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Where will you spend your eternity?

Drew said:
I believe that the Scriptures teach that the final home of redeemed persons is on a transformed and renewed earth.

I realize that many Christians believe in some sort of non-embodied eternal existence in Heaven, but this is not the Biblical teaching, at least as I see it. If you believe this, do you also believe, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, that, at some point in the future, we will all be given resurrection bodies like Jesus was given?

And I trust you realize that Jesus' resurrection body had arms, legs, stomach, eyes, etc., etc. So assuming you agree with Paul, are you saying you will be in a "arms, legs, head, eyes" body that is located in some non-physical heaven? How does that work? Where do you use your feet? What do you see with your eyes? What do you eat? I think it is very hard to make sense of the idea of eternal existence in Heaven, given the Biblical teaching. I suggest that Heaven is a "rest stop", as we await the resurrection of the body and the final redemption of all creation.

God created the physical world and declared it to be very good. For reasons I will not get into in the present post, I am confident that He plans to redeem His physical creation, not throw it in the garbage.
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Since you are essentially saying what I am saying, am I correct that this is not directed at me? :)
 
And how are we better (rule over them) than the Angels when we don't dwell with Go in Heaven? If angels are in heaven then we will be in heaven. Where? Where God is. This is my belief. What do you think?
 
Some replys here seem to suggest that man would be separated away from God, kind of. God in His heaven and man in his Promised Heaven/Earth.
 
i thought for classic, it was a big soccer field in the sky with barcolena's soccer team and the holy choir shouting barca,barca, barca while they play.
 
Free said:
The third heaven is more than merely a spiritual place. Jesus is the God-man, in a resurrected body, yet he is in heaven.

And I do not believe Scripture teaches that the kingdom of God is something that is within us, but rather it is something we enter into.
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Free, you really have me at a crossroad here. You believe in resurrected bodies, you believe Jesus is in Heaven, but you don't believe the Kingdom of God is within us? THAT is the spiritual side of God. That's the whole purpose of experiencing the Holy Spirit within you! The Kingdom is within you, scripture does teach us this. It's only by Faith that the words IN the Bible become ALIVE in your heart. When one comes to Faith, only then do we believe. Come over to our side Free, we have chocolate cookies. :)

for_his_glory said:
We know by scripture that the kingdom of God is within us (Spiritual) as God has always dwelled with His people and always will through eternity. We also bare the image of God in us (Spiritually) when we first became indwelled by His Holy Spirit as it was at that time of being Spiritually born again, John 3:3, that we first experienced the kingdom of God and became a part of it. When we think of the third heaven we imagine it as a literal place, a paradise outside our own realm, but unlike the other two heavens, which even the first will pass away, the third is that of a Spiritual place as with God all things are Spiritual in His realm. It's not a place that we can see with our eyes, but that of an infinite realm that will also engulf the New Earth and New Jerusalem as God will always be with us and we with Him.

The third heaven is very close to us as we can reach out in the Spirit (like John in receiving revelations from God while he was in the Spirit) to only experience God in all His glory. The Celtics call it a thin place, but we call it the Holiest of Holies as we can only sense it or even get a glimpse of it by being in the Spirit to experience such a Spiritual place.
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Very well said.

Drew said:
And I trust you realize that Jesus' resurrection body had arms, legs, stomach, eyes, etc., etc. So assuming you agree with Paul, are you saying you will be in a "arms, legs, head, eyes" body that is located in some non-physical heaven? How does that work? Where do you use your feet? What do you see with your eyes? What do you eat? I think it is very hard to make sense of the idea of eternal existence in Heaven, given the Biblical teaching. I suggest that Heaven is a "rest stop", as we await the resurrection of the body and the final redemption of all creation.
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Yes Heaven is a 'reststop' - Heaven is only temporary. The New Earth/Renewed is forever, the physical aspects of Heaven and The New Earth are in the book 'Heaven by Randy Alcorn'. It brings to light a lot of peoples questions.

Which brings me to another question. How long will we reside in Heaven since it's only temporary? Which brings me to The Great Tribulation. If you don't believe in the Tribulation, then you're not understanding what the world is going through right now..wars, famine, earthquakes, Christians turning against each other because of lack of faith etc..yes these things have always existed but they are getting worse.

