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TextText• Rev. 21:1a (NIV):–“Then I saw a new heaven and a

new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away . . . . . .”

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IntroductionIntroduction• In our first lesson on this subject,

we introduced the subject of life on the New Earth.–In this lesson, we will continue

what we began.

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Will The New Earth Be A Paradise?

Will The New Earth Be A Paradise?

• It has been stated already that this present Earth can teach us some things about the New Earth.–This Earth, with its natural beauty

and wonders gives us a foretaste and glimpse of what we might expect in the New Earth.

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• This life, including its environment and people and culture can provide the basis for some things we might expect in the New Earth.–None of the sin and corruption

that plague us in this present Earth will do so in the New Earth.

–That is the major difference.

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• Aside from the vast improvements that will result from the removal of sin, sickness, sorrow, death, and so forth, life on the New Earth will bear some similarities to life in this present Earth.–If we take literally the earthly

depictions of life on the New Earth, it allows us to make a direct connection with our current lives.

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• For example, here we eat with people and enjoy food, fellowship and friendship.–This provides us with an

understanding of how we might do the same in that perfect world to come.

–This is not some radical doctrine, it is just taking a few steps in the light that Scripture gives us.

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• Every joy on earth, including the joy of reunion, is an inkling of greater joy that will be experienced on the New Earth.–The Alps, the Grand Canyon, the

Amazon rain forests, the beauties of forest and plains, are all just rough sketches of things to come in the New Earth.

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• The most beautiful things in this present world are merely sneak previews of the New Earth’s beauty.–Whenever we see beauty in

water, flowers, animals, man woman, or child, we catch a glimpse of Heaven’s coming beauty.

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• Just like the paradise that was the Garden of Eden, the New Earth will be a place of sensory delight, breath-taking beauty, satisfying relationships, and personal joy.–God prepared Eden as man’s first

home on Earth.

• Gen. 2:8 (NIV) says:–“Now the LORD God had planted

a garden in the east, in Eden; …

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–“. . . and there He put the man He had formed.”

• The phrase “planted a garden” shows God’s personal touch – His intimate interest in the creative details of the home He prepared for Adam and Eve in Eden.–Jesus is personally preparing an

eternal home for us (John 14:2-3).

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• He has been preparing a place for us for over 2,000 years now.–God’s creativity and imagination

is unparalleled, and the eternal home He is preparing for us will surely be overwhelmingly magnificent.

• The New Earth will have a carry over of culture and nations.

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An Eternal, Perfect New Earth

An Eternal, Perfect New Earth

• The eternal “Heaven” and the “New Earth” are the same place.–Heaven is truly “the last frontier.”–Like all other frontiers in the

history of mankind, it will challenge us with new opportunities, possibilities, and experiences.

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• Unlike our experiences in this present Earth, our life on the New Earth, our eternal Heaven, will be unlimited in time and space.–We will be inspired to join as

participants in the dynamic, creative plans of God.

–We will experience the greatest adventure possible.

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• The eternal quest of the human spirit longs for a Heaven in which we can explore the infinite possibilities of an unlimited universe.–Our future blessings in Heaven

will begin with the ending of all evil, suffering and adversity.

–But that is just the beginning.

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• We will experience the fulfillment of all the real joys and happiness of human life that God intended.–The Bible describes our rest after

satisfying labor and the elimination of toil and grief.

• Scripture nowhere suggests a life of inactivity or boredom in Heaven.

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• On the contrary, what we are promised are lives of active, purposeful and joyful life in a creation filled with beauty, peace and righteousness.–It will truly be “heaven on Earth”.

• In our present life, it is difficult to reconcile the goodness and power of God with the seeming triumph of evil and death.

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• However, in the new heaven and the New Earth, we will see the final reconciliation of all the accounts of life.–Evil will be judged and punished,

and righteousness and goodness will triumph forever.

• The current spiritual warfare in our hearts between our good and evil natures will end forever.

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• Believers will enjoy their newly resurrected bodies with their hearts, minds and spirits being cleansed from every stain of sin.–God’s unfolding purpose

throughout human history is that His will and nature will be reflected in a perfected humanity.

–Evil will be annihilated and good will triumph forever.

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• Rev. 11:15 declares the aim and goal of God’s plan for the New Earth:–“The kingdoms of this world are

become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.”

• In the New Earth, all wrongs will be righted, and good will be rewarded.

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• The underlying theme of prophecy is that the justice of God will triumph in the end.–Behind the detailed descriptions

of the rise and fall of empires lies the theme that all of these events are unfolding toward God’s final goal, in which God will reign victorious forever.

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• Some (wrongly in my opinion) teach that the very nature of time, duration and causality will end in Heaven.–This is based on the last part of

Rev. 10:6 in the KJV which says that: “… there should be time no longer.”

• This is an unfortunate translation.

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• The original language actually states: “…there should be delay no longer.”–The misunderstanding created by

a surface reading of an inaccurate translation has led many to develop a concept of a static, boring Heaven of total inactivity.

–Nothing could be less true.

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• What this verse actually states is that at that point in the sequence of prophetic events in the Great Tribulation, time (or delay) will be no more.–I.e., that the events following will

proceed immediately, without further delay.

–Not that time will cease to exist.

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• The very nature of man and the specific predictions of the many activities of Heaven prove that time will exist in the eternal New Heaven on Earth.–Eternity is not the absence of

time; it is an infinity of time.• The negative consequence on the

boring view of Heaven some have is that it has diminished the desire of many to go there.

