New Heaven/ New Earth
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
We have talked about the intermediate stage but what happens in the life after life. When we Go to the new heaven and the new earth.
Nearly Every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an unending church service…we have settled on an image of the never-ending sing-along in the sky, one great hymn after another, forever and ever, amen… And out heart sings.”
John Elderege, The Journey of Desire
But for believers Heaven is our ultimate home. The place of ultimate belonging, where you are loved. Where you can be yourself. It is right and good secure and warm.
I don’t know about what home means to you. Some of you none of those things. But New Heaven and and New Earth a true home.
God has literally been preparing our home for us. It is called Heaven and it will be a place beyond our wildest imagination.
But still our curious minds want to know things like . . .
1.Will Heaven be an actual place?
2.What will we look like in Heaven?
3.Will Heaven be boring?
4.What will we do for all eternity?
5.Will animals be in Heaven?
6.Will my pet be there?
7.Will I have a mansion, an apartment, an efficiency condo?
8.Who gets to go to Heaven?
Theologians throughout the centuries have written much on these questions. For example, St. Thomas Aquinas thought we would all be thirty-three years old in Heaven. Others have made logical deductions and inferences that explain why animals will be there, and perhaps even your favorite pet. But there are certain things we just won’t know until we get there.
Not Going to Heaven
Not Going to Heaven
Heaven coming Here
20 For our commonwealth exists in heaven, from which also we eagerly await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our humble body to be conformed to his glorious body, in accordance with the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
It isn’t about us going to heaven. It is we are waiting for a savior from there. Resurrection is life in a transformed physical existence. Christ comes here and transforms our lowelly or humble bodies to conform to his body. See also 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea did not exist any longer. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Behold, the dwelling of God is with humanity,
and he will take up residence with them,
and they will be his people
and God himself will be with them.
4 And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes,
and death will not exist any longer,
and mourning or wailing or pain will not exist any longer.
The former things have passed away.”
5 And the one seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new!” And he said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the one who is thirsty I will give water from the spring of the water of life freely. 7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowards and unbelievers and detestable persons and murderers and sexually immoral people and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their share is in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.
The Revelation concludes with a final vision of the marriage of heaven and earth where an angel shows John a stunning bride that symbolizes the new creation that has come forever to join God and his covenant people. God announces that He's come to live with humanity forever and that He's making all things new.
Remember at this moment, the earth is cut off from the full life of heaven. One day new creation will be pushed forth into life, like a new baby emerging from the womb.
John paints the picture of an all-new Garden of Eden, the paradise of eternal life with God! Going back to Genesis.
John saw the tree of life there, accessible to all and eternally yielding fruit. It could do this because its roots had access to the eternal river of life, which can dispense nourishment to all the new creation because it flows from the presence of God himself.
But not just two people there but all the nations there, working to cultivate the garden as Adam and Eve did in Genesis. For John, the fulfillment of God’s purpose through Jesus would result in the restoration of humans to their place as co-rulers of God’s world, ready to work with God to take creation into uncharted territory.
But it's not just a return back to the garden; it's a step forward into a new Jerusalem, a great city where human cultures and all their diversity work together in peace and harmony before God. John first described the new creation as a marriage of heaven and earth. Heaven is represented as both a city and a bride, coming down out of God’s heavenly domain and landing on earth, much like the staircase Jacob saw in his dream. John called the city-bride a “new Jerusalem.” It was so marvelous that he could only describe it regarding brilliant stones.
A great example is John’s physical descriptions of the new Jerusalem in Revelation 21:15–21
15 And the one who spoke with me was holding a golden measuring rod in order that he could measure the city and its gates and its wall. 16 And the city is laid out as a square, and its length is the same as its width. And he measured the city with the measuring rod at twelve thousand stadia; the length and the width and the height of it are equal. 17 And he measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits according to human measure, which is the angel’s. 18 And the material of its wall is jasper, and the city is pure gold, similar in appearance to pure glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every kind of precious stone: the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each one of the gates was from a single pearl. And the street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass.
15The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall.
More. He says the heavenly city has four sides, each with three gates, corresponding to the 12 tribes of Israel. Then he mentions 12 huge foundation stones, which correspond to the 12 apostles. After this, John says the heavenly city is a perfect cube, each side being 12,000 stadia, or 1,400 miles. Then we’re told that the walls were 144 cubits high, or about 200 feet.
And in the most surprising twist of all, there's no temple building in the new creation! The presence of God and the lamb that was once limited to the temple now permeate every square inch of the new world. There's a new humanity there, fulfilling the calling placed on them all the way back on page 1 of the Bible. Humanity will rule in God's image, partnering with God in taking this creation into new and uncharted territory. And so ends John's apocalypse and the epic storyline of the whole Bible.
All of the new creation will be God’s Holy of Holies!!!!
Where our minds rarely go is to the eternal state, where we’ll spend eternity... where we’ll live forever after the culminating event of human history that’s linked to Christ’s return—our resurrection. We’ll reign over a resurrected universe, centered on a resurrected earth...We will eat, drink, work, play, worship, discover, invent, and travel. Civilization will be resurrected, including human cultures with distinctive ethnic traits. There will be both resurrected nature and human culture. Together these elements combine to distinguish the eternal state, where God will come down and live with his people.
RANDY ALCORN, HEAVEN
Next Steps
Next Steps
Look forward to that Day.
Hope
Live today
Expand the Kingdom
Do you have the hope of Jesus for that Day?
Will you expand His Kingdom?
Bibliography
Bibliography
Ingram, Chip, and Lance Witt. The Real Heaven: What the Bible Actually Says. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2016.
Alcorn, Randy.Heaven. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, 2011.
Moody, D. L. Heaven: Where It Is, Its Inhabitants, and How to Get There. Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1884.
Hayes, Zachary J., Clark H. Pinnock, and John F. Walvoord. Four Views on Hell. Edited by Stanley N. Gundry and William Crockett. Zondervan Counterpoints Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996.
http://davidwarkentin.blogspot.com/2011/09/heaven-out-of-this-world.
htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy2AQlK6C5k&t=1s
https://youtu.be/qwNfH_SOWKA?list=RDCMUCeqnFRVfjy5R5ZUR92IZlpg
https://bibleproject.com/podcast/series/heaven-hellhttps://bibleproject.com/podcast/series/heaven-earth-series