Kevin DeYoung:
The first place in the Bible where the new heavens and new earth are mentioned is in the book of Isaiah, chapter 65. It gives a sweetly glorious picture of what is to come.
For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. The ways of this world, with its sin and suffering, will be forgotten. You will never think of the affair you had, the abortion you had, the pornography you saw, the gossip you spread, the drugs you took, the pain you caused. You won’t think of it. The pain of your divorce, the crushing disappointment that your marriage was marred with disease, the unbearable agony of waiting each month wanting to be pregnant, the feeling of non-stop aching in your joints because of arthritis, the unspeakable sadness you felt when you lost a child or watched him walk away from the Lord, the nights you couldn’t sleep because of anxiety, the dark days that seemed to never end–you won’t remember any of it. It won’t come to your mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. In the new heaven and new earth you will never hear a moan or a groan or an ouch. You will hear no weeping, no sighs of exhaustion or desperation. You will only hear gladness–laughter, singing, whistling, music, the sound of a buzzing party with your friends, the high-pitched excitement of a feast that is finally under way. And besides all this, God will rejoice and be glad in his people. God will delight in his finished work of consummation. He will rejoice to his image reflected in millions of his children. He be glad to have you around and will thrill to hear songs sung in his honor without ceasing.
No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days. . .
Read the whole thing here.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.