A. We are encouraged to look forward to our eternal life.

Rom 8:18  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Col 3:1-2: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

1 Cor 2:9: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. 10  But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.

B. There will be a new heaven and a new earth

Isa 65:17 Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

2Pe 3:13  But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

Re 21:1  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

C. Our current life is very short compared to the eternal life that is waiting for us.

James 4:14 What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Job 7:6  My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle. Job 7:7  my life is but a breath.

Ps 39:5  You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath.

Isa 66:22  "As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure.”

D. There will be no more pain on the new earth

Isaiah 11: 9  They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 60: 18  No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.

Isaiah 65: 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.

Rev 21: And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Sources of pain: people, accidents, natural disasters, disease, death

E. The new Jerusalem will be a city without parallel

21: 10  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 16  The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 21  The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. 22  I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

F. We will have a close relationship with God the father and Jesus himself.

Isaiah 65: 24  Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.

Job:19: 25  I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. 26  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27  I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

1 John 3: 2  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Rev 21: 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.

Questions for reflection

1. Do you think it is ok to fantasize about heaven or the new earth?
2. Why do we always talk about Heaven and not about the new Earth?
3. Do you look forward to seeing God?
4. Are there other sources of pain not mentioned above? Would they have influence on the new earth?
5. Why do some people think the detailed description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 is not literal? How do you interpret it?
6. What implications does an eternal perspective have on your life today?