Heaven

by Randy Alcorn

  The cleansing with fire will be more thorough than the Flood in that it will permanently eliminate sin. But just as God'sjudgment by water didn't make the earth permanently uninhabitable, neither will God's judgment by fire.

  The King James Version translates 2 Peter 3:10 this way: "The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." But the word translated "burned up" does not appear in the oldest Greek manuscripts, which contain a word that means "found" or "shown." The New International Version trans lates it "laid bare," and the English Standard Version renders it "exposed." God's fire of judgment will consume the bad but refine the good, exposing things as they really are.

  Theologian Cornelius Venema explains, "The word used in the older and better manuscripts conveys the idea of a process that does not so much destroy or burn up, but uncovers or lays open for discovery the creation, now in a re­newed state of pristine purity."114 Likewise rejecting "burned up" as the best translation, Albert Wolters argues that "translations of this text have often been influenced by a world view that denies the continuity between the present and future state of creation."115 Venema makes the connection between 2 Peter 3 and Romans 8 when he observes, "Second Peter 3:5-13 confirms . . . the basic ideal also expressed, though in different language, in Romans 8. The new heav­ens and earth will issue from God's sovereign and redemptive work. . . . It will involve the renewal of all things, not the creation of all new things . . . [and] it follows that the life to come in the new creation will be as rich and full of activ­ity in the service of the Lord as was intended at the beginning."116

  Several prominent ancient theologians acknowledged the continuity be­tween the present Earth and the New Earth. Jerome often said that Heaven and Earth would not be annihilated but would be transformed into something better. Augustine wrote similarly, as did Gregory the Great, Thomas Aquinas, and many medieval theologians.117

  THE MEANING OF "NEW"

  As we've seen, the expression "Heaven and Earth" is a biblical designation for the entire universe. So when Revelation 21:1 speaks of "a new heaven and a new earth," it indicates a transformation of the entire universe. The Greekword kainos, translated "new," indicates that the earth God creates won't merely be new as opposed to old, but new in quality and superior in character. According to Walter Bauer's lexicon, kainos means new "in the sense that what is old has become obsolete, and should be replaced by what is new. In such a case the new is, as a rule, superior in kind to the old."118

  It means, therefore, "not the emergence of a cosmos totally other than the present one, but the creation of a universe which, though it has been gloriously renewed, stands in continuity with the present one."119

  Paul uses the same word, kainos, when he speaks of a believer becoming "a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). The New Earth will be the same as the old Earth, just as a new Christian is still the same person he was before. Different? Yes. But also the same.

  When a house burns to the ground, the components of the house do not cease to exist, but take on another form. According to the first law of thermody­namics (conservation of energy), the fire doesn't obliterate the wood but trans­forms it into different substances, including charcoal and carbon dioxide. What we consider annihilation is not what it appears.

  Resurrection, however, goes beyond that. A new house is not made out of the materials of a house that burned, but out of new materials. Though it may be on the same ground, made according to the same blueprint, it's a different house. Resurrection, however, is about continuity—the samebody that was de­stroyed is reconstructed into the new.

  As God may gather the scattered DNA and atoms and molecules of our bodies, he will regather all he needs of the scorched and disfigured Earth. As our old bodies will be raised to new bodies, so the old Earth will be raised to be­come the New Earth. So, will the earth be destroyed or renewed? The answer is both—but the "destruction" will be temporal and partial, whereas the renewal will be eternal and complete.

  The doctrine of the new creation, extending not only to mankind, but to the world, the natural realm, and even nations and cultures, is a major biblical theme, though you would never know it judging by how little attention it re­ceives among Christians.

  In an important essay, theologian Greg Beale argues that "new creation is a plausible and defensible centre for New Testament theology." He states, "The Bible begins with original creation which is corrupted, and the rest of the Old Testament is a redemptive-historical process working toward a restoration of the fallen creation in a new creation. The New Testament then sees these hopes beginning fulfillment and prophesies a future time of fulfillment in a consum­mated new creation, which Revelation 21:1-22:5 portrays."120

  Hence, as we've seen from Isaiah and throughout the Old Testament, the doctrine of the new heavens and New Earth is not some late-developing after­thought but a central component of redemptive history and intention. It is the paradigm of biblical perspective—inclusive of but broader than the themes of kingdom, covenant, resurrection, and salvation. As Beale puts it, "New creation is the New Testament's hermeneutical and eschatological centre of gravity."121

  Summarizing theologian William Dumbrell's views of new creation, Beale says, "All of the Old Testament works toward the goal of new creation, and the New Testament begins to fulfill that primary goal. . . . Redemption is always subordinate to creation in that it is the means of reintroducing the conditions of the new creation. All events since the fall are to be seen as a process leading to the reintroduction of the original creation. Dumbrell is correct in under standing new creation as the dominating notion of biblical theology because new creation is the goal or purpose of God's redemptive-historical plan; new creation is the logical main point of Scripture."122

  The earth's death will be no more final than our own. The destruction of the old Earth in God's purifying judgment will immediately be followed by its res­urrection to new life. Earth's fiery "end" will open straight into a glorious new beginning. And as we'll see later, it will just keep getting better and better.

