Our Eternal Home
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. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his people, and God himself will be with them.”
Revelation 21:1–3 NRSV
“Hmm . . .” Lucy mused thoughtfully, while reading a page fresh from Snoopy’s typewriter. Handing the paper back to the budding writer, she informed Snoopy that she didn’t think his subject was serious enough. Making a sweeping gesture, she advised the perplexed dog to write something really thought-provoking, to tackle a question that has been a puzzle since the beginning of the world. Snoopy pondered the counsel and then returned to his work. “Are there dogs in heaven?” began his new literary piece.
In his own way Snoopy had indeed captured the question that has loomed since the world began. Where is the universe going? What is our eternal home?
Our answer to this query comes in two words: God’s community. According to the Bible, God’s purposes go beyond our individual existence or even the human story. The divine goal is ultimately cosmic in scope. It envelops all creation. God’s program is nothing less than the bringing to pass of an eternal community encompassing a new creation. We conclude our study, therefore, by looking at this great biblical hope as the answer to three questions:
The Judgment: Marking the Transition to Eternity
God is at work bringing to pass an all-encompassing goal. His intention is to transform creation into the glorious eternal community of the new creation. What precipitates that transformation? What event forms the boundary between our present and God’s future?
The Bible answers this question with the word “judgment.” Creation becomes new creation only as it passes through judgment.
Actually, judgment is one of the most pervasive themes in all of Scripture. God is not only the Creator; God is also the Judge. But exactly who—or what—comes under divine judgment? The Scriptures speak of two aspects of this future reality:
God Will Judge the Cosmos
The Bible teaches that all creation will come under God’s scrutiny. Of course, this includes the cosmic powers, the spiritual hosts. In fact, the New Testament indicates that those who rebelled against God have already been judged (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). Indeed, in his death Jesus “made a public spectacle” of the powers and authorities (Col. 2:15).
Nevertheless, Scripture also speaks about a future judgment involving both demons and angels (Matt. 25:41), in which we too will participate (1 Cor. 6:3). Above all, however, God will bring the devil to the day of reckoning. On that day, our foe will be banished from God’s eternal community (Rev. 20:10).
The future judgment will not be limited to moral creatures, however. The material creation itself will undergo judgment. Peter declares, “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” (2 Pet. 3:10).
But why? We can readily understand that God must judge Satan and the spiritual hosts. But what possible purpose could a cosmic judgment serve? Why must the physical universe undergo judgment?
Judgment is necessary for the liberation of creation from its present situation. You see, humans are not the only aspect of creation that has not yet reached perfection. Even the physical world does not now fully reflect God’s intention (Rom. 8:20–22). Contrary to what several philosophers have claimed, this is not the best of all possible worlds.
In what sense is creation not yet perfect? One central aspect is the pervasive presence of the power of decay at work in creation. Of course, viewed as a universal process, decay and death are a natural part of the cosmos. But if we view things from the perspective of God’s ultimate purpose and desire, we come to a different conclusion. Decay and death are not natural. They are not part of the eternal realm that God intends to create.
The present creation can become God’s new creation only as it is liberated from the power of decay. And this liberation occurs through judgment. One day, the Creator will transform this universe. To do so, God will purge from the physical realm all decay-producing elements. By means of this judgment, the cosmos will be freed from bondage.
But we must probe deeper. Why must decay and death be purged from the cosmos? God desires to create an eternal home for his redeemed people. We can enter into eternal fellowship with him only through resurrection. This event marks the transformation of our perishable, mortal bodies into the likeness of Christ’s immortal body. Consider that glorified immortal persons cannot inhabit an earth characterized by decay and death. Therefore, for it to become a fitting environment for us, the earth must undergo judgment and transformation.
This answer is still incomplete, however. Our complete response takes us to the very heart of God’s plan. Judgment is necessary to prepare the physical realm for the fellowship God intends to share with all creation!
As we will see later, one day God will leave his lofty home beyond the world and dwell within creation (Rev. 21:1–3). Then we will finally enjoy immediate, unending fellowship with our Creator. In its current state, however, the cosmos cannot serve as home to this new community. Rather, it must first be freed from decay and death: the presence of the eternally unchanging God requires that the physical realm be cleansed from the power of decay. And the presence of the God who is life itself requires that the cosmos be purified from the power of death.
As the home of the Triune God, the entire cosmos will one day join in glorifying the Creator. But this too requires transformation. Only when it has been changed—liberated from everything that stands contrary to God’s own nature—can all creation offer complete and worthy praise to the perfect and holy Creator.
We can now summarize our response. The judgment is God’s act of transforming the old cosmos into the new. God does this so that creation might become home to the eternal community of redeemed humans enjoying the presence of the Triune God and living in harmony with the renewed creation.