At the close of the 1000 years, the Holy city of God will descend from Heaven to the New Earth. I believe a 1000 years has different meaning than here on earth. I am still studying the Tribulation so, i am in the learning process.

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
End Times
1000 Years
The Anti-Christ
 
k its called anthromorphism. god doesnt have arms and legs and the earth doesnt have his feet on it.

yes there will be bodily ressurection, and yes when we die instantly we will be with the lord.

paul didnt lie when he said for to be absent in body is to be present with the lord.
 
Yah1 said:
Free, you really have me at a crossroad here. You believe in resurrected bodies, you believe Jesus is in Heaven, but you don't believe the Kingdom of God is within us? THAT is the spiritual side of God. That's the whole purpose of experiencing the Holy Spirit within you! The Kingdom is within you, scripture does teach us this. It's only by Faith that the words IN the Bible become ALIVE in your heart. When one comes to Faith, only then do we believe. Come over to our side Free, we have chocolate cookies. :)



Very well said.



Yes Heaven is a 'reststop' - Heaven is only temporary. The New Earth/Renewed is forever, the physical aspects of Heaven and The New Earth are in the book 'Heaven by Randy Alcorn'. It brings to light a lot of peoples questions.

Which brings me to another question. How long will we reside in Heaven since it's only temporary? Which brings me to The Great Tribulation. If you don't believe in the Tribulation, then you're not understanding what the world is going through right now..wars, famine, earthquakes, Christians turning against each other because of lack of faith etc..yes these things have always existed but they are getting worse.

At the close of the 1000 years, the Holy city of God will descend from Heaven to the New Earth. I believe a 1000 years has different meaning than here on earth. I am still studying the Tribulation so, i am in the learning process.

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
End Times
1000 Years
The Anti-Christ
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Well said my brother! Well said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
We will go to heaven. But then heaven will come down toward earth and be suspended above earth. There will be both a new heaven and new earth. If some of you want to live on the earth with the JW's ok, but I'm going to heaven with Jesus ;)
 
Blev said:
We will go to heaven. But then heaven will come down toward earth and be suspended above earth. There will be both a new heaven and new earth. If some of you want to live on the earth with the JW's ok, but I'm going to heaven with Jesus
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Very funny. [You know we are to rule over angels as the bible promises. Good. Are the angels gonna leave God and come down to that New Earth or Heaven? I don't think so. Rather we'd go up there.]
 
Classik said:
Very funny. [You know we are to rule over angels as the bible promises. Good. Are the angels gonna leave God and come down to that New Earth or Heaven? I don't think so. Rather we'd go up there.]
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At least the two of us and I think a few others here would be up there with Jesus :)
 
If I can't be with Jesus then its not heaven. Thats the only reason I want to go there to be with Him. I don't care about the others stuff ,rewards etc. Or even the beauty of it. What could be beautiful compared to the Lord in all of His majestic splender and glory?
 
Free said:
The third heaven is more than merely a spiritual place. Jesus is the God-man, in a resurrected body, yet he is in heaven.

And I do not believe Scripture teaches that the kingdom of God is something that is within us, but rather it is something we enter into. It is the rule of God made manifest on earth.
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Yes, Jesus was resurrected in body form as they saw Him ascend and as they saw him leave in a physical body he will return the same, but this does not mean he had a physical body when he entered to sit at the right hand of God as no one could know this for sure as in Gods realm all is Spiritual without flesh and bone. When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God within us, Luke 17:20-23, he was saying it is in the midst of those who have been Spiritually renewed, born-again, John 3:3, so it really should be understood as Jesus saying the Kingdom of God is within your midst, or among you. In other words, wherever Jesus is, it accompanies him. What it does not mean is that it resides in everyone.
 
God breathed life into us and when this flesh body dies that spirit of life that was breathed in us will go back to God, Ecclesiastics 12:7, and this flesh body will return to the dust of the ground from where it came from until we are resurrected when Jesus comes to take us into the clouds, 1Thessalonians 4:13-18, which is the first heaven that is atmosphere where we will be raised incorruptible, 1 Corinthians 15:52.

