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NOTES
The Bible’s final vision of the Christian’s eternity offers a picture of a new earth that is essentially better in every way, even at the molecular level, from the earth as we now know it.
In the two prior videos, I spotlighted the key features of what eternal life on God’s new earth will be like. The apostle Peter, in his second letter, emphasized that the new earth will be a place where righteousness dwells. People in the new earth will no longer hate, or lie, or steal, or murder, or lust, or envy. People will have all their needs fully satisfied and their bodies and minds and souls will be restored. People will be fully and physically healthy. They will also be fully healthy at the spiritual level. The apostle John, at the beginning of his final vision, said the new earth will be a place where God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, dwells with his people. They who inherit the new earth will see Jesus face to face. He will wipe away their tears. There will be no more crying, or hurting, or pain any more. All those former things will pass away and death will be no more. But what will the earth be like? Well, in the same vision, John offers us a clue. Listen to what he says in Revelation chapter twenty-two verses one through five.
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”
Heaven-aimed Christianity neglects this passage because it downplays the fact that there will be a new earth in God’s agenda. A new earth is central to the culmination of God’s plan. In my own journey, and from what I’ve experienced in others, heaven-aimed Christianity prevents people from living their full God-given potential because it dismisses the importance of earth. It neglects that God designed us to live a certain way on the earth. This happens, in part, because the earth is truly cursed. Right now, life on earth is very difficult. It’s a burden. It’s a pain. It hurts. Often, it’s agonizing. So people envision a non-earthly heaven as their home because of the difficulty of imagining an earth without the curse. However, an earth without the curse is exactly what the Bible offers to our imagination when we conceive of the end of all things. John gave us a river, a throne, a city, a tree producing fruit. There’ll be light but but no sun. He said, “no longer will there be anything accursed.” The earth will be life-giving and life-sustaining in a way that everyone longs for.
That fact is what new-creation Christianity is all about. The new earth will abound with what is good. No scarcity. For now, we, who stand to inherit that priceless gift from Christ, are given the power to operate out of the same abundance. God is abundant in life and he pours on us life in abundance that spills out of us through generosity, kindness, and joy. Thank you for listening. I’m Aaron Massey.