God Will Judge Humankind
Although cosmic in scope, God’s activity in the world focuses on humans. As the perpetrators of sin, we are the ones in all creation needing reconciliation. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that we are the focus of the judgment as well. And like the cosmos in general, our judgment marks the transition from the old to the new creation.
The certainty of our judgment. The Bible is clear that all people will one day face divine judgment (Matt. 11:24; 12:36; Acts 10:42; Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Tim. 4:1; Heb. 9:27; 1 Pet. 4:5; 2 Pet. 2:9; 1 John 4:17).
But how can this include believers? Doesn’t the Bible indicate that we are no longer under condemnation, for we have passed from death to life? How, then, could we possibly be present at the final judgment (1 Cor. 11:31)?
Yet Scripture is adamant: we will all face God’s judgment. Everyone will give an account to the righteous Judge.
Of course, as believers we face judgment with one crucial difference. We know the Judge. The one who calls us to account is the God whom we have come to know in Christ. The one before whom we will stand on the last day is the one who has extended saving love toward us. Our Judge is the God who has already judged our sins in Jesus’s death (Rom. 3:21–26; 8:1). Consequently, we can face the day of reckoning without fear of condemnation (Rom. 8:31–34).
Yet the question remains: Why must we stand before our Maker? What is the purpose of the judgment?
The purpose of our judgment. We often picture the great judgment day as a vast line of individuals passing by a judge’s bench where they await the verdict—either condemned or acquitted. This, however, is not the scene painted by the Bible.
The judgment will occur swiftly, even instantaneously. More significantly, it doesn’t so much entail a pronouncement of some previously unknown verdict but the making public of hidden realities (Luke 8:17).
Why is this important? Why must God bring these hidden realities to light? And exactly what will be revealed on that great day?
This public disclosure will involve God’s vindication of himself. Evil, not God, appears to be in control of the world. The wicked prosper and the righteous suffer (see Ps. 73:1–16). Most tragic of all, the Righteous One suffered at the hands of the wicked. And his followers continue to suffer at the hands of God’s enemies. In all of this, God appears slow to act in the cause of justice. This apparent slowness leads us to question the divine power, God’s willingness to act, even God’s existence.
One day, however, God will overturn this situation. God will pass judgment on behalf of the righteous (Luke 18:1–8). Thereby he will vindicate himself (Eph. 3:10). God will show that he is the one who does indeed bring about justice in creation (2 Pet. 3:3–10).
The judgment will also vindicate Jesus and his followers. Through the ascension, God declared Jesus to be the Lord of the cosmos. Our Lord’s return will mark his universal, public vindication. But we will share in that glorious event. The public day of judgment that vindicates Jesus will likewise vindicate all those who have confessed his name. For us, therefore, the return of Christ in judgment should be a source of hope (1 John 4:17).
This public disclosure will also affect human social conditions. At the present time the powerful appear to be in control. On that day, however, all will see that the sovereign God has sided with the powerless, for the Lord will champion the cause of the downtrodden. That is, all will see that God does not measure success as power and earthly prestige but in accordance with humble servanthood, ministry to one another, and service to the needy (Matt. 25:31–46; Mark 10:35–45). Then the first will indeed be last and the last first.
This public disclosure will also reveal the underlying unity of the cosmic story. What now appears to be a fragmented flow of disconnected events actually hides a unifying thread. On that day, all humankind will see plainly that Jesus of Nazareth is the logos, the one who gives unity to all of life.
Not only will Jesus be publicly displayed as the meaning of history, each human life will be scrutinized in accordance with the unifying principle of all history as revealed in Jesus. The comparison of how we have lived with the revelation of the unity of life will result in a shrill dissonance. We will see plainly the great gap between God’s pattern for our lives and the actual way we lived.
But we still may raise the question of why believers must stand before God. We can understand the presence of the wicked at the judgment. But why us?
For Christians the day of reckoning will complete the sanctification process. In a sense, our judgment will be a purging. God will test our works so that he might remove all the dross (1 Cor. 3:13–15). In so doing, God will fit us for eternity. For us, judgment will mark the transition into an eternal fellowship with God.
At the same time, the judgment will be a day of surprises. Jesus warned that not all who call him “Lord” will enter the kingdom. To some he will respond, “I never knew you” (Matt. 7:21–23). Simply offering lip service to God is insufficient. The judgment day will reveal who truly are Jesus’s disciples.
The shock of judgment will extend into the believing community as well. Some will discover that although they are saved, they rendered only meager service to the Lord (1 Cor. 3:15).
