Main news for 26 October 2025

Describing the Jerusalem opened to him in a vision, Isaiah speaks of it in such a way that at times it is not easy to understand what city and what reality he means. A sun that does not set, a moon that does not hide, God's light fully illuminating what appears to be an earthly city: what is this? Heaven or earth? The easiest answer would be: heaven. But would such an answer be correct? Does the very division of the world into "heavenly" and "earthly" correspond to God's design?

Let us remember the first day of creation: there is not yet any division into "earthly" and "heavenly" there. It will appear later, on the second day. On the first day there is only one division: between light and darkness. And there is the world, permeated by God's light, the light of His presence. Yes, of course, later this unity, this wholeness of the created order, was broken. And this happened even before the fall of man, already on the second day of creation.

God never regarded such a state of affairs as the norm. The restoration of the wholeness of creation entered God's plan from the very moment of its division. And man was to play his role in solving this task. Of course, the fall changed much. After the fall, what became urgent for man was not so much the restoration of the wholeness of creation as the overcoming of the consequences of the catastrophe that distorted and perverted his own life. But in sending the Messiah into the world, God has both tasks in view.

The Messiah must bring the Kingdom of God into the world, and at the same time open to man the possibility, by sharing in the life of this Kingdom, of restoring the wholeness and fullness of his own life. And the Kingdom includes not only "heaven," but also "earth." It does not presuppose a splitting of the created order. The world must again become whole, as on the first day of creation. Whole, and transfigured. This is how Isaiah sees Jerusalem. It is revealed to him as part of that Kingdom to which the prophet bore witness. The Kingdom where the new heaven meets the new earth.