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Heaven Will Be A Life Of Glory And Honor
Life in heaven will be glorious, that is, full of beauty, splendor, and magnificence. But that is just the outward sight of our heavenly home. We will at all times also feel incredibly happy, joyful, and full of love for God and all our friends. And we will no longer experience sickness, pain, sorrow, or anything negative; for we will be perfectly healthy and satisfied—with all our needs fulfilled. Indeed, we will have everything we ever needed or wanted. To put it in biblical terms, we will be joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). That means, everything that Christ receives from His Father by His divine right, we will receive as well, do to our adoption into the family of God. Romans 8:16-17 tells us,
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
Our glorification it seems will be the final proof (or the indication) of our Christlikeness and of being joint-heirs with Him. For just as He is glorified, we also will be glorified—that is, having a new body of glory. And it will happen at the rapture when our dead body is resurrected (or when we are raptured alive) and when we see Him as He is (1 Jn. 3:2).
Our new body (our glorified body) will actually be our same earthly body glorified. But they will be a little different. We won’t have any wrinkles, or skin imperfections, or receding hairlines. We won’t have any health problems, or personality disorders, or depression, or bad attitudes, etc. And for that reason, a mortal person may not recognize us. (and that may be the case during the millennial kingdom). Oh yes, we will have supernatural abilities too—more than I can imagine.
These things (above) are the glory side of our heavenly life. But there will also be an honor side. Let me explain. All believers will be glorified and be joint-heirs with Christ. We will be perfectly satisfied and content and happy. And we will at all times drink of the water of life and eat of the tree of life freely. But there will also be honors given out according to each man’s earthly works—some more than others (read 1 Cor. 3:10-15). Daniel 12:3 says it well.
“Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
It seems from this text that those who are most rewarded (or honored) will be those who have a holy influence on others and those who “lead many to righteousness.” And it seems that their reward will be a greater capacity to reflect God’s glory. They will shine brighter as some stars shine and sparkle brighter than others.
I do think that this is true even now on earth. Those who have brought many to Christ and to the truth of the word do in fact shine brighter, at least in the eyes to true believers. However, God sees all; and even those who don’t have a large public ministry (they may have a ministry that is more concealed), God sees how they too have reached others. Hence, in the end, at the Bema seat, it will all come out; and all those who are worthy will be honored and will shine as the stars forever.
Yet we must not think that the honoring of some and the dishonoring of others will cause pride or bitterness. This will never happen. We will all be glad for each other and give glory to God for whatever happens. I see this illustrated well at the end of football games when certain deserving players receive a football to honor them for playing well at their position. I have never seen a player that didn’t get a football complain. Everyone is happy for all those who were honored.
Heaven Will Be A Life Of Endless Abundance
There is no doubt that the bible is full of Scripture that illustrates this point: that heaven will be a life of abundance. We will start with Ephesians 2:7, where Paul declares “that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
This grace is illustrated for us in Revelation 22:1-2, as the writer (John) speaks of a river of life flowing from the throne of God in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21). But this grace of God is not just a symbolic illustration of His grace and kindness to us in the future. It is a vision as best John can describe of what he actually sees. We will start with verse one and the first part of verse two.
Revelation 22:1-2a
Then he [an angel] showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street.
So, John sees in his vision (as an angel points out to him) a river flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, “in the middle of its street.”First of all, I take this to mean that this river—the river of the water of life—will be flowing from the throne of God and winding around in the middle of all the streets of the heavenly city, New Jerusalem.
As for the streets of the city, they will not be like anything we know in our time. Our streets are mainly for transportation with gas-powered automobiles. But no such thing will be needed in heaven. We will be able to fly or go from place to place with just a thought. So, the mention here of “streets” is probably more like the public square—the place where neighbors will go to hang out, a place to fellowship. Oh, it will be a beautiful area where the streets are of pure gold (Rev. 21:21). These beautiful golden streets will be everywhere, in every neighborhood of the city. And in the middle of these places will be the flowing clear river of life with fruit trees all along its banks (v. 2). But we are getting ahead of ourselves. First, I want to talk more about the river.
Our text tells us that it is “a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God.” Hence, it is not like our H2O. It is of a divine substance and without any impurities; for its source is from God. It is no doubt the same water that Jesus spoke of to a woman from Samaria (in John 4:7-14). In this interaction Jesus asked her for a drink of water from a nearby well called Jacob’s well. And when she was surprised that He would ask her for water (since Jews had no dealings with Samaritans), Jesus boldly said to her,
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 “You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
So here, Jesus speaks of living water, and if we (or anyone) drink of it we will never thirst again. In fact, this water will become in us a well of water springing up to eternal life. Hence, I think we can say that when we were first saved we did in fact take and drink of this living water; and it has been our source of eternal life ever since. Yes, I am saying that every believer has this living water flowing in him; it is what makes him a Christian—one that walks by the Spirit of God.
