The New Heavens and the New Earth

Overview

In reading the Bible about the final condition of redeemed humans, it seems that the New Heavens and New Earth is our final home, not heaven.

This article has some musings about various topics. For an overview of my view read New Heavens and New Earth.

Articles about this topic:

• New Heavens and New Earth
• The New Heavens and the New Earth (this article)
• Heaven
• The New Heavens and New Earth
• New Heavens and New Earth

Featured article: Moral Theology and Ethics

Related articles: Apostolic Reformation of the Church | Eschatology

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Resurrected Body . . .

The resurrected body only exists in this physical universe. When Jesus ascended into heaven he shed his resurrected body. When he returns at the second coming he will again take on his resurrected body.

Everyone also has a spiritual body. This is the body we experience in our dreams.

Do infants or fetuses have spiritual bodies? I think they do. The spiritual body directs the development of the physical body; it is a template for what the physical body should look like.

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Memories . . .

Our memories of the time spent on this earth will all be available to us in the New Heavens and New Earth, but they will be purified. We will no longer have the painful memories of the effects of sin — rather, we will remember the events in the way God views these events. We will remember what God saw. God is free from sin; he doesn't see sin; he doesn't know about sin, and neither will we.

I doubt if we will remember people who end up in hell. There is no reason to remember them. The eternal state for the redeemed is all about life.

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Sin . . .

There will be no sin in the New Heavens and the New Earth, nor will there be the effects of sin. Our rejection and repentance of sin while in this present world has, in a way, prepared us for spending eternity with God but the sin itself had nothing to do with it. Thus, sin itself is not redemptive — it is our response to sin which is redemptive.

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Suffering . . .

There will be no pain and suffering in the New Heavens and New Earth. We will still have to work towards fulfilling our goals and desires, but the process will be joyous, not burdensome. The process will be similar to the enjoyable challenges we face in the present world and the fun of conquering them.

We will strive and persevere to accomplish things, but it will be truly enjoyable.

Even though we will have a physical body, it will be invincible and will not experience pain or be harmed in any way. Our bodies will be a delight and we will enjoy using them as they were designed by God to be used.

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Food . . .

We will not need food and there will certainly not be eating disorders or obesity. We will eat food as a way to worship God and to celebrate our human fellowship. We will enjoy food just as we enjoy all aspects of our body.

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Mary . . .

I believe the Catholic doctrine that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was without sin from her conception. Based on this, her time here on this earth was much like it will be for us all in the new heavens and new earth. The main differences:

• She had to endure the sinful effects of others.
• Her soul had to endure the effects of the wicked spirit-beings (fallen angels).
• She had to endure the effects of the fallen world — need for food, discomfort when cold, risk of death due to accident, dangerous animals, annoyance by flies and mosquitoes, etc.
• Her miraculous powers were curbed. Thus, she couldn't fly to the moon.

Article originally written August 15, 2010.

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