Heaven

by Randy Alcorn

  We are pilgrims in this life, not because our home will never be on Earth, but because our eternal home is not currently on Earth. It was and it will be, but it's not now.

  Will the Eden we long for return? Will it be occupied by familiar, tan­gible, physical features and fully embodied people? The Bible clearly an­swers yes.

  The biblical doctrine of the New Earth implies something startling: that if we want to know what the ultimate Heaven, our eternal home, will be like, the best place to start is by looking around us. We shouldn't close our eyes and try to imagine the unimaginable. We should open our eyes, because the present Earth is as much a valid reference point for envisioning the New Earth as our present bodies are a valid reference point for envisioning our new bodies. Af­ter all, we're living on the remnants of a perfect world, as the remnants of a perfect humanity. We shouldn't read into the New Earth anything that's wrong with this one, but can we not imagine what it would be like to be un­hindered by disease and death? Can we not envision natural beauty untainted by destruction?

  The idea of the New Earth as a physical place isn't an invention of short­sighted human imagination. Rather, it's the invention of a transcendent God, who made physical human beings to live on a physical Earth, and who chose to become a man himself on that same Earth. He did this that he might re­deem mankind and Earth. Why? In order to glorify himself and enjoy forever the company of men and women in a world he's made for us.

  THE THREE PHASES OF EARTH'S HISTORY

  In order to have a biblicalworldview, we must have a sense of our past, present, and future, and how they relate to each other. Without understanding God's original plan for mankind and the earth, we cannot understand his future plan. Without the bookends of past and future in place, the book itself—our present lives—won't stand up.

  The following chart shows the three phases of Earth's history: humanity's past on the original Earth; our present experience on the fallen Earth; and our promised future on the New Earth. †

  The chart portrays human history and human destiny. It demonstrates the continuity of past, present, and future, and the continuity between life on the old Earth and life on the New Earth. By comparing each series of statements, you'll see the distinct differences between these three periods. I encourage you to study this chart and contemplate the significance of each phase of Earth's history.

  THREE ERAS OF MANKIND AND EARTH

  In Genesis 3, the earth's first radical transition (mankind's fall and first judg­ment) can be seen as one bookend of human history. In Revelation 20, we see the second bookend in the earth's last radical transition (Christ's return and last judgment), creating a picture of great symmetry.

  In Genesis, God plants the Garden on Earth; in Revelation, he brings down the New Jerusalem, with a garden at its center, to the New Earth. In Eden, there's no sin, death, or Curse; on the New Earth, there's no more sin, death, or Curse. In Genesis, the Redeemer is promised; in Revelation, the Redeemer re­turns. Genesis tells the story of Paradise lost; Revelation tells the story of Para­dise regained. In Genesis, humanity's stewardship is squandered; in Revelation, humanity's stewardship is triumphant, empowered by the human and divine King Jesus.

  These parallels are too remarkable to be anything but deliberate. These mir­ror images demonstrate the perfect symmetry of God's plan. We live in the in-between time, hearing echoes of Eden and the approaching footfalls of the New Earth.

  Paul Marshall concludes, "This world is our home: we are made to live here. It has been devastated by sin, but God plans to put it right. Hence, we look for­ward with joy to newly restored bodies and to living in a newly restored heaven and earth. We can love this world because it is God's, and it will be healed, be­coming at last what God intended from the beginning."66

  The earth matters, our bodies matter, animals and trees matter, matter mat­ters, because God created them and intends them to manifest his glory. And as we'll see in the following chapters, the God who created them has not given up on them any more than he has given up on us.

  † An important limitation of this chart is its inability to fully reflect the "already and not yet" paradox of our being raised with Christ and seated with him in Heaven, the present reality of our righteousness in Christ, and the fact that God's new creation has already started with the death and resurrection of Christ.

  CHAPTER 9

  WHY IS EARTH'S REDEMPTION ESSENTIAL TO GOD'S PLAN?

  It is quite striking that virtually all of the basic words describing salvation in the Bible imply a return to an originally good state or situation. Redemption is a good example. To redeem is to "buyfree," literally to "buy back.". . . The point of redemption is to free the prisonerfrom bondage, to give back the freedom he or she once enjoyed.

  Albert Wolters

  The entire physical universe was created for God's glory. But humanity re­belled, and the universe fell under the weight of our sin. Yet the serpent's seduction of Adam and Eve did not catch God by surprise. He had in place a plan by which he would redeem mankind—and all of creation—from sin, cor­ruption, and death. Just as he promises to make men and women new, he prom­ises to renew the earth itself.

  Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. (Isaiah 65:17)

  "As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the Lord, "so will your name and descendants endure."(Isaiah 66:22)

  In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. (2 Peter 3:13)

  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. (Revelation 21:1)

  Many other passages allude to the new heavens and New Earth without us­ing those terms. God's redemptive plan climaxes not at the return of Christ, nor in the millennial kingdom, but on the New Earth. Only then will all wrongs be made right. Only then will there be no more death, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:1-4).

