If you’re a Christian today, you probably already know that God has done a great work in you. And what He’s done is revolutionary, life-changing and eternal. But what’s happened so for is just a portion or a down payment of what’s going to happen in the days to come.
But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” —1 Corinthians 2:7-9
The truth is the Good News is the best news on the planet. God through His grace has so thoroughly defeated sin and Satan that one day there won’t be any evidence they even existed!
The Good News is so good the bad news doesn’t matter!
If you are a Christian, the bad news won’t last forever, but the Good News will! You’ve heard this before and it is true, “The best is yet to come!” Regarding the kingdom of God, this is absolutely true.
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. — Romans 8:22-23
There are great things yet to come. One of them is the redemption of our bodies. We are going to get new bodies. Grace has already paid for them, and they are part of our redemption.
Paul says we groan until we get our new bodies. In the Greek language, it means we are “groaning together” until our bodies are released from the effects of mortality. There will be no more sickness, disease or death in our new bodies. Our new bodies won’t get tired or grow old. They won’t become overweight no matter how much we eat!
For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. —2 Corinthians 5:4-5
The tent that is mentioned is the physical body. It will be swallowed up by life! The eternal life that is in our spirits now will extend its domain to our physical bodies.
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body…. —Philippians 3:20-21
Our new bodies will be just like His body—glorious, forever young and vibrant and full of God’s power. When Jesus appeared to the disciples in Luke 24:39, He said, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”
He was proud of His new body! And you will be proud of yours too. It will run on the very life of God! It will be forever young, the way it was supposed to be before sin came into the world.
Our bodies are not the only thing that will change as the full payment of grace comes into manifestation. Paul said the whole creation groans and labors together with birth pangs until now. The whole universe is going to change!
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens (universe) will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. —2 Peter 3:10
This entire creation is going to be burned up and literally born again. Your spirit has been born again; your body will be born again, and eventually, the whole universe will be born again! It will be a very similar process to what you have already experienced in your spirit—old things will pass away and all things will become new.
Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens (the universe) will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. —2 Peter 3:12-13
God is going to make a new universe and a new earth. This one was polluted by sin and ruined. It cannot be recycled. It must pass away and be replaced by a new earth and a new universe.
In Revelation, John picks up where Paul left off in 2 Peter.
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. —Revelation 21:1
God will make all things new. John goes on to tell us that heaven, the city of God, will come down to the new earth and God will dwell with mankind. He will be our God and we will be His people and together, we will live forever in this new, sinless paradise.
And it gets better:
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” —Revelation 21:4-5
God will wipe every tear from our eyes! He will remove every bit of residue sin left on your being. Any emotional scars or wounds you may have, any regrets or mistakes or failures that cause pain will be permanently removed by God Himself. Jesus has already paid for it, and the full manifestation is coming!
This is the Good News and it is coming soon. There is coming a day when new-creation people, you and I, will live in a new universe with new bodies and God will dwell in our midst. The devil and evil will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. There will be nothing left that is infected by sin.
Grace has so completely defeated sin that there is coming a day in which it will be as if sin never existed, as if there never was a devil. It will be as if there never was a fall in the Garden of Eden. It will be as if you never sinned or ever made a mistake! It’s all because of Jesus. It’s about what He did—not about what you did. And where sin abounded, grace has much more abounded!
Then Jesus will step forward and speak these words:
And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. —Revelation 21:6
It’s not over until Jesus says it’s over! It’s not over yet. When He’s finished you won’t recognize this place. It will be exactly what He intended from the beginning—new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
We are in the middle of the fulfillment of a dream God had from before the foundation of the world, and it will be accomplished. Nothing can stop God from doing what He sets out to do—not sin, not the devil, nor kings, nor rulers of the earth. Nothing and no one can stop God’s plan from coming to pass. And we are the beneficiaries!
This is no fairy tale with a happy ending or wishful thinking for weak people who are trying to escape reality. These things are true, and they will come to pass for the family of God in due time. This is the Good News that we preach! Where sin abounded, grace has abounded much more!
The Good News is so good, eventually, there won’t be any bad news left!
End-time teaching has been the subject of controversy and debate since Bible days. In this series, you will learn about seven end-time events that nearly every Bible scholar agrees will happen in the days to come. Most disagreement is over the order of these events, so rather than waste time arguing over what happens when, this encouraging teaching focuses on major events that are sure to occur according to Scripture in these last days and proves that for the Christian, the Good News just keeps getting better and better!