An entire end-times section can be found in many bookstores and most online Christian bookstores. These books typically bear fiery colors or a cover design that instantly evokes a sense of disaster. And why not? So many of these books go into vivid detail about the coming judgments, providing a timeline for the future tribulation. Often, the focus is on the apocalyptic events recorded in Revelation. Very little, if any, space is given to a discussion of eternity.
Eschatology, the study of the end times, is important in a believer’s understanding of the Bible and faith. However, we should question why so much of the teaching found within books and sermons is focused on the tribulation and apocalypse. It seems as if fear and fantastic images are what pull many people to these types of materials. But all the end times judgments and plagues we find in Scripture are not there solely for their own sake. They are part of the outpouring of God’s righteous wrath on sinful humankind as He purges evil from the world in anticipation of the earth’s devastation so it can be made new. Throughout Scripture, we find God pursuing humankind, working to bring them back into relationship with Him so that His original intent of dwelling with people would become reality.
If we keep our focus only on the scenes of terror and persecution, then we will miss the opportunities to find hope in the promise of a new heaven and a new earth, our eternal home. Revelation ends with this scene to spur believers onto greater faith, trusting that no matter what they endure or what fears they face, their inheritance is secure. Today, we can receive the same hope as the early believers when we direct our focus to eternity.
The Problem with Viewing the Earth as Only a Temporary Residence
Songs about heaven often help us look beyond our circumstances and suffering to remember that the difficulties we face now are not forever. There is a better day coming when we will no longer be burdened with troubles. We will live with the Lord forever, declaring His praises as we sing old and new songs in our heavenly home.
Yet, the problem with many songs about heaven is that they often make it seem as if the earth has no relation to eternity or ascribe features to heaven from the Bible that apply to the New Jerusalem. For example, many describe people walking on gold streets in heaven or mention how the earth is not our home. We are left with the pervasive, yet misplaced, view that we are going to live as spiritual beings in a spiritual realm forever.
Such views leave us wondering what to do with the earth now and how to fit it into eternity. If, as many of the songs say, there is a disconnect between the world we see now and our future home, then do our activities matter? How should we view the planting of crops and trees? The care of animals? Or any work we do that is not specifically within “spiritual” confines?
The problem of viewing earth as temporary and unnecessary in eternity means that we downplay our lives now, and we begin to adhere (often unknowingly) to Platonism, of claiming that matter is evil while spirit is good. Author and pastor Randy Alcorn labels this type of thought among Christians as “Christoplatonism,” a term he created and discussed in his book Heaven. He argues that this view often leads people to deny the resurrection and to “believe they will spend eternity as disembodied spirits.” And that contradicts what Scripture teaches about our lives now and in the future–for we are being transformed to reflect the Savior’s glory and will one day live with resurrected bodies on a renewed earth.
Biblical Teaching about Our Eternal Home
Scripture tells us that once we die and leave this tent of a body, we are immediately in the presence of the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:1, 8). Every believer who dies instantly goes to heaven to gaze at the face of their Savior. The Apostle Paul described this state as better than remaining in the present, sinful system on earth (Philippians 1:23). Thus, we find in Revelation the depiction of the multitude of tribulation martyrs in heaven around the throne of God, worshiping Him. Unlike the teaching of cults, the Bible does not say that we enter a soul sleep or that we must await the future resurrection before we start enjoying unbroken communion with the Lord. As Jesus promised, we will live even though we die (John 11:25).
Every believer is a citizen of heaven while also remaining a citizen of this earth. We are pilgrims awaiting a land to call our own, which cannot be found in the present evil system (Hebrews 11:13). Thus, we are in the world but not part of it.
Our eternal home, though, is not the present heaven. The Apostle Paul and other believers who have gone before us will not remain in the heavenly realm, and neither will we once we arrive there after our deaths. Paul spoke of how we await a Savior from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will return and resurrect all believers (Philippians 3:20-21). Our bodies will be transformed so that we will live forever in glory (1 Corinthians 15:42-43). As Randy Alcorn notes, “we shouldn’t think of the present Heaven as if it were our ultimate home. The best is yet to come—eternal and delightful life, worshiping and serving the forever-incarnate Jesus on the New Earth.”
Hence, other passages speak of our future as connected to the new heaven and new earth, sometimes referred to by scholars and teachers as the eternal heaven. As the Apostle Peter wrote, “we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13, NLT). The present earth and heaven will be consumed by fire, just as in the past the world was destroyed by a global flood (2 Peter 3:5-7, 10). Yet, even then, the basic foundation of the earth remained. For like the Christian, who will be resurrected, so will the earth and heavens be renewed. They will pass away, as our body does at death, but new life will come.
In the book of Isaiah and Revelation, we find a larger picture of our future home. The New Jerusalem will be there, beautiful with precious stones and golden streets that reflect the majesty and purity of our Lord (Revelation 21:15-21). Everything will be made new, and nothing will ever be affected by death again. The Lord said, “I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more” (Isaiah 65:19, NIV). Not only will believers never suffer death or the loss of loved ones again, but crops will be abundant, the Dead Sea will flow with fresh water, and the tree of life will bear fruit every month (Revelation 21:4; 22:2; see also Ezekiel 47:8 and Zechariah 14:8-9).
The most amazing part of this restored earth is that God will dwell with humankind. What was lost in Eden, a close communion with the Lord, will be restored in eternity. As Revelation 21:3 says, “he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (NIV).
A Restored Vision for Our Future
An apocalyptic focus on the end times and a spiritualized version of heaven fail to encourage us to greater faithfulness. It is not fear or a low view of the physical earth that Peter mentions as a basis for living holy lives, but a focus on the new heaven and the new earth (2 Peter 3:11-14). What we anticipate has a direct impact on how we live today.
Yes, we should study the different judgments in Revelation and understand what they teach us about the character of God. However, we should not neglect the eschatological hope of the eternal kingdom where we will dwell with our Savior. Focusing on that kingdom can propel us to greater faithfulness now and can buoy our hope during times of suffering and loss.
To restore our vision for the future, we must develop a more biblical theology that upholds the continuity of our present life with the one to come–the resurrection of our physical bodies that is patterned after the physically resurrected body of Christ, and a renewed earth where God will reside with humankind. These same bodies that are sown perishable will be raised imperishable, and the earth will be restored to what it was always intended to be: a beautiful home where perfect communion between the Lord and His people takes place. Such a vision can change the way we view everything in life.