In verse two John writes,
On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
I picture here beautiful gardens all throughout the New Jerusalem, where there will always be a sparkling, clear river nearby, and fruit trees on either side of the river, and golden streets to walk upon and pick the fruit. And though there is no mention of it, I think there will be beautiful flowers everywhere, and also vegetables of every kind to eat. And though we will have no needs of sustenance, everything in the garden and of the trees will have a beneficial effect on us when we eat of it—not for our health but for our pleasure and for the satisfaction in knowing that God continues to love us.
And for our variety we are told that each month for twelve months there will be a new crop of fruit. Thus, it seems that God is expecting us to eat all the fruit of the trees bare in one month. And then each month a new crop of fruit will appear. And I imagine that there will be many kinds of fruit: apples, pears, peaches, cherries, and many more.
And a side note of importance. I do undoubtedly believe that the river and the fruit trees are literal. But there is a deeper meaning here. The flowing of the river may represent the moving of God’s Spirit in me, continually living in me and empowering me. And the fruit on the trees no doubt represents the fruit of God’s Spirit always flowing in me. Hence, each time we see and hear the river and taste of the fruit, we will be reminded of what God is to us and is doing in us.
And now, what of the vegetables? Do we eat them raw or cook them? I don’t know. But we are told that the leaves of the fruit tree (or trees) will be for our healing. What does that imply? John MacArthur writes that since the Greek word for healing is translated therapia from which we get our English word therapeutic that the leaves “somehow enrich the heavenly life—if only through the pure joy of eating.”3
Yes, there is much to look forward to—endless pleasure and abundance. It is definitely true that we will enjoy Him forever.
3 John MacArthur, The Glory of Heaven (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1996), p. 115.
Heaven Will Be Filled With Endless Pleasures
Lest we get off on the wrong meaning or direction on this subject, I think it will be best to look at a few Scriptures.
Psalm 16:11
You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Here David tells us that in God’s presence there is fullness of joy and pleasures forever. I’m sure he has realized this in his own relationship with God; but I think it is also a promise of heaven for all believers. Notice that our joy won’t be so much in God’s creation of heaven, but in His presence—being with Him. Yes, there will be beauty and wonder everywhere in our heavenly home and in all of heaven that we will enjoy; but all that will pale in comparison to the enjoyment we will receive by being with Him, enjoying His words to us and feeling His presence and loving compassion for us.
Psalm 40:8
I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your Law is within my heart.
This Psalm is no doubt what David felt about God—the delight he had in doing His will. But I think it goes beyond our earthly realm. In heaven for all eternity, we will have God’s word in our heart and we will be constantly doing His will in our service to Him. And we will fully enjoy it and will delight in it.
Psalm 149:4
For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;
In the previous verses (vv. 1-4), the Psalmist directs Israel to praise the Lord and sing to the Lord and rejoice in the Lord with dancing. Then in verse four we see that the LORD, in response, takes pleasure in His people. In heaven God will take pleasure in us as much as we take pleasure in Him. We will rejoice in Him and He will rejoice in us.
Ephesians 2:7
so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
In heaven for eternity God will pour out His kindness on His children through Christ Jesus—and He will be glorified forever in doing it (Eph. 1:6).
Matthew 25:22-23
“Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ 23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
There will be great joy and pleasure for all believers in heaven, but it seems that for those who have been most faithful in doing the Lord’s will, their joy will be the greatest in heaven.
In Heaven We Will Have Perfect Glorified Bodies – Part 2
Here are three things, in regard to our new bodies, that will be different in heaven.
There will be no marriage. There is only one Scripture passage that addresses marriage in heaven; it is in Matthew 22:30. There Jesus addresses the Sadducees, telling them that in the resurrection we will not marry, because we will be like the angels. Angels, as we know, do not die and do not propagate. Therefore, they have no need for marriage. This then will also be true of us. And if you are thinking that there are other reasons for marriage; yes, that is true. But in heaven we will all have perfect relationships, even better than our marriage relationship now. We will all love and encourage each other with a perfect fellowship. I guess we will just have to trust God on that.
