The old heaven and earth was the temple.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matthew 24:35 KJV
According to Josephus, 1 the Jews at that time considered the temple to be heaven (Holy of Holies) and earth (Outer Temple). Their whole lives revolved around the Temple. So, when Jesus said the above verse, the Jewish disciples knew exactly what He was referring to. It is not the physical heaven and earth, terra firma, if you will.
The Jews that Paul wrote to in 1Cor knew also what he was saying when he wrote:
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16 KJV
He said this a few years before the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in AD 70. These Jewish Christians would have understood this. They understood that at the consummation of all things they were become the new heaven and new earth!
This is how the Apostle John envisioned this new reality, quoting from Isa 25:8:
Rev 21:1-4 BSB 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, a for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. 4 ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”
John went on with his prophecy:
Rev 21:5-7 BSB 5 And the One seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then He said, “Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.” 6 And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life. 7 The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.
Jesus has made “all things new” This is the restoration of all things. In Greek, it is the “Apokatastasis.” This is what Peter was referring to in Acts 3:21 (See 2Cor 5:19).
Then Jesus told him, “It is done!” Doesn’t it sound like what Jesus said when He died on the cross? “It is finished!”
One thing that those who believe in Dispensationalism cannot seem to address. Is if the new heaven and new earth are physical recreations and sin has been destroyed, why are they still ungodly people in existence? Also, if the new heaven is a new recreation, what was wrong with the old one? Wasn’t it supposed to be paradise? A place where sin doesn’t dwell?
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. Revelation 22:11 KJV
14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Revelation 22:14-15 KJV
“…may enter in through the gates into the city.” This is the Kingdom of God, the new Jerusalem, which is now! If you know Jesus, you have the right to eat from the Tree of Life and enter through the gates! THIS IS GOOD NEWS!
“For without… ” These are the ones who cannot enter into the new Jerusalem because they did not receive Jesus. NOT GOOD NEWS!
This is now! Not sometime in the future! If not, why are sinners still on this so-called recreated physical earth!?
The kingdom of God is not only in you, it is in your midst (Luke 17:21). The Greek word for ‘within’ is ‘en-tos’; within you, i.e. in the midst.
The kingdom of God is all around us, which has many mansions (those in Christ) and we are to compel those who are without to come in.
The new heaven and earth are you and I! You are the “new creation.” We are now the place where God resides. He no longer, nor will ever reside again in a temple made by the hands of men!
- “However, this proportion of the measures of the tabernacle proved to be an imitation of the system of the world; for that third part thereof which was within the four pillars, to which the priests were not admitted, is, as it were, a heaven peculiar to God. But the space of the twenty cubits, is, as it were, sea and land, on which men live, and so this part is peculiar to the priests only.” — Josephus-Works: Josephus AOJ – Book 3, Chapter 6 ↩︎