All Things New by John Eldredge

What we feel about the future impacts how we feel now. Eldredge wants readers to have hope, “the confident expectation of goodness coming to us.” (9) Jesus promised the renewal of all things in Matt. 19:28. Restoration of all things is coming, not annihilation.

After building a case for our need for hope, Eldredge unpacks what the renewal of all things means to us. “The renewal of all things simply means that the earth you love – all your special places and treasured memories – is restored and renewed and given back to you. Forever.” (35) He awakens our imagination to what earth would be like, restored to its full glory. The animal kingdom will be restored. We will be too, our bodies, our characters, all will be healed and restored. There will be a settling of accounts. Apologies will be made and received. (121) Wrongs will be avenged. (148)

This all sounds wonderful but I was left with a few questions. Eldredge reminds us that some will not be a part of this renewal. (191) He failed to address how believers will feel when close friends or family members are not part of the renewal. “Nothing is lost, not for the friends of God,” Eldredge declares. (187) Will that be the case for a parent when an unsaved child is not part of the renewal?

Eldredge encourages readers to know that “everything will be restored to you and then some...” (200) He is an outdoors person and wrote of bow hunting moose in the wilds of the Yukon – a “dream come true.” (202) For believers who love hunting and fishing, will that be restored and then some in the renewal?

Eldredge recently discovered this truth of the future renewal. For Christians who are unaware of this aspect of the future, this book is a good introduction to the topic. To astute Bible readers familiar with Revelation 21 and similar passages, there may not be much new in this book. You will be able to read many portions of novels quoted at length, however.

My rating: 3/5 stars.

John Eldredge is an author, a counselor, and a teacher. He is also president of Ransomed Heart, a ministry devoted to helping people discover the heart of God, recovering their own hearts in God's love, and learning to live in God's kingdom. He and his wife life near Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Nelson Books, 256 pages.

I received a complimentary galley of this book through Icon Media. My comments are an independent and honest review.