As for our gender, the gender we have now is part of who we are—it is in our DNA, and so it will be transferred into our new body. We will remain that way. Also, if you remember all the occurrences of Jesus after His resurrection, we know that He remained as a male. When Mary saw Him shortly after He arose and supposed that He was the gardener—a man’s occupation—she spoke to Him as “Sir” (Jn. 2 0:15). Also, the two men who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus did not see Him as not being male (Lu. 24:13-27), nor did Peter see Him any differently (Jn. 21:15-23).
We will have perfect knowledge. In 1 Corinthians 13:12 Paul writes, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”
The Greek word here for knowledge, epiginosko, is used several times in the New Testament; but I think here in 1Corinthians 13:12, we really get the feel of what this full knowledge in heaven will be like. It will be perfect, or full. There will be no more confusion or ignorance about our understanding of things. When God speaks to us about something, we will understand Him. In fact, I will hear and understand Him (what He says to me) just as He understands me.
And I think we will also have this kind of knowledge/communication with angels. What great conversations we will have together. I have always been a slow reader. How great it will be to not only speed read with comprehension, but to very quickly hear and understand everything.
But we will never have absolute knowledge (omniscience) as God has. Yet it will be as complete as we need it to be or ever desire it to be for eternity.
We will have supernatural powers. I think the best way to look at this is to look at what Jesus did after His resurrection, because we will have the same kind of body and the same supernatural powers. So, I looked at three of the gospels, Mark, Luke, and John for this information. In Mark 16:12 it is recorded that “He appeared in a different form to two men walking.” I take it that they were going to a village named Emmaus, as Like 24:13 records. I also noticed that in Luke’s gospel it says that “their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.” So, we have a bit of a difference in the way Mark and Luke heard of the occurrence. Either way, they were prevented from seeing who He was.
I’m not sure that we would have any occasion to have this kind of power in heaven, but maybe we will during the Millennial kingdom—if we didn’t want a mortal person to know who we were. This particular power may suggest that we will be much like the angels; for we know that they occasionally have appeared in a different form as mere men (Heb. 13:2). We will see.
In Luke’s gospel (Lu. 24:31), after the two men invited Jesus to their home, as they were about to eat, and after Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and passed it to them, they suddenly recognized Him and He vanished right before their eyes. So, this was the second power we see.
The third power is in John 20:19 and 26. On two different occasions, the disciples were in a room together with the door having been shut, and Jesus appeared to them and stood in their midst. Apparently, locked doors could not keep Him out. He simply walked right through the walls, or He just appeared! Hence, like Jesus we will be able to move through solid matter as if we were just a spirit—yet with a visible and supernatural body. And like in the earlier story, we will be able to also disappear at will.
In John MacArthur’s book, The Glory of Heaven, he brings up the fact that our home in the heavenly city will be 1500 miles cubed and we won’t be using an elevator to get to our residence—if it happens to be on the top floor. He said that we will either have the ability to fly or to simply be transported in an instant at will.2
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to explore the heavens. I wonder if it will be anything like our solar system today. I just wonder if we will actually be able to travel through the heavens by the speed of thought, millions of miles in a second. And what will we see?
2 John MacArthur, The Glory of Heaven (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1996), pp. 133-134.
In Heaven Everything will Be New and Different
I suppose, when we arrive in heaven in our new bodies, the first thing we will notice with great joy and thankfulness is that everything is new and different. All the old things of the flesh and of the old world will be gone—or will we even give it a thought? There will be no more sadness, only joy. There will be no more death, only life. There will be no more mourning, only joy and rejoicing. There will be no more crying, only laughing and praising God. There will be no more pain, only peace and pleasure.
I think it will be worthwhile to go through all of these five points (from Revelation 21:4) and try to get a better grasp of the changes.
No more sadness. All through one’s life there is always some degree of sadness. Some people seem to be sad all the time for one thing or another. Others appear to be happy most of the time; but perhaps they have found ways to hide their deep-down sadness. Nonetheless, when we see Jesus and we are instantly made like Him, all our tears will disappear. He will wipe them all away. And then we will say with Paul, “He has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57). And we will know that He has accomplished it by His own suffering and death on the cross. As the prophet Isaiah has written, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore. And our sorrows He carried…and by His scourging we are healed” (Isa. 53:4-5).
No more death. The impending death of a loved one and news of our own death is always grievous. We can do nothing about it. We may delay it for a while, but soon it will come. But Christ has abolished that enemy forever. By His death and resurrection, He has established victory over death—for Himself and for all who believe in Him. Now we may say with Paul, “Death is swallowed up in victory. “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YUR STING” (1 Cor. 15:54-55)?
This victory will be absolutely confirmed for us in heaven. We will forever not feel the doom or the pain of it. It is no more.