  Consider this: If God's plan was merely to take mankind to the present Heaven, or to a Heaven that was the dwelling place of spirit beings, there would be no need for new heavens and a New Earth. Why refashion the stars of the heavens and the continents of the earth? God could just destroy his original creation and put it all behind him. But he won't do that. Upon creat­ing the heavens and the earth, he called them "very good." Never once has he renounced his claim on what he made. He isn't going to abandon his creation. He's going to restore it. We won't go to Heaven and leave Earth behind. Rather, God will bring Heaven and Earth together into the same -dimension, with no wall of separation, no armed angels to guard Heaven's perfection from sinful mankind (Genesis 3:24). God's perfect plan is "to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ" (Ephesians 1:10).

  God's redemptive goals are far less modest than we imagine. He surrenders no territory to the enemy. C. S. Lewis said of Milton's Paradise Lost, "Reading [it] makes us feel what it is like to live in a universe where every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counterclaimed by God."67

  Christ died not merely to make the best of a bad situation. He died so that mankind, Earth, and the universe itself would be renewed to forever proclaim his glory.

  GOD'S EARTHLY RENEWAL PLAN

  God has never given up on his original creation. Yet somehow we've managed to overlook an entire biblical vocabulary that makes this point clear. Reconcile. Redeem. Restore. Recover. Return. Renew. Regenerate. Resurrect. Each of these biblical words begins with the re-prefix, suggesting a return to an original con­dition that was ruined or lost. (Many are translations of Greek words with an ana prefix, which has the same meaning as the English re-) For example, re­demption means to buy back what was formerly owned. Similarly, reconciliation means the restoration or reestablishment of a prior friendship or unity. Renewal means to make new again, restoring to an original state. Resurrection means be­coming physically alive again, after death.

  These words emphasize that God a
lways sees us in light of what he in­tended us to be, and he always seeks to restore us to that design. Likewise, he sees the earth in terms of what he intended it to be, and he seeks to restore it to its original design.

  Religion professor Albert Wolters, in Creation Regained, writes, "[God] hangs on to his fallen original creation and salvages it. He refuses to abandon the work of his hands—in fact, he sacrifices his own Son to save his original project. Humankind, which has botched its original mandate and the whole creation along with it, is given another chance in Christ; we are reinstated as God's managers on earth. The original good creation is to be restored."68

  If God had wanted to consign us to Hell and start over, he could have. He could have made a new Adam and Eve and sent the old ones to Hell. But he didn't. Instead, he chose to redeem what he started with—the heavens, Earth, and mankind—to bring them back to his original purpose. God is the ultimate salvage artist. He loves to restore things to their original condition—and make them even better. God's purpose in our salvation is reflected in a phrase from the hymn "Hallelujah, What a Savior!": "ruined sinners to reclaim."69 Reclaim is another re- word. It recognizes that God had a prior claim on humanity that was temporarily lost but is fully restored and taken to a new level in Christ. "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it" (Psalm 24:1). God has never surrendered his title deed to the earth. He owns it—and he will not relinquish it to his enemies.

  In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis portrays the White Witch, who parallels the devil, as having a hold on Narnia that makes that world "always winter, but never Christmas." Those loyal to Asian, though they've never seen him, eagerly await his appearing, for only he can make the world right again by assuming his role as rightful king. (First, however, he will shed his redemptive blood on the Stone Table.)

  It's not only the individuals of Narnia who need Asian to come, it is the en­tire world of Narnia. Similarly, Scripture tells us, "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work" (1 John 3:8).

  Notice Asian's intention. He is the king, the son of the great Emperor be­yond the Sea. Yet he delegates the responsibility of ruling the world to sons of Adam and daughters of Eve: Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy. They are the rul­ers of Narnia. Likewise, God intends for us, sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, to be rulers of his New Earth, which he powerfully delivers from its always-winter-never-Christmas curse.

  It's impossible to understand the ministry of Christ without the larger view of redemption's sweeping salvage plan. Albert Wolters points out that most of Christ's miracles "are miracles of restoration—restoration to health, restoration to life, restoration to freedom from demonic possession. Jesus' miracles provide us with a sample of the meaning of redemption: a freeing of creation from the shackles of sin and evil and a reinstatement of creaturely living as intended by God."70 God placed mankind on Earth to fill it, rule it, and develop it to God's glory. But that plan has never been fulfilled. Should we therefore conclude that God's plan was ill-conceived, thwarted, or aban­doned? No. These conclusions do not fit the character of an all-knowing, all-wise, sovereign God.

  God determined from the beginning that he will redeem mankind and re­store the earth. Why? So his original plan will be fulfilled.

  Scripture shows us God's purpose with remarkable clarity; yet for many years as a Bible student and later as a pastor, I did not think in terms of renewal and restoration. Instead, I believed God was going to destroy the earth, aban­don his original design and plan, and start over by implementing a new plan in an unearthly Heaven. Only in the past fifteen years have my eyes been opened to what Scripture has said all along.

