Is our final home going to be heaven or a future new earth?

[Bruce Leiter]

The Bible mentions heaven as our destination when we die and God’s creation of the new earth. Are we going to stay in heaven when Jesus returns, or are we going to live on the new earth forever? What do you think the Bible teaches?

 

[OrthodoxBeliever]

The Bible mentions heaven as our destination when we die and God’s creation of the new earth. Are we going to stay in heaven when Jesus returns, or are we going to live on the new earth forever? What do you think the Bible teaches?

The final stage in Revelation is new earth with physical body, but both permanent.

 

[Free]

The Bible mentions heaven as our destination when we die and God’s creation of the new earth. Are we going to stay in heaven when Jesus returns, or are we going to live on the new earth forever? What do you think the Bible teaches?

Both, since they will be one and the same.

 

[Bruce Leiter]

Both, since they will be one and the same.

Please explain your post, Free. Why do you say they are "the same"?

 

[Free]

Please explain your post, Free. Why do you say they are "the same"?

Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
...
Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
Rev 21:23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. (ESV)

Just as it was in Eden, so it will be in eternity--God dwelling with man. It seems that heaven will be on earth.

 

[Bruce Leiter]

Here are some relevant Scripture verses for your edification:

Luk_24:51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

Act_1:11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Mrk_13:27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

Php 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Php 3:21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

1Th 4:14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
1Th 4:15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
1Th 4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Rev 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Rev 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband....
Rev 21:9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
Rev 21:11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal....
Rev 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

I draw the conclusion that our final home will be the new earth that God will create when Jesus returns. The new Jerusalem is a symbolic picture of the whole people of God, who will come down to the new earth in our resurrection bodies, where we will live and reign over the new universe with God forever.

 

[Bruce Leiter]

Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
...
Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
Rev 21:23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. (ESV)

Just as it was in Eden, so it will be in eternity--God dwelling with man. It seems that heaven will be on earth.

Yes, Free, I agree, but now heaven has been lifted up from the earth because of human sin beginning with Adam and Eve. Our souls do enter heaven when we die, but when Jesus returns, our souls will come back to be reunited with our newly-resurrected bodies. I eagerly anticipate that day!

 

[Free]

Yes, Free, I agree, but now heaven has been lifted up from the earth because of human sin beginning with Adam and Eve.

Your question was: " Are we going to stay in heaven when Jesus returns, or are we going to live on the new earth forever?"

I replied: "Both, since they will be one and the same."

Our souls do enter heaven when we die, but when Jesus returns, our souls will come back to be reunited with our newly-resurrected bodies. I eagerly anticipate that day!

Of course.

 

[JLB]

Are we going to stay in heaven when Jesus returns

Those in heaven will follow Him to Jerusalem and will receive their resurrected bodies in the clouds along with those who are alive and remain who are caught together with them.

• even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-15


Then all will descend to Jerusalem, the city of the great King.

 

[Bruce Leiter]

Those in heaven will follow Him to Jerusalem and will receive their resurrected bodies in the clouds along with those who are alive and remain who are caught together with them.

• even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-15


Then all will descend to Jerusalem, the city of the great King.

JLB, I agreed with you until you said your last sentence. The picture of the new Jerusalem is symbolic of all believers descending with Jesus to the new earth. The reason I make that claim is the following passage:

Rev 21:12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed—
Rev 21:13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
Rev 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Old and New Testament believers are given as names on the new Jerusalem's parts in verses 12 and 14. It's the "new" Jerusalem," not the present one.

 

[JLB]

@JLB, I agreed with you until you said your last sentence.

The Day of the LORD; The second coming of Jesus Christ

Behold, the day of the LORD is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then the LORD will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.
Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee
As you fled from the earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Thus the LORD my God will come,
And all the saints with You.
Zechariah 14:1-5

The Millennial Kingdom; The thousand year “rest”.
And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Revelation 20:4

The Millennial Kingdom; The thousand year “rest”.

And in that day it shall be
That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them toward the eastern sea
And half of them toward the western sea;
In both summer and winter it shall occur.
And the LORD shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“The LORD is one,”
And His name one.
Zechariah 14:8-9


And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Zechariah 14:16-18


After the thousand years we will see a new heaven and earth.


Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:1-2

 

[for_his_glory]

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

God will not always be in the third heaven as when all things are finished here on earth after the return of Christ God will make new again this present heaven and earth then He will usher down the New Jerusalem (Spiritual Kingdom of God). God will then be with us as the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with us and we with Him forever. For now the kingdom of God is within us as we are made kings and priest of God as we reign with Christ here on earth until the seventh trumpet sounds and then the nations (kingdoms) of this world become the nations (kingdoms) of God and of Christ and He will be our God and we His people forever.

The tabernacle of God within the New Jerusalem is not that which is made by hand as neither is the New Jerusalem. When we are given spiritual bodies (glorified bodies) then we will see all things of God that are spiritual for in our mortal bodies we can not even perceive what the New Jerusalem will look like just as we can not even know what Christ looks like, but know we will be just like Him in our glorified bodies.

Third Heaven - This is where God, Jesus and the holy angels dwell plus the very breath of just men dwell as when we die it is that breath that returns back to God. It is called The heaven of heavens, (Deuteronomy 10:14; 1 Kings 8:27; Psalms 115:16; 148:4). (1Kings 8:27) The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. The third heaven is beyond the space and stars. Where no man has seen by telescope. This heaven is the dwelling-place of God (John 3:13).

Daniel 7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Luke 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Rev 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Rev 5:10 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (We are the Spiritual Kingdom of God on earth)

Rev 11: 15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (We are that Spiritual kingdom of God while here on earth as we reign with Him over the nations)

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

 

[Bruce Leiter]

The Day of the LORD; The second coming of Jesus Christ

Behold, the day of the LORD is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then the LORD will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.
Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee
As you fled from the earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Thus the LORD my God will come,
And all the saints with You.
Zechariah 14:1-5

The Millennial Kingdom; The thousand year “rest”.
And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Revelation 20:4

The Millennial Kingdom; The thousand year “rest”.

And in that day it shall be
That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them toward the eastern sea
And half of them toward the western sea;
In both summer and winter it shall occur.
And the LORD shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“The LORD is one,”
And His name one.
Zechariah 14:8-9


And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Zechariah 14:16-18


After the thousand years we will see a new heaven and earth.


Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:1-2

I believe, JBL, that all those passages describe the one final kingdom after Jesus' one return. The 1,000 years mentioned only once in the Bible (Revelation 20) is the present age, because Satan is bound his prevention of the spread of the gospel to the nations and because all of the numbers, including 10, in the book are symbolic of a spiritual truth, not literal periods of time. In the case of 1,000, it is 10x10x10, which has three 10s that point to God's perfect timing in a symbolic way of the time between Jesus' first and second comings. Furthermore, Jesus' coming is pictured at the end of chapter 19 with chapter 20 beginning a new vision that takes us back to Jesus' first coming at the beginning of chapter 20.

Regardless, when it happens, we'll all find out; but besides being a-mil, I am also pan-mil; it'll all PAN out!

 

[JLB]

I believe, JBL, that all those passages describe the one final kingdom after Jesus' one return. The 1,000 years mentioned only once in the Bible (Revelation 20) is the present age, because Satan is bound his prevention of the spread of the gospel to the nations and because all of the numbers, including 10, in the book are symbolic of a spiritual truth, not literal periods of time. In the case of 1,000, it is 10x10x10, which has three 10s that point to God's perfect timing in a symbolic way of the time between Jesus' first and second comings. Furthermore, Jesus' coming is pictured at the end of chapter 19 with chapter 20 beginning a new vision that takes us back to Jesus' first coming at the beginning of chapter 20.

Regardless, when it happens, we'll all find out; but besides being a-mil, I am also pan-mil; it'll all PAN out!

The resurrection and rapture occur at His coming.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:15

 

[Bruce Leiter]

The resurrection and rapture occur at His coming.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:15

That's right, JLB, but 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 does say that Jesus will bring with him those who have died but does not say where we will go after the reunion in the air. Revelation 21, however, does say that we the new Jerusalem composed of Old and New Testament believers with Jesus and the Father (chapter 22) will come down toward the new earth out of heaven.

1Th 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
1Th 4:14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
1Th 4:15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
1Th 4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Rev 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Rev 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband....
Rev 22:3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.