Heaven and Earth Re-newed
“Son,’he said,’ ye cannot in your present state understand eternity...That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, “No future bliss can make up for it,” not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say “Let me have but this and I’ll take the consequences”: little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man’s past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man’s past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why...the Blessed will say “We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven, : and the Lost, “We were always in Hell.” And both will speak truly.”
―C.S. Lewis,The Great Divorce [https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1215780]
A few of the verses we discussed, organized by category…
The New Heavens and New Earth
* Isaiah 65:17 – “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”
* Isaiah 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.”
* 2 Peter 3:13 – “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”
* Revelation 21:1 – “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”
* Revelation 21:3-5 – “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
The Reality of Heaven
* John 14:2-3 – “In my Father’s house are many rooms... I am going there to prepare a place for you.”
* Hebrews 11:10 – “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
* Matthew 6:10 – “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
* Psalm 16:11 – “You fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
* Revelation 22:3 – “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.”
Citizenship in Heaven
* Philippians 3:20 – “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
* 1 Peter 2:11 – “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.”
* 2 Corinthians 5:20 – “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”
* Colossians 3:1-2 – “Set your hearts on things above... Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
* Ephesians 2:19 – “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.”
* Luke 10:20 – “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
* 1 Peter 1:4 – “...and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.”
The Glorified Body
* 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 – “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”
* 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 – “We will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye... For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”
* Philippians 3:21 – “[He] will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
* 1 John 3:2 – “But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
* 2 Corinthians 5:1 – “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”
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