καινός kainos ("new")
γῆ gē ("earth")
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth..."
This little phrase that starts the 21st chapter of Revelation stuns me every time I read it. John writes that he sees a ge and ouranos that are kainos..."an earth and its heavens that are new." This change of heaven (referring to 'blue sky' and 'cosmos surrounding the earth' ) and earth had been predicted numerous times in the Bible:
Isaiah 65:17 "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind."
Psalm 102:25-27 " In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.
2 Peter 3:12 "as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat."
This Greek word for new means fresh, and new in the sense of quality - this will not be a simple remake of earth. In the Isaiah 65 passage the Hebrew word for create ("bara") means "create out of nothing."
This is a whole new creation. I'll take a deeper look at this in future posts.