No more mourning. Mourning is a deep-down brokenness over our own sin and failure. Because we are all sinners, we all go through mourning. But mourning is particularly prevalent with those that want to be closer to God, with those who regularly humble themselves when
they feel pride creeping up in themselves. Hence, in their obedient humility they will be miserable and mourn over their sin (Ja. 4:8-9).
Though mourning is something we ought to do now because of our condition, in heaven we won’t have to mourn since we will have no sin. In fact, the absence of mourning will be a constant reminder that God has removed our sins from us, having forever cleansed us of all sin and put us on the wonderful path of light and joy forever.
No more crying. Crying is not necessarily bad for us. It is a very natural way a baby expresses his or her needs when feeling hungry, tired or feeling discomfort—since they can’t communicate any other way. For an adult, it isn’t a matter of communication, but more of an outlet of strong emotions in times of sadness or feelings of rejection or pain—but sometimes even of happiness.
I don’t know if there will be absolutely no crying in heaven. We may cry out of extreme happiness or thankfulness to God. But never out of sadness or pain or discomfort. All that will be gone. Christ will have taken care of that on the cross. It will have all been paid for. We will be free from it all. All our emotions then will be only of joy, and laughter, etc.
No more pain. Certainly, Christ bore much pain on the cross for us. He bore all the pain in payment for our sins. We still have pain now since we still sin. But when we see Jesus and He turns our body into glory, our pain will vanish. Where sin is present there is pain. But when sin goes away, so does pain. It will be forever gone.
These are the five things that are listed in Revelation 21:4 as being “no longer.” But I wonder if maybe there are other things that would be included. Yes, I’m sure that in addition to these five things that are at the top of the list, there are many things that are from the flesh, from sin, and from the devil that will be no more. And we won’t ever have to worry about them popping up into our minds ever again; for as the prophet Isaiah has written (in Isaiah 65:17), “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.”
In Heaven God Will Always Be With Us
Yes, and we will be living in His house with Christ and the saints forever.
In Revelation 21:2-3, John wrote,
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,
This, I think, is the greatest difference on the positive side. Yes, we will have no more evil and sin and pain to deal with, but we will have a marvelous and beautiful home, and wonderful fellowship eternally with the Father and the Son and all the saints.
This future heavenly blessing of dwelling with God is a fulfilment of a promise made to Israel based upon their obedience. In Leviticus 26:11-12 God said to them,
‘Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. 12 ‘I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.
Though this promise was originally made exclusively for the Jews, now all non-Jews can reap their spiritual blessings through faith in Jesus Christ, who is of the seed of Abraham and of David.Yes, all who have received entrance into heaven by faith in Jesus Christ will have the pleasure of God’s constant presence. In fact, we will be living in God’s house—His tabernacle. I can think of two passages that refer to this. In John 14:1-2 it says,
Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
Then also in 1Thessalonians 4:17, speaking of the rapture of the church, Paul writes,
Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord (bold for emphasis).
How to Pray God’s Way — 8 Points
No longer any Sea – from Revelation 21:1
In my study I have been examining all the differences from the old earth to the future, new earth (Rev. 21:1). In this blog post we will look at three different views on the meaning of the phrase “there is no longer be any sea” (from Revelation 21:1. Then we will return to each of the three views and consider both the negative and the positive points. I think this will help us to arrive at the true meaning of this phrase, “there is no longer any sea.”
First view, that there will no longer be any water (H20). John MacArthur holds this view. He believes that the new heaven and earth will not have a water-based environment, that our new bodies will no longer need water (H20) to exist, that our glorified bodies and all that grows on the earth will be based on a completely different life principle. And the water referred to in Revelation 22:1 and 17 will not be H20, but heavenly water that will be water of eternal life.
Second view, that there will no longer be oceans and seas. This is probably the most popular view, held by many Christian scientists. It is a belief that the earth will be restored to its original state—that the oceans and seas we have now resulted from the flood, whereas before the flood there was probably only fresh water from rivers and streams. This view of course supposes that the earth will not be destroyed, but will be restored to its original condition.
Third view, that there will no longer be evil. This view may hold some popularity because of the few biblical reference to the word “sea” as symbolizing evil or demonic.
Well, I think all of these views have some positive (or true) points, as well as some negative points. For now, I will hold back my opinion as to which view I think is correct, or the strongest. I think the best way to go at this is to give you both the positive and the negative points on each view (as I see it), then let you ponder it.
