The expression “new heavens and new earth” appear in both the Old and New Testaments. A study of the meaning is in order in view of the various views expressed by different religious orders. Some affirm that the new heaven and new earth are to come about when the present earth and associated heavens are revamped and renewed in a new order. This is allegedly to occur at the return of Christ. It will help to have the passage (2 Pet. 3:13) clearly in our mind before any attempt is made to unravel the meaning. It reads: “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

This attempt to analyze the verse will begin with the promise mentioned. The promise of new heavens and a new earth is a promise God has repeated to His people. God created human beings only after He had prepared a place for them to live. We can look at what God did from this perspective and see it as the present heavens and earth. But it was new to the first creatures on it. For a time, righteousness dwelt on what God created for man. After sin entered the picture, God again planned for a different type of place for His people to inhabit. Centuries later, a prophet stood boldly before the people of God and declared: “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another and from on Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord” (Is. 66:22-23).

The meaning of heavens and earth does not change. The most fundamental meaning has to be that which is prepared as a place for man to dwell. But just as the first heavens and earth constituted a complete and drastic change in nature, so the new heavens and earth will be altered. But still it is a place for mankind to dwell. A study of what the New Testament church or kingdom of God on earth is will reveal that the promise of a new heavens and earth made by Isaiah was fulfilled in the setting up of the Kingdom on the first Pentecost feast day following the resurrection of Christ. (Compare Isaiah 2:1-4, Luke 24:47, and Acts 1-2).

The new heavens and new earth of Isaiah is the dwelling place for God’s people now. It is the church which Jesus promised, which He guided the apostles in building. Although God dwells in the church through the Spirit, it is not primarily a place for God - the church is a place for the saved. Paul speaks of the church as the temple of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself as the “chief corner stone” (Eph. 2:21-22). Some have even thought that the place Jesus promised to prepare (John 14:1-2) is the church He promised in Matthew 16:18). In any case, the new heavens and new earth do not mean some physical universe or some revised and revamped present universe.

We are to anticipate the fulfillment of the promise of still another new heavens and new earth. Again, it is the place God fitted together for His own people, the saved. The last reference to the new heavens and new earth is Revelation 21:1. Here John saw it and declared that the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. He added, “and there was no more sea.” This obviously defeats the view of some revision of this planet. The next place of abode for the saved is with God and all the redeemed of all ages. That can only be heaven, that place of eternal bliss. Only then will the condition of complete righteousness be possible. Did you notice that in each place where the new heavens and new earth are mentioned, Peter’s reference is the only one that promises that only righteousness will dwell there? The first earth and heavens were polluted. Even in the church there is sin, but in heaven all of that will be passed and gone. Perfect, complete, and total righteousness will dwell there. So, it is the conclusion of this treatment of the passage that Peter is speaking of nothing more or less than heaven as the eternal abode of those made perfect.