the new heaven and earth that will follow this temporary persecution. The new heaven and earth are indeed the culmination of God’s plan, not only for the people of God, but for the cosmos. It was promised by the biblical prophets and guaranteed by Jesus’ death and exaltation, and it is set to arrive as soon as the evil and blasphemous empire is judged and removed. This perspective on the situation is important in many ways, not least because readers of Revelation sometimes think that the Roman empire