Obviously God’s standard of judgment differs radically from that of the world. What will form the criterion for this scrutiny?
The basis of our judgment. The Bible consistently declares that we will be judged according to our works (Gen. 2:15–17; Jer. 17:10; 32:19; Matt. 16:27; Rom. 2:6; 2 Cor. 5:10; Gal. 6:7–8; Rev. 20:11–15; 22:12). Among the works that Jesus cited as leading to condemnation are the accumulation of earthly possessions to the exclusion of true wealth (Mark 10:17–31; Luke 12:13–21), a lack of care for the disadvantaged (Matt. 25:31–46), and an unwillingness to forgive (Matt. 18:21–35).
But this doesn’t yet give us the final standard for judgment. Our foundational answer to this question can only be “the divine will.” We are judged according to the extent to which our lives have measured up to God’s intention for us.
This focus takes us back to the idea of community. As we have been arguing, God desires that we live in fellowship with him, with each other, and with all creation, and thereby live according to our own true identity. To the extent that we pursue godly community, our lives glorify God and, therefore, are consistent with God’s divine standard. The Lord greets such consistency with “glory, honor and peace,” even “eternal life” (Rom. 2:7–10).
This focus leads us to realize that Christ is the standard for judgment. As we noted in chapter 5, Jesus revealed the divine design for humankind—that we are created for community. We are designed to live in fellowship with and obedience to God. Because he shows us what it means to be human, our Lord is the standard in comparison to whom our lives will be measured.
This emphasis suggests how it is that we will be involved in God’s act of judging (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30; 1 Cor. 6:2; Rev. 20:4). We are those in whom and among whom the Holy Spirit is creating obedience to God’s intent to establish community. As a result, our lives bring to light the failure of moral creatures who do not live in accordance with God’s purpose.
While conformity to God’s will is the standard of judgment, those who incur condemnation do so in accordance with the light they have received. Jesus declared that the servant who knowingly disobeys his master will suffer greater punishment than the one who disobeys in ignorance. Indeed, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48; see also John 12:48; Rom. 2:12–16; Heb. 10:28–29).
The rewards resulting from our judgment. Will the judgment have consequences in addition to determining our eternal destinies? More specifically, will we receive divine rewards at the judgment? Simply stated, the answer is yes (Matt. 25:14–30; 1 Cor. 3:10–15).
Live each moment conscious of the glorious reality of a coming day of judgment.
But how can this be? Should not God’s eternal community be devoid of the distinctions among people so prevalent in this age (Matt. 20:1–16)? Will the eternal kingdom be ruled by the privileged few—the “rewarded”—just as human societies are? And doesn’t the expectation of rewards lead us to serve Christ for personal benefit—to be exalted above others—rather than out of love for the one who saved us?
In contemplating eternal rewards, we must keep in mind that the judgment will be a day of surprises. Our Judge’s criterion differs greatly from the world’s standard. The Lord may elevate those who appear to be lowly and unimportant above others whom we esteem as the most prominent.
This principle applies to motives as well. Those whose labors have been motivated by purely selfish ends will be surprised when the Lord rewards others who simply served him without expecting anything in return. As Jesus repeatedly declared, the path to greatness in the kingdom follows the route he himself pioneered: self-sacrificial service to others. As a result, the prominent persons in God’s new order will be those who are servants of all.
Let’s now summarize. The judgment is the public, cosmic revealing of the truth of reality. This revelation will bring surprise and joy to some, as they are welcomed into eternal bliss and receive the rewards of their labors. For others, this day will come as a shock, for they will see clearly the ultimate failure of their lives.
The Dark Side of the Judgment
“Ultimate failure.” This is an ominous phrase. Is ultimate failure truly possible? Will the judgment result in some being excluded from the eternal community? The Bible responds with a resounding yes (Matt. 22:13; Luke 13:25–29; Rom. 6:21; Phil. 1:28; 3:19; 1 Thess. 5:3; 2 Thess. 1:8–9).
But perhaps the answer is more complicated than it appears on the surface. Perhaps this failure is not beyond repair. Let’s look at this possibility.
Justice: Who Will Participate in God’s Eternal Community?
Justice requires that the divine Judge not overlook human failure, of course. But perhaps the sentence of condemnation God speaks on the day of judgment is not irrevocable. Indeed, perhaps it is remedial, intended merely to bring the prodigal to return to the Father’s waiting arms. Perhaps God is a great pedagogue; God condemns so that all persons might come to salvation. Those who fail to do so in this life will be gathered in sometime in eternity.
