216. What is the hope of the new heavens and the new earth? (part 1)
(Comp
216) After the final judgment the universe itself, freed from its bondage to
decay, will share in the glory of Christ with the beginning of “the new
heavens” and a “new earth” (2 Peter 3:13). Thus, the fullness of the Kingdom of
God will come about, that is to say, the definitive realization of the salvific
plan of God to “unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on
earth” (Ephesians 1:10). God will then be “all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28) in
eternal life.
“In brief”
(CCC 1042) At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come
in its fullness. After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign for
ever with Christ, glorified in body and soul. The universe itself will be
renewed: The Church… will receive her perfection only in the glory of heaven,
when will come the time of the renewal of all things. At that time, together
with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely related to man
and which attains its destiny through him, will be perfectly re-established in
Christ (LG 48; cf. Acts 3:21; Eph 1:10; Col 1:20; 2 Pet 3:10-13).
To deepen and explain
(CCC 1043) Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal,
which will transform humanity and the world, "new heavens and a new
earth" (2 Pet 3:13; cf. Rev 21:1). It will be the definitive realization
of God's plan to bring under a single head "all things in [Christ], things
in heaven and things on earth" (Eph 1:10). (CCC 1044) In this new
universe, the heavenly Jerusalem, God will have his dwelling among men (Cf. Rev
21:5). "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be
no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the
former things have passed away" (Rev 21:4).
On reflection
(CCC 1045) For man,
this consummation will be the final realization of the unity of the human race,
which God willed from creation and of which the pilgrim Church has been
"in the nature of sacrament" (Cf. LG 1). Those who are united with
Christ will form the community of the redeemed, "the holy city" of
God, "the Bride, the wife of the Lamb" (Rev 21:2, 9). She will not be
wounded any longer by sin, stains, self-love, that destroy or wound the earthly
community (Cf. Rev 21:27). The beatific vision, in which God opens himself in
an inexhaustible way to the elect, will be the ever-flowing well-spring of
happiness, peace, and mutual communion. (CCC 1046) For the cosmos, Revelation affirms the profound common destiny of
the material world and man: For the creation waits with eager longing for the
revealing of the sons of God… in hope because the creation itself will be set
free from its bondage to decay.... We know that the whole creation has been
groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we
ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (Rom 8:19-23). [IT CONTINUES]
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