Heaven (Part 4) - Facts About the Present Heaven, The Nature of the New Earth

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Heaven (Part 4) VIII. Basic facts about the present heaven 1. The following are some basic facts about the present heaven. Many more details about heaven will be given in the questions portion of this study below. 2. Heaven is a place of light (1Ti 6:16). 3. Heaven is paradise (Luk 23:43). A. Paradise n. - 1. a. The garden of Eden. Also called earthly (terrenal, terrene, terrestre) paradise, to distinguish it from the heavenly paradise. 2. a. Heaven, the abode of God and his angels and the final abode of the righteous. 3. a. A place like or compared to Paradise; a region of surpassing beauty or delight, or of supreme bliss. B. Heaven is a place of beauty, delight, and supreme bliss. C. God dwells with His saints there (Rev 7:14-15). 4. In heaven there is no suffering, sorrow, nor death. A. The redeemed in heaven do not hunger or thirst nor do they have to work in excessive heat of the sun (Rev 7:16). B. There is no more sorrow, for God shall wipe away all their tears (Rev 7:17). 5. The needs of God's people are all supplied in heaven (Rev 7:17). 6. There's a city prepared for us in heaven (Heb 11:16). 7. There are mansions awaiting us in heaven (Joh 14:2-3). A. Mansion n. - 1. The action of remaining, abiding, dwelling, or staying in a place. Phr. to have, keep, make, take (one's) mansion = to dwell, abide. Also, permanence or continuance in a position or state. 2. a. A place where one stays or dwells; a place of abode, an abiding-place. Now arch. b. (Chiefly pl.) A separate dwelling-place, lodging, or apartment in a large house or enclosure. B. There is a huge house in heaven with many separate lodgings or apartments in it. C. Jesus is preparing each of us our own place in that huge house. 8. Heaven is a physical place (More on this later - see Section X, 19 - Is the present heaven a physical place?). IX. The nature of the new earth (the eternal heaven) 1. The new earth will be a restoration of the original creation. A. The original creation, including the earth and heavens, were very good (Gen 1:31). B. Adam's sin put a curse on not only himself and his posterity, but on the earth itself (Gen 3:17; Gen 5:29). i. After the fall of man the earth brought forth thorns and thistles (Gen 3:18). ii. The soil was not as productive and easy to cultivate as it was originally, which in turn caused man to have to exert much effort to produce food for himself (Gen 3:19). C. The whole creation groans and travails because of the fall (Rom 8:22). i. Creation n. - 1. a. The action or process of creating; the action of bringing into existence by divine power or its equivalent; the fact of being so created. b. absol. The calling into existence of the world; the beginning, as a date. 4. concr. a. That which God has created; the created world; creatures collectively. 1611 Bible Rom. viii. 22 For wee know that the whole creation groaneth. ii. Groan v. - 1. intr. To breathe with a deep-toned murmur; to utter a low deep sound expressive of grief or pain. iii. The creation includes everything that God created including the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1; 2Pe 3:4-5; Rom 1:20). iv. It also includes all the animals (Gen 1:21, 24-25) and human beings (Gen 1:27). v. Men groan because of the curse of sin (Psa 6:6; Psa 102:5). vi. Animals also groan and cry out to God because of the curse of sin (Joel 1:18-20). D. The whole creation was cursed by man's sin, and therefore the whole creation will be redeemed through Christ's redemption. i. Jesus died to redeem His people from the curse of sin (Gal 3:10, 13). ii. The effect of the curse of sin was the death process which eventuates in death itself (Rom 6:23). iii. The universe itself is under the death process as a result of the fall and is waxing old (Psa 102:25-26; Isa 51:6). iv. Christ's death for us, in conjunction with the work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, took away the effects of sin on our inward man (soul and spirit) (Tit 3:5; Eph 2:10; Eph 4:23-24). v. At the second coming of Christ, our sin-cursed bodies will be redeemed when they are resurrected (1Co 15:50-52). vi. At the resurrection at the second coming of Christ, all things, including the earth and the universe, will be restored (Act 3:21 c/w Act 4:2). a. Restitution n. - 1. a. The action of restoring or giving back something to its proper owner, or of making reparation to one for loss or injury previously inflicted. 5. a. The action of restoring a thing or institution to its original state or form. (In later use only in echoes of, or with reference to, Acts iii. 21.) b. Fallen man, and the world itself, became the possession of Satan at the fall (Joh 8:44; Mat 4:8-9 c/w Luk 4:6; Joh 12:31; Joh 14:30; 2Co 4:4). c. At the resurrection both the bodies of the elect and the earth itself will be restored to God their rightful owner, and they will be restored to their original state and form (Act 3:21). d. We who are the elect groan within ourselves waiting for the redemption of our bodies which will happen at the resurrection (Rom 8:23). vii. A new heavens and a new earth will be created which will be a restoration of the original (2Pe 3:13; Rev 21:1). a. Jesus will make all things new (Rev 21:5). b. Jesus said He will make all things new; He didn't say that He will make all new things (in the sense of entirely different things). viii. There will be no more curse on that new earth (Rev 22:3). ix. The new earth and heavens will be a resurrected earth and universe inhabited by resurrected people with a resurrected Jesus Christ ruling over it. 2. Not only will the whole creation be restored by God to its pre-fallen condition, it will be glorified to a condition surpassing its original state just as our bodies will be. A. Our resurrected bodies will be far superior to our current sin-cursed bodies. i. Our resurrected body will excel our current body like a mature wheat plant excels the grain of wheat from which it grew (Joh 12:24; 1Co 15:35-38, 42-44). ii. Our resurrected bodies will be glorious like Christ's resurrected body (Php 3:21; 1Jo 3:2) (more on this later in the study). B. Likewise the new heavens and the new earth will far excel the current ones and even surpass their original condition. i. The new world is connected to the resurrection of our bodies (Luk 20:34-36). ii. Just as our bodies which were marred by sin will be glorified at the resurrection (Rom 8:29-30), so will the earth which was marred by sin be glorified when all is made new (Rev 21:5). iii. Revelation 21-22 gives us a glimpse of the glorified new earth and the new Jerusalem (more on this later in the outline).