The belief that in the end God will gather every person into his eternal fellowship is known as “universalism.” Your first response might be to ask, “How could anyone come to this conclusion?”1
Universalists are convinced that the Bible itself teaches their view. The God of the Bible, they argue, loves all creation so much that he is unrelenting in pursuing the wayward.2 The God who is long-suffering and desires that all “come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4) could not rest in the enjoyment of eternity until he had brought the last human into the fold.
In addition, universalists argue that Christ’s lordship over the cosmos is so complete that there can be no enclave lying outside his reign. There can be no realm to which his death for sin and his triumph over the evil powers does not extend. An eternal hell would be just such a place—a realm beyond the reach of Jesus’s reconciling work, a sphere over which sin (and not Jesus) rules.
Hell cannot be an eternal fate, universalists add, because God desires that all be saved (1 Tim. 2:4; 4:10; 2 Pet. 3:9). And Christ’s death is the atonement for all (2 Cor. 5:19; Titus 2:11; Heb. 2:9; 1 John 2:2). Didn’t the Second Adam win justification for all humankind by his obedience, proponents ask, just as the first Adam brought sin and death to all (Rom. 5:12–21)? And doesn’t the Second Adam bestow resurrection life on all, just as the first Adam brought death to all (1 Cor. 15:20–26)? Therefore, universalists conclude, the God who will bring all creation to its fullness in Christ (John 12:32; Eph. 1:10; Col. 1:15–23) will also restore all persons to himself (Acts 3:19–21; Phil. 2:9–11).
Universalists raise another significant theological point. Isn’t it inconceivable that earthly choices should determine an irrevocable eternity apart from God, when so many people do not respond to the gospel in this life? The God who is just, proponents demur, must continue to draw all people to himself in the next life, until everyone freely responds to his invitation and so participates in God’s eternal community.3
The hope that in the end all will be saved resonates well with our sympathies as Christians. Do we not long that everyone join us in eternal praise to God? And can we speak about the prospect of anyone going to hell except with tears in our eyes?
The Bible, however, simply does not support universalism. Scripture declares that God’s intent is universal. But as we noted in chapter 8, salvation requires personal appropriation.4 In creating humankind, God has imposed a certain limitation on himself. God takes us so seriously as to allow us to absent ourselves from the eternal fellowship for which we were created.5
Will the Unrighteous Simply Cease to Exist?
If some will not enjoy God’s eternal community, then perhaps their fate is extinction. Perhaps God will destroy them at the judgment. Or perhaps God simply withdraws the Spirit’s life-giving presence so that they simply pass out of existence. This suggestion is known as “annihilationism” or “conditional immortality.”
While acknowledging that some people are eternally lost, annihilationists find the traditional doctrine of conscious suffering problematic. They claim that it came about through the intrusion of the Greek idea of the soul’s immortality into the church.6 According to the Bible, in contrast, we must receive immortality from God—specifically, through participation in the resurrection.
In addition, like universalists, annihilationists find the idea of hell repugnant. The presence of people in hell contradicts both Christ’s victory and God’s intention to reconcile all things in Christ, they argue.7 Likewise, rather than serving a useful purpose, eternal torment exhibits a vindictiveness incompatible with the loving God revealed in Jesus. It makes God act in a manner that contradicts his own revealed goodness and offends our God-given sense of justice.8
More importantly, annihilationists find their view to be the explicit teaching of the Bible: the end of the wicked is destruction (Ps. 37:2, 9–10, 20, 32; Mal. 4:1–3). The unrighteous will be cast into the smoldering garbage heap of Gehenna (Matt. 5:30) where they will be burned up (Matt. 3:10, 12; 13:30, 42, 49–52) and destroyed in both body and soul (Matt. 10:28). They will experience “the second death” (Rev. 20:14–15; see also Rom. 1:32; 6:23; 1 Cor. 3:17; Phil. 1:28; 3:19; Heb. 10:39; 2 Pet. 2:1, 3, 6; 3:6–7; Jude 7).
But doesn’t the Bible speak about eternal damnation? Doesn’t Scripture describe hell as an eternal reality, a place of never-ending torment?
Not when properly understood, annihilationists reply.9 These texts refer to the permanence of the result of judgment, not the continuation of the act of punishment.10 “Eternal punishment” means that the results of judgment cannot be reversed.
Upon closer inspection, however, we conclude that such passages of Scripture simply cannot be read in the way annihilationists prefer.11 Unfortunately for their position, the very word the biblical authors use to speak of the eternal bliss of the righteous is the one they also choose to describe the punishment of the lost (Matt. 25:46) and even the fate of Satan and his cohorts (but see Matt. 8:29; Mark 5:7; Rev. 14:10; 18:7–8). Just as we await an “eternal” bliss, so also will they suffer a punishment that is “eternal.”
