Welcome to Christian Growth Center !

1. Welcome to Christian Growth Center !

2. "Life on the New Earth -- Part One"

3. Text • Rev. 21:1a (NIV): • “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away . . . . . .”

4. Introduction • What will life be like on the New Earth? • Will there be similarities to life on the present Earth? • What will our eternal home, the New Earth, actually be like? • While some things are unknown, we can know some things about life on the New Earth.

5. The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the subject. • I don’t expect to cover life on the New Earth entirely in this lesson. • God originally formed man to be a tender of the Garden of Eden. • The original plan for mankind was that we live forever in a world with all the beauty and none of the ugliness of sin.

6. Of course, that didn’t happen. • But there is built into each of us a desire to live this way. • Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live forever in a world free from the Curse, sin, sorrow, sickness and death. • Well, the good news is, that this is exactly what we will do on the New Earth for eternity!

7. Those who emphasize our citizenship in Heaven unfortunately sometimes minimize our connection to the Earth, and our destiny to live on it and rule it under Jesus’ direction. • Many think of eternity as non-earthly spiritual state, and earth is not included in their thinking.

8. This is a faulty theology that essentially accuses God of failing. • Why? Because this wrong belief assumes God will never accomplish a lasting state of righteousness on Earth. • God has not abandoned His original plan. • He will make “Heaven on Earth” a reality for eternity.

9. What Might Our New Home Be Like? • As we consider the present (intermediate) Heaven, we look forward to rest, peace, cessation from life’s problems, and fellow-ship with our departed loved ones.

10. All that is lovely indeed, but in the eternal Heaven on the New Earth, we will be more focused on activity, growth, expansion, serving and ruling with Christ, etc. • Think about it. We were created to do meaningful work, and if we had no assigned tasks, eternal life would become overwhelmingly boring.

11. There will be natural nations in the Earth who will have to be governed. • There will be the great city, New Jerusalem, with it’s twelve gates through which people will constantly be coming and going. • Such activities as we have never even imagined will busily take place day after day.

12. The attraction of the present Heaven is the absence of all life’s negatives. • In the future, eternal Heaven, the attraction is the presence of all of the Curse-free Earth’s positives (magnified many times over by the power and glory of God’s resurrection power).

13. Imagine living totally free from life’s sin and shame and all that would hinder both joy and achievement. • Understanding and anticipating the material nature of the New Earth corrects a multitude of errors. • We will be able to love the New Earth as a world without sin.

14. Think what this will mean for Adam and Eve. • When the New Earth comes down from Heaven, the rest of us will be going home, but Adam and Eve will be coming home. • Adam and Eve will have lived three experiences on Earth: • One unfallen, one fallen, and one redeemed.

15. They once experienced an Earth that was without the Curse and blessed. • The New Earth for them will probably seem a lot like the paradise in Eden that they were forced to abandon after the Fall.

16. Will Earth Seem ‘Familiar’? • When we open our eyes for the first time on the New Earth, will it seem totally alien, or will it seem familiar and like “home”? • Humans are wired to long for the familiarity of the old, even as they crave the innovation of the new.

17. We like new things, but in most cases, the new is attached to the familiar in some way. • Many don’t like things that are utterly foreign or unfamiliar to them. • Instead, they tend to appreciate fresh and innovative variations on things that are already known.

18. In Heaven we will have new bodies on a New Earth. • The word “new” should be understood to mean a restored and perfected version of our familiar bodies and our familiar Earth and familiar relationships.

19. A common misunderstanding about the eternal Heaven is that it will be unfamiliar. • But that is not true if we accept the Bible’s testimony. • There will actually be a great many things about our New Earth that will be familiar in some degree as can be seen by the following:

20. Assumptions About Heaven: 1) Non-Earth 2) Unfamiliar; otherworldly 3) Disembodied 4) Foreign Bible Truths About Heaven: 1) New Earth 2) Familiar; earthly 3) Resurrected (embodied) 4) Home (all the comforts of Home improved many times over.

21. Assumptions About Heaven: 5) No Time & Space 6) Neither old (like Eden) nor new and earthly; just strange & unknown Bible Truths About Heaven: 5) Time & Space 6) Both Old & New – Old improved and made perfect by God.

22. Assumptions About Heaven: 7) Nothing to do but float around on clouds, plunking on a harp & worshiping God. Bible Truths About Heaven: 7) Worship & service to God; a universe to rule; purposeful work to accomplish & family & friends to enjoy.

23. Assumptions About Heaven: 8) No learning or discovery; an assumption of instant and complete knowledge 9) Loss of desire Bible Truths About Heaven: 8) An eternity of learning and discovery. 9) Continuous fulfillment of desire

24. Assumptions About Heaven: 10) Absence of the terrible and negative, but presence of little we desire. Bible Truths About Heaven: 10) Presence of the wonderful; i.e., everything we desire, and nothing we don’t.

25. What many have wrongly assumed about Heaven has reduced it to a place looked forward to only as an alternative to an intolerable existence here on the present Earth. • Only the elderly and disabled, suffering, and persecuted might desire such a heaven.

26. The Bible actually depicts life in God’s presence, in our resurrected bodies in a resurrected universe, differently. • Life in Heaven (the New Earth) will be so exciting and compelling that even the youngest and healthiest should be daydreaming about it and longing to go there.

