The Daily Office · For wonder
All things new
Revelation 21:1–5
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
What's happening here
Revelation ends not in the destruction the book has spent twenty chapters describing, but in a marriage. The holy city comes down out of heaven, a voice announces that God will dwell with his people, every tear will be wiped away. The voice from the throne then declares what God is about to do — and the verb it uses is in a tense that is already underway but not yet finished. Greek has two words for "new," and the choice between them is the whole claim of the sentence.
The word that matters
Greek · new — not recent, but new in kind
Greek had two words for "new." Neos meant new in time — recent, freshly made. Kainos meant new in kind — unprecedented, qualitatively different from what came before. A neos car is a recently built one; a kainos car would be a vehicle unlike any ever made. When the voice on the throne says "behold, I am making all things kainos," the claim is not that God is redecorating creation. It is that what comes next is a kind of thing that has not yet existed — a world not rebuilt but remade.
Where else this shows up
Isaiah 65:17
"Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth." The Hebrew anticipation Revelation is answering.
2 Corinthians 5:17
"If anyone is in Christ, there is a kainos creation." The miniature down-payment of the final remaking.
Revelation 2:17
"To the one who conquers I will give... a kainos name that no one knows except the one who receives it." Kainos at human scale.
Across the whole Bible · wonder
Passages found by what they mean, not by keyword. Open any of them on the canvas.
Isaiah 6:3
And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
Psalm 89:5–9
Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones! For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD, a God greatly to be…
Psalm 148:3–4
Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
Amos 4:13
For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name!
Psalm 8:9
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 97:6–7
The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods!
Psalm 57:5
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!
Psalm 57:11
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!
Psalm 68:32–35
O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, Selah to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice. Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over…
Psalm 8:1–2
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and…
1 Chronicles 16:23–27
Sing to the LORD, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be…
Psalm 115:16–18
The heavens are the LORD’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and…