In addition, the idea that all the wicked suffer an equal punishment for their crimes—annihilation—violates our sense of justice. Does my morally upright but unbelieving neighbor face the same fate as a man like Hitler or even the devil himself? Do they receive an undifferentiated sentence—“mere” extinction for each of them? No! The Bible indicates that the unrighteous will suffer varying degrees of punishment (Matt. 10:15; 11:20–24; Luke 12:47–48).
Although insufficient, annihilationism does caution us against becoming too graphic in describing the fate of the lost. Just as we cannot envision what conscious bliss will mean to us who have been transformed into resurrected, spiritual bodies, so also we do not know what punishment will feel like to those eternally outside God’s community.
The Bible explicitly teaches that there are two eternal possibilities. And according to Scripture, hell is not a happy fate (Dan. 12:2; Matt. 13:42, 49–50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:10–30, 46; John 5:29; 2 Thess. 1:9; Heb. 6:2; Jude 7; Rev. 14:10–14).12
Most people today continue to give at least passing acknowledgment to this biblical truth. Results from a 2013 Harris Poll indicates that 58 percent of Americans believe in hell, though this is down from 62 percent in the last Harris poll. Interestingly, this same poll found that 74 percent of Americans believe in God and 68 percent believe in heaven. All of these figures represent a decline since the last poll conducted by Harris in 2009.13 Why such a slim majority believing in hell? This is a crucial cultural and theological question. Nevertheless, Christian theology affirms the existence of hell in some form, but the question that haunts most of us is, who will be there?
Why hell? The reality of hell is a great mystery. And we dare never claim to understand it completely. But whatever we say about hell, we must understand it from the perspective of the character of God.
The Bible teaches that God is an eternal Lover. In keeping with the divine nature, he loves creation eternally. God desires that we respond to the divine love—that we enjoy eternal community with him, one another, and creation, and thereby truly be the image of the Triune God.
We noted in chapter 2 that we dare not confuse God’s love with sentimentality. As the great Lover, God is also the avenging Protector of the love relationship. Consequently, God’s love has a dark side.
Some may spurn God’s love or seek to destroy the holy love relationship God desires to enjoy with creation. Those who do, experience the divine love as protective jealousy or wrath. Because God is eternal, our experience of God’s love—whether as fellowship or as wrath—is also eternal. Just as the righteous enjoy unending community with God, so also those who set themselves in opposition to God’s love experience this holy love (wrath) eternally. This is hell.
What more can we say about this awful reality? Only that hell is the eternal tragedy, the eternal human failure.
The tragic truth is that some creatures simply refuse to live in accordance with God’s intention. Those in hell suffer gnawing despair as they realize that they missed the purpose—the community—for which God created them. The judgment brings to light the “shrill dissonance,” the discrepancy between their lives and the wonderful destiny God intended for us all. And they know this dissonance throughout eternity.
Many Christians interpret the biblical images of hell as burning fire literally.14 However, the Reformers were surely correct in understanding fire as a metaphor. Fire refers to the anguish generated by the awareness that a person has invested his or her entire life in what is perishable and temporal, rather than imperishable and eternal (Matt. 6:19–20; Luke 12:16–21).15
God’s purpose for humans is community—the enjoyment of fellowship with the Creator, with one another, and with creation. The lost, however, fail to realize this destiny. Rather than living in fellowship with God through obedience to the divine will, they have remained alienated from him.
This is the “second death” (Rev. 20:14). Alienation from God is now eternal. The lost are forever separated from our human destiny in the eternal divine community.
Hell is “outer darkness” (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30 NRSV). Banished from the realm where believers bask in the light of God’s presence, the unrighteous are shut up into themselves where they can only grope in darkness.
The Bible’s picture of hell is a sad state. Only talk about hell with tearful eyes.
A cartoon pictures Satan conducting an orientation session for people who have just entered hell. “Try to think of this as a support group for the eternally damned,” he glibly states.
Were it only true, then the lost might find some consolation! But hell offers no support for the damned. Shut out from fellowship with the God of all comfort and the community of the saints, they experience only the pain of isolation.
In short, then, there is a dark side to eternity. The other side of the good news is bleak. Some will not participate in the eternal community God wills for us all. But thanks be to God, the divine patience is not yet exhausted. The God who does not delight in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23; 1 Tim. 2:4) continues to offer pardon and grace to wayward humans. And the Holy Spirit continues to call sinful humans to enter into a fellowship that will continue throughout all eternity.
Glorious: The Nature of Our Eternal Home
One day God will bring to pass a glorious new situation. Then the entire universe will conform to what has been the Creator’s purpose from the beginning. This new situation God is creating will be our eternal home.