Nowhere in the Bible does it state what we will actually look like when we return with Jesus when he plants His feet on the Mount of Olives and fights the final battle as described in Zechariah chapter 4, except that we will be conformed to His glorious body, Philippians 3:21; 1Corinthians 15:43; 1John 3:2. After this final siege of Jerusalem is won by Christ forever then the new heaven and new earth will be ushered in as the old heaven and earth will pass away.

The soul and the spirit are connected, but separable (Hebrews 4:12). The soul is the essence of humanity’s being; it is who we are. The spirit is the aspect of humanity that connects with God. Only those who have faith in Christ are those who are spiritually alive while those with unbelief in Christ are spiritually dead, 1Corinthians 2:11; Hebrews 4:12; James 2:26; Ephesians 2:1-5; Colossians 2:13.

The spirit that is in man is either the spirit that connects with God or connects with the principalities of this world, the ruler of wickedness in dark places. Just because a person lives a good life, helps others and seems to be an all around good person whether they are alive or dead when Christ returns will be resurrected unto damnation if they are not renewed by the Spirit of God through His grace for their remissions of sin.
 
Which brings me to another question. How long will we reside in Heaven since it's only temporary? Which brings me to The Great Tribulation. If you don't believe in the Tribulation, then you're not understanding what the world is going through right now..wars, famine, earthquakes, Christians turning against each other because of lack of faith etc..yes these things have always existed but they are getting worse.

At the close of the 1000 years, the Holy city of God will descend from Heaven to the New Earth. I believe a 1000 years has different meaning than here on earth. I am still studying the Tribulation so, i am in the learning process.

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
End Times
1000 Years
The Anti-Christ[/QUOTE]

Hi Yah1,
I do not want to go off topic with getting into the understanding of some "Seven Year Great Tribulation" the way some teach it or 1000 yr reign, as I do not believe in a seven year Tribulation or a literal 1000 year reign as we have and always will be in tribulation until Christ returns and a day with the Lord is not a literal 1000 years like some teach. I do have a very detailed teaching of all this on my website to anyone who wants to study what the scriptures say about all of this.
 
Don Moen says in one of his songs: I want to be where You are, dwelling in Your presence........ Feasting at Your table, surrounded by Your glory.......... In Your presence, that's where I always want to be........ I just want to be, I just want to be with You. :pray
 
Blev said:
We will go to heaven. But then heaven will come down toward earth and be suspended above earth. There will be both a new heaven and new earth. If some of you want to live on the earth with the JW's ok, but I'm going to heaven with Jesus ;)
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Other than a "new" heaven and a "new" earth, however that is to be understood, there simply isn't anything else in that statement that seems to be biblical. Much of what Scripture states about heaven, culminating in what we have in the last two chapters of revelation, seems to suggest that there is no real distinction between heaven and earth.
 
for_his_glory said:
Yes, Jesus was resurrected in body form as they saw Him ascend and as they saw him leave in a physical body he will return the same, but this does not mean he had a physical body when he entered to sit at the right hand of God as no one could know this for sure as in Gods realm all is Spiritual without flesh and bone.
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There simply is no reason to think that he isn't in his physical body, that he isn't in state in which he left. Remember, he had a redeemed, transformed body, capable of walking through walls and locked doors or just disappearing. We must be careful both in how we understand the terms "flesh and bone" and also in stating that "in God's realm all is Spiritual," as though "flesh and bone" cannot dwell there.

for_his_glory said:
When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God within us, Luke 17:20-23, he was saying it is in the midst of those who have been Spiritually renewed, born-again, John 3:3, so it really should be understood as Jesus saying the Kingdom of God is within your midst, or among you. In other words, wherever Jesus is, it accompanies him. What it does not mean is that it resides in everyone.
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Yes, and that is what I have already stated. Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, and given what the gospels say of the Pharisees, clearly the kingdom of God could not have literally been "within" them, that is inside of them. He was speaking about himself and the authority by which he was performing miracles--he was in their midst, bringing the presence of the kingdom of God.
 
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