"Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt." (Daniel 12:2)

It will be a day of joy and rejoicing when the promised salvation of God will occur. The future hope would be fulfilled when God's will would be perfectly done after the pain and suffering of the present. Salvation would be realized in a reign of God - the kingdom of God - described in terms that we could understand: a redeemed community on earth.

"Behold 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 crying will be heard in it no more." (Isaiah 65:17-19)

Here is the promise of a future totally transformed existence; no more injustice, no more fruitless labor, no more sorrow, no more destruction. This is a new creation, a second creation. The miracle of the first creation, which we see all around us, will be surpassed by the second creation. If God is capable of creating the universe and guiding it to its present state in all its beauty, complexity and wonder, then he is able to create another universe - a new heavens and a new earth. The work of salvation is the work of God who is Creator as well as Savior. "I will create," he says. Just as he created by the word of his mouth, as Genesis records, he will create again.

He is already in the process of beginning a new creation in Christ. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." (2 Cor.5:17) When, by faith, we are born anew by water and the Spirit and enter the kingdom of God, we become a new creation in Christ. "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of all he created." (James 1:18) The work of the Gospel in this age is to bring to birth a new people who will become citizens of the age to come ("our citizenship is in heaven" Phil.3:20). We are to be the pioneer settlers of the future transformed society. We are to be recruiters for the settlement of the new heavens and the new earth. The church is the Emigration Society inviting people to join us in this new opportunity for the fulfillment of life and human destiny. Just as emigration societies existed in colonial times to recruit settlers for the new world, the church exists to recruit inhabitants for the age to come.

Who would not want to become settlers in the new heavens and the new earth, the second creation? How would the prospectus describe this colony of Christ? What are the characteristics of this place? What are the advantages of the new creation? What would attract you to make a deposit for a reservation?
* There will be no premature or tragic deaths by disease, accidents, famine, murders or wars: no infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years.
* There will be no disappointed hopes, or unrealized dreams: they will build houses and dwell in them, they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
* There will be no injustice, no fraud, no persecution, no abuse, no theft, no displacement: no longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat.
* There will be fulfillment and human flourishing: my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune. They will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them.
* Their prayers will be answered, they will experience fellowship with God: before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
* They will live in harmony with nature: the wolf and the lamb will feed together, the lion will eat straw like the ox. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain.

The promise of this future transformation is confirmed in the New Testament. We are to prepare for this future destination by the lives we live in the present.

"You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming...in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness." (2 Peter 3:13)

There will be a new beginning when all God's purposes will be fulfilled.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth... 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." (Revelation 21:1,4)

If all this is true, and we have a reliable glimpse of this future salvation, what difference should it make to us today?

We should rejoice and be glad in God's salvation. God is rejoicing over what he is creating and so should we. We are meant to be a delight and a joy. Death is swallowed up forever. Mourning and crying will not be heard in it. If we rejoice and enjoy the first creation of nature, surely we should rejoice in God's second creation of grace. Rather than whine and complain about our troubles in this world we should be glad and rejoice with God in what he will create. Rather than be miserable in this life we should take delight in our future transformation.

We should look forward to a new heaven and new earth with all its privileges. The old body which we inhabit, with all its weaknesses, pain and suffering will be transformed into a new body. The sorrows of this life will be replaced with the joys of the life to come. The former painful things will not be remembered nor will they come to mind. Your sins are blotted out and forgiven by Christ's atonement on the Cross. They will not be remembered. Your failures and mistakes are buried in the depths of the sea. The joy of the new creation will overflow and extinguish all other painful issues in our lives.

We should invite others to join us in it as pioneer settlers and citizens of heaven. Share with others the generous invitation to enter into the new heavens and the new earth. People are attracted by joy. They will be attracted to a place of gladness and delight. Jesus said that the angels rejoice over a sinner who repents. He said that we are to rejoice that our names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). The shepherd invites us to rejoice with him when he finds his lost sheep. The woman invites us to rejoice with her when she finds her lost coin. The father invites us to the feast to celebrate the return of his lost son. God invites us to be glad and rejoice in that which he creates. Rejoice in what God has done and is doing in Christ.

"The Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all people, 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."(Isaiah 25:6,7)

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