophets) would be fulfilled in that generation to whom he was speaking. See Matthew 24:34-35. Thus he expected the Heavens and Earth would pass in their lifetime.
Jesus’ understanding, as well as that of the typical Hebrew, was that the ‘Heavens and Earth’ referred to the covenant relationship between God and Israel.
That old relationship was about to give way to a new covenant relationship. God would soon bring to pass all the promises made to Israel within the Sinai Covenant. This would occur in the lifetime of Jesus’ first century audience.
