New Heavens and Earth

Jesus promised that the redeemed would hear, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (). This is the welcome to heaven---but what is that? Is it a spiritual realm around God or is it a new heavens and new earth?

Promises

records God’s promise that “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.” similarly reads, “For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain.”

These OT promises were used by Peter who wrote, “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” . says, “Then I saw a new heaven and new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” This “new heaven and new earth” is also pictured as the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven to be wed to Christ

What Is Heaven?

Heaven is where God is in a special way. God said, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place for my rest?” (). We are to address the Father as “our Father who is in Heaven” (). Jesus has “gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God” (). However, Jesus is also with us, spiritually, and will be forever ().

Whatever Heaven is like, we can know that resurrection bodies can be there. Jesus is there with his resurrection body now (; , ). Platonism has influenced many to believe that flesh is evil or that the afterlife has to do with disembodied existences. This simply is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible affirms and promises the resurrection of the dead. This is the historic Christian faith.

What is the New Heavens and New Earth?

Whatever the new heavens and new earth are, we cannot now know fully. We can know that it will be the greatest intensification of God’s presence with us. God promised this intensified presence in and . We also see some promise from God to creation in . We do not know what exactly that entails. We also know that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved” (). We are also warned not to pursue the things of this world because “all these things are thus to be dissolved” (). We are “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” ().

I am ready to by with Jesus

So what are the new heavens and new earth? The specifics remain to be seen. However, we can summarize and safely say that the new heavens and new earth refer to a new existence for the redeemed to be with God in the most intense way possible.