  What lies behind our notion that God is going to destroy the earth and be done with it? I believe it's a weak theology of God. Though we'd never say it this way, we see him as a thwarted inventor whose creation failed. Having realized his mistake, he'll end up trashing most of what he made. His consolation for a failed Earth is that he rescues a few of us from the fire. But this idea is emphati­cally refuted by Scripture. God has a magnificent plan, and he will not surrender Earth to the trash heap.

  As Wolters says, "Redemption is not a matter of an addition of a spiritual or supernatural dimension to creaturely life that was lacking before; rather, it is a matter of bringing new life and vitality to what was there all along.... The only thing redemption adds that is not included in the creation is the remedy for sin, and that remedy is brought in solely for the purpose of recovering a sinless cre­ation. . . . Grace restores nature, making it whole once more."71

  THE NEW EARTH IS THE OLD EARTH RESTORED

  Peter preached that Christ "must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets" (Acts 3:21). We're told that a time is coming when God will restore everything. This is an inclusive promise. It encompasses far more than God merely restor­ing disembodied people to fellowship in a spirit realm. (Because living in a spirit realm is not what humans were made for and once enjoyed, it would not qualify as "restoring.") It is God restoring mankind to what we once were, what he de­signed us to be—fully embodied, righteous beings. And restoring the entire physical universe to what it once was.

  Where will the restoration that Peter preached about be realized? The an swer, he tells us, is found in the promises given "long ago through [God's] holy prophets." Read the prophets and the answer becomes clear—God will restore everything on Earth. The prophets are never concerned about some far-off realm of disembodied spirits. They are concerned about the land, the inheri­tance, the city of Jerusalem, and the earth they walked on. Messiah will come from Heaven to Earth, not to take us away from Earth to Heaven, but to restore Earth to what he intended so he can live with us here forever.

  Luke tells the story of the prophetess Anna, a woman in her eighties, who worshiped at the Temple night and day, fasting and praying. Upon seeing the baby Jesus, she immediately approached Mary and Joseph and "gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemp­tion of Jerusalem" (Luke 2:36-38).

  Notice Luke's exact wording. What were God's people looking forward to? Redemption. Their own redemption? Of course. But it was much more than that. It was the redemption of not only themselves, but also their families and community and even their city, Jerusalem. And the redemption of Jerusalem would also be the redemption of Israel. As the entire world was promised bless­ing through Abraham, the redemption of Jerusalem and Israel speaks of the re­demption of the earth itself.

  And who would be the agent of that redemption? Jesus, this child, the Mes­siah who would become King not only of redeemed individuals, but also King of a redeemed Jerusalem, and King of a redeemed earth. This is the gospel of the Kingdom. Anything less is a narrow view of God's redemptive plan.

  So, will the earth we know come to an end? Yes. To a final end? No.

  Whatever sin has touched and polluted, God will redeem and cleanse. If redemption does not go as far as the curse of sin, then God has failed. Whatever the extent of the consequences of sin, so must the extent of redemption be.

  STEVEN J. LAWSON

  Revelation 21:1 says the old Earth will pass away. But when people pass away, they do not cease to exist. As we will be raised to be new people, so the earth will be raised to be a New Earth.

  Did Peter invent the notion of all things being restored? No—he not only learned it from the prophets, he heard it directly from Christ. When Peter, hoping for commenda­tion or reward, pointed out to Jesus that the disciples had left everything to fol­low him, the Lord didn't rebuke him. Instead, he said, "At the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew 19:27-28).

  Note Christ's word choice. He did not say "after the destruction of all things" or "after the abandonment of all things" but "at the renewal of all things." Thi
s is not a small semantic point—it draws a line in the sand between two fundamentally different theologies. Mankind was designed to live on the earth to God's glory. That's exactly what Christ's incarnation, death, and res­urrection secured—a renewed humanity upon a renewed Earth. Jesus explic­itly said "all things" would be renewed. The word paligenesia, translated "re­newal" in Matthew 19:28, comes from two words which together mean "new genesis" or "coming back from death to life."72 When Jesus said that "all things" would be renewed, the disciples would have understood him to mean "all things" that were part of the only lives they knew—those on Earth. Apart from those aspects of our present earthly lives that are inherently sinful or are fulfilled by a greater reality (more on this later), "all things" appears to be com­prehensive.

  J. R. R. Tolkien portrays a similar view of renewal in The Hobbit, when the dwarf king, Thorin Oakenshield, speaks his last words to Bilbo Baggins,whom he has wronged: "Farewell. . . . I go now to the halls of waiting to sit beside my fathers, until the world is renewed. Since I leave now all gold and silver, and go where it is of little worth, I wish to part in friendship from you, and I would take back my words and deeds at the Gate."73

  Tolkien reflects biblical theology in the phrase "until the world is re­newed." Thorin says he goes "to the halls of waiting to sit beside my fathers." This would be the intermediate Heaven. But he would wait there "until the world is renewed." This would be the eternal Heaven—not to be lived in a netherworld but in a resurrected world.

  The predominant belief that the ultimate Heaven God prepares for us will be unearthly could not be more unbiblical. Earth was made for people to live on, and people were made to live on Earth. According to the prophets, the apostle Peter, and Christ himself, our destiny is to live forever on a restored and re­newed Earth.