Augustine of Hippo — on Rev 20:11 (City of God 20.14)

“John picks up again the theme of the last judgment (which is to accompany the second and bodily resurrection of the dead) and describes the manner of its revelation to him.… Note that he does not say, "One who sat upon it, and from his face earth and heaven fled away," because this "flight" had not yet taken place, that is, not before the judgment of the living and the dead. What he says is that he beheld One sitting on the throne "from whose face earth and heaven fled away"—not then but subsequently. The fact is that it will be after the judgment is completed that heaven and earth will end with the beginning of the new heaven and earth. For it will be by a transformation rather than by a wholesale destruction that this world of ours will pass away. This explains Paul's words: "This world as we see it is passing away. I would have you free from care." It is, to be sure, the visible appearance of the world that is destined to pass away, not its nature.”