What will eternity actually be like? Floating on clouds? An endless church service? Scripture paints a far richer picture than our imaginations usually manage: not an escape from creation, but creation made new, filled with the presence of God and the joy of his people.
Not Scrapped but Renewed
After the final judgment and the banishment of the wicked comes the renewal of the world. Scripture uses strong language about it. Heaven and earth will vanish like smoke and wear out like a garment (Ps. 94:26), and God will create new heavens and a new earth.1Ps. 102:27; Isa. 34:4; 51:6; 65:17; 66:22; Matt. 24:35; Heb. 1:11-12; 2 Peter 3:10, 12-13; 1 John 2:17; and Rev. 21:1.
But we shouldn’t imagine an entirely new creation from nothing. Yes, the present heaven and earth will pass away in their current form (1 Cor. 7:31). Like the ancient world destroyed by the flood, they will be burned and purified by fire (2 Peter 3:6, 7, and 10). Yet think about what happens to a believer. Christ re-creates a person, making them a new creation, but he doesn’t annihilate them and start again from scratch (2 Cor. 5:17). In the same way, the world will be preserved in its essence, even though its form will change so dramatically that it can rightly be called a new heaven and a new earth.
The whole world, then, is moving towards its great day of regeneration, its rebirth (Matt. 19:28). The creation that groans now is not destined for the scrap heap. It is destined for renewal.
The world in its essence will be preserved, even though in its form it undergoes so great a change that it can be called a new heaven and new earth.
The Kingdom Handed to the Father
In this new creation God will establish his kingdom. By then Christ will have completed the work the Father gave him to do as Mediator. He will have reigned as King until all his enemies are under his feet, and he will have raised to life all those the Father has given him.
Of course, he will remain head of the church for ever, the one who shows his people his glory and fills them with his fullness (John 17:24 and Eph. 1:23). But his work of redemption will be complete. He will hand the finished kingdom over to God the Father and, as Mediator, be subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all (1 Cor. 15:24, 28).
Heaven Comes to Earth
That kingdom takes in heaven and earth, and it brings a wealth of blessing, both spiritual and physical. The Old Testament teaches this, and so does the New: the meek will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5). The whole creation will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Rom. 8:21).
The heavenly Jerusalem, the city above where God lives with his people, will come down to earth (Rev. 21:2). In that new Jerusalem, in the immediate presence of God, there will be no more sin, sickness or death. Glory and incorruption will rule even in the material world.21 Cor. 15:42-44; Rev. 7:16-17, and 21:4. And this too is a revelation of the eternal, holy, blessed life that every citizen of that city will share in fellowship with God.31 Cor. 13:12:1 John 3:2; Rev. 21:3; and 22:1-5.
Notice how physical and earthy this hope is. Eternal life isn’t a ghostly existence somewhere far away. It’s life in a renewed creation, with God at its centre.
Many Rooms in One House
In that kingdom there will be one fellowship, but not uniformity. There will be variety within the unity. Small and great will be there (Rev. 22:12), the first and the last (Matt. 20:16). Each person will receive his own name and his own place (Rev. 2:17), in keeping with the works of faith and love he has done on earth.
Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will reap generously (2 Cor. 9:6). There is reward in heaven for every persecution a disciple endures for Jesus’ sake and every deed done in his name (Matt. 5:12 and 6:1, 6, 18). The more faithfully someone uses the talents he has been given, the greater the honour and responsibility he will receive in God’s kingdom (Matt. 25:14ff.). Even a cup of cold water given to one of Christ’s little ones in the name of a disciple will not be forgotten on judgment day. Christ crowns and rewards the good works that he himself has produced in and through his people.
So everyone shares the same blessings, the same eternal life and the same fellowship with God. Yet there are differences of brightness and glory. Depending on their faithfulness and zeal, the churches receive different crowns and rewards from their Lord (Rev. 2-3). In the Father’s one house there are many, many rooms (John 14:2).
One Song, Many Voices
These differences of rank, place and task don’t divide the communion of saints. They enrich it. Think of a hymn sung in harmony: its beauty grows with the variety of voices. Or think of light, whose beauty is multiplied in the richness of its colours and shades. In the same way, Christ will one day be glorified in the great multitude of his saints, and he will be marvelled at among the thousands upon thousands who believe in his name.
Every inhabitant of the New Jerusalem will see God’s face and bear his name on their foreheads. And together they will sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb before the throne, each in his own way declaring the great works of God: “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways O King of the nations! Who will not fear you, and glorify your name?” (Rev. 15:3-4).
Where It All Ends
This is where the whole story is going. Not to endless becoming without rest, not to the shadowy half-life of the grave, but to a renewed heaven and earth where God dwells with his people and every voice joins in praise.
For of him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.