Matt.19:28 – Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Rev.21:1 – Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
We have no idea what a great future all of the sons and daughters of God will have. The more I ponder the results and purpose of redemption the more excited I get. The whole creation in all of its majesty is a shadow of what it once was before the fall. The Lord has an astonishing plan for His elect as well as the restoration of His creation. Jesus spoke about that great day just as the apostles did, it would be the culmination of all that Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection. Jesus told His apostles that they would rule with Him in the new universe, I believe all of His followers will have a role in that. It’s a big universe and it will be quite different in the regeneration. Here is how Ellicott describes this new creation.
“The newness which is pictured is the newness of freshness: the old, decaying, enfeebling, and corrupting elements are swept away. The aspects and features which will surround the inhabitants of that new earth will be full of novelty to satisfy the progressive instincts of our nature; but the imagery no less conveys the assurance that the conservative instinct, which clings to what is old, and finds sanctity in the past, will not be disregarded. All things may be new, full of fresh and fair beauty; but all things will not be strange; there must be some correspondency between the old and the new, when the new things are called new heavens, new earth, new Jerusalem. The description is figurative, but the spirit of it implies that in the restitution age the sweetness of things loved and familiar will blend with the charm of all that is fresh and new.”
That seems to be the way the Lord works, there is a sense of tradition and familiarity in all His works but at the same time everything He does has a supernatural newness about it. It could be said that we have never seen anything like this before but at the same time this all feels so strangely familiar. We have been uniquely chosen by the Lord to live at this pivotal time, something great is about to break on the scene, the evidence is all around us.