27. No wonder Satan doesn’t want us to learn the truth about Heaven. • If we fall in love with Heaven and look forward to the future that God has prepared for us, we would fall more in love with God. • We will become more purposeful and emboldened to follow Him. • We will have greater resolve and a better perspective.

28. The moment we set foot on the New Earth, we will know it is exactly where we belong. • But we don’t have to wait until we die to learn what the Bible says about our eternal Heaven. • We should “set our affections” on Heaven, and think frequently about Jesus and Heaven.

29. Heaven Will Have the Familiarity of Home • When the Bible tells us that Heaven is our home, what meaning should we attach to the word “home”? • Familiarity is one. • Many of us have fond memories of our childhood homes.

30. When we think about or visit places we used to call “home”, every room in the house reverberates with memories of father, mother, siblings, friends, dogs, cats, etc. • It’s a place with loved ones and things loved. • That is a central quality of “home”.

31. “Home” speaks of times spent with significant people, playing together, talking together, eating together, etc. • Because we know about life on this present Earth, the New Earth will strike us as very familiar. • Home is a place where we fit right in.

32. Home is the place we were made for. Jesus said in John 14:2v-3 (NIV): • “. . . I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” • That’s both a personal and a corporate promise.

33. Can you even begin to start to commence to get ready to imagine what kind of a place Jesus will have prepared for us? • He will have planned, designed and carefully and skillfully fashioned a New Earth to His exacting standards. • God, who commends hospitality will not be outdone in His hospitality toward us.

34. I believe we can expect to find that Heaven on the New Earth will be the most spectacular place that God ever made. • Jesus is preparing a place for His own children, and I am sure He will take special care and delight in constructing it. • Interestingly, Jesus was a carpenter according to Mark 6:3a:

35. Speaking about Jesus, it says:“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? …” • Jesus certainly knows how to build! • He built entire galaxies and worlds – millions of them. • John 1:3 says of Jesus:

36. “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” • He will remodel or refurbish this old Earth on a grand scale. • How great will be the New Earth! • Remember, it will not only be our eternal home, but His also. • You know it will be fabulous!

37. By calling the New Earth “Earth”, God emphatically tells us that it will be this Earth made New. • Otherwise, why bother to call it “Earth”? • When the Bible speaks of a “new song”, we don’t imagine that to mean wordless, silent or without tune or rhythm.

38. If that were the case, then it wouldn’t be a song at all. • If someone promised you a new car, it is implied that it would come complete, with engine, drive train, tires, interior, etc. • If a new car didn’t have these things, it wouldn’t be a car. • The whole purpose for buying a new car is to get a better car.

39. We expect a better, or a better version of whatever old car we had. • Similarly, the New Earth will be a far better version of the old Earth. • The word “new” is an adjective describing a noun. • The noun, of course, is the subject, or the main thing. • A new car is first and foremost a car.

40. A new body is mainly a body. • The New Earth is mainly the Earth. • The New Earth will not be non-Earth, but a real Earth. • The Earth spoken of in Scripture is the Earth we know, with dirt, rocks, water, trees, flowers, animals, people, and a variety of many other things.

41. An Earth without these things would not be an Earth. • The Greek word translated “earth” is ge (phonetic spelling = ghay) from which we get “geology”). • According to Strong’s It means: • “Arable land; the ground, the earth as a standing place; the main land as opposed to the sea or water; the earth as a whole; . . .

42. . . . the earth as opposed to the heavens; the inhabited earth, the abode of men and animals; a country, land enclosed within fixed boundaries, a tract of land, territory, region.” • Bauer’s Lexicon defines ge as: “the surface of the earth as the habitation of humanity.” • So, ge denotes a material Earth.

43. lt is not a figurative, airy, symbolic, or abstract word. • It defines tangible, concrete Earth. • It speaks of an earthly realm where there are physical human beings, animals, vegetation, water, rocks, trees, and all manner of natural resources.

44. Many Scripture references which use ge contain references to people who dwell on the Earth. • Mankind and Earth are inseparable. • The New Earth will be populated by redeemed people. • Without people, the New Earth would be incomplete.

45. We are told that the old, or “first Earth” will pass away (Rev. 21:1). • The word translated “first” is prote (from próteuó (prote-yoo'-o). • It suggests a vital connection between the two Earths. • The first Earth served as the prototype or pattern for the New Earth.

46. There is continuity between the old and the new. • We should expect new trees, new flowers, new rocks, new rivers, new mountains, new animals, etc. • (New, not non-).

47. A Brief Glimpse of Life In The New Earth • Just as our current bodies are the blueprint for our resurrection bodies, so is this present Earth the blueprint for the New Earth. • All the building materials will be new, but there will be continuity between the old and the new.

48. Our life in the New Earth will be a life of pure joy, worship and purposeful activity. • We shall have all the good things that the Lord created for Adam and Eve and none of the bad things like sin, pain, worry or death. • We will work in harmony with God to complete His purpose.

49. There will be no sins of pride, no misunderstandings, no gossip, no violence, no arguments, no sickness, death, or negatives of any kind. • With all eternity before us we will be able to explore and develop all the gifts and talents God gave us. • In the limits of time and resources on Earth today every choice we make ends other possibilities.

50. E.g., if you chose to be a teacher, you normally could not also become a world explorer, a musician, a minister and a scientist in one lifetime. • In Heaven however, with all eternity before us, every gift and interest can be fully utilized and developed.