The New Heavens and New Earth – Revelation 21:1-5

Imagine you’re part of a NASA team preparing for a one-way mission to Mars. After years of training, the launch date finally arrives. As the countdown commences, a fellow astronaut asks, “What do you know about Mars?”

You shrug your shoulders and say, “Not much. We never talked about it. I guess I’ll find out when we get there.”

Unthinkable, isn’t it? It’s inconceivable your training wouldn’t have included extensive study of and preparation for your ultimate destination.

Yet in churches, Bible schools, seminaries and around the world, how much do we teach about our eternal destination: the new heaven and new earth? We’re told how to get to heaven, and that it’s a better destination than hell, but we’re taught remarkably little about heaven itself – and even less about the new heaven and new earth.

But old Apostle John writes in Revelation 21:1-5: 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “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.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Here are some key truths about our ultimate, eternal destination:

• Death is a reality, not a finality;

• Heaven is a way station, not our final destination;

• Earth shall be perfected, not rejected.

Death is a reality, not a finality

The satirical American digital media company The Onion once published a story under the headline: World Death rate holding steady at 100%.

It’s funny, but it points to the reality and certainty of death. Nobody gets out of here alive.

Hebrews 9:27: … It is appointed for men to die once and after that comes judgment.

Genesis 2:15-17: 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Death is our enemy – but it’s a defeated enemy:

1 Corinthians 15:26: The last enemy to be destroyed is death. One day ….

And when we die – we become angels, are issued a pair of wings and a harp, and then we’re assigned a cloud to sit on and play easy listening music forever. Right? 

Wrong. Can you think of anything more boring than that? I can’t think of anything much more unbiblical. Good news: the Bible teaches precisely none of those things.

Here’s what the Bible says happens when we die: Our bodies expire, but our souls return immediately to the One who made us. Those who have been justified by the grace of God through faith in Christ are made perfect and are received into the presence of God – the only way we can enter his presence. Our earthly bodies await the day of redemption, the time God brings everything to culmination. 

Those who have not been justified through Christ are condemned and their souls are cast out from the presence of God forever, an unspeakably tragic fate. There they remain until that final day of judgment.

In that final judgment, the souls of everyone who has ever lived will stand before God, before the throne of Christ the Messiah / Redeemer – and Judge – and give account for everything we have ever done, said or thought.

Were it not for the atoning, sacrificial death of Christ, that idea alone would crush the life out of me. Because of the cross of Christ and his atoning sacrifice, we can have confidence in that day.

R. A. Torrey said: “We will not be disembodied spirits in the world to come, but redeemed spirits, in redeemed bodies, in a redeemed universe.”

Daniel 12:1-3: 1 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

1 John 3:2: Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Heaven is a way station, not our final destination

That’s right – heaven is not our final destination. Surprised? I don’t blame you if you are. We rarely talk about what comes after heaven. 

Randy Alcorn: “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13, NIV). But how can we look forward to it if we don’t think about it? And how can we think about it unless we are taught about it from God’s Word?” 

Suppose you are flying from Miami to LA with a layover in Dallas. Dallas is not your final destination. You say, “I’m going to LA.” Or you might say, “I’m headed to LA by way of Dallas.” According to Scripture, the new earth is our final destination. The present heaven will be a stop along the way toward resurrection. And it’ll be a wonderful layover … infinitely better than the Dallas airport!

Earth shall be perfected, not rejected

I believe that we will recognize the new earth in its perfected form. We’ll know each other in our glorified forms; so it seems clear we’ll recognize earth in its glorified form. Florida will be Florida, Miami will be Miami – but without traffic, red tide, mosquitos, and hurricanes.

Randy Alcorn: Based on what the Bible says, I think we’ll not only see things the way they are now, but we’ll see things the way they were meant to be. On the New Earth, no good thing will be destroyed. Everything we love about the old Earth will be ours on the New Earth – either in the same form or another. Once we understand this, we won’t regret leaving all the cool places we’ve seen or wish we’d seen. Why? Because we know we’ll see many of them on the New Earth – and they will be better than ever!

The meek shall inherit the earth – the way it was intended to be.

Next week: The New Heavens and New Earth, Part 2.