  CHAPTER 16

  WILL THE NEW EARTH BE FAMILIAR . . . LIKE HOME?

  The life we now have as the persons we now are will continue in the universe in which we now exist.

  Dallas Willard

  Sometimes when we look at this world's breathtaking beauty—standing in a gorgeous place where the trees and flowers and rivers and mountains are wondrous—we feel a twinge of disappointment. Why? Because we know we're going to leave this behind. In consolation or self-rebuke, we might say, "This world is not my home." If we were honest, however, we might add, "But part of me sure wishes it was."

  What we really want is to live forever in a world with all the beauty and none of the ugliness—a world without sin, death, the Curse, and all the personal and relational problems and disappointments they create.

  Those who emphasize our citizenship in Heaven—and I'm one of them—sometimes have an unfortunate habit of minimizing our connection to the earth and our destiny to live on it and rule it. We end up thinking of eternity as a non-earthly spiritual state in which Earth is but a distant memory, if we re­member it at all.

  This faulty theology accuses God of failure. Why? Because it assumes he will never accomplish a lasting state of righteousness on Earth. (Even the Mil­lennium ends in rebellion.) Instead, he finally has to resort to making mankind less human (disembodied) and destroying the earth he made. God's magnifi­cent sovereign plan of the ages is reduced, in our minds, to a failed experiment.

  WHAT OUR HOME WILL REALLY BE LIKE

  The correction to the heresyof believing God's plan has failed is the biblical doctrine of the new heavens and New Earth. Theologian Rene Pache writes, "The emphasis on the present heaven is clearly rest, cessation from earth's battles and comforts from earth's sufferings. The future heaven is centered more on activity and expansion, serving Christ and reigning with Him. The scope is much larger, the great city with its twelve gates, people coming and going, na­
tions to rule. In other words, the emphasis in the present heaven is on the ab­sence of earth's negatives, while in the future heaven it is the presence of earth's positives, magnified many times through the power and glory of resurrected bodies on a resurrected Earth, free at last from sin and shame and all that would hinder both joy and achievement."123

  Understanding and anticipating the physical nature of the New Earth cor­rects a multitude of errors. It frees us to love the world that God has made, with­out guilt, while saying no to the world corrupted by our sin. It reminds us that God himself gave us the earth, gave us a love for the earth, and will delight to give us the New Earth.

  Think for a moment what this will mean for Adam and Eve. When the New Earth comes down from Heaven, the rest of us will be going home, but Adam and Eve will be coming home. Only they will have lived on three Earths—one unfallen, one fallen, and one redeemed. Only they will have experienced, at least to a degree, the treasure of an original, magnificent Earth that was lost and is now regained.

  When we open our eyes for the first time on the New Earth, will it be un­familiar? Or will we recognize it as home?

  As human beings, we long for home, even as we step out to explore undis­covered new frontiers. We long for the familiarity of the old, even as we crave the innovation of the new. Think of all the things we love that are new: moving into a new house; the smell of a new car; the feel of a new book; a new movie; a new song; the pleasure of a new friend; the enjoyment of a new pet; new pres­ents on Christmas; staying in a nice new hotel room; arriving at a new school or a new workplace; welcoming a new child or grandchild; eating new foods that suit our tastes. We love newness—yet in each case, what is new is attached to something familiar. We don't really like things that are utterly foreign to us. In­stead, we appreciate fresh and innovative variations on things that we already know and love. So when we hear that in Heaven we will have new bodies and live on a New Earth, that's how we should understand the word new—a re­stored and perfected version of our familiar bodies and our familiar Earth and our familiar relationships.

  A common misunderstanding about the eternal Heaven is that it will be un­familiar. But that couldn't be further from the truth. The following chart com­pares widespread assumptions about Heaven with biblically based characteristics of Heaven:

  What we have assumed about Heaven has reduced it to a place we look for­ward to only as an alternative to an intolerable existence here on the present Earth. Only the elderly, disabled, suffering, and persecuted might desire the Heaven we imagine. But the Bible portrays life in God's presence, in our resur­rected bodies in a resurrected universe, as so exciting and compelling that even the youngest and healthiest of us should daydream about it.

  No wonder Satan doesn't want us to learn the truth about Heaven. If we fall in love with the place and look forward to the future that God has for us, we'll fall more in love with God, and we'll be emboldened to follow him with greater resolve and perspective.

  When we see Heaven for the first time with our own eyes, I imagine our re­sponses may mirror those I've depicted in my novel Edge of Eternity when Nick's companions finally pass through the gates of the City of Light (I've bor­rowed several expressions from C. S. Lewis):

  "This is it . . . the country for which I was

  made!"

  "At last, the real world!"

  "I've been born. All my life on Earth was but a series of labor pains preparing me for this."

  "This is joy itself. Every foretaste of joy in the Shadowlands was but the stab, the pang, the inconsolable longing for this place!"

  "How could anyone be satisfied with less than this?"124

  The moment we set foot on the New Earth, we'll know it's exactly where we be­long. But we don't have to wait until we die to learn about Heaven.

