When I say that we live in a fallen world that’s destined for destruction, I’m not telling you anything that you don’t already know. The way this world is going, every day gets increasingly easier to look forward to our eternal home.
How often do you wonder what the new heaven and new earth will be like? The first time I became aware of the idea of heaven was around the same time Elvis Presley died. For some reason, in my four-year-old mind, the prevailing question was whether Elvis was in heaven. Go figure.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve continued to imagine what our eternity will look like. Most of the descriptions of the new heaven and new earth in scripture are either intentionally vague or couched in language that would resonate with the original readers.
GotQuestions puts it this way: “The human mind is too limited to apprehend all the realities of the spiritual realm. But we have this confidence: the prophets and apostles wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the words they chose are the best possible communication.” And since our frame of reference is most often what we know and see, it’s hard to wrap our heads around it.
Related: Sunday Thoughts: Rethinking the End of the World, a Conversation With Dr. Matthew Halstead, Part 1
Here’s an example: Revelation 4:6 describes a “sea of glass, like crystal.” For first-century residents of the Mediterranean countries, especially those familiar with the Old Testament, the sea represents chaos, danger, and the unknown. So a glassy, peaceful sea would be a calm respite from the scary seas they relied on for commerce. On the other hand, I love the ocean and the beach, especially the waves, so it’s not hard for me to imagine a crystal ocean with pleasant waves but no undertow, riptide, hurricanes, or sharks in our eternal home.
What’s important to remember is that Jesus’ words to His disciples in John 14:2-4 were a promise that was meant to come true: “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”
In Revelation 21, the Apostle John relates the vision of the new heaven and the new earth. There aren’t many specifics, but what we do read is encouraging and exciting:
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. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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. 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.” 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.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
Related: Sunday Thoughts: Rethinking the End of the World, a Conversation With Dr. Matthew Halstead, Part 2
I love how Elyse Fitzpatrick imagines eternity in a post at the Logos Word for Word blog. Here are some snippets:
Imagine this, then: a world where beautiful, soul-satisfying music never ends. Imagine that you won’t be wishing it was louder or quieter. You’ll not be distracted by anything off-key, in fact; and you won’t be nervous about when the music will end…
Imagine sitting down to a wedding feast (Rev. 19:7-9) where the food is unlike anything you’ve ever tasted—though you may have gotten hints of it when you cut into the first juicy peach of the season and your taste buds exploded and you nearly drowned in your own saliva. Imagine that the hall in which the table is set goes on and on and on and yet you don’t feel overwhelmed or insignificant…
Imagine looking to where you think the bridal party is seated and seeing the face of Jesus, the One you’ve been scrounging around looking for in all the dumpsters of this world…
I get chills thinking about it. It’s almost a feeling of homesickness for someplace I haven’t seen yet.
Imagining eternity reminds me of one of my favorite Christian songs from my younger days. I can still hear Steve Lay, my youth pastor when I was a kid, singing this:
And another one that "Mr. Steve" used to sing:
May envisioning and dreaming about the new heaven and new earth give us hope and encouragement in a world that seems to be drifting so far away from Jesus.
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