But how can we even talk about this reality? We can only do so by invoking the images the Bible uses.
To help us understand what God is planning to do, the Bible speaks about God fashioning a “new creation.” Through Isaiah, for example, God declares, “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind” (Isa. 65:17). And John’s vision of the future concludes in a similar manner: “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Rev. 21:1).
The New Creation Is the Renewed Cosmos
Christians throughout the ages have wondered what our eternal home will be like. The phrase “the new creation” offers an important clue. The glorious future reality that God promises is “the creation.” It is none other than this very universe, the cosmos that we know. But it is not merely this universe. That future reality is also the new creation. Our eternal home, therefore, is the renewed cosmos, the purified and transformed universe.
To see how this is so, we must return to chapter 11. There we spoke about the resurrection as the means whereby we enter God’s eternal community. As such, it marks the culmination of our personal stories. We likewise indicated that Christ’s return forms the culmination of history. It lies at the boundary between our experience of linear time and God’s eternity.
This suggests yet one more connection. The judgment marks the transition from creation to new creation. But as we noted earlier, the judgment is both cosmic and personal. It involves each of us, as well as the spiritual beings and the physical universe. This judgment, therefore, lifts human life in all its dimensions (both personal and social) into the life of the entire cosmos.
For this reason, the hope of God’s renewal of all creation stands at the apex of our vision. But what does this hope entail? How can we describe the future renewal?
The renewal is the completion of creation. The place to begin is with a reminder as to what creation is all about. And to get a handle on this, we need to ask a question: When did God create the world? Of course, the answer is obvious: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). God called the universe into existence “in the beginning.”
Yet this is not the entire story. God brought the cosmos into being in the distant past. Nevertheless, God’s purpose in creating and for creation has not yet been attained. In fact, it remains unrealized until the end, until God fulfills his promise to make all things new. Indeed, why would God make this promise if creation were already what God intends?
The cosmos does not yet conform to the Creator’s design. In this sense, it is not yet completely created.
One day, however, this will change. The Creator will liberate the cosmos from its present incompleteness. God will bring it into conformity with the divine design.
What will the renewed cosmos look like? The picture the Bible presents differs greatly from what we often imagine. We describe our eternal home as an entirely “spiritual” (i.e., nonmaterial) place, a realm far away from the earth. For indeed, our eternal home is inhabited by purely spiritual beings. And to distinguish it from earthly, physical existence, we commonly call it “heaven.”16
The biblical vision, in contrast, anticipates a physical place. It is a new earth blanketed by a new heaven (Isa. 65:17; Rev. 21:1).
Don’t we go to live with God for all eternity? Not exactly. The Bible doesn’t speak of resurrected believers being snatched away to some heavenly world beyond the cosmos where God waits. John, the seer of Revelation, envisions exactly the opposite. The home for the citizens of God’s eternal community will be on the renewed earth. And God will take up residence with us! The Triune God will dwell in the new creation (Rev. 21:3).
How can this be possible? Surely the Creator can’t simply leave heaven behind and move in with creatures. What kind of creation must the new creation be? That is, what is the relationship between creation as we know it and the new creation?
The relationship of the new to the old. The eternal God plans to dwell with his saints within creation. But as we noted earlier, for this to occur, God must inaugurate certain changes in the cosmos. Therefore, the new creation both is and is not like the creation we know. We must speak of both continuity and discontinuity between the old and the new.
First, let’s examine the discontinuity. The new creation will differ greatly from the cosmos as we know it. The basic difference is obvious. Everything we find in creation that is harmful or stands counter to God’s perfect design is banished from the new creation.
God will root sin out of our hearts. The Spirit will purge us of the sinful disposition with which we struggle in this life. He will expunge every trace of the alien power that now keeps us in bondage.
God will also cast out sin as a network or menacing power in the cosmos. No longer will the tempter, the architect of wickedness, be able to buffet us. No longer will demonic powers plague human relationships and social structures. Peace and harmony will reign everywhere.
We will enjoy an environment free from decay, disease, and most importantly death (Rom. 8:21; Rev. 21:4).
We will no longer yearn to experience the fullness of life. Gone will be all uncertainty and insecurity (Heb. 11:10; 12:28) and any sense of anxiety or despair. Relegated to the past will be all suffering. And no one will ever again go wanting for the necessities that sustain life (Rev. 22:1–3).
Second, let’s look at the continuity. While differing greatly from creation as we now know it, the new creation will nevertheless be the renewed creation. God promises to make all things new, not to begin anew. The Creator will not totally destroy the old creation and then once again begin from scratch. Only once does God create out of nothing.17 Rather than the total destruction of creation, our vision is of its renewal and liberation (Rom. 8:20–22). The best of human culture may even flow into God’s new world (Rev. 21:26).
