What’s So Great About

Heaven?Lesson 7

Our PremiseGod has never given up on His orginal

plan for human beings to dwell on Earth. The climax of history (‘His’story) will be

the creation of new heavens and a New Earth, a resurrected universe inhabited by a resurrected people living with the

resurrected Jesus.Revelation 21:1-4

Lesson 7

Tribulation

Lesson 7

An End Times Time Line

The Present Church AgeMilleniumInterim Heaven

NEW H EE AA RV TE HN

RAPTURE

“What willthe

New Earth be like?

Lesson 7

"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. Isaiah 65:17

Lesson 7

The PROMISE of a New Heaven and Earth

"For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me," declares the LORD, "So your offspring and your name will endure. Isaiah 66:22

“13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:13

Lesson 7

The PROMISE of a New Heaven and Earth

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. Rev 21:1

Lesson 7

"YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; 11  THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN; AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT, 12  AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP; LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED.

The PROMISE of a New Heaven and Earth

Lesson 7

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

The PURIFICATION of a New Heaven and Earth

Lesson 7

“12  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:10-13

The PURIFICATION of a New Heaven and Earth

Lesson 7

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

The PURIFICATION of a New Heaven and Earth

Lesson 7

“12  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:10-13

The PURIFICATION of a New Heaven and Earth

Lesson 7

Key Word #1 – “pass away” refers to the end of one thing and the beginning of another.

The PURIFICATION of a New Heaven and Earth

Key Word #2 – “burned up” – laid bare, laid open for exposure, purified

Key Word #3 – the Greek word is ‘kainos’ meaning new, not in time, but in quality, renovated, refreshed.

Lesson 7

Henry Morris – “all of its (the earth’s) age long ravages of decay have been expunged.”

The PURIFICATION of a New Heaven and Earth

Hendrickson – “every stain of sin, every trace of death has been removed, a ‘new’ not ‘another’ world”John Piper – “our bodies and creation go together,….not annihilation but redemption; restored, made new.”

Lesson 7

Hokema – "If God would have to annihilate the present cosmos, Satan would have won a great victory. . . . Satan would have succeeded in so devastatingly corrupting the present cosmos and the present earth that God could do nothing with it but to blot it totally out "of existence. But Satan did not win such victory. On the contrary, Satan has been decisively defeated.

The PURIFICATION of a New Heaven and Earth

Lesson 7

Wolters - "“Redemption means restoration—that is, the return to the goodness of an originally unscathed creation and not merely the addition of something supracreational. . . . This restoration affects the whole of creational life and not merely some limited area within it.”

The PURIFICATION of a New Heaven and Earth

Lesson 7

The ILLUSTRATION of a New Heaven and Earth

For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 2 Peter 3:5-7

Lesson 7

Three Facts Concerning the New Heaven and Earth

There will be “no more sea” – Revelation 21:3

There will be “no more curse” – Revelation 22:3

There will be “the restoration of all things – Ephesians 1:10

Assumptions about Heaven Facts about Heaven

Unfamiliar, otherworldly

disembodied

foreign

Leaving favorite things behind

No time and space

Familiar;earthly

resurrected;embodied

home

Retaining the good; finding the best ahead

time and space

Dynamic

The best ofboth old and new

Static

Neither old or new; strange and unknown

Nothing to do; floating on clouds

A God to serve and worship; a universe to

rule; work to do; friends

Assumptions about Heaven Facts about Heaven

No learning or discovery,Instant and complete

knowledge

Boring

Loss of desire

An eternity of learning and discovery

Facinating

Continuous fulfillment of desire

Presence of the wonderful

Absence of the terrible