Creation was not Made in Vain

"It is not satisfactory to say that the universe will be utterly destroyed and that the sea, earth and sky will no longer exist...God did not work in vain.

    He says the creation was made subject to vanity, but He looks for it to be set free from such servitude...For in reality, God did not establish the universe in vain or only for it be destroyed, as those weak-minded men say.  Rather, He made it to exist, to be inhabited, and to continue.  For that reason, the Earth and the heaven must exist after the burning and shaking of all things.

    There is no contradiction nor absurdity in Holy Scripture.  For it is not "the world" that passes away, but the " fashion of this world."... In that manner we who are renewed may dwell in a renewed world without taste of sorrow.  However, it will not be destroyed.

    Now, since the Earth is to exist after the present age, there must also be inhabitants for it.  They will not marry, nor beget children.  Rather, they will live in all blessedness without change or decay."

        -- Methodius (290 AD)  he lived in Lycia (modern Turkey) and was a bishop there.
              This excerpt is found in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol.6, page 365-66