  As a bride lives daily in anticipation of the bridegroom's arrival, coming to take her to the house he's built for her, we should think daily about Jesus and about Heaven. Instead of feeling abandoned, the bride feels honored because she knows that she will live in the home the bridegroom has lovingly con­structed with her in mind. She may experience some loneliness and difficulty, but she knows he hasn't forgotten her and what he's doing for her will assure her future happiness. Her present happiness depends on trusting him, believing that he will come to take her home, where they'll joyfully live together forever.

  THE FAMILIARITY OF HOME

  When the Bible tells us that Heaven is our home, what meanings should we attach to the word home}

  Familiarity is one. I have countless pleasurable memories from childhood. Even those who endured childhood traumas usually have some good memories too. When I ride my bike through my old neighborhood (only a few miles away from my current home), that fond familiarity comes over me like a wave. The hills, the houses, the fences and fields, the schoolyard where I played football and shot baskets. When I gaze at the house I grew up in, every room in that house, every inch of that property, reverberates with memories of my father, mother, brother, friends, dogs, cats, frogs, and lizards. When I go past my child­hood home, I step back into a place inseparable from who I was and am, insepa­rable from my family and friends.

  A place with loved ones—that's a central quality of home. The hominess of the house I live in now is inseparable from my wife, Nanci, and my daughters, Angela and Karina, who are married and have their own homes but often come to visit. The girls' husbands are sons to us now, and we love having them here. As I write, we're anticipating our first grandchildren, and we're already prepar­ing the place for them. Memories of extended family and friends who've stayed with us also contribute to the hominess of this place.

  Everything here speaks of time spent with significant people: playing to­gether, talking together, eating together, reading together, crying together, praying together, charting the course of our lives together. Home is where we're with the ones we love

  The resurrection of the body . . . declares that God will make good and bring to perfection the human project he began in the Garden of Eden.

  TIMOTHY GEORGE

  Heaven will be just like that. We'll be with people we love, and we'll love no one more than Jesus,who purchased with his own blood the real estate of the New Earth. It wont be long before we settle in there. Because we've already lived on Earth, I think it will seem from the first that we're coming home. Because we once lived on Earth, the New Earth will strike us as very familiar.

  Home is a place where we fit right in. It's the place we were made for. Most houses we live in on Earth weren't really made just for us. But the New Earth will be. When Nanci was pregnant with each of our girls, she and I prepared a place for them. We decorated the room, picked out the right wallpaper, set up the crib just so, and selected the perfect blankets. The quality of the place we prepared for our daughters was limited only by our skills, resources, and imagination.

  In Heaven, what kind of a place can we expect our Lord to have prepared for us? Because he isn't limited and he loves us even more than we love our children, I think we can expect to find the best place ever made by anyone, for anyone, in the history of the universe. The God who commends hospitality will not be outdone in his hospitality to us.

  A good carpenter envisions what he wants to build. He plans and designs. Then he does his work, carefully and skillfully, fashioning it to exact specifica­tions. He takes pride in the work he's done and delights in showing it to others. And when he makes something for his bride or his children, he takes special care and delight.

  Jesus is the carpenter from Nazareth. He knows how to build. He's had ex­perience building entire worlds (billions of them, throughout the universe). He's also an expert at repairing what has been damaged—whether people or worlds. He does not consider his creation disposable. This damaged creation cries out to be repaired, and it is his plan to repair it. He's going to remodel the old Earth on a grand scale. How great will be the resurrected planet that he calls the New Earth—the one he says will be
our home .. . and his.

  NEW SONG, NEW CAR, NEW EARTH

  By calling the New Earth Earth, God emphatically tells us it will be earthly, and thus familiar. Otherwise, why call it Earth?

  When Scripture speaks of a "new song," do we imagine it's wordless, silent, or without rhythm? Of course not. Why? Because then it wouldn't be a song. If I promised you a new car, would you say, "If it's new, it probably won't have an engine, transmission, doors, wheels, stereo, or upholstery"? If a new car didn't have these things, it wouldn't be a car. If we buy a new car, we know it will be a better version of what we already have, our old car. Likewise, the New Earth will be a far better version of the old Earth.

  The word new is an adjective describing a noun. The noun is the main thing. A new car is first and foremost a car. A new body is mainly a body. A New Earth is mainly an Earth.

  The New Earth will not be a non-Earth but a real Earth. The Earth spoken of in Scripture is the Earth we know—with dirt, water, rocks, trees, flowers, ani­mals, people, and a variety of natural wonders. An Earth without these would not be Earth.

  The Greek word translated "earth" is ge, from which we get "geology." It is used of land, soil, and the world itself. Walter Bauer defines ge as "the surface of the earth as the habitation of humanity."125 Ge connotes physicality. It's not a figurative, airy, symbolic, or abstract word. It's tangible, concrete. It speaks of an earthly realm where there are physical human beings, animals, vegetation, and natural resources.

  Many of the Scripture passages using ge contain references to people, who dwell on the earth. Mankind and Earth are inseparable. The New Earth will be populated by redeemed people. Without people, the earth would be incom­plete. Without the earth, people would be incomplete.