“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.” Psalm 102:25

You, O Mighty God, are the Beginner and Ender of history.

You formed the earth and hung it on nothing.

You breathed the stars, the galaxies, the clusters of galaxies, the farthest reaches of space.

They all belong to you and at the right time you will bring them to an end:

“They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.

Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded” (Ps. 102:26).

It is hard to think of this great, expansive, majestic, far flung creation ending.

Yet, it is not permanent, for it is a part of time: as it had a beginning,

so it will have an end, an end brought about by you, Lord.

The heavens and earth will come to the conclusion of their purpose and usefulness;

they will “wear out” and you will remove them. All we know is temporary. Only you, Lord God, are timeless.

In your great scheme, you have something else in store to replace them, something perfect, untainted, untwisted by sin.

You have a proposal, a plan, a purpose: a pure and pristine new Heaven and Earth,

far beyond what any man could imagine in beauty, in greatness, in perfection—incorruptible and eternal.

And, because of your plan, there is hope for

and end to sin,

justice for evil done

rewards for obedience to you.

In these we can rest, rejoice and be refreshed.

Help us to have this eternal perspective

To remember this hope we have in heaven

so that faith and love may flow from it continually.