All Things New: Heaven, Earth, and the Restoration of Everything You Love

by John Eldredge

When I speak of hope, I mean the confident anticipation that goodness is coming. A rock-solid expectation, something we can build our lives on. Not the delicate and fragile hopes most people are trying to get by with.

world. How is God going to make it all right? How is he going to redeem all of the suffering and loss of this world . . . and in your own life? Escapism isn’t going to do it, no matter what religious version you choose. What about all your hopes and dreams? What about all your special places and memories, the things most dear to your heart? Is there no hope for any of that? What we ache for is redemption; what our heart cries out for is restoration.

He promised “the renewal of all things,” including the earth you love, every precious part of it, and your own story (Matthew 19:28). The climax of the entire Bible takes place with these words: “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5). A day of Great Restoration is coming. Not annihilation—restoration. That is the only hope powerful enough to be for us what God calls the anchor of the soul: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul” (Hebrews 6:19).

If you knew that God was going to restore your life and everything you love any day, if you believed a great and glorious goodness was coming to you—not in a vague heaven, but right here on this earth—you would have a hope to see you through anything. You would have an anchor for your soul, “an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God” (Hebrews 6:19 THE MESSAGE).

It takes no courage to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to have hope. RABBI JONATHAN SACKS, Celebrating Life

Scripture names hope as one of the Three Great Forces of human existence: Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love. (1 CORINTHIANS 13 :13 NLT)

By saying they last forever, God names these three as immortal powers. A life without faith has no meaning; a life without love isn’t worth living; a life without hope is a dark cavern from which you cannot escape. These things aren’t simply “virtues.” Faith, hope, and love are mighty forces meant to carry your life forward, upward; they are your wings and the strength to use them.

Hope is the sunlight of the soul; without it, our inner world walks about in shadows.

Faith is something that looks backward—we remember the ways God has come through for his people, and for us, and our belief is strengthened that he will come through again. Love is exercised in the present moment; we love in the “now.” Hope is unique; hope looks forward, anticipating the good that is coming. Hope reaches into the future to take hold of something we do not yet have, may not yet even see. Strong hope seizes the future that is not yet; it is the confident expectation of goodness coming to us.

That promise fits perfectly with the deepest longing of our hearts—the longing for life to come together as we somehow know it was always meant to. The whispers of this promise touch a wild hope deep within our hearts, a hope we hardly dare to name.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: your heart is made for the kingdom of God. This might be the most important thing anyone will ever tell you about yourself: your heart only thrives in one habitat, and that safe place is called the kingdom of God.

“Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne . . . everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” (19:28–29)

Jesus replied, “Yes, you have followed me. In the re-creation of the world, when the Son of Man will rule gloriously, you who have followed me will also rule, starting with the twelve tribes of Israel. And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields—whatever—because of me will get it all back a hundred times over, not to mention the considerable bonus of eternal life.” (THE MESSAGE)

Jesus replied, “I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.” (NLT)

“The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” (Mark 1:14–15 NLT)

Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. (Matthew 4:23 NLT) Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. (Matthew 9:35) “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.” (Luke 12:32 NLT) “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14)

Jesus announced the coming kingdom of God. He then demonstrated what that promise means—the crippled walk, blind see, deaf hear, the dead are raised to life. His miracles are illustrations for his message, and unforgettable demonstrations they are. No one who saw them could miss the point—the kingdom of God means a Great Restoration. He then announced the renewal of all things right before the Romans seized him, and as if to make sure everyone got the point, he walked out of the grave scot-free three days later—the most dramatic illustration of restoration you could ask for.

as C. S. Lewis observed: Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously ignorant of—something, not to be identified with, but always on the verge of breaking through, the smell of cut wood in the workshop or the clap-clap of water against the boat’s side? Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling (but faint and uncertain even in the best) of that something which you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it—tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest—if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself—you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say “Here at last is the thing I was made for.”

The thing you are made for is the renewal of all things. God has given you a heart for his kingdom—not the wispy vagaries of a cloudy heaven, but the sharp reality of the world made new. This is one of the most important things you can know about yourself. Did you know this about yourself? When was the last time you told yourself, as you looked in the mirror in the morning, Good morning; you have a heart for the kingdom. This explains so much; it will be such an enormous help to you. It explains your anger and all of your addictions. It explains your cry for justice, and it also explains the growing hopelessness, resignation, cynicism, and defeat.

