New earth, please.

Revelation 211 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God. 2 Peter 310 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 [Seeing] then [that] all these things shall be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?' Naively, perhaps, since I gave it consideration and applied other spiritual understanding to the meaning of the gospel for human beings, I have always thought that the new heaven and the new earth will be in the same realm as my resurrection body (1 Cor 15:42-), at the very least, if not an entirely new creation. (Col 1:15 - 20). This makes sense to me!Recently I've been introduced to the belief that there is never really going to be a new heaven and a new earth. I'm not sure if this stance is attached to a particular denomination but, I am assured there is plenty of prophecy to back up this lesser understanding that the earth is merely to be cleansed, whereon the remaining scriptural promises and prophecies will be brought to pass. And that's it. Paul's wrong. Peter's wrong. John's wrong. Or, none of them meant what it 'looks' as if they meant.In your replies to this, please could you make clear any prophecy which is not in dispute over its interpretation? Really, I am not wishing to vex questions around rapture, second coming, the millennial reign and so on. My understanding is there is a 'time' (or eternity) after all that, when there will be 'a new heaven and a new earth'.

Well Beloved, Satan has been at destorting the Word since the beginning in the Garden. Long ago I had to make the choice of the Word of God, or what my religion told me. Thank God, I chose His Word. I trust you will do the same. There is no doubt in my mind that every jot and tittle of God's Word will come to pass. But how He accomplishes it may astound us, with us saying something like..."I never thought of that". God once told me that the least of His ability far exceeded the wildest of my imagination. I think that could apply here, don't you. So relax, enjoy God. Enjoy the people He created in your time. Seek to help God save that which is lost. Give God thanks and glory in all things.

We speak of heaven, but where is heaven?And where does it say that when we die, that we are going to heaven?Karl

God once told me that the least of His ability far exceeded the wildest of my imagination. I think that could apply here, don't you.Lahry - YES! This is exactly what I mean.Another very common misunderstanding is the idea that we are going up to "heaven" after we die (what happened to new earth?) when the Bible speaks of New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.Our future destination is the "new heaven and new earth," when heaven meets earth, when the presence of God is brought down to the new earth from heaven.Agent001 - There are good reasons we think of heaven as 'up', for instance, Jacob's ladder with angels ascending and descending on it (also referred to by Jesus), the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus in the form of a dove, Jesus references to being 'from above' and our need of being 'born from above', the Ascension and the New Jerusalem 'coming down' from God, are some. While we are alive on earth, 'up' is a reasonable word to distinguish the meaning of 'heaven' from 'earth'.I feel John's up-down references are inevitable, rather than directly related to the new heaven and the new earth. We know John was on the same earth we are - that Jesus lived and walked and ascended from - so, it makes sense that when John was caught 'up' in the Spirit, or saw something coming 'down' from God (as did Peter in his vision in Acts 10), we are using human terminology. That's what Jesus used to express Himself, too. Even your phrase 'our future destination' resorts to the 'time' frame, emphasising the need for a change in dimension to understand these things more fully. As we find it easier to tune into the Spirit consciously, it is also easier to drop concepts of past, present and future, and dwell in the eternal 'now' - the I AM - by Whom all things were created and in Whom all creation exists.We speak of heaven, but where is heaven?And where does it say that when we die, that we are going to heaven?Karl - My suspicion is that once we are 'in Him' through the Spirit, as sleeping (after physical death) or having been caught up into Him in the air, all our parameters of up, down, earth (body), soul and spirit, will be transformed for ever. In particular, the church is going to be gathered into Him, into one (Eph 1, Col 1).Is it easier to think of heaven as a state of being rather than a place of finite dimensions, into which we enter through the Spirit? It seems clear that heaven is spiritually discerned. This would make a small bit of sense, for instance, (random examples) of Elisha asking for the young man to see the fiery horses and chariots which surrounded them (2 Kings 6:17), of Christ being the Door of the sheepfold (John 10) or the door opened in heaven which John 'saw' in Revelation 4:1. Was Paul in a near-death state, when he was caught up into the third heaven (2 Cor 12:2) Once 'there' it is real enough that on returning he could remember it clearly, afterwards. I believe it is more than a vision - it is the invisible reality which will become more real as we part from this earth and our earthly bodies. I was hoping for some OT scriptures about this, anyone?