The promise of the gospel of salvation is the promise not only of life eternal through faith, but of an eternal inheritance in the earth made new, the fulfilment of the Creator's plan when He made this world to be the home of man. This was the star of hope that shone before Adam and Eve as they stepped forth from Eden into a dying world. It was the promise to Abraham, "the promise, that he should be the heir of the world." Rom. 4:13. It was not the promise of the world in its present state. For the Lord gave Abraham "none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on." Acts 7:5. Abraham himself did not look for the promise to be fulfilled in this sinful earth, but in the earth made new, redeemed from sin. The Scripture says of his hope: "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country: ... for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Heb. 11:9, 10. It was in the new earth and the New Jerusalem that Abraham, the father of the faithful, expected to receive the eternal inheritance promised to him and to his seed. And there all the faithful will find their inheritance. "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:29. The psalmist said, "The meek shall inherit the earth." Ps. 37:11. Christ repeated it: "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. 5:5. The New Earth and the New Jerusalem Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord described the re-creation of this earth to be the home of the saved: "Behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." Isa. 65:17-19. It is not of old Jerusalem that the prophet is speaking, but of the New Jerusalem, which John saw coming down, with the saints, from God out of heaven. He saw it descending upon the earth at the end of the thousand years, and saw the wicked come forth from their graves to judgment. Then he saw the fires of the last day falling upon the lost, consuming sin and sinners, and purifying the earth itself from every trace of the curse. It is the day of which Peter wrote, "Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." But he adds, "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:12, 13.