what does "New heavens" and "new earth" mean?

To properly understand these expressions, we must view them in the greater scheme of Scripture. We must lay "line upon line" and go "here a little, and there a little" (Isaiah 28:13). Isaiah 34:16 says every Scripture has "her mate" and that "his spirit  ... hath gathered them."  

The expressions the Apostle Peter employed of "new heavens and a new earth" were first introduced in Isaiah 65:17. What these expressions represent becomes clear when verse 17 is read in continuity with verse 18. In verse 17, the Prophet Isaiah spoke of "new heavens," and in verse 18 (using a common Hebrew teaching style known as parallelism), he explained what the new heavens refer to.

In verse 18, Isaiah penned, "I create Jerusalem." This "heavenly Jerusalem" is representative of the "church" (Hebrews 12:22-23). The "new earth" (verse 17) is "her people" (verse 18). It is this new people who "have this treasure in earthen vessels" (2 Corinthians 4:7), who are "a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17), or as the Greek says new "creations," who compose this New Testament church. 

Peter lifted Isaiah's prophecy and placed it in the midst of his Epistle, which is speaking of the Second Advent. However, verse 13 has nothing to do with the Second Advent. In this passage, the Apostle was dealing with two lines of thought: (1) "the day of the Lord will come" (2 Peter 3:10), with an explanation of the occurrences of that day; and (2) "Seeing then that all these things [or in view of this coming event] ... what manner of persons ought ye to be" (verse 11). He proceeded to tell us to be ready for that day, we should be "in all holy conversation and godliness." 

In view of this coming fateful day, Peter revealed the need to be looking for an experience that makes us a "new earth" and puts us in the "new heavens" (verse 13). In this verse, he told us to "look for new heavens and a new earth," and in verse 14, he explained what they are: "Seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." These words describe both the personal experience ("new earth") and the position where that experience is nurtured and sustained ("without spot, and blameless," the church "not having spot ... holy and without blemish"; Ephesians 5:27). Thus, this "new heavens" is "heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6). 
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In this text, Peter was dealing with dual thoughts: (1) the coming Second Advent of the Lord, and (2) the experience and church He has left in place to prepare people for His coming.

Earl R. Borders

From the March 2025 issue of The Gospel Trumpeter