What will the New Heaven and New Earth be like?
When people think of Heaven, they think of a cloud-filled place somewhere above and beyond this universe where there are angels, pearly gates, people singing and playing instruments such as harps, and where complete tranquility exists. There are many misconceptions and circulated myths surrounding this topic. Humans have created their own versions of Heaven as with all of the other invented religions. They often don’t associate Heaven as having any type of resemblance to our current lives on this present earth.
In fact, many do not even know the Bible mentions three heavens: our immediate atmosphere, outer space (the moon, stars, etc.), and the third Heaven being the home of God. There are many different uses of the word heaven in the secular world as well.
After a person dies (if they aren’t raptured), they either go to a temporary “Hell” called Sheol/Hades or a temporary “Heaven” called the intermediate Heaven before they receive judgement. In the case of Sheol or Hades, unbelievers remain in temporary condemnation until the final Great White Throne Judgement. After the Great White Throne Judgement these people are thrown into the Lake of Fire for eternity. In the case of the intermediate Heaven, there are many different opinions regarding when believers are judged but they are still judged nonetheless.
More information on Hell can be found here:
The temporary Heaven is a waiting place until believers receive their resurrected bodies. In this intermediate state, some think we will have some form of a temporary physical body until we receive our final resurrected body, whereas others do not. This Heavenly state seems to most resemble commonly evoked thoughts of someone “floating on the clouds in a spiritual body.” However, when the resurrection of our bodies happens at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, our restored physical body and our spiritual body will be joined together. This is at the end of the 7-year tribulation period according to my interpretation of scripture.
Now, if you are pre-millienianist as I am, Jesus Christ comes back before the 1,000 year millennium. Therefore, when He comes back at the Second Coming, there will be these events in chronological order:
1. Believers will receive their resurrected bodies, the judgement of the nations, & the Battle of Armageddon
2. Satan will be bound for 1,000 years
3. The 1,000 year millennial reign of Jesus Christ and His followers will be priests and kings who reign with Him
4. The second Battle of Gog and Magog (the last battle) after Satan is let out one last time
5. The Great White Throne Judgement. Unbelievers go to the Lake of Fire and sin is destroyed
6. God will remake the sinless heavens and the earth (eternal state)
See this link for more info: https://www.gotquestions.org/end-times-timeline.html (“What Is the End Times Timeline?”).
When the New Heavens and New Earth arrive, Heaven will come down to earth. Heaven will be on the New Earth as a physical place where believers live with physical bodies. There will be peace, pure joy, the curse of sin will be lifted, we will live there forever (this is the eternal state), and God will reign with us forever. It will essentially be an unbelievably upgraded version of our current earth and lives. There won’t even be night as the Lord God will be the light (New International Version, Revelation 22:5).
As it says in scripture:
Revelation 21:1-4
“Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Revelation 16:19
The new Jerusalem is where God will dwell with His people. The city alone will be “laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone…” In this case 12,000 stadia is about 1,400 miles. It will be a cube with 1,400 mile dimensions.
Randy Alcorn says it best in his book called Heaven:
“If God were to end history and reign forever in a distance Heaven, Earth would be remembered as a graveyard of sin and failure. Instead, Earth will be redeemed and resurrected. In the end it will be a far greater world, even for having gone through the birth pains of suffering and sin–yes, even sin. The New Earth will justify the old Earth’s distaster, make good out of it, putting it in perspective.” (Alcorn 143)
The New Earth isn’t going to be an entirely new creation just as our resurrected bodies won’t be an entirely new creation. Rather, God is going to restore and enhance what was broken during the time of the fall when sin entered the world. There will be similarities between our current world and the New Heaven and Earth, just as we won’t be entirely recreated people with different DNA and interests when we are resurrected. We certainly won’t be floating on clouds and just hanging out for all of eternity; that does indeed sound boring.
Describing the New Heaven and New Earth is tough. While the basics can be conveyed, the experience cannot be. As God says:
1 Corinthians 2:9
“However, as it is written:
‘What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived’—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—”
Also, there are many questions people have such as:
- Will there be pets?
- Will there be time?
- Will there be sports?
- Will there be money and businesses?
- Etc.
I could give you more details about the New Heaven and New Earth but this post is just meant to give an overview. There is plenty of information available online.
Works Cited
Alcorn, Randy. Heaven. Tyndale House Publishers, 2004.
“What Is the End Times Timeline?” GotQuestions.org, 6 Jan. 2016, https://www.gotquestions.org/did-Jesus-exist.html.