Perhaps we can understand this idea of continuity and discontinuity by comparing it to the resurrection. To do so, consider Christ’s resurrection. The resurrected Lord was the same person as the crucified Jesus. His disciples knew this, for they recognized him. Yet he was also different. He had been transformed into a new existence. Consider as well our future resurrection. Each of us will also be the same, yet different. We will recognize each other (sameness). But we will be transformed and perfected after the likeness of Jesus (difference).
The same will characterize the entire creation. The old will give way to something radically new. Yet it is this universe that God will transform into the new creation.
But what difference does this make? Why does it matter whether God starts again from scratch or transforms the present creation into the new creation? God’s promise that he will transform the physical world into our new dwelling means that the material universe in which we now live is important—it is eternally significant. And this in turn means that the so-called material dimension of life is likewise important.
In chapter 11, we spoke about the importance of our being embodied creatures. We noted that death is not the glorious moment when the soul is liberated from its bodily prison. Death is not the point when we shed the body and float off into the better realm beyond. You see, the “real” me is not my soul. We are not created for death—for the separation of the soul from the body. Rather, God created us for resurrection, for embodied existence in the new creation.
In the same way, God did not create the universe for annihilation. God does not intend to replace the cosmos in its physicality for some purely nonmaterial, “heavenly” realm.
For this reason, we rightly engage in “material” ministries in the present. Feeding the hungry—just as “saving souls”—is “kingdom business.” Indeed, our task is not an either-or matter. Rather, we are to engage in both simultaneously; we must minister to whole persons. And our concern extends beyond human needs to include all creation. Our mandate as Christ’s community includes seeking to model the future. As far as is possible in the present age, we are to be a fellowship of redeemed people living in harmony with creation.
The New Creation Is Fullness of Community
Our eternal home will be on this earth—that is, on the earth as it is transformed through the renewing action of the Creator God. But this declaration has not yet taken us to the heart of our description. What will our new home be like? What will characterize life in the new creation?
Of course, we cannot answer this question to our satisfaction. It is similar to asking a baby developing in the womb what life will be like after birth. Nevertheless, we can offer one word that capsulizes for us in the present what our future will be like. That word is “community.” Our eternal home will be characterized by the fullness of community.
Community means God is present. Above all, God will be present in our eternal home. John reports, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them’” (Rev. 21:3 NRSV).
The eternal community is the complete fulfillment of the promise running throughout the Bible—namely, that God will be present among his people. But the fulfillment John saw is grander than any earlier prophet could have imagined. At the end of time, the transcendent Creator of the universe willingly and graciously chooses to leave the lofty realm beyond the world to become fully immanent in creation.
Our eternal home, therefore, will be characterized by community in the highest sense. It will be home not only to creatures but also to the Triune God. The one who throughout eternity is the community of persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—will grace the new community with the divine presence.
Our eternal home will be characterized by the fullness of community.
Because God will choose to dwell with us, we will enjoy complete fellowship with the Triune God. John described this in the poignant statement, “and there was no longer any sea” (Rev. 21:1). Here the sea represents the distance between God and creation. Indeed, we now sense a great gulf separating us from God: God is in heaven and we are on the earth (Eccles. 5:2). On that day, however, we will no longer be estranged from God’s presence. Just as we will see our Lord “as he is” when he returns (1 John 3:2), so also we will enjoy a relationship of immediacy with the Triune God throughout eternity.
This does not mean, however, that the distinction between God and creatures is erased.18 We are not advocating monism. God will remain eternally God. And we will always be God’s creatures, albeit creatures who now bathe in the radiance of the divine presence.
Community means fellowship. Our eternal home will likewise be a place of fellowship. Peace, harmony, love, and righteousness will reign throughout the new creation.
Above all, we will enjoy fellowship with the Triune God. God will dwell among us. And we will gaze on the face of our Lord and Savior.
We will enjoy fellowship with each other as well. In the realm beyond the resurrection we will recognize each other. We will know each other for who we are.
Does this mean that we will remember the connections that had characterized our earthly lives, including family ties? Will we know each other as parent, spouse, or offspring?
The answer is a qualified yes. We will recall the earthly connections. But these former roles will not govern our relationships in the new community. Thus, we will not be married in eternity (Matt. 22:30), despite what the followers of Joseph Smith and others teach. Instead, we will remember the former relationships and rejoice in how God used others to influence our lives for his glory.