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• We need an active interest in Heaven, which will involve an eternal future in real life on the New Earth.–A study of all the passages in the

Bible that deal with the New Earth will show that all the best things of life here will find a perfected and dynamic fulfillment in the New Earth.

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• After the Millennium, the existing Earth and heavens will be cleansed with fire and renewed.–The pollution caused by sin and

corruption under the Curse will be done away with entirely.

• When God cleansed the Earth by a flood in the days of Noah, He promised never again to use water to “destroy” the Earth.

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• This time God will cleanse the Earth by fire.–God will melt the elements and

recreate the surface of the Earth.

–As we have studied, the Earth will not be annihilated, but rather, it will be totally renewed.

–Many, many verses prove that the Earth will continue forever in its renewed form.

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• In II Pet. 3:7, 10-13 (NIV) the apostle Peter describes the renewal as follows:–“7 By the same word the present

heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. . . 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. . . .

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–“. . . 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. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives. 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. . . .

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–“. . . That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”

• Just how God might choose to completely envelope this present Earth in fire is not stated.

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• Nuclear scientists state that the enormously strong electrical forces within the atom are repulsing each other so strongly that only a huge force equal to 900,000 volts for each atom is holding all atomic structures together.–Scientists now agree that the

Earth can melt with fervent heat.

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• When God releases the staggering powers of the atoms “…kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men,” it will result in the renovation of the Earth by fire.–Out of that destruction we are

promised a new heavens and a New Earth.

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• It will be the fulfilled promise of a “new heavens and a New Earth in which righteousness dwells.–Sin will have no dominion forever

in the New Earth.

• Satan will be released for “a little season” following the Millennium to test mankind one last time.

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• Many born during this period to the natural men and women will choose to join this final rebellion led by Satan.–God will then destroy Satan and

his army with fire.

• The Bible doesn’t give us details concerning how God will transfer people safely from the present Earth to the New Earth.

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• But in some manner, they will be protected like Noah and his family were protected during the Flood.–When the New Earth is

completed, all God’s people and the natural peoples who will repopulate the Earth will live on the New Earth in peace for all eternity.

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• Rev. 21:5 (NIV) says:–“But the heavens and the earth,

which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”

• After the cleansing of sin’s pollution by fire, The New Jerusalem will come down to the New Earth for eternity.

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• The New Jerusalem will become the capital city of the world.–It’s enormous size of 1500 miles

by 1500 miles and 1500 miles high, will cover an area equal to half the size of the United States.

–(Remember that the Earth will be remade, and this huge city will substitute for the present Jerusalem).

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• The new Earth will be transformed into a world-wide “Garden of Eden”.–Man will again become the

master of animals and will no longer have to fear them.

–Animals will be restored to their original state before the Fall and will all eat vegetation.

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• Isa. 65:25a (NIV) illustrates this time, saying:–“‘The wolf and the lamb will feed

together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,’ says the LORD.”

–Man will again have dominion over all animal life.

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• In the New Earth, natural people will flourish in joyful and purposeful living under the rule of Christ and His saints (more about this in a future lesson).

• Isa. 65:18-19 (NIV) says:–“But be glad and rejoice forever

in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. . .

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–“. . .19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.”

• That is because sin and evil, the cause of pain, weeping and crying, will be abolished.–Men will then be free to enjoy the

wonderful creation of God in complete peace and joy.

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• Life on the New Earth will be productive, enjoyable and more excellent than we are able to imagine.

• Isa. 65:21 (NIV) says of the natural peoples of the New Earth:–“They will build houses and dwell

in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.”

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• They will enjoy the fruits of their labor, and be blessed a according to Isa. 65:23 (NIV):–“They will not labor in vain, nor

will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.”

–Note that they will bear children.

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• The natural peoples of the earth, Jew and Gentile, will have offspring forever in the New Earth.

• Moses prophesied of this future blessed time on the New Earth in Deut. 30:8-9 (NIV) saying:–“You will again obey the LORD

and follow all his commands I am giving you today. . .

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–“. . . Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors,’”

–This describes a productive life.

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• This prophecy confirms that in the New Earth, the natural men who survive Armageddon (both Jews and Gentiles) will enjoy children, crops, and cattle throughout eternity.–The promise for the Church is that

we shall be transformed and receive our resurrected body (similar to the resurrected body of Jesus Christ).

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• I John 3:2 says:–“Beloved, now are we the sons of

God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”

• We shall see Jesus face-to-face and enjoy His divine presence throughout eternity.

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• In I Cor. 13:9-13 (Amp. Bible) the apostle Paul talked about the transformation in knowledge which will take place after our resurrection:–“For [currently] our knowledge is

fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect). . .

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– 10But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded). 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside. . .

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– 12For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God]. . .

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–“. . . 13And so faith, hope, love abide [faith--conviction and belief respecting man's relation to God and divine things; hope--joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love--true affection for God and man, growing out of God's love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

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• With all the limits removed, our capacity for learning and experience will be phenomenal.– We will learn directly from God

about His creation. –We will understand our brothers

and sisters in an authentic, transparent love which far surpasses our current earthly experience.

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• Faith, hope, and most of all, love will exist forever.–The essence of all that is right,

good, pure, holy, and lovely will be present in Heaven at a much higher level.

–No negative will exist there.

–Nothing that opposes God or His will shall be in Heaven on the New Earth.

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In ClosingIn Closing

• In our next lesson, we will continue to explore the subject of the New Earth.

End of Lesson