Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
Jesus, in Matthew 24:35
“Behold, I create new heavens and new earth; the former things shall not be remembered nor come to mind.”
Isaiah 65:17
From a comment from Brother Jimmy Tolle, Jr.
When God destroys this heaven and this earth (Rev. 21:1), He will also destroy our memory of them. As Isaiah said, “The former things shall not be remembered, nor come to mind.” We would not have much eternal peace, would we, if we remembered the ones we loved here on earth but who refused Christ and were cast into the Lake of Fire? There is the suggestion in Scripture that the saints who are saved will, from time to time, view the damned souls who are in the torment of the Lake of Fire (Isa. 66:24), without knowing who those people are. But the ones in torment will never see the saints watching them, or see anything else for that matter; they will be in an eternal, suffocating blackness. As David prophesied, “They shall never see light.”
But what about God’s memory? It will not fade. He will not erase His own memory, only ours. God will always remember those who rejected His Son and were cursed with eternal damnation. The Father will always remember His children who were unfaithful and were disinherited, and cast out of the kingdom of God. He will never forget these “former things”.
What love for His faithful children! God Himself will know; He will remember; but the saints He saves in the end will not. He will not allow His elect to retain the memory of their lost loved ones, even though He Himself will always remember them. He will not allow anything ever again to trouble their hearts. Remember the promise: “and there shall be no more crying.”
To those in “the Israel of God” who walk uprightly, God is good, and He will be good to them forever. Their rest and joy will be absolutely complete and unmolested throughout eternity. That is the judgment of God you want to receive in the end. But while those whom the Father judges worthy of eternal life spend eternity in perfect peace and rest, unmindful of this world and its cares, God will remember these former days and these people, every one of them. He will always know the things He has removed from His children’s minds.