If we will listen with kindness and compassion to our own souls, we will hear the echoes of a hope so precious we can barely put words to it, a wild hope we can hardly bear to embrace. God put it there. He also breathed the corresponding promise into the earth; it is the whisper that keeps coming to us in moments of golden goodness. But of course. “God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT). The secret to your unhappiness and the answer to the agony of the earth are one and the same—we are longing for the kingdom of God. We are aching for the restoration of all things.

We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline. (Hebrews 6:19 THE MESSAGE)

Every man has two Battles to wage: In dreams he wrestles with God Awake, with the sea ANTONIO MACHADO, Proverbs and Song Verse

“People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:29)

Those the LORD has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 51:11) “Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. . . . “I will make peace your governor and well-being your ruler. No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.” (Isaiah 60:5, 17–20)

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.” (65:17–19)

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (21:1–5)

For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. (Romans 8:19–23 NLT)

The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. (Romans 8:19–21 THE MESSAGE)

Long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. . . . The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. (2 Peter 3:5–7, 10)

(1 Corinthians 3:13–15). Remember now—it was Peter who asked Jesus the question back in Matthew 19 that our Lord responded to by announcing the “renewal of all things.” Peter was right there; he heard his Master say it. And so he concludes his passage on the end of the age with these words: But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:13)

The life we now have as the persons we now are will continue, and continue in the universe in which we now exist. Our experience will be much clearer, richer, and deeper, of course . . . rooted in the broader and more fundamental reality of God’s kingdom and will accordingly have far greater scope and power.2

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.” (Acts 3:19–21)

Peter is both reaffirming and elaborating upon a long-held Jewish conviction that the Messiah will return things “to their original state, the universal renewal of the world which reestablishes the original integrity of creation.”4 Thus, Wright argues that “it is not we who go to heaven, it is heaven that comes to earth . . . the final answer to the Lord’s prayer, that God’s kingdom will come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”5

When we begin to unpack the teaching of Jesus and his disciples in light of the Jewish expectation—dramatically illustrated by miracles performed by Jesus like giving the blind their sight and raising the dead—the light of the Great Renewal begins to break through the darkness in which we have long dwelt. God does not merely scrap creation and our intended roles along with it. He restores everything.

On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. (Isaiah 25:6–8)

God promises the renewal of all things. He promises to make all things new.

God is trying to do two things with the promise in the earth and in our hearts: he is trying to woo us into hopeful expectation, and he is attempting to lift our gaze to the horizon so we might live for the real thing that is coming.

Our imagination so powerfully magnifies time, by continual reflections upon it, and so diminishes eternity . . . for want of reflection, that we make a nothing of eternity and an eternity of nothing. . . . This is a dangerous game. BLAISE PASCAL, Pensées

Oh, friends—this is why hope is so very precious. It is our lifeline, the anchor of our souls. And this is why it is so important to know where our hope is, to help it land in the right places.

I always felt it strange that God needed to command us to love him. (It is the first and greatest of all the commandments.) Now I see better. When God calls us to love him as our “first love,” it is not only because he deserves to hold that place in our hearts, but also because he knows what pain will come when we get that out of order.

Many of you have begun to discover the joy and freedom loving God brings to the rest of your life. Keeping God as our first love, we are not destroyed when others fail to love us well; we are able to weather criticism, loneliness, and rejection. Our other loves are able to find their whole and wholesome expression, and we are able to flourish as human beings. Anchored in True Love, our hearts can go on to love. Because we have first things first, as the saying goes.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12).

Here is my point: the renewal of all things is meant to be your first hope in the way that God is your First Love. If it isn’t the answer to your wildest dreams, if you aren’t ready at this very moment to sell everything and buy this field, then you have placed your hopes somewhere else.

Where we take our fantasies is a helpful way to know what we are doing with our kingdom heart.

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote, “Our creator would never have made such lovely days and given us the deep hearts to enjoy them above and beyond all thought unless we were meant to be immortal.”

We keep mistaking the message of the promise and forget—we must wait for the renewal of all things if we would truly find heaven on earth.

You understand, dear friends, that you will say good-bye to everyone you love and everything you hold dear.

Our life is a short time in expectation, a time in which sadness and joy kiss each other at every moment. There is a quality of sadness that pervades all the moments of our lives. It seems that there is no such thing as a clear-cut pure joy, but that even in the most happy moments of our existence we sense a tinge of sadness. In every satisfaction, there is an awareness of limitations. In every success, there is the fear of jealousy. Behind every smile, there is a tear. In every embrace, there is loneliness. In every friendship, distance. And in all forms of light, there is the knowledge of surrounding darkness.

“And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world” (1 Corinthians 15:19 NLT).

Death is such a violent assault on God’s design for our lives, our souls experience it as trauma.