Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. (Revelation 21:1-3)
The earth as we know it will not last forever, but after God's great judgment, He will create a new earth (Romans 8:18:21; 2 Peter 3:7-13). New here suggests freshness, not just a second beginning. This is the fulfillment of the prophecies (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13). Significantly, this eternal renewal has already begun in the life of the believer because, using the same term, Paul says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The present heaven and earth, including the sea, were burned up in the great white throne judgment (Revelation 20:11, 13), and thus have passed away before the arrival of the new heaven and earth. The fact that there will be a continuation of some features of the present creation in the new heaven and new earth is implied by the description of the New Jerusalem as the holy city, a title that is applied to the present Jerusalem in Revelation 11:2. Yet the drastic difference in the new eternal state is obvious from the fact that there will be no more sea, which was a major part of the original creation (Genesis 1:6–10).
