A New Heaven and a New Earth

For some followers of Greek philosophy, the idea that something is

physical means that it is bad. That’s why for them it is unconceivable to

think of a real heaven with real people in the future. In this thinking, for

it to be heaven and to be good, it must be a purely spiritual state, free

from the blemishes found in the physical world here. If something is

material, they assert, it cannot be spiritual; and if something is spiritual,

it cannot be material. By contrast, the Bible speaks of heaven in con-

crete terms but without the limitations imposed by the presence of sin.

Read Isaiah 65:17–25; Isaiah 66:22, 23; 2 Peter 3:13; and Revelation

21:1–5. What is the ultimate message of these passages?

The book of Isaiah provides interesting glimpses of how the earth

would have been if Israel as a nation had remained faithful to their

covenant with God (Isa. 65:17–25; Isa. 66:22, 23; compare with

Deuteronomy 28). The whole environment with its various expressions

of life would have grown more and more toward God’s original plan;

that is, before the entrance of sin.

However, that plan did not materialize as expected. Then a new

plan was established, but now with the church, composed of Jews and

Gentiles from all nations (Matt. 28:18–20, 1 Pet. 2:9). The prophe-

cies of Isaiah, therefore, have to be reread from the perspective of the

church (2 Pet. 3:13, Rev. 21:1–5).

“In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called ‘a country.’

Hebrews 11:14–16. There the heavenly Shepherd leads His flock to

fountains of living waters. The tree of life yields its fruit every month,

and the leaves of the tree are for the service of the nations. There are

ever-flowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees

cast their shadows upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the

Lord. There the wide-spreading plains swell into hills of beauty, and the

mountains of God rear their lofty summits. On those peaceful plains,

beside those living streams, God’s people, so long pilgrims and wan-

derers, shall find a home.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy,

p. 675.

Many secular writers, without the hope of eternity as presented

in Scripture, have lamented the meaninglessness of human exis-

tence. Though they are wrong about the future, why is it hard to

argue with their point about the meaninglessness of life without

a future hope? Bring your answer to class on Sabbath.