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

by John Eldredge

“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. . . . They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.” (Isaiah 65:17–19, 21)

“I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.” (Isaiah 41:18) They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. (Isaiah 61:4)

You will have absolute intimacy with Jesus Christ, and his life will flow through your gifts unhindered. Imagine what we will be capable of, how vast our powers in the new earth! We know we shall walk on water, for Peter did on this earth at Jesus’ bidding. How far do our creative and artistic capacities reach? When we are in our home, our natal home, When joy shall carry every sacred load, And from its life and peace no heart shall roam, What if thou make us able to make like thee— To light with moons, to clothe with greenery, To hang gold sunsets o’er a rose and purple sea!9 What will you do in the life to come? Everything you were born to do. Everything you’ve always wanted to do. Everything the kingdom needs you to do.

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22–24)

“Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.” (Acts 3:21)

The great hope and expectation of the Christian faith is focused on one dramatic, startling event, sudden as a bolt of lightning, sharp as the tip of a sword: the bodily return of Jesus Christ, and with that, the renewal of all things. The two are united, as surely as God the Father and God the Son are united—the renewal of all things awaits the coming of our Lord, and the coming of our Lord ushers in the renewal of all things.

C. S. Lewis wrote, There are many reasons why the modern Christian and even the modern theologian may hesitate to give to the doctrine of Christ’s Second Coming that emphasis which was usually laid on it by our ancestors. Yet it seems to me impossible to retain in any recognizable form our belief in the Divinity of Christ and the truth of the Christian revelation while abandoning, or even persistently neglecting, the promised, and threatened, Return. “He shall come again to judge the quick and the dead,” says the Apostles’ Creed. “This same Jesus,” said the angels in Acts, “shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” “Hereafter,” said our Lord himself (by those words inviting crucifixion), “shall ye see the Son of Man . . . coming in the clouds of heaven.” If this is not an integral part of the faith once given to the saints, I do not know what is.1

forbidden attitude: “my master is staying away a long time”? Pause and let that sink in—he’s “staying away a long time” is called the “wicked” attitude. It is the forbidden attitude. And the one most of you probably have embraced.

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Luke 12:35–40)

I appreciate how forthright Jesus is on the matter. He admits in every story he tells that it looks like his coming is a long ways off; in this one he admits the bridegroom was a long time in coming(!). Jesus doesn’t dodge the matter. But he goes right on with the very same lesson: keep watch; look for his coming; be ready. Keep your lamps burning, even if he comes in the second or third watch.

Lewis said, The doctrine of the Second Coming, then, is not to be rejected because it conflicts with our favorite modern mythology. It is, for that very reason, to be the more valued and made more frequently the subject of meditation. It is the medicine our condition especially needs.2

The day I went into the woods with the shotgun I went to face my grief head-on. After I emptied all my shells and tore up quite a few branches by hand, I collapsed on a log, my rage spent. Jesus then tenderly sidled up and asked me, Why are you grieving? The question felt strange, insensitive. Why? You very well know why. But his question had the same tone the angels used when the disciples came to the grave of Jesus on Easter morning: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5). Jesus went on, Craig is not dead; you know that. So let us talk about your loss. He began to help me differentiate between grief and devastation, between “good-bye for now” and what felt like utter loss.

“Craig is dead” versus “Craig is gone for a while” are universes apart. He continues to exist as the person he is. He is well and about important matters. We miss him, of course, terribly; there is a hole in our lives nothing can replace. That is the loss, and it hurts. But we will see him again, so there is no place for devastation. Mourning, yes; we mourn a temporary parting.

What is it I am actually afraid of? What do I believe? When I allowed my heart to speak unedited, I realized some part of me still feared total loss—the loss of everything I love. But thanks to the palingenesia, that fear is no longer an issue. Nothing is lost, not for the friends of God. Nothing is lost.

Oh yes, you have a heart for the kingdom of God; your longing for Life is the essential part of you. And that precious heart must only be given to the kingdom of God, not the counterfeits so abundant in the world today. Which brings us back to shepherding our hope—and the hopes of others. Never before has the world been more in need of an unbreakable, brilliant, and tangible hope.

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.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:2–8)