All Things New... and Old?
The penultimate chapter of Revelation declares, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5). This proclamation comes in the context of the “new heaven and new earth” that will appear at the end-time (21:1). Yet, there is an irony in all this “newness.” These words and images come from what Christians call the Old Testament. According to the prophet Isaiah, God had spoken these things long ago, just as John hears them in Revelation. Since the culmination of the so-called “New Testament” consists in declarations that are old, Bible readers are reminded that the New Testament is a restatement and recapitulation of Israel’s Scriptures; understanding the message about Jesus necessitates a deep knowledge of his Father’s words, and vice versa.
After John hears, “I make all things new” (καινὰ πάντα ποιῶ, kainā pānta poio; Rev 21:5), the divine voice says, “It has come to be. I am the Alpha and the Omega; the beginning and the end (ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος, he archē kaī tō tēlos). To the thirsty I will give from the spring of water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this inheritance” (21:6-7). Later, the epilogue of Revelation reads, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last (ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος, ho protos kaī ho ēschatos), the beginning and the end” (22:13). Insofar as these lines come at the end of the New Testament, it would be understandable for readers to assume that all this language is, well, new. However, Revelation is reiterating ideas that God had established long before John’s visions on Patmos.
As the Babylonian exile was coming to an end in the 6th century BCE, God spoke to Israel through Isaiah. The Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures called the Septuagint—which the writers of the New Testament drew on most often—has the Lord declare through the prophet, “You have heard all things (πάντα, pānta) and you have not known, but also I have made you hear; I have made the new things (ἐποίησα τὰ καινὰ, epoīesa tā kainā) from now on, which are coming to pass” (Isaiah 48:6 LXX). That Revelation echoes Isaiah is made clear from the broader prophetic context. In the Hebrew of Isaiah 46:12, God proclaims, “I am he. I am the first and I am the last (אֲנִי רִאשׁוֹן אַף אֲנִי אַחֲרוֹן; ani rishon af ani aharon).” Since the end of Isaiah refers to the coming “new heavens and new earth” (65:17; 66:22), it is clear that the end of Revelation is indebted to the prophetic Scriptures.
Thus, the New Testament language is not new. In fact, it would even be imprecise to say that Revelation marks a “fulfillment” of Isaiah, since both texts look forward to a reality that has not occurred—i.e., the promise of “all things becoming new” has not been fulfilled in human history. Therefore, in the time between the present and the new Jerusalem, it is the job of Bible readers to embrace what is old and new as equally informative and important. As Jesus himself says, “Every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of the heavens is like the householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” (Matthew 13:52).
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