Friday, June 22, 2018

A New Heaven and a New Earth

There are prophecies of Isaiah about new heavens and a new Earth
(Isaiah 51:6, 65:17–19, 66:22).

Jesus himself said that the present heaven and Earth won't last forever
(Mat 24:35a, Luk 21:33). 

The present world isn't made to last forever. The stars can't exist forever, everything we see ages and decays with time, all matter decays, see the second law of thermodynamics. 

That the heavens will disappear is also described in 2 Pet 3:7, 10b–13, 
see The Day of the Lord and the Day of God in The Day of the Lord.

Heaven and Earth will pass away (Heb 1:10–12, Psalm 102:25–27 (26–28
in some translations), Rev 21:1a), and there will be a new heaven and new Earth after The Millennial Kingdom and the Great White Throne Judgement, where believers will spend their lives in their new heavenly bodies forever
(Rev 21:1–4, 23, 25, 22:5). 

God's Heaven will also perish and merge into the new heaven and the new Earth where God will live together with God's people (Rev 21:3), see time 8:20–11:01 in 2 Corinthians 12 (Part 1) Strength in Weakness.

The new Earth won't be identical to the present one. It has no ocean or sea (Rev 21:1b). It will contain lakes and rivers (Rev 21:6b, 22:1).
See time 7:49–8:59 in Revelation 21:1-8 • New Heaven and New Earth. 
How this world will fare under the second law of thermodynamics is unknown, see time 36:15–37:50 in If The Earth Is Only 6,000 Years Old?

Time (and space) will exist on this new Earth because the Tree of Life will bear fruit every month (Rev 22:2b). This tree was also in the Garden of Eden. God forbade Adam and Eve to eat from that tree after they had eaten of the forbidden fruit, that is, after they had become sinners, so that they wouldn't live forever (Gen (1 Mos) 3:22), see The Biblical Creation and the Fall of Man. If they had, they would have lived separated from God forever in their sinful state. Jesus couldn't have died for our sins on the cross if he couldn't die physically as a man. Since death or sin doesn't exist in the new Jerusalem, it's permissible to eat from the Tree of Life, see time:
The leaves of Tree of Life are for healing the nations (Rev 22:2c). 
The Greek word for "healing" can also be translated "health-giving", meaning that the leaves are for the preservation of health.

God will have his throne in the new Jerusalem on this new Earth. The
new Jerusalem will be the place of God's presence. (Rev 21:2–3, 10–11,
Heb 11:16, 12:22–23a). The throne will be common to both God the Father and Jesus; God the Son (Rev 22:1b, 3). The city will be a symbolic image of the church which is the Bride of Christ (Rev 21:9–10). There will be no sorrow, crying, or death (Rev 21:4, Isaiah 25:7–8, 1 Cor 15:54). The city will become everything that Jerusalem was supposed to be but never was 
(Rev 21:5).

The length, width and height of the city are equal, literally 2300 km; it's like a cube (Rev 21:16). Its wall is literally 70 m high (Rev 21:17). The wall has twelve gates with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel (Rev 21:12–13,
Gen 49:3–28), and twelve foundations with the twelve names of
Jesus' apostles (Rev 21:14). Each of the gates is made of a single pearl,
and the street of the city is of pure gold (Rev 21:21). The river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flows from the throne of God in Jerusalem through the middle of the street of the city (Rev 22:1–2a, Psalm 46:4 (5 in some translations)). The gates will never be closed (Rev 21:25). 

There is no temple building in the city (Rev 21:22). This is because such a building with animal sacrifice is no longer needed, see The Atonement. 

Believers will be able to see the face of God the Father (Rev 22:4).
Before, no one could see his face and live (Exo (2 Mos) 33:18–23).

The glory of God will give the light, not the sun or the moon, and there will be no night (Rev 21:23, 25b, 22:5a). It will be an eternal day. It doesn't say if God will also provide the heat, but God probably does. The Lord will be our everlasting light, our God will be our glory, and their days of mourning will be no more (Isaiah 60:19–20). Jesus said of himself: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12). The sun and the moon may still shine, but they won't be needed in the radiance of the greater glory of God's presence. This means that we don't need the sun or the moon, for reasons other than their beauty. The new Earth will be perfect in every way.

When a person dies, people sometimes say that he has gone to Heaven. But we won't spend eternity in heaven among the clouds. The people with their names in the Book of Life will spend eternity on the new Earth in a new universe, replacing the old Earth and the old universe.

All text in The Book of Revelation is important, no part of this book may be removed, and nothing may be added (Rev 22:18–19). This probably applies to the entire Bible. We are not to pick and choose from the Bible.

All Scripture is inspired by God (2 Tim 3:16–17),
see Misconceptions about the Bible in Misconceptions and Objections.


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