I'd like to say Happy Holidays along with an apology to those who emailed questions concerning the prophetic reconvening of the Sanhedrin.  I've been away on and off since the middle of December, so I will address the most common question I received in the next post.  But for right now, after catching up on reading the posts I've missed and seeing Bill's Lane's questions, I'd like to comment on that first.

        I believe the place He is now preparing for us is the Holy City of God, New Jerusalem.   In the book "HEAVEN", by Randy Alcorn, he says, "Books on Heaven often fail to distinguish between the intermediate and eternal states, using one word -Heaven- as all-inclusive.  But this has dulled our thinking and keeps us from understanding important biblical distinctions.  In this book, when referring to the place believers go after death, I use terms such as the present Heaven or the intermediate Heaven.  I'll refer to the eternal state as the eternal Heaven or the New Earth.  I hope you can see why this is such an important distinction.  The present (intermediate) Heaven is a temporary lodging, a waiting place until the return of Christ and our bodily resurrection.  The eternal Heaven, the New Earth, is our true home, the place where we will live forever with our Lord and each other.  The great redemptive promises of God will find their ultimate fulfillment on the New Earth, not in the intermediate Heaven."

       He goes on to say, "The present, intermediate Heaven is in the angelic realm, distinctly separate from Earth (though as we'll see, likely having more physical qualities than we might assume).  By contrast, the future Heaven will be in the human realm, on Earth.  The dwelling place of God will be the dwelling place of humanity, in a resurrected universe:  "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth...I saw the Holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God....And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." (Rev. 21:1-3).
Heaven, God's dwelling place, will one day be on the New Earth.

       Notice that the New Jerusalem, which was in Heaven, will come down out of Heaven from God.  Where does it go?  To the New Earth.  From that time on, "the dwelling of God" will be with redeemed mankind on Earth.

       Some would argue that the New Earth shouldn't be called Heaven.  But it seems clear to me that if God's special dwelling place is by definition Heaven, and we're told that "the dwelling of God" will be with mankind on Earth, then Heaven and the New Earth will be essentially the same place.  We're told that "the throne of God and of the Lamb" is in the New Jerusalem, which is brought down to the New Earth (Rev. 22:1).  Again, it seems clear that wherever God dwells with his people and sits on his throne would be called Heaven.

       Further on he writes, "That God would come down to the New Earth to live with us fits perfectly with his original plan.  God could have taken Adam and Eve up to Heaven to visit with him in his world.  Instead, he came down to walk with them in their world (Gen. 3:8).  Jesus says of anyone who would be his disciple, "My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23).  This is a picture of God's ultimate plan - not to take us up to live in a realm made for him, but to come down and live with us in the realm he made for us!

       Several books on Heaven state that the New Jerusalem will not descend to Earth but will remain "suspended over the earth."  But Revelation 21:2 doesn't say this.  When John watches the city "coming down" from Heaven, there's no reason to believe it stops before reaching New Earth.  The assumption that it remains suspended over the earth arises from the notion that Heaven and Earth must always remain separate.  But Scripture indicates they will be joined.  Their present incompatibility is due to a temporary aberration -  Earth is under sin and the Curse.  Once that aberration is corrected, Heaven and Earth will be fully compatible again (Ephesians 1:10).

       Randy says concerning "our inheritance" - "Our interest in the end times usually extends to the period immediately preceding and following the return of Christ.  But God's plan culminates after the final judgment, when King Jesus says, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world" (Matthew 25:34).  Where is this kingdom?  Exactly where it has been from the beginning - on Earth.

       What is the inheritance Jesus speaks of?  Just as the children of kings inherit kingdoms, and kingdoms consist of land and property, so Earth is humanity's God-given property.

       God hasn't changed his mind; he hasn't fallen back to Plan B or abandoned what he originally intended for us at the creation of the world.  When Christ says, "take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world," it's as if he's saying, "This is what I wanted for you all along.  This is what I went to the cross and defeated death to give you.  Take it, rule it, exercise dominion, enjoy it; and in doing so, share my happiness."

       God doesn't throw away his handiwork and start from scratch - instead, he uses the same canvas to repair and make more beautiful the painting marred by the vandal.  The vandal doesn't get the satisfaction of destroying his rival's masterpiece.  On the contrary, God makes an even greater masterpiece out of what his enemy sought to destroy.

       Satan wants us to give up on God, on our purpose and calling, and on our planet.  God reminds us, "The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (I John 4:4).  Satan seeks to destroy the earth.  God seeks to restore and renew the earth, rule it, and hand it back over to his children.  God will win the battle for us and for the earth.

       Heaven is God's home.  Earth is our home.  Jesus Christ, as the God-man, forever links God and mankind, and thereby forever links Heaven and Earth.  As Ephesians 1:10 demonstrates, this idea of Earth and Heaven becoming one is explicitly biblical.  Christ will make Earth into Heaven and Heaven into Earth.  Just as the wall that separates God and mankind is torn down in Jesus, so too the wall that separates Heaven and Earth will be forever demolished.  There will be one universe, with all things in Heaven and Earth together under one head, Jesus Christ.  "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them" (Rev. 21:3).  God will live with us on the New Earth.  That will "bring all things in heaven and earth together."

       God's plan is that there will be no more gulf between the spiritual and physical worlds.  There will be no divided loyalties or divided realms.  There will be one cosmos, one universe united under one Lord - forever.  This is the unstoppable plan of God.  This is where history is headed.

       When God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden, Earth was Heaven's backyard.  The New Earth will be even more than that - it will be Heaven itself.  And those who know Jesus will have the privilege of living there.

      AMEN!   Shalom,  Sherry Vance
 
 
 

1. Why did Jesus go to prepare a place for us if God is going to make all things
new after the the 1,000 year rein of Christ here on earth? Won't we be here
during the 1,000 year rein with Christ? Are these new dwelling places going to
be vacant for a 1,000 years?

2. Are we going to live in Heaven or on the new earth for eternity? And if we will
be living on the new earth, then these dwelling places that Christ is now
preparing is only to be used by us for seven years?

3. If God comes down from Heaven to dwell with man on earth forever, who will
be living in the new Heaven?