And we will enjoy fellowship with all other creatures. Our eternal home will be the new earth. We will live in the transformed and renewed universe. According to John, the new creation will rival the Garden of Eden, which was home to our first parents before the fall. John saw the tree of life in the middle of the new Jerusalem, yielding a bounty of fruit and providing leaves for healing. This bounty was possible because the curse caused by our sin had finally been lifted (Rev. 22:2–3). In short, the discord between humankind and nature will come to an end. God’s intention that Adam (and hence humankind) live in harmony with nature will finally be fulfilled.
The prophets anticipated a realm where even the animosity within the animal world will give way to harmony. Isaiah, for example, looked to a day when the wolf would learn to feed with the lamb (Isa. 65:25), when God’s creatures would never again know fear or competition. In our eternal home all creation will enjoy the peace that comes when God liberates the cosmos from the effects of our sin.
Does this provide an answer to Snoopy’s question? Are there dogs in heaven? Of course, the Bible doesn’t respond to the question itself. But it does answer the desire that often motivates our query. We long for complete fellowship in the universe. We groan for a day when all creatures can dwell together in full harmony. We can even envision a place where creatures in some sense know each other—perhaps even actually communicate with one another—just as occurs in some of the animated movies Hollywood produces.
The Bible promises just such a situation. That day is coming. We don’t know what other beings will populate the new heaven and the new earth. But we do know that our eternal home will be a place of fellowship, and this fellowship will encompass all inhabitants of the new creation. This too belongs to the fullness of community.
Community means glorification. Our eternal home will be a glorious place. It will not only be glorious in appearance, however. It will be glorious because all creation will participate in an eternal glorification.
What will we be doing in our eternal home? Glorifying God! In the eternal community we will glorify God as we offer him our praise. In fact, we will join all creatures in this act. On that great day, the Spirit will mold us into one great chorus of praise to the eternal Creator and Savior.19
We already spoke about glorification as the end product of the sanctification process (chap. 8). On that day, the Holy Spirit will transform us, bringing us into perfect conformity with Christ.
Eternal glorification involves more than the perfecting of the saints, however. As we glorify God, we also experience glorification.
Why is this? Ultimately we do not glorify God merely on our own. Rather, we serve and praise God through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. But in bringing us to offer our praise and service to the Father, the Spirit actually places us alongside Jesus. As the eternal Son, our Lord glorifies the Father throughout eternity, just as Jesus glorified the Father on earth through the completion of his mission (John 17:4).
But as the Son glorifies the Father, so the Father also glorifies the Son. And because we are united to Jesus Christ, the Father’s lavish glorification of the Son overflows to our benefit as well (John 17:24).
In short, as the Spirit leads us to glorify the Father through the Son, the Father glorifies us in the Son. As we offer our eternal praise to our God, we receive the very goal of our existence, the praise of our God.
The dynamic of glorification is not limited to us. Nor does our glorification involve us in isolation from the rest of creation.
Rather, the experience of glorification through the act of giving glory to God encompasses all creation, and all creation together. We are glorified together with creation.
And as we have seen, this glorification occurs through the Son—through the union of all creation in the Son (Col. 1:15–20). In the dynamic of glorification we actually participate in the eternal relationship between the Father and the Son—who is the Spirit within us bringing us to glorify the Father through the Son. Therefore, the eternal community ultimately means the participation of creation through the Spirit in the glory of—even in the life of—the Triune God (2 Pet. 1:4).
This participation of creation in the Son’s glorification of the Father and in the Father’s glorification of the Son marks the consummation of the Spirit’s work. As the Spirit of the relationship between the Father and the Son, he is the Completer of both the dynamic within the Triune God and God’s work in the world. In this way, the Spirit eternally glorifies the Father and the Son both within the divine life and by completing the mission of God in bringing creation to share in this eternal glorification.
What the Holy Spirit effects at the consummation is but the heightening of what he is already accomplishing in the brokenness of our present experience. Ultimately, therefore, the eternal community is the renewal of our earthly enjoyment of fellowship, the Spirit’s radical perfecting of the community we now share. Seen in this light, our glorious future does not come as a stranger, but as a mysterious, yet welcomed, friend.20 The eternal glorification in which we participate is nothing else but the community for which we were created.
No wonder Paul declared, “‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’ the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:9–10).
Shall we gather at the river,
Where bright angel feet have trod;
With its crystal tide forever
Flowing by the throne of God?
On the bosom of the river,
Where the Savior-King we own,
We shall meet, and sorrow never,
’Neath the glory of the throne.
Soon we’ll reach the shining river,
Soon our pilgrimage will cease;
Soon our happy hearts will quiver
With the melody of peace.
Yes, we’ll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river,
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God.21
Mastering the Material
Having Read This Chapter, You Should Know:
For Connection and Application