Imagine a world in many ways similar to this one. There are plants and animals, the full spectrum of God’s original creation. We have bodies. We eat, sleep, do pleasurable work, maybe even are sexual. But this world has some profound differences. First, we never die or get sick. There is no war, crime, abuse or sin of any sort. We don’t believe God exists by faith. We see Him and speak with Him all the time. Can you imagine this? If so, where am I?
You might want to say the Garden of Eden, and that would be a close answer. But this is a description of God’s ultimate, post-Judgment Day plans for us. It is the New Earth.
I will say again, I am stunned as to how few Christians are familiar with even the idea of a new heaven and earth. This includes clergy. As you will see it is clearly declared in the Bible. There is probably a more complete description of the New Earth than there is of Heaven. People either haven’t read these passages or they have conflated the concept of Heaven with the New Earth. (If you haven’t read it, see: “Our Oversimplication of Life After Death“)
Let’s look at the passages about the New Earth, starting with the most basic 2 Peter 3. Some of our questions will be answered, we can infer some things, but be prepared to have more questions than answers.
Starting with 2 Peter 3:10:
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and new earth, the home of righteousness.
This passage foretells the complete annihilation of not only the planet but the whole of the universe. All gone, down to the atomic level. But this is not the end of all things. In fact, it is something of which to look forward. Why? The creation as it now stands is messed up. Its “order” has been disordered by Satan, by us and intentionally by God; and to get it back to the way God wants it, it must be destroyed and rebuilt.
In this passage we have very little detail of what the “new heaven and new earth” will be like, except that it is the “home of righteousness”. We can infer some details from these words. There will be no Satan, no sinfulness, no rebellion against God. There will be no separation of God from His creation. It will be somewhat like the Garden of Eden minus the way to mess it up. We may maintain a knowledge of what evil was, but we will never go there again.
This was the understanding of life after death even in the Old Testament. Next entry I will go to perhaps the most confounding passage on this topic or any in the Bible–Isaiah 65.
afterdeathsite 