In Scripture, “heaven and earth” is often covenant language: an ordered world of authority, worship, law, and identity. It can describe the structure of a covenant administration—who rules, how access is defined, and how the people are governed— not merely the material universe.
The prophets regularly call “heaven and earth” as witnesses in covenant lawsuits. This is legal-prophetic rhetoric: the covenant order is summoned to hear the indictment.
These passages are not teaching astronomy. They are using the “heaven/earth” pair as covenant courtroom language. That’s why the same pair can be “shaken,” “worn out,” or “passed away” when a covenant order is judged and replaced.
In prophetic-covenant usage, the pair commonly maps like this:
This mapping doesn’t mean the Bible never speaks about the physical heavens and earth. It means: in prophetic judgment/transition contexts, the language often carries covenant meaning.
The prophets describe covenant collapse using “creation reversal” imagery: sun darkened, stars falling, heavens shaken, earth trembling. This is stock prophetic vocabulary for the fall of a ruling order.
None of these passages report the end of the physical universe. They use de-creation imagery to describe the end of a political/covenantal “world.”
Jesus stands in this prophetic tradition. In Matthew 24, the discourse is anchored in the temple’s judgment and locked to “this generation.” Within that covenant horizon, Jesus says:
In that setting, “heaven and earth” functions as covenant-order language: the old administration (temple-centred world) is shakable and passing; Christ’s word is the fixed authority of the new order.
Hebrews 12 explicitly interprets “shaking” language. The point is not the destruction of creation, but the removal of what can be shaken so that what cannot be shaken remains.
Hebrews is temple-and-covenant argument from start to finish: priesthood, sacrifice, access, and covenant replacement. So when Hebrews speaks of shaking “heaven and earth,” it is covenant transition language: the old order removed; the kingdom received.
2 Peter 3 is often forced into “planet incineration” readings, but Peter’s own framing points to covenant judgment and transition, and his “new heavens and new earth” expectation comes from Isaiah’s promise.
Isaiah’s “new heavens and new earth” is not written as an astrophysics lecture. It is covenant renewal language: a new order of life, worship, and peace under God’s reign. Peter draws on that promise to speak of the transition into the new covenant world.
If the old covenant world has been judged and removed, then you are not living under a fading administration. You live in the unshakable kingdom now: stable access, settled identity, Spirit-life, and presence. “Heaven and earth” passing is not a threat hanging over you—it’s covenant history behind you.
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