Month: September 2023

Can You Imagine a New Earth?

Today is a gorgeous fall day. There is bright sun and a warm breeze. It is wonderful. It is also just the remnant of the good things that God placed in the original creation. Sit outside long enough and you will notice the results of the “curse”.

Probably some insects will find you eventually and they will harass if not bite you. The sun might get too warm. Stay long enough and you will get sunburn. Discomfort, temperature change, hunger, thirst will all show up eventually. But what if the curse no longer existed? What if sin and Satan’s kingdom were no longer a part of your environment? Can you imagine it?

The Biblical description of the New Earth is pretty scant. All of the detail is left for us to discover in the future. Even a Near Death Experience is not a field trip to the New Earth. If it is not an illusion, it is an experience of Heaven during the “Intermediate Period”, the time between now and Judgment Day.

What can we say about the New Earth? First, it is not just for redeemed people, but it includes a redeemed version of the rest of creation. There will be animals, but a “no death” system of existence. Nothing will prey on you or anything else. A petting zoo of the grandest form.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
    and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
    and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
    their young shall lie down together;
    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
    and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 11:6-9 (ESV)

Can you imagine such a gentle and complementary relationship with nature? Never mind the food chain and the cycles that move energy or carbon. God can create sustainable worlds that work in many ways.

How about people? We are the most dangerous predator on this planet. What about on the New Earth?

But be glad and rejoice forever
    in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
    and her people to be a gladness.

Isaiah 65:18 (ESV)

People will be one of the most enjoyable parts of the New Earth. No conflict, no unfriendly competition, just joyful relationships. We will not retain the relationships (like spouse) that we had here. That is not to say that we won’t know people from here. Our investment in helping others to know Jesus and be disciples is so that they will be a part of our “reward” in the New Earth.

Will we be bound to the New Earth? We are currently on the cusp of space tourism. Is our place restricted to the New Earth? One confusing aspect of God’s post-Judgment Day plans is that it appears to some that we either never go to Heaven or leave Heaven as Judgment Day commences. While I agree that we return with Jesus. I don’t think the Bible says we have to stay. Paul talks about “an eternal house in Heaven.”(2 Corinthians 5:1). What if an aspect of our resurrected bodies is that we can move between Heaven and this universe freely? What if we can move all over this universe and Heaven freely? Endless adventure, travel, investigating all that God will create.

Speaking of our resurrected bodies, what will we be like?

 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 (ESV)

A body that is no longer able to die, no longer sick or weak. Who knows what are its limits? I would understand “spiritual” in this context as that ability to move between and exist in parallel universes like Heaven and here. Will we be beautiful? I expect beauty will still be thing, but no one left out. Each person will have their unique and beautiful look.

One more thing to ponder. What about our relationship with God. We think of God being visible in Heaven, but He is able to be everywhere. I expect we will encounter Jesus in a face-to-face way every day in many settings. We will experience the Spirit and the Father in a multitude of ways, from seeing them take form, to being in God’s throne room, to experiencing their presence and power within us.

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:3b-4 (ESV)

Are you ready for this? This is the inheritance of those who are in Christ. God gets through to us so that we believe the promises connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus. We have eternal life from the time we are baptized in the name of Jesus, but it is ultimately and fully revealed when the New Earth begins.

Is Heaven a Destination for Humans?

Depending on your background the question in the title may seem strange to you. For many their understanding of eternal life is simply Heaven or Hell. There are others who come from the other side of this question. They would correctly note that Heaven was not promised as a human destination in the Old Testament. They would also note that we are promised a resurrection of the body and a place in a “new heaven and new earth.” If they wished, they could also note that “heaven” is oddly not capitalized in Greek like a proper noun, place name is in the rest of the New Testament.

Let’s start with the last point. Heaven is definitely a place and not a state of mind or physical condition. The problem is that for some reason Greek couldn’t come up with different words for atmosphere, universe and the place where God properly dwells. Sometimes the distinction is made 1st heaven, 2nd heaven and 3rd heaven, which corresponds with how they visualized these things spatially–like concentric circles. The fact that they have this wrong, doesn’t make God’s throne a non-place. Perhaps Heaven isn’t it’s proper name, just like “angel” might be more of a job description (messenger) than a name for a species (We could say the same for the title”God”) We use Heaven as a proper name, so I would argue that it should be capitalized regardless of what Greek did with it. Hebrew doesn’t capitalize, context is the key. The main point is that Heaven is a place and a future place for us.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in (H)heaven for you,

1 Peter 1:3-4 (ESV)

Our inheritance is in Heaven. You can have treasure in Heaven (Mt.9:21). Your citizenship is in Heaven (Phil. 3:20) Your hope is laid up in Heaven (Col. 1:5). And there are proofs that don’t use the word “Heaven.” The martyrs are under the altar (in Heaven) and before Judgement Day. Paul talks about us having a building from God…eternal in the heavens. Why the plural? I think it is because there is Heaven, the dwelling place of God and the redeemed now, and post-Judgment Day a new Heaven. My way of reconciling Heaven and eternity is to understand that we don’t abandon Heaven for the New Earth, but rather we add the New Earth.

The fact that Heaven is mentioned, but not as a destination for humans, in the Old Testament; certainly seems like a theological development. I suspect that it a change in conditions rather than human thought. Satan is expelled from Heaven (Rev. 12), and sin is atoned for by the victory of Jesus on the cross. The result is our ability to “reign” with Christ in Heaven right now.

There is a hymn that goes, “I’m but a stranger here, Heaven is my home.” The thought is a little sloppy but not wrong. I am of the Earth–not a stranger. But because of Christ, the Earth, Heaven, the new Heaven and Earth, are all home for me.