The first view, no water. The positive point on this view is that there may be coming something better than water. It is a belief that our new heaven and earth will be made of something better—everlasting and indestructible. It supposes that the water in our bodies and in our plants and in our atmosphere is not now indestructible; hence the new creation of a new life substance. Whatever that substance is, we don’t know, but God knows and it will be glorious. It will be a “water of life” that is not H20, but something better.
On the negative side, there doesn’t seem to be any other Scripture that supports this view, other than the fact that God will make all things new and that He will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life (Rev. 21:4-5), which may not be water as we know it. There is nothing specific in Scripture that says that there will no longer be H20 on the new earth. Also, I think the people that are most opposed to this view are those who now enjoy water sports and all the beautiful plants and flowers that are water-based. They just can’t imagine eternal life without these things. These are the same people who believe that God will bring the earth back to the way it was in the very beginning in the garden of Eden where everything was made up of very pure water.
The second view, no salt-water oceans and seas; just fresh-water rivers and streams. The overwhelming positive side of this is the belief that if this is how the earth was originally (as God made it), then it must be what He will do to make it as He originally intended.
The negative side of this argument is that we don’t have enough biblical evidence just in those few words— “no longer any sea” —to support this view.
The third view, that “sea” is symbolic of evil. I will bring the negative side to this view first. At first glance, we don’t see anything in the wording here to suggest symbolism or that God is not speaking literally.
On the positive side, by examining the word “sea” in some Scriptures we will find that it represents something evil or wicked. Here are a few examples.
Isaiah 57:20
But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
For it cannot be quiet,
And its waters toss up refuse and mud.
Psalm 74:13
You divided the sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
Revelation 13:1
And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.
Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.
I admit, that our argument (that sea is symbolic of evil) from the first two verses is rather weak; but, I think, in Revelation 13:1, it is strong. John MacArthur comments: “The sea represents the abyss or pit, the haunt of demons…The picture is of Satan summoning a powerful demon from the abyss…”9
Also, to further this symbolic argument; the wording, “there is no longer any sea,” is very similar to the wording in verse four, “there will no longer be…” This tells me that there may be a connection in the context between the meaning of “sea” and in the words in verse four— “tears, death, mourning, crying, and pain.” Hence, I think we may see that “sea” not only has the meaning of evil and demons, but also the similar meaning of death, mourning, crying and pain. And so, we see that all these things are the things of the first heaven and earth that will pass away. Hence, when the writer of Revelation says, “and there is no longer any sea,” He could very well be meaning that there will no longer be any evil or anything of the old earth that is connected to the sinful, evil world.
It may seem that I am leaning toward the third view, and that may be true; but I am still open to the other views. We will see.
9 Ibid., notes on Revelation 13:1.
The Creation And Expansion Of The New Heaven And Earth
After the first heaven (our present universe) and the first earth (our present earth) are passed away (destroyed), God will give us a new heaven and a new earth.
Revelation 21:1-2
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
And the new heaven and earth will be somewhat blended together as one. This process of blending is when the third heaven (God’s eternal dwelling) is expanded to encompass our new universe and new earth.
Now as I understand it, the entire process of expansion will be accomplished when the heavenly city descends out of the third heaven to earth. Here is the process in four points.
1. The heavenly city, called the New Jerusalem, will be created by God somewhere in the third heaven. Remember, in verse 2, John saw the holy city coming down out of heaven from God. And it was made ready; that is, it was all finished (in its creation). So. its creation was in the third heaven. And Jesus Himself is the builder (Jn. 14:2).
2. This holy city (described in Rev. 21:9-21) will descend from heaven after the New heaven and earth are created. And I think it will either hang over the earth or sit on the earth. And so, the third heaven will be extended down by the holy city to the new earth. Hence the city will be as a gateway or a bridge linking the eternal heaven to the new earth.
3. This New Jerusalem, we think, will be the capitol city of heaven, and it will be where the throne of God is and where the focus of all of heaven is.
4. This city, as we have mentioned, is where we as believers will dwell. We will have our own room that He has made for us (Jn. 14:2). But that doesn’t mean that we are stuck there; for the gates of the city will never be closed (Rev. 21:25). I imagine we will be able to go anywhere we desire in the city, on the new earth, or anywhere in the new heaven—which will then be the new and eternal universe that will have no boundaries and no dimensions. Whereas, our universe now is finite and limited, the new heaven will actually be an extension of the third heaven. So, when John sees the new heaven (in Rev. 21:1) he is actually seeing a new universe that is blended with the third heaven. This is awesome to me and a little scary. But once we get our new bodies and our new mind I imagine that it will be quite exciting and glorious.
Stephen Nielsen 