What Will Heaven Be Like? Notes from Midweek Lesson
▾ What Will Heaven Be Like?
▾ The Present Heaven and Future Heaven
▾ This World is not our home? Not really.
• Redeemed humans will be God’s unchallenged, delegate rulers of the New Earth. God will come down and live with them forever deepening their relationships, as the glory of God permeates every aspect of the new creation.
• We will reign over a resurrected, centered on a resurrected Earth, with a resurrected Jerusalem as its capital city.
• We will eat, drink, work, worship, learn, travel, and experience many of things that we do now.
• Isaiah 65:17 See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
• Isaiah 66:22 “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure.
• Romans 8:19–23 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
▾ Will Heaven (the New Earth) Be an Actual Place?
▾ It’s a Renewal of a very familiar place
• Matthew 19:28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
• 2 Peter 3:5–13 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
▾ What Will Heaven Be Like?
▾ Heaven is a City, a Country, a Paradise Restored!
• Hebrews 11:10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
• Hebrews 11:16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
• Hebrews 13:14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
• Revelation 21, Revelation 22. The Garden of Eden. And God saw that it was good