Please Explain the 'New Heavens' and 'New Earth'

Please Explain the 'New Heavens' and 'New Earth'

Dear Mr. Waddey:
When the resurrection happens how do we know if eternal life will be in heaven or on the earth? If it is heaven, why does God make a new earth and not just a new heaven? Also, it is stated in the Bible that the earth would last forever. Please help! I am so confused.
- Shannon

Dear Shannon:
As to where the saved will spend their eternity, these things we know the following:

Heaven is the abode of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matt. 6:9).

To come to earth, Jesus came down (John 6:51) and to go the Father he went back up to heaven (Acts 1:9-11).

To have eternal life means that we will live with Christ and the Father in eternity (John 14:11-3).

As saved people, "our citizenship is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20).

At God's appointed time Christ will return and raise all the dead, both good and bad (John 5:28-29). The living will be changed (i.e., their mortal bodies will become immortal) (I Cor. 15:51-52) and all will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thess. 4:17).

At that same time the "heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall burned up" (II Pet. 3:10). This means that the cosmos, the material creation will be utterly consumed.

All of humanity will stand before Christ for judgement (Acts 17:30; Matt. 25:31–33).

Eternal rewards and punishments will be assigned (Matt. 25:34; 41; 46).

Since this material realm will be consumed, the new heavens and new earth will be the place that God has prepared wherein his children will spend eternity. "There are two words translated 'new' in the New Testament; one is prospective and indicates that which is young as opposed to old; the other is retrospective and points to that which is fresh in contrast to that which is worn out. It is the second of these (kainos) which is used here. The heavens and the earth which the apostle describes in this passage will be fresh and new, and not worn and old, as are the heavens and the earth which now exist" (G. N. Woods, Commentary on The Epistles of Peter, John and Jude, p. 188).

The new heavens and earth will be the place where God is and where his saved children will dwell in his presence for eternity (Rev. 21:1-3).

The source of your confusion seems to be the tainted literature or teaching you have been consuming. If I may kindly make a recommendation, I would encourage you to refuse to read or discuss these matters with the Jehovah's Witnesses or whoever it might be that is promoting these faulty ideas. It will be much more rewarding to you if you will devote your time to reading the Bible. Even their New World Translation of the Bible has been doctored to promote their views. Get a good Bible translation such as the New International Version, or the New American Standard Version. Begin with the Gospel of John, then one of the other gospels, then the Book of Acts. Read and believe the wonderful message therein. Pray to God for help in rightly